LogsItAll Rankings

Friday, February 29, 2008

Soul and Spirit (some muscle too)

One Week off of Major Eye Surgery (detached retna) Melanie Comes back (black eyes and all) and has at it... You won't find determination like that bottled up and packaged in a pill...no sir...some smart guy way back when once said; "Toughness is in the Soul and Spirit, Not in the Muscles." She's got all that and more...




Turkish Get-ups and Circuit Chaos






Thursday, February 28, 2008

CrossFit Old Town is 1-year old!

What a Year!
So much to say, so many people to thank...
This week I had the opportunity to give some high fives and thank many of you personally...
So again, Thank You for being such an important part of our team!

Spark
Fuel
Fire
Who's Who?
What's What?
The Beauty of our team is that these roles are interchangeable...
It's a testimony to the camaraderie we've built and the foundation of excellence we will continue to build upon...

YOU are the heart and soul of CrossFit Old Town...
I celebrate YOUR success!

I'm 3 days behind in Blogging!
So many amazing moments, personal accomplishments, and Teamwork to write about...
Perhaps there will be time later, But for now I have some Flickr Photos showing the effort with a good look at form as well!

Monday, February 25, 2008

Feb 25

When I upload pictures through blogger they get so compressed and distorted!
The Flickr Pictures are fine, so it has something to do with the compression that blogger uses.

IF anyone has any suggestions or help I'd appreciate it!

Karen pushed through some 55lb strict presses today!
Team 0600 Lobbied hard to keep "Wall Ball Situps" at 18 reps!
Danny turns the rings out at the top and avoids leaning on the straps for support - this is tough to do!

Andrea T. Demo's the "Wallball Situp" Sequence


The Workout and Levels
25 minutes
AMRAP

My point system made entering data difficult - I was able to see everyone who entered data and the levels you hit in todays workout however pulling that data out and making sense of it in a logsitall ranking was futal...

Gotta Keep it Simple next time!

Thanks to those who did enter their rounds; I read your comments and tracked the levels!

Character

In my quest to continue our strength development we doubled up and hit the 2 best upper body pushing movements available; Ring Dips and Strict Press. I saw some amazing progress today!

As a coach it feels great to see you all push hard through the full range of motion of a movement so you can get some real results from your training. I can't measure progress from half reps...and feel as though we have something pretty special in the Blue Room cause half reps are a rare occurrence. I've seen environments where half reps go unmentioned, first you see one, then another, next thing you know there is an epidemic!

So thanks for keeping it real...

Those who have ever trained with me know my style; I throw things out there to see if you'll bite...a gentle push in a room full of CrossFitters always ends with some amazing things happening!

I look back over this past year and am so darn psyched about what you've accomplished...I look to the future and get excited about where we'll continue to go!

I'm sorry but...

I gotta share a story about my 5 year old Anna.

Several months ago I bought I climbing rope and hung it in our basement (right next to the rings). Now Anna is pretty talented. She excels at a lot of things and has done so since an early age. She walked at 10 months...and NEVER crawled again...no lie. She is also pretty tough on herself, tougher than I'll ever be on her. With her tough self expectations I've also seen a tendency for her to shy away from things she can't initially do, to get frustrated. I want her to experience the unknown - not to fear the possibility of defeat and then be paralyzed by it - to persevere through adverse situations - to feel the victory of picking herself up off the mat after a fall and have at it one more time...

So what's a Dad to do?

Hang the climbing rope and see what happens...

She wasn't even close...got frustrated...I was calm, told her it was OK, it's good to have a challenge you can't initially do...keep working at it and one day she'll get up that rope. I never pressured her...I NEVER once suggested for her to go "climb the rope" I simply hung it right next to my computer (my office)...she would take some attempts on it while I was "blogging" or doing some "computer work"...I let her evolve at her own pace and gave encouragement where I could.

I had to set up some rules though:
No swinging on the rope.
She could swing on the rings all she wanted, the rope was there to climb.
(This was a rule of constant contention!)
No jumping from stacked up boxes so she could get near the ceiling rafters and reach the top real quick, (like she had climbed it)...smart kid huh?

Ya gotta have Standards...

She wanted nothing to do with that rope for the first month...frustration!
I stayed cool, "it's OK honey you don't need to climb it today"...the FUN can be in the Challenge.

Something changed in the past couple of weeks...I no longer heard; "I Can't", "I'll never be able to do this", ...I saw a kid having some fun tackling a lofty but do-able challenge...I saw determination and perseverance.

...and you guessed it...she climbed that rope today!

