A different type of test today

Finally our WOD books have arrived. I am selling them at cost which is $20 per book + tax = $22.40. This is a great tool to keep track of your progress and something I would like every athlete to use. I will be gradually phasing out the old books, though off course you are welcome to keep them up yourselves with the old sheets. I only ordered 20 in this first run so if you want one get in the gym or put your name on one by leaving a comment on this post.

Alright I have been thinking about this one for a while. Haven't seen this done quite like this before so lets give it a shot. Should be a serious grip tester.

WOD: 

There will be four lifting areas in the gym. You will perform a Squat and Clean and Jerk at each of the four stations. The bar cannot rest on the ground between stations. The stations will be set up around the gym. You must walk the bar to the other station any way you can (likely in the front rack position). Once you reach the station you may drop the bar on the ground but you only have 10 seconds to begin your next C&J. Highest weight total wins. You may make as many attempts at this as you like. At minimum everyone needs to try 4. Only one athlete will be working at a time.

Post: 
We might do some post midline work, depending on how long this will take.

Tuesday Leaderboard to go on tomorrow. The photo I took of it is cut off on the ladies side. 

Reminder about Olympic Lifting Session on Wednesday at 6pm

If you want to pay for the Olympic Lifting Sessions by using your direct deposit, I will have a sign in sheet on my desk to do so. Please make sure you sign in before every class. If you don't want to pay by that then please bring cheque or cash to each session. I also want to remind or assure people that the Lions standard programming is going to continue to involve a lot of Olympic lifting, just as it does now. The work with Chris will be on top of what we do in the gym and I won't be taking into consideration this work when I make up the program each day. However I believe you can never do too much Oly lifting and as I think you will see, these session will be skill based work as apposed to big and heavy every time.


Tech:
Overhead Squat
3,2,1,3,2,1
WOD: 
Three rounds for total rounds completed
With a 5 minute clock complete:
400m run - followed by
As many rounds as possible of:
7 box jumps
25 double unders
Rest 3 min between rounds
Your score is how many rounds of the box jumps and double unders you complete in the workout.

JT Leaderboard
Ladies:
1. Ains 28:12 RX
2. Robyn 16:04 abmat
3. Annie 18:17 abmat
Men:
1. Scott 9:56
2. Arash 11:52
3. Knight 11:59
4. Dave 23:10

JT -- Thank You Popeye

Big Thanks to Popeye and all the COP crew for having us over Saturday for the Big Dawg Challenge. Really proud of everyone who competed. Especially those who this was their first CrossFit competition. Below are the results from Saturday.

Men's Results
Place	Total Score	Name	Gym		3RM Snatch	Burpees	4 Min Row	Pull Ups	BW Back Squat	Push Press 135
1	436	Jason Noel	COP	Full	155	112	83	53	23	10
2	429	Pete Kendrick	COP	Full	155	109	77	59	17	12
3	412	Scott Tasaka	Lions	Full	135	124	67	62	20	4
4	404	Simon Damborg	COP	Full	155	95	81	50	11	12
5	374	Tim Dickson	COP	Full	155	104	82	13	10	10
6	369	Josh Makay	Lions	Full	155	92	56	55	9	2
7	355	Patrick Vuong	OPT	Full	135	97	61	45	16	1
8	346	Geoff Archilbald	Lions	Full	120	100	68	40	18	0
9	342	Dave Muscat	Lions	Full	135	101	56	29	11	10
10	293	Darren Chan	Lions	Full	75	106	59	39	14	0
Women's Results
Place	Total Score	Name	Gym		3RM Snatch	Burpees	4 Min Row	Pull Ups	BW Back Squat	Pruch Press 95
1	335	Ainslie Kehler	Lions	Full	85	106	60	47	24	13
2	318	Erin Jacobson	COP	Full	85	108	53	30	33	9
3	317	Karolina Pawlak	COP	Full	105	98	58	27	20	9
4	306	Robyn Sproston	Lions	Full	70	103	52	49	26	6
5	304	Annie Tasaka	Lions	Full	85	87	54	40	30	8
6	256	Alicia Hatt	Lions	Full	70	85	66	6	25	4
7	249	Lauren Vickers	Lions	Mod	65	74	62	17	27	4
8	244	Michelle Shomura	Lions	Mod	60	98	39	13	28	6

Monday Workout


Strength:
Front Squat 10x2 (Yes this has changed. Realized we haven't done enough FS lately)
WOD: 
"JT"
21,15,9
HSPU
Ring Dips
Pushups

Classes are ON for tomorrow -- Big Dawg Update

9 and 10 am classes are a go for tomorrow. So if you aren't competing over town come on in. Apparently the workouts are released for tomorrow, though I haven't seen them yet myself. If anyone has them please post to comments. Registration at COP is at 10am (this has changed) so get there and put it down. I won't be there till noon ish as I have work in the morning but I'm sure popeye will take good care of you guys and gals.

