Smashby's Training Blog

These weekday classes are so much fun! The house is packed, and the energy is so positive.

Today’s workout started off with some Sumo Deadlift High Pulls (SDLHP) as the warm-up/strength portion of the day. It’s an exercise that is not used as often as some others in CrossFit, but you’ll be able to see by watching Clayton in the video, it’s definitely a full-body movement. Thanks to the trainers at CrossFit Headquarters, one of the things I try to tell athletes when performing it is to imagine someone is recording you doing the SDLHP, and go back and play the video forwards and backwards. When done properly, it should look exactly the same played in either direction. No pausing at the “hang” position. This video shows that very concept! Clayton did this really well!

Workout of the Day:
5 Rounds for Time of-
15 Power Cleans / 18 Box Jumps / 21 Kettlebell Swings

I just noticed that the video has the wrong date! I’ll fix that tonight!

Athlete Results:
5 Rep Max Sumo Deadlift High Pull
Clayton- 135lbs

WOD
Clayton (65lb Power Clean / 16kg KB)- 21:39

Tonight was a big night at the gym. We just combining the evening classes, so my traditionally smaller Monday Nights (usually Kristin, Jamie and Clayton) now turned into a 12-person class that Orion and I coached together! What a change, huh? The energy in the gym was great, though, and I think everyone had a great time!

The first part of the workout was 5 sets of 5 back squats. The folks who used to train with me usually had an entire rack to themselves, but tonight worked in with 3 or 4 other athletes. Again, despite the change, everything seemed to go very well from my perspective. I think we even had some pretty big numbers put up, too!

Workout of the Day:
3 Rounds for Time of-
50 Air Squats / 10 Power Snatches / 15 Pull-Ups

For some of my folks, it was their first time doing more high-rep snatches in a workout, and I think that you all did an awesome job! Also, breaking down the rep schemes for higher rep Air Squats really seemed to help make the workout manageable. I was proud of you all for doing so well in front of such a large audience.

Athlete Results:
5×5 Back Squat
Kristin- 95lbs x 5
Jamie- 155lbs x 5
Clayton- 175lbs x 9!

WOD
Kristin (35lb Snatch / 1-Banded Pull-Ups)- 10:50
Jamie (65lb Snatch / 4-Banded Pull-Ups)- 16:02
Clayton (70lb Snatch / Unassisted Pull-Ups)- 13:48

Today’s warm-up was a bit more intense than usual. First, we started off with 3 rounds of 500m Row and 10 Burpees. That will certainly get your whole body moving, huh? After that, we did a Jump-Rope workout where technique focused on single jumps, alternating legs, 2 hops per leg and finally double-unders. Last but not least, we finished out the warm-up with some agility drills and sprints.

The workout today was a 4-rounder with Wall Balls, Ring Rows and Box Jumps. In order to start introducing gymnastics rings into more workouts, we’ll be starting with two of the more basic movements; Ring Push-Ups and Ring Rows. Note, I said more basic, definitely not “easy”!

Workout of the Day:
4 Rounds for Time of-
15 Wall Balls / 15 Ring Rows / 15 Box Jumps

Athlete Results:
Kristin (14lb Wall Ball)- 13:12

When the workout was done, we ended the day with 3 rounds of:
10 Back Extensions / 10 GHD Sit-Ups

Both athletes tonight are looking incredibly strong with their “to-parallel” GHD Sit-Ups. That means in small doses, we’ll be able to start increasing that range of motion to get them closer to touching the ground each rep. Yay for progress!

Due to work going late for some, and business travel for others, it was just Jamie again tonight! I told him he just liked the 1:1 attention, and that he told the others not to come in, but he denied it.

Tonight we stayed away from a “barbell strength” movement since the focus for the first half of class was going to be, simply put, “core strength”. Jamie knew right up front that he would be performing 2 mini-workouts this evening.

The first was a 2-rounder, where he had to “accumulate” time in certain positions before moving onto the next part of the workout. After he finished this and had a few minutes rest, I introduced him to another CrossFit favorite: Tabatas!
He’s had a pretty fun two days, huh?

