AMRAP 10 minutes:
5 Push Press 115/75
10 Deadlift 115/75
15 Box jumps 24/20
Post rounds completed and Rx to comments.
Thruster Cascade
- There’s a new post on Inside the Affiliate about ancillary equipment we think is essential. Check it out
- Don’t forget, you can bring your olympic lifting shoes back! Shoe storage rules can be found on Saturday’s Post
- Have you filled out our Feedback Form? Please let us know what you think!
Why Join a CSA?
Are you curious to know why CFSBK supports the Community Supported Agriculture model? Our very own Margie Lempert, founder of the CSA program here and currently finishing a masters’ degree in agroecology at the University of Wisconsin, will approach that question from several angles in a short series of articles. The first outlined the differences between industrial agriculture and agroecology. In Part 2, below she delves deeper into the ethical issues of animal welfare, and makes an argument for the ways in which an agroecological style of animal husbandry supports both a more “humane” and simultaneously more “animal” approach to livestock production.
Animal welfare is an enormous topic in livestock agriculture; here are just two aspects to consider.
Cows, Grass, Grains and Gas
A cow was meant to eat grass, not corn, soy or gummy bears. Blah blah blah… heard that a million times… got it. Perhaps not a message worth repeating, but rather explaining.
Cows’ tummies are sensitive. Their digestion is complicated, and success is highly dependent on the microorganisms that colonize the rumen, a cow’s largest of four stomach chambers. In fact, those little microbes are doing the heavy lifting of breaking down feedstock into available nutrients. What a cow eats impacts the conditions of its rumen, which determine the success of one microbial population or another.
The most troubling and ubiquitous problem a cow can develop is rumen acidosis, which occurs when the pH level of cow’s stomach drops to become more acidic. There are a number of factors that contribute to acidosis, but diet makeup is one of the biggest. Fast digesting carbohydrates induce fast acting microbial fermentation, which lowers rumen pH. Here’s what acidosis can cause: lethargy, excessive panting, bloat, diarrhea, poor milk production, hoof problems, anorexia, liver abscesses, and death.
Fast digesting carbohydrates means grains. Grasses are cellulosic and starchy; grains are sugary and easy to break down.
The benefit of feeding a cow a grain heavy diet is that it fattens quickly, which we want in an efficient, high output system. On a feedlot, we can get a cow to about 630 kg in 10 months; on a grass-based farm it takes 22-24 months to get a cow to about 540 kg. The former is obviously superior for satisfying demand. But there’s that troubling side effect of making the cow sick in the process. Antibiotics are a handy prophylactic tool, and as a bonus, confer growth benefits.
There’s also the change in microbial populations to consider. E. coli is probably the one we’re most familiar with. All cows have E. coli in their rumen (people too), but an acidic environment is favorable for E. coli to proliferate and survive. On a feedlot, there are a lot of animals confined to a small space, so they inevitably muck around in each other’s crap. Without the use of antibiotics, we risk E. coli ridden poop getting mixed into our ground beef. In the commodity system, it’s necessary to protect animals and people.
In pastured systems, cows are eating food that agrees with them, so they suffer from acidosis far less often, and less severely. Animals certainly get sick, but vets aren’t on staff like they are on a feedlot. Use of antibiotics is restricted to an illness that warrants treatment, such as pink eye. (As a side note – the organic beef program does not allow use of any antibiotics, but that can pose problems as well.)
Animals Expressing Their Animalness
Aside from the difference in disease prevalence on a feedlot vs. a pasture-based farm, there’s this idea that part of what makes a system humane is the ability for the animal to express its natural “animalness.” This is a strange, but intuitive concept that I best understood when I visited a large-scale confinement dairy operation followed by several grass-based dairies in Wisconsin. (I don’t know if you realize this, but Wisconsin is big into dairy.)
At Rosy Lane, the 800 or so cows live in absolutely pristine barns the size of football fields. They are well ventilated, mostly free from flies and each animal has its own stall bedded down in sand, which helps to minimize mastitis. Cows come into the milking parlor twice a day where employees neatly attach rubber suctions to their teats to extract milk. Animals are monitored carefully with fancy instruments for any signs of infection.
Upon closer inspection, a few odd things emerge: first of all, these Holsteins are humongous. Absolute milk beasts. Identical to the point that they are bred to have evenly spaced teats so that the rubber suctions can be applied and removed quickly – getting them in and out of the parlor fast is a point of pride for the owners. Cows live in their stalls and don’t really go out except to be escorted to the milking parlor. They are fed grains and a cocktail of drugs to suppress associated problems.
This is an example of an exceptional confinement operation. Animals are by and large healthy in this system, but the system itself is based on the idea that these cows are solely a means to an end: high volume milk production. The farmer’s path to profit is to make more, which leaves no opportunity for the cows to be cows, only to be milk suppliers.
