CrossFit South Philly (Philadelphia) Blog

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

Presses and an Alternating Tabata

We had several visitors today: Russ from CrossFit NC, Blaine from CrossFit Old Town, and Tom from here in Philly, trying out his first CrossFit WOD.
Combined with a strong contingent of our evening regulars, we had a nice sized group for the Thursday WOD.

Thursday Crew

Strength
Press 5 - 5 - 5

Start with warmups of 7 - 5 - 3, and then hit your work sets with a goal of a 5 rep max.

WOD
Alternating Tabata

• Jumping Ball Slams
• Burpees

20 seconds of work, 10 seconds rest for 16 straight sets. Alternate between Ball Slams and Burpees each time.
Your score is the total reps for all 16 sets.

Posted in Max Effort | 1 Comment »

Saturday, July 18th, 2009

Front Squats and Annie

We saw some good improvements on Saturday morning, with nearly everyone increasing their 3-rep max for Front Squats.

Strength Work:
Front Squats
3 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3

WOD:
“Annie”
50 - 40 - 30 - 20 - 10 of:
Double Unders
Situps

Compare to May 18, 2009

Astute readers may notice that something’s missing from your screens. Goose, our resident architect, was nice enough to remove the wooden supports that jutted out from the pullup bars and reinforce them another way, freeing up loads of new space underneath the bars. Thanks Goose!

Posted in Barbells, Benchmark, Max Effort | 1 Comment »

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

Cleans, Box Jumps, Pushups

Andrew & Ellen dropped in to CFSP today - they have been CrossFitting for a while with some folks in their ROTC unit and thought they’d check us out. Glad you both could make it - hope to see you again soon!

Strength Work
Power Cleans
3 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3

Metcon
21 - 15 - 9 of:
Box Jumps
Decline Pushups

Rx on box height is M:24″ / W:20″ Scale UP if needed.

After the WOD, Jeannette got her first unassisted pullup! Way to go!

Posted in Max Effort, Olympic Lifts | No Comments »

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Put the Bar Overhead

Time to revisit some max efforts on the press variations!

Strength Work
Press 1 - 1 - 1
Push Press 3 - 3 - 3
Push Jerk 5 - 5 - 5

Metcon
21 - 15 - 9 of:
Burpees
Ring Dips

I only put final sets down - if you want the other numbers, ask and you shall receive. Also, always make sure you write if you modified burpees on the board as a scaling. I had to guess today - tell me if I got it wrong

Compare to 05/16/2009.

Posted in Barbells, Max Effort | 2 Comments »

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

Deadlifts and an OHS Metcon

The AM Crew loves CrossFit Football!

Strength WOD
Deadlifts for 5 rep max
~then~
Strict Pullups max reps for 3 rounds

Metcon WOD
7 Rounds for Time of:

• 7 Overhead Squats (M:135# / W:95#)
• 7 Box Jumps (M:24″ / W:20″)
• 7 Clapping Pushups

Everyone scaled the OHS weight today - guess that means we need to do them more often!

Cougar has some great ideas for some summer fun, CrossFit style… check out the forum for more!

Posted in Barbells, CF Football, Max Effort | 5 Comments »

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

Squat Heavy & Murph Lite

A two parter today - starting with some basic strength and finishing it off with some Metcon.

Strength WOD
Back Squats
5 - 5 - 5

*Complete a proper warmup before hitting your work sets.
*Go 5 to 10 pounds heavier than your previous 5RM

Metcon WOD
“Murph Lite”
For time:

• Run 400 m
• 25 Pullups
• 50 Pushups
• 75 Squats
• Run 400 m

Posted in Barbells, Max Effort | No Comments »

Saturday, May 16th, 2009

Put the Bar Overhead

It’s generally accepted that one can Push Press more than she can press, or Push Jerk more weight than Push Press.

When circumstances are unchanged and it is only a matter of putting a higher load onto the bar than you did the day or week before and doing I have found this theory to be easily supported. But what about when you add both fatigue and a higher number of reps to the mix? Each time we do the workout ‘Put the Bar Overhead’ we get some interesting results.

Strength Work
Press 1 - 1 - 1
Push Press 3 - 3 - 3
Push Jerk 5 - 5 - 5

Metcon
21 - 15 - 9 of:
Burpees
Ring Dips

Special recognition belongs to Catlyn who came back after the WOD to work on her deadlift, and set a new PR of 185 pounds! Way to go, Cougar!

Sorry, no photos today - the camera was temporarily out of service. Pics of the CFSP team in action will return on Monday!

Posted in Barbells, Max Effort | 1 Comment »

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

Back Squats and an AMRAP

We’ve been spending a lot of time lately focusing on strength and skill work at CFSP. It is important for everyone — regardless of ability — to have a solid foundation that they can build upon.

Today we took on the Back Squat. After some review of form and a few warmup sets, we went for a 5-rep-max effort:
Back Squats
5, 5, 5

After that we hit a metcon that was more challenging than it looks:
WOD:
15 Box Jumps (M:24″ / W:20″)
10 Wall Ball Shots (M:20lbs / W:15lbs - both using 10′ target)
5 Ring Rows
As Many Rounds As Possible (AMRAP) in 20 min.

How SMART are your goals? - PART II
In yesterday’s post, I presented a common goal that I often hear — “I want to get in better shape” — and asked people to post their thoughts about what the goal meant to them. There were a wide range of responses, both in the forum and in my email. If you take a look back at yesterday’s comments, you’ll agree that “getting in shape” can mean very different things to different people.

So how do we achieve a goal of “getting in better shape?” If you think you know the answer to that question, think again. “Getting in shape” can mean too many different things to people, so even if I came up with a plan to help someone get in better shape I run the risk of presenting a gameplan that does not come anywhere close to what the individual is really looking for. In a worst-case scenario, the goal in our example is so vague that someone might not even have any idea where to begin.

This is where the SMART guidelines come in. Each letter of SMART has its own meaning for a goal. We’ll start with the first, and in my opinion, the most important.

S = Specific. In order to be achieved, a goal must be specific. The only way we can cross the finish line is to know where it is. So we must ask ourselves the question, “what does my goal really mean to me? When I picture myself “in shape” (or whatever the goal is), how does that picture look, and how is it different from how I picture myself today?”

Let’s put that into practice: We’ll take our original goal of “I want to get into better shape” and make it more specific. If I were to ask a person new to exercise what “getting in better shape” means, they might reply that they want to get stronger and they want to lose weight. We’ll start with that.

Old Goal: “I want to get in better shape.”

Improved Goal - SPECIFIC: “I want to increase muscle mass (get stronger) and decrease my body fat percentage(lose weight)

Thoughts? Comments? Post ‘em! More tomorrow.

Posted in Barbells, Max Effort | 4 Comments »