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18-22nd October...United We Stand.

This week was the start of the week to culminate in The York Divided We Fall Games, organised by CrossFit Velocity in Swansea.

Did we veer away from the normal? Not really, we just took into mind that we knew some of the events. Some movements were tried and tested just to see where we stood and to help with planning strategy.

18/10/10
5x5 Deadlifts

Then

3 Rounds max reps thrusters

Then

Firemans carry practice
(Yes there is a technique to this...thanks to our Ex-Marine, Ravin' Dan)

19/10/10

Ground To Over Head 3 attempts

(Just pick off the floor as much as possible and get it over head)

Bent over rows

3 RDs
Sumo Deadlif High Pulls x 50 (Rest 60 seconds between rds)


20/10/10

Front squat 5x5

WOD

Kettlebell swings 20,18,16….2
Burpees 2,4,6…..18,20

21/10/10

25Burpeees
50 squats
50 Swings
50 K2E
50 Mountain climbers
50 Box jumps
50 SDHP
25 burpees

11-15th October: Grip it

11/10/10

Squats 3x3

WOD 3RDs 5x 1 minutes of

Farmers walk
Kettlebell swings
Pull ups
Air squats
Push ups

12/10/10

Push press 3 x 3

WOD
50SDHP

21,15,9
Burpees
Box jumps
Pull ups

50SDHP

13/10/10

Hang Cleans 3x3

WOD

3 minutes box jumps

60 seconds rest

10 minutes Cindy:
AMRAP
5 pull ups
10 Push ups
15 squats

60 seconds rest

5 rounds:
10 Burpees
20 KB swings

14/10/10

Hang Snatch

5 rounds:
Deadlifts (60kg) (AMRAP 60 seconds)
Box jumps (AMRAP 60 seconds)

5 rounds:
Thrusters (30kg) x 10 (60 seconds cut off)
Press ups x 10

15/10/10

Dead lift 5x3

WOD
30,25,20....5
Kettlebell swings
K2E

4-8th October: Oly, Oly, Oly, Oi Oi Oi.

This week we had an oly focus to tie in with the CrossFit USAW games at the weekend.

04/10/10

Cleans 1RM

25 minutes to find 1RM

WOD from the Games

6 cleans @30kg
12 Pull ups
24 Double unders/72 singles
AMRAP in 10 mins

05/10/10

Split Jerks

25 minutes to find 1RM

WOD

5 Rounds

Push Jerk x 5 (80% 1RM)

Burpees x 10

06/10/10
OHS 1RM
25 minutes to find 1RM

WOD

21 15 9
Sit ups
OHS @ 20kg
Box Jumps

07/10/10

Dead lift
3x3

AMRAP 10-15 minutes

15 Deadlifts (60kg)
10 chin ups

08/10/10

Snatch 5x2

WOD

Sprints

5x 400m

Corrr, That's a strong Core

1 RM MAX Week.

Those who followed the programe improved, those he didn't, didn't.

27/09/10


DL 1 RM


WOD

20 K 2 E
20 Sit Ups
20 Box jumps
20 Bulgarian Bag around the worlds
20 press ups

x 3

28/09/10

Squats 1RM


WOD

AMRAP 20minutes

200m sprint
15 HPS (20kg)
5 Ring dips

29/09/10

Press 1RM

WOD
KB complex

5 swings
5 press
5 push press
5 snatch
5 thrusters
5 OHS

30/09/10

Overhead squat 5x3

WOD

21,15,9

Overhead Squat

Pull ups

01/10/10

Catch up on 1RM

September 20-25th: Lost and Found

It's been a long time since the last update, I know, but I lost my paparazzi camera and then found it again and time was also lost. Found the camera and some time again so here's some update.

20/09/10

Press 3x3

200m sprints x 10

Max rep dead hang pull ups
X 3 rds

100 sit ups

21/09/10

Snatch

AMRAP in 15 minutes
200 metres
10 x 30kg Power Snatch
5 x Ring Dips

Stability

22/09/10

Buran

21,15,9

Thrusters
Burrpees

This is a great variation that if you don’t have the pull up facility. We have that but just wanted to do this as it has that same I’m going to puke effect…possibly moreso.

