- 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
Mgmt: is the recovery WOD for all evening classes tonight?
FML…ANYONE ELSE LOOK LIKE TREX THIS AM?
Today I'm sore and injured and remembering how much fun yesterday was. I hope the secret recovery wod is Murph.
WOOT! Back in the gym after 2 weeks away–was in Colombia all last week, did not make it to CrossFit Medellin unfortunately. Before that went to CA for a wedding and checked out CrossFit Healdsburg, a nice little box in a nice little town. Got to deadlift for the first time in months and worked up to 5×205 which felt very smooth and easy, made me happy.
Did tomorrow's squats, Wendler "1" day:
(45, 95, 135×5) 160×5, 180×3, 200×4. Probably had one more in me but was feeling underslept and scared of the bar. Thanks to McDowell for the spotting & coaching.
Then, 4 rounds NFT of DB push presses & renegade rows @35#.
Nice work all on Murph! May have to come back next year and do it…
Joy, Yes
I'm feeling pretty good today! Here is what I did Post murph yesterday so that I wouldn't wake up today stiff as a board.
Post Murph Recovery
-I thought about rowing for a bit but I can safely say the 2nd mile was at or below a cool down pace as is.
– Couch Stretch, not sure how long each leg, I kept going back and forth and chatting with people. Probably like 8-10 minutes per leg total
– with a big LAX ball, hit Pec, lats and hammstrings. All a very long time
– Foam Roll Quads
– DROMS
– Drank 3 bottles of water while I was doing that.
Today I did a little extra work on my feet at home.
Grab your LAX ball and get after it, people!
woof.
All Things Considered story on Murph:
http://www.npr.org/2013/05/27/186650588/service-members-observe-memorial-day-through-sweat-and-tears
Great Murph day!!
Mgmt: Is there Active Recovery today? Or will the recovery WOD pretty much cover it?
Charlotte, I'll be in Healdsburg for a wedding in September – stoked to hear that there's a cool box there!
As with every CFSBK big WOD & gathering, yesterday was so inspiring (especially since it was in honor of our servicefolks), fun, and delicious. 3/4 Murph with jumping pullups in 47:21. My goal for yesterday was to never go to my knees. I have a weird love affair with strict pushups and had no idea if I had 100, let alone 150, in me – I was stoked to discover that I didn't have to drop once. They even felt relatively organized toward the end, though I have no idea if that's how they actually looked. 🙂
Post-Murph…woof. Not as heinous as I thought it would be and not as bad as I've felt overall after other WODs/endurance stuff, but calves are a little cranky (jumping pullups) and pecs/chest/around my shoulders are screaming at me when I move in certain ways.
LAX ball love later tonight, but holy cow is it going to sting.
Sorry if this has been asked and answered, but I couldn't find anything in the past few days about the programming for tonight. Is it Sunday/Wednesday optional with AR?
yesterday was great! really enjoyed getting to do my first partial murph & hanging out with everyone after. thanks MGMT for putting on a great workout & bbq!
my arms seem to be less and less usable as the day goes on. i sat down to eat lunch and my quads promptly told me that was a terrible decision when it was time to stand up again.
by this evening i imagine i'll be merely a rusting robot crumpling down onto my sofa to watch some more episodes of arrested development. maybe i'll see if i can throw the foam roller and the lax ball onto the couch before my body lands.
Great time MURPH-ing with everyone yesterday! Such a perfect day for it and nice to be gathered together, as always.
Coming of a month of no real crossfitting and a lot of non-paleo eating, I was a tad nervous about how this would go. My right foot/ankle has been on and off hurting to walk on and support weight, so I knew I wasn't going to run. Talking to DO on Sunday night at OG, he strongly suggested I do a 2K in front and in back of the workout, instead of the mile run. Glad he did, b/c I never would've chosen that on my own. So my murph was…
Row 2K
50 kipping pullups
100 strict pushups
150 squats
Row 2K
time = 48:00
First row was 9:00. Second was probably around 9:40. Arms were just totally gassed. My fastest 2K row time to date is about 8:20, so it was an interesting experience to do two with all this other stuff mixed in there, knowing I wasn't going to pull too hard. The second row was just slow and steady, closed my eyes for a bit in the middle and just felt the motion.
