Fri 04 May 2012 |
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5/6/12 Elite class/Open WOD |
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Reminder: this class is open to any member wishing to test their 1RM and participate in the group WOD. Every 4th Sunday (last Sunday of each cycle) will be in this format. If you intend to come show up on time and ready to work. The class will have to move throughout the 1.5 hrs.
warmup: choice
strength: 1RM back squat OR clean and jerk skill practice.
metcon:
"Jackie"
row 1000m
50 thrusters, 45/33lb
30 pull ups
for time.
Post loads and times to comments.
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Monday, 30 April 2012 18:42 |
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We are participating in the "askathletes" contest. They will cover 1 month's membership at participating CrossFit affiliates for a few lucky winners. Basically, all you need to do is submit an entry in four sentences or less why you CrossFit.
All the details can be found here. Everyone is encouraged to participate, should only take a few minutes and you have nothing to lose.
Coach L |
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Friends and Family day 4/16 and 4/18! |
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Thursday, 12 April 2012 19:54 |
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Don't forget! Friends and family days are back 4/16 and 4/18. Bring a guest to any regular class for free, and show them what CrossFit Elysium is all about! You'll receive a gift card to a great place to eat for any guest who ends up joining with us full time. Thanks for helping our community grow! |
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Sunday, 01 April 2012 19:19 |
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Quick reminder-
All classes Easter Sunday, 4/8 are cancelled. This includes the Elite class, noon free community workout and fundamentals.
Monday noon Yoga sessions are also cancelled effective immediately. Read about all of our upcoming changes and announcements here! |
Wed 14 Mar 2012 |
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3/14/12 WOD, and Coach L's advice for Games WOD 12.4 |
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Warmup: CF x 1
metcon (to be done first), "Games WOD 12.4"-
150 wall balls, 10/9ft target, 20/15lb ball
90 double unders
30 muscle ups
AMRAP 12 min
strength (after metcon)- back squat 2 x 5 reps.
Post rounds and loads to comments.
Coach L's advice for Games WOD 12.4-
General-
- Once again, pacing is going to be key. There are a ton of reps to even get through the wall balls, and if you take too much time, it's entirely possible you won't even make it to the double unders. Force yourself to keep moving. Wall balls in many ways are like air squats- you can always do one more, the question is, can you stand the pain?
- if you can't do double unders- don't worry about it! It is unlikely you will somehow magically learn in the middle of this workout. The same comments can be made for muscle ups (see more below).
Wall balls-
- keep moving as described above
- look up, LOOK at your target. It is amazing how many people just heave the ball up there, looking only at the last minute and hoping for the best
- keep your chest up and the ball high. This will facilitate looking up (and vice versa), and well as the catch and keeping everything mechanically efficient
- LADIES- we do not have 9ft targets and will use a surrogate. For the logo which typically is used for a 10 ft target, shoot for the bottom. It is 9ft. Women should have an advantage here as you all typically train for a 10ft target. Things just got a little better for you!
Double unders-
- there will be a small subset of people around the country who cannot get even a single double under and will be stuck at 150 reps. This will also be the case for some of you. No biggie.
- if you can do double unders, blast through these as quickly as possible if you can do muscle ups. YOU MUST GET TO THE MUSCLE UPS to have any hope of posting a decent score for this workout. If you can't do muscle ups, congrats! Your workout is almost over.
Muscle ups-
- there will be a HUGE logjam of people (mostly women) at 240 reps (ie, getting through the wall balls and doubles but not a single muscle up). If you can get even 1 muscle up it will help you jump 1000's of places. To a lesser extent, each additional muscle up will help your position.
- again, if you can't do a muscle up currently, don't sweat it. It's going to be a challenge to even get that far.
Predictions-
- quite a few people won't finish the wall balls
- quite a few people won't finish the double unders
- getting a single muscle up will mean 1000s of places on the leaderboard
- No one will get more than one round and a few wall balls (unless they cheat).
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Here is an email we recently received from another CrossFitter in Arizona. Irene has been inspiring many of us here at CrossFit Elysium for some time, but it seems like she's an inspiration for people she doesn't even know as well. THIS is why we do what we do. THIS is what earns respect. Props Irene- you're doing good work.
