CrossFit Games Super Girl Camille Leblanc-Bazinet does “Fran”

The holiday season is such an easy time to focus on a million things besides your own health and well being. [...]]]> Is this your holiday season?

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CrossFit Games Super Girl Camille Leblanc-Bazinet does “Fran”

OR is this your Holiday Season?

The holiday season is such an easy time to focus on a million things besides your own health and well being.  Training time goes out the window while we eat cookies and stand in line at stores.  I am a huge fan of celebrating holidays, including the cookies, but I think it is possible to do both.  To keep you all excited about accomplishing a little something special throughout the Holiday season with regard to your CrossFitting, we have decided to hold a 2 MINUTE “FRAN” HOLIDAY CHALLENGE.

“Fran” is one of the original CrossFit couplets that is mind blowingly harder than it sounds.  It can be a real mental game for a CrossFitter when they hear it is time to do “Fran”.  Creating an appropriate version of “Fran” for someone who is still working on accomplishing pullups or mid-weight thrusters can be tricky.  Thrusters and pullups are two things that you can improve upon immensely just by doing them frequently.  The 2 MINUTE “FRAN” Holiday Challenge is the perfect set up to work on your thrusters, your pullups, your “Fran” time, and your ability to actually work at high intensity.

Here is how it will work:  On Friday evening November 18th during Open Gym at 5:30pm the 2 Minute “Fran” Challenge will commence.  You will have exactly two minutes to get through as much “Fran” as you can: 21 thrusters (95/65lbs)-21 pullups, 15 thrusters, 15 pullups, 9 thrusters, 9 pullups.  We will scale the thruster weight and the pullup variation for you.

You will receive two homeworks per week that will improve specific aspects of your “Fran” performance.  You can do them during Open Gyms or after a regular CrossFit class.  At a date, still being determined, prior to the Christmas holiday, you will redo your 2 MINUTES of “Fran”.  Very simply, the person with the greatest improvement will win.  There will be one winner for people people doing it as prescribed and one winner for those doing a scaled version.

The CrossFit Works 2 MINUTE “FRAN” HOLIDAY CHALLENGE is Open to all CrossFit Works members as well as non-members.  If you are a non-member (or you know someone who is a non-member that you would like to include) you must make an appointment to come in prior to the November 18th kick off so that we can teach you proper movement and get to know your ability.

Attention Affiliate Team:  wrap your head around this Challenge.  It will be your warm up on the night of Friday November 18th.  The Affiliate Team will do their workout that week on the evening of November 18th at 6pm to kick off your Thanksgiving Rest Week!!!

Registration for the 2 MINUTE “FRAN” Holiday Challenge will open this Wednesday November 9th.  The t-shirts will be very cool, so a little bird told me.

Silverman and Leslie get their ring pull ups done.

Click on this link to register for the CrossFit Works October “Filthy Fifty” conditioning challenge.  Both you [...]]]> The 6pm warms up.  It would have been cool to see them spring up in a synchronized PVC twirling routine.  They didn’t.

Silverman and Leslie get their ring pull ups done.

Click on this link to register for the CrossFit Works October “Filthy Fifty” conditioning challenge.  Both you and your friend must register separately.  Take this opportunity to improve your general conditioning and your ability to string together multiple reps of exercises.  And, of course, to win prizes.  Yeah.  Prizes.

Remember the fantastic May 70s Big Challenge where Andres had chest hair sprouting over his shirt?  Well, the fine folks at 70s Big have another strength Challenge for us and we will do it tomorrow (or Wed).  No change to the schedule.  Just come to your normal class and you do not have [...]]]>

Remember the fantastic May 70s Big Challenge where Andres had chest hair sprouting over his shirt?  Well, the fine folks at 70s Big have another strength Challenge for us and we will do it tomorrow (or Wed).  No change to the schedule.  Just come to your normal class and you do not have to dress up although some of us (as was pointed out to me especially) didn’t have to stretch that much to dress for the 70s Challenge in the first place.  The Challenge is an upper body one this time.  It is max rounds in 20min of 3 strict shoulder press and 3 strict (dead hang pullups).  For men, the press is at 0.625 x bodyweight and women is 0.5 x bodyweight.  So hop on your scale.  Some of us will stay awake tonight wondering if we should round up or down or maybe assume our scale is a little off.  There will, OF COURSE, be scaled versions of the workout.  Otherwise we wouldn’t do it.  I actually had someone who did not do the last challenge because they thought you “had to do it rx’d”.  That will never occur here unless it is an off-normal class time special event.  Every now and then it is pretty fun for some people to pit themselves against other folks and see how they stack up.  Here is a chance.  This does mean, obviously, that if you are doing this Challenge as rx’d then we will be ruthless about what counts.  Strict presses and non-kipping pullups (any grip, small frog kick tolerated).  So far, we have had one woman (to remain nameless until you all are done) complete the challenge as rx’d with 23 rounds.  We have had one off-site man do it with 30rnds.  The bar has been set high!  Let’s press and pull.