Saturday WOD:
WOD 1:
1000m row
WOD 2: 
Rounds in 5 min:
5 Shoulder Press 75/55
5 pullups
WOD 3:
"Death By 10m"
Rest 7 min between workouts

Big Dawg Challenge -- Olympic Weightlifting Class

No more news yet on what time the big dawg challenge is going to start at CrossFit Optimum Performance in Vancouver. As soon as I hear I will let you know on this blog, so keep checking back in. I'm quite certain it will start in the morning and go at least into the early afternoon. Look up COP website for location.

We are going to be offering a Olympic weightlifting class on Wednesday Nights at 6pm at the Den. The cost will be $10 to members and $20 to non members. This session will be taught by Chris "The GOAT" Schaalo and will be strictly Oly work. I highly recommend these sessions if you are somebody looking to improve your Olympic lifting. Not only is Chris a great coach but just dedicating at least once a week to the discipline will greatly improve your game. Couple that in with the fact that we will also likely be doing each of the main lifts once a week and your gains should be great. If day and time doesn't work for you then please let me know as we a picking this as a starting point and can re adjust based on need.


Friday WOD: 
1-10-1
Wallballs
Pushups
DB Hang Squat Cleans 35/20
* You do one of each, then two , then three all the way up to ten and then back down to 1
**You will also do a 800m row/run when you complete the set of ten.

Moblity WOD to come in the morning. For some reason I can't open the youtube video to embed right now. 

Olympic Total

WOD:
Max Snatch
Max Clean and Jerk

add up the both weights completed for your total

Tabata Leaderboard
Ladies:
1. BB Guns 345
2. Misch 323
3. Mellisa 300
* Remember to post scores ladies
Men:
1. Solo 327
2. Scott 324
3. Ant 320
4. Arash 385

Tabata

Strength: 
Deadlift 5,4,3,3,3
WOD:
6 sets of Tabata w/t 1 min break between exercises:
6' Broad Jumps
SDHP 45/35 -- bar just has to travel below the knee
Knees To Elbows
Jumping Back Squat 45/35 -- Bar must stay on back in rest period
Walking Lunge 45/35 -- Bar must stay on back in rest period

* Your score is total reps, not lowest per round
**Advanced athletes will have to put the barbell on your back for each of the rest periods...you are welcome.



5 Unbroken Pullup Leaderboard
Ladies:
1. Robyn 23
2. Ains 18
2. Annie 18
4. Roe Roe 12
5. BB 10
Men:
1. Scott 26
2. Arash 23
3. Ant 22
3. Solo 22
5. Knight 21

Hope Everyone Enjoyed The Party

Thank you to everyone for coming out to the party on Saturday night. I hope you had a good time, I know Chelan and I really enjoyed having you. We will do that again real soon. Thanks to Garth and Nick B for hosting our after party. 


Monday WOD
A. Push-press: 10 sets of 1; rest 90 sec
Total score is total weight lifted in all sets combined.
B. 5 sets of:
AMRAP 5 unbroken kipping pull-ups in 45 seconds
Rest 90 sec

Speed Jerks

A. Max Set of Clean Jerk 135/95 x3 w/t 3 min break between efforts
* The bar must be in constant motion, tap and go off the ground, any pause and your set is done
B. 3 rounds for time:
20 jumping lunges
20 Scott Presses w/t Dowel
1min of front plank

Olympic Lifting Classes

Hi y'all. Chris "The GOAT" Schaalo is wanting to start up a Olympic lifting class or classes for CrossFit Lions and its members. In these classes Chris would program and teach the Clean and Jerk and Snatch as well as the skill transfer exercises needed to be proficient at these movements. These sessions will be solely focused on the two lifts and can be done in conjuction with CrossFit Lions programming. We aren't sure when we will hold these session but we are looking to do them on a weekly and even bi weekly basis. If you are interested please leave a post on this blog or email me at chris@crossfitlions.com . Cost is yet to be determined and will depend on who many people are interested and they would like to do it one or two days a week.

