Fitness: 5 x 3 Linear Progression
Start light. Bail each rep and reset within a few seconds. Try to go heavier than last week.
Performance: Work up to a top set of 5 on a Touch and Go Power Clean
Work on resetting hook grip on the descent. You can pause at the hang but not at the floor. Must be touch and go. Try and go heavier than last week.
Post loads to comments.
e2/6
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AMRAP in 10 Minutes:
30 Russian Kettlebell Swings 72/53
10 Shoulder to Overhead 135/95
Post rounds and Rx to comments.
CFSBK Pilates Maven with a perfect push-up start position. Speaking of Pilates…
Check out these additional programs we offer at CFSBK, if you haven’t already!
Pilates with KH (a.k.a. Cage)
Have you ever been told by a coach or PT that you have a weak core? Are you not sure what “keep your ribcage down” means? Do you suffer from a tweaky lower back after lifting heavy weights? Help is on the way! The Pilates Method can be great “accessory work” for a Crossfitter, not only because it improves flexibility and strengthens the abdominal and back muscles, but mainly because it can help you figure out HOW to use these muscles properly. Come join Kristin Hoesl (KH) in CFSBK’s first ever weekly Pilates class. We’ll go over neutral pelvis, engaging the transversus abdominis (say WHAT?), stabilizing the rib cage, and finding good shoulder girdle positioning. So if any of this sounds intriguing to you, come drop in on!
Schedule: Tuesday nights at 7:30pm upstairs in the CFSBK Annex
Price and online registration links:
1 Time Drop In: $20
5 Class Punch Card: $85
Learn more about KH in our interview with her, called “‘Mad Abs, Yo!’ How Pilates Complements CrossFit, and Getting to Know Kristin H.“
Yoga for Athletes with Coach Whitney
Do you consider yourself too inflexible or inexperienced to try yoga because you’re not one of those “naturally” bendy-kinda-people? Are your tight shoulders keeping you from finding a good overhead squat position? Are your hips and hamstrings begging for a bit of attention? Do you sit in a chair for long period of time? You get where this is going…
These ongoing Yoga for Athletes classes, designed and taught with the CrossFitter in mind, will allow you to start exactly where you are and build a foundation that supports your WODs, weightlifting, and overall quality of life. We’ll learn and practice basic postures, focusing on the alignment and action of the body. Through a variety of standing, seated, kneeling, prone/supine poses, and even some inversions, the whole body will be stretched, moved, challenged, and restored. With consistent yoga practice over time, you can expect to increase your balance, improve coordination, develop more range of motion, create control of your breath, and calm the mind.
Schedule: Thursdays at 7:30PM and Saturdays at 10:00AM
Price and online registration links:
Drop-In: $20 Purchase Here
5-Class Card: $85 ($17/class) Purchase Here
Learn more about Coach Whit in our interview “On Being An Athlete Who Doesn’t Eat Meat.”
Active Recovery
This class is designed to give your muscles and mind a rest. For an hour you’ll be guided through a combination of soft tissue work, mobility techniques, and general restorative movement. Perfect as a rest day for the heavy hitters or as a light days work for beginners and those of us somewhere in the middle. This class is also great for non-CrossFitters who could use a little soft tissue love.
Schedule:
Tuesdays at 6:30pm
Saturdays at 11am and 12pm
Sundays at 11:00am
Price:
Contract members may use AR as one of their weekly classes. Otherwise there is a $15 drop-in rate.
To learn even more about Active Recovery, check out our article “Active Recovery at CFSBK.”
- Happy birthday, Thomas A.!
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The Year of the Thruster CrossFit
5th Grader Attempts Planking World Record AOL
Best Ski Line of 2014: Cody Townsend’s Epic Chute
Have you taken one or more of our additional classes at CFSBK? If so, post thoughts and recommendations below!
7:30 last night with MeLo & McDowell (and JB too I think)
Front Squat: Heavy single at 275. This felt easy, and I think my 1rm could possibly be in the mid-300 range. It's been a long time since I tested it though. Went with 185 for the rep out (57.5% of 320), and hit the cap of 20. It was really difficult to keep a good rack position with my chest up for the last 5. Next week I think I'll cut the set off when that starts to go, because that will happen before my legs quit on me.
WOD: Awful, awful, awful. Partnered with Cliff and we finished in 23:??. I went first so I know my first round was 1:50, but I have no idea after that. 15 was a cruel number of burpees. Just enough to really hurt, just few enough for there to be no excuse to stop.
My back felt fine through the whole workout, and feels pretty normal today too. I think I might finally be out of the woods after 10 days of iffiness.
My thoughts on the additional classes: AR is awesome!
