Blog Archive

For the eager pranksters, there is nothing as unbeatable as the centuries old tradition of April Fools’ Day.

I know a lot of people tend to dislike this day, but that’s probably because they are the ones being hoaxed upon.

In recent years I am sure that the home/ office 1-on-1 pranks have decreased, as with all technology on a constant rise the media has been more prominent at hoaxing larger majority. The media also will ‘cooperate’ with a large hoax to help make the information more credible.  Just remember that you can’t believe everything you read online…especially on April 1st!

Where does this day originate from? Most popular belief, is that it may have come from French culture as France changed its calender in the 1500’s so that New Years would begin in January to match the Roman calender. The word traveled slow to rural areas and many country folk ended up still celebrating in the late spring (a week-long celebration ending on April 1st), as they became known to be April Fools for it when the city folk made fun of the town folk.

Although it wasn’t an April Fools prank, it is, in my opinion one of the most heartbreaking pranks I fell for to date…

Charlie

Warm Up:

In teams of two, trading off lengths:
Player A : Bear Crawl 1 length of the gym
Player B : Deadbug on Player A’s back
4 lengths

Skill/Str:
A1. Front Squat, approx 85%, 3 reps, 4 sets
A2. Skipping (single skips, alternating foot work), 45 sec, 4 sets

W/O:
As fast as possible –
8 Front Squat (M – Bdwt, W – .7 Bdwt)
400m Run
Every 5 Min
Three Rounds

Scale as needed (front squats should be difficult, but unbroken)
Leaderboard score will be athlete’s longest round

As March comes to a close, and we put the CF Open to bed, we’re going to shift focus for the month of April.

Here’s what we have in store:

Priority One, will be Scapular Stability, Mobility, and Strength. Every 4 days we’ll touch on a series of movements that will get your upper back moving like an upper back should.

Priority Two, will be a thorough introduction to the Rope Pull Up. These can incredibly humbling, even for our top tier athletes. But don’t worry, we’ve got 6 or 7 levels of scaling, so we’ll have something for everyone. Every 5 or 6 days we’ll be coupling a series of strict rope pull-ups with an upper-body pushing movement (bench press, shoulder press, ring push up).

Aside from that it will be a typical month of Andy. Lots of barbell work, a bit of interval work, and some pause squats sprinkled here and there.

I hope you enjoy.

Why Rope Climb (legless)?

According to Ido Portal –

Rope Climbing offers us resisted, intense ‘organic’ movement pattern with very obvious (for the serious practitioner) benefits:

1. Superior demands on scapula stabilization (compared to a pull up, for example).

2. Holistic development of upper body pulling musculature – the unique movement of climbing will activate the whole back from rhomboids to lats to traps and more. Arm muscles will also be recruited in a superior fashion – biceps, brachialis, brachrioradialis, elbow stabilizers, forearm and grip: flexor digitorum, flexor radialis and flexor pollicis longus to name a few.

3. Rope climb due to the risk involved, instability and other factors will result in much higher motor unit recruitment than again the various bar pull ups. The rope climb belongs in the Neuromuscular Activation Chart popularized by Dietmar Schmidtbleicher, Nilson and Charles Poliquin next to movements like Power Snatch and Gymnastics Rings Dips. (high rings)

Due to the first two reasons, Rope Climbs are prescribed to gymnasts, both female and male from early age as a corrective exercise to maintain healthy joints and soft tissue. Excessive use of linear strength exercises is understood by gymnastics coaches as problematic, and the necessity of more organic movement patterns, and ‘Joint Prep’ is obvious.

For an interesting read, check out John Gill’s history of competitive rope climbing.

W/U:
8 – 12 Prone Snow Angels
8 – 12 Push Back Push Up
8 – 12 Hand Cuff Press
8 – 12 Ring Rows
10 min

Skill/Str:
Warm Up Shoulder Press
Warm Up Elbows

A1. Lean and Loiter, 45 sec, 4 sets
A2. Alt. Rope Pull Up (L1,2,3,4,5 or 6) 4 reps, 4 sets
A3. No Money (w/4 sec pause) 6 reps, 4 sets
A4. Shoulder Press, 5 reps, 4 (working) sets

Andy

Tomorrow we’ll be hitting the 5th and final Open workout of 2014. This one looks gnarly!

When you’re suffering through thrusters and burpees tomorrow – seemingly endless reps of each – think about Rich Froning and Sam Briggs, who completed this workout in 8:26 and 8:31 respectively. If you’re interesting in seeing their performances, you can watch the archived footage HERE.

Our top CrossFit Vancouver athletes will be doing this workout Friday at NOON and then celebrating after at Trivia Night. Come by to cheer them on, and DEFINITELY come clank glasses and cheers to the Open being done on Saturday night.

Fridays:

warm 7 min of:

12 mountain climbers/6 walkout planks/10 jump squats/15 good mornings/12 glute bridge

WOD 14.5

21-18-15-12-9-6-3 reps for time of:
95/65-lb. thrusters
Burpees

Saturday’s:

Partner Murph, one person works at a time (you complete the run together)

Trivia Night has just been upgraded to “The Things You Need to Know for Life (According to Patty)”

“It’s about how knowing these things will help your life,” explained Patty.

As for what you can expect on Saturday, questions will range from History to Geography to Science to Arts and Literature, to Sports, as well as Key Moments in CrossFit Vancouver’s History. Questions will be categorized in three levels:

The first level is “Dealbreaker” questions – Questions that, if you were on a date with someone and your date didn’t know the answer, you’d feel inclined to walk out.

Sample Dealbreaker Question: “Where is the clitoris? Top shelf? Middle shelf? Bottom shelf?”

The second level is “Fist Pump” questions – Questions where, if you were watching Jeopardy with your date and they got the answer right, you’d give them a quiet fist pump of respect.

Sample Fist Pump Question: What Century was the French Revolution?

The final level is the “I want to bang you” level. Knowing the answer to these questions will increase anyone’s sexiness.

Sample I want to bang you Question: How many countries does the Great Wall of China span?

There will, of course, be “Topics for Discussion” at the post-Trivia wine and cheese social, as well. Topics for discussion will be things like, “What is the evolutionary purpose for the reality that Charlie Palmer’s usually soft, large penis actually shrinks as it gets hard?” Food for thought.

POST to Comments (or on the whiteboard at the school) if you want to be on a team (teams of 3) and we’ll help sort you out. Or just come on out and support the cause over wine and cheese – This Saturday. Doors open at 7 pm. $20 each to play. Bring your cash, as well as BYO wine (or beer). Cash prize for the winning team!

Thursday Lesson Plan

Warmup:

20 Dowel Dislocates
20 Reverse Dowel Dislocates

with an empty bar:  x 2

20 Power Cleans
20 Hang Squat Cleans
20 Push Jerk

Strength:

Complex 1-3-2

AHAP (As Heavy As Possible)

1 Power Clean

3 Hang Squat Clean

2 Push Jerk

(no rest or regrip, recover as much as needed between sets)