CF Games Open WOD 11.6 results SATURDAY 110430

	AMRAP in 7 minutes: Thrusters & Chest To Bar Pullups
	CrossFit Yongsan Men
	Last Name	First Name	TH	PU	Total	As Rx'd
1	Eubanks	Chris	54	45	99	As Rx'd
2	Kim	David	45	40	85	As Rx'd
3	Casey	Neil	45	33	78	As Rx'd
4	Barriger	Steven	45	31	76	As Rx'd
5	Bruhjell	Steve	32	30	62	As Rx'd
6	Moore	Pat	30	29	59	As Rx'd
7	Perkins	Michael	30	24	54	As Rx'd
8	Ochoa	Guiellermo	18	13	31	As Rx'd
9	Chatriwala	Imran	9	5	14	As Rx'd
			TOTAL:		513
	CrossFit Yongsan Ladies
	Last Name	First Name	PC	TB	Total	#	Band
1	Ochoa	Angie	56	45	101	45	Green
2	Alfazar	Marlene	45	45	90	45	Brown
3	Diehl	Nickole	45	30	75	65	Red
4	Chatriwala	Mary	38	30	68	65	Green
5	Dougherty	Danielle	30	30	60	65	Green
6	Perkins	Lillian	30	29	59	65	Green
7	Bruhjell	Angela	22	18	40	65	Brown
			TOTAL:		334

 

Recovery and Maintenance Methods - by Ken

I noticed several of you are starting to get banged up, especially during these last couple weeks with the Games and more dynamic WOD programming. You've been training hard and moving your body in ways it's never done before. But like your car, you need to do some preventive and reactive maintenance work to keep things running smoothly. If you choose to ignore these RECOVERY METHODS, you will probably end up injured or sick no matter how smart you train.

(Active) Rest

If it's a chronic overuse injury then full rest with no exercise is a valid option. But if it's an acute injury, we should be trying to work the area as soon as possible. This doesn't mean stopping exercise altogether, but rather taking the muscle, connective tissue, and joint(s_ through a SAFE range of motion that will promote blood flow and healing, In many cases, inactivity could hinder recovery b/c muscle fibers will not fire and reconnect or scar tissue formation will not reduce. In general, discomfort is acceptable, provided it is not making the condition worse. This could mean performing low intensity volume training, skill work, and/or flexibility/mobility training.

 

Ice & Ice Baths

Ice is your number one weapon when recovering from an injury. And while a bag of frozen peas is better than nothing (just don't plan on cooking those peas after they've been thawed, refrozen, then thawed again), there is a better way. Fill a styrofoam cup with water, freeze it, rip away the edge, and use it to actively massage the area. It penetrates deeper and promotes major blood flow to speed up recovery. It will also reduce swelling, inflammation, and pain. Ice for approx 10-15 minutes, let the area warm up on its own, and then repeat multiple times per day, every day, until you're 100%. Don't ice for just 3 minutes and then tell me you followed through with this protocol! Deal with the freeze. You won't feel it in 5 minutes. Ice after workouts - never before.

Ice baths are best immediately after a really punishing workout, when afterwards you think "Oh, man. This is gonna suck tomorrow." Fill a tub with cold water, throw in a few bags of ice, and jump in. Cover as much skin surface as possible (head included) for no more than 15 minutes. When you get out, let your body warm up on its own. This will stimulate glands and help speed up recovery between workouts. Just do an ice bath when no one is home so they won't hear all the crazy screams you'll make. Again, if you make to 5 minutes, you'll hardly feel it anymore.

Sleep

Arguably the most important recovery method - a good night's sleep. If you can get 8-9 hours (I definitely don't), then you're golden. When I trained for last year's games (we didn't do the Open format then),increasing my sleep was huge for my performance. Unfortunately, I don't get that much sleep anymore, and I'm sure many of don't get as much as you'd like. So we need to maximize the quality of sleep we can get within the time you have. Here are some quick tips to do that:

Keep the room on the cool side. Reduce caffeine and water intake approximately 6 hours before bed. Minimize alcohol consumption - 1-2 glasses of wine are OK, but any more will screw up your sleep cycle. And finally, get rid of all light in your bedroom. 100% darkness. No alarm clock, no cell phone, no TV, no nightlight in the hallway. Get black out curtains, no stars, no moon, no street lights. DARK. What a huge difference this makes!