6am. Touch and go power cleans: 95×5, 135×5, 165×5, 185×5, 205×5, 170×5. Same top weight (205) as last week, though I think the set was cleaner. Should bump it up 5 or 10 pounds next week. Metcon Rx: 4 rounds + 22 swings. That was a lot of kettlebell swings. Grip became the big factor near the end.
Never taken one of the additional classes. I'd like to do AR someday.
Back to 7 AM (with blogstar Cage as a cleaning partner)
Worked to 98×5 on the cleans. These were relatively, well, clean for me — maybe I need to do more volume at moderately heavy loads to get the form better. Still need to quit death-gripping the bar, though.
WOD 3 rounds + 30 KB swings Rx. The KB swings were so much harder than I expected! I had to break them into 10s after the first round. Still have some chest congestion so this was not the most fun.
Make-up from yesterday:
Decided to really go for a heavy one on the front squat, got to 390, which is a new 1RM, but that was felt really fast. Stopped there because I was out of time, but I bet I have a lot more in me.
EVIL WOD OF DEATH (nah actually this was pretty fun).
Did this on the assault bike instead of the rower. It was my first time on the bike, so I wasn't sure how hard to go, but it was tough regardless.
Got 2:04 for my worst round, 1:50 for my best round – which was actually my final round. Thanks to Pierre for being a great partner on this.
6am with Jess and Nick. 145 on the power cleans. This was super ugly today. The weight wasn't a problem, but I was just doing everything s-l-o-w-l-y. It felt like I was trying to power clean under water (minus the bar slowing down, unfortunately). I'll probably stay at this weight next week. The WOD surprised me. I would have thought the shoulder-to-overhead would be the truly sucky part. Not so. I got through three rounds plus 30 kb swings (at 20kg) and 5 push jerks (at 95lbs). Like Peter, my grip was in rough shape by the end.
6am. Clean high pulls @ 145. WOD: 4 rounds + 11 KB swings with 45# DB push press subbed for the S2O. 45 got pretty heavy after the 2nd round and even the swings were tough as I'm relying more on my right side since I can't fully grip on my left.
I've taken AR once and it was great. Wish I had time for more!
I left my again faster rope (in a plastic bag) between the mat and first rack – if someone could put it in lost & found, or give to front desk, i'd appreciate it – thank you !
6am.
PC touch and go: 73×5, 83×5, 93×5, 98×4, 98×3
I'm getting some pain around my right elbow/forearm/tricep on these. happened last week too at 93# – and my right elbow does not want to come around at reps 4 and 5. I'll have to do a lot more arm mashing, and it feels like something acupuncture might help.
Other than that, need to work on keeping the bar close when touching down – need to really pause and re grip at the hip to prevent my hands from sliding center between reps.
In general, this touch and go work is much more challenging than I thought it would be.
WOD at 20kg & 63# – 4 rds + swings and 1 pp
Most of the overheads were push jerks. all overheads and first round of swings unbroken. then swings went to sets of 10. the 63# was on the light side but really gassed me.
At the time I was glad I went with 63, but in hindsight maybe I should have tried this at 73#, and would have had to break up the overheads.
Make-up post from last night at 7:30pm
Front squats
45×5, 135×5, 185×3, 225×1, 245×1, 255×1, 155×20
The singles moved well – same reps schemes I did last week, so no big deal here. The rep out got rough around 13 – was really struggling to hold the front rack towards the end.
Partnered with Mario on the WOD, finished in about 23:27. I didn't write down my splits, but I would guess they hovered in the 2:00-2:30 range. Rows were fine, done in under :45. Burpees were whatever. I paused for a second on the bumper every time, as when I do these I usually jump off, adjust my feet, do a burpee, adjust my feet, jump up, etc. I was trying to make sure I didn't waste any movement, and could go from the burpee right to the plate, and then the plate right back down into the burpee without messing with my positioning.
Oh, I have taken AR a bunch of times and think it's great! I highly recommend it, both for the great soft tissue work and excellent vibes contained therein. I would take it more, but I like using my 5x to hit all lifts and WODs. any chance there could ever be, like, a bulk discount punch card for AR, or a 5x a week + 1 AR type of membership?
I keep meaning to try out pilates and yoga, but I just never seem to have the time, unfortunately. Someday…
6am with Jess and Nick
touch-and-go power cleans: 95×5, 135×5, 155×5, 165×5, 170×5, 170×5
The max was a 5lb jump from last week, when I only did one set at 165. The heavier sets got much harder to organize on the fourth and fifth reps. I keep leaning back more and more the heavier things get, and getting down less and less. One day I'm going to figure this out.
metcon: 3 rounds + 30 swings using 115 on the bar and a 32kg kettlebell
This was a nice workout. I tried taking the 80-90% range advice and I think it worked well for me here, as I had more consistency from beginning to end than I sometimes do. S2OH was all push-jerks in sets of 5. KB swings were 15,15 / 8, 10, 6, 6 / 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 with pretty short, disciplined rest times.
