The blogs will now be posted at around 9pm the night before the WOD!!!
Don't be cherry pickers! Make me happy that I did this!

WOD:   7/29/15

21-15-9 reps for time:
Pull-ups, strict
Handstand Push-ups, strict
Squat Clean 135/95

Squatting is one of the most basic movements we perform and doing them properly is very important. Sending the hips back first, and keeping weight back in the heels allows the weight to be loaded into the large muscles in your posterior chain, such as your hamstrings and glutes. It also keeps the stress out of your knees. Driving your knees out allows room for your hips to sink lower and avoids unnecessary stress on your knees as well. Squatting below parallel allows the use of all the muscles in your legs and allows the strength you build to be transferred to olympic lifts like the clean and snatch.

Building the flexibility and strength required to do a squat ass to grass is not just important for the gym, but also important to maintain quality of life into old age. The strength you build will allow you to do things such as stand up out of a chair, get up off the ground, and go to the bathroom by yourself. I am sure that these are things that all of us would like to be able to accomplish on our own, well into our golden years. So send those hips back, drive those knees out, get your ass bellow parallel and develop some beautiful squats.

A squatting message brought to you by Jacob Hoke

Austin exercising some awesome squat mechanics and excellent headband etiquette.

WOD:

Deadlift: 12 minutes to establish a 3RM

Complete as many rounds as possible in 12 minutes of:
10 Burpees
25 Double-unders

Workout Courtesy of CrossFit, Inc.

I don't think Travis was using any Tempo on this lift, he was just thinking "Stand Up!"

Have you ever seen an exercise written like this Front Squat 31X0? It looks like a crazy code that you have to be a member of the Swedish embassy to crack but it is not! It’s just tempo training. This is common way of training in body building but there are some great aspects that can be applied to CrossFit.

Let’s break down exactly what it means in the context of a back squat with the tempo of 33X1:

1st Number: This represents the eccentric phase or lowering phase of the movement, on a push up it’s on the way to the floor or in a squat it’s on the way down to the bottom position. The 3 represents the number of seconds you should spend in the eccentric phase, like taking 3 seconds to get to the bottom of the squat.

2nd Number: Is the number of seconds you should spend in the isometric phase or at the very bottom position. In a push up this would be the tight position you would hold right before the ground and on a squat it would be the bottom position.

3rd Number: This is the concentric phase in the 33X1 example, it is represented by an X which basically means 0. So the concentric or standing up phase should be as quick as possible.

4th Number: It represents the number of seconds before the next rep starts or a hold at the top of the movement.

So in summation a 33X1 squat contains a 3 second descent, 3 seconds paused at the bottom, standing up as fast as possible, and 1 second before the next rep.

Why might you want to incorporate some tempo training into your workouts? There are few reasons:

1. It promotes proper movement patterns - you are moving slower so it’s easier for focus on moving right

2. Helps specific positions get stronger - like the bottom position, if you pause there you might build strength that you would have otherwise missed out on. It requires you to recruit different muscle fiber types when you are coming from a dead stop.

3. Decrease risk of injury - helps to regulate the intensity of the lift and keep you safer particularly if you are new to lifting.

   Try some tempo lifting out at the next open gym you come to! Happy Lifting!

   Written by Jenna Robinson

WOD:

15 minutes to establish a 1RM snatch.

 “Isabel”
30 reps for time of:
Snatch 135/95

Workout Courtesy of CrossFit, Inc.

Ben Smith is the 2015 Fittest Man on Earth, he has been to the CrossFit games 7 times and he definitely deserves the title.

Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir is the 2015 Fittest Woman on Earth, Katrin was a games rookie this year but she steadily kicked butt and took the title. There is definitely something in the water in Iceland.

And Mr. Rich Froning's team CrossFit Mayhem Freedom is the 2015 Fittest Team on Earth.

Photos courtesy of CrossFit Inc.

Class at 9am, Open Gym at 10am

WOD:

Five rounds for time of:
135/95 pound Power clean, 10 reps
15 Wall ball shots, 20/14 pound ball

Workout Courtesy of CrossFit, Inc.

