Sunday, June 30, 2013 - Day 28 of Summer Challenge

Post food logs to comments. 

Saturday, June 29, 2013 - Day 27 of Summer Challenge

Post food logs to comments. 

Friday, June 28, 2013 - Day 26 of Summer Challenge

We will not have our normal Saturday workout tomorrow, June 29.

Instead, Gerald, Ryan, (hopefully a few others of you), and I will be participating in a Hero WOD at CrossFit Cypress to honor and raise money for the Houston Firefighters that lost their lives or were injured about a month ago in the fire at the Southwest Inn in Houston.

Here is CrossFit Cypress' information about the workout.  There is no cost or registration; just show up to either workout or cheer on the athletes that are.  They will be passing boots, etc... to raise money.

The workout start at 9 AM, but if you are planning on working out you should probably come a little earlier.  I'll be there about 8:30.

http://crossfitcypress.com/houston-firefighters-fund-raising-w-o-d-june-29-2013/

Post food logs to comments.

Thursday, June 27, 2013 - Day 25 of Summer Challenge

Warm-Up:

- Light Jog

- 50 UB DU's or 150 UB Singles

- Joint Mobility

- 2 Round Standard Warm-Up

Group Warm-Up:

- 400m Sprint, Rest 3 Minutes

- 300m Sprint, Rest 2 Minutes

- 200m Sprint, Rest 1 Minute

- 100m Sprint

Conditioning:

21 - 15 - 9 -

- Hang Squat Cleans (135/95)

- Dips (Ring, Bar, or Box)

Post detailed workout results and food logs to comments. 

Wednesday, June 26, 2013 - Day 24 of Summer Challenge

Warm-Up:

- Light Jog

- 50 UB DU's or 150 UB Singles

- Joint Mobility

- 1 Round Standard Warm-Up

Group Warm-Up:

- Squat Therapy

Strength:

- Front Squat

Conditioning:

8 Rounds Tabata of:

- DB Push Press (35/25)

- Sit-Ups

- Box Jumps (24/20)

- Double Unders

- Row for Calories

Your score is your total number of reps for the day. 

Post detailed workout results and food logs to comments. 

Tuesday, June 25, 2013 - Day 23 of Summer Challenge

Ankle Mobility:



Post food logs to comments.

Monday, June 24, 2013 - Day 22 of Summer Challenge

The final test-outs for our Summer Challenge start 2 weeks from today.  If you haven't already, you need to tighten up your nutrition immediately, get lots of rest, and try not to miss any workouts.  You also don't want to lose the easy points by not posting your food logs, so make sure you do that everyday.  "I tried and it didn't work" is not a valid excuse.  Talk to Mary or I and we will help if you have problems posting.

Warm-Up:

- Light Jog

- 50 UB DU's or 150 UB Singles

- Joint Mobility

- 1 Round Standard Warm-Up

Strength:

- Shoulder to Overhead

Conditioning:
Variation of 2013 CrossFit Games Open Workout 13.3

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 12 minutes of:
- 150 Wall balls (20/14)
- 90 Double-unders
- 30 Pull-Ups

Video of a couple of incredibly fit women doing 13.3:

Post detailed workout results and food logs to comments. 

Sunday, June 23, 2013 - Day 21 of Summer Challenge

Post food logs to comments. 

Saturday, June 22, 2013 - Day 20 of Summer Challenge

Warm-Up:

- Light Jog

- 50 UB DU's or 150 UB Singles

- Joint Mobility

- 1 Round Standard Warm-Up

Group Warm-Up:

- Squat Therapy

Strength:

- Push-Ups

Conditioning:

CrossFit's Annie

50-40-30-20-10 -

- Double Unders

- Sit-Ups

Post detailed workout results and food logs to comments. 

Friday, June 21, 2013 - Day 19 of Summer Challenge

We will not have our normal Saturday workout 1 week from tomorrow on June 29.

