Shall we dance?- 7:11, partnered up with Sam. Good workout, especially the body rows. Wasn't expecting those to kick my ass. Definitely hope more partner work is in future workouts. Nice to have a co-op competitiveness going.

How will we sub rope climbs?

met con.

4:50 on the test

Looks like the fellas have got to cut more weight...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/fashion/shows/07DIARY.html?ex=1203051600&en=05fe4f57cb621fba&ei=5070&emc=eta1

http://www.ringtraining.com/

Classic elite rings now only $50. Do yourself a favor and buy a pair. It is money VERY well spent.

Good work today with Dan Def-7 minutes flat for the partner workout. We should do more in the future.

Did the test in 4:46. Next time I'll be closer to pullup bar-should take off a few.

Paul S good to have you back. And let the insults continue fellas-we've been way to nice to easch other at the Box. Time for the "yo mama" jokes!

This aint practice for nothing, and I don't see how this is going to help my nervous system one bit. Although it will induce vomiting.

The consensus for best substitute for rope climb is towel pullups. I have prescribed 30 towel pullups instead of the 3 rope climbs.

Robzilla, barring any unforeseen circumstances, I will be at the Gladiator tryouts tomorrow as well. What the heck - maybe they are looking for a 155lb spaghetti-armed contender...I just need to figure out a good story to tell.

I'll see you there early AM.

tyler,

i disagree with the towel pull ups since rope climbs are so footwork oriented.

and there you have it.

Can we sub rope climbs with the "Panting on the floor in a pool of your own sweat" exercise. I'm pretty sure I'll still be able to do those after this workout.

I don't use my feet or legs when I do rope climbs so towel pull-ups will be a good sub for me. Not fun or easy but a good sub.

I need to learn how to use my feet. Lots of people have tried to teach me a few techniques of how to wrap the rope or step on it but I just haven't been able to get it.

Add rope climbs to my list of things I need to work on.

I almost ended up in a Workout demo with JOLIE with ROPE CLIMBS. She would have put me to shame. :/ That girl can climb. So can SpiderChick..upsidedown

Brendan the aim of the Crossfit rope climbs is to use as little leg and foot assist as necessary.

@Brett- Really? I don't doubt you, but that seems really strange. I always assumed that you would want to climb the rope the way you would climb a rope (or cliff, ladder, whatever) in real life, meaning using your arms as guidance/balance/assistance and your legs as the driving force. This would allow you to climb over longer distances, particularly if you are carrying a load at the same time.

I understand focusing on arms during a timed WOD as it will let you go faster, but I didn't think that was encouraged in terms of learning the actual skill and employing it in a functional manner.

Using the feet when climbing ropes is important/crucial for scaling, for safety and for tactical purposes. For pure upperbody climbing strength, the straddle-L position with the legs is preffered.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zAXaRB-6AHc&feature=related

However, for exercise substitution purposes, towel pullups are the best simulation we have. If you would like to juggle kettlebells with your feet while doing the towel pullups, then you'll definitely get more out of it.

but wouldn't the purpose of introducing a rope climb in a wod be for functional, practical execution? rope climbing isn't intended to be a purely upper body exercise.

None of my business since I won't be there, but don't we have 1 or 2 ropes at the box that can each provide 2 routes from the floor to the top of pull-up contraption? Why not sub 2 or 3 such rope climbs (sitting on floor, L-sit-esque throughout, to touching top of structure) for every prescribed one? This may be feasible with some appropriately staggered starts or heats. Or maybe not.

Or we could do rope pullups like I did last time this came up.

Or we could just forget they were even in there since no one really likes them...

Why don't we just play tug of war with some rope? It's pulling and stabilization work simultaneously. But I'm not pulling against Keith's fat ass- unless there is a two to one person sub for him!

"The consensus for best substitute for rope climb is towel pullups."

I disagree with both "consensus" and "best".

More accurately, it should read:
[Some sadist's idea] for [most unreasonably excruciating] substitute for rope climb is towel pullups.

Hope everyone enjoys my trip as much as I did :)

Dirty Dozen
25 lunges
20 pullups 10,5,5
50 box jumps 20"
20 DUs
25 ring dips 5 real 20 slow negs
20 KTE
30 KB swings 24kg
20 HSC 2 12kg KBs
25 back ex on GHD
30 wall ball 14#ball
30 towel pull-ups mostly singles a few doubles

26:58

ow

Nice job Anyc. I enjoyed the video, too, although I am not sure what the "Land Ho!" segment was for other than comedy. Which it admirably succeeded at. Anything that can make me laugh while at work is a godsend.