Really happy with how this went down. Fox's magical hand wraps were a huge success — I didn't tear and I almost always tear. This kept me moving. Pull-ups came back after disappearing on vacation and I was able to consistently knock out 5 in a row each time. Pushups all from my feet — this is a big accomplishment after years of knee-pushups with any kind of volume. They got down to 2 and 1 at a time during a few sets, but just kept moving. Air squats are always the easy/fast part for me, and it felt good to fly thru 15 each time.
Feeling sore today, although not as bad as I have in other high rep workouts. Good combo of lax/foam balling during the party, biking (a bit tipsily) around town afterward, rubbing arnica on my arms before bed, and taking some advil (for the muscle soreness and the potential hangover). I usually am total T-Rex, and I think all that stuff really helped.
Next year I won't go on vacay for a month beforehand and I will run and do a full murph!
Tonight:
Option A: Do Wednesdays Squats and Assistance Work
Option B: Do the floater Recovery Wod (KB/Run/Row with some AR elements mixed into a circuit)
Option C: Murph
There is A/R today
No Comp Class
Floater WOD should be good A/R with a bit more blood flow
Well, now that a day has passed here come my spoiler "I don't like the military post." I (think I) understand that the whole idea of memorial day is taking a moment to recognize those who gave their lives in military service. To ensure that we, collectively as a society honor and remember their lives and deaths. I hear that, I can respect that. What bothers me personally is couching the whole thing in a lot of subjective language- especially talking about sacrifice and/or service of America or "us," etc.
I do not feel that the vast majority of these men and women died to make me safer, to defend America, to protect freedom or anything of the sort. I- and many people like me- feel that hundreds and thousands of service people die annually- both American and foreign- to further someone else's political agenda. An agenda that I fervently disagree with and am enraged by. So "putting politics aside and honoring the troops" simply doesn't work for someone like me. To put it simply that feels to me like a dishonor to their memories by hiding the ill intentions of our military complex behind something sacrosanct like a soldier's death.
The other piece of this is asking what precisely does "support our troops" mean? If it's just bumper stickers and flags excuse me but that's BS. I know there are some people in the gym that are involved in the military in one way or another and I am not speaking to them. I mean for the average person. I suppose taking one day a year (at least) to honor the fallen raises the public conscious about military and war? Okay, I hear that. I would say however if that's the idea that it should be a somber occasion where we meditate on the devastating costs to life and society that we pay by doing business this way. As well, I would counter that there are two (that I can think of right now) very concrete ways that we can actually support the troops:
One would be to support through money of volunteerism organizations like the Wounded Warrior project that provide needed services to veterans. I mention this particular organization with the caveat that they provide services that the military should already be providing themselves, further highlighting the deficiencies in the system and my reluctance to celebrate it.
The other way to support our troops would be to actively defend their lives in the first place by fighting vehemently to keep them out of unnecessary and/or predatory wars of aggression. The fact is that the majority of military personnel join while young and undereducated. They are preyed upon by an advertising and recruiting blitz to join an all-controlling dishonest and disrespectful bureaucracy that that chews them up like a meat grinder. And before anyone tells me I'm offending them on that last point I have plenty of friends and met plenty of people who have been in the service and have been jerked around all sorts of ways; not to mention the absolutely rampant and disregarded sexual exploitation of female service members.
You don't have to be a fulltime activist, you can do small things like call/write your elected representatives, read/listen and inform yourself on the issues, join a rally or sign a petition, post a long diatribe on your gym's blog (hahaha). But seriously, think critically about what you're participating in (either explicitly or implicitly by virtue of your citizenship), and if it doesn't fit your value system get mad about it! Say something, it's your right and your duty.