23/09/10

3x3 Deadlift 90%

Running Jackie

24/09/10

3x 3 squats @90% = 55kg

Met Con

25 double unders 10 Burpees
25 double unders 20 Box jumps
25 double unders 30 Pull ups
25 double unders 40 sit ups
25 double unders 50 press ups
25 double unders 60 squats

16-17th September...To Be A Super Hero

16th September

Some shoulder stuff going on:

Hang power snatch 3x3

WOD

200m over head walk
400m run

3 rounds


17th September

So simple.

Ironman

20,19,18….3,2,1

Push ups
Sit ups

13-15th September...To be a Hero

13th September

Deadlifts 5 x 3 @ 85%
Press 3 x 5 @ 85%

WOD

A short Barbell complex that has seen several reps and set permutations.
In this instance aim to carry over some of the previous strength work and incoporate some explosive elements to develop that hip extension…again.

AMRAP 10 minutes

12 Dead lifts
9 Hang power clean
6 Front squats
3 Push jerk


14th September

Cleans 5 x 1

Then

Annie Gone Angry
50,40,30,20,10

Double unders
Burpees
Sit ups

Double unders require some skill and co-ordination. The more skill you have the more efficient you will be with DUs, and the quicker your times. So practice the skills. This WOD really tests your co-ordination under some respiratory stress.

15th September

Hero WODs are dedicated in memory to those who’ve served and passed by in war.
As such they are often challenging both the physical and the mental, to remind us of those who serve in the front line so we can live our lives as we choose.

Today, Badger was in the program.

30 Squat cleans @ 40kgs
30 Pull ups
800m run

3 Rounds

This needs to be scaled if you are not prepared for the volume of work here (90 cleans, 90 pull ups with 2.4 km run)

It was a sterling effort from everyone for this WOD, including those who did this at the 6:15 am session. Well done for completing it. We know that it seems the end is far when you start. But, the time it takes to complete is little to ask as a dedication for Badger.

9-10th September

9th September

Hang power cleans
6x2 @ 85-90%


This was followed by:

5 Rounds

Power clean x 10
Push ups x 20

Aim to keep that hip explosive and elbows fast to get that bar up


10th September

Squat 5 x 5 @ 80%

Jump rope practice.
Double unders
Singles,

Just jump that rope, lots and fast.

7th-8th September: Abs,deltoids, lats and legs

7th:

Press 5 x 5 @ 80%

Followed by a core conditioning workout.

Nancy
400m run
15 x OHS @ 40kg

5 rounds

If you lack core stability, shoulder flexibility and or shoulder stability, this will find you out.

8th:

Some rounding at the second half of the dead lift pull was addressed by doing these:

Rack pulls 5 x 5

Working up to sub maximal-max loads also helps also build confidence.

WOD:

Remember the articles about hand care…read again before doing this

Run 2000m and 200 reps.

Split as follows.

200m run
10 pull ups
10 kb swings

X 10

6th September: Little beast.

Deadlift

5 x 5 @ 80%

WOD

This shorty is a lovely little beast.
The beauty of this, like all WODS, is it can be scaled to so many levels...use your imagination

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1

Burpee - tyre jump
Sit ups

Short sharp suckage.

(check out Paul McCabe doing concentration curls in the back ground)

September 3rd: 999 - 9 reps at 90 percent in the 9th month

Squat 3 x 3 @ 90%
Press 3 x 3 @ 90%


WOD

4 Rounds

Kettlebell swings x 15
Push press 20/40kg x 15

September 2nd: Loneliness of the long distant runner...

This blog post is dedicated the dude that is Jon Craig who did the follwoing on his own:

30,25,20,15,10,5

Thursters 20kg

Burpees

Knees to Elbows

Not quite long distance, but you get what I mean.

Well done dude, pretty gruesome...

...but he was a happier chap when he finished then when he started.

September 1st : Splitting up with Helen

1st of the month saw a variation of the snatch that is more forgiving for weaknesses in flexibility.
Split Snatch 7 x 1

This was followed on the original girl that has sprouted larger and more punishing sisters

Helen

3rds
400m
21swings
12 pull ups

26-27th August...Back to business

26-27th August

26th August Thursday
Press 5 x 3 @ 85%
Squat 3 x 5 @ 85%

27th August Friday
Split jerk 6 x 2

Pistol practice

50 burpees
X 3 rest exactly the time it takes to complete the burpees on the round before

25th of August...

Tonight we saw a WOD dedicated to The Dude, Founder, and Coach of CrossFit Reading.