We have to walk a ways out into the pasture to visit with Bert Paris’ cows. The herd of about 80 are shading themselves under some trees; it’s a warm day, and it has been a droughty year so they are running a little leaner than ideal, but still healthy. Fortunately, Bert had made enough hay from his land to supplement the less productive grass. His cows are all different sizes and colors. As he explains it, the variety comes from cross breeding cows based on characteristics like temperament, ability to learn the daily routine and the right body type for the climate. These qualities are more important to him than “high producers” because he sees his cows as long-term employees who have to get along with each other and him, be reliable and adapt to seasonal climate shifts. Bert is part of a grass-based cooperative where members pool their milk to make high-end cheese. He doesn’t produce nearly the same volume of milk as Rosy Lane, but he can extract a bit more value from it by turning it into cheese and yogurt, and selling excess milk to Organic Valley. Bert sees cows as participants rather than vehicles for milk.
The two farms both want to maintain healthy animals, but with different perspectives on how and why. If livestock welfare is important you, how do you define a healthy approach? Do you think as long as an animal is free from disease, it achieves good health?
Coming up next…. Environmental impacts
_____________________
Don’t forget to submit your 14.5 score by tonight at 8:00pm!
This was the best I felt during a workout in a long time. Not sure if it was because 14.5 made this 13.2 seem incredibly easy or because Danny did an amazing job showcasing how to keep great pace throughout.
Total Score: 220 @ 95LBS
7 rounds + 5 Push Press + 5 Deadlifts
I remember that last year I did this at 75LBS and didn't get nearly close to the score I got today so this was great.
The push press went by pretty smoothly. Whenever I felt a bit of fatigue I rested at the top here. One of the biggest things here for me was a good strong clean to get the bar on my shoulders. The better my clean was the easier it was to start push pressing. The work I've been putting into my cleans really paid off here.
Nothing to report on the deadlifts. They were light.
At about the 5th round of the box jumps my legs felt shot but I knew it was just about keeping moving so I reverted to step-ups and found a great rhythm. I think if I stayed with box jumps they would have been slower than my step ups.
Really great day today.
6am with NickDowell
13.2 was a good choice for today's workout. I think everyone was coming off of a very humbling 14.5 experience and needed a confidence boost.
I hit 196 reps Rx'd which is is 37 more reps than last year and I wasn't nearly as sore back then. Very excited for the slight uptick in strength on that front.
Shout out to my partner Alex who crushed this and to Isaac who put up with 10 people cheering him on through 14.5.
Yay, 13.2 again! Worked with Ruth Party, which was great.
7 rounds + 8 box jumps (okay, step-ups). This is 4 more reps than I got last year. Before I checked I thought I had beaten my score by way more than that. Ha. Oh well, better is better.
Best of all, class wrapped up by 7:45 so I had time to practice ring dips. 3×5 with red band. Next time I will try the orange band. I can't quite do one unassisted but I am really close. I figure this is a milestone that will fall to me more easily than kipping pullups 😛
I feel bad/angry that my 14.5 score doesn't count towards the SBK team score since I forgot to submit my result for 14.4 last week. Sorry folks.
6am. 13.2 Rx: 213 reps (7 rounds + 3 pp). Felt like I was moving well throughout, yet this was 12 reps less than my score last time. Was hoping to do bounding box jumps, but one test during warmup nixed that idea. No spring in the legs after yesterday's DUs.
Also Josh Bridges got 7:49 (!!!) for 14.5. Top score in the world. Good lord.
http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/124483
I like commenting but it feels weird to post about strength cycle, but I'm going with "like" > "weirdness."
Today was class 5 and we're now in week 3. My numbers:
Squat: 210 (3 x 5)
Press: 110 (3 x 5)
Deadlift: 275 (1 x 5)
I got to watch both 6am and 7am crush the WOD. As @MattyChm said, hats off to Issac for nailing 14.5 with a group of 10 folks gathered around him.
7am with the peeps,
@95# 7 rounds + 7 DLs, partnered with Ben(?)
During warm-ups I decided to scale the 115 to 95, a decision I regretted after the second round since my PPs were going well. I also ruled out the idea of stepping up and jumping down after I realized my achilles are still tired from DUs yesterday.
Great seeing Raj, Rob K and Dave E. do this Rx.
Monday WOD envy is becoming a thing now….
6:30AM w/Jeremy
worked up to:
LBBQ 85 (back 10lbs from last week due to mobility issues)
Press 42.5
Deadlift 135
On another note I'm looking to move to a shared apartment close or with easy access to the gym between now and May 1. Budget is between $900-$1200. Shoot me an email if you know of anyone looking for a roommate. I'm quite, respectful, considerate, workout early (6-7am) work all day (10-7pm) and chill at night. berrios.michelle at gmail.com
6am with the gang
13.2: 209 reps. An improvement of 57 reps over last year's score of 152. This is amazing to me. Jerked all the shoulder-to-overhead. I took bounding jumps the whole way, and was even able to pick up speed on these toward the end. I bailed before my very last push jerk, which was a shame, because I ended up one box jump short of completing the 7th round.