Nutrition

Food is more powerful than any drug or supplement. Get your nutrition balanced on a consistent basis and you'll notice a huge difference. More strength, more speed, less soreness, and less dependency on medications. So what is the prescription? Lean meats & veggies, seeds & nuts, some fruit, little starch, and NO SUGAR,

 

Massage Therapy

 

By default, exercise causes micro trauma in our soft tissues. Over time this trauma leads to knots and scar tissue, causing excessive tightness in the muscle and unnecessary strain on tendons. This prevents the muscle from applying full power and also prevents the muscle from reaching full range of motion. Pushed to the limits it will result in injury such as inflammation or strains. A strain can be a simple overstretching of the muscle or tendon, partial tear, or full tear.

Regular massage therapy will remove adhesion and break down scar tissue, allowing for improved flexibility, power, and strength. It also creates higher body awareness (so you know when things are out of whack before you actually get injured), improves blood circulation, decreases inflammation, improves respiratory functions, stimulates the immune system, improves lymphatic movement to break up and release toxins, decreases stress and anxiety.

When I regularly visited a massage therapist in DC, my flexibility and WOD performance notably increased

 

Self Myofascial Release

 

But if you can't find that one awesome massage therapist (esp here in Korea), this method offers the same benefits as massage, to a lesser degree, but you can do it at home on your own. And you can do this more frequently.

 

The most common tools used are a foam roller, tennis ball, baseball, and lacrosse ball. We have foam rollers in the storage room, Just ask us how to use them and we'll demonstrate. We recommend using them before and after workouts on a daily basis. Personally, I also have tennis balls and lacrosse balls at home to use for my convenience, I even keep a lacrosse ball at my office desk and roll it on whatever hotspot I have, provided I don't make ass out of myself.

 

Here's a link to CrossFit Journal article trigger point therapy that covers the theory behind this method:

http://www.crossfit.com/journal/library/37_05_trigger_points.pdf

Hand Care (callous maintenance)

As we've seen the past few week, doing chinups and lifting barbells will get you callouses. This offers strength and protection when gripping heavy objects (gloves do not). Most people are initially grossed out, thinking callouses have to be big and bumpy and scratchy. Not true. In fact, a properly maintained callous will be flat and smooth. However, too much callous will cause pinching and that can lead to tearing and nasty looking pictures we see on Facebook :-). Here's how to avoid it:

• Use chalk while training. This reduces moisture in your hand so there's more friction between you and the bar. 100% friction equals no movement.
• After your training session wash your hands with hot water and soap to remove all the chalk. If you don't do this, your hands will dry out and crack.
• Use a good moisturizer.
• When you notice your callouses getting too big (if you can pinch them, they are too big), you'll need to flatten them. There are many ways to accomplish this, but the most common is to use a callous remover (looks like a mini cheese slicer/grater) after a hot shower. Make sure the callous is smooth and flat, but don't go too deep. Then lightly use a pumice stone as final touch to rid of loose skin.  

If you ignore the advice above and happen to tear a callous, here's how you fix it.

• Wash your hands with hot water and soap.
• Cut away any torn skin with nail clippers.
• Soak in hot salt water multiple times per day and use a barrier like Burt's Bees Wax to protect the callous, keep it moist, and speed up healing.
• Cover the tear with athletic tape before training. Do NOT just wrap tape around your hand - there's a special method. Ask us a coach if you don't know how.

Well, a lot of info for sure. But try these technique outs and feel free to discuss them w/ me. -KenCFY

TUESDAY 110426

TUESDAY 110426

Skill Work: skin the cats

Volume training: handstand push ups

WOD:
4 rounds for time:
10 cleans (135/95#)
12 games push ups

Sean 8:40 (65)
Nora 8:10 (55)
Danielle 9:21 (65)
Travis 9:57 (115)
Nickole 10:04 (65)
Willie 10:35 (95)
Angie 8:02 (55)
Steve 12:00 (135/95) 3 rds + 5 cleans
Angela 9:30 (55)
Kenny 10:05 (95)
Henry 8:09 (125)
Ken 6:19 (135)
Marlene 8:15 (45)
Mary Ellen 9:50 (65)

Tuesday 110426

Skill work:
Skin the Cats
Handstand Holds / HSPU work

4 rounds for time of:
10 Squat Cleans 135/95 lbs
12 Push-up (hand release)

Post total time.

