Enjoy Your Long Weekend

I am off to Whistler. Ains is going to be teaching the 9 and 10am classes on Saturday. Reminder the gym is closed on Monday, however I believe Robyn and Annie are going to be throwing down at 9am on Monday. Perhaps Robyn can again leave a post on the comments of this blog to confirm. Please be aware that even though Robyn is a CrossFit coach, she is not teaching the classes as she is going to be working out herself. However I'm sure she will help you in the setup and what you can do.

Friday Leaderboard
Ladies:
1. Ains 14 2/3
2. Annie 14
3. Michelle 12 1/3
4. Robyn 12
5. Hattie 11 1/3
Men:
1. GC 14
2. Nick 13 1/3
3. Pie 13
4. Knight 12
5. Eddie 11

Lets get in the heat

Good lord this weather is amazing. Absolutely love it. Lets get in it. Time to tax the legs and we'll work on the muscle ups before hand. If you are someone with muscle ups try and see how many you can do in a row. Also I want those of you with muscle ups to make sure you are getting to full extension at the bottom.

Strength: 
Muscle Up Work 
WOD: 
Rounds in 20min:
1 hill climb
10 KB Swings 1.5/1 pood
20 Jumping squats

Steven Bunches Is Off The Top Of The Leaderboard

Danimal has throw down Garth Prouse's Grace time and taken over the top spot on the Grace Leaderboard with a time of 2:10. Well done. Ains has also taken down Hatties top time for a new female gym record.

We are going to be closed this Monday for the BC Long Weekend. Regular class hours on Saturday. It is likely some members might still be working out at the gym. If you are leave a message on the blog so people can join you.

Rest Day / Make up day as usual for Thursday.

Grace Leaderboard
Ladies:
1. Ains 3:09 Gym Record!!
2. Roe 3:13
3. Annie 3:34
4. Hattie 4:15
Men:
1. Danimal 2:10 Gym Record!!
2. The Pie 2:26
3. Jerry 2:45
4. Solo 2:57
5. Nick 3:14

Benchmark WOD -- Grace

Time for a Benchmark / Leaderboard workout today. If you haven't already noticed this is the week of short wods to follow up last week of longer metcons. Grace is a perfect example of that. Really looking forward to seeing Danimal tackle this bad boy. Sub 2min is possible and gym record is likely. No pressure big guy.

Wednesday Workout
WOD: 
"Grace"
30 Clean and Jerks @135/95
You may power clean, squat clean, press, push press, push jerk, split jerk.
Post: 
5x60m band runs

2k row leaderboard
Ladies:
1. Hattie 7:57
2. Jenny 8:35
3. Annie 8:39
4. Robyn 8:51
5. Michelle 9:09
Men:
1. Danimal 6:48
2. Murder 6:50
3. Solo 6:52 (offsite at the North Van Firehall)
4. Jerry 7:10
5. Geoff 7:18

2K Row

Sorry for the late post. Computer was left at work.

Tuesday  Workout

Strength: 
Box Squats 10x2
WOD: 
2K Row

Max Pullup Sets -- Kyprios Peak Performance Video

Check out Kyprio aka Bayday aka Evil Kyp as he is issued a CrossFit related challenge in the Peak Performance challenge in which Peak Radio is giving away a 100k price to the winning artist. He did a version of Kalsu which some of you might remember is the nastiest workout we have done yet or right up there with them.

Monday WOD (OPT Blog workout):
A. Max Split Jerk - No press outs aloud. You must catch with straight arms.
B. 4 sets of max pullups w/t a max rest of 5 min between set

Your score is the total weight completed plus the total pullups completed in each round.

Ladder Saturday

Saturday WOD:
A. Strict Press Ladder 75/55 - no racks
B. Death By 10m w/t a medball 20/12
* 1 on the 1st minute, 2 on the second, 3 on the third. You go till you fail or quit. 

Friday Leaderboard
Ladies:
1. Robyn 23:38 RX

Men:
1. Scott 16:28
2. Solo 20:04
3. The Pie 20:15
4. GC 21:34
5. Geoff 23:53

Fun Little Chipper for Friday

Strength: 
Clean Pulls 5x5
WOD: 
15 ring dips
25 boxjumps
35 double unders
45 lunges
400m run
30 ring dips
50 boxjumps
70 double unders
90 lunges
800m run
15 ring dips
25 boxjumps
35 double unders
45 lunges

Rest Day / Make Up Day

As usual Thursday will be open gym at the Den. You can make up any of the three workouts we have done so far this week. If you have throw down each day than please take a rest day. Feel free to come on in and stretch however.