8am with McDowell
Today's class was nugget-sized, which was nice. I didn't hold back my barrage of questions (one which included me self-diagnosing a hernia, that probably isn't a hernia. I'll get back to that later).
I'm digging Crush Week. We get straight to it. No bullshit. I was paired with Susan, who was awesome. We both used 53# for the Push Press and DLs. This allowed me to move pretty quick, so I think weight-wise I was on point (maybe next time I'd go for a few more LBs). I Rx'd the box jumps like a boss, but alternated strict jumps with step ups/downs to keep me moving, which worked out in my best interest. I had to consult McD about this, because my initial gut instinct was to do ALL STRICT the entire time – my thought process being that even if they slowed me down, the more I do them strict, the better I'll get at cycling them – which is the most ideal – right?!?!?
Sometimes I get confused about what to prioritize. For whatever reason, it bothers me to half ass something for the sake of time/reps/rounds, but I get it. It just doesn't sit well…yet.
Anyway. I finished 7rds + 5pp + 3dl. Sweat beads were dripping off my body, which made me very happy.
***
Back to the "Laura-might-have-a-hernia" situation. After last Wednesdays WOD (DLs + BJs) I was in quite a bit of pain in my lower right abdomen. It felt like a "pulling" pain, not a sharp stabbing pain, but it lingered for two days following. I can still feel something there now, but the pain has subsided. It didn't bother me during my workout today, so that's good, but I can still feel a sensitivity in the area. When I put pressure to it, I don't feel pain right now. There is also no visible or tactile bump/protrusion either. I have never experienced anything like this, and have never had any serious injuries/body issues, so it concerns me a little — any advice / insight as to what it might be would be appreciated. (But don't tell me not to workout…PLEASE.)
Make-up post.
Did the 14:5 on Saturday at 1pm. I was not looking forward to it and just wanted to get it done. My goal was to keep a good pace so I would finish before the time cap and without hitting a wall and just standing there staring at the bar. Finished at 20:48 thanks to Zachariah’s judging and coaching. Kind of happy with the time but wish I would have pushed myself a bit more to get under 20 minutes.
Went to my first AR class on Sunday with Fox. It was really good, I sure needed that after Saturday’s wod, and I will definitely take more AR classes from now on.
Monday 6am. Really liked this wod, great programming. Did it Rx’d and got 215 reps doing step ups. 7 Rounds + 5 pp. Happy with that.
I'm looking forward to tomorrows rest day.
7am with Nick and McD.
Really enjoyed this WoD – last year I had back issues and didn't enjoy it. Didn't make it through 5 rounds. Today I was well north of that – I think I got 7 rounds plus 5 PP and 5 DL. Thanks to Rob for scoring and Nick for getting in my face and not letting me leave the bar. PP and DLs were the easy part – just need more of an engine so I don't fatigue so badly on the BJs.
6am with NickDowell. This felt light and easy after doing 14.5 on sat. Rx'd with 6 rounds + 23 for 203 reps total. I did the step up and jump down after Michael A suggested it last week and felt like it helped me to move quicker than jumping up and stepping down. Maybe I could've done bounding, but not sure if it would've saved me any time in the end.
10am with Noah.
First time ever doing this WOD and did it RX which is such a rare thing I get to do!!
I got 6 rounds + 5PP, 10DL, & 5BJ for a total of 200.
PP felt heavy, DL felt great. I did jump up and step down box jumps. I don't know if that slows me down compared to step ups but I like jumping up.
Great start to the week!!
I am really enjoying this CSA series, Margie.
Folks – remember that Herondale, our meat CSA partner, is running a promo right now, their first ever, so this is the time to join! See yesterday's blog post (Sunday March 30) to get the details. If you have any questions at all, hit me up at mignyc at gmail dot com.
10am class with Noah. Partner with Eric.
1 rep shy of 8 rds.
I was too sore from 14.5 (my wrists) and my jabs shredded from Sunday's Wod so I went with 95# instead for the weight. Felt good and kept me moving as I should. Pretty much all unbroken with step ups.
Stayed and judged Josh's second attempt to beat his first time at 14.5. Impressive to watch and judge. Thank god tomorrow is a rest day.
Noon class with FoxRo. 7 rounds + 10 DL on the WOD, rxed, for a grand total of 225. When I did this in the Open last year I scored just over 6 rounds, 182. The big difference is I did all box jumps last year, and this time I started with box jumps and then switched to step ups very early on. As a result I was able to keep moving the entire time, whereas last year I remember resting quite a bit. Did a few push presses, but mostly push jerks on the S to OH. This is a really good workout, I liked it the first time around and I liked it even better today! It was fun to be partners with Whit, who also bested her score from last year.