Chris is a great coach and has a great eye for the oly lifts and I guarantee you will improve on your technique if you take his classes.

CrossFit Lions End Of Summer Bash -- Same WOD, different options

Okay....CrossFit Lions End of Summer Bash goes this Saturday night at the party room in my apartment builiding. It will be a potluck vibe, though thinks small in what you bring as Chelan will be making some great eats for us as well. I will also have some booze there but if everyone could also bring some things to wet their palette that would be great. Everyone is welcome, so bring whoever you like. It will go to around 11pm and then we will need to find the next spot. Look forward to having everyone there. My address is 155 West 1st Street. Pretty much on the corner of chesterfield and 1st. The party room is right there in the lobby, you can't miss it. Party starts at 6pm.

I like the look of the .com workout for today and heavy loads with muscle ups is working perfectly for today since we haven't done heavy weighted metcon any of the first three days this week. However there will be options for this workout depending on what you can do.

Great to be back from Bandon Oregan. I highly recommend it for any golfers out there. It is a epic place to play and stay. Golf is extremely hard but its a once in a lifetime experience......except I plan to go down every year of my life -- ahahahhaha. Bing thanks to Roe Roe and Robyn for looking after the classes while I was gone. We couldn't fly out till late Monday and that is why I was home a day later than planned. 

Friday WOD: 
Advanced: 
9,6,3
Heavy Thrusters -- .com RX weight is 165/115 *
Muscle Ups
* Weight should possible for 3 reps fresh.... at a minimum.
Regular:
12,9,6
Medium Thrusters
Pullups
Ring Dips

Post:
20 High Box Jumps
1000m Row

Mobility WOD:

Monday + Tuesday WOD -- New Lions Video

I am away Monday and Tuesday. Going down to Bandon Oregan with Mark "The Mayor" Sager and Twisto for a little golf and good times. Roe Roe will be teach Monday classes and Tuesday morning classes and Robyn will be teaching Tuesday afternoon/evening classes. Thank you to both of them for stepping in. If I can ask every client to keep an eye out for new athletes and make sure they know what is going on, that would be awesome. I am not going to put in a mobility wod on these two days but if athletes or coaches want to give one than feel free.

This video we took in the lead up to CrossFit Games at Park Royal Lululemon. Its done by Banana of Digital Monkey. I think his best work to date.

Monday Workout
Strength: 
Deadlift - Work up to a 1RM ( 5 rep work for new athletes -- no maxes )
Bench Press - Work up to a 1RM ( 5 rep work for new athletes -- no maxes)
WOD: 
10 rounds for time:
10 box jumps 24/20
10 pushups - games standard (go down chest to ground than lift your hands off ground briefly and then pushup)

Tuesday Workout
Strength:
Back Squat 10,8,5,5,3,3
Push Press 5x2
WOD:
1000m row
50 wallballs 20/12
30 pullups ( If you don't have 10 pullups unbroken than scale this number back)
50 medball squat cleans 20/12
30 Toes To Bar

Hang Power Cleans

A1. Hang power clean: 3,3,3,3,3; rest 10 seconds
A2. KB swing Black/Red, 7 reps; rest 10 seconds
A3. 7 broad jumps as far as possible each jump; rest 120 seconds

You are going for as heavy a 3 rep as you can on the clean. Warm it up well before you start. 

Rest Day / Make Up Day -- Big Dawg Challenge -- Lions Party

Rest day will fall on the Friday this week as we didn't have programming for Monday. Come on in and make up any WOD you missed this week.

The next Big Dawg Challenge is Sept 24th and we have been invited to go to CrossFit Optimum Performance in Vancouver to throw down the workouts. The last challenges have lasted about 5hours in length. I expect this one to be the same. Should be lots of fun. Everyone is welcome but I need to provide Popeye with a number so please RSVP on the comment section of the blog. All workouts can be scaled so no worries there.

CrossFit Lions Summer party will be September 18th in the evening. I haven't decided if it will be at the gym or at a local establishment yet but mark that down. Paleo food will be in full effect regardless....Paleo drinks, not so much.