I've never taken one of the other classes. I'd love to do Active Recovery. I did a lot of yoga once upon a time and would love to take Whit's class, and I'm sure I have a lot to learn from Cage as well. Things to do in the new year!
AR is the best and everyone should take it, if only to have the tools to effectively mobilize before/after classes or at home.
I got nothing. Keep scrolling.
I'm trying to get better at posting so here it goes…
6am with Jess and Nick. Partnered with Jill for everything today. Cleans were feeling much better. Stayed at 78# to keep working on faster elbows. Last week I attempted a few sets at 83# and it got ugly. WOD – 4 rounds + 17 KB swings @20KG and 63#. This was tough. I thought the kettle bell might fly out of my hands in the last few rounds.
I'm looking for recommendations for boxes around Minneapolis. I didn't see anything on the travel gym recommendations page. I'll be there over the holidays and hoping to drop into a few classes.
I have been to Crossfit Minneapolis- bare bones, nice ("Minnesota nice" is a thing), not at all crowded.
I love AR, must budget time for both Yoga and Pilates.
I can't stop watching that ski movie. Cody Thompson for Emperor. Or some big job.
Mixed day in Oly Class today. For the snatch, I attempted the same weight I PR'd on Tuesday (78#) and surprised myself when I go it up on the first attempt. Not perfectly, but still. My quest for perfection with two more attempts was met with two failures :-(. Still I am very very psyched about progress here because at the beginning of the cycle 63# was pretty much the high end of my ability. I realize it's not just weight but very much technique that I'm getting out of this class!
Clean and Jerks — boy these are frustrating. Stuck with a very light weight, as always trying not to go forward or dip elbows on the jerk. I'm really not sure if I'm making any progress at all. Sometimes I also feel like I forget how to clean right. Frank taught me the three components of the clean pull on Tuesday (first just legs, then just hips, and then just legs again) and I started to understand it much better. So know I guess it's just practice, practice, practice, even when it's frustrating.
Then rowed 18' with Charlie — so much easier with a buddy!
Oly AM:
Snatch
40×3 50×2 60×2 70×1 72×2,2,2,2,2
Working the transition and the drop.
Clean and jerk
40×3 50×2 60×1 70×1 80×1 90×1 100×1 110×1 115xM,M,M
Glad to be hitting 110 again, only made it one other time since my 112 a few months back.
Clean pull
90×3 105×3 113x3x3
Then I rowed 18' with Charlie and Amanda. JUST KIDDING! Slow 1k cool down row at 20spm in 3:55.
I have been pretty regular at AR. Love it. I need to get the toys at home. Ive also attended a few of Whit's yoga classes. Very good. I have yet to take a Pilates class with KH.
Rest Day for me 🙂
AR is great, and I love when I get to take it instead of teach it. I've taken Whit's yoga class a few times and thought it was great. I've yet to take Pilates with Kristen. I tell her it's because I'm already good at everything but really it's because I hate to cry in public…
Crumsho – At $15, AR has always been discounted off the regular class drop in rate of $25 and cheaper to drop in to than a punch card, which would be $20. I believe it's a great value.
One more day of lifting out in Garden City
Snatch, Supposed to work up to opener..
225x1x3
245
265
287x
287x
Clean and Jerk, Supposed to have worked to my last warm-up
225
275
305
325, then I called it.
HBBS, 85%x1
385
**Felt super weak and not explosive today. I feel like this taper might not be the best. Feeling a little too beat up. Tomorrow some very light power snatches and power CJS, rest saturday. Hopefully Ill be ready to go!
No time to make it in today. Did a workout at my school gym to keep the blood pumpin.
1.5 mile yog / DROM warmup
21-15-9
Deadlifts 155#
Box jumps
Completed in 5:20.
Was interrupted by a girl in the gym, who poked me on the shoulder mid deadlift to inform me that I had "killer quads" …..FTW!
Also respect to MeLo for doing a DL workout of a similar scheme in 5:00 flat….except with 50 more lbs on the bar.
Finished up with TABATA modified v-ups.
Fun 5:30 class w/ Ro and Whit.
175 PCs. Feels like I can jump 5-10 next week w/ touch and go.
RX 3 rds plus 22 reps on the wod. Took it slow with a sore lower back.
Smallish 12pm group class so I jumped in:
5 touch-n-go power cleans:
35kg, 45kg, 55kg, 60kg (132#)
-wowzers are these tough. Missed last week so starting the cycle here. Kept my hook grip in for all. Low back was feeling tight though!
