• Thank you so much to everyone who volunteered to help out yesterday and make our Memorial Day Murph one of the smoothest and most successful to date. We were honored that so many people chose to spend their holiday with us honoring Lt. Murphy and those that we’ve lost. 
• If you came to Murph AND will be coming on Wednesday AANNDDD will be coming today, we’ve got a floater recovery WOD programmed for you tonight.

Beat The Heat

Memorial Day not only marks the time of year we get to do “Murph” and drink beers, it’s also the beginning of Summer..  This change of environmental conditions comes with some new responsibilities that we all need to be aware of.  The two biggest risks when working out in high or humid temperatures are dehydration and heat stroke.  Dehydration occurs when your body loses more water than it requires for normal functioning and heat stroke occurs when your body temperature rises faster than you can regulate.  Both of these conditions are very serious and can lead to sickness and even death in extreme cases.  That being said, you can do a few simple things to make sure you’re safe while working out:

1. Hydrate! Drink cold water before, during and after you exercise.  We have two water pitchers in the fridge for everyone to help themselves to.  We encourage everyone to bring their own reusable water container but also have cups available if you forget yours or don’t own one.  Try to drink water at regular intervals, you want to be taking in more water than you’re losing so don’t wait until you’re thirsty to start chugging.

2. Listen to your body  If you’re feeling lightheaded, dizzy, nauseous, begin to cramp or display anything resembling fever symptoms, it’s time to stop, cool-down and hydrate.   Sometimes during hard workouts we try to “push through the pain” but remember that putting yourself at risk in order to shave off an extra :15 seconds is both dangerous and contrary to why you’re here in the first place. (to get fit!)

We also have ice in the freezer available in both cubes and cups that you can grab to eat, rub on your body (head,neck,chest, armpits..).

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IF… Vsauce
Top 5 Regrets of the Dying Guardian

For time:
1 mile Run
100 Pull-ups
200 Push-ups
300 Squats
1 mile Run

Partition the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats as needed. Start and finish with a mile run. If you’ve got a twenty pound vest or body armor, wear it.

The full version above is a bit too much for most folks. We’ll explain how to scale for volume and movements at the gym. The average times for this workout range from 45 minutes to just over an hour. Blazing fast times as Rx’d are in the mid to low thirties.

Post time to comments.
compare to 5.27.12

Memorial Day Murph

In memory of Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., who was killed in Afghanistan June 28th, 2005.
“This workout was one of Mike’s favorites and he’d named it “Body Armor”. From here on it will be referred to as “Murph” in honor of the focused warrior and great American who wanted nothing more in life than to serve this great country and the beautiful people who make it what it is.”

• To learn more about Lieutenant Michael Murphy check out the his page on the Navy Seals website and his biography on wikipedia.

• To learn more about “Murph Day”, read, “At CrossFit, a Military Regimen With Geek Appeal” from the NY Times. This article was based on their visit to CFSBK and CrossFit NYC last year.

This workout is dedicated to everyone who has sacrificed their lives in the US Armed Forces. Take a moment today to thank someone who has served and reflect on those we’ve lost. If you’d like to donate to a good cause, we recommend the Wounded Warrior Project.

Participation Reminder

Please be ready to go at the time you signed up for. That means you’ll need to get there early and warm-up on your own. Here is a good MWOD for that if you’re not sure what to do. The gym will provide beer and meat for all who attend. If you can bring a side it would be much appreciated.  We’ve also got commemorative T-Shirts in house today. They are first come first serve!

The gym will be open starting at 7:30am today. We’ll start grilling around 11:00am and be done around 3pm… maybe. There are no evening classes today.

Fitness: Heavy 5
Work up to a heavy set of 5. This should be about 5-15lbs heavier than last week.

Performance: 5/3/1 (3 week)
70%x3
80%x3
90%x3+

Press

Fitness: 3×5 Across
Perform your sixth 3×5 of Pressing for the cycle. Add 2-5lbs from last week’s weight.