So when does the Sea Ho get her webisode?

Dirty Dozen:

23:56

Was going well until the towel pullups which took 6 or more minutes.

Brendan

Most of this conversation is pointless since we don't have a viable ropeclimb at the Box. However, for educational purposes let us examine it.

The rope climb can serve many functions. In the WOD we chase power: getting up the rope as fast as you can. Use of the legs is necessary for some people to get up the rope and for some people the use of the legs slows them down. The goal for WODs is to eventually get up and down the rope without using the legs because that's the fastest way.

For training purposes people should learn to use the legs because it provides a sense of safety and also takes some work out of the arms and distributes it to the legs. Ideally beginners will start by lying down on the floor and pulling themselves up to standing. Then the progression up the rope is learned with various foot/leg techniques. Eventually with proper leg technique the climber can actually let go of the rope with both hands. This is good for long climbs and tactical purposes if the climber must use a radio or weapon or retrieve some climbing equipment.

If we had a rope to climb, I would definitely be teaching people to use their legs. However, I would expect the strongest athletes to get themselves up the rope without the legs eventually. They can always use the legs as they fatigue.

Or we could do it Cisco style and do one armed rope climbs with no legs.

http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/onearmrope.mpg

Great work everyone in the 1230 class!!
17:41
as rx'd with towel pullup sub. Sorry about tearing those two towels Keith. :(

My next goal will be tearing phonebooks in half.;)

Oh and beware of the rings of torture with the buckles facing in. My arms paid the price for using those. I didn't choose wisely.

So who else is going to stand in line tomorrow for American Gladiators? Rob, Tom, ... ?

33:25 Sub Double Under Attempts, Power Cleans, 10 Towel Pull-ups per ascent

(We're overdue for JT, Murph.)

will do, coach.

21:31

accidentally grabbed a 1.5 pood instead of 2, did 30 towel pullups instead of 3 rope ascents.

28:42

25 Walking lunge steps
20 Pull-ups
50 Box jumps, 20 inch box
20 Double-unders
25 Ring dips (sub negatives)
20 Knees to elbows
30 Kettlebell swings, 2 pood (sub 1.5 pood)
30 Sit-ups (floor with abmat)
20 Hang squat cleans, 35 pound dumbells (sub 25 pound)
25 Back extensions (supermans)
30 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
3 Rope climb ascents (5 towel pullups, 25 body rows)

For time:
25 Walking lunge steps
20 Pull-ups (real pullups!! first time ever in a WOD)
50 Box jumps, 20 inch box
20 Double-unders
25 Ring dips (jumping)
20 Knees to elbows
30 Kettlebell swings, 2 pood (20 kg)
30 Sit-ups
20 Hang squat cleans, 35 pound dumbells (2x12kg)
25 Back extensions (GHD)
30 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball (14#)
3 Rope climb ascents (30 towel body rows)

29:01

*Hopefully learned my lesson about running right before a met-con WOD. Not a good idea.

YES Avery! That's awesome! How did the pull-ups feel? Were they kipping? Any or all in a row?

Congratulations :)!

Thanks!

The kipping pull-ups felt easier than I thought they would, but were pretty much all broken not by plan it's just what happened.

I'm glad it was in the first part of the workout and not the second - otherwise it would have taken me twice as long. My grip is really weak.

29:01, sub 200 jump ropes for double-unders and 30 towel pullups for the rope.

Hi! Totally unrelated to crossfit but maybe you can help us out.. My friend James, and I entered a recording contest and we need your vote!

Last year my friend James(He was at the Crossfit Christmas Party with me) entered and won! This year they have another contest with much bigger prizes and competition. James broke his arm (Doing MMA, long story) and was unable to play ,so I stepped in. I recorded all the guitars and bass , so this is a small song I wrote and it's titled "Throwdown at the Gates of Valhalla". It's a fun hard rock/metal tune (only 1 minute. long).

Please check out the link below and add a post (they call it a shout) and that will count as a vote. If we get enough votes, we win! Your post can be as long or short as you want.
Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it.

Here's the link: scroll down to the bottom to vote

http://www.riffworld.com/Members/JGmhz/throwdown-at-the-gates-of-valhalla/

Thank you so very much!!!

Cheers,

25:16 (subbed towel pullups for rope ascents) Good work everyone tonight.

Robzilla and Tom-get some at the AG competition!

