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Resources and Friends

CrossFit.com is THE mainsite, the place where it all started. Videos of workouts, movements, journal articles- everything is here and the vast majority of it is free. Any serious CrossFitter will find themselves referring to the mainsite over and over again. Icons that link to the mainsite and journal are below.

PsychSanDiego is co- owned by Alessandra Wall Ph.D., wife of Leon Chang and an avid CrossFitter herself. Dr. Wall specializes in anxiety and eating disorders and is available for clients who wish to formulate a comprehensive weight-loss or lifestyle plan and address the psychological component of eating and weight loss. Click on the "coaches" tab to learn more!


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Announcements

San Diego CrossFit Elysium Announcements 

Paul Estrada
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May announcements and Staying classy at Elysium!

Posted on Sunday, 13 May 2012 in Announcements

Gonna go threw a few announcements and things to bring up for the Elysium community.

  • First off if you haven’t heard about or read about the gym competition we are having in June yet, you should go here to read about it and then go mark your calendar.

  • A small announcement that some of you have probably already noticed, is that we now have recovery drinks in the front of the gym. We are carrying Mix1 recovery shakes. I tried them out a few times and after looking at the ingredients in them, I am stoked to have something to offer everyone after a tough class. Post workout nutrition is critical to recovery and development. There is a sign in sheet next to the cooler that you fill out when you grab a shake. You can drop cash in the box or you can opt to have us add the shake price to your monthly tab when we run your dues.
  • Classes are still keeping busy and getting more filled week by week. Please continue to use the online sign up and reserve your spot in class as to help us maintain our class sizes to a manageable level. That way we can continue to provide an environment where you get the attention and the space you need to train.

To piggyback on the last mentioned point, I want to go over a few etiquette changes that we are going to start asking of the members at Elysium. As well as a few etiquette reviews we think are important around here.
  • If there is an active class running and you get to the gym and park in the back. Please walk around the gym and come in through the front door. DO NOT walk through an active class. Maybe even jog around the building and consider it an extra part of your warm up. Many times people walk in when the prior class is in a met-con and end up getting in the way of people that are training. This is not cool. If someone has to stop swinging their kettlebell or stop doing toes to bars because you walked in front of them... that is your fault... and if they hit you... you are at fault on that one.
  • As well, if there is a busy class and the met-con takes up the space over by the rowers under the mezzanine do not start foam rolling and stretching or warming up right infront of someone that is doing their met-con. The area under the mezzanine is active workspace, please respect it if the class is expanded under that area. Try to stretch on the Krav maga mats if the Krav people are NOT there. If they are there stretch on the mats that extend towards the showers. We will be re-arranging things so that if you need a foam roller or lacrosse ball you do not have to go through a class.

  • Another thing that everyone can do to help classes flow a little easier is managing plates better. When there is 6-8 stations being used on the strength portion of class the smaller plates get taking pretty fast. This causes people to walk aorund and waste time trying to find a set of tens, fives or the 2.5’s. There is no reason for you to have three tens and a 5 on each side of your barbell, go switch them out for a 35lb plate.
Not acceptable use of plates!

This is not acceptable use of small plates!
  • Last thing I want to touch base on is personal space when lifting. Again this is related to busy classes as well as the transition time between classes. Be aware of people that are actively lifting or moving when you are walking around. If someone is doing double unders and you walk in front of them and they have to stop because they think they are going hit you... YOU got in THEIR way (if they hit you, it is YOUR fault). If someone is doing muscle ups and you walk in their area when they are kipping up and they have to bail mid-move... YOU are in THEIR way. We have talked before in class about the “face-crotch alley” (when you walk in front of someone when they are in the deadlift starting position) when oly lifting and the “splash zone” (the space between/on the side of two lifting station). Personal space has duel responsibilities, the bystander needs to be aware of the people around them... as well the lifter NEEDS to communicate to their neighbors if they feel their space is being infringed on. Asking someone in a polite manner to watch out because you don’t want to drop a barbell on them, through a kettlebell at them or kick them in the face is not bad. If you feel weird about asking someone to move ask the coach to bring it up and the coach can remind the class to watch out.

