Blog Archive

NOTE: No 6pm Class tonight MADLAB is on

A quick break from the Fashion Faux Pas week for another controversial subject: Recycling.

I am not fundamentally opposed to recycling. In fact, in theory I quite like the idea. However, I often find myself rebelling against the fanatics, which has led me to drastic measures.

The other day, I threw out a glass bottle at a coffee shop. I would have thrown it in a blue bin had there been one in sight. There was not. A man then tapped me on the shoulder and accused my of destroying the earth. As he rambled on telling me I was lazy and inconsiderate for sending glass to a landfill, I found myself grabbing a newspaper and deliberately tossing it in the garbage can. I don’t normally throw newspapers out, but I suddenly felt compelled to act obnoxiously.

Another time, I was on a first date with an enthusiastic recycler. When the waiter asked my date if he wanted the receipt for his bill, he said, ‘No thank you.’ But when he realized that Milestone’s doesn’t recycle 4 inch pieces of paper, my date went out of his way go back and ask the waiter for his receipt. Then he folded it and put it in his wallet, where it would collect dust until he eventually recycled it. I looked my date in the eye and said, “This will never work.”

The point is, extreme environmentalists undermine their own cause. It makes me feel like I have to balance the system out, and I find myself going out of my way to avoid re-using and recycling.

Recently, I have eliminated tupperwear from my life. The pie chart below explains why.

Thursday: Clean and Jerk Ladder

Tech: Clean and Jerk (work on push jerks and split jerks)

WOD: Clean and Jerk Ladder

Do one clean and jerk every two minutes at the top of the minute – adding weight every two minutes – until you fail (men start at 95 pounds, women at 65 pounds. Add 10 pounds every two minutes).

-Partner up and share a bar, each of you working on opposite minutes (ie partner 1 goes at 0 minutes, 2 minutes, partner 2 goes at 1 minute, 3 minutes…)
-If your max clean and jerk is less than 185 as a man or 115 as a woman, add only 5 pounds every two minutes
-Take as many attempts in one minute as you like

**Once you are knocked out, start doing 10 burpees every two minutes until the last person in the class fails

– Eunice

Since coming to CrossFit Vancouver, it’s been nothing but praise for Donkey. This proven Lady Killer is consistently near the top of the leaderboad, and he has leaned up a ton in the process, thanks to Paleo. His mom is also a famous author. On top of this, his nickname, Donkey, came about because of the size of one of his appendages. All this praise is surely getting to this PhD student’s head, so it’s time he is taken down a notch.

Donkey, the female committee of Fashion Faux Pas experts voted, and we voted that you need new socks…and longer shirts. More specifically, your socks have a Grandpa sock edge to them, and your long torso means that your shirts raise above your waistband, exposing your bare torso, when you workout. Just trying to help you out, Donkey.

Donkey

Wednesday

Tech: Resistance Band Running (10 down and backs)

-Alternate these 10 runs with a partner
-Use a blue or green band
-Take 1-2 minutes rest in between each run

Here’s a video of the school’s best runner Vince (aka Ladyboy, Kid Flash, or Vincanity) showing us how.

WOD: 20 Minute AMRAP

400 metre run
25 Double unders

If you can’t consistently complete 25 double unders in 1 minute, then do HIGH KNEE skipping instead. The point of this workout is to get you all running, and to keep your heart rate up for 20 minutes.

– Eunice

A dose of HGS (Hollywood-Gunnar Syndrome) is going around at the school.

I’m bringing it up now in order to nip this one in the bud – if it becomes a full-blown epidemic, who knows what will happen.

The Hollywood-Gunnar syndrome is, of course, named after Dave ‘Hollywood’ and Gunnar, who are often caught promoting huge fashion faux pas: ‘The Man Tank Top.’ I personally think this should be a flogging offense. Men’s upper body garment options while working out should either be T-shirts with sleeves or Shirtless. I don’t care how nice your arms are.

I say this with love, boys.

Hollywood

Gunnar

Now for something a little more serious: If you’re looking for a great read that makes you think, here’s an award-winning magazine piece. It’s called Keegstra’s Children

It’s a true story that takes place in Alberta about a teacher who was an Anti-Semite and a Holocaust Denier. He successfully managed to win the hearts of his students, who grew up believing Jews are evil. Many of them still believe this.

It got me thinking about why we believe the things we do, thinking about how easy it is to convince, manipulate and even brainwash people. Look at Canada’s Food Guide. Tons of people believe 10 servings of grain per day is healthy. Can you blame them? Canada’s Food Guide was shoved down our throats as we went through school.

Either way, this story is a great discussion point.

It would be great to hear people’s thoughts about this story – like a book club.