What a look of pure joy on her face...it's all a Dad or a Coach can ever hope for....

###

I'll post some Details about our CrossFit Workout later...

Saturday, February 23, 2008

The Big Three?

I made another blog post on our CFOT community website, I'm not sure if I'll continue there though. The Blog Editor features are a bit cumbersome and Google blogger is so easy!

I think Wes can work his magic and make this blogger blog appear on our CFOT website and also integrate some cool teaser headlines on the main page of our community site.

My goal is to keep everything integrated on one website; Logs-it-all stats, Forum, Blog, and more community features. This way if you are someone who usually only checks the blog not the forum then you'll at least have the opportunity to click on our community website and browse some headlines and news before clicking through to the blog.

I hope to have things ironed out on Monday!

Meanwhile...
The Big 3...
What would you chose?
(Pick one from each)
1. Monostructural (Cardio)
2. Olympic lifts/ hybrids
3. Gymnastics/bodyweight movements

My Thoughts:
1. In a perfect World I love the 400 meter sprint
But with our set-up and all things in consideration more people will get more bang for their buck with the concept2 rower...

2. Squat clean, squat snatch...KILLER!
However, taking into consideration all skill levels and the desire to produce the big bang for your buck movement...the barbell thruster rules supreme

3. Muscle-up, hspu, burpees...
I'll take the plain old Pullup
Power and strength in all the right places...
Give me an athlete that's proficient in the pullup and watch the places we'll go!
What would you pick?



Friday, February 22, 2008

Testing out our new blog

I figure unless I start blogging on our new Community website I'll never figure out how to use all of the cool features! SO...be patient with the new blog, I'm figuring it all out!
I did figure out how to add audio to our new community site. So along with the Jason C. Brown and Mark Rippetoe interviews we also have Greg Everett and Pat Sherwood.
Real Solid information you won't want to miss;
“If your athletes life depended on getting in top-shape in record time what would be the most important thing you would do?”

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Positive Adaptation through Intensity

Today's Workout proved to be an excellent CrossFit litmus Test...
It was a Deadly blend of Strength and Conditioning!
Our Front Squats have improved dramatically!
The Ring Dips today were the best I've seen!
Our Pullups continue to progress!
The Power displayed on the rower was awesome!

Time to dial in on our rowing technique and continue the progress with our core strength...

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."
- M. Williamson


Andrea and Chriss coach the medicine ball clean...
Che` and Georgia fighting to keep those elbows up with 65lb Front Squats...
Andrea T. and Wes Musclin' through some band ring dips...
Elizabeth flyin' through the last reps while Jack is done for the day...

More Photo's




WOD
For time
1.
500 Meter Row
15 Front Squat
15 Ring Dips
15 Pullups
-Rest-
2.
500 Meter Row
12 Front Squat
12 Ring Dips
12 Pullups
-Rest-
3.
500 Meter Row
9 Front Squat
9 Ring Dips
9 Pullups
Sum total of all 3 intervals as final Output

PRO:
Must do full ring dips, pullups
and use
65lb Women - 95lb Men for Front Squat

If one of these are scaled go to Pack

PACK:
Used Band Ring dips or Modified pullups
or used
55lb Women - 75lb Men for Front Squat

Porch:
Used Jumping Dips or Modified pullups
or
45lb Women - 65lb Men for Front Squat

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Pictures: You gotta be kidding me part 2

SARAH DOES IT!
She has been so close and today Sarah got her first pullup!
She gave out a few high fives, smiled a whole lot, shook out her arms, jumped back on the bar and got 2 in a row!
AWESOME!!


Steven put together some solid handstands today!

Betsy and Kevin dialed in on some overhead strength!

Terence continues his progression!

Andrea hit 45 Handstand Pushups over the course of the workout!

Andrienne continues to push through with some killer kettlebell work!

Chriss logs in another solid muscle-up as we honored one of our fallen Hero's in a workout named "Nate"

Mike put together multiple muscle-ups in a row with a smooth transition and blazing speed.
Mike also handled the 88lb Kettlebell for Swings!

Andrea T, and Stacy kept their core tight and shoulders strong while working their handstand!





You gotta be kidding me!

What a day...
The forward momentum continues...
More Progress and more realization of our unlimited potential today!

Handstands, Strict Presses, Muscle-ups, Sarah's First Pullup!

This is a multi-post update kinda day...