That is all for today. I just want to remind everyone that we are always working to provide you all with the best experience possible here at Elysium. As we continue to grow with new members, classes and coaches... it is important to remember that the experience here is an effort on both the sides. Us, the coaches enforce and teach the habits and etiquette we want to see happening. You the members help by continuing and following them. The veteran members are our best help with assimilating the new members how our gym works. We want to maintain that small gym feeling to last as we expand Elysium. It is great to watch the new people welcomed and invited in by the senior members and brought into the fold. This is something that surprises most people when they first join, it is one of many things that makes our space so different from a “normal gym.”

Caoch P
 

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Leon Chang
Co-owner of CrossFit Elysium in San Diego. An M.D. specializing in Anesthesiology and Clinical Director for UC...
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Upcoming CrossFit Elysium Team Competition June 10th!

Posted on Sunday, 06 May 2012 in Announcements

group1


We will be hosting another intra-gym competition on June 10th! Here’s your opportunity to participate and compete with and alongside your fellow Elysium members in a team format. The last time we did something like this was a blast, and this year promises to be even better. Here are some of the details-

Date/time: June 10th, TBD but likely from morning to the early afternoon

Format: This will be a team competition amongst CrossFit Elysium members only. The number of people who sign up will determine the number of teams, as well as the total members per team, so get signed up early so we can start planning! We will be balancing the teams so that everyone has a legitimate shot to win. The events will be programmed so that if you scale movements you can still participate and help your team.

In addition, we will be adding certain requirements (e.g., only two people per team for a certain workout, etc.) that will force each team to strategize and decide what the best way to approach a WOD would be, decide what their strengths and weaknesses are, and so on. The teams that best strategize and work together will definitely have success in this format.

Depending on the number of entrants, we may have a “coaches team” to compete alongside you athletes. I know a number of you have asked to see something like this in the past. The coaches’ team would be competing for fun only and would not affect the overall standings.

Entry fee: 20$, to cover cost of prizes/logistics.

Prizes: TBD, dependant on number of entrants.
Who remembers the "Rumble in Paradise" competition from Nov 2011? Here's another chance to compete!
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Look for sign up sheets and information around the gym very soon! If anyone has any questions feel free to contact one of the coaches.

Coach L

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Leon Chang
Co-owner of CrossFit Elysium in San Diego. An M.D. specializing in Anesthesiology and Clinical Director for UC...
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Coach L's wrap up of cycle 1, and explanation of the next training cycle

Posted on Tuesday, 01 May 2012 in Announcements

virginia back squat


The back squat and muscle up cycle is wrapping up this week. Coach P and I are excited to see just how many of you are going to smash your old PRs. We also have already had FIVE of you achieve your first muscle up this month, with a few more very close and many people who already had muscle ups showing improvement as well. People who have gotten their first muscle up as of this writing-
- Nef, Monty, Soner, Vlad, Isaac, Sam? (he can get one, he got on top of the rings with his wrists COMPLETELY inverted, still in a false grip, I've never seen that before).

The testing days will be Thursday, Friday and Sunday of this week. Come in on any of those days to test your new 1RM back squat! Also, the Sunday 10:30 elite class will be open to everyone (as will every 4th Sunday at the end of every cycle). This will be your last chance to test the back squat this cycle. Afterwards, we will hold heats and judge one of our benchmark workouts in competition style, where everyone will be able to workout together, simulate the atmosphere of the recent CrossFit Games Open and hopefully get a new PR!

ole


Upcoming cycle- clean and jerk and handstand push ups!

The next cycle will focus on the clean and jerk for the strength movement, and handstand push ups for the gymnastics skill. We will be addressing the fundamental components of both movements with plenty of scaling and instruction. As always, general training and conditioning will remain a major focus. Stay tuned! 

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Recent Comments Show all comments

  • Leon Chang says
    yes Alex, yes. Sunday elite class at the end of every cycle will always be open to everyone to retest th...
  • Alex Toomes says
    Benchmark? If we're re-testing our squat maxes on Thursday can we still come on Sunday to do a benchmark WOD?...
Leon Chang
Co-owner of CrossFit Elysium in San Diego. An M.D. specializing in Anesthesiology and Clinical Director for UC...
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CrossFit Elysium April announcements

Posted on Sunday, 01 April 2012 in Announcements

Hi everyone! We've got some exciting changes and announcements in store for April!
britt


Britt is great about using the online signup system. Are you?