Tuesday’s WOD: Quarter Gone Bad

Tech: One Rep Max Thruster

WOD: Quarter Gone Bad

Five rounds for total reps of:

135/95 pound thruster (15 seconds)
Rest 45 Seconds
50/25 pound weighted pull-up (15 seconds)
Rest 45 Seconds
Burpees (15 seconds)
Rest 45 seconds

This workout is on our big leaderboard at the school. Can anyone take down any of the all-time scores?

– Eunice

Disclaimer: I realize I might get mocked for being the one to post a Fashion Faux Pas week (I am, after all, the girl who wears bright green leg warmers, and can be witnessed wearing seven or eight different colours at any given time), but I’m doing it anyway.

I have thought this for a while: Andy needs a new, less pointy toque.

Stay tuned for more Fashion Faux Pas as the week progresses.

Monday:

Tech: Warm up the WOD movements and figure out an appropriate scale

WOD: Taranis Winter Challenge Final WOD: Heavy Barbell Complex

I can’t stress this enough – Scale this workout accordingly. Choose a weight that will let you finish this workout in 12 minutes or less. At the Taranis competition, many people DNFed this WOD (and these guys and girls were some of the best CrossFitters in the province). The weight will get heavy. FAST. Even Lumber found this to be the case.

5 Rounds of (135/95 lbs)

5 SDHP
5 Clean and Jerks
5 Snatch

– Eunice

Please note the change in time due to the Grey Cup!

Check it out: http://www.crossfit.com/cf-affiliates/

Sunday 5pm class will be moved to 1pm because of the GREY CUP that is going on that afternoon so everybody can watch and cheer for The Lions!

SATURDAY

WARMUP:

3 Rounds of:

15 Jumping Squats

10 Push ups

TECH: Use tech part to work on a weakness plus choose the weight for the wod.

WOD: “The Bear”

Every minute on the minute for 20 minutes:

5 Deadlift

5 Hang Power Clean

5 Push Jerks

Choose your weight wisely!

SUNDAY

Make up day… don’t forget to wear make up 😉

Fancypants for CFP!

Here is it the chipper that our very own ‘Peacock” requested!

For you guys that don’t know Peacock… he’s been here with us for about 5 years.  Really great guy and we love him lots!

FRIDAY

WOD: PEACOCK

5 HSPU

10 Body Weight Deadlifts

15 Toes to Bar

20 Box Jumps (20 inches)

25 KB Swings (Black/ red)

30 Wall Balls (20/14lbs)

25 KB Swings (Black/Red)

20 Box Jumps

15 Toes to Bar

10 Body Weight Deadlifts

5  HSPU

Happy Friday everyone!

Why Barbells?

“Barbells, and the primary exercises we use them to do, are far superior to any other training tools that have ever been devised. Properly performed, full range-of-motion barbell exercises are essentially the functional expression of human skeletal and muscular anatomy under a load. The exercise is controlled by and the result of each trainee’s particular movement patterns, minutely fine-tuned by each individual limb length, muscular attachment position, strength level, flexibility, and neuromuscular efficiency. Balance between all the muscles involved in a movement is inherent in the exercise, since all the muscles involved contribute their anatomically-determined share of the work. Muscles move the joints between the bones which transfer force to the load, and the way this is done is a function of the design of the system — when that system is used in the manner of its design, it functions optimally, and training should follow this design. Barbells allow weight to be moved in exactly the way the body is designed to move it, since every aspect of the movement is determined by the body…

…Barbells permit the minute adjustments during the movement that allow individual anthropometry to be expressed.

Furthermore, barbells require the individual to make these adjustments, and any other ones that might be necessary to retain control over the movement of the weight. This aspect of exercise cannot be overstated – the control of the bar, and the balance and coordination demanded of the trainee, are unique to barbell exercise and completely absent in machine-based training. Since every aspect of the movement of the load is controlled by the trainee, every aspect of that movement is being trained.” – Starting Strength 2nd Edition by Rippetoe

THURSDAY:

WARM UP:

1 Wall Ball, 1 KB Swing

2 Wall Balls, 2 KB Swings

3 Wall Balls, 3 KB Swings and so on…

How far can you get in 7 minutes?

You want to hit this one hard as it will be your only met-con today.

WOD: Back Squats – use the remaining time of the class.

3, 3, 3,

or

5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Today you can choose to go for heavy 3s with low reps to builds strength;

or

lighter 5s with higher reps to build muscular endurance.

Mad lab at 6pm!

Have a great day,

Fancypants for CFP.

Please note that there are NO CLASSES tomorrow!

BC Hydro has a power outage over our building!
Lumber and B are hosting a WOD at the Richmond location at 6pm, please join if you can!

Audrey is on a Food Network Reality TV show “Recipe to Riches”. The venue to watch the show has changed from the School’s lounge to 33 Smithe Mews in The Esprit lounge

I apologize for how chubby she looks, this was filmed two weeks into our relationship….she had just started Crossfit.

Have a great day off!!!!

Patty