Andy is heading off to sunnier pastures and spread his knowledge through his new venture, Integrated Fitness, in South Africa.
We’re all sorry to see him leave as he takes with him the passion and intensity that has taken CrossFit Reading to where it is today. And behind every great man is a great women, and in this case it is Jenny who has helped and support Andy throughout his pursuit to establishing CrossFit Reading. We’ll miss you both.

However, it’s not over. This chapter ends, but two new ones begin.

CrossFit Reading will continue, and Andy will still be involved in the back ground with programming as well as returning for workshops in the future.

See you soon Dude.

The fare well WOD tonight was partly dictated by weather, but the principal is there.

Andy named two WODS after his daughters, Sasha and Macey, and the WOD incorporated these. The WOD is an AMRAP, everyone starts at the same time and finshes at the same time…as a team, an ethos which the Dude always believed in.

WOD

MACSHA

AMRAP 5 minutes each station 2 rounds (30minutes of work)

Station A
5 pull ups
5 toes to bar
5 burpees

Station B
10 Overhead lunges(15kgs/10kgs)
10 push ups
10 box jumps

Station C

Rx 50kgs for the Dude.
Round 1 – Sasha reps –burpee snatches
Round 2 Macy reps – burpee thrusters

23rd-27th August...one chapter ends, but two begin.

This week was another significant week in the life of CrossFit Reading.

23rd August

The load goes up to 85%

Deadlifts 3x 5 at 85% 1RM

WOD

Isabel 30 x Snatch (Power) @60kgs

24th August
Hang Cleans 4 x 3 at 85% 1RM

WOD

Nicole
400m run
Max pulls ups

AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) in 20 minutes

25th of August.....

Farewell : (...but see you soon... : )

This month, we also had to say a few farewells. The first of these was a temporary farewell to two of our original members who have been with us since the school hall days over 2 years ago.

Si and Mel have worked had in life and the gym in order to prepare for their travels in South America. Thanks both very much for your support and efforts at CrossFit Reading, you’ve been amazing members.

Best of luck with your travels. We will miss you both and we look forward to your return and hearing about your adventures when you return.

16th -20th August - The load is at 80%...but effort is always 100'

This week sees volume increase slightly, focusing on 5 x5 at 80% on our core lifts (Squat, Deadlifts and Press).
80% of 1RM doesn’t sound much, but for 25 reps, it isn’t a push over.
Focusing on form is paramount as fatigue will set in.

16th August, Monday

Squat 5 x 5 @ 80%
Press 5 x 5 @ 80%

Finishing with
Max sit ups in 3 mins

17th August, Tuesday

Power clean 6 x 2

Followed by a WOD with push press broken up with a 1 mile run:

Push Press 60kgs x 8
200m run

8 rounds

18th August Wednesday

Deadlift 5 x 5 @ 80%

Followed by a variation of a main site rowing favourite:

JackieISh

1k run
50 Thrusters @ 20kg
30 pull ups


19th August Thursday

The following WOD is Rx with 60kgs
But as we’ve mentioned in the past sensible scaling is required.
If your OHS 1RM max is 60kgs, this this WOD needs to be scaled…down to what ever load you can do with good form…when tired.

20 burpees
10 FS
15 burpees
10 Press
10 burpees
10 Thruster
5 burpees
10 OHS

20th August Friday

Hang Power Snatch 6 x 2

WOD
400m sprint x 5

3 min rest between rounds

9th of August: Pump up the volume

Week two of August see us build some volume into our benchmark lifts working at 70% of our week1 1RM.

Monday saw Squats 4x6

Tuesday the team worked on:

Hang Power Cleans (got to keep the oly lifts in there)

This was followed by a WOD of:

Pull ups 20,18,16…4,2
Push press 60kgs 2,4,6….18,20

This was a brutal WOD and scaling needs to be considered here if attempted.
Lets put this into perspective, this is a total of 110 pull ups and 110 push press.
Times as Rx ranged from around 24minutes to over 40minutes. This WOD is about mental fortitude as much as physical strength…but everyone loved it

2nd-6th of August: New month, new targets

So, into what should be the month of summer and start of a new cycle for us, this week sees us establishing some 1rm benchmarks which we will look to better. As a benchmark, we used the CrossFit Total lifts of, Squat, Press and Deadlift.

31st July: CrossFit Reading Gymnastics Workshop

This Saturday saw us close shop as all CF coaches and some members, along with others of the CrossFit and functional fitness community gathered at Basingstoke Gymnastics Club, Basingstoke Gymnastics Club, The Active Life Centre.