I'll post the Logs-it-all so we see updates as you enter them and I'll upload the 90 pictures and details throughout the morning

###
“Margaret”

As many rounds in twenty minutes as you can of:
10 Handstand Shrugs to an active shoulder
10 Deck Squats
10 Pullups


“Madeline”

As many rounds in twenty minutes as you can of:
5 Strict Press
10 Bench Dips
15 Kettlebell Swings


"Nate"
As many rounds in twenty minutes as you can of:
2 Muscle-ups
4 Handstand Push-ups
8 2-Pood Kettlebell swings


“Mary”
As many rounds in twenty minutes as you can of:
5 Handstand push-ups
10 1-legged squats, alternating legs
15 Pull-ups


“Molly”
As many rounds in twenty minutes as you can of:
5 Strict Press
10 1-legged squats, alternating legs
15 Kettlebell Swings

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Hip function and core strength


Take a good look at some of the shrug pull angles in the Flickr Pictures...
...it's a continued education and understanding of the cues given in class today

You lengthen the spine through a big breath and then flex the abs...
This braces the body; helps make it one unit so the powerful hips and legs can do their work

Another big take-away is the movement and function of the hips in barbell pulls...
You are really dialing in on this!

Yes the deadlift and pull variations will make you a stronger, powerful and better conditioned athlete but...
It's also one of those magical movements that has a huge transfer to everything else we do!

Excellent, excellent progress!
A huge thanks to our coaches who gave some great input and cues today!

Another great day of training in the blue room!
A short core warm-up where some individuals got the extra coaching to help their Kip...
Some Powerful work with the barbell...
And a tough finishing circuit!
Loved it!

We had some surprises...
JUD was back in!
...and the 0730 team had a guest appearance from 2 of our youngest CrossFitters!


Monday, February 18, 2008

Andrea becomes a level 2 CrossFit Coach!


There are a lot of great stories to tell today from our Presidents Day Workout;
"Party with the Girls"!

Keith going "all-in" in only his second CrossFit Old Town Workout!
McCall CrossFittin' and kickin' butt in a skirt!
Terence guttin' it through to the end!
Chriss's insane sub-30 minute time!

All of the team commraderie to help coach, encourage, and inspire teammates to:
Move more effieciently
Continue Full Range of Motion under fatigue
Rest Later...
Finish Strong!

Gotta give an extra shout-out to Andrea who completed her level 2 CrossFit Coaching Certification last week! The process is not easy, many don't pass...
Andrea comes back a more experienced coach who will continue to inspire and elevate the performance of our CFOT Team!

###

Holidays are always a Crazy Day in the Blue Room...

“Party with the Girls”
Kelly – 400 m Run – 30 Box Jumps – 30 Wall Ball Shots
Elizabeth – 21 Squat Cleans (55-75) – 21 Ring Dips
Nancy – 400 m Run – 15 OHS (55-75)
Cindy [5 Pull-ups 10 Push-ups 15 Squats] x 4 rounds
Fran – 21 Thrusters (55-75) – 21 Pullups
Helen – 400 m Run – 21 Swings (35-52) – 12 Pullups
Grace – 30 Clean and Jerks (55-75)

I tweaked Eugene Allen's Version of this only a bit, so thanks goes to Him!
For more details on the CrossFit Girl Workouts;




Friday, February 15, 2008

CrossFit Old Town Website

We have a new Website!
It'll be fun adding new content to it...
Check it out, register, and have some fun...

###

We topped the regular work week off with another simple but tough one...
Lots of power and endurance needed to finish...

"Hangover"
5 rounds/ 25 minute Limit
Chins x 10
Barbell Thrusters x 15
(55lb W - 75lb M)
Kettlebell Swing x 20
Box Jump x 25

Three made it through 5 rounds, WOW!
Steven - 22:08
Stacey - 24:01
Joel - 25:45


Flickr Slideshow



Thursday, February 14, 2008

If Your Life Depended on it; Mark Rippetoe

The second segment in my series of hard-hitting quick-tip audio interviews comes from CrossFit Barbell expert Mark Rippetoe. The question I asked him is simple, his answer is bound to raise a few eyebrows:

The most important thing you can do?

I love hard-hitting, take-action information!
I'm asking top CrossFit Coaches this question;

“If your athletes life depended on getting in top-shape in record time what would be the most important thing you would do?”








A lot more Pullup records today, Congrat's!
Shout em' out in the comment section and enter them in our logbook!

I have been playing around with different work to rest ratio's today we tested 30 second of work to 15 seconds of rest
Notes:
Gotta Give Props to Leslie and Pat who doned weight Vest's for this Workout!
Extra Kudo's to our CrossFit Old Town Women who stepped up and used the 52lb Kettlbell today! Che, Cara, Stacey, Elizabeth, Andrea T...WOW!