Avery-that is sooo amazing! I am so impressed that you knocked out so many kips.that was so fast since u learned how to do them-u need to teach me ur trick though i suspect it is just that you are much stronger than i am! That is great. so bummed i missed that work out.

am in palm beach which is amazing. at hotel i asked them how high the pullup bar is-oh we dont know no one really ever uses it. there are however a lotof stairmasters and a ton of pink dumbells. when i started kipping basically people had no idea what hit them (remember average age of people working out in this 5 star hotel is about 60) it was hilarious. a lot of whispering to the trainers on duty "is that safe for her to do here? wont she hit someeone? but turned out that it was lots of fun. did med 10lb ball cleans, 100 back squats 9withthe weights attached to some machine-what IS that exactly???), kips, burpees and thrusters (FORM STILL STINKS)

so to share a feel good stroy-stop readin gif u hate those stories- A 65 YEAR OLD GUY WHO was working with his trainer-i.e 5 lb dumbells-who really was working hard-had recently had a heart attack-came up and asked me what i was doing (crossfit) and how old i was (oldish-i.e closer to 40 than 20) and he told me it was amazing to watch andthat i was an inspiration and that it made him want to work harder because if i wasnt a professional athlete and i had started this a year ago it seemed he could get back into shape too. i gave him our blog. it was really cute and though i was dreading working out in a fancy old fart gym it really was nice to know that you dont have to be an eva, annie or nicole to show someone that crossfit works . I think I was happier that someone felt that they could achieve more in their pysical workout from seeing a smattering of crossfit than i was that i got a few kips in-so thanks all u guy uys at the box for always encouraging me. and for a moment i felt like what it must be like to be a coach. anyway the encouragement fromthe box travels on. and i held of on the cursing when my blisters popped bc naturally they had not chalk. and bc they charge FORTY bucks to use the gym if u dont get a spa treatment the cheapest of which is a manicure for 72$

Anyway good luck all u AG guys-my husband in particular is rooting for u. and avery looking forward to ur kip tricks. cu all soon

Saturday 5K: 24:45

Did a 5k row Thursday morning: 18:13= 1:49/500m (tie PR).

Today, Petranek warm-up benchmark thing 3:55 (1:32 row).

Ewen,

3:55! That's the time to beat! I could do it, if only I had your row time.

yes, sometimes when we discribe a senior citizen
we always we say old fart or old bag. it's ashame because if they are in the gym, they are trying.I wish that more seniors would take up training themselfs so they could move around more easily.you see I offer my services to many of our seniors.But most of them refuse.
the thing that gets me is, that I would do it for free.I have a few and they are doing very well.
jacinto

michelle please do not take any offense I just wrote that because I feel for the seniors.
jacinto

Jogged 4.7 miles in ~40min, I did not really fatigue at all. I've been practicing POSE running and not reaching forward. Seems to be helping.

Nice time Ewen. I think the whole test really pivots on ones rowing. If you suck at rowing, everything else is going to be terrible.

Kevin, that was a sick riff, great guitar work. How do you like using RiffWorks and/or RiffWorld? Did you use drum loops for that as well? It looks pretty good, I have downloaded the demo. I work with Garageband 4, formerly with protools and cakewalk.

Hey Michelle, nice being an inspiration to others.

http://z15.invisionfree.com/CrossFit/index.php?showforum=9

Those Painstorm blokes are a CRAZY lot!

Jacinto-no offense taken-and you are right- and I meant no disrespect to anyone who might fall into the "above 60 category" i actually call myself an old fart :) the point though was that what was so great was that this man was in his 60s had recovered from a heart attack and was training and wanted to train harder. THAT is exactly what made me feel great. I came in with an idea of what the clientele of this fancy gym in a retirement community would be like and walke dout feeling great knowing that crossfit could inspire anyone at any age at any fitness level. if only he could have seen YOU then he would really have been throwing out those 5lb weights. my dad is 68 and has had 3 heart attacks. i wish i could get him to a gym on a regular basis - even an "old fart" one. thx for ur comment Jacinto! . you are the master!

Chris thanks for the kind words. We did use drum loops from Riffworld. James got some of the nu metal loops and I liked the ones he chose so I started to jam on some of the beats. I don't really use the program as much as he does. I did find it a bit limiting as we couldn't change drum grooves under the solo. Or maybe we can, we just didn't figure it out.

Seems like it's been a big weekend for Black Boxers and it's only halfway through.