10 Things I've Learned The Hard Way - by Ken

10. It's OK to work on stuff outside of the WOD – in fact, it's encouraged.  So are you bad at dips? Why not do them more than once every 4 weeks.

 

9. Athletes make decisions all day at their jobs and in their homes.  When they come to the gym (or field, in our case), the overwhelming majority want to be told what to do. This is a gym, not an episode of "choose your adventure".

 

8. Remember that nutrition and sleep should be the base of your "wellness" pyramid. I've never done a WOD w/ under 5 hours sleep for the past 2 nights and 2 really crappy meals and said to myself, "Man, that was kick-ass!" You're much better off getting your own house in order before coming to ours. So get your rest. Straighten out your diet.

 

7. Almost everybody dislikes working on flexibility and mobility. But a lack in both will almost always prevent you from maximizing the other dimensions of your fitness: strength, power, speed, endurance, agility, etc.

 

6. Form is expected to degrade towards the end of most WODs. It happens with the most elite crossfitters. There are times to say "F it!". But the best almost rarely choose to sacrifice form for better time/reps/loads.  What does this mean for you? Sacrificing form doesn't make you a better crossfitter. It just keeps you from being efficient and achieving your full potential.

 

5. Understanding AND adhering to the standards of any movement is important. W/o them, any guy working out of a  garage gym with no instruction doing half-ass lazy air squats and muted push-ups will score better than you. This pisses me off to no end. You too? But really, it doesn't matter. You are or are going to be more fit than that guy.

 

4. Unless given better options from a smart coach, people's default goal is to do things RX'd. In most cases, this is a really crappy goal.

 

3. When a class is more than 15 people, and there's only equipment for 5, a coach spends more time doing logistics than actually coaching.

 

2. Ignorance in athletes is not blameworthy. Ignorance is coaches is – particularly if coupled with arrogance. If you see the former from me, call it out. It is my responsibility to learn from others and/or educate myself. If you see the latter, beat me over the head. I will wipe my tears away later.

1. Deadlifts are to be respected ALWAYS. When your back starts to round, just drop it. No sense in crushing your L4/L5 disc. You have a day job, and you need to walk to get there.

Developing Upperbody Gymnastic Strength

Hey Ken- I've been struggling with pull-ups, ring dips, HSPU's. What do I need to do to get better?

 

I heard this question quite often, and it came up again yesterday. I always say the worst thing you can is the throw yourself to the task w/out having a clear methodology and attainable benchmarks/milestones.

 

But really, gaining upper body strength is quite easy, here's what you need to keep in mind:

• Stay below your muscle failure threshold
• Practice often
• Listen to your joints
• Track your progress to see what works

_The two basic progressions which I've seen work really really well are "Recon Ron" and Volume Training.

Recon Ron Pullup Program

We used this at Potomac CrossFit with much success. It takes a very small amount of time, and works well.

RRPR couldn't be simpler in execution:

• Pick a level on the progression that is challenging, but not impossible: meaning you are staying BELOW MUSCLE FAILURE.
• Perform the progression once, 5-7 days per week, allowing yourself 30 seconds to 2 minutes rest between sets.
• Take a rest day if/when you're elbows, shoulders, etc, start to get inflamed.

Like everything, test and retest.  Do some shoulder warmup, then crank out one max set.  Stick with RRPR for 4 weeks, be consistent, then retest.  Guaranteed you'll see big gains.

Use RRPR for anything: Pullups, Pushups, Handstand Pushups, Ring Dips, Muscle Ups.

Volume Training

We also found Volume Training an equal tool for improving upper body strength.  Advantages of Volume Training versus RRPR are:

• Better recovery because of decreased frequency
• Flexibility of programming, i.e., you can do other movements within your Volume Training
• Flexibility of modalities, i.e., you can use this for any movement

Volume Training is also an easy way to track your progress. Even if you only get 1-2 more reps every session, at least you're moving forward. One of the biggest issues I've seen with athletes and improvement in these movements is psychological. They practice so infrequently, and nearly never do a One Set Max (1SM), so they are easily discouraged by their perceived lack of progress.

