1 Power Clean, every minute, on the minute for 15 minutes.
Add weight at the 6th and 11th rep as appropriate.
Post loads to comments.
For Time:
Row 1K
Run 800m
Post time to comments.
“A few weeks ago I went to Norway to ski across the Hardanger Plateau and the fjords. Eight of us started in white-out conditions. Winds were fierce. Snow was terrible. Navigation was often limited to map and compass. Blonde Norwegian girls were nowhere to be found. Six out of eight skiers quit before the end of the trip. Only two of us finished. Both of us CrossFit. Coincidence? I don’t think so.” -Joe M
Remember to Take Your Shoes Home this week! All shoes left by the end of the weekend will be stuffed in a duffel bag and thrown into the gowanus. For more information, see yesterday’s post.
Grain-Free/Sugar Free Cooking Class #1
This Saturday, March 31st the Paleo NYC meetup group will be attending a Grain-Free/Sugar Free cooking class at 3:00pm. The event will take place at Carol’s Place on 25th st between 6th and 7th ave in Manhattan. For more information and to register, click here. There are currently 13 people attending.
A Crossfit Shoe Primer
By Coach Noah
If you’ve been Crossfitting for a little while, odds are you’ve noticed that most of our athletes tend to sport some footwear that many would consider unconventional, old-school, or just plain weird. While you can Crossfit in any pair of shoes, some types of shoes will optimize your ability to get in good positions, protect your body, and ultimately perform better. Since among our coaches I own the dubious honor of being the resident shoe-ho, I will be your tour guide through the always controversial world of Crossfit footwear. 3, 2, 1, GO(d I am lame)!
Training Shoes
For most of the population, one pair of shoes should suffice to get us through 99% of Crossfit workouts. These don’t have to be incredibly expensive, and may in fact be cheaper than the over-engineered running shoes currently on the market. Rather than give you specifics about one shoe over another, following a few general rules should get you into something appropriate:
A (relatively) flat and (relatively) non-compressible sole: Most of the activities we perform require the ability to “feel” the floor. Many athletes have trouble keeping their heels down when they squat or shifting their weight forward when they swing a kettlebell simply because their shoes are so built up and cushioned that they simply have no concept of their foot’s relationship to the floor. Look for a shoe with a sole that is flat and low, without any zany cutouts or hollows. Ideally, the shoe will be close to “zero drop” a term which means that the heel and toe of the shoe are of the same height. The sole should also be made of relatively firm rubber. Some shoes, in their quest for greater cushioning have embraced such plush materials that you may as well be squatting wearing a pair of sweet potatoes on your feet, which while delicious, is not ideal.
Lightweight aka the Single Digit Rule: An easy rule I’ve come to embrace is that any show I wear to work out in should weigh under 10 ounces. Many weigh under 8, and there are some under 6 and even a few under 4. The lighter the better, although I personally question whether your feet know the difference between 4.6 and 5.3 ounces. Mine certainly don’t, but they, like their owner, are stupid.
Rad colors: This is a personal sentiment, but c’mon folks, this isn’t black tie footwear we’re talking about.
Most of these shoes fall into the “racing” or “performance” running shoe category. Manufacturers use these terms to signify that when trying to run fast (like, say, for a race), people will want light shoes that don’t make their feet act stupid. Since we are Crossfitters, and are ALWAYS RACING, we can just wear them all the time.
Weightlifting Shoes
Dedicated weightlifting shoes take the concept of a firm sole to the next level, using either ultra hard
synthetic (EVA or similar) or real-honest-to-paleo-god wood(!) for maximum stability and to better transmit force from the lifter to the floor. These are purpose specific shoes, which violate the “no heel” rule above- most weightlifting shoes have a heel of about ½ to 1inch high, to allow for more ankle flexion at the bottom of squats, which helps mobility/positioning under heavy load. Consider:
Pros:
Incredibly stable
Aids in mobility and positioning at the bottom of squats and in force transmission
Can “add” weight to your lifts (somewhat illusory/placebo, but whatever)
Cons
Most are expensive
Extremely purpose specific. If you wear them to a bar, people will laugh at you. Ask me how I know this.
Look like they were designed by a team consisting of my grandpa, Frankenstein, and a Hell’s Angel (except for the super sexy Nike Romaleos, which cost approximately the GDP of Belarus.)
Some other quick thoughts
LSD Shoes: No, these are not shoes to wear while attempting the Dark Side of The Moon/Wizard of Oz mashup- I’m referring to Long Slow Distance. If you are planning to run substantial distance, or are training for a long race and logging significant miles, you may want to invest in some purpose specific running shoes. Especially if you have not practiced (or suck at) minimalist/POSE/Chi running, you may want to avoid super-minimal shoes. While a super-efficient runner may get away with a length of tractor tire duct taped around his foot, most of us could benefit from a little bit of cushioning in our shoes. There are plenty of models out that split the difference between the conventional Staypuft Marshmallow Man meets Cadillac Biarritz shoe and dipping your feet in candle wax before your marathon. Ease into it.
Chuck Taylors: Worn by the everyone from Wilt Chamberlain to Kurt Cobain to toddlers everywhere, Chucks are in many ways the perfect Crossfit shoe. They’re flat, non-compressible, fairly light, and cheap. Plus, you can wear them in the “real” world, which cuts down on WOD to “first beer of the weekend” transition time on Friday. The only real downside is that they are a bit clunky to run in, and don’t make you feel like a ninja.
Vibram Five Fingers: I’m going to take some flack for this, so I will be gentle, but I don’t particularly care for VFF’s (yes, in the name of science, I do own a pair.) VFFs arose from well-intentioned folk who wanted a more minimalist training shoe when there weren’t many options out there. Now there are plenty of shoes that blend minimal/lightweight design and the benefits of modern technology. Five Fingers are offer poor stability during lifting, and are inadequately padded for box jumps, double unders, and sprints. I do think Five Fingers can be useful for training runs or to practice minimalist running, as they do offer great ground feedback, but as I mentioned earlier, that feedback comes at a price. If you can run fast in Five Fingers, you can run faster in real sneakers, trust me.
Ok! Enough about shoes already! You get the drift- light, flat, not squishy. Cheap and colorful are pluses. If you have any other questions, want my thoughts on Shoe A vs. Shoe B, have specific training goals or injury history to consider, or just want to talk about feet, email me at noah(AT)crossfitsouthbrooklyn.com
What Shoes do you train in and why?
________________
CrossFit and Kenya CrossFit
Report: Some People Wake Up When It’s Still Dark Outside (for our 6am Crew)
Caffeine and Performance Robb Wolf
Abs Mark Rippetoe