VD
This is a "sell out" Track total reps
30:15 x 5 rounds then rotate to the next movement
Turkish Get-ups
Squats
Pushups
Situp Wallball
Kettlebell Highpull
Wallball
Jumping Ring Dips
Flying Arm-bars

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Raining Pain

Cara does a great job keeping her elbows in and creating a frame to drive her core through

The Strict Press is a nice example of how tight you need to flex your abs, legs, glutes; everything!
...in order to stabilize your body to properly lift a load
Understanding and mastering this stabilization will have a HUGE carryover in everything else you do
Terence put together some excellent strict presses; there is a nice 3 picture sequence in the Flickr Slideshow...


We started our training with some skill work:
Hang Power Clean and Elbow whip!

The Workout was lightly attended this morning due to the freezing rain

(Although I rode my bike in with no problems...)

Those who made it quickly found it was raining pain in the Blue Room!


"Rain Pain"
5 rounds for time
12 repetitions Each
Pullups
Kettlebell Swings
Jumping Slamball
Dumbbell Walking Lunge (12 steps each leg)
Strict Barbell Press

Load:
20lb - 25lb Dumbbells for Lunges
55lb - 75lb Barbell for Strict Press


Scale load as needed

This workout was SOLID; we might see it again!
It was a true test of our strict press form while under fatigue
I like how you held up under duress!



###

Tuesday Feb 12


We shot a few more members through our Bodyweight Baseline and a handful of others through a solid Strength Baseline Workout!


See the previous post for Bodyweight Baseline Output

News and Notes:
Katie set a New Women's 500 meter row record; 1:53!
Andrea T hit a 1:59
Georgia hit a 1:58
Jen hit a 1:56


Any other Personal Records I failed to mention?
Shout em' Out!

Our Strength Baseline workout was another great test...

Strength Baseline:
5 Rounds for time:
6 Ring Dips
9 Deadlifts
12 High Box Jumps

Load for Deadlifts:
Pro: W=155lb, M=225lb
Pack: W=125, M=185
Porch: W=100, M=145

Box Jumps:
W= 26 inch, M=33 inch


Monday, February 11, 2008

Bodyweight Baseline

We shot 31 people through "Bodyweight Baseline" Today!
A thanks goes to Eugene Allen from CFPC for this Workout!

Once through for time:
500 meter row
40 Squats
30 Situps
20 Pushups
10 Pullups

Che set a new Women's class record in the 500 meter row at 1:56!

Cara hit a sub-2:00 at 1:58!

Mike set a New Men's Record at 1:32!

Jack - 1:33
Chriss - 1:35
Wes - 1:36
All beat the old class record as well...

Danny set a new class record for pullups at 39!

Killer workout, great effort by ALL!



Saturday, February 9, 2008

Max Pullups, Strict Press x 5, Circuit


Workout of The Day:


1. Max Pullups


2. 5 rep Max in the Strict Press


3. Circuit
40 Seconds of work: 20 Sec Of Rest On Each Movement
Score the Least amount of reps on Each Movement for any given Interval
5 Rounds:
High Hang Power Cleans
Jumping Slamball
Situps








Friday, February 8, 2008

CrossFit Workouts: Subterfuge, Clench, Wall Alarm

I'm continuing to Experimenting with our New Data Base

These rankings are in Real Time and will continually update as members input their data

Some of us did these workouts as Prescribed, others made some modifications...
Some sample modifications: Bands with Pullups, Number of repetitions in the workout, or even adding a Weight Vest

Normally I would rank according to level:
Pro meaning as prescribed
Pack meaning modified

So far I haven’t been able to separate this data accurately...

When you enter Data be sure to put your modifications in the comment box of the Data you are entering...when I pull this data out I can then go and click on your name and look at the comments to see if you modified and what modifications you made

This helps with future programming and properly utilizing benchmark workouts

Subterfuge
AMRAP in 30 Minutes:
10 Get-ups (total)
10 Ring Dips
10 Chins

Clench
AMRAP in 30 Minutes:
10 Chins
20 Kettlebell Swings
30 Squats

Wall Alarm
10 rounds for Time:
5 Burpees
10 High Box Jump
15 Wall Ball







Thursday, February 7, 2008

From Ground to Overhead

Adrienne did an awesome job introducing us to the Kettlebell Clean and Jerk today!

Our understanding of this movement and long-term progress has been enhanced by your effort Adrienne...

Thanks!

It was cool to see so many of you start to grasp the seamless motion of this movement...