4x800m Run

Nice work on the Snatching Bear today. That is a hell of a tough workout and everyone did really well on it. We are going to try that one again within the next month or so which will allow you all to try and see if you can hit it at a higher weight.  
Thursday WOD:
A. Press - 7x3
B. 800m run x4, 5min rest between runs
Mobility WOD:


Snatching Bear Leaderboard
Ladies:
1. Ains 60#
2. Roe 55#
2. Hattie 55#
4. Mellisa 45#
5. Jenny 35#
Men:
1. Scott 85#
1. Solo 85#
1. Nick 85#
4. Dave 75#
5. Pip 55#

Snatching Bear

WOD: 
"Snatching Bear"
On the minute every minute for 20min complete:
5 snatch width deadlifts
5 hang power snatch
5 overhead squats
Choose your weight and go after it. Highest completed weight wins. If you are someone with a tendency to get a tight back, this is not a great workout for you. You can try and go after it but don't feel bad if you have to cut it down to just 10min and then I'll add in a little something for you. This workout catches up with you quick so chose your weight wisely. This is as hard a mental struggle was we can test.
Mobility WOD:

Eating Well Starts Now

a 60 day challenge has began. I will be posting a weekly blog entry on http://crossfitpie.blogspot.com/ where you can leave your food diary and questions in the comments section. What I would like people to do is make a decision on what diet is going to be right for you and then stick with it with 60 days. Obviously the whole 30 is the most elite level and the diet I would recommend. The basic premise is eat meats, fish, nuts, seeds and fruits and vegtables. No grain, no rice and no calorie drinks. It is also very important to not be putting back diet drinks. Thought they might have zero calories, they do not have zero effect on our body and fat storage. Diet drinks are only about half better for you than the real ones. I personally find I still retain a lot of water when I am drinking diet pop and it also leads to a huge sugar craving when you are drinking it.

For me personally I am going to go Paleo w/t small amounts of cheese, no milk, small amounts of sauces for meats, soup with vegtables and meats, peanut butter, some salted nuts, elevate me bars + lara bars and protein powder (not often but if I don't have food at work I will have one) w/t one cheat meal on Sunday if wanted. I am also going to make more of an effort to have leaner meats than I have before.

Personally I doing this challenge to jump start my CrossFit again and get myself in shape for CrossFit Taranis's Winter Challenge in November. I want to compete individually and on a team.


Monday WOD: 
A1. Back Squat 5x8
A2. Split Jerk from behind the neck
* You will use the racks. The weight on the bar will be the same for both lifts. As soon as you finish the back squat you will set up and try for the Jerk. Make sure the Jerk is properly warmed up before you attempt a set. This will be a new motion for most of you.
C. For Time:
10 burpee pullups
20 Wallballs
30 GHD Situps
20 KB Swings 2 pood / 1.5 pood
10 Ring Dips / 3 Muscle Ups
600m row 

New Gym Rules Effective Immediately

I have noticed a steady increase in injuries in the last 3 months in the Den. Especially in the back. I have thought long  and hard and reviewed our programming in that time period to see if I can pull some trends. This has led to a few new rules in the gym.

1. No more heavy deadlifts in a conditioning environment. I was not really big on this anyways as it would always light up my back, however seeing how many gyms incorporate this I thought I needed to. We had at least 5 athletes who were sore after the last heavy deadlift running workout and that is far too high a percentage. Now this is not to say we aren't going to be doing heavy deadlifts, because you can bet your ass we will continue to do a ton of them, we just won't be doing them in a times environment. Now if you are a competitive CrossFitter who enjoys the unique hit that the dead can provide in metcons you are welcome to sprinkle them into some workouts that we do. I am happy to help you with that. 
2. If your form breaks down on the deadlift / heavy clean and you haven't PROVEN to me that it will not hurt you (aka Robyn) than I am immediately shutting you down. If its in the strength portion of the workout than you can lower weight and do another set. If its in the conditioning environment than again you can either lower weight or I will give you a different exercise to finish off that workout. This is for your own good. For too long when athletes are at the end of their workouts and are ripping hard to finish I have let poor form go for the sake of speed. No longer. 
3. If you have had a prolonged break from your normal CrossFit routine than you are to scale back at least your first workout, if not your first couple. Scale back means no more than 75% of what your usual weight would be for that exercise. Lets say we are doing 135# power cleans and you usually do RX but you have been away for a week, I want you to do the workout at 115#. Even if that feels light, it doesn't matter. Lets take that same example except this time you are an athlete who wouldn't normally do 135# cleans, you would do 95#, than I want you to use 75#. This point I believe is the biggest reason why I have noticed an increase in injuries in the gym this summer. People are generally training less but still coming in and trying to put down RX workouts. RX is for the active elite and the RX weights should be respected as such. I think I have done a pretty good job and making sure people aren't going too heavy with their loads but were I have failed is scaling that back even further if you have been inactive. At the end of the day this responsibility will fall on the athletes shoulders and they can't be afraid to have an "easy" workout once in a while if they haven't been after it in a little bit. Also if you are someone who comes 2 days a week or less this rule will always been applicable to you. 
4. Every athlete is expected to follow "The Mobility WOD" which is put up daily right now by Kelly Starrett, CrossFit's guru on mobility and flexibility. Go to http://mobilitywod.blogspot.com/ for the mobility wod. I suggest everyone goes back to the beggining and does a few of them per day until we all catch up. In a few months I'm sure we will have covered all the exercises and we can add them based on our programming. As of right now he is loosely based them on .com programming. This will help all of us. I will do my best to try and include some time after each class to do this but as you know we are already pretty presses in our hour. 