Workout of the Day:
WOD #1
2 Rounds for time of-
1:00 Handstand Hold / 1:00 L-Sit Hold / 1:00 Back Extension Hold

WOD #2
Tabata Intervals for-
Air Squat / Row (for calories)

Athlete Results:
WOD #1
Jamie- 19:25

WOD #2
Air Squat (done holding a 10lb plate)- 12 / 12 / 13 / 12 / 10 / 12 / 10 / 12 – 93
Row (for calories)- 5 / 8 / 7 / 7 / 7 / 7 / 7 / 8 – 56
Total Score- 149

Jamie came in tonight, and it was a good one. First, we spent some time working on the Hang Power Snatch and Hang Squat Snatch lifts. These can be some of the most technically advanced lifts, and Jamie did a great job driving up through his heels, extending the hips and getting that powerful shrug linked together to get the bar high in the air. Great job!

For the workout, I wanted to introduce Jamie to one of our very own CrossFit “Girls”. As many of you know, CrossFit names many of it’s workouts after two main groups. First are the Hero’s who have died in the line of duty to protect our freedoms, and the second theme of named workouts is Women’s names. The girl that Jamie got to meet tonight… Barbara!

Workout of the Day:
5 Rounds for time of-
20 Pull-Ups / 30 Push-Ups / 40 Sit-Ups / 50 Air Squats
Rest exactly 3:00 minutes between rounds

Since it was his first time with this workout, I went ahead and cut it down to only 3 rounds. Barbara can be a “body weight” workout crusher, so we took it a little easy…. (ask Jamie if it seemed too easy) 🙂 The way he pushed through the last 50 squats was incredible. Great finish!

Athlete Results:
Jamie (3 Bands round 1, 4 Bands rounds 2 and 3 pull-ups)- Rd 1- 8:30 / Rd 2 – 7:52 / Rd 3 – 8:37

It seems that with every passing week, you guys are becoming more and more comfortable in the bottom position of that squat. I can’t tell you exactly what it’s from, but I’ll tell myself it’s from the additional time we’ve spending these last few weeks on stretching and mobility with foam rolling and using baseballs to loosen up. Yay for increased range of motion, and the increased strength that is coming with it!

Today’s lift was 5 sets of 5 for Front Squat. Jamie, Clayton and Kristin all did a great job. The video I post will show their final sets. Great effort and form, you three!

Once we finished this, I told them about our workout for the day; A 20-minute AMRAP. This means they complete the movements listed in order, as many times as possible in 20 minutes.

Workout of the Day:
20 Minute AMRAP of-
15 Thrusters / 20 Double-Unders (or 50 Single Jumps) / 25 Jumping Pull-Ups / 30 Ab-Mat Sit-Ups

Even though the Thrusters were only using the bar, once you start to get tired, that full range of motion on each rep gets to be pretty taxing! Great job maintaining proper form and using those hips to help get the bar overhead.

Athlete Results:
5×5 Front Squat (Weight on Final sets)-
Jamie- 135lb
Kristin- 55lbs
Clayton- 165lbs

AMRAP-
Jamie (45lb Thrusters / 50 Single Jumps)- 3 Full Rounds + 28 Sit-ups (2 REPS from 4 full rounds!)
Clayton (45lb Thrusters / 50 Single Jumps)- 4 Full Rounds + 15 Sit-ups (HUGE improvement on the Jumping!)
Kristin (15lb Thrusters / 20 Double-Unders)- 5 Full Rounds + 15 Thrusters (Doubles are getting better and better)

After a group warm-up we started today off with 5X5 Push Press. We’re starting to look really solid with form at higher weights, so that means heavy sets of 3’s and 1’s are almost here. Let’s get ready to lift some heavy things!

The workout for the day was a fun one. Since Orion has built a lot more boxes for box jumps over the past few weeks, I was finally able to set up an “obstacle course” of sorts!

Workout of the Day:
3 Rounds for time of-
Box Jump / 10 Squat Jumps / Box Jump / 10 Hand-release Push-Ups / Box Jump / 10 KB Swings / Box Jump / Snake Run / 10 Burpees

When that’s done, we did two minutes of max sledge swings… AND 2 minutes of max ball slams. Great way to end the workout!

