Skills Test

Travis driving out of the hole!

Today we’re working on 3 lifts for the skills test (deadlift, press, back squat). Each movement is categorized into levels as beginner, intermediate, advance, and elite. Complete each lift the best you can to find out what catergory you fall into. Rest and recover as needed between movements. Don’t forget to bring your log books because we will be testing again in 3 months for these movements.

Deadlift

Beginner-3/4x bodyweight
Intermediate-1 1/2x bodyweight
Advance- 2x bodyweight
Elite-2 1/2x bodyweight

Shoulder Press

Beginner-1/4x bodyweight
Intermediate-1/2x bodyweight
Advance-3/4x bodyweight
Elite-1x bodyweight

Back Squat

Beginner-50 free squats (no stopping)
Intermediate-1x bodyweight
Advance-1 1/2x bodyweight
Elite-2x bodyweight

Bring on the 2011 CrossFit Games!

Thank you Kat for having the camera rolling and catching Machine Mike giving the ring HSPU a try.  Judging from the amount of people who did that workout RX’d the other day, I think we all found a “skill” that we should be practicing more often.  Hey Mike, don’t forget to thank Mesh for that great spot!-CN

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As promised, the winner of the first ever ARCFit Athlete of the Month award gets to program a workout as part of his/her extensive prize package.  This month’s winner, Anthony “Beavis” Villareal, came up with this beauty for everyone to enjoy.  Remember, don’t curse Chad or I after this one, it’s “Beavis” with a capital “B” (for brutal!).

Ant’s WOD- “Teacher’s Pet”

2 rounds for time

30 squats

30 box jumps

30 sit-ups

30 KB swings

30 burpees

30 deadlifts 135/95lbs

30 pull-ups

*2nd round-20 reps of each

Day 1 of Main Site Programming is in the Books

Brandon H. ponders the next few minutes of his life.

Nothing like starting 3 weeks of CrossFit.com programming immediately after the 2010 CrossFit Games end!  ”Double Helen”, sure why not!  Remember peeps that scaling is always an option and should be used when appropriate.  We had a couple of DNF’s yesterday that might have been avoided with proper scaling measures. Here comes more fun…

AMRAP in 7 minutes:

7 Deadlifts (315/205)

20 m sprint

14 one-legged squats

21 double-unders

20 m sprint

Rest 5 minutes

Practice your L-sits or handstand holds

Partner stretch and foam roll

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Our Friday morning Yoga class with Julie M. has been a big hit.  Some of you are asking about an evening class so we wanted to see what the interest level was.  As it stands now, it would most likely be on Friday nights.  Post your thoughts to comments or shoot me an email if your interested.

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Going mainstream: The 2010 CrossFit Games Adidas commercial – video [wmv] [mov]

Muscling Up in the Middle East

ARCFit athlete and military vet Jason M. checked in again from his assignment overseas and included a video of him getting his first muscle-up (obviously, he didn’t want to be upstaged by Mesh and Kla-Pow’s performances recently).  Nothing like hanging some rings and busting out workouts behind barbed wire barriers.  Way to stay committed J!  You made that muscle-up look way too easy and I’m expecting to see you do 30 for time real soon!  Be safe and we’ll see you soon!-CN

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5 rounds of:

10 Deadlifts (body weight)

5 Burpees

Rest 2 mins, then do:

5 rounds of:

5 Deadlifts (Body weight)

10 Burpees

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The CrossFit Games are only a day away.  Check out this interview from CrossFit HQ with last year’s men’s champ Mikko Salo of Finland: Mikko Salo interview and training at CrossFit Santa Cruz – video [wmv] [mov]

Train Smart

Deadlift

3 x 5

Rest 5 minutes

Partner up and complete the following:

Row 5000 meters as a team. Finish any way possible.

Brandon, meet "Barbara". "Barbara", this is Brandon.

“Barbara” did her thing yesterday and wreaked havoc on many an unsuspecting soul.  For those of you who had never experienced the joy of that workout I’m sure you’re feeling it today.  There was a DNF, a little throw-up in the mouth, and post-workout headaches after this beauty (and not from the same person either).

It’s important to remember that everyone’s conditioning is at different levels.  If you are relatively new to high intensity training or have been away from the gym for awhile, be careful not to get caught up in “I’m going to get through this workout even if it kills me” mindset.  CrossFit is not only functional in it’s benefits to our overall fitness, but also in it’s application.  Everything can be scaled to coincide with one’s ability, not only with the exercise itself (heaviness of the weight, band assisted pull-ups, etc) but also with the number or reps, rounds or time (AMRAP).   For newbies or others getting back into it, there is no shame in scaling the number of rounds/reps in a workout like “Barbara”.  A two or three round mini-”Barbara” is still nothing to sneeze at and you will receive more benefit from that then wrecking yourself for 5 grueling rounds that take an hour to complete.  You can toss the benefits of high intensity training over a short duration when this occurs.

We as trainers do our best to keep aware of everyone’s fitness levels and help you scale workouts accordingly.  That doesn’t mean we don’t miss things occasionally.  It does us no good to push you through a workout that you’re not ready for.  For one, it can be dangerous (rhabo among other things).  Secondly, it potentially could take you a week to recover enough to train again.  I believe in open dialogue with all of our athletes and if you ever have questions/concerns regarding a workout, please don’t hesitate to pull one of the trainer’s aside and voice them.  Now if you’ve been training at ARCFit for a while and are looking for a way out of a particulary tough WOD, I’ll just say suck it up, buttercup.  But since I know that no one who trains here would ever do that, we as trainers don’t have to worry about it

Bottom line is that summer is here.  It’s going to get hot.  Listen to your body, hydrate properly and get plenty of rest, and training will be much more beneficial.  And don’t be afraid to scale a workout!  Everyone in our gym at one time or another has scaled a training session. Train smart, train hard and have fun!-CN

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Don’t forget soccer fans (and I know there are many of you out there), USA vs. Algeria this morning for a chance to advance to the World Cup round of 16.  Cue the vuvuzelas… Hitler Wants The World Cup Horns To Stop