Now this being said, injuries are a reality in CrossFit because of the intensity we train in and the sport environment we create. Train long and hard enough and it will eventually happen. I don't see any gaps in our programming and on the flip side I think we have done a lot to try and limit injuries in the gym. Full dynamic stretch before each class, thursday and sunday as rest days and a lot of midline strength training. I will continue to try and provide us with the tools to try and stay injury free. Nothing I hate more than to hear someone has hurt themselves while training.

Saturday WOD: 
A. Muscle Snatch 5x2
B. Hang Squat Snatch + Snatch Balance + Squat Snatch -- light weight, work on technique
C. Snatch width deadflift - 5x5
D. Team WOD TBA (10min workout)

Mary

WOD: 
"Mary"
Rounds in 20min:
5 HSPU
10 Alternating Pistols
15 Pullups

*I challenge anyone in the gym to do this workout with the pullups being done on the fat bar pullup bar. Really adds a new dimension.

Happy September -- Closed Monday -- Taranis Winter Challenge

A few notes here before I post the leaderboard.

CrossFit Lions Bye Bye Summer Bash
When: Sept 18th
Time: TBD - not sure if we are going to do a day or night party
Where: Party will start at the gym and potentially continue up at the Knight Riders joint or perhaps a local watering hole. More details to come.
Cost: $500.00 -- I thought I would continue with the alarming CrossFit trend of overcharging for every event. I figure getting to crush vodka sodas with me is worth at least 5 bills.

60 day Paleo Challenge 
When: Sept 9th ( Next Tuesday)
What: It is recommended you look into the whole 30 challenge for your guideline. Basically what I want is for people to make a decision on what fuel source they are going to go with and stick with that plan for 60 days. The athletes that have gone past our last 30 day challenge into the 60 plus days really saw big gains in their fitness and body composition. Knight Rider, Eddie, Jenny to name a few. More details on this to come. 

Labour Day
We are open as usual on Saturday but are closed Monday. If you are a someone with keys who plans to come in the gym to workout on Monday please post on the blog. There is no formal classes but if you want to workout check the blog and see if anyone is planning on coming in.

CrossFit Taranis Winter Challenge
http://www.crossfitvic.com/CrossFit_Taranis/Winter_Challenge.html
CrossFit Taranis, our sister gym in Victoria (or at least I think of them that way), is hosting their second annual CrossFit competition on November 6 and 7th. A large group of us went last year and had an amazing time. There is the individual workouts on Saturday and the team workouts on Sunday. As long as you meet the minimum standards they have on the link above you are free to enter either individual or team. If you aren't sure if you can do everything there, ask me and I will help you decide or give you the workout so you can try. On the team side of things, there is no limit on how many teams each gym fields. Though as of right now only 20 can register, that may increase if the demand is there. As of right now Ainsley, Nick, Annie and Scott have registered a team and I have registered to undermined teams. The team events should be lots of fun and like I said we can get as many teams as we want so hopefully we don't need to do any tryouts. If you are interested in being on a team leave a comment on this post and we'll see if we need to get another team or not. You can do both the individual and the team comp and I strongly urge everyone who is even thinking about it to buck up and sign up for it.

Squat Clean Thruster and CTB Pullups Leaderboard
Ladies:
1. Ains 8:31
2. Annie 8:44
3. Roe Roe 9:17
Men:
1. Solo 6:12
2. Scott 6:18
3. Pie 7:31
4. Arash 7:46
5. Ant 7:56