Really upset that I wasn't able to do burping Fran yesterday. I saw it on an affiliate site a long time ago and have wanted to try it ever since. Work work work....

On another note...

It's a little weird when the memorial WOD touches home, and this one does just that, in many ways. I am 23, from St. Louis, and have a brother in the special forces. I cannot begin to fathom the losses his friends and family are feeling. And it terrifies me to imagine that I could feel that loss with my brother's situation, as he completes training and prepares to fight for our country.

I didn't know Ryan personally, but this sick son of a bitch baited the cops and firefighters straight to their doom. One dead, two wounded, coutnless devastated...

Read more on the events of this tragic day at the following link.

I will be doing this WOD tomorrow in memory of Ryan, his family, the community of friends and family I have back there, and in the name of all those serving for the safety and peace of their community and/or country. I suggest we all take a moment to remember our friends and family, especially those dedicating their lives to serving and protecting the freedom we are able to enjoy every day.

With a brother in the special forces who will undoubtedly be faced with unknown dangers and threats, I am reminded not to take for granted the moments we have with loved ones, for they can be taken away in one felt swoop.

So to fighting another day - 3...2...1 GO! Work hard and never quit!

In re: the burpees in this WOD, check out this info from the CrossFit/Brand X forums:

In case you're wondering what they mean when they say "Each burpee terminates with a jump one foot above max standing reach"...

It means that when you jump (at the end of each burpee) with your hands extended above your head, you should touch something that is one foot higher than your hands reach while you are just standing on the ground with extended arms. This is to ensure you jump about a foot off the ground if you can.

Scaling options for this WOD, courtesy of the CrossFit/Brand X forums:

Big Dawgs:
as Rx’d

The Porch:
Three rounds for time of:
7 Muscle-ups
21 Burpees

Post time to comments.

Each burpee terminates with a jump one foot above max standing reach.

Pack:
Five rounds for time of:
5 Seated Muscle-ups
15 Burpees

Puppies:
Three rounds for time of:
5 Seated or Squat Muscle-ups
15 Burpees

Not sure why this link didn't come through last time. But here is the full report...

http://www.honoringhummert.com/index.cfm?Section=1

Did Brother of the Beast last night, 115#. 22:16. Cleans suck.

allison where can i find what we r doing sat for the rest day? thx

Ryan: three rounds, sub full ROM MU on Box (bottom to top to bottom on each rep, toes on a box). Full ROM got annoying when I was down to singles. 20:26. Really liked doing the box muscle ups and working on the form. Shoulders really feel it.

Nice job 1230 crew!! It was good to be back at the Manhattan Box

Ryan as rx'd

16:04

Have to throw in my 2 cents on the "Krav Maga" video!

First off, while technically the "buck and roll" (although he really only shows the "buck") is a Krav Maga technique (since we do use it), it's origins are from BJJ/submission grappling, so it's not really a fair "taste" of what Krav Maga is all about.

Secondly, and I think any practiced submission grappler will agree with me, the instructor does a relatively poor job of instructing the move for the following reasons:

a) He mentions that trapping the foot is optional. Unless you've got someone who knows absolutely nothing about fighting on top of you (unlike if they have you mounted), then trapping that foot is a necessary and integral part of the move. You will be unable to roll the attacker off of you if they can stick out that leg to create a solid "base."

b) He makes no mention of trapping the arms. Just as with the leg above, you need to control the arm so that they cannot use it to base out and keep their balance. If you don't trap the arm and the leg on the same side, you're not going to have much luck rolling the opponent off.

c) It's not very likely, unless you outweigh your opponent by a significant amount of weight, that you will be able to "buck" them right off of you without doing anything else. Integral to the success of the technique is the "roll." Once you have taken away their base by bucking and trapping their limbs, you proceed to buck again and roll them over.

This would be the pure BJJ way of teaching the technique. The Krav instructor in this video makes no mention of some of the fundamental differences between KM and BJJ; most notably, the lack of rules.

In teaching this technique, I would emphasize pulling on the opponent's hair (in addition to the buck), in order to get them off balance; perhaps throwing in some elbows to the groin for good measure and to immediately get into the "attacking" mindset.

On a more positive note, the buck and roll is an incredibly important technique, and as the instructor mentions, is one of the most effective (if not the most) methods of getting an attacker off of you.

I just wanted to add these additional "teaching points" for anybody who intends to "store" this technique in their arsenal "just in case." Just as with Crossfit, you never know when it's going to be game day!

If anybody wants to practice it before/after a WOD I'd be happy to help. It takes very little time to learn, but like anything, practice to perfect.

Actually, here is a video jacked from the instructor section of Krav Maga Worldwide. It does a very good job of breaking the technique down if anybody is interested :)

http://www.kravmaga.com/instructor/video/defensefullmountvid.html

Anybody interested in getting a weight vest with 15-20 pounds of weight?

I'm thinking about putting together an order that should save us all some money.

I'm looking at Mir vests (www.mirweightedvest.com). These are premium adjustable vests that typically go for over $125 normally on their site. They aren't the crappy kinds you see at Walmart that rip and are weighted with bags of lead shot. Comparable vests from companies like X Vest, V-Max, and Ironwear charge even more. I'm hoping that we can split the savings and get these for less than $100 (no promises, yet).

These vests are used by CrossFitters. A guy on the CF message boards is a distributor for them and he's gotten other CFers to buy the product. You'll also notice on their website that they sponsor Jason Khalipa, the men's winner of the CF games.

Jim also just ordered one a few days ago, so maybe he can provide a review of the product.

Jeff,

I may be down. Keep me posted.

I believe Hari has one too.

JO
noted

PS Kevin, strikes me as a nutty fast time. Nice work!

RX'd 24:44
Happy with being able to do all the m'ups. Nice job 12:30 people.

I'm teaching tonight for Josh and people can feel free to come in as early as 5:30pm to get started on the WOD if they wish...

37:14

24:00 as Rx'd

Good times with the morning crew...this one's going to be tough when the box is busier this evening!

26:20

I hit a wall on the 3rd round of MU. I missed freakin' 10 in a row. Switched to bent elbows at the bottom to finish up the last 2 rounds. This was a hugely frustrating wod for me.

200lbs bwt

16-something

subbed 1 for 1 jumping MUs

hey anyone know whats up with the wiki page-am trying to show it to someone but its um not working? (i don't know the computer lingo)

This is officially another WOD that I cannot help but simultaneously love and loathe. It's that horrible post-WOD experience Jordan described yesterday, where you know nothing will make you feel like anything but death, but you try everything anyway. Lay down, sit on something, get water, splash your face, get fresh air...nothing helped after this one. You feel like you're about to vomit for about 20 minutes straight -- like every breath of air is somehow still taxing your wind pipe and lungs. But now I feel great. Holy crap, that was fun!

Ryan
Rx'd
17:25

Found a new difficulty that I have never before experienced in a muscle up WOD. Instead of muscle failure preventing the muscle up, being completely winded made it tough. I couldn't string more than 2 together at any point after the middle of round 3 because I couldn't get my breathing in check. Sort of an unpleasant surprise mid-WOD, but something to look out for in the future. Burpee challenge helps here, but it elevates it to a whole new level when you insert something as taxing as a muscle up in between sets of burpees.

Sadly, no rings at my hotel gym here in Manila, nor in fact, anywhere to do dips. I wanted to do this WOD. Note to self - do Ryan when back in NYC.

So, I went back in time and did Brother of the Beast.
Only did three rounds with 135#
19:57

The official excuse is that I rtan out of time - which is true. But, what it really means is that I should have gotten up earlier...