Stay tuned as we will have a bunch of photos coming back from the Games this past weekend. Thank you to everyone for the support. Yes I am and was very proud of everyone down there.

Wednesday Leaderboard
Ladies:
1. Robyn 13:38
2. Ains 15:01
3. Hattie 26:35
Men:
1. Pie 14:15
2. Ant 14:25
3. Solo 15:32
4. Nick 15:54
5. Arash 16:42

CrossFit Games 2010 WOD -- Intensity

I wanted to take a second and reflect on some of the athletes I saw this last weekend and what I think really separates those of us who are achieving their athletic goals and those of us who are hitting plateaus. The three major things being diet, amount of training and intensity. Diet we have touched on a lot lately so I will leave that for this post but amount of training and intensity I want to dive in on. If you are wanting to take your game to the next level and you not someone who is already training 5 days a week in the Den, than that is your first step. The top athletes on our team and others, aswell as the individuals all never miss workouts...period.  The volume of their training is consistent and their results follow. If you are training just a couple of days a week and wondering why you aren't getting to your goals, look no further. The other big variable is intensity and this is something I think we can all improve upon. If you want to pull the most out of our workouts you have to hit them with everything you got. You don't do the RX weight on a workout you have to still chose an extremely challenging weight. Its your job to do that. If you pick a weight for the workout, stick with that weight until either you finish or a coach tells you to take it down. I want to see more people fighting to complete WODs as apposed to coasting. What we do absolutely can provide you everything you want out of your workout program but you have to be actually doing it and you have to hit it hard. Lets start with this one today.

This workout was part of the three workouts they did as the final wod on Sunday.  It will be quite different for us since we aren't coming right from another workout but I'm sure it will still do the trick.
Strength: 
Back Squat 5x3 
WOD: 
3 rounds for time:
30 Toes To Bar
21 Ground to Overhead 95/65

Tuesday Leaderboard to come in morning.

CrossFit Games Reflection -- Congrats to Solo and Jenny

Congrats to Solo and Jenny who started their games trip off with a bit of an engagement....for time (inside joke). 
Sitting here a few hours removed from the games, I can't believe what an incredible event it was to be a part of. So much more enjoyable than last years and the big reason being we had a team and an individual athlete to call our own. I want to thank our seven athletes Garth, Ainslie, Robyn, Annie, Scott, Danimal and the situation (monkeys new knickname). You seven did us so proud down in Cali. Also huge ups to CrossFit Lions cheer team - Chelan, Roe Roe, Bianca, Hattie, Beth, Emily, Solo, Jenny and our new team manager Nick B. Pretty sure we had as many supporters as any gym that wasn't located in California. Thank you so much for coming down and I hope you had a great time.

Garth finished the competition in 31st place and was highlighted by his 6th place finish in supersized Helen, and his 11th place finish in the Deadlift, Pistol wod. Garth had the lungs and strength to hang with any of these athletes and is already looking forward to next seasons qualifying events.

Team Lions finished 37th out of 74 teams with the 4th workout being our highlight. We finished that workout in a time of 18:58 and probably lost at least 30sec because of judging errors when we were changing stations. Really proud of how well everyone did and for me the highlight of the weekend was watching Robyn run the first 400 of that 4th workout. She was running faster than I have ever seen her run and she was actually in 3rd place for most of the 400, including all the guys. Incredible.

The event as a whole was a huge success. I thought that we would be giving up somethings by not having it at the Ranch again this year but the Home Depot Center was a wicked place to hold The CrossFit Games and I hope they stick with this venue for years to come. The tennis stadium and track provided them with two unique venues with limited workout possibilities. If you missed the games, you can re watch the free telecast at live.crossfit.com.

I also want to thank the fitness town/crossfit opt boyz and CrossFit Taranis crew for cheering us on all weekend. We have a great support group now at all these events and that is only going to get stronger.

That is Garth and Camille from Montreal who finished 9th overall in the womens competition. 

Monday
WOD:
5 rounds for time:
5 Turkish Getups 1.5/1 pood
5 Squat Cleans 135/85
5 HSPU
Post: 
Back Ext / Reverse Hyper 3x15
GHD Situps 3x15

Oh, what a weekend!

After being permanently glued to my computer screen watching the live feed all weekend, I am left speechless at the physical prowess and determination each and every athlete brought to the games.  Simply incredible.  All should be proud!  Congrats to Team Lions and Garth for making the Den proud!

