Just another epic “day at the office” for Sunday Funday! We were 12 strong this evening and even had a few newbies walk through the door!
Annie won the “Dessert” contest last week, so she got to choose the “Maximum Number of Reps/Rounds” for today’s workout. With that, here’s what we did!
Workout of the Day:
10 Rounds for Time
10 Burpee Pull-Ups
10 Sotts Presses 10 Knuckles to Toes
This workout was not easy at all, with a total of 100 of each of the movements, but the team did an amazing job!
As if I couldn’t be any more impressed with the Sunday Funday Crew… look at what they did MID-Workout! The. Best. Folks. Out. There.
After the main workout was over, it was time for today’s “Dessert”. Today we tried to see who could keep continuously moving through “Bicycle Sit-Ups” the longest.
And the winner…. HEATHER!!! Check out how long these ladies kept moving. So awesome, and such amazing support from the other athletes!
Results from the main workout!
Great job on a challenging workout, everyone!
The fun continues with another full house for Sunday Funday!
Greg Walker, one of the “fire breathers” at CrossFit Lakewood, sent me an email last week sharing some of his thoughts on things he’s recently come across. The main topic was the “elitist” mentality that some fitness programs show towards others. Many of you who read this blog already know the about the ongoing “battle” between CrossFit and P90-X, but the list of rivalries and the search for “The Best” goes on for days.
The topic I’m going to focus on today stems from a picture that Kristin shared with me on Facebook. Here’s what she posted:
Failure? Not necessarily. (p.s.- Don't try at home)
The picture is from the guys over at Fail Blog, and it shows a man doing what looks to be a Back Squat while balancing on a “Swiss Ball”. I assume that the person who posted it on Failblog was saying that what he is doing is completely ridiculous, and therefore, constitutes a “Fail”. Now, my initial reaction when I saw the picture was… “YESSS!!!!!” and I probably laughed out loud. Then, Greg’s question made me pause for a second and really break it down. Here’s what he wrote:
“On those fail pictures of the guy squatting on a rubber ball…I don’t agree with the comment “fail” it should say “misinformed” we are very fortunate that we have found Crossfit, and I don’t think we should label others as failures because they don’t know any better….at least they are getting to the gym! I think the fail comment doesn’t represent the positivity that Crossfit is all about and makes us look like jerks.”
Greg didn’t mean to particularly put down any one picture or group, he was merely saying that the “holier than thou” attitude some people show, can deflate a person’s confidence in simply trying to get in better shape. Basically, he wants people to put down their “Hater-ade” and embrace fitness, however it happens! Here’s my take on the “Is that really a fail?” question:
As a personal trainer (to use the most easily understood job title), my goal is to help guide people down the path of increasing their fitness level and improving their health. That is what drives and motivates me. I personally know some kids from College who could balance on a ball like that, JUMP IN THE AIR and then land back on the ball, perfectly balanced. That takes an incredible amount of balance and coordination, so why is that a bad thing? Or a “Fail”? CrossFit says the “learning and playing new sports” is one of the fundamental requirements of becoming as fit as possible and that keeping things “constantly varied” so your body can’t adapt is essential. If that’s the case, why not bust out a set of Bicep Curls every once and a while to keep your body guessing? Something is better than nothing. You can still think that CrossFit (or Yoga or Pilates) is better than something else, but I don’t think you can argue that as long as it’s done safely, doing nothing is better than popping in that Tae-Bo VHS from a few years ago.
So if you yearn for your 6 minutes of Shake Weight per day… enjoy!
If working out with Richard Simmons is your idea of a good time (and it should be), Sweat to the Oldies all day!
At the end of the day, my advice for people is to be ACTIVE and have fun doing it. As soon as “working out” seems like a chore, people start to resent it. Physical activity should be fun! It’s just my personal opinion that CrossFit is the most fun and the most effective fitness methodology out there.