Performance: 5/3/1 (1 week)
75%x5
85%x3
95%x1+

Post loads to comments.
DL e5/6, Press e4/6
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3 Rounds NFT of:
400m Run
21 Kettlebell Swings, 53/35
12 Pull-Ups or Ring Rows

Consider doing Ring Rows if you’re “Murphing” tomorrow.

Coach Nick and Charmel at CRASH Bs

Thanks to everyone who’s signed up for Murph tomorrow! Remember that we need some sides so if you can grab a fruit salad or make some quick veggies or crudite it would be much appreciated! We love you!

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Competing in Silence

Fitness: 3×5 Across
Add 5lbs from last weeks Squats.

Performance: 5/3/1 (3 week)
70%x3
80%x3
90%x3+

or 70%x3x3 if you already hit your “3 week”

Post loads to comments.
Squat e9/12
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7 minute ascending ladder of:
Front Squats 135/95
Toes to Bars

For the rep scheme, start at 3 and 3, then move on to 6 and 6 adding by three reps to the previous round until time expires. Front Squats are taken from the floor. We’ll discuss scaling the T2Bs in class.

Post total reps and Rx to comments.

Brad gets ready for 30 Burpees in 13.1

• If you didn’t sign up for your Murph heat yet and see that they’re basically full. Fear not! You can sign up in the “Coaches Heat” at the end of the day.  Check out the events page for all the details.

A Warm-Up Refresher

We’ve been hitting the Standardized Warm-Ups for the last 6 weeks and are pleased to see people working dilligently on their calisthenics.  Here are a few points to keep in mind as you continue to make these part of your routine:

Intensity
You shouldn’t be approaching faliure with any these movements. The idea is not to necessarily make it harder each time you do it or test your limits, we want to build a base of sub-maximal volume to gradually build upon. Make it your goal to gradually work closer to Rx’d reps and mature versions of these movements but only after you can perform a submaximal sets or variations wth perfect technique. For example, if you do 10 push-ups as 5-3-2, keep that up until it feels less difficult and then attempt a different rep scheme like 6-2-2 or 5-4-1. Or if you’ve got 1 or 2 strict push-ups, do 2 strict at the top of each round and then finish out with 7 switch push-ups. Play around with how you approach these warm-ups but always keep some gas in the tank.

Movement Tempos
Tempos can be very useful with even the most basic movements.  Holding the bottom of your squat for a 1 count not only strengthens the bottom position but helps open up your hips and ankles.  Remember that good movement is born out of good initial starting positions.  If the top of your push-up is soft then the mechanics of everything that follow it will accordingly suffer. Rushing through these movements can actually be counter productive.  You might develop bad habits, reinforce poor posture and overdevelop one part of the movement at the expense of another. For example if your pull-ups are always just barely over the bar you might get great at doing moderate volume pull-ups at 90% of the Range of motion. Very frustrating when you start failing getting over the bar at all during workouts and you can’t figure out why. One little trick is to think about someone taking your picture at the top and bottom of each repetition. What would you want it to look like?

Variations
Here are some ideas on how to vary your movements to better suit your weakness or needs:

• Do you have a problem with your knees caving in during squats? Why not throw one of the green therabands above your knees to help strengthen that aspect of the squat during warm-ups.  Have you never tried squatting with a theraband? Throw one on and see how it feels, you might be surprised. 
• What if you have trouble hitting depth? maybe grab a 12″ box or a Wall Ball and work on hitting a target. If your knees tend to shoot forward try squatting in front of a bench.
• Do you find that your body type makes it hard to get deep on push-ups?  Try using a few bumper plates under your hands so you can get a little deeper.  This might also be a good option for folks who struggle with strict push-ups and want a little elevation.
• Are you doing 3 sets of 5-8 pull-ups without thinking twice about it? Why not make it a little more difficult by going chest to bar or doing an L-Sit Pull-Up? You might have to drop the total reps to make these submaximal but you’ll be developing other areas in the process.
• Lunges too easy? Add a bumper held overhead or in front to increase the stress.
• If push-ups are easy you can try a ring push-up or weighted push-up with a bumper plate on your back.

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Jason Khalipa sets a new “Jackie” record at 5:04

Ryan Joyce Takes His Rest Day To the Gym