Athlete Results:
5×5 Push Press
Kristin- 45lbs
Jamie- 95lbs

WOD
Kristin (12kg KB)- 7:54
Jamie (12kg KB)- 9:43

2 Minute Sledge Swing
Kristin (8lb Hammer)- 50 swings
Jamie (10lb Hammer)- 35 swings

2 Minute Slam Ball
Kristin (30lb ball)- 28 slams
Jamie (30lb ball)- 28 slams

Clayton and Jamie stopped through tonight, and we started right away with a 1000 meter row. Nothing fast, I just wanted them to get their whole bodies warmed up before we got to it. As usual, stretching and mobility followed, and after going over the workout in detail, it was time to hit the WOD!

Workout of the Day:
25 / 20 / 15 / 10 / 5 of-
Box Jumps / Hand-Release Push-Ups / Kettlebell Swings

The way this workout is completed is the athlete does 25 reps of each movement, then 20 of each, and so on until the final round where they do 5 jumps, 5 push-ups, and 5 swings to end the workout.

Instead of creating a video for tonight’s class, I am going to show you the final round of these guys. Tons of fight, and two strong finishes!

Athlete Results:
Jamie (20″ Box / 16kg KB)- 17:15
Clayton (24″ Box / 24kg KB)- 18:10

We finished the night with some skill work. First, we hopped on the GHD machine and really tried to extend those legs hard to propel our upper bodies towards our feet and reduce some of that force on the lumbar spine. It’s more efficient, and it happens to be much more powerful when you do it that way. Sounds like a good skill to practice, huh?! The guys did great. After that, a little handstand hold work, and we were on our way.

For a GREAT video provided by CrossFit HQ, Click Here to watch Coach Glassman and Nicole talk about the proper way to complete a GHD Sit-Up.

Have a fun and safe weekend, and I’ll see you all next week!

Tonight brought another first-timer to CrossFit Lakewood! Ashleigh came in, and I must say again, did an amazing job for someone who had never done CrossFit before. That’s so encouraging to see!

As the first Monday class of 2011, and I decided we were going to hit a classic CrossFit benchmark workout that is used by many gyms across the country. It’s affectionately known as “The Baseline.” Before we got into that, though, it was time to get back to some strength training! The strength workout today was Back Squat, 5 sets of 5 reps. While Kristin and Clayton worked to a 5 rep max, Ashleigh and I spent time learning how to perform the lift correctly.

Athlete Results:
Kristin- 85lbs
Clayton- 185lbs

Workout of the Day:
Row 500 meters / 40 Air Squats / 30 Sit-Ups / 20 Push-Ups / 10 Pull-Ups

Athlete Results:
Kristin (Ab-Mat sit-ups, 2-banded pull-ups)- 5:20
Clayton (Ab-Mat sit-ups, unassisted pull-ups)- 6:05
Ashleigh (Ab-Mat sit-ups, 3-banded pull-ups)- 6:28

Like I said… check out that time for Ashleigh! For a first-timer?! Great job! After the workout we spent about 10-15 minutes foam-rolling. We will get more flexible this year, and it will show in our strength gains!

***Blogger’s note***
I’m still learning how to play around with movie editing software, but would still love your feedback as to how you think these videos are turning out. Fun? Boring? Do you want more/less video? More/less photos?

I’m curious, so if you could please leave your feedback in the comments section, that’d be awesome! Thanks, guys.

The first class of 2011 brought a new face to CrossFit Lakewood.  Andy had been wanting to come check it out for a while, and only a short while after his shoulder surgery, here he was!

The first class spent a lot of time discussing the basic movements of CrossFit, and then establishing some cues on how to practice that good form. Andy didn’t take very long at all to look very solid, so after a pretty thorough warm-up, we were ready to roll!

Workout of the Day:
21-15-9
Overhead Squats / Wall Ball Tosses / Ab-Mat Sit-Ups
Followed by 1 down and back sprint after the round of 21, 2 sprints after the round of 15, and finishing the workout with 3 down and back sprints!

Aside from Andy doing an amazing job on his first CrossFit Workout, it’s also another first…

A New Year equals New Technology!! We now have the ability to record in HD!! That will certainly make for some more fun videos as we enter 2011.

Tonight’s video is a step in the right direction. Enjoy!