Saturday morning, before the BBQ, we counted the final pushups and pullups for a couple of the women in the Get-Some Challenge.  It was 9 weeks of dozens of strict pushups added, pullup bands dropped, and kipping pullups achieved.  Great work ladies.

Here are the winners:

First Place:  Patty Zucco- Carl’s personal [...]]]>

Saturday morning, before the BBQ, we counted the final pushups and pullups for a couple of the women in the Get-Some Challenge.  It was 9 weeks of dozens of strict pushups added, pullup bands dropped, and kipping pullups achieved.  Great work ladies.

Here are the winners:

First Place:  Patty Zucco- Carl’s personal training client  $125.00 for Patty with $40.00 in iced tea for Carl

Second Place: Lori Lefferts-Andres’ 5:30 class $75.00

Third Place: Andrea – who claims you Andrea?  The 12:15 or the 9:00am?  Bryon?  Jenny? $50.00

Fourth Place: Carissa R.-Kate’s 5:00pm class  $25.00

Fifth Place: Renee L.- Andres’ 5:30pm class  $25.00

Looks like Andres’ 5:30 class is the place to be for establishing dedication and accountability.  More evidence of that was collected Saturday morning when Jessica E. came in to Open Gym and said she was going to do the beastly Clean and Jerk Ascending Ladder because otherwise Andres would be disappointed in her if she skipped it.

I remembered once or twice to get the camera out yesterday at the BBQ.  Especially when Kim waved goodbye to me with a chicken leg.  That was a beautiful moment.  Thanks for coming everyone.  There were some of you I never got a chance to visit with, but it was really fun meeting the spouses, friends and dogs I hadn’t met before!  Clariza, I hope the Urban Assault ride was a success.  Mary’s Paleo brownies were delicious beyond belief.  Trust me when I say they were not any sort of imitation of “regular” brownies.  I have eaten many a non-Paleo brownie that was nowhere near as lovely as the ones Mary made for us.  Look in the comments to see how Mary did it.  You can see a picture of Crandall’s elk sausage on my blog today, and who was the mystery person who brought those bacon-wrapped figs??? I could have eaten about 25 of those.

Today, many of the CrossFit Works women completed the final bench mark workout of the Women’s Challenge.  I admit to feeling a lump in my throat watching the pushups.  Betty Fournier got 60 pushups-which just happens to be 2 more than her age!!  Ellie did [...]]]> Happy Birthday Karen B.!!!

Today, many of the CrossFit Works women completed the final bench mark workout of the Women’s Challenge.  I admit to feeling a lump in my throat watching the pushups.  Betty Fournier got 60 pushups-which just happens to be 2 more than her age!!  Ellie did pullups.  The Get-Some challenge is the only time I ever get to hang out with Sonia, which I’m gonna try to change.  Julie, there aren’t even words for Julie.  Things doubled and maybe tripled.  Linda dropped a pullup band and did more.  Alma busted out the jumping pullups which she could barely do before.  Renee went from 0 strict pushups to 21!!!  Carissa went from 13 strict pushups also to 21.  Heather went so wild on the pullups she fell off the bar-hello, 18 kipping pullups!!  And on and on and on.  There are a couple women who have to do the final workout still and then I will calculate our CASH $$ winner.  And super sweetly, unbeknownst to her, Kate W.’s women from her 5:00pm class all wanted to know if somehow Kate could win a prize from their cumulative efforts.  That actually brought tears to my eyes.  You all were amazing.  Andres asked me at the end, “Are you happy?  Is that what you wanted from the Challenge?”  YES YES YES.  You are a group of women who pushed yourselves, challenged yourselves, took responsibility for your achievements and kicked A**!!

There are a few people who will be out of town for the Official Women’s Challenge Final Benchmark next Saturday, April 10th.  If you are one of [...]]]> If you check out the highlight video posted at www.crossfit.com for last weekend’s SD/AZ Sectionals you will see a close up of Matt T.  Check it out!

There are a few people who will be out of town for the Official Women’s Challenge Final Benchmark next Saturday, April 10th.  If you are one of those folks please come to Open Gym THIS SATURDAY at 10:00am and I will take you through the final benchmark!

I hope that someday soon, Kate’s young clients (above) will have a chance to see some of the CrossFit Works Women in action.  Talking with these young athletes yesterday reminded me of what rock star role models so many of you in here could be for girls.  I thought about Renee, Danielle, Lorna, Midori, April and Shannon, Cassie, Summer, Aimee and Liz and so many more of you all and I hope that you are all out there in your separate worlds being your strong, powerful selves.  It is important.

In this month’s issue of Performance Menu (excellent bedtime reading) Yael Grauer interviews Rachel Cosgrove, author of The Female Body Breakthrough: The Revolutionary Strength-Training Plan for Losing Fat and Getting the Body You Want.  Cosgrove is also a co-owner of Results Fitness in California.  Check out Cosgrove’s FIT FEMALE CREDO!