1. Online signups-
PLEASE continue to use the online mindbody signup system. We want to preserve the small classes and personal coaching that make us unique in San Diego. As such, enforcing our class cap is going to become an issue as we continue to expand. As a reminder, 8 spots are reserved in each class for online signups. If you are debating coming to a class, we'd prefer you signup and cancel later, rather than not sign up at all. Online signups are the ONLY way to guarantee a spot in class.

4 spots are reserved for walk-ins, first come first serve. When you arrive as a walk-in, you MUST PUT YOUR NAME UP on the class whiteboard. The coaches will use these names to determine the order in which people arrived (and who might need to be turned away). This is your responsibility.

Anyone who is having issues with the system PLEASE let one of the coaches know. I have already fixed two people's problems- it can be done, trust me.
bunch


2. Friends and family day!
We will be holding another friends and family day on 4/16 and 4/18. Bring a friend to any of our regular classes for free, and show them what our community is all about! Any member who gets a friend to join us will receive a gift card to a local, tasty eating establishment. If you know you're going to bring a guest, please let one of the coaches know so we can plan accordingly. Thanks!
cancel

3. Cancellations-
effective immediately, Monday noon Yoga classes are cancelled. All classes Easter Sunday (4/8)  are also cancelled.
games1

4. Programming changes-
We're excited about this one- it's big. Starting 4/9, we will be moving toward programming all classes in 4 week long cycles. Each cycle will focus on a specific lift (eg, back squat, clean and jerk). This programming should help beginner and advanced athlete alike make accelerated gains. We will be altering loading, volume and intensity over each week to help all of you achieve maximum results. Here's some specifics-
- certain lifts will likely occur on specific days of the week. Don't worry though, even if you miss some days you'll still make great progress. Also, even if a cycle is focusing on a specific lift (eg, back squat), there'll still be plenty of work on other movements
- each class will still follow our same basic template (skill/strength/metcon)
- there won't be any need to change what YOU do- just keep showing up and we'll take care of the rest. All we ask of you members is that you keep track of your own numbers. A lot of the work will be off of percentages of your own maxes, so make sure you know/record the work you're doing.

5. Future plans-
We've got another intra-gym competition lined up, as well as changes to the PR board (will likely become the "wall of fame"). Stay tuned!

Coach L 

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Leon Chang
Co-owner of CrossFit Elysium in San Diego. An M.D. specializing in Anesthesiology and Clinical Director for UC...
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Reminders- CrossFit Elysium class caps, online sign ups and parking

Posted on Saturday, 17 March 2012 in Announcements

Hi everyone! As we continue to expand and welcome additional members into our ranks, I wanted to remind everyone of some general “good citizenship” tips which will make everyone’s experience at CrossFit Elysium better.

Reserved_Tents_Printed


1. Class reservations-
We have a class cap of 12. The vast majority of our classes will allow for 8 spots to be reserved up to one hour in advance online. The remaining 4 spots are reserved for walk-ins.

In the event of a class being full (a happy but unfortunately more common occurrence these days) all members who reserved their spot online will be GUARANTEED a spot. The remaining spots go to walk-ins on a first come first serve basis (i.e., show up early). If the class is full and you haven’t reserved a spot, you may be asked to leave. If the class is full and you haven’t reserved a spot online, and then someone who DID reserve online shows up, you may be asked to leave. Bottom line- use the online sign up system! For those who don’t know, the link is on the left of our website main page (“members click here” button). Once you get used to it it’s a snap.

I know several of you have said that no matter what you do, the Mindbody system won’t let you reserve a spot in class. If this applies to you PLEASE email me or Coach P and we will look into it.
parking1

 
2. Parking-

The lots directly in front of us are reserved for us M-F. After hours and on weekends they are first come, first serve for us, the Krav Maga guys and the dance studio down the street (previous agreement with the owner).

The lots in front of JT Enterprises are OFF-LIMITS from 7a-5p M-F. Please respect this, and remember the owner OWNS the building, and all the lots as well. We park by his good graces. Be respectful and do not give him lip when he asks you to move your car (apparently someone did that recently). They hold all the cards.

