So many of you know that I've taken on improving my flexibility over the next 30 days (see 30 Days to the Splits), but one thing you might not have heard about is Kelly Starrett's new Mobility WOD Blog. He's going to be posting a "Mobility WOD" every day via video - and so far, in the 2 that he's posted, they are RIGHT on target. In fact yesterday, I tried his first one - accumulating 10 minutes in the bottom of a squat... took me about 15 minutes, and it was tough, but it felt really great when I was done. I'm anticipating the same or better with each successive post.

If you find yourself regularly saying, "Gee, I wish I could touch my toes", or "I wish my shoulders/hips/hamstrings/wrists were more flexible"... now's your chance. Take it on. Get here 10 minutes early and do K-Star's Mobility WOD... or pick from one of 100 other stretches... and repeat daily.


Jane

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Today's Workout

Back Squats 3-3-3
Wendler Cycle 4, Week 2
3 at 70% 1RM
3 at 80% 1RM
3+ at 90% 1RM

- rest -

15-12-9 rep rounds for time of:
Burpees
Weighted Pull-Ups (45#/15#)
Pistols

Or maybe I should ask, are you getting your strength and performance sleep? For me, getting the appropriate amount of sleep has been a life-long struggle. While I can be disciplined and systematized about food and exercise, I am very nonchalant about caring for myself in the area of sleep. I do notice, however, when I make it a task to get a full night's sleep (for me this is about six hours - it is different for everyone), I see a big change in how I feel, both physically and mentally. When we are chronically tired, it effects our ability to think clearly and make decisions. It also effects our performance in the gym. If you feel generally lethargic and slow, imagine how that translates into a workout? What if you came at a workout full rested and full of energy? What is something you can do to commit to getting more sleep on a regular basis?


Liz and Lindsey are full of energy

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Today's WOD

As many rounds as possible in 7 minutes:
5 Squat Snatch (95#/65#)
10 Wall Ball (20#/14#)
45 Double Unders

How do the people who are top performers get to the top and stay at the top? How is it that when they run / swim / pole vault / CrossFit, their movements look effortless? What is their secret? Hard training? Preparation? Relaxation? Fitness? Skills? Routine? Warm-up? In the following video, Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, and Yelena Isinbayeva share their "secrets" - how they do it time and again under the lights, in front of millions. What can you learn from them... for your fitness performance, and, more importantly, for your life? Share in comments.

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Today's Workout

For time:
1,000m Row
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5 rounds of:
10 Overhead Squats (115/75)
10 Burpees
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800m Run

There is no better way to spend time at the beach doing something that is fun AND athletic, than playing a good game of Hooverball! Hooverball is essentially volleyball with a 6 pound medicine ball and although the fundamentals are easy, being actually good at it takes practice. Greg W., our Hooverball "Commish", has scheduled weekly pick-up games for the past month - there is another one this coming Sunday. These are in preparation for our Annual Hooverball Tournament, coming up on Saturday, August 28th.

For those of you who have never been to our Tourney, let me describe it for you. Everything is centered around FUN - no experience is necessary. Teams are created that morning at random. We pre-identify the best players and make them all team captains. We then take everyone else and put them in a men's pool and women's pool. We populate the teams (3 or 4 people) first with the women - drawing at random one woman per team... and then we complete each team by randomly drawing the men. The first part of the tournament will be a round-robin, and the second part a playoff. You will feel both like you had fun, and got a workout... I promise soreness for sure the next day!

So if you haven't signed up, get your name down on our sign-up sheet in the gym. Regardless of your level, it will be a really great time!


Michael & Jennifer. Click here For more of Carlos' photos. Today's Workout

"Fight gone Max" - by Chad F.
In this version of Fight Gone Bad, follow the traditional workout, but as soon as you break from your rhythm in a movement, you must stop. So if you drop the wall ball, or stop box jumping after 5… that is when you must stop. This version stresses accuracy and form above raw stamina and endurance, will reward the combination accuracy with stamina.

The other day someone asked me to take on being "impeccable." What he was asking was that everything I start gets taken unquestionably all the way through to the very end. If someone asks me, that I am able to own completely that it's done. I started to look at where in my life this would make a difference. How many times have I started something, did it anywhere between 0 and 99% and considered it done enough? I mean, it works. Things happen, and mostly the way they were meant to happen. But often enough, my original intention of doing something doesn't get completely fulfilled. The interesting things is it makes me look at if I even have an intention! Once I started doing it at work, where it seems most important, it was unavoidable that I apply it to other parts of my life. I started looking at it with respect to my workouts. How many times am I sure that every rep counted? Does it really matter what the time on the clock is if the training I came in for isn't actually completed? How many times have I worked out each week as many times as I said I would on Monday? What reasons did I use to justify it rather than just show up? Do I really feel good about my choices in that context? I'm really interested to see what the experience of completing everything the way it was meant to be done will offer. What about you?


Mike's going overhead and leaving NOTHING out!

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Today's Workout
“Nicole” on Squats

As Many Rounds As Possible in 20 minutes of:
50 Squats
Max Reps Pull ups

- score is total reps of pull ups

That's exactly what I thought when I first considered going to a Brian MacKenzie CrossFit Endurance Seminar. Boy was I wrong. Most people learn how to run correctly (utilizing gravity as the driving force for propulsion forward) - when they're 1 - 3 years old. You figure it out because it's the method that works the best and what comes most naturally. Then, as you learn to run in athletic shoes, improve your balance (so that you never fall over) and get taller so that the idea of falling over becomes extremely un-appealing, you develop a new, less efficient and less risky method of running.

Modern day running shoes exacerbate the problem... allowing, even encouraging heel striking in the stride. It is possible to run correctly in modern day running shoes, but it takes time, practice and commitment. My first seminar was about 2 years ago... and I've been working on my running form ever since - having last worked with the founder of the Pose Method, Dr. Nicholas Romanov.

If you have an interest in running more efficiently, reducing any or all of your running discomfort or injuries, increasing your running speed, improving your CrossFit WOD times, then our Pose Seminar is time and money well spent. It's an investment in your running technique and form that will last a lifetime.


Examples of Pose Running.

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Today's Workout

Franklin Hill Repeats
6 sprints; Start each every 5 minutes