There was much awesomness.
And that was just the demo from the resident coaches who had international calibre knwledge to bestow upon us as well as some amazing (rings skills in particular.

There was a lot of knowledge gained which could easily see this workshop run for longer. Ultimately it was a fund day as we all got to enjoy the £6 Million facility. Handstands, rings, bars, and pits for flips and such were order of the day and were so much FUN, even though some of us landed on our faces.

This workshop is going to be the first of many, watch this space.

29th July 2010: BIG little Chief

Today, we did a variation for the CrossFit WOD The Chief.

BIG little Chief:

3 Power cleans

6 Push ups

9 Squats

Amrap 3 minutes

1 minutes rest

10 Rounds (30 minutes work total, 10 minutes rest built in)

Load was scaled down to deliver the full 10 rounds.

OMG!!!

28th July 2010: We know your pain, so...JUST...DO IT

PERSEVERANCE LEADS TO SUCCESS

27th July 2010: Broken

Hang Power Snatch
5 x 3

Weight was light to allow for technique focusing on full hip extension, minimal arm pull and keeping the bar close to the body.

WOD was Isabelle or Grace broken with 400m in between depending what athletes had done this month and also skill level on snatch technique:

Run 400
Dead Lift 30
Run 400
Hang-Cleans 30
Run 400
Front Squat
Run 400
Push Jerk 30

Isabelle variant replaced movements with snatch grip variations (snatch grip deadlift, snatch high pull, hang power snatch, overhead squat)
Grace variation could also be done with dumbells.

26th July 2010: Love Your Hands

Front squats 5 x 3

Focus on keeping back flat and also those elbows, up, up, up!!!

Little Angies

5 Rounds
Pulls ups x 20
Push ups x 20
Sit ups x 20
Squats x 20

The purpose of this segmentation was to break the pull ups into manageable amounts.
Pulls were scaled to enable everyone to be able to do the full range of motion of the push up movement.

HANDS...
One of the issues that the WOD highlighted was hand tears that resulted from doing the pull ups.

Torn hands are not something we care to brag about as the injury can prevent you doing certain aspects of training. But sometimes it happens.

This is through not holding the bar correctly. Ideally the grip should site in between the crevice of the palm and start of the fingers). For various reasons, such as bar size and comfort, people sometimes grip the bar in the middle of the palm. This creates a larger area of flesh that is pushed against the bar, but also gives a greater area for rubbing, leading to blistering and tears. The risk of tears is also increased with people who do bigger kips as the hand movement against the bar is greater. Bar texture will also influence degree of risk to hand tear.

Some great advice can be found at CrossFit Virtuosity on hand care and management for training. Read it and follow the advice:

http://www.crossfitvirtuosity.com/articles/ive-got-to-hand-it-to-you-part-1/

23rd July 2010: A Great Day

Today was a great day as new members, Ben, Chris, Eddie, Rachel, Sameer and Zack all passed completed their induction. Well done everyone!

To celebrate, some of the guys then did:

Grace

30 clean and over head anyhow: 60kgs

22nd July 2010: Pull, Pull, PULL!!!

Push Press 5x 3

WOD

3 Rounds

Skip 200
Pull ups x 20
Ring Rows x 20
SDHP x 20

Actually, the Sumo Dead Lift High pull is not dominantly a pulling movement. It's placement as the end movement in this sequence requires that an aggressive leg drive and hip extension in order to 'pull' the bar to the required height following the pull ups and rings rows.

This WOD highlights why we don't use isolation arm movements...try it and see what we mean...

21th July 2010: Back and Abs

To start:
Dead lift 5x5

To finish:

4Rds
Run 400
Sit ups 40
Swings 40

Simple but effective.

Run can be subbed with double unders.

A real gasser, but a great one for the core to tie in with the deadlifts.

The guys loved this for some reason...and it wasn't because it was easy...it isn't.

19th-20th July 2010: Knowing the ropes... when trainers train

19th July
Started with Overheads squats 5x5

We can all run, but lets add in a co-ordination skills element...

WOD:

4Rds
400m run
40 Rope Doubles/100 singles

20th July

Snatch high pull 5x3

Today, CrossFit Reading Trainers also got the chance to jam together, first time in a while.

It's a good opportunity for us to test run the WODS to be done in the sessions and also try some new things.

20th July

Elizabeth
Scaled or push up variation
21, 15, 9
Cleans
Ring dips