The lots in the back alley are also open to us, except for the one furthest to the right when facing the building (closest to the dumpster). Feel free to park in any of these spaces as well.

Thanks to everyone for continuing to make CrossFit Elysium an awesome place! Working together on this will help keep everything running smoothly. We appreciate it.

Coach L

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Leon Chang
Co-owner of CrossFit Elysium in San Diego. An M.D. specializing in Anesthesiology and Clinical Director for UC...
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Coach Leon is now offering advanced programming and training

Posted on Friday, 17 February 2012 in Announcements

Coach Leon is now offering advanced programming and athletic consultation. This series is intended for people who are serious about their fitness and training and are willing to go the extra mile to get results.

What: an initial intake session where we identify which goals you would most like to achieve. These can be almost anything fitness related, specific or general such as “I’d like to be able to do a pullup” or “I want a 300lb back squat” or “I want to lose 50lbs”.

If you have some goals which are outside of the realm of CrossFit, or for which I can’t help you- we can talk and if I can’t program for you/lack the knowledge to help you I won’t give you any BS. I’ll give you a refund and hopefully at least point you in the right direction. As an example, if you tell me you want to learn POSE running I probably won’t take you on board. I don’t know enough about that subject to teach you effectively, but we can establish all of this during the initial session.

Dependent on your goal, I will then program training specifically geared towards helping you reach that goal. If there is a need for dietary counseling that will also be provided. There will likely be several follow up sessions where I will be able to observe your progress and provide coaching and real-time feedback. The vast majority of the programming will run in the 4-12 week duration.

Why: I know there are a lot of people who I can help. I know there are a lot of people who aren’t getting where they want with their goals, or need a little extra work to get there. I love training and coaching, and especially programming with specific goals in mind.

Who: anyone can sign up, but the following is strongly encouraged-
- Membership at CrossFit Elysium. If you are not a member and would still like a consultation I’d be happy to provide that for you, but I most likely would only be able to do follow up sessions at CrossFit Elysium. If you are a member you’ll have a place to train and I will be around for many of those sessions. In addition, CrossFit Elysium members get a substantial discount.
- People who are “stuck” on a goal and aren’t making progress- make no mistake, our general programming at CrossFit Elysium is going to be appropriate for everyone and you will make progress. I am talking about people that want accelerated progress, or haven’t been able to make it past a sticking point in some time. If you are relatively new to Elysium and wonder if this is for you, talk to me. If the general classes are most appropriate for you I’ll tell you.
- Motivated people only- you will be doing a lot of training “on your own”. You might be training during normal Elysium operating hours, but likely will not be doing the same thing as the general classes. You may not have a coaches’ eye on you at all points. There may be major dietary modifications involved. Suffice to say YOU have to want this, and YOU have to put in the effort to succeed with any programming. I can point you in the right direction but I can’t help you without you helping yourself.
mot

 

When: during any of the regular Elysium class times, with private sessions as needed when convenient for both me and the client.

Where: as mentioned, virtually all the training sessions will take place at CrossFit Elysium. If you are not a member and want this service, I’m happy to consult with you via email/phone/etc., but observed coaching sessions will take place at my gym.

My Qualifications:

- I’ve been a certified CrossFit trainer for 3+ years
- I’ve been an M.D. for almost a decade and am the Clinical Director of the Anesthesiology Dept. at UCSD despite only being on staff for 5 years. This may not seem like it relates much to coaching, but it should tell you that I GET STUFF DONE.
- I am constantly and continually reading training logs, theory, protocols and biomechanics to improve my knowledge base
- I “experiment” on myself and my family, and we only use what works. My family currently follows a paleo lifestyle. How did we adopt this? We educated ourselves about it, then PUT IT INTO PLAY and watched the results. They worked. Our training works the same way- I won’t have you do anything I haven’t already done to myself or have documented evidence that it will work for you.
- I actually care about my clients and want you to succeed. I don’t run CrossFit Elysium because I need the money. This is a passion for me, not a job.

How much?

Initial session- 150$ for CrossFit Elysium members, 200$ for non-members
This session will include-
- Identification of goals
- Coaching/athlete alignment (basically, let’s get on the same page with training, diet, etc.)
- Your programming and/or dietary regimen for the duration of the sessions (likely 4-12 weeks).