No rest for the wicked though, as Monday rolls around, it's time to hit the gym for another WOD.  3, 2, 1, Go.

Technique
Deadlift 6x2

WOD
Cindy
Rounds in 20min
5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 squats

Tough first day for CrossFit Lions

on the individual front Garth did not get the exercise he was hoping for when the muscle ups came up and especially at such a high number, however he kept fighting to the end and actually started the workout off with 7 in a row, which is a new pb for him. Its looking likely that tomorrow will start with the individuals throwing down a run of some sort, so I'm sure he'll come back strong and get back in the hunt.

On the team side we finished the day 47th and the top 48 teams make the cut....so we are in for day two. So far we have had 3 big man workouts on the team side, so we are hoping to test some endurance tomorrow morning. Really proud of how all team members did today and I'm pretty sure everyone had a wicked time.

Hope you are enjoying the live feed and make sure to keep checking back tomorrow. Talk soon.

The Pie.

Saturday in the Den

Saturday is upon us, so come hit a WOD in the morning and you'll still have plenty of time to get out and enjoy the beautiful sunshine later on. Here's what we've got in store for you!

WOD

20 Wall Balls 20/12
20 Box Jumps 24/20
20 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls 95/65

15 Wall Balls
15 Box Jumps
15 SDHP

10 Wall Balls
10 Box Jumps
10 SDHP

15 Wall Balls
15 Box Jumps
15 SDHP

20 Wall Balls
20 Box Jumps
20 SDHP

Friday's Leaderboard - 400m run/50 squats x 4
Darren 11:03
Lauren 15:03
Teens 16:41
Sev 19:28

Day 1 Games Recap

Day 1 of competition is complete and WOW, that was an incredible display of what it means to be fit and determined.  I am still in awe as athletes showed what the human body is capable of.  Here's a quick recap of the WODS, how the Lions athletes did and what's in store for tomorrow.

Team WOD #1
2 rounds of...
70 Thrusters (155/105)
50 Chest To Bar Pullups
100m Fireman's Carry

Team WOD #2
1 min max rep Deadlift
1 min Rest
1 min max rep Pistol
1 min Rest
1 min max calorie Row
1 min Rest
1RM Shoulder-to-Overhead

Individual WOD #1
9, 7, 5
Muscle Ups
Squat Snatch (135/95)

After the 2 Team WODS, the Lions are placed 47th of 66 teams.   After the tough individual WOD, Garth is placed 45th. He fought hard and got every rep that he could and tomorrow, with his determination and skill, we'll be looking for him to be climbing those ranks.  GREAT JOB TODAY EVERYBODY!!!!  The Individual Start Time for tomorrow is 8:00am and Team Start Time is 11:00am.  Be sure to tune into http://live.crossfit.com

Games Start Tomorrow!

Good evening CrossFit Lions!

The pinnacle we have all been anxiously awaiting is only one sleep away.  The Games have finally arrived!  The Den is sending the best of luck to Team Lions and Garth - GO GET 'EM GUYS!!!  A reminder to all those not in Carson, you can follow all the action through the live feed at live.crossfit.com, with the webcast starting at 8:45am Friday (tomorrow) morning, Team WODS start at 10am, so check it out!

Now onto tomorrow in the Den...

WOD
4 Rounds
400 m run
50 squats

Post
20x4 Back Extensions
Good Stretch

See you'all tomorrow!  GOOOOOO LIONS!!!!!

The Lions Leave To Tame The Games

A large crew of Lions Den members are heading down to LA to support Garth Prouse aka Steven Bunches and The CrossFit Lions Team as they compete this weekend at The CrossFit Games. Garth is one of only 50 men in the world to have qualified for the games and our team is one of only 74 gyms to qualify in the world. For those of you who aren't able to make it down to Cali, you can watch the games free at live.crossfit.com. Only one event will take place at a time and every heat will be shown. There is also the ability to back track in the coverage. I'm sure the commentators will be sub par for a sporting event as none of them do this for a living but the coverage should be good and hell.....its free. The Team starts the competition at 10am Friday and Garth will start approx at 7pm Friday. It will end Sunday early afternoon.

I will be away all day Thursday till Monday night. While I'm away Mel Thomas will be teaching all classes. Mel is one of our top athletes and is now a trainer at CrossFit Lions. This will be her first experience training her peers in the class setting but I'm confident she'll do great and you all will like her super positive style. Class schedules will stay the same through this time period and I'll see ya on Tuesday morning.