"Hi CF Elysium! I just wanted to give you guys a great big thank you for posting Irene's videos on Youtube. I had been stalking youtube posts about CrossFit for several months, completely terrified at the prospect yet so compelled to give it a try. But it wasn't until I found Irene's videos that I came to understand universal scalability and I decided to try it out. I don't look too different from Irene. I have about 170 lbs to lose, but because of her courage I started at CrossFit Chaparral in Scottsdale, AZ in November of last year. Please keep the world updated on Irene. She is beautiful, charming, and so very candid. She was the one person's voice that sounded most like my own, and I needed to hear her. Thank you all for being part of this insane CrossFit family. And thank you for encouraging people like me and Irene. Sincerely, K.B."
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Monti has found a little-known but very useful function for bumper plates.
I would like to give a shoutout to all of our Games Competitors so far! You guys are doing amazing and really make Coach P and me proud. There was some hesitancy on the part of some of you newer members to even sign up, but at this point I'm sure you're glad you did. Competition brings out the best in us and helps us all bond as a gym. Here are the top finishers for Team Elysium so far, as well as some memorable performances (in my humble opinion, of course).
Top athletes, week 1-
Men- Brian Lehtinen, Anthony Kimpo (tied for 1st)- 114 reps. Nick Piacone, 113 reps
Women- Sara West, 100 reps; Karla Wagner, 93 reps; Diane Fernandez- 92 reps
Top athletes, week 2-
Men- Coach P, 77 reps. Nick Piacone, 61 reps; Brian Lehtinen, Ben Beal, Chris Rowan, Vlad Spasojevic, 60 reps
Women- Coach Stacie, 79 reps; Karla Wagner, 67 reps; Sara West, Diane Fernandez, Alessandra Wall, 61 reps
Some memorable events for me-
- Sara taking 1st and 3rd in two events so far, despite only CrossFitting for a few months! She has seriously been representing our team and we should consider ourselves lucky she took the plunge.
- Karla getting a new PR for the snatch, then repeating it... 7 times. After 60 snatches at lighter weight.
- Coach Stacie getting the highest score on WOD 2, beating Coach P.
- Alessandra nailing a 100lb snatch for the first time in months, after doubting herself and assuming she wouldn't.
- Irene completing all 60 reps of WOD2 like "it ain't no thang".
- TJ with an incredible second performance on WOD1, going from 87 to over 100 reps!
- Brian Lehtinen overcoming a poor performance on WOD1 (he tied Coach L, after all) to post the highest score his second time around.
- a ton of guys getting 60 reps on WOD2.
Let's keep going strong for the final 3 weeks. I plan on posting strategy for each upcoming WOD the night it comes out (Wed night, for Thursday's workout). Stay tuned!
Warmup: CF x 1
strength: back squat 3 x 3 reps.
metcon:
Everyone should have their snatches warmed up...
"Isabel", 30 snatches for time, 135/95lb.
Post loads and times to comments.
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Fri 02 Mar 2012 |
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Coach L's advice for Games WOD 12.2 |
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This workout will break down into one of three pathways for the vast majority of you. I’m sorry this post is coming out a little late (I’ve been in Utah the whole week), but hopefully it will help those of you yet to do the WOD or who are going to re-do it.
First, let’s recap the WOD-
30 snatches at 75/45lb
30 snatches at 135/75
30 snatches at 165/100
as many snatches as possible at 210/120
All within 10 min.
The first thing to know is that the relative scaling for men and women is significantly off. At the comparable men’s weights, the women’s weights should be 55/95/115/145. So, if you’re a lady and reasonably proficient at the snatch, 60 reps should be very doable. In fact, I fully expect a ton of women around the world will hit 60. Our ladies’ scores will likely be higher than our men’s overall this week, which is fine (most teams should be this way).
The second part of the workout will determine everything. The three basic categories of people are-
- People who have trouble snatching 135/75
- People who can handle 135/75 but will have issues with 165/100
- People who can throw around 135/75 like it’s nothing
If you’re in the first category, 30-45 reps should be your goal and should be very doable. The first 30 reps will be trivial for everyone. Keep a good pace and plan on getting through the first 30 in 3-4 min. The rest of the time should be spent working on 135/75 and nailing as many reps as possible. You may have to rest for decent amounts of time to have any hope of hitting those weights- that’s fine.