Here's how Volume Training works:

• Perform a set every minute on the minute, there should be some rest within each minute
• Perform 10-20 minutes (so that's 10-20 sets)
• Ensure that your first set and last set differ by no more than two reps
• Do not do more than one upper body movement per session.

So a common example of a stand along upper body Volume Training session would be 20 minutes of Handstand Pushups. A typical progression over a few weeks would look like this:

I've seen significant progress with 10-15 minute sessions as well, so if you are strapped for time, this is a great way to build upper body strength in a short period of time.  Most athletes can only handle two sessions of upper body Volume Training per week.  Again, listen to your joints, but practice frequently.

"But I'm pissed off that I don't have any Pullups/Handstand Pushups/Ring Dips/etc!"

This is where understanding general strength and conditioning comes into play, namely the role of eccentric and isometric exercises in building concentric strength.

Isometric exercises should be the baseline. Ensure that you:

• can do handstand hold for 30-60 secs
• can hold the top of a ring dip
• can hold the top of a pushup
• can hold a flexed arm hang

If you can do these movements, then you can use them as the basis for your Volume Training.  Simply set a goal time per minute and try to hold that exercise within that goal time by five seconds.

For folks with nearly zero upper body strength, you can do the following exercises, but the principal of goal time per minute, delta no greater than five seconds still apply:

• Overhead barbell hold
• Band assisted ring hold
• Knee pushup or elevated pushup hold
• Band assisted flexed arm hang

If athletes are incapable of the isometric movements, then we can begin work on eccentric movements.  These are commonly called "negatives".  Start at the top of the movement, and move through the eccentric range of motion taking 3-5 seconds depending on the length of the movement (i.e., a pushup ROM is shorter than a pullup ROM).

Key to the eccentric movements is going beyond the normal ROM whenever we can.  While this is difficult for Pullups and Ring Dips, this is easy for Handstand Pushups and Pushups.

Simply place a raised object (plates, blocks, parallettes, etc) under your hands and perform a negative to the floor.

Summary

So remember, you are practicing the movements, not trying to puke in your shoes. So stay below muscle failure. These can and should be challenging, but if you burn out too fast, then MISSION FAIL!

Stick to the plan and you'll be sure to see big progress quickly. Even for top level athletes, this is a great tool. What better way to feel confident going into a HSPU WOD then knowing that you can do 40 unbroken HSPU while the nearest competitor can probably do 20 on a good day.

Note however, that you'll want to decrease the reps and add a load on many of these movements as you gain mastery. If you are getting to 3-5 reps per minute for 20 minutes, it's time to decrease the reps and time and add weight. So take it down to 1-2 reps per minute for 10-15 minutes and add some weight: weighted ring dips, weighted pullups, weighted HSPU, weighted Muscle-Ups, etc. Again, listen to your joints, test and retest.

This is a great way to gain proficiency or gain dominance. Good luck!

Paleo Goodness

Liz and Alison of Potomac CrossFit have some great Paleo recipes to share:

http://www.liz.powellfitness.net/category/food/

http://humblexfitter.wordpress.com/category/paleo-recipes/

Tuesday 110419

WOD A1
Weighted Pull-ups
3-3-3-3-3

WOD A2
Weighted Ring Dips
5-5-5-5-5

WOD B
4 rounds for time of:
6 Handstand Push-ups
10 Pistols (5 each leg)
40 Double Unders / 80 Single Unders

Post loads and total time.

Sunday 110417 (Updated)

Warm-up:
1 only lap around ball field
3 rounds
10 KB swings
10 situps
10 squats
30 sec Handstand hold

WOD:
Press (use the metal racks)
5-5-5

Establish a 5RM
Cues to remember:
1. Elbows slight in front of chest but not the rack position
2. Tight glutes
3. Tight legs
4. Pull chin back as you press up
5. Push head through
6. DON'T BEND KNEES. THIS IS NOT A PUSH PRESS!

Then
AMRAP 7 minutes:
10 Thruster 65/45 (men's/ladies rx'd weights; scale as necessary)
15 Box Jump (20 in. men / 16 in women)

Post total rounds and extra reps.