WOD:

"Manion"

Seven rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
135/95 pound Back squat, 29 reps

First Lieutenant Travis Manion, 26, of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, assigned to 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Camp Pendleton, California, was killed by sniper fire on April 29, 2007 while fighting against an enemy ambush in Anbar Province, Iraq. He is survived by his father, Colonel Tom Manion, mother Janet Manion, and sister Ryan Borek.

Workout, Picture, and Description brought to you by CrossFit Inc.

WOD:

Five rounds for time of:
75/55 pound Push press, 25 reps
50 Double-unders

Justin and Sean looking pretty mindful!

Training Mindfulness

I have been thinking a lot about mindfulness.  I have been taking time to check in with myself – mostly to make sure I am not on autopilot.  We have all been there – right?  You wake up.  Get dressed.  Hop in the car and there you are - at work.  But you have no memory of the commute. Who was really driving that morning? Being mindful means we are focusing our attention on the present moment, and acknowledging our thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations. 

Make Every Rep Count

A couple of months ago, a good year and half into Crossfit practice, a coach came across the gym to tell me I was doing some seriously shitty air squats.  No dice. No rep.  I was clearly on autopilot and as consequence my movements went to poo.  I was embarrassed. I knew I would not progress in the sport by training a movement with poor form and I was not getting what I should out of the WOD. 

Have you forgotten to pay attention while moving through a WOD? When you don’t pay attention to each rep, you cheat yourself a little.  Unless your autopilot is Rich Froning, you probably should consider staying in your mind and your body – even when the WOD sucks.  We get better at moving by spending more time training our bodies to move correctly.  Remember, practice doesn’t make perfect.  Perfect practice makes perfect.

A couple of months ago I was tackling the benchmark girl “Angie” – 100 Pull-ups, 100 Push-ups, 100 Sit-ups, 100 Squats.  Early on during the push-ups, I remember hearing another athlete ask, “What is the standard on the push-up?” and I returned from autopilot wondering if I had completed my push-ups to standard. The chest needs to “hit the deck” I heard.  And for a moment in time I was unsure where my chest started and ended. Have you ever heard a coach say “keep your thighs up,” “chest to the deck” or “make every rep count?” They are telling you that your push-up is not to standard.  Unsure if you’re completing the movement correctly? Check-in with a coach or take a video of yourself.  Some of us are better than others with proprioception.  Being coached on the Rx push-up taught me that they were much harder, they take more time and much more out of you.  I now try to focus on each push-up and make them count; and although it sucks, it has been helpful in building strength and capacity to endure suffering.  

Count Every Rep

Recently in the middle of the benchmark “Annie” I spaced my set of 30.  “Annie” is a descending ladder rep scheme of 50-40-30-20-10 of Double Unders and Sit-ups.  Pretty simple, right? Not only that, I had just practiced “Annie” the week before.  I knew exactly what I was getting in to.  Did I grab a white board? No.  Did I grab a bead counter?  Nope.  Chips?  No thanks.  I double jumped right into auto pilot, chasing two rabbits full throttle and to my surprise and confusion I finished before them.  What just happened?  Some reflections and discussion with my nearest work out buddies helped me conclude that I just spaced the 30s.  I felt like I robbed myself.  The worst kind of thievery.  Have you ever given an all-out WOD effort, only to forget your time?  On days like that it is hard to measure our successes, compare to our rabbits or previous records. A little mindfulness before the WOD can help you make sure you have a counting device, or help you remember to record your time upon completion. 

We get excited about increasing my gains and seeing my maxes move upward.  There is no joy in feeling the pain a WOD may deliver.  However, when you can turn your awareness up when shit gets hard; well, that is the challenging growth that will make you better at Crossfit.  It sucks, but the rewards are great.  And you will see benefit from being able to better handle, and in a more mindful and thoughtful way, the pressures of work and parenting, life and living.  The deal is you always have to focus on your work, each and every rep.  No reps should be easy.  Autopilot is sloppy, start operating you with your eyes wide open.