If you can try and show up to normal class times on Thursday as it is NOT a make up day that would be great. There will be a fixed workout for tomorrow. Also if you need to make any subs because of injury please let Mel know before class or at the start of class and you two can decide together on what exercises will work.

Thursday
Strength:
Front Squat 6x5
WOD: 
Rounds in 12min
5 thrusters 95/65
10 deadlifts 95/65
*both weights should feel light. If the rx weight is medium or heavy than please scale down. Regardless the weight should be the same for each exercise.

Whole 30 challenge/ Paleo Challenge

The challenge ended yesterday. I would like to congratulate everyone who made it through. Please post your experiences on this blog. How you felt energy wise, did you see a difference in body composition etc. I know of quite a few of you that saw huge improvements from this diet. Personally I didn't but that is likely because I only lasted like 10 days.....sorry I had to lie to everyone who asked because I didn't want to give you an excuse to stop just because your coach is little girl weak when it comes to sugar. Its probably time for me to nut up and make a real effort at improving my habits.

I am really proud of all of you and thanks again to Tanya, Solo and Jenny for spearheading this. I have learned a lot from putting it on and how I would like to improve it the next time... September 1st will be our next official challenge and I hope to have even more people including myself doing it.

Push Press Heavy Single

Strength: 
Push Press - Heavy Single
WOD:
3 rounds for time:
2 building laps
50 jumping pullups 
50 knees to chest
50 walking lunges

300m sprint rows Leaderboard
Ladies:
1. Hattie 5:13.5
2. Tanya 5:44
3. M 6:08
4. Mel 6:30
5. Teens 7:12
Men:
1. Alex 4:26
2. Jerry 4:40
3. Nick 4:46
4. Knight Rider 4:51
5. Jaybay 5:01

CrossFIt Games Live Feed

The CrossFit Games are going to be streamed live in HD for free. They start Friday morning and run till Sunday afternoon. Go to http://live.crossfit.com/ and check it out.

WOD: 
A1. Bench Press 8x3
A2. Squat Clean 8x3, rest 2min
B. 5x300m row, 2min rest between efforts
C. 4x 15 Full Back Ext.
Monday Leaderboard
Men:
1. Ant 12:42
2. Alex M. 14:40
3. Banana 15:41
4. Geoff 15:46
5. Nick 16:10

Happy Monday

WOD: 
21,15,9
Right hand dumbell squat snatch 35/20
Left hand dumbell squat snatch 35/20
L Pullups
There are many subs that can be used in this workout. Try and pick a DB weight that will allow you with both hands to go into the squat. If your bio mechanics don't allow it than you may power snatch the movement. For an L pullup to be RX you must have your leg out in front of you before your pull begins. If you are pulling up while you are bringing your legs up that is considered a modification. It is extremely hard to do this wod RX but if you can I would like you to try it, even if it takes a long time.

Post: 
5 rounds:
40 sec plank
20 sec situp
This is opposite to what we did last time and hurts way more. YES!!

Saturday Fun Day

I am up in Whistler for the weekend, so Ains is going to be teaching the 9 and 10am classes which is very nice of her. Try and get your asses into the Den to start your beautiful Saturday off on the right note.
Hope you guys enjoyed the workout today. If we did it again I might make the big dogs go for the 18th round but it was still a great workout. Congrats to Scott who just beat out Danimal with a time of 6:20 ish. I don't know the exact time because neither of them put it on the board. Please try and put your score on the leaderboard every day. I will try harder to make sure to put more effort to make sure I post the leaderboard every day so leave your scores daily.

WOD: 
1 medball lap 20/12
10 Deadlifts 225/155 * the weight should be doable for 10 reps fresh -- err on the side of light
20 medball cleans 20/12
30 burpees
40 box jumps 24/20
50 Situps
40 box jumps 24/20
30 burpees
20 medball cleans 20/12
10 Deadlifts 225/155
1 medball lap 20/12

Friday Leaderboard
**not enough of you dummies left your score. On the guys side it went scott, danimal followed by yours truly. Annie took the ladies title.

Unbroken Pullups and Push Press....

Stength: 
Split Jerk 10(with just bar) 5,4,3,2,1
WOD: 
2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16
Pullups
DB Push Press 35/20
* All sets are to be done unbroken. For every set that is broken, to a max of 5, you will have to do 1 building lap before your workout is done. 