Sunday 110417

Press (use the metal racks)
5-5-5

Establish a 5RM
Cues to remember:
1. Elbows slight in front of chest but not the rack position
2. Tight glutes
3. Tight legs
4. Pull chin back as you press up
5. Push head through
6. DON'T BEND KNEES. THIS IS NOT A PUSH PRESS!

Then
AMRAP 7 minutes:
Thruster 65/45 (men's/ladies rx'd weights; scale as necessary)
Box Jump (20 in.)

Post total rounds and extra reps.



--

 

Ken Velez

Cell (Korea): 010-6566-4971

Dial toll-free from the US (+13hrs EDT): 703-531-8479

Skype name: metsek7

Tuesday 110412 WOD and important updates

Today marks the first day we'll be posting our WODs in advance. Expect the WODs to be posted the night before no later than 2200 - perhaps earlier once we get our programming rhythm down.

Most CrossFit affiliates work in this fashion. This will still keep us aligned to CrossFit's "constantly varied" methodology, yet it also provides you the opportunity to better prepare yourself mentally and physically for the day's WOD. Plus from a planning perspective, it'll give you a heads-up on what personal gear you may want to bring (running shoes, olympic lifting or flat sole shoes, jump rope). You're all Foundations graduates now. So you can all be treated like big boys and girls now.

WHAT THIS DOESN'T MEAN (yes, I used bold letters) is that you're allowed to cherry-pick your WODs. Just b/c you're Yongsan's greatest deadlifter ever means you can skip out on overhead squats. Or if you're a weak-ass gazelle, you can bag out on weighted pullups and muscle-up work.

THE ONLY WAY (yes bold letters again) you will ever get better at CrossFit is to attack your weaknesses - what we call "goats". What are yours?....Now don't go trying to tackle everything at once. Pick 1-2 goats and work on them until you're moderately competent at that skill. Then move on to another 1-2 and so forth. You'll find that you'll be continually revisiting these skills and striving to improve them each time.

Please keep track of your own progress via Beyond The Whiteboard, a personal logbook, or a workout blog. You'll perform specific exercises w/ more frequency now. So you'll want to know what your current Personal Records (loads, times) are each time you step into a WOD. This will give you a metric to shoot for in many of our WODs.

Have fun!
-KenCFY

Today's WOD is:

Deadlift
5-5-5

Then
Tabata Mash-Up
8 rounds of 20 secs work, 10 rest of each of the following:
Pushups
Situps
Squats

Tuesday starts regular classes

Tuesday we are back to our regular schedule at 1730.  We will meet outside at the shed.  We will lift heavy weight.  Check beyondthewhiteboard for the schedule.  Still working the software to sign up for classes - just show up (on time!!!).  10 burpees for every minute you are late...

New people trying to show up for a workout will get a business card with directions to find our website and instructions to sign up for a Foundations class.  They will also get an invite to the next Sunday workout.  They will NOT get to jump in and workout...

Friday we are leaving for a week of vacation in Thailand.  Going to need a few volunteers to sign people in at Gate 17 for LJ, Yeoungkyung, Kenny, David, and Frank.  I can email you their contact info.  Pick up is at 0945.  We will be back for the Saturday class at 1000 on 23 APR.

SAT 16 APR should be CF Games Open WOD 11.4 unless you make arrangements with Coach Ken for a different time slot.

SAT 23 APR will be CF Games Open WOD 11.5.  SUN 24 APR will likely be WOD 11.6 and the end of the CF Games Open Sectionals.  Been a good ride so far...

CF Games Open WOD 11.3 results

SUNDAY 110410

Nick - 25 rounds
Chris - 20 rounds
Taylor - 17 rounds
Ken - 13 rounds + 1 squat clean
Nickole - 12 rounds
Mike - 12 rounds
Henry - 11 rounds
Chris - 10 rounds + 1 squat clean
Neil - 10 rounds
Pat - 10 rounds
Lillian - 9 rounds + 1 squat clean
Steve - 7 rounds
An - 2 rounds + 1 squat clean
Imran - 1 squat clean

Good work everyone!!!  Lots of weightlifting in our futures...

