Workout of the Day
Muscle-Up Progressions
-break
Seven rounds for time:
7 Dumbbell Thrusters 50/35#
7 Burpees

You're looking at our "Student Athlete of the Week." The intensity has picked up and NATALIE is well on her way to being stronger and more athletic. She has increased the weights recently and jumped up to the big bumper plates. Barbell exercises like this one have given her more confidence and capacity outside of the gym. We're excited to see her at THE PALEO DIET SEMINAR on January 8th with Professor Loren Cordain. Can't wait to see where she'll be a few months from now... GO NATALIE!

Workout of the Day @ Home
As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:

Run 400 meters
20 Burpees

GYM CLOSED FRIDAY & SATURDAY


Jackson's 1st Christmas

Workout of the Day @ Home
For time:
50 Sit-ups

10 Squats

40 Sit-ups

20 Squats

30 Sit-ups

30 Squats

20 Sit-ups

40 Squats

10 Sit-ups

50 Squats

If you're not aware, the gym will be closed tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday. Some of you may be traveling or unable to make it to class over the next week or so... this is a chance to motivate yourself and try a TRAVEL WOD. One of my favorites is called SHOT GUN: 50 Burpees for time. Check back tomorrow for the "Workout of the Day" - it's one you can do at home. Otherwise, let's see who can come up with the MOST CREATIVE TRAVEL WOD. Sorry - wrapping gifts for time doesn't count!



Workout of the Day
Max Height Box Jump
-break
Ten rounds for time:
10 Pull-Ups
10 Box Jumps 24/20"

Over the past 2.5 years I've made a telling observation about our CrossFit (weightlifting and gymnastics) program. Most gymnastics movements require more skill than weight lifting movements. With the exception of the snatch and clean & jerk, most barbell and free weight exercises are fairly easy to learn. For example, the muscle-up takes much longer to learn than say... the bench press. This is true for most of our students and it's an important factor when considering which exercises to include in our weekly programming. Basically, high skill movements (muscle-ups) must be practiced more consistently, than low skill movements (bench press) in order to make progress over time. To quote Mark Rippetoe... "I can teach any idiot how to squat in ten minutes." Yet, it took me nearly a year to get my first muscle-up. Due to this fact, our programming going into the new year will have an increased emphasis on gymnastics; tumbling, handbalancing, bars, rings and paralette drills and skills. This will help everyone, from beginner to advanced, overcome weaknesses - making all of you more functional people, more well rounded athletes - more CrossFit.



On a side note, there are some local weightlifting or barbell clubs that focus entirely on lifting weights and believe that certain body weight exercises such as rope climbs, muscle-ups, pull-ups, etc are not important since they do nothing to increase their lifts. These folks tend to gravitate towards lifting weights because gymnastics are difficult and take more time to develope. We are NOT A "BARBELL CLUB"... we are a thriving CrossFit program that is true to the CrossFit methodology, training with constantly varied, functional movements executed at high intensity. ADAM (above) has a solid bench press but he'll be working hard to get his first muscle-up in 2011.

Workout of the Day
Bench Press
3-3-3-3-3
Follow each set of 3 reps with max reps push-ups within 30 seconds of racking the bar.
Score is weight x average number of push-ups.
-break
21-15-9 rep rounds for time of:
Dumbbell Hang Squat Clean 50/35#
Burpee