Wod:
3 rounds plus 36 rounds rx'd.
-did the first round unbroken and then my back started to hate me. Low back came close to seizing so I took the kbs fairly slow and broken in the subsequent rounds. Pretty sure I'm not engaging my glutes enough in these and that I'm overextending. Need to focus more on this.
Cash out: paused ring rows and hollows.
Bonus cash out: 5:30 pm yoga class.
@JakeL – WTF you're going to tear all the heads off all the lions
@Jay-Star – you crack me up
I do not do enough Crossfit these days 🙁 On the plus side I'm really enjoying Oly lifting 🙂
Snatch
Lots of singles up to 44kg
Some pretty dramatic misses, but some that felt like the "ping" moment when you drive a golf ball correctly.
The breakthrough: Blagoy Blagoev's 195 kg Snatch World Record and trying to simplify —
Pull (keep shoulders ahead of bar)
Shift (right at the top of the knee)
Get down (like immediately)
Still not moving past the 46kg PR a month ago, but soon..
That PR was also from the hang, so maybe that allowed me to simply execute the shift, get down motion wo complicating it. Hmmmm
Clean and Jerk
66kg PR by about 7#
This did not feel hard. The clean was a little grindy standing up, but I've cleaned 10# more than this. It was the jerk I was unsure of and that felt solid!
MU transition w red band and strict dip x3 x5
62# power cleans. Cleans used to be challenging- it's fun to feel my technique improve! 3 rounds, plus 30 job swings and 6 s2o. In other words… 4 reps away from 4 rounds. >:( I'm definitely glad I used the yellow kb instead of blue!! Cashed out with the hollow rocks, ring rows, and a beer at threes 🙂
I was skeptical of this mobility/AR stuff, but I've become pretty addicted. I definitely recommend taking the AR class! I have not experienced any injuries and my flexibility has remained/improved, despite adding more strength to my muscles.
The Pilates class was also super fun! Both AR and Pilates taught me cool stuff I can do at home!
Haven't yet made it to yoga– but I think that's due to my own post-vegan/former yoga-addict complex. I'm sure it's great and would love to have both these classes included in the 5x/week class allotment.
8:30pm Group Class with Noapologies
Power Clean
93kg x3x5
(205lbs)
AMRAP 10'
30 KB Swings 1.5p
10 Push Presses 115lbs
3 Rounds + 35 reps
Biased the Push Press to work on some overhead strength. Managed to do all the sets unbroken
2 Rounds
10 Ring Rows
30 Hollow Rocks
Crossover Symmetry
Make up post from last night's 5:30p group class
WU: 2 rounds (+3 extra chins)
5 chin ups
10ea rvrs lunge
15 kb swings
It's very challenging for me to get 5 chins in a row, but I can do it. And that is a relatively new development, actually.
FSQ
45×5, 95×3, 105×1
115x3x3
It's been a while. started light and crisp since I'm ramping up with caution, here.
skipped out of the conditioning to get some more strength work in:
Press
33×5, 43×3
53x5x3
again: light and crisp.
doing my best to work without ego and be smart coming back in after a break. this is very difficult. I feel like I've lost some ground and I want to keep up with the big kids. But really… I know I just need to train appropriately for myself in this exact moment and not get impatient.
I've done them all and I love them all. The only reason I have not continued with yoga or Pilates is that I am a 10am or noon class person most days and I just can't drag myself back in the evenings. And Saturday mornings are funny for me, as a bartender.
I try to get to AR every Saturday at noon, which is manageable, usually.
Oly class.
FiNALLY started power snatching from the floor today!!! Very happy with how much better it felt and how much closer I was to an actual full snatch. Must remember all of my oly yoga positions.
Kept it light cause Frankie said so.
53 x 3 x 10ish??
Lots to work on but so much better!!!
Clean and 3 x jerks.
83 x 3, 73 x 5.
Need to stop dipping forward on the jerk. Good cues- think about splitting backwards, push up as though the ceiling were falling down, dead arms on the clean… These all make sense to me anyhow. Ha.
CRASH Bs
18' @ 16SPM 2.15.6/500M 3980M
Much better today. Fixed the drag factor. Made all the difference as did rowing with a friend.
Power Clean – worked up to 87kg for a set of 5 (~ 191#). Got a little forward on the last one, but overall felt a little better than 185# did last week
WOD – 4 rounds + 5 S2H at 72kg/135#
Was moving along pretty nicely and then over-extended a bit on the 3rd round of S2H and felt a slight twinge in my upper back. Slowed down to make sure I didn't overdo it, which seems to have worked out as it's feeling better now.
KH's plank is beautiful. Take her Pilates class. It's some good shit.