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

14th - 16th July

14th July

Hang Snatch 5 x 2

Focus on getting under that bar

WOD

Push Jerk 3 x 5

5 rounds Max Reps Hand Clap Push Ups

15th July

Squat 3 x 5


WOD

Pull Up x 1min
Box Jumps x 1min
20kg Thruster x 1min
Single Unders x 1min
Burpees x 1min

3 rounds for total reps

16th July

Push Press 5 x 3

This spent focusing on technique - with attention to achieving full hip extension to drive the bar up.

WOD

25 Burpees
50 Squats
50 Press Ups
50 Sit Ups
50 Box Jumps
50 KB C&P
25 Burpees

13th July: Legs of fire.

Sometimes there are advantages of writing a blog update in hindsight of a WOD. This is one of them.

The session was :

Hang Clean 3 x 5

This was followed by the WOD:

Lunge 50
Pull up 30
Lunge 50
Push up 50
Lunge 50
Sit up 70
Lunge 50
Squats 90

The set up looks simple, but the impact was beyond expectations.
The lunge movement requires a full range of motion for hip mobilisers, glutes, quads and hams.

This was could be felt the following 2-3 days when everyone who did this WOD experienced muscular soreness.

It is not our purpose to always have soreness (though some people like it). However it did highlight that working the lower body though such a range of motion at a higher volume was something that was lacking in athletes capacity. Doing this for the first time with additional load is not recommended.