A secret 14.6 team WOD was just announced:
http://i.imgur.com/r0cIDJD.gif
Today's workout was just what I needed – more so to shake off mental cobwebs than anything else, but apparently CF works out your musclez, so I'll take that, too.
5 rounds + the PP and one DL squeezed in at the end when Fox shouted at me to pick up the bar – thanks, Fox. 75# is a pretty heavy PP for me, so, fine.
One block sandbag jog was a nice cool down since the sun had come out! All followed by chipotle meatloaf and sweet potato salad=bomb.
@David: That's amazing. I'm in.
12pm group class with a great crew. partnered with KH, who rocked this out, esp. considering how cough-y she still is!
13.2 RX'd: 258 reps (8 rounds + 5PP +10DL + 3BJ)
This is 17 reps better than what I scored last yr during the open. Quads are still HELLA SORE from 14.5. Bounded the first set of BJ's, and then just quick step ups after that, alternating legs halfway thru. They were… uncomfortable. I had to laugh/smile about 2/3 of the way thru because my legs were just so tired. But this is one of those WOD's where you just have to suck it up and keep pushing non-stop for 10 minutes because the rep scheme is low enough that you have no excuse!
S2O: All push jerks, except for the first round which was PP. Bailed the bar and quickly reset for DL each round.
Timestamps and time to complete each round as follows:
1 – :50 = :50
2 – 1:57 = 1:07
3 – 3:08 = 1:11
4 – 4:20 = 1:12
5 – 5:35 = 1:15
6 – 6:53 = 1:18
7 – 8:12 = 1:19
8 – 9:21 = 1:19
and the last 18 reps done in :39.
7am
I really liked this WOD. I'm still getting used to early morning WODs, but this one felt good.
I got 5 rounds + 16 reps, at 95lbs and bounded box jumps on 24" box. I need to work on cycling my push presses, but at least I stayed on push presses without jerking.
Congrats to Rob Semmens and Jacinto for your amazing Open performance! Inspiring to say the least.
7 more reps than last year: 166 reps i.e., 5 rounds + 5PP + 10DL + 1box jump.
Happy to have kept push pressing and jumping throughout. Many thanks to Spencer for keeping count and egging me on.
13.2 got 7 rounds +2 pp.
Was still feeling 14.5, which I did in 17:43.
Nate
6:30 with DORo. 13.2 was my favorite open wod last year, so even though I was feeling pretty beat up, I was excited to take another crack at it. Finished with 9 rounds and 10 deadlifts, which is one round and some deadlifts more than I got last year. Did it with box step ups from the beginning, and started to jerk the press about halfway through. I have a shin splinty situation from all the jumping in the last few days, so I rowed 500m 3x instead of the run.
Super wiped. I usually finish a workout feeling regret that I could have pushed a little harder or rested a little less, but this was one of the few times where I felt like I literally could not have moved any faster.
Damn Laura. That's impressive.
So glad I came in tonight, even though sitting on my ass and wincing each time I stand up was a viable option. I AM SO SORE.
I yet again strategically placed my bar behind Fox's and tried to keep up with him. 7 rounds + 5 PP + 4 DL Rx-ed. I was slightly nervous after my shit-show performance yesterday but I really loved this one. Good cues from David to get my head through my shoulders on the PP more and to stay on my heels during the deadlifts (something I struggled with a lot yesterday on the thrusters). I maybe could have rested a few seconds less between sets and would love to try again with bounding box jumps to see how much that would change my endurance, but I was just pleased to be able to move quickly tonight.
Did the mile run cash-out with Steph afterwards, which actually felt wonderful. The sunshine warmed my body and heart. 🙂
5:30 class
225 reps Rx'd
Really enjoying Margie's CSA series! Makes me feel even better about the gym being a pick up site for three different CSA programs! Also thanks to Michele K for organizing all of them.
Snatch
worked up to 75 kilos
C+J
worked up to 85 kilos
FSQ
worked up to 200×2
"Amanda"
9-7-5 reps of
Muscle-Ups
Squat Snatches
14:43
Total fucking shit-show. Did the first 9 muscle-ups unbroken then failed at 135lbs 3 times before I barely made the fourth. Stopped and changed the weights down to 50kgs and then kept going. Lost count like three times, including once on the 7 round when I did 5 muscle-ups, then went back to snatches for three reps before realizing I never finished the muscle-ups, so I went back and finished them then came back and started the 7 set over. I was frustrated for every second of this workout.
Fun classes today
Hang Snatch(mid thigh)
65%x2x5 (188#)
Power Jerks
65%x2x5 (231)
Hang Cleans+Jerk (Mid thigh)
65%x2x5 (231)
The wrist is definitely coming along.