If you’re in the second category, the goal is 61+. Move through the first 30 reps quickly, like a warmup. The vast majority of the time will be spent getting through the second 30 reps (less so for women due to the weight disparity). Keep moving, with the overall goal being to finish 60 reps. Any time left over (there won’t be much) should be spent on the 165/100lb tier. This will likely be at or slightly above most people’s 1RM, and thus any rep hit should be close to PR! MANY, MANY people will top out at 60 reps, and thus 61+ will really put a lot of distance between you and the pack.
Just getting one rep at the 3rd tier weight will mean a ton.
If you’re in the third category, and I honestly can’t think of anyone who falls in this other than Coach P- the goal is keep moving quickly for the entire workout. You should be done with the first 60 reps by 5-6min, with the rest of the time devoted to the 165/100 lb tier. 90 reps would represent a PHENOMENAL work capacity.
Hopefully this will help some of you. I fully expect our scores for this week to look like this-
- A few people at 30
- Some people at 31-45
- Lots of people at 60
- A few people 61+
- One person (Coach P) above 70 reps :)
Good luck, and have fun! I'll see you all Sunday.
Coach L
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Thu 23 Feb 2012 |
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CrossFit Games Open announcements and info! |
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Here's some info for all games competitors-
Each WOD MUST BE DONE, SUBMITTED AND VALIDATED by 5pm, Sunday. What this means is- make an effort to come in and get the WOD done. We realize you may not be able to make the specific class day when we program the WOD, which is ok. Just come in during any regular class and if you need to do the WOD we'll be sure to fit you in.
To submit a WOD, log in to the CrossFit Games site and enter your score. I will then get notification to validate your score. This entire process MUST be finished by 5pm Sun.
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Coach L offering advanced programming and training |
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Friday, 17 February 2012 09:44 |
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Read about it in the latest blog post here. |
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Sunday, 05 February 2012 19:46 |
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1. CrossFit Elysium Second anniversary party 2/18!
This will be taking place 2/18, 10am at Elysium. We'll be holding a big group WOD. Afterwards, meet at the BBQ pits at Morley Fields in North Park (map here) at 1pm for some eating and partying! The BBQ pits are just East of the playgrounds and pool, just West of Pershing Dr. This will be a mostly BYOB/M event. If you're willing to make some dishes for a few people let Paul know so he can coordinate.
2. Yoga is cancelled 2/13 and 2/15... sorry for the inconvenience.
3. The CrossFit Games Open is here!
Sign up today! Here's the scoop- the Open is the first step in qualifying for the CrossFit Games. Every competitor will have to prove themselves by finishing 5 workouts across 5 weeks in the Open. The top 60 people from each region of the world will move on to their regional competition, and only then will the top 2-3 from each region go to the CrossFit Games. So, not only will the people at the Games truly be the "best of the best", but they'll all have started doing the same workouts all of us can/will be doing in the Open!
So, how does this affect you, a humble member of CrossFit Elysium?
First, competition is fun. Everyone from around the world will be doing the same workouts during the Open. There's something cool about seeing where you stack up amongst the rest of the world.
Secondly, if you register on the CrossFit Games site (cost is 20$), you'll be given the option of choosing CrossFit Elysium as your team/affiliate! All your workouts will contribute to the team score. The top 30 teams from each region also move on to their regionals, and then possibly the CrossFit Games. It's a long term goal of mine to eventually get a team from CrossFit Elysium to regionals, and this is the way to do that. Each week, the top three men and women from the gym will contribute towards the team's score. In other words, you can't hurt the team by participating- you can only help.
Don't second guess yourself and say, "well, there's a lot of people better than me already, so there's no point in signing up". I and many of the members who participated last year can tell you that each week, there were some "surprises" and a few people who didn't think they'd be in the top three on our team actually helped us quite a bit. So come out, support Elysium and sign up! The deadline is Feb 21st (the open begins 2/22). Any questions ask me or Coach P.
Coach L |
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