1. Act as if you are a fit female.

2. Get out of your comfort zone.

3. Fuel your body to be fabulous!

4. Train hard or go home.

5. Get hooked on feeling fit, not a

number on the scale.

6. Be an early riser.

7. Make rest and relaxation a

priority.

8. Obstacles will arise – anticipate

them!

9. Keep a journal or a blog.

10. Eliminate the negative people

and surround yourself with positive

people.

I really like Cosgrove’s list.  For most of us I think we have several of these things dialed in pretty good, but usually there are a couple that remain elusive.  Mine are the rest/relaxation thing, and the “getting out of my comfort zone”.  I don’t engage in “body bashing” but I do forget to focus on my strengths sometimes because the weak spots are so glaring!  I also am a a little too slap dash about my training journal.  I think Summer might have a good one, any help for us with that Summer?  How about you all?  Which things on this list are tricky for you?

The Women’s Get-Some Challenge benchmark was yesterday.  It was wildly wonderful.  26 women came in yesterday (8 bench marked on Tuesday) to see how many squats, situps, strict pushups, pushups for time, strict pullups and jumping pullups they could [...]]]> Our next morning On-Ramp starts tomorrow, Feb 8th at 6am.  There is still room.

The Women’s Get-Some Challenge benchmark was yesterday.  It was wildly wonderful.  26 women came in yesterday (8 bench marked on Tuesday) to see how many squats, situps, strict pushups, pushups for time, strict pullups and jumping pullups they could get done.  Carl and I noticed many things about the bench mark:  Firstly, an all women crew has mad skills when it comes to building energy and motivating someone to get one more pushup.  This I LOVED!

Secondly, I think almost every single woman surprised herself with how much she could actually get done.  This I DID NOT LOVE!  Come on Sisters!!-imagine if you could surprise yourself like that at every workout.  We all gotta get better at looking at each other and knowing there is one more rep within and just telling each other-you have it, you must do it.

Dave, has the worst life doesn’t he?

Thirdly, it was so shockingly bad a** how many pushups some of our Goddesses can do that Carl suggested we might want to have a men’s challenge so they don’t get left behind (or was that “feel left out”?).

Fourthly, at dinner later that day, Carl and I observed that so many of the women we watched walk by us downtown did not have the vibe of the CrossFit Works’ women.  We basically decided that all the women we saw yesterday morning at the benchmark had a certain  ”je ne sais quoi” (Shannon, is that right?).  You all have a certain beauty that comes from being strong and authentic.  Solid in your own skin.  You could genuinely offer support to each other and dig deep because you know yourselves and you have that to give to each other.  When my ship goes down and I’m stranded on a desert island I’m gonna hope it is with you guys!

Fifthly, I know what I am talking about.  Betty F. knocked out 9 dead hang pullups and although it might have a little to do with how hard she works and how strong she is, it mostly had to do with the fact that she DRESSED PROPERLY.  Pink pirate shirt and pink leg warmers.  I wonder if pullups are genetic?

Check out some of the top stats:

Heather: 14 strict pushups, 12 kipping pullups

Aimee: 28 strict pushups, 9 kipping pullups

Karen: 21 strict pushups, 7 kipping pullups

Danielle: 43 strict pushups!!, 5 kipping/deadhang pullups

Betty: 35 strict pushups, 9 deadhang pullups

I cannot wait to see what happens on April 10!!  $340 in prize money will be at stake.

When we were in Austin, Tx in Nov we had the good fortune to meet and hear Carey Kepler speak about her experience at the 2009 CrossFit Games where she won 3rd place.  Being the world’s third fittest woman is a pretty show-stopping achievement.  Carey also runs CrossFit Central with her brother and [...]]]>

When we were in Austin, Tx in Nov we had the good fortune to meet and hear Carey Kepler speak about her experience at the 2009 CrossFit Games where she won 3rd place.  Being the world’s third fittest woman is a pretty show-stopping achievement.  Carey also runs CrossFit Central with her brother and is the mother of two little ones.

Carey had this to say about what helped her accomplish her feats:

“You have to empower your mind to picture yourself as more and bigger than your physical body.”

My impression of Carey is that she doesn’t waste valuable time thinking or saying things like “I could never do what she can do.” or “I am too old to do those things.” or “Maybe if I wasn’t working and taking care of my kids.”  As we approach the registration for the CrossFit Works Women Get-Some Challenge I want you to think about Carey’s words.  Don’t think about what you can do now.  Allow your mind to see you and know you accomplishing far more.

Speaking of awesome women.  Jenny LaCoss.  You can find her at 9am on alternate weekdays.  Jenny has her blog up and going and there is a SWEET picture of the first 9am class of 2010.  It is somewhat misleading however, since I think there are 3 men in the pic, none of which is Larry!  Last Friday, Jenny’s class was all women except one visitor!  Dave was incredibly gracious about it, push pressing all alone down at the end.  We do have men here Dave.  Anyway, check out Jenny’s blog.

www.jennylacoss.blogspot.com