Is it over? Has it really been five whole weeks already? Apparently so.
Yes, the CrossFit Games Open has drawn to a close. A huge congratulations to all the CFDC athletes who competed in the Open, and an even bigger thanks to all those CFDCers who cheered, encouraged, fed, and otherwise supported those competing. However, it’s now time to turn our collective sights on a few different upcoming events. Please check the announcements at the end of this blog post, and be sure to mark your calendars accordingly. First, though, a quick re-cap of Sunday’s workout.
For Sunday’s workout, deadlifts were to be done in the conventional style only for this workout. Additionally, each of the 3 reps was to be done as a single – i.e., perform 1 rep, set the bar down, relax the body, then re-tighten and perform the next rep. Weight could be increased across sets, but only so long as it could be moved with good form.
A quick note about form following the close of a very intense, but inspiring 5-week competition: the Open has been an amazing opportunity for athletes to push themselves, realizing new found strength and motivation. A lot of people have set their sights on getting faster, stronger, and fitter. However, we must all remember that the foundation for these goals is built on smart, effective training. That much will never change. In other words, it’s not about how much weight we lift, it’s about how we lift that weight.
Class was split into groups of 2 to 3. Each group worked through the met-con in a follow the leader fashion. So the first person did 3 minutes of box jumps, then rested for 3 minutes while the second person did their 3 minutes of box jumps. Then burpees, then T2B. Box jumps were done as jump-up, but step-down only, while T2B were scaled to K2E, or hanging leg raises.
Great work. Weekends will return to normal, but only for a little while. Check out what’s in store in our immediate future:
BWI is hosting an Affiliate Challenge as a precursor to the Regionals this year. The competition will consist of various affiliate teams, each made up of 3 men and 3 women (very similar to the Regional Team Competition). CFDC has registered a team, and with the Open freshly under our belt, we’ll look to fill the ranks of our Affiliate Challenge team from those who competed in the Open. Anyone interested should contact Tom or Chris.
Back for a second year, the Cap City Open, held right here at Balance Gym, is a USAW sanctioned event. This year, Coach Mike Choi is helming the event. Registration is open, and can be found HERE. Anyone at all interested is roundly encouraged to sign-up. This will be an excellent opportunity to try out your Olympic-weightlifting skills. Additionally, if you’re interested in the event, but not as a competitor, there is plenty of need for volunteers. If you’re free, and have an hour, please help out – or at least come out to cheer on the lifters. Those interested in volunteering some time, please talk to Chris or Mike.
We previously talked about The Run for Shelter 10k back in January (“AS UP FRONT, SO BEHIND“). This race, which includes a 1mile fun run in addition to the 10k, is taking place just around the corner from us in Alexandria, VA, and as previously mentioned, Julia Lam has ties to the event and is involved with spreading the word about the race! We are looking to really represent in big numbers at this event, including not only runners, but volunteers also, as CFDC has committed to running the water table at the mid-point of the 10K! Please, please mark your schedules accordingly. If you’d like to run, you can register HERE; if you’d like to volunteer at the CFDC water table, please talk to Chris.
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5 pretty intense week. I wish I could’ve been healthy enough to really give it my all through these 5 weeks. I managed to cap the 2012 Open off with 3 thrusters and 3 pull-ups yesterday. I guess such is life. Hoping my doctor’s appointment today will put me back in one piece so I can start working out again.
Congrats to everyone who competed in the Open. It was amazing that so many people competed, had fun with it, and walked away promising from now on to lift heavier and go harder. I bet we’ll have more people compete next year!
I’ll be volunteering at Cap-City and at the water station for the 10k, so please join me so I’m not lonely! And of course I’ll be going to BWI to cheer our team on.
See everyone soon!
I had a great time watching everyone do the Open workouts, and I learned quite a bit. I’m excited to keep getting stronger so I can participate next year!
Steph, good luck at the doctor’s, we need you back in class! (though it’s been great having you as another coach.) As much as I would LOVE to run a 10K I haven’t trained for, I’ll definitely join you at the water station.
75 sit-ups as just PART of the warm-up? Definitely one of those “your workout is our warm-up” kind of days. I worked with my awesome ladies Jen and Erin on Sunday…I don’t know how, but we finished the sets of DLs a good 20 minutes before everyone else. I think Jen and I were still in speed mode from the other week? We did sets of 80, 85, and 90. Thanks to my team for pointing out my right hip was uneven when I went up in weight — need to think about “grinding” my feet into the floor and keeping my glutes tight from the beginning.
I got up the nerve to put a 25# plate on my little box, and managed to not maul my shins! :o) Now I just need to build up the courage to use an 18-inch box. Burpees sucked, but I got 31. (my goal was 30.) I punked out after maybe 10 K2E attempts and finished with sit-ups.
