January 9, 2009
January 14, 2009
Another big showing for class on Sunday. Elements brought in three first timers, along with a few regulars. I like having a variety of experience levels in class, it helps for beginners to see the movements being done, and also the scalability aspect. Sundays class demonstrated that in the WOD done at the end. Teaching focused on the Squat, Press and (because they moved well) the Push Press. Thrown in were a few sets of pushups and situps, before the main event. The WOD was:
10 squats
8 push press
6 burpees
4 pullups
The beginners were given 8 minutes to complete as many as possible with good form, and with the understanding that they should err on the side of caution when it comes to intensity. Pullups were jumping, and modifications to the burpees were included (but not needed).
At the same time, Chris W, Graham, Shelly, and Tim were given 15 minutes, and with no leeway in the intensity department (until I stopped Shelly, who was sick but still wanted to train).
The 10 AM class followed the format I think is the most effective, especially when athlete/clients are not getting in 5-6 sessions a week. Basic strength followed by concise Met-Con, this time focusing on the DEADLIFT. Rep scheme was 5-5-5-3-3-2-?-?, the last two attempts being possible doubles or singles (some stuck with 3), and the opportunity to max out. Some very good lifts, and some very smart misses. Attempting to Deadlift too heavy a weight with perfect form is pretty safe- it just doesn’t go! Seeing people go 100%, but favoring spinal integrity over the ego is more rewarding as a coach than the big numbers. that being said, some heavy weights got moved! I noticed huge improvements in Reggies form, he and “Salty hat” Chris both pulled 405. Ewunike and Ami both hit 215 for 3, and I believe Tom A and Mario also pulled PRs.
We finished up with a 15 minute burner for the Met-con junkies. Teamed up, circuit through :
5 Knees to Elbows
10 burpees
15 box jumps
I want to commend everyone for the intensity shown on this, pushing to the end hard and with a lot of vocal support for each other. Also noted was John and Christian being abandoned by Chris R, who wisely teamed up with Ewunike and Ami. I’m sure it was nothing personal fellas!
Finally, where was Maiko? She was off representing CFDC at the Performance Menu Olympic Lifting Clinic. I dropped by to see Greg Everret Sunday afternoon, and witnessed Maiko Clean and Jerking 110 for a PR. Both Greg and Aimee Anaya were very complimentary of her. Hopefully she will chime in and share some of her experience.
Post Deadlift loads, general thoughts, Zone experience, recipies etc!
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0 Comments
Thanks for covering the blog for the last two classes Tom! =D
Bummed that I missed the Deadlifting session but going to CA’s Oly Seminar was completely worth it (plus Aimee said I Snatch like the Chinese weightlifters, that made my weekend!). The only crappy thing was there were only 4 gals out of ~30 attendees, what’s up with that???
Anyway, if you don’t have much experience and want solid, no-nonsense instruction in learning the Snatch, Clean, & Jerk I highly recommend Greg E. and Aimee. But now I’m curious how a seminar ran by someone who has no intimate knowledge of CF would go…
Oh, and the C&J PR felt gooooooooood. It’s been ages since I HAD to get into a deep squat to receive weight. It felt great! And I didn’t know I could jerk >100#!
Downside to weekend: I know weightlifting is what I ultimately want to pursue, but between CFDC and Krav when can I actually focus on just that? I still want to spar and I still want to suffer with my fellow CFDCers =(
Zone Diet: Went off the Zone wagon this weekend (except breakfast) but am back on. I’m seriously considering dropping my blocks to 10. Some days 11blks felt like too much food. But I’ve definitely lost some mass, I just don’t know by how much as I don’t own a scale. I gained ~5 lbs over the holidays so if I’ve lost more than 5 lb then I know it was Zone related (I lost ~2 lbs between Christmas and New Years easily).
Alright, I’m done rambling! Nice work in class guys!!!
@Maiko: I wish I could have seen you do the Olympic lifting. 🙂 I’m sure that it was impressive. But, it would have been equally impressive seeing you deadlift, say, 225#. 🙂
Deadlift: It took me two attempts to pull 405#. I could feel my form “going south” in the first attempt; thus, I bailed out. For my second attempt, I just focused on lifting the weight with good form (because I knew that Coach would be nearby). This attempt “felt” much better; I can feel the improvement in my form.
The ladies (especially Ewunike and Ami): What else can I say, but “Damn!”? *That* was very impressive! Okay, you ladies need to increase the weight next time. 🙂
Kudos also go to my partners Mario (who did 315#), Tom A. (who did 275#, I believe…but has constantly increased his max), John F. (who did 245#, I believe) and “SaltyHat” Chris S. [you couldn’t leave me hanging, could you? :-)]. Thanks for the form-checking, gents!
I felt pretty good in the met-con portion of the class. I guess that the five-block breakfast smoothie that I drank en route to class kicked in. 🙂 I did step-ups in lieu of box jumps; but I believe that I will be box-jumping in the near future.
