A busy weekend for CFDC which saw its membership scattered both near and far. As you can see, some of us (namely Ben and Erica, pictured above at CrossFit Up Country Maui!) got the better bargain. Meanwhile, back on the mainland, things had been further divided between CFDC headquarters in Dupont Circle and George Mason University’s Field House Complex for the Mid-Atlantic Regionals.
Since Tom and Sara were judges at the Regionals for the weekend, and seeing as how I was forced to travel to Wilmington, NC to help re-salinate the Atlantic Ocean, Mike Choi stepped into the void to help class work on some Olympic lifting.
Class was divided into 2 groups: one group of more experienced lifters – who worked up to 70% of their 1RM – and one group of lifters new to the clean or who felt their clean still needed more attention. This second group worked specifically on the First, Second, and Third Pulls making up the clean, as well as triple extension, which was fantastically convenient considering last Tuesday’s class and follow-up post.
For this met-con, class headed down to the court where a 25M x 25M square was set up with stations at each corner. Mode of travel from station to station was either bear crawl or broad jumps. In the end, it looked like this:
Nice work everyone. Congrats to Dan Samarov for a great run to the Regionals. From what I can gather, the Regionals were highly competitive, giving even the most seasoned Games veterans trouble. Dan did exceptionally well, including a max effort 225lb thruster! I’ve asked Dan to do a short write-up on his thoughts regarding the Regionals competition, and hope to post that later in the week.
Awesome work to everyone, both in class and out of class this weekend. Speaking of which, sounds like class took advantage of the substitute teacher, receiving a free pass on the blourpees (thanks to Kenna for coining the new term!) In keeping with the generous spirit (and seeing as how there aren’t any pics from class this weekend), will give everyone a reprieve from requiring specific people comment. INSTEAD, I’m going to set a minimum of 15 comments from different people!
Also, don’t forget to RSVP for the CFDC Social this coming Friday at Ireland’s Four Fields. If you didn’t receive the evite, let me know and I’ll make sure you’re e-mail address is on the distribution list. The more the merrier – besides, it’s great to see what your fellow CrossFitters wear when they’re not all hot and sweaty.
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Thanks for posting the pic! We missed CrossFit DC so much while in Maui, that we trekked out (literally) into the pineapple fields for a workout with CrossFit Upcountry Maui. It was weirdly both a wildly different, yet similar experience to what we’re used to. Minus the amazing panaramas, the box itself (an old garage/shed for pineapple harvesting), and the fact that we had to wear leis while working out. Also, the class was almost all female (minus Ben and one other male). We started with a workout and then did “The Chief” workout: 3 min AMRAP with 3 power cleans, 6 pushups, and 9 air squats (what we call body squats). Considering how much I HATE cleans, I wasn’t too thrilled, but I think I’m getting better…getting being the operative word here. Anyway, not glad to be back, but excited to see you all this week.
CONGRATS to Dan!!
@Erica: It’s interesting that you ended up doing cleans while in Maui. I would have paid money just to see the expression on your face when the workout was announced. 🙂 I’m just kidding; I’m sure that your power cleans were fine. 🙂 Hope that you and Ben had a wonderful time. Welcome back.
I did a lot of clean-and-jerk technique work on Saturday (June 4); therefore, I didn’t do a lot of repetitions on Sunday. I will say that I am getting more comfortable in getting under the bar faster into a (deep) squat.
The met-con was…interesting. I used a 28kg kettlebell for the swings and a 20# medicine ball for the wall ball. I actually liked this workout, and I think that I would have performed better had it not been for Saturday’s work (I was slowing down after round two). Oh well…
Thanks to Mike Choi for stepping in and coaching Sunday’s CrossFit DC class.
Post-class: After taking a much-needed nap, I did my usual yoga “thang” Sunday night. 🙂
Congratulations to “Dan-imal” and to Josh Courage. I saw both of you at Friday’s (June 3) workout. I read about Saturday’s and Sunday’s workouts; all I could do is shake my head and bow down to both of you. 🙂
Two down; thirteen to go. 🙂
“Not too bad for an old man” – CFDC’s own ODB
Erica, Tom and I did our best to find a new spot amongst a pineapple field, but the only field we could find in the District that was big enough was covered in concrete, and besides that, apparently pineapples don’t grow all that well in DC. Sorry to disappoint.
Thanks again to Mike for stepping in to cover, sounds like it was a good workout. I am definitely intrigued by the workout square. Hope everyone enjoyed it.
3 down, 12 to go.
Thanks Mike for a great class on Sunday.
It was great to work on cleans. My form broke down by the end of the workout once I started to get tired. I started doing my crazy front curl with the bar rather than getting myself under the bar. While my face may have indicated otherwise I really enjoyed the metcon. The most challenging part for me was bear crawling between each station. Everyone else seemed to be flying across the floor while I plodded from station to station.
Congratulations Dan.
@Erica – it must be really tough being back after such an amazing vacation. Thanks for sharing your photos. Looking forward to hearing more about your trip.
See you tonight folks.
Worked with Tom A. aka “the Hammer” on cleans/squat cleans.
Tom B. always yells at me for not completing “the shrug,” but I think I made some strides with some advice from Mike on Sunday.
1. Take the bar up slowly from the ground to just above the knee. I was starting to pull like a DL and then trying to re-position my body as the bar got up toward my waist.