Follow up sessions- 75$ for CrossFit Elysium members, 100$ for non-members

These sessions by definition will vary in amount and frequency depending on your needs. I would expect almost everyone would need, and want, at least a few follow up sessions. Depending on your exact goal, these sessions might include-
- Direct coaching and observation of progress
- Follow up with meal plans
- Consultation sessions with Dr. Wall (nutrition and lifestyle specialist for CrossFit Elysium)
- Much more

Again, I want to stress that this is a service I am prepared to offer if you want to take your training and fitness to the next level. If continued general fitness is your goal, our general programming at Elysium will likely be the most appropriate. Contact me today ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) if you’d like to learn if this is right for you.

Coach L

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Paul Estrada
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Feb announcements

Posted on Friday, 03 February 2012 in Announcements

Hey there everyone, just wanted to remind you of a few things that are happening this month.

dinner_party
-Want to remind everyone that we have our second anniversary party/wod coming up in a few weeks on FEb 18th. We will be doing a big team workout in the morning at 10am and then meeting back up at morley field for a BBQ and hang out at 1pm. Most likely going somewhere after but that wil be determined. The BBQ will be B.Y.O.M/B we have own gril so far that someone will be bringing so if you want to contribute another grill or meat/appetizers or drinks let Coach P now and he can help keep track of who is bringing what. 

-Also the order for shirts and sweaters will being going in very soon so make sure to get your name on the sign up sheet with your name on it.  The winner of the t-shirt design is "HTFU" we are having a design made for it and you will see the finished pic soon!

-Yoga on the 11th will be cancelled... so make sure to attend the monday noon class to get your work in!

-Another big deal that is coming up is the CrossFit OpenRegistration is open and the event starts on the 22nd. Last year we had a good crew of people sign up and it was pretty fun. This year we won't as many of you to sign up as possible and give it another go! Why would/should you sign up? The way it works is there is a wod posted at the beginning of the week online, after that you have 1 week to complete the workout and then you submit your score to the games website and your score helps the Elysium team. The more people we have sign up the better our gym does. The other cool thing about this is that when you upload your score you can compare your score to people of your same demographic from around the world and see how you compare. Many people were surprised at how well they did relative to people around the world. Last year they made the workouts pretty simple and many people were able to do several of the workouts full RX'd and help contribute to the team score. We will have a bigger post about this soon but i wanted to get the idea out there now. You may have seen some of my post about competition in the blog before, I think that participating in the competition side of this can be fun and a great experience for anyone and you should give it a try. Think of it like running a 5k or a marathon or a mud run... you don't enter to win the entire race, you enter to give a shot and do the best that you can.

Here is a video from last year. A few of us went down to CrossFit San Diego for a big group session for one of the workouts and it was a great time. 

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  • Alessandra Wall says
    Can't wait! Did the Open preggo last year and found some of my wods to be fairly decent. I would totally encoura...
Leon Chang
Co-owner of CrossFit Elysium in San Diego. An M.D. specializing in Anesthesiology and Clinical Director for UC...
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Big announcements!

Posted on Wednesday, 11 January 2012 in Announcements

Hi everyone! We've got a couple of cool announcements for upcoming changes and want your input on the next round of apparel!

1. We are putting together another order for T-shirts and hoodies. Part of our order will be a "classic" design, but part of it will be more on the funny/irreverent side. Please fill out this anonymous survey here and give us your thoughts. Who knows? You may be able to come up with the new design!

Also, sign up with Coach P at the gym if you want a sweatshirt and specify what size. The cost will be 40$.

2. Class expansion!

We have changed/added to our afternoon and evening schedules, starting 1/23/12. The evening classes from that day on will be-
- 4:30, 5:30 and 6:30pm
- 7:30pm fundamentals.

All other class times remain unchanged.

Thanks! Coach L 

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Paul Estrada
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Busy classes getting busy.