High fives to:
BrendaN and Kevin for great times on the dozen
Kevin again for his shredding
Brian, Paul S and Ewen for great times on the test (it was an honor holding that stopwatch for Ewen's run)
Avery for kicking ass
Michelle for fooling someone into thinking she's a pro athlete
Rob for the most difficult WOD (representing CF at the AG tryouts while standing in the bitter cold for 6+ hours)
anybody else I forgot
anybody on this page who has ever responded to being called an "old fart"

Saturday 5K: 25:21 (treadmill 1% incline)

thanks to everyone who's voted so far on Riffrumble. We've got quite a few votes. Keep em' coming. Thanks again and congrats to avery, michelle, ewen,and anyone else who kicked ass this weekend. How did the AG tryouts go? I would've gone but had to work.

Hey all you black boxers, greetings from Marine Corps Officer Candidate School! Things down here are going very well so far, I'm on weekend liberty right now, and spent last night in a very nice hotel enjoying the Westin's "heavenly bed". I can't quite explain how good it feels to have been over-prepared physically to come here and I have everyone at the black box to thank for that.

The PT is easy compared to Fran, Diane, Badger, Murph and Elizabeth, etc. Although we do a functional fitness workout that is pure crossfit; it starts with 12 minutes of running through the Obstacle course, going under the low hurdles instead of over, and over all the high obstacles, for as many times as you can. Then you move to a pushup/core station where you do 5 kinds of pushups, close, wide, regular, hindu and scorpion, then do isometric holds in various plank positions for 12 minutes. Then you move to another station where you do "rifle pt", which is basically pushing, pulling, turkish-get-upping, squatting, pistoling, etc. with a 7.78lb M16A2 in your outstretched arms. Finally you do 10 buddy pick-ups, 10 buddy carries (50m), 10 buddy drags (arms draped over shoulders of carrier), and 10 underarm drags (arms under shoulders and fingers laced behind neck).

This week we have some serious leadership/physical events squished into a very small timeframe, with very little opportunities for sleep. Before last night, I haven't slept more than 3 hours in a night, and never more than an hour or two at a time since January 17th. As we enter our 4th week of training, people are starting to drop out, physically with injuries, voluntarily (realizing this isn't the place for them), and the staff starts drop people in week 5.

I can't express enough how lucky Brendan is to be going to the summer class, where he will have hot weather and sunny skies rather than being miserable cold and wet with me here in the winter class. He did send me a letter though, addressed to Gabe "The Harm" (???) Sganga, which my Plt Sgt read in front of the whole Platoon, upon trying to figure out why I was nicknamed The Harm. I guess its better than Golden Shower.

Miss you all and hope all is well with everyone. The way things are looking now, there will be a big space for me between OCS and reporting the next school I have to attend, so expect me to be a regular at the box for the months of April and May. Special greetings to Marisela, Alison B, Keith, Court, Kevin, Hari and Brendan. See you all in early April!

Candidate Sganga, Gabriel M 7375
Company A, 1st Platoon
Officer Candidates School
2189 Elrod Ave
Quantico, VA 22134

(shameless plug, I love mail and baked goods!)

Thank you for the update and keep up the good work, Candidate.

Good Luck Gabe. Wish we could have gotten weekend liberty going through Parris Island... I will get into the box very soon. I keep stalling, due primarily to some serious jet lag and a nasty cold I picked up in Beijing. I have a feeling I'm about to get destroyed when I get back in the BB.

135x10
275x5
315x3

365x1
385x1
405x1
415x1 PR by 5lbs
415xFAIL

315x3

DL
WU 75x3, 95x3, 125x2, 145x1
165x1, 195x1, 205x1, 215x1, 220F, 220F, 217F

Followed up with some CJ
10kg+20#x3
15kg+20#x1
20kg+20#x1
10kg+50#x1`
10kg+60#x1F, x1

RDL snatch grip
10kg+50#x3

Gabe,

You will be officially unwelcome in Berkeley before you know it. Respect.

Sunday Dead Lifts: 275, 285, 295, 305(f), 300, 302(f), 300(f)

Wow a size 30 to a size 4!
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/diet.fitness/02/08/weightloss.lynn.bering/index.html

nice numbers sarena and hari!

No chalk, slick knurling on the bar, hexagonal bumper plates that conspire to land askew... Good times were not had.

135x10
225x5
315x2 (grip trouble starts)
365x1x3
315x1x4

Hey Gabe I'm glad your doing well!! Save the lack of sleep of course. Look forward to seeing you soon.

Cheers

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This is very interesting. thanks.Grazie Mille

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Amazing :) It's too bad more folks don't know about this place, this had exactly what I needed to know!

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