Great workout yesterday. Big fan of the interval WODs. Also, I’m having a party at my place Saturday evening (starting at around 8pm), would love to have the CFDC folks over! For those of you that don’t it my contact info is
Cell: 732-322-2565 (call when you get to the front door)
address:
1724 17th St NW, Apt #21
Washington, DC 20009
Just under 3/4 mile from the gym so you have no excuses!!
Hope you all can make it! Family and friends are welcome.
Its going to take me a few days to get my thoughts on the Open together. I’m so proud of the CFDC community, and all of you as individuals. We really took it to another level, and I can see the fire in the eyes of many of you. Its incredibly inspiring.
Sunday was a good “back to basics” hammering. I’m going to write up some details on % based training, but its really important we stick to realistic numbers and QUALITY reps. Chris and I will fill you in on our upcoming programming, and the importance of setting training load and volume to match capability and goals. I’ll put it down here: Anyone who follows the next 16 week cycle (to our exact specifications)will put 10% on all their major lifts.
Yeah, I clearly need to adjust my 1 RMs off of which we are basing percentages. I pulled 355# about a year ago, but the percentages always turn out to be too heavy for me. I wasn’t able to maintain the bar speed Tom was looking for yesterday at 285# (80%) or even 275# (77%). Or, maybe my legs were just tired from five weeks of absolute destruction. Either way, I’m amped up like crazy to add some serious leg strength.
Nice! 16 week cycle is right on target with half ironman training cycle!
I’m bummed, more than you can imagine, to have missed class yesterday but got the round up from Ben and of course am following the blog religiously. Trying to not come to class this week, which is painful.
I am excited to hear everyone’s thoughts post-open AND to celebrate with everyone next weekend.
BTW, I just registered for the 10K run and would love if someone really fast wants to pace me so that I can PR on my 10K time…takers?
The open was such an incredible experience. Both participating and being a part of the environment. Awesome job to everyone that competed.
Also want to say a huge thank you to Katie. She showed up every Sunday, with baked goods no less, and ran the clock and cheered for every person that ran through the open workouts. That is a true teammate. You’re amazing!
On Sunday, I used 319 lbs on the DLs. My hamstrings are killing me today! The met-con was great. Liked the 3 on, 3 off format. Although the 3 minutes of burpees brought back some memories of 12.1.
‘Thank you’ doesn’t begin to cut it, but that’s what I want to say, first and foremost, for all the love and support. And congratulations to all the competitors, especially those doing this for the very first time. Yes, I spent most of those five Saturdays camped out in a corner, trying not to watch the workouts – or, more specifically, their aftermath – before I had to do them, too; but there were times when I couldn’t help but turn around, and I’m so glad I did. You all are amazing. And like Erica, I loved that our coaches did each and every workout, too… even when it made demo-ing a movement standard a little tough the next day.
Lastly, I want to say a special thank you to Katie, for showing up (and timing like a pro) each and every week, with amazing baked goods and her trademark positive attitude in tow. Katie, I can’t wait to cheer for you when you’re out on the floor next year.
Thanks, Ben and Julia, I appreciate that! It’s the least I can do for a group of people who have welcomed me with open arms and helped me so much over the past 6 months.
I echo everyone’s sentiment on the phenomenal support from our coaches and one another during the open workouts! I’m so happy to have signed up for it as the energy on Saturday was amazing, everyone competing was such an inspiration and I feel privileged to workout with such a strong supportive group!
It has definitely motivated me to want to work on increasing weight and getting that much stronger!
I’m looking forward to seeing the 16 week cycle and hopefully seeing the weight I lift go up! Last Thurs. I was looking for the 16kg KB for the swings that I normally use and was bumbed that I couldn’t find it, then Chris said to use the 20kg KB, at first I thought that’s too heavy but he said I could do it and I thought well there’s no time like the present to go up in weight on the KB. The 20kg swings weren’t bad, I’m glad Chris nudged me to try it. Thanks!
See you guys tomorrow!
I can’t believe I forgot to thank Katie and everyone else who came to cheer each week. You guys are amazing and I’m sure we couldn’t have done as well with you all there.
Andraea, start coming on Sundays as we almost always have dedicated time for strength session, you’ll see much bigger gains!
I’m very proud to be part of CFDC and to call all of you my teammates. It is really amazing to be around such talented and positive people. Many thanks to Tom and Chris for well,… everything!!! I’m looking forward to the 16-week cycle.
Participating in the Open was an incredible learning experience. In the weeks ahead I’m going to focus on getting stronger, increasing my endurance and also on skills that I previously thought I could just ignore…ahem, T2B, handstands.
I really liked the long warm-up on Sunday. I concentrated on quality reps with the deadlifts. Thanks for the coaching Steph and Sara. I did something right because my hamstrings are really sore. Before I would have winced seeing T2B in a metcon but on Sunday I thought, good time to get some practice. I’m still working on those. Looking better but still got some work to do.
@Steph-I hope the doctor gave you some good news.
@Katie-Got the Zucchini Muffin recipe hanging in my office. Going to try it on Saturday.