Posted on Wednesday, 07 December 2011 in Announcements
Classes have been getting pretty busy in the past month and Coach P is here to offer some advice for how every Elysium members can help make sure we offer the best experience possible for the Elysium family.
  • Register for class- We currently have an 8 person max on the mindbody sign up sheet that you can use to rsvp for class. Any given class tops out at 12 people these days, meaning that there are 4 first come first served spots available. In case you haven’t used mindbody before all you need to do is create a user name and password and you can sign in and save a spot for any class. The sign up page shuts down 1 hour before class starts. Most of you know in advance if you will attend, but we understand that things change some times and you get a change of plans and you may be able to attend when you didn’t think you would be able to. That is what the 4 first come first served slots are for. As well, don’t think because you signed up online early that day... that gives you a pass to show up late to class.

  • Show up at least on time- What do I mean by “at least on time”.... walking in the door at 5pm is “at least on time” Some people have a tendency to walk in just as the hour turns and then take another 5 or so minutes to change clothes, fill the water bottle, get journal.... then at 8 after start the warm up. Many members will show up 5-10 minutes early so they can prep for class and chit chat with friends before everything begins, that's doin it right. Especially with classes get bigger these days having a few people wonder in minutes late can disrupt the class. You have a pretty good chance to miss instruction and explanation of the daily plan when you show up late. With regard to reserving a spot in class and showing up late. Some one who shows up on time trumps someone who rsvp’d and shows up late. We will be enforcing two new rules around Elysium regarding tardiness.

  1. For every minute you are late you will add 3 burpees to your warm up.  ie, 2 minutes late =6 burpess, 5 minutes late = 15 burpees. *Showing up late and distracting other members upon your entrance may result in extra burpees being added by the coach.
  2. Ten minutes late will be the cut off for attending class. If you show up at 11 after you must wait for the following class.

  • Look at the whiteboard when you walk in. Most of the time the warm up is the same and the board will tell you the basic order of the day. The coach will announce to the class what the time line should look like for the day and how to go about. If you have questions about the workout, wait till the coach has discussed the plan then raise your hand and ask. Most likely there is someone else who has the same question. It is easier and more energy efficient to answer the same question in front of everyone once (hint hint, when coach talks, you don't... that way everyone can hear)... rather then 3 times to individuals. If you think your question is a stupid question, don’t worry we will let you know if it is... but along the way we will answer the question as well. That is what the coach is there for, answer your questions, coach you through the wod and provide a little comic relief here and there.


As we have done in the past, as classes continue to grow we will add/rearrange class sizes and times to better provide services for our athletes. We are extremely happy to have all of you at Elysium and we don’t want to offer you anything short of the best service possible. The more you help us the more we can help you.

Coach P
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Leon Chang
Co-owner of CrossFit Elysium in San Diego. An M.D. specializing in Anesthesiology and Clinical Director for UC...
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Rumble in Paradise Recap

Posted on Monday, 14 November 2011 in Announcements

Wow, what an event. First of all, a huge shout out to all the members of CrossFit 858, CrossFit Mission Gorge and of course, CrossFit Elysium for their efforts in the “Rumble in Paradise”. A big thank you to the judges, sponsors and spectators as well. I don’t even know where to begin. I think I’ll give you my thoughts and observations of all three events, the individual competitors that I saw, and my own personal perspective trying to keep things organized. I apologize in advance if I leave out anyone’s awesomeness- I don’t have the data from the event in front of me (all the results will be posted later in a separate post when I have time). I’m going purely from memory here.
The most awesome group of athletes ever. 

Pre-event-

OMG. The good news is that things are always easier the second time around, so the next event we organize will just be that much easier. I won’t bore you with the details- let’s just say planning, designing, and tracking an event, in addition to rounding up sponsors and getting T-shirts made is a BITCH.

Of course, the morning of- torrential rain. I realize on the way in that the only other time it rained this hard since we’ve moved in there was a LEAK in the ceiling that neither Paul or I told the landlords about. Uh oh. Of course, when I get in the roof is leaking. Some quick logistical arrangements and we’re ok- we can work around it. Slowly but surely CrossFitters filed into our box, bringing water-soaked gear with them. It’s a testament to the nature of most CrossFitters that things inside stayed dry and neat- everyone kept their area clean and the rain ended up not being an issue. Pretty soon, we were ready to get under way…

Event 1- 10 pull ups, 10 box jumps, 20in. AMRAP 8min.