Great work by everyone on both portions of the workout. 🙂
About lifting: In my experience, part of overcoming lifting a (reasonably) heavy weight is mental. Yes, I do agree that you can have good form/technique and the weight won’t move; it does happen. But…if you psych yourself out by saying “Oh, I don’t think that I can lift that,” chances are good-to-excellent that you will not. Think positive. It’s yours; own it (as I constantly say in class)!
In addition, if you failed to make your lift yesterday, don’t despair. Stick with it; don’t give up. Yesterday may have not been “your day” (it happens); it can be frustrating at times. Again, stick with it; you *will* break past your current plateau.
Zone challenge: It is going well for me. I really don’t have any new recipes; most of the dishes I mention are adaptations of the handout’s meal plans. I’m getting into that “groove” that I’ve mentioned before.
CFDC’s own ODB is…ready to work on deadlifiting 445# (over double current body weight).
Oh…I’m digging the blue tint on the pictures. 🙂
I pulled 265 for my best deadlift -20 lbs. more than I’ve managed at home lately. Many thanks to Tom A, Reggie, Mario and Salty for the encouragement. 275 just wouldn’t budge (two attempts).
Fell off the Zone a couple times this week due to business meetings. Can’t control the hotel food options, and someone really needs to write a journal article about eating out on the Zone.
I hit 210# on the deadlift. Those who watched said it look easier than the 205# (that is probably because I felt much better form on the 210). I wanted to try more but ran out of time. My PR is 219#.
I seemed to have disregarded tom’s ?? because I didn’t even bother to try more than 1 on 205 or 210. I think I would have been able to do more than 1. Oh well there is always next time.
I partnered with JJ and Ellen on the met-a-con we completed 6 rounds and got through 2/3 of the 7th. I did modified burpees for all but 1 round and stepped-up instead of jumping on the boxes.
Zone is going well except for a couple of slips here and there due to food SNAFUs. I definitely feel I have more energy during workouts.
Exciting to see a solid elements class on Sunday – the workout alone made me sorry that I had missed it (sometimes, tho, it just pays to go to the grocery store early on a Sunday…)
Worked up to 405 on the deadlift – took 2 tries to get it off the ground being very conscious about my position. Much thanks to Reggie, Tom A., Mario, and even Coach Brose for encouragement and advice. Not sure if I had a PR before yesterday, so its nice to set the bar (no pun intended).
For the MetCon, I worked with Tom A. and Edgy and made it through 5 complete rounds, and was about 4 or 5 burpees away from finishing 6. I like boxjumps, but I could really feel it in my quads yesterday once we hit the 4th round. And for those who left Tom A. and I unattended, we had a little school-ground playtime on the monster box (~4′??) that currently lives out in the gym – nice ups, Tom!
The zone is going strong, if not steady. As promised, I rearranged my blocks yesterday to accommodate a smaller mid-morn snack and larger dinner. I also increased my lunchtime carbs a little yesterday to help recover after the workout, per Coach’s advice. I will work on putting together a few recipes with some accompanying photos in the days and weeks to come.
“Hello, my name is Chris and I am a Metcon junkie” (“Hello, Chris”)
excellent elements class, relearned important things on the push-press, such as activating shoulders. Some of that learning came undone during the metcon, where the form got a little sloppy. I just tried to stay on it.
I found myself on my toes a bit while getting the bar to the top…Not sure if that’s ok or bad?
Saw Tim and Graham stayed through the double class. Also great to see new people in elements and such a large group for the 10.
Way to go Maiko. Way to go deadlifters. And there was some family crossfitting going on, i believe? Cool.
stupid question/comment but I’m assuming that there will be no class next Tuesday since it’ll be Inaguration…right? I’m in VA and I’m staying the f%ck away from the city (and my apartment).
…and starting the Zone and getting sick at the same time sucks big hairy hobbit balls…
Maiko, congrats on the PR!!! That is awesome!
If there is class I will come… so long as I don’t decide to skip town for the weekend since it ends up as a 4 day weekend for me 🙂
Correct me if I’m wrong Tom, but as I recall, there will be no class on Tuesday/Inauguration Day. Other than that, everything should be the same.
Echo the sentiment of great class on Sunday and kudos to everyone on the efforts during the DL phase. I know Ami was psyched too about her DL PR. (I am just trying to stay ahead of her by a respectable amount!)
passing along a Zone link:
Chris Stroud’s 33 Zone Diet Links, Articles, etc
Enjoy!
Thats a great resource Maiko. Thanks for passing it on!
de nada!
Trying to read through this review of the Zone Diet (the pdf attachment from the Journal of the American College of Nutrition), but biochem and anything related is beyond me =(
Some of the content is very worthy of my drawing, I like your information!
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