By Rebecka Weinsteiger

WOD:

Complete as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of:
10 Kettlebell swings, 70/53
10 Box jumps, 24/20 inch box
10 Ring dips

I was poking around on the interwebs today and came across a blog post from my "alma mater" gym CrossFit Roots with the title "Half Ass Effort Yields Half Ass Results". As a coach, this is one of the most difficult things to communicate with athletes and Nicole does such a beautiful job in this post. Instead of re-inventing the wheel, I will just give you her words! The workout she is referring to had 250 push-ups... and no, it wasn't a partner WOD.

Half Ass Effort Yields Half Ass Results

(Post from Nicole Christensen at CrossFit Roots)

You’ve heard the phrase that “half assed effort yields half assed results” and the saying couldn’t be more true in CrossFit; however, many athletes think this refers to total reps and intensity, and overlook the reference to form and range of motion. 

Today’s WOD includes lots of push-ups, like a lot of push-ups. Push-ups are a perfect example of learning to balance form and range of motion with intensity.

Let’s start with a quick review of the push-up.  A push-up begins with the body in a plank position with the elbows fully locked out. To perform the push-up, the athlete leans the chest forward while drawing the elbows backward and alongside the body until the chest and thighs touch the ground (not chest or thighs). The athlete then presses the body out of the push-up until the elbows return to their fully locked-out position. 

Now that you have a picture of good push-up form in your head, let’s play out a scenario that could happen in the thick of a workout. The athlete needs to complete 25 push-ups.  The first ten push-ups are money! TEN. The athlete goes for five more and, holding onto that solid technique, squeezes them out while moving just a little slower. FIFTEEN! Without resting, the athlete goes for another ten. In the last ten, the athlete doesn’t lower fully to the ground each time, their lockout at the top has become soft, and on the last rep the athlete gets to a very close but not full lockout and drops their knees to the ground, done. TWENTY FIVE! Close enough, right? Lot of intensity, right? No!

Remember that we want form and range of motion with intensity. Sometimes that means knowing when you need to break your set so you can pursue the next set with good form and range of motion and sometimes that means scaling the reps, or both. It takes an athlete who is honest about their training and their current ability level to work through good reps now to be able to excel long into the future. Ok, nagging coaches help in this area as well.

Listen to that little voice in your head that says, “I totally know this isn’t what I’m supposed to be doing” to maintain good form and range of motion now so you’re not frustrated by lack of progress in the future. 

- See more at: http://crossfitroots.com/18845/half-ass-effort-yields-half-ass-results/#sthash.rfWwjwYk.dpuf

Post brought to you by Cassie Finer, via CrossFit Roots

WOD:

Overhead squat 5-5-5-5-5 reps

100 overhead squats 95/65

*Anytime you put the bar down, you owe 10 toes to bar.

With the nutrition challenge going on, I have been looking for more and more real food, post work out options. Stupid easy paleo has a great article with links to a ton of post workout meal ideas with a variety of profiles from savory to sweet to almost desert like. Check it out here.

If we are training 5 or 6 days a week or multiple times per day we need to be thinking more about our nutrition post WOD. It will help you recover faster and be ready to go for you next work out. If you are like me, I don’t feel very hungry right after I workout so finding something that I can take quickly and is not very big is a big deal for me. That’s why my go to post workout nutrition normally involves sweet potatoes.

Sweet potatoes have a pretty great nutrition profile when cooked, they are good at replenishing sodium and potassium, they have great carbohydrate profile (they contain the types of carbs we need to replenish post workout), and they pack a good dose of vitamin A! There are other starches that you can incorporate post workout that would be great for recovery!  Winter squash like butternut, plantains and yucca root are all good options.

Here is a good example of a post workout meal you could have (I made half of this recipe):

Chorizo Mashed Yam! - Recipe from Ruby and Radishes

            4 yams, peeled and diced

            2 tablespoons grass-fed butter

            1lb Mexican chorizo, casings removed

            ½ a white onion, diced

            4 cloves garlic, minced

            ½ teaspoon sea salt

            ¼ teaspoon pepper

            cilantro for garnish

1. Put yams in slow cooker

2. Heat butter is small sauce pan and salute onions and garlic, add chorizo and lightly brown for flavor then add salt and pepper. Place mixture in the slow cooker.