Women-
Irene, Elizabeth and Miriam lead us off and represented strongly.
Courtney, Briana, Bev and Tammy all looked GREAT with their pull ups. Courtney in particular did more full pullups in 8 min than I’m sure she’s ever done in her whole life combined.
Alessandra and Karla competed next to each other and I’m sure their presence helped each other push harder. Both ladies had box jumps that were simply non-stop. Karla won the workout with Alessandra coming in second.
Karla knocking out butterfly pull ups. 

Men-
Scott knocking out full pullups- he had previously made the decision to switch from the scaled to open division but I wasn’t aware of it until the morning of the event. The progress he’s made has been awesome.
TJ, Sam, Emilio, Ben, Parnell, Shiloh and Kris working hard, as usual. A couple of hand tears, but hopefully nothing too serious…
Anthony blazing through the WOD, despite having seriously rolled his ankle the week before. You’d think the box jumps would have been undoable but you couldn’t even tell he had an injury.
Derek just motoring through the workout. I thought I was watching someone just go non-stop, until I saw Dave. 12 FULL ROUNDS, with what I believe was butterfly kips throughout. That is a seriously big score and as near as I can remember good for second overall on that workout.

From my perspective-
DAMN, we had to wipe those bars down from hand tears a lot. It seemed to me that the other gym’s members tore a lot more than you guys. Maybe your hands are used to our bars (the logical assumption).

The long sections of pull up bars CANNOT take two guys going at once haha. Paul and I were seriously worried at some point they were going to break but luckily things held up.

First event over and I’m already getting a little hoarse.

Event 2- max ground to overhead in 8min.

Women-
I KNOW a lot of you ladies hit PRs. It was incredible to watch, especially having seen most of you start at Elysium so hesitant with a barbell in your hands, and then to watch you hoist over 100lbs overhead, lock it out with a tribal yell, and bring the bar back to earth with a SLAM! Paul and I couldn’t be prouder. I saw Irene with one of her last lifts do her trademark “get the barbell up 80% of the way, then agonizingly press it out over 10 sec” jerks. You know what I’m talking about- and yes, she made it, and EVERYONE roared.

Karla and Alessandra tied for 1st in this event, with lifts of 135lb. I saw Karla power clean over 135 easy several times, only to miss the jerk. Meanwhile, Alessandra couldn’t clean over 135, but I know she can jerk 145 or more without issue. Like I said ladies, all we need to do is combine Karla’s clean with Alessandra’s jerk… I don’t think any other woman got 125lb (Courtney nailed 120lb if I recall correctly). This put Karla and Alessandra firmly in the 1 and 2 spots, with Karla having 2 pts and Alessandra 3 pts TOTAL.
Courtney nailing a lift, with Tiff judging. 

Men-
Again, I’m sure most of the guys hit PRs during the event. Watching Ben Flores miss a 175lb? clean twice, and then finally get under it and stand it up was awesome. There was no question he was going to hit the jerk. Seeing TJ who is almost 50 yrs old put up near bodyweight overhead was inspiring to watch. For many of you guys, the jerk seems to be the sticking point of the lift and it’s something we’ll work on in the coming months. It’s hard for me to relate on some level b/c my jerk is easily 15lb higher than my best ever clean, so I know if I can get it to my shoulders, I can get it overhead. I want you all to know what that’s like so we’ll be working on jerking more efficiently. Kris, Parnell, and Dave all placed highly in this event, and combined with his performance in WOD1 Dave went into the final WOD with 9 pts, just 1 behind the two guys tied for 1st. It was anyone’s to win at this point.

From my perspective-
I honestly wish I could have seen more. Organizing and keeping things going can be a drag. It would have been sweet to be able to cheer on each and every one of you. The judges and athletes did a great job of breaking down the bars between heats and keeping things running smoothly. My voice was officially starting to go, and I had to run over immediately after the lunch break to start crunching numbers and figure out what the final heat ordering and standings were. The nifty little Excel file I THOUGHT would make this easy turned out to be a total cluster. I had to do most of everything by hand just to double check the computer. It basically took almost 2 hrs and at the end I was able to wolf down lunch Alessandra had picked up for me with Paul’s coffee measuring spoon. Talk about ghetto…

Final WOD- 24 KB swing, 53/35lb; 15 burpees; 7 thrusters, 115/75lb. 3 rounds for time.

