21 April 2014

Thrusters and burpees. Perhaps the two most feared words uttered at CrossFit Queenston Heights. 

Thrusters are exhausting.They are a front squat finished with a push press, weight returned to collar, repeat front squat to push press cycle. For those with a weak front squat and/or a weak strict press, thrusters can be quite taxing to say the least. In order to maximize efficiency, it is important to maintain your strong front squat stance and keep the weight back on the heels. Failure to do so will put more strain on the arms and abdomen which are already under enough pressure with the task of holding a bar in the frontal plane of the body. Be sure to keep that bar as close to the body as possible and do not let it drift off of the collar for the same reason. Thrusters are not pleasant, but can be made even less so when putting added stress on the athletes frontage.

Burpees are pretty much the fitness movement equivalent of George Costanza. They are annoying yet wont go away.  There’s nothing pretty to them, they just have to be done.

 

Strength: Back Squats
5 x 5 @ 81%

For time:

30-20-10

Thrusters 95/65
Bar facing burpees

 

19 April 2014

The combination of running followed by  a kettlebell movement, in this case full American Swings, test the endurance of the athlete. An athlete who is strong only in running, will struggle with a 24kg/55# or 16kg/35# kettlebell for multiple reps. Followed by Pull ups, “HELEN” becomes a tri-fecta of fitness tests. Cardio, weightlifting, gymnastics combined into a classic triplet CrossFit WOD. The fitter you are, the better your time. Training your “HELEN” time touches on three key facets of your overall fitness.

 

‘Helen’

3 RFT

400m run
21 Kb Swings 55/35
12 Pull ups

 

18 April 2014

www.crossfitqueenstonheights.com

The ‘girls’ of CrossFit are great benchmarks to test general physical preparedness. Combining them though, yields a great test of endurance. How much ‘suck’ can you endure.

Diane
21 – 15 – 9
Deadlift 225#/155#
HSPU

and then…

(Jack|ie)

1000m Row or 400m run (More than 3 People)
50 Thrusters 45/35
30 Pullups

 

17 April 2014

This WOD is in honour of the four men Killed 17 April 2002 In honor of Sgt. Marc D. Léger, Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer, Pte. Richard Green, and Pte. Nathan Smith killed April 17, 2002 in a “friendly fire” incident when an American F-16 fighter jet dropped a 225-kg laser-guided bomb on the Canadians who were on an exercise at Tarnak Farm, near Kandahar.

 

`Tarnak

4 RFT

40 Push ups
40 Box jumps 24’/20′
40 Sit Ups
40 Pull ups

These four Canadian soldiers were the first four casualties of the Afghanistan war. Of the four men killed, Cpl Ainsworth Dyer, born in Montreal Que and raised in Toronto was a friend of mine. We served together in the same reserve unit in Toronto in the mid – late nineties. We joined on the same day, spent the same days in training exercises, suffered through the same long forced marches carrying the same heavy loads.

On this day, 17 April, i carry this load for my fallen brother. I am doing this WOD, with a 22kg weighted Vest, only because, if Ainsworth were still alive today, he would do this WOD with a a weighted vest. That was just the kind of fireball he was. He was his own firestarter.

 

 We shall be playing this on our stereo upon commencement of the WOD, because it was his self proclaimed theme song for a time.

Enjoy.

RIP

You are gone but not forgotten.

Dileas

 

16 Apr 2014

Mid-line stabilization is paramount to your success in CrossFit movements. Power is exerted from the core to the extremity, so without  a solid basis of core strength, gains in strength and general CrossFit gymnastic skills (Toe 2 Bar, Pull ups, Hand stand push ups, Muscle ups and so on) do not happen. Developing mid-line stabilization is not an overnight process. Instead it has to be revisited regularly.

Today’s Strength: Front Squats
5 @ 75%, 3 @ 85%, MAX @ 95%
3rm power snatch
3rm power clean

‘The abdominator’

3 RFT
50 K2E
40 Sit ups
30 supermans
20 V -ups
10 Squats

 

15 April 2014

The key to achieving your goals in CrossFit training is becoming more and more comfortable in a state of being uncomfortable. It isn’t always pleasant, but the sprint to the finish, exerting as much stored energy as you have left, thats what you’ve trained for. Bar goes up.

Strength: Dead Lift
5 @ 75%, 3 @ 85%, MAX @ 95%
and then Clean 3Rm from pos 3

Metcon:

For Time:

50 Kb swings 55#/35#
50 DU
50 Kb Thrusters 55#/35#
50 Pull ups

13 April 2014

One of the 10 stipends of physical fitness is endurance. So the nastiest way to build that endurance is through gut wrenching, grinding chippers. Dig in and go.

Whats important to know during a lengthy chipper, is that it will end eventually. So the quicker and more methodically you move the sooner you will complete the tasks at hand. Constant motion will get you to the finish line.

For Time
Time Cap 25:00
100 DU
90 Supermans
80 Sit Ups
70 Deadlifts 135/95
60 Push ups
50 Wall Balls 20/14
40 Pull ups
30 Cleans 135/95
20 HSPU
10 MU

12 April 2014

Dead lifting skills. The picking up of an object from the ground to the top of the hip crease. In my books, the ultimate test of functional fitness: How heavy of an object can you pick up off the ground and bring to full hip extension?

In order to maximize your deadlift, it is important to train to NOT just drop the bar up at the top. LOWER the bar. When training deadlift, lower the bar SLOWLY down your body. The purpose of this is to develop strength all along the path of the bar. Dropping it at the top of each one just teaches you to get it up quickly, but results will eventually plateau. Bar lowering is imperative.

 

For Saturday, we take on a classic CrossFit WOD, one of the “Girls”

Nancy is a total body challenge. Running is dirt simple, but the overhead squats are a challenge when your huffing a puffing from a quick 400m run.

“NANCY”

5 RFT
400m Run
15 OHS 95/65

 

Strength strength strength. Its time to get strong. So in order to do so, the music must be awesome. Nobody ever lifted anything of significance to crappy music.

So before you perform bench press, followed by Cleans, then snatches, then Front squats, then flipping a tire for time….here`s the best guitar rift in rock n roll to melt your face off first.

Strength: Bench Press
3 @ 70%, 3 @ 80%, 3 @90%
and then Full Snatch – 5RM
and then Full Clean – 5RM
and then Front Squat – 3RM

4 Rounds For Time
10 Tire Flips
30 DU
20 Pull ups

 

Start young. Finish awesome

 

10 April 2014

 

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Short runs combined with a gymnastic movement (the supine rows) followed by heavy kettle swings in a timed movement pattern is designed to build long term endurance in pulling movements. The runs are short so there is opportunity to make up time there, the supine rows consume time and are challenging for new athletes.
Athletes that have strong pulling skills will be tested with the heavy kettle bell, forcing the pulling mechanisms of the arm to become stabilizers during the swings.

Today’s strength segment: Strict Press
3 @ 70%, 3 @ 80%, 3 @ 90%
and then…
Full Clean (start pos 3) – 5 RM
and then 3×5 Split Jerk @ 75%

4 Rounds for Time
200m run
25 Supine Rows
25 Kb swings 55#/35#