2. Start the “fast” part of the clean just above the knee and “pretend to do a back-flip.” This helped me complete the shrug.
*What I imagine a backflip is like, since I have never done one.
Congrats Dan!!! Wish I could have made it out there to cheer you on, but I’m looking forward to hearing all about it. (Hope you get some rest first, though!)
I worked near Dian and Amelia during the cleans, and it was very motivating to see how much progress they were making. Nice work, ladies!
I liked the metcon square a lot. Sort of like workout Monopoly, except instead of getting $200 every time you pass Go, you get broad jumps! And you accumulate sweat puddles instead of stacks of cash. Also, there aren’t any ‘get out of jail’ cards to save you from wallballs. And when in doubt, no need to wrack your brain trying to decide your next move – just shut your trap and bear crawl some more.
So, ok, maybe not so much like the board game. But a fun Sunday a.m. regardless. Thanks for a great class, Mike!
Sorry guys- reading blogs is about as high tech as I get; commenting seems to be out of my reach. Hopefully this one goes through the right way this time…
I’m with Dian-it was great to focus on the clean technique. I felt like I improved a lot in the mechanics of the move and then just as I was “getting it,” I was at exhaustion for the move.
…and then came the metcon. I missed the memo about the square parameters, so I was bearcrawling for what seemed like the entire court between the situps and KB swings. The pushups were the worst for me, and I ended up having to modify after 3 rounds.
Thanks again Mike for a great class!
@ Dian, way to keep working on the Cleans! They may never be your favorite, but they are improving by leaps and bounds. The mere fact that you can now tell when your form is breaking down is hugely important, and is a necessary step in improving any lift.
@ Ethan, I’m really glad you got to spend some time with Mike. I see some seriously heavy cleans in your future.
@ Julia…CFDC Monopoly? I think we may have to find a way to make this work…
@ Chrissy, nice to have you commenting! As with Dian, the mere fact that you know your form is breaking down is a huge advancement in technique. Stick with it, it’ll come. As for the bear-crawl, well, I simply can’t imagine why push-ups would be so tough after over-crawling your mark.
Alright people, we’ve had comments from 8 different people; we’re half way there, so keep ’em coming.
I love Julia’s description of Sunday’s metcon! It sounds so fun, minus the bear crawls. Dian, I’m with you on the bear crawls, I am ridiculously slow on those, unlike the monkey I live with 😉
I think it’s great that so many of you benefited from Mike’s coaching on the cleans. I think for the next class when we do our strength session, we should put more effort into continuing the emphasis of form, maybe do a session where we watch one another’s forms and if someone does not perform the depth, extension, etc required for the movement, that person need to either stay at that weight or drop in weight. It’s easy to to get slack on form, even for people who have been doing crossfit for awhile, especially when everyone’s cheering you on and you just want to stand up with that bar/get the bar off the floor/get the bar over your head.
Congrats to Dan! And welcome back Erica and Ben!
I won’t be able to make it to Friday’s outing due to a work event, but maybe if you guys hang around long enough, I can join at a later time. I will respond to the evite as well. Thanks again for putting this together Brendan!
I prefer the term “simian” thank you very kindly.
First – big congratulations an dshout-out to Dan. That was an insane amount of work. See you in a month or so.
It was great to get back to class Sunday. I miss the CFDC group setting – working out alone – except for some strength work – is just not the same nor near as intense. I echo Julia’s sentiments about the monopoly – a good 15 miniute met con. Thanks Mike.
Sundays class left me exhausted and sore. I even considered not coming to tonight’s class. But, who am I kidding? See you there! Especially if we have to do bonus burpees.
Congrat’s Dan! Sorry I couldn’t get out to see you, hopefully we can catch up this week and hear all about it.
Thanks again to Mike for Sunday’s class. Relaxing my arms and shoulders prior to the shrug made a big difference. I was making it way too difficult being all tensed up.
The monopoly workout square was fun too, felt a lot in the traps after two rounds of bear crawls. I definitely built up my share of sweat piles.
So, I definitely plan to put together a more detailed writeup later in the week but here are some of my initial thoughts about Regionals this past weekend.
First, two words to summarize the whole events, humbling and fun. Some amazing athletes and efforts all around, a great crowd, atmosphere, overall organization and professionalism.
A few quick points on lessons learned:
1. I’ll preface this with saying that neither Salty nor Tom B. have paid or otherwise encouraged me to say this… it is purely observational. Here it is: Efficiency in movement and skill. Watching some of top guys do there thing what truly separated them was amazing efficiency in every movement, from first rep to last. At a point everyone breaks down a bit, but still. More on this to come.
2. Strategy: I had none… and by none I mean I went in to just about every event with a “balls to the wall” mentality and this DID NOT pay off. Now while CrossFit is definitely about high intensity and laying it all out there, you also have to understand and be able to read you body and know when to push and when to pace so you still have something left in the tank. There are certainly some workouts where it is an all out sprint… however, and this seemed to be the case with many of the workouts at Regionals, in some cases you need to understand where and hard you can push so you can keep up the level of intensity without completely failing out (for me HSPU’s).
There are a bunch of other reflections and thoughts that I’ll leave for another time. My basic goals at the moment though are to focus on building the best technique I can in all my lifts, work gymnastic movements, doing some track work and getting outside as much as possible while doing this!
Probably see you all tonight. Thanks for all the encouragement!