So I was sad to not Murph yesterday with you all (due to physical condition) but also felt a little weird hanging out with all the paraphernalia. I wondered if maybe feeling the way I do about these issues if should not have been there. I do love being a part of the CFSBK community and I have tremendous respect for my fellow athletes. As well, while I have strong political opinions I try to be open minded (I know it's not showing right now) and so I stuck around- primarily because I love spending time with you all and belonging to this group, but also to mull these thoughts over and sort of observe how my thoughts progressed. That being said I am writing fairly critically on purpose to give one side of the argument. We'll see how I feel 12 months from now but I'm sad to say that I think I will likely stay home.
Noah B- this isn't the first time you've attacked the actions and/or thoughts of folks in our community on this blog when you thought you knew what they should be thinking and/or doing. You're perfectly welcome to your opinion and to act as you see fit, obviously. I take issue however with you suggesting that if someone isn't acting/thinking as you would then they are wrong. Your opinion is just that, your opinion…not fact, not science, not "the way" and to suggest that people who don't share your take on things aren't capable or willing to think critically is horseshit. I'd ask that you hold off on that type of attack in these posts. Facebook might be a more appropriate place.
That's just my take.
Fox- I agree with you totally. I didn't mean to attack anyone and do apologize if that's how I presented myself (very possible, I will re-read again with fresh eyes later). I guess what I intended was just to voice some discomfort with a community-wide celebration that I voluntarily joined. I know we had a spirited discussion last year capped off with a great and thoughtful blog post by Samir C.
To clarify, I don't think that people who disagree with me on this point are wrong. I did put in that paragraph that was highly (too?) critical of the military but again, I was just trying to throw out one strong, not uncommon opinion. You're right that it's only an opinion, a point which I tried to stress (maybe failed?) and I definitely do NOT think others are incapable or unwilling to think critically.
In the future I will restrain.
Hey thanks for the reminder about the ice in the freezer now that it's getting warmer in the gym. I can't wait to come in and rub some on my armpits. yeah, you're welcome, onlookers.
Thanks, Noah. To be clear I was/am not speaking to your opposition of the US military system or the fights they are involved in, neither am I attempting to discourage dialogue about it. Quite the opposite. I'd like people to feel like they can post here without feeling judged or preeminently attacked for having a different take on an issue than a vocal and strong worded poster.
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@JJ – Sweet. Can't wait to get your ice cold arm pits on the CFSBK Instagram page. I trust Whitney H can come up with a witty hashtag for it 🙂
I've been trying to figure out how to get some more olympic lifting practice in. Since I can't bail/fail in the office, I put together a little snatch assistance workout for today:
Hang Snatch
75×3 95x3x3
Snatch Pull
165×3 185x3x3
Sots Press
65×3 75x3x3
Toes to Bar
3×12
Question to coaches re: Sots Presses. Everyone knows they suck, but they also kind of hurt and I can't tell if it is in a good way or a bad way. It's not while pressing, or even during the eccentric unloading, but once the bar is racked again there are a couple seconds of a kind of burning feeling in the center of my traps, kind of between the shoulder blades. Am I just "feeling the burn" or could this be an indication of some improper movement?
Deadlifts: 135×5, 225×5, 225×3, 275×3, 515×5
Press: 45×5, 75×5, 95×5, 95×5, 95×5
Wanted to get some deadlift reps to see how my back is progressing. Went fine until 315 # when I started to round out. Felt a little funky. Kept the press light and everything moved as plan. Can't wait til next cycle when I reset everything back to zero.
Regarding some of the earlier posts I think we have to be careful when responding to differing opinions. One of the beautiful things about this blog and community is that we have all levels of discourse, from college professor to frat boy. We should all do our best to encourage and nurture that, because it is a rare commodity. God forbid this becomes a place where we ONLY posts scores and discuss how hot Rich Froning is (nothing wrong with that topic BTW)
With that being said when presenting our ideas on the blog we should be careful on our approach. We don't want to do it in such a way that others might be offended and feel that they can't then express themselves. It is not only important to get our ideas out but also allow for free flowing discussions and that's hard to do when we make statements that intimates that who disagree are automatically wrong or not as smart. Our tone matters. I think It is always better to err on the side of fostering MORE ideas and MORE discussion. Even the ideas we don't like and on the topics that make us uncomfortable.