...smooth is good

Within our conditioning we seek an increase in work capacity

The heart of which is Power output

Those with a higher power output in a broad selection of functional movements and over varied time frames are the fittest and most capable athletes around, (every human is an athlete, some simply don't know it yet!)

Confusing?

Sorry...it's simply the good stuff we do everyday in class everyday!

Andrea, Chriss, and Adrienne have made an immense contribution to our team by coaching 3 very distinct functional movements, they have increased our knowledge base, our efficiency, and effectiveness...they’ve also given us more good stuff to work on in class everyday!

One day next week in class we will take some time to work on and further explore all 3 of the skills they’ve coached

Thanks again you three!

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Details and Video of CrossFit Old Town Workouts

I posted some details, short video, and fun explanation of our Workouts:

"Chute Fighter"
"Wall Alarm"
"Cannon"

Click through:

Cannon, Chute Fighter, Wall Alarm

I'm Experimenting with our New Data Base
These rankings are in Real Time and will continually update as members input their data

We could have 15 entries for Cannon
8 entries for Chute Fighter
5 entries for Wall Alarm

I'll continue to add pictures, content, and details of the workout to our blog throughout the day

In Action Photo's of our Workout







Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Cara's Zone Success


I don't have too much more to say than I already said in my previous post, but basically:

I've been on the Zone for one month. In that month I've lost a total of 10lbs (down to 172), and one pants size (from a size 14 to a size 12). I also got in my first pull-up!! My energy level has been steady, and I generally feel more capable during the workouts. I'm rarely wanting for food - especially once I figured out how to eat chocolate and stay in the Zone! :)

I wonder what another month will bring!

Also...



New Data Base

Here is the Data entered for the 5 rep Deadlift performed today:

Here is the Data entered for the Tabata Mash-up performed Yesterday:

The Data base is automatically updated real time, so you can still enter your numbers!
If you entered data but it's not showing, you need to put your Gym Affiliation as CFOT

Deadlifts, Ring Work, Jumping Slamball, Flying Arm Bars and More

Excellent work today dialing in on Deadlift Form!
I'd like to go a bit more in depth on form and include some quality pictures.
When I upload pictures to Google Blogger the quality gets distorted so I'll have this discussion on my Fitness Blog.


###


I loved our starting circuit today!


It gave everyone an opportunity to work on some upper body strength with Ring Dips, some auxiliary core and grip strength with "Flying Arm Bars" while more specific coaching was happening with the ultimate movement for mid-line stabilization; Deadlifts!



I thought the "Flying Arm Bars" were fun and functional!
Credit for this movement goes to my buddy Jason Brown over at;

How did the "Flying Arm Bars" work out for You?

How about the rings?


Are you starting to get a better feel of how close you need to keep the rings in order to properly support yourself?

Elizabeth has had good success working Ring Dips with the band, this is an option if you want to experiment with them.

Starting Strength Circuit
5 Rounds:
80% of 1 rep Maximum in the Deadlift x 5 reps
Ring Dips x 5 reps
Flying Arm Bars x 10 reps

How great is it that I suggest a new twist to traditional Slamball and you psycho's run with it...
...or actually JUMP with it!


Conditioning Circuit
4 Rounds for time:
30 Jumping Pullups using a Rope
25 Situps
20 Kettlebell Swings
15 Jumping Slamballs

...A good little gasser after the Strength work!

Monday, February 4, 2008

Sell Out Tabata with a Mash-Up




I saw some amazing effort today and quality output as you continued to push your Strength and Conditioning Levels!

It was another sneaky workout that unfolded with twists and turns and you forged right through...

Awesome!

We'll continue to work the strict press regulary in class, the initial results and feedback has been outstanding. I like the overhead position of support you are able to maintain with this movement and what this will mean to our continued progress.



Check Your Email Inbox, I'll post directions on how to input your workout into our new data base...this is a work in progress!

Also, see our community forum for upcomming events!

Finally, this Thursday Adrienne will teach class and coach some in-depth techniques on the Kettlebell clean and jerk!

Friday, February 1, 2008

CrossFit Workout: Tabata Fight Gone Bad

Here in The Blue Room in Old Town Alexandria it's been one heck of a training week...
...today we put up another monster effort in a Killer Friday Workout!

It was great to see so many of you Challenge Yourself in this Workout
Our Core and Overhead Strength has gone through the Roof...
...I gotta think it's all of that Handstand practice!

Warmup:
Turkish Get-ups
Pushups
Pullups

Workout:

The Final OutPut is a New Data Base I'm Testing
There are a lot of functions I've yet to figure out but need to start entering Data to get a better understanding. How is that for a Warning of how Raw this Data is!