3. Cook on high for 3-4 hours.

4. Once cooked move yams to bowl and mash with a fork. Remove the chorizo with a slotted spoon.

5. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy!

Written by Jenna Robinson

WOD:

Three rounds for time of:
15 Chest to bar pull-ups
20 Burpees
95/65 pound Sumo-deadlift high-pull, 15 reps

When and why did you start Crossfit? What made you chose Crossfit Train?

I started Crossfit about a year and a half ago. I chose Crossfit in particular because several friends had started going and seemed really excited about it. I ended up at Crossfit Train because Letitia from 5am recommended me to Caitlin and Brooke for tattooing. I ended up spending half a day with them, and there was enough of a personal connection made that I felt comfortable coming into the box on my own.

What do you like best about Crossfit and what keeps you coming back for more?

The best part of Crossfit is the community. The people are a huge part of what makes it work for me...and a little bit of fear.

What is your workout schedule?  Which class times do you prefer? How do you make time for Crossfit?

I try to make it in at least three times a week. 7am for the win!!!! ...and sometimes noon. I make time for Crossfit by simply making it a priority.

Describe your most memorable Crossfit moment, and what keeps you coming back for more?

I think my most memorable Crossfit moment would have to be participating in the Open this year. It was the first time I felt like I was really part of something, that my skill levels were something tangible, and we all were unified.

What type of music to do you like to work out to? What is your favorite work out song?

Yikes!

Any advice for anyone thinking about starting Crossfit?

Advice for starting Crossfit? Find a box that’s got the attitude you thrive in, and don’t settle for anything less. Also, listen to what your body tells you, and leave your ego at the door.

What is the first thing you think about when you wake up?

Coffee...and box jumps. Is that weird?

Where was your last vacation, what took you there?

My last vacation was a busman’s holiday for five months in Boston. It was lovely.

Describe your athletic background:

I played some softball in middle school and was a swimmer. Once I became an angst ridden teen, I smoked cigarettes.

Tell us about your occupation:

I’m a tattoo artist and a printmaker. I have a studio downtown which I share with a friend I went to OSU with. I tattoo by appointment only and we have a gallery space that’s open for Corvallis art walks every third Thursday of the month. I also teach screen printing at the OSU Craft Center. 

How many Crossfit Train members have you tattoed? Six

What do you like to do for fun?

For fun I like to read, draw and paint, bike, and hang out with friends.

Thank you for always beering and/or cidering us parties, potlucks and competitions, can you tell us a bit about that?  

As for cider...that's all on Christina's generosity and connections. She rocks...and knows some guys. It's awesome to be able to contribute resources to the box when I can.

Interview by Rebecka Weinsteiger

WOD:

Deadlift 5-5-5-5-5 reps
at 80%

Attach an object 12" above your maximum reach:
4 rounds for time of:
30 Jump and touch
185/125 pound Deadlift, 20 reps
10 Handstand push-ups

The Games Are Here! How Do We Watch Them?

• To watch the 2015 Reebok CrossFit Games, there are 3 options:

1. Go online to watch the livestream of the entire Games on ESPN3 or YouTube.
2. Turn on your TV to see 16.5 hours of coverage on ESPN and ESPN2.
3. Buy a General Admission or Tennis Stadium Ticket on AXS.com. (There’s still time!!!)

When to watch:

Masters and Teenagers
9 a.m. - 5 p.m. PT, Tuesday, July 21.
9 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. PT, Wednesday, July 22.
9 a.m. - 5 p.m. PT, Thursday, July 23.

Individuals and Teams
9 a.m. - 1 p.m., 5 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. PT, Wednesday, July 22.
9 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. PT, Friday, July 24.
9 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. PT, Saturday, July 25.
9 a.m. - 6 p.m. PT, Sunday, July 26.

It’s not too late to buy a General Admission or Tennis Stadium ticket to the Games. Extra Tennis Stadium tickets were released last week, and some still remain!

Info and excitement brought to you by Caitlin Brennan (Who is going to watch the CrossFit Games Live!)