Below is a guest post from kettlebell athlete Jen. Many times, when someone begins a fitness quest, they tend to become fixated with reaching a certain number on the scale. This fixation can easily become an obsession and that person can lose sight of the bigger picture. Through sharing her story, Jen encourages you to forget what the scale says and focus on the positive changes you can see in the mirror and through performance.

WOD – 8.31.2010

Row 1000 meters
21-15-9
Knees To Elbows
Push Press
Burpees

Max reps ring pullups X 2

Today is a bit of a test. For the past few months, we’ve added some extra strength work and today we’re going to see how far our experiment has taken us through the test that is known as the CrossFit Total.

There are a few guidelines for performing this workout:

Warmup using the table on the whiteboard (in the gym) before performing your first official attempt. The first attempt would be a weight you know you can do for a heavy set of three. The second attempt would be a weight you know without any doubt that you could do for a single, having just done the first attempt. And the third attempt is the weight you want to do, based on your performance on the previous two attempts.

Squat

The press is also done from the racks. The bar is held in both hands in front of the neck, taken out of the rack and walked back away from the rack. No contact with the rack is permitted until the bar is replaced in the racks. Once the stance is assumed it cannot change until the lift is completed. The starting position must be upright, with the knees and hips fully extended and the chest up. The bar must be in contact with the top of the shoulders or the chest, whichever individual flexibility permits. After the starting position is correctly assumed, the bar is pressed overhead until the elbows are completely extended, with the bar in a position directly above the ears. Once this position has been attained, the bar is lowered back to the front of the shoulders and walked back into the rack and replaced.

Deadlift

The deadlift is performed with the bar on the platform or floor. The lifter assumes a position facing the bar, with the bar parallel to the lifter’s frontal plane. The bar is gripped with both hands, and pulled with one continuous uninterrupted movement until the lifter is standing erect with knees and hips fully extended, the chest up and shoulders back. Once this position is attained and the bar is motionless, the bar is lowered under control with both hands back to the ground. The bar may not be dropped.

A full description of the CrossFit Total can be found in this free pdf download from the CrossFit Journal.

WOD – 8.30.2010

“CrossFit Total”
Back squat, 1 rep
Shoulder Press, 1 rep
Deadlift, 1 rep

Sadly, American farms are looking less and less like this.

Inspired by a sobering post by Marcus at CrossFit Intrepid yesterday, today we’ll offer a few links about the many benefits of grass-fed beef. Although we are not as fortunate as our neighbors in the northern part of our state that boast a large number of farms and ranches producing grassfed meat, eggs and dairy products, we can still buy a few varieties of grass-fed meat at some local markets. Locally you can find it at Henry’s Marketplace (Temecula Pkwy, Winchester), Trader Joe’s (Winchester), and Sprouts Natural Market (Winchester) just to name a few. If you know of any other spots where you can pick up grass-fed beef, go ahead and post them to comments.

Further Reading:

John Robbins – What about grass-fed beef?
Dr. Michael Eades – Another reason to eat grass-fed beef

WOD – 9.10.2012

Back Squat 5 x 5  (80-85%)

___________________

All Levels:

Max Distance Row in 2 Minutes x 3 attempts.  Rest as needed between rounds.

——————————–

Level One:

Same as All Levels

Post times to comments.

From MilitaryTimes.com:

Army Sgt. Keith A. Coe

Died April 27, 2010 serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom

30, of Auburndale, Fla.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.; died April 27 in Khalis, Iraq, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an explosive device.

‘Coe Daddy’ served as the family prankster

Keith Coe and his brother, Matt, had a rough childhood and didn’t always get along. But that didn’t keep them from being close friends later in life.

As kids, Matt would say, “Let’s go to Blockbuster and get a movie.” Keith would reply, “Let’s get on top of Blockbuster and make a movie.”

“He kicked the crap out of me for the first 11 years of my life. You know, big brother stuff,” Matt Coe said.

Keith Coe also was the family prankster, the man known to his soldiers as “Coe Daddy” who worked extra hard to make sure the men reporting to him couldn’t outdo him.

The 30-year-old from Auburndale, Fla., was killed April 27 in Khalis, Iraq. He was assigned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

Keith Coe got into some trouble with the law and spent time in jail, but made a complete turnaround when he was released, his family said. He met his wife at a restaurant the pair worked at, and they capped off their marriage with a Hawaiian-themed wedding, said his grandmother Dawn Jones. Of course, grass hula skirts had to be part of the deal.

Among those surviving Coe are his wife, Katrina; two sons, Killian and Keith Jr., and a daughter, Klover.

WOD -8.26.2010

“Coe”

Ten rounds for time of:
10 Thrusters
10 Ring push-ups*

*sub parallette pushups or hand-release pushups

Not THIS kind of mobility.

It’s funny that when entering the word mobility into Google, images of Rascal scooters appear in droves. The irony is that by adding mobility work into our training, we’re hoping to avoid ever having to rely on these devices in our later years. Lack of mobility can place an athlete in positions that leave them vulnerable to injury. Many of us suffer from lack of mobility in some way or another. Like many things we do in the gym, mobility work is a skill. In order to get better at it we have to work at it…daily.

The good news is that you can do this almost anywhere especially in the comfort of your own home (even your couch). The better news is that Kelly Starrett has started a new blog called MobilityWOD. He dishes up just what the blog’s title suggests, daily workouts designed to improve mobility.

From the site’s About section:

“This blog is intended as a jump off point for athletes to systematically begin to address their nasty tissues and grody joint mobility. Be cool. Use at your own risk and stop if you think it’s gonna hurt you, your spine is going to come out your throat, or your face goes numb. But, understand that you should be responsible for your own business. Don’t wait until you need a new knee. Pony up.”

WOD – 8.25.2010

Skillwork: L-Pullups (work for 10-15 minutes) – Sub L-Hang>Tuck Hang

3 Rounds for reps/calories at 1 minute stations of:

Sledge Strikes
rest 1 minute
Row
rest 1 minute
Burpees
rest 1 minute