Get out there, get your fitness on and have a great time doing it! Your mind and body will thank you!
For the record, I DO still think the picture above is funny, though.
I’ll share some of my favorite quotes from the post here, but you should really click on the link and head over to read the whole thing. It’s a really easy piece to get through. Read it, think about it, and then reread the few parts that I’m going to “Highlight” as my most important take-aways from the piece.
It’s great, normal and completely healthy to be competitive; both in CrossFit and in life. But at the end of the day, I just want to be sure you’re all doing this stuff for the right reasons!
CrossFit is awesome for many reasons. The physical and mental challenge of the workouts. The feeling of accomplishment after the workout. The post workout buzz or euphoria. The physical and mental health benefits. The local community support from within the gym. … When any or all of these things are your primary reason for doing CrossFit, you will likely experience life-long enjoyment and fulfillment from participating in CrossFit.
However, if your primary goal is to be the best male or female during your class time, best performance on the whiteboard for that day, make it on to the leaderboard, qualify for the CrossFit Games, or any other accomplishment that involves gaining praise or the respect from others, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.
Before I go any further, let me reiterate that the previously mentioned motivators should not be your PRIMARY goal.
But if during a workout you find yourself looking for ways to make a movement easier, or performing questionable range of motion, or after a workout you find yourself disappointed with your results, when you compare it to others, your head is simply in the wrong place.
The simple fact is, no matter how much you improve, or how good you get, there will likely be others that are better than you, and thus your insecurities or feelings of inferiority will never end. CrossFit, and exercise in general is an excellent way to have fun and reduce stress, if you are stressed out and/or not having fun, it’s time to re-evaluate why you are doing this.
Wow. I hadn’t even heard of this until a few weeks ago, but apparently the top 5% finishers of every Tough Mudder event qualify for “The Toughest Mudder” competition at the end of the year.
“World’s Toughest Mudder is the culminating event of the 2011 Tough Mudder Event Series, and will be a two-day challenge with one goal: to find the toughest man or woman on the planet. When the mud settles on December 18, one person will have bested over 150,000 Mudders for the right to call him or herself the World’s Toughest Mudder!”
Today’s workout was a 2-parter. Walk in the door, do a light warm-up and Row 2000m as fast as you can. Boom. Welcome to class. Oh, and now it’s time for the workout!
WOD #1
Row 2k
WOD #2
As Many Rounds as Possible in 10 Minutes
Sumo Deadlift High Pull (115# for men, 95# for women. aka: Heavy!) / Ball Slam
Christian is a monster who makes heavy weights for “normal” people look like children’s weights. Example below!
Then there’s Casey. Some people think that at a certain point, progress is going to slow in CrossFit. False. I remember when Casey couldn’t even do a Ball Slam properly. Look at how awesome these are. AND she’s catching them on the bounce. BOOM!
The first few days of this week, Orion took some recent Main-Site CrossFit workouts that he really liked. They were brutal!
Workout of the Day:
As Many Rounds as Possible in 20 Minutes
5 Pull-ups, Chest to Bar / 10 Wall Balls / 15 Kettle Bell Swings
This workout is one where a lot of people come out swinging, and then when the 7th minute hits, they gas completely! Pacing was the key to success on this one. Do any of you agree?
Ok, fine… he miscounted a FEW reps… but anyone who saw Alon workout today knows that he is NOT messing around. This guy is a beast, and once he has more experience in CrossFit, look out! For reals.
Workout of the Day:
800m Run / 35 Ball Slams / 35 Sit-ups
600m Run / 25 Ball Slams / 25 Sit-ups
400m Run / 15 Ball Slams / 15 Sit-ups
200m Run / 5 Ball Slams / 5 Sit-ups
I’ll leave you today with a video of the support we have here at CrossFit Lakewood. I’m sure other gyms have this, but knowing and truly caring about the people who walk through our doors like I do, it’s so cool to see how much they also care about and support each other!
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