Power Snatch

Strength:
Max Power Snatch
WOD: 
Rounds in 15min: 
10 Power Snatches 95/65
50 Squats -- everyone uses a medball for depth, no bouncing off the ball

Tuesday Leaderboard to come in the morning
 

KB Swings -- Apparently its been a while

Strength: 
Front Squat 6x5
WOD: 
4 rounds for time:
20 KB Swings
20 Ring Dips 
20 wallballs

How did everyone like the run today. Was pretty happy with the turnout. I know most of you hate running but the ability to throw down a strong 5k run is something that all CrossFitters should be have or be working towards. As you all know should have figured out by now I slant our program to be a little more run heavy than some CrossFit gyms because its a skill I think is important in broad based fitness. That will continue to be the case throughout the summer so as the Knight Rider likes to say....."Long live the CrossFit Running Club".

Lions 5K Leaderboard
Ladies:
1. BB Guns 25:20 (Gym Record)
2. Andy 28:24
3. Michelle 26:30 ( morning class)
4. Roe Roe 31:39
5. Jenny 32:55
Men:
1. Scott 20:05 (Gym Record)
2. Solo 20:19
3. Darren 24:09
4. Geoff 25:14
5. Risto 24:28 (morning class)
* The morning classes had to run the grind style steps because some skunks were on the concrete ones. That is why their times are lower.

Forma Athletics

Our very own Garth Prouse aka Steven Bunches is opening up his own gym in West Vancouver called Forma Athletics (www.formaathletics.com). Garth has been an integral part of CrossFit Lions success in the first year or so of its existence and he will be sorely missed. As an athlete it was a treat for all of us to have one of the fittest people in this country and any other for that matter training day in and day out in the Den. It is going to take a special athlete to take down some of his gym records and we might not see that for some time. Also nobody has been more integral to my growth as a coach than Garth. I have learned more from him in the last year than I have from any previous CrossFit coach or anything that CrossFit HQ or any other source of knowledge has provided. That is not a knock on anybody but just an illustration of what the man they call Bunches brings to the table. Thanks again for that G.

We off course hope to have Garth back in the Den on occasion throwing down workouts for us all to chase in the near future. He will still be representing CrossFit Lions at the games this July in California.

Forma Athletics is located on Marine Drive in West Vancouver between 14th and 15th street (the old Macdonalds for those of you who liked to crush a cheese burger or five back in the day). Forma is not a CrossFit gym per say but Garth and his trainers there will be teaching under the same methodology as we do at The Den. He will be offering one on one and group sessions for his clients. You are encouraged to check out the gym and throw down a class or ten with him for fun. He has some pretty cool plans for the classes they will be offering. I'm not positive but I know they are to do a stretch class for athletes, spin classes, gymnastics/parkour as well as athlete specific sessions. Again ask him or check out his website for more details. I'll get Garth to send me all the details so I can post them to the site so we know whats up.

Another cool note about Forma is it is also a retail shop for running shoes and workout gear. They have so awesome brands so far and as they grow so will the brands they carry. Next time you need some shoes make sure you check them out. Something tells me I am going to have a monthly account with them I am going to be buying so many. God damn I love a new running/training shoe.

Forma was actually open on Friday but I thought I would save this post for a day when it wasn't a holliday.

Monday WOD: 
"Lions 5K"
You run to the concrete steps, climb three times and run home....and yes I purposely didn't post this till now. Don't trust my morning peeps to come in when a run is on the board .
Post:
Full stretch.

CrossFit Lions Team Workout At Lululemon Saturday at noon

Team Lions will be throwing down a workout at Lululemon Park Royal at 12 oclock Saturday. Come down and cheer us on if you are in the neighborhood. It should be a pretty bad ass workout......and without further adieu....

"Royal Crippler"
For Time -- 6 athlete team -- one male and one female can be working at a time
250 Thrusters 115/75
250 Burpees
250 Hang Power Cleans 115/75
250 Pullups
250 Overhead Squats 115/75

Class schedule as per usual tomorrow. 9 and 10am. 

Saturday WOD: 
"Den Crippler"
35 Thrusters 115/75
35 Burpees
35 Hang Power Cleans
35 Pullups
35 Overhead Squats

Will this be the the slowest day in gym history

It remains to be seen. I sure hope not but it is a beautiful day outside finally. Hope everyone had a great Canada day. Straight lifting today.

WOD:
A. Deadlift 5x3
B. Box Squats 10x2, rest 90 sec between sets
C. Push Press 5x2