1/4 Murph yesterday with full mile runs, strict push-ups, and jumping pull-ups: 24:55
Feeling good today, much better than last year. Thanks to MGMT, coaches, and volunteers for another great community day.
Today, BSQ: 140x5x3 (PR! OK, just a little one, 2.5#)
140 had replaced 115 as my mental barrier, but today, with the help of Jess Bailey's magical lifting belt, I passed it. Thanks to Ellie for encouraging me to wear the belt in the first place and for the wonderful, calm cues throughout my work sets. I'm lucky lady to have such strong women friends! 🙂 🙂 🙂
NFT work:
DB PPs: 15, 17.5, 20, 25
RRs: 15 for all (oh, my weak core)
Whipping up a casual batch of rice pudding right now to celebrate. Lift big, eat big.
Well said Cloyd. Generally speaking, almost everyone who posts here seems to make an earnest effort to leave room for differing opinions. To me that's the most important part of any dialogue: not shutting down the conversation.
Personally, I didn't take Noah's post as an attack but a a well intended (if perhaps paternalistic) look at alternatives. But that may be because I'm a fairly radical pacifist. Regardless, I think it's a conversation that we'll have to keep having and I'd hate to see it stop.
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Texas Method Volume Day
Squats: 275×5, 300x5x3, 275×5
The 3rd set of 300 was the tightest and best.
I'm pretty sore from yesterday's none-Murph workout. A ton of Power Cleans, 5 sets of benching and arm work at Crunch gym with my old college buddy. The Lafayette gym has a nice platform and bummer plates…
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omg, rice pudding…
@Todd- Sots presses suck, but they are the best thing in the world. Do it, DOO EEET.
8am!!!! massive 2 person class with Jess. First day of recovery week.
Press 3×5@165
Deadlift: Heavy set of 5…335.
Helen NFT: SO SLOW, im so out of shape…this is the first time ive run in months, and i hope it stays that way. Where are my donuts? More importantly, WHERES MY BANANA??
"Look at the current situation with that camel fucker in Iraq. Pacifism is not something to hide behind.” Walter
Annie is hot, Rich in not. I feel so liberated.
Jake, did you know that bananas do not grow on trees?
6:30 with Melissa. Recovery wod was the perfect fix.
Happy to have had time to roll around and work my pecs out. Rowing AND running felt so good tonight. I wish I didn't have to wait until tomorrow to squat.
I just lost half an hour of my life, that I will never get back, contemplating the idiocy of that post. If your goal was to enrage people…Mission Accomplished!
1st Post –
Happy that Melo helped convince me to do a scaled Murph. Did the mile runs but scaled to 1/2 reps, knee pushups, and ctb pullups. Elyse and I came by yesterday and saw how stoked everyone was to have done it… Glad we got a second chance. 37:42, which I'll be crushing next year.
Glad to hear this is a place that invites open discourse. War is a tough subject to digest as a civilian. I'm not sure there are many people out there who have enough info on ALL the factors to critique; I know I certainly don't. I can say that I'm anti-death. So I'm bummed that Murph died so young. Glad to honor him and proud to do (half of) his workout – I'll be sure to remember (memorialize?) his name.
Without getting too involved in the above discussion, I just want to throw in these two cents… This was the first experience with CFSBK outside of group classes, and was (at least from a civilian's perspective), the most healthy, politically neutral, incredibly positive way to celebrate Memorial day that I can think of, and I couldn't have had more fun. Thanks to everyone at CFSBK who made it easy for a newcomer like me to jump in head first. I can't wait until next year!
Brad
Re: Military
I actually see both sides of the debate.
I am very grateful that we have a strong military to defend our nation when necessary. That being said, I know for a fact though that this same military does deliberately target certain less-fortunate citizens when enrollment scouting… based on socioeconomic and/or ethnic demographics… to get them to possibly die on behalf of causes they may or may not believe in… with the notion that they don't have other options based on their lots in life.
Thus, Noah Barth… I get where you're coming from.