Foundations 11.2 Complete

SATURDAY 110409

15 people completed Foundations Class 11.2 and are ready for regularly scheduled workouts next week.  Tuesday and Thursday at 1730 outside at our shed upstairs.

CrossFit Yongsan Baseline Workout

800m run
40 squats
30 sit ups
20 push ups
10 pull ups

Chris - 4:32
Pat - 4:48
Neil - 4:51
David - 5:02
Tyler - 5:38
Kenny - 5:40
Sarah - 7:09*
An - 7:31*
Frank - 7:55*
Jason - 7:58*
Henry - 8:30*
Tabi - 8:32*
Jennifer - 13:00*

Great work everyone!!!  See you Tuesday.  Sign up for beyondthewhiteboard to see the schedule for workouts in April...

Foundations 11.1 Complete

THURSDAY 110407

CrossFit Yongsan Baseline Workout

800m run
40 squats
30 sit ups
20 push ups
10 pull ups

Travis - 4:54
Steve B. - 5:32
Willie - 6:03
Sean - 6:15
Marlene - 6:45*
Angie - 6:55*
Nora - 7:03*
Gwen - 7:13*
Angela - 7:15*
Nickole - 7:19*
Imran - 7:50
Dannielle - 7:50*
Mary - 8:27*

Great job this week guys!!!

Now to start working on the Level I (WHITE) tasks...

Foundations Update

Class 11.1 is going strong.  We will finish up tonight in the rain.

Class 11.2 on Saturday 9 April has 16 athletes signed up.  Only 2 slots remaining.  Sign up now... 

After the Saturday 11.2 class we will have a BBQ at the house (1500-1800) for both classes...

Games Open WOD 11.3 will be Sunday at 1500 unless you want to go early with Steven Berringer on Thursday evening (~1700). 

Games Open WOD 11.3 is posted.

AMRAP in 5 minutes of:

165/110-lb Squat Clean
165/110-lb Jerk

This one is going to be very heavy so we will go over the clean a little extra for Thursday's and Saturday's classes.

Foundations 11.1

Class 11.1 is going strong.  12 individuals have received an email with instructions for class on Tuesday and Thursday.

Class 11.2 on Saturday 9 April has 13 athletes signed up.  5 slots remaining.  Sign up now...  Email going out tonight.

After the Saturday 11.2 class we will have a BBQ at the house (1500-1800) for both classes...

Games Open WOD 11.3 will be Sunday at 1500 unless you want to go early with Steven Berringer on Thursday morning.  WOD will be posted Wednesday night...

Sunday WOD at 3pm today

SUNDAY 110403

Meeting at 3pm to work muscle ups...

Details for this weeks Foundations classes coming soon. Check your emails tonight...

CF Games Open WOD 11.2 Results

AMRAP in 15 minutes: 9 Deadlift 155lb, 12 Pushups, 15 Box jumps 24"
CrossFit Yongsan Men
Last Name	First Name	Rounds	Deadlifts	Pushups	Box Jumps	Total
Casey	Neil	10	4			364
Eubanks	Chris	9	9	12		345
Witherspoon	Tim	9	3			327
Velez	Ken	8				288
King	Don	7	9	12	12	285
Barriger	Steven	7	9	9		270
Ochoa	Willie	7	9	5		266
Horton	Nick	7	9	4		265
Bruhjell	Steve	7	6			258
Perkins	Michael	7	1			253
Jung	Henry	6	9			225
Kim	LJ	6				216
Chatriwala	Imran	5	7			187
				TOTAL:		3549
CrossFit Yongsan Women
Last Name	First Name	Rounds	Deadlifts	Pushups	Box Jumps	Total
Ochoa	Angie	7	2			254
Perkins	Lillian	6	9	12	11	248
Bruhjell	Angela	6	9	12	6	243
Thompson	Nora	6	9	5		230
Diehl	Nickole	5	9	12	6	207
				TOTAL:		1182
Saturday Open
Last Name	First Name	Rounds	Deadlifts	Pushups	Box Jumps	Total
Kim	David	8	9	10		307
	Pat	8	9	9		306
Waters	Travis	8	9			297
Dougherty	Danielle	5	9	12		201
Chatriwala	Mary	5	1			181
	Frank	5				180
				TOTAL:		1472