Women-
A lot of really gutsy performances here. Irene put up a blazingly-fast time as we all knew she would. Briana and Courtney gritted their teeth and were able to finish just before the time cap. The thrusters were heavy and there were DNF’s all over the place, but the fight you ladies put up really made me proud. Miriam solidified her performance with this final WOD and ended up taking 3rd in the scaled division!

Of course, going into the final heat were Karla and Alessandra, separated by one point. Alessandra’s recent pregnancy and her ongoing recovery started to show in this WOD- even though she wanted to keep moving, on some level she just couldn’t.  I was starting to worry she’d fall back just enough that the third place woman would overtake her. She managed to hold on and finish the WOD in 5th place or so, which was good enough for her to retain her second place standing overall.  Karla? What can I say. Total domination. She tore through this workout like it was nothing and came in first. Over three events, 1st, 1st, and 1st. Sick.

Men-
Unfortunately I missed a lot of you guys because I was trying to make up ground and started crunching the women’s numbers early. I did get to see both Parnell and Derek fight their way to the finish. Parnell finished things off and just COLLAPSED to the ground, totally spent. Derek moved ridiculously fast through everything; when I caught up to him and looked at the clock I assumed he was on round 2, then asked someone where he was. He was already on round 3! He smashed the WOD in 8:34 or so, good for second overall.

Kimpo came out blazing and was winning his heat in the middle of round 2 before the gas tank came up empty. I honestly have never seen him that smoked before. He managed to sack up and finish things off then promptly crumpled to the ground. It was truly inspiring to watch. Finally, we had Dave, just shy of the leaders. He had to win this WOD to have a chance of winning the whole thing, and let’s just say he left it all out there. Everything was non-stop. I kept shouting to him, “you are winning this thing, you are fucking WINNING” and he seemed like he heard me. Every time he looked like he was going to take a break and stop, he kept going. Watching him pull farther and farther ahead of the 1st place men, KNOWING that with each rep he was that much closer to winning the whole thing was awesome. He absolutely destroyed the WOD with a sub-8 min performance, the only person to beat Derek. WOD 3- 1st. Overall- 1st.

From my perspective-
You guys have amazing bar/equipment discipline. What I mean is you guide your bars down and respect the space you’re working out in, even when fatigued. We know it can be hard to do this when you’re tired but all of you made Paul and me proud. No disrespect to the other competitors but if some of you let things fly around like they were doing you’d do nothing but penalty burpees every class haha. Hopefully all of you see why Paul and I try to teach equipment discipline. For one, it just looks ugly to let your equipment master you, rather than the other way around. As one of you put it, it’s almost disrespectful. Of course, the main issue is safety- for yourself and your fellow members. Eventually a bouncing barbell or kettlebell is going to take you or someone else out, and we can’t have that. Anyway, I don’t think anything happened that can’t be easily fixed or repaired. Mostly I just wanted to thank you all for showing such great equipment discipline and doing us proud.

Paul took over ringmaster duties for this WOD so I could crunch numbers more effectively. It definitely took a load off my shoulders and especially my larynx. There was something really special about tallying the final scores, knowing that we had taken both the open top spots. Yep, the numbers added up. OK, now to see which team won overall… imagine my surprise when I saw that CrossFit Mission Gorge, and not us, had won the team title. A quick inspection of all the overall standings revealed why- while we may have had the winners, they had more members place highly overall. Oh well- you can’t win everything and it was a really close margin (30 pts out of 450 total).

Presenting the award ceremony was fantastic. I felt like a proud parent reading off his kid’s accomplishments. From a personal perspective, I rushed the speeches during my wedding reception and afterwards wished I could have had that moment back. I was determined not to make that mistake with this event. In particular, presenting Irene with her well-deserved “spirit of the competition” award was the second-best part of the whole day, beaten only by presenting Alessandra her award and receiving a huge hug in front of everyone. At the end of the day, all of you gave it your best effort, and you’ll only continue to improve from here. I can’t wait to see how we do on our next competition!

Coach L

Alessandra, trying to embarass me in public.

Podium finishers-
Miriam Marquez- 3rd, women’s scaled division
Alessandra Wall- 2nd, women’s open division
Karla Wagner- 1st, women’s open division
Dave Bennett- 1st, men’s open division


 

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