Packing ‘em in to work on the Olympic Lifts!  Yesterday more than 20 folks were in the gym to break down the clean and jerk and the snatch.  For three hours they worked positions and bar path.  Young, old, big, small, new, and [...]]]> Obviously, the coach is allowed to hold the PVC.

Packing ‘em in to work on the Olympic Lifts!  Yesterday more than 20 folks were in the gym to break down the clean and jerk and the snatch.  For three hours they worked positions and bar path.  Young, old, big, small, new, and seasoned worked on the Olympic Lifts.  We have now opened registration for the upcoming four week Olympic Lifting Class.  Please email carl@crossfitworks.com to reserve a spot.  The class will begin this Saturday, May 21, from 9:30-11:00am, skip the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, and continue on Jun 4, Jun 11 and Jun 18.  The class is limited to 8 people so that there is plenty of time for individual coaching as well as video analysis of the lifts.  Participation in this four week class also entitles participants to lift during the upcoming extended Open Gym hours for Barbell work only.  More about that soon.  Cost for the four week class is $45 for CrossFit Works members and $75 for non-members.

Now that the Open Sectionals for the CrossFit 2011 Games are over, CrossFit Excel has resumed programming of the once weekly Master’s WODs.  You must have attained the wise old age of 40 to participate in these.  Meet at 5:30pm this Friday night for the Master’s WOD.  I heard talk of going out for beverages afterwards.

Friday evening saw the old folks boogie, otherwise known as the master’s wod.  Remind me that if I’m feeling mean I will program in wall balls followed by deadlifts!!  What a horribly excellent combination.  The burpees actually felt like a break!  We have another one scheduled for Saturday Feb 12 during Open Gym [...]]]>

Friday evening saw the old folks boogie, otherwise known as the master’s wod.  Remind me that if I’m feeling mean I will program in wall balls followed by deadlifts!!  What a horribly excellent combination.  The burpees actually felt like a break!  We have another one scheduled for Saturday Feb 12 during Open Gym and I believe there are a few folks interested in doing another one this coming Friday evening at 5:30pm.  You know what my favorite thing about doing the master’s wod was?  No Eminem, Linkin Park or Disturbed.  Well, it’s true.

Thank you for being patient with the Saturday Open Gym cancellation.  All the CrossFit Works coaches and apprentice coaches spent two days in an in-house Olympic Lifting Seminar.  There were some nice lifts accomplished.  A coupe lifts really stood out:  the lovely, Maryland-derived Jennifer Schaeffer squat snatched 115lbs!!!!  That is a record for women in our gym and a very respectable lift for a crossfitter.  It was really cool.

Ruben Bravo managed to clean and jerk 220lbs which was primarily remarkable because Ruben has never really done the olympic lifts before and he basically push pressed it up overhead, so when he gets a little more practise things will be a lot of fun!!

Check out these photos of some mid-lift warm-up Snatch moments.

Stay tuned for upcoming information regarding Olympic Lifting times and classes for you all.  CrossFit Works is about to be home to no less than four USA Weightlifting Level I Sports Performance Coaches.  Strap on your weightlifting shoes…

I want to clarify a little misconception about size and strength.  Clearly, we all know that a tiny person will not have as much brute strength capability as a larger person.  We know some of us are trying desperately to get a few pounds added to our [...]]]> Click here to view the embedded video.

I want to clarify a little misconception about size and strength.  Clearly, we all know that a tiny person will not have as much brute strength capability as a larger person.  We know some of us are trying desperately to get a few pounds added to our bony frame so we can be a little more powerful.  Sometimes we program workouts that call for a lift to be a percentage of your bodyweight.  So, yes, in a sense, size matters.  But of course, as we all know, technique is at least as important as size-if not more so, at least in Snatching, which is of course, what I’m talking about here.  This video is an Olympic Lifting competition-thanks to Dutch Lowy for posting it on his blog where I saw it.  These guys are in the 69kg weight class.  This means they must weigh less than 151.8lbs!  These are small guys.  The Snatches in this video are between 140kg-160kg.  In case your elementary school teacher didn’t believe in the metric system, 160kg is about 352lbs!!  Repeat: a 352lb Snatch at a bodyweight of less than 152lbs.  Now that I wrote this I will have to stop making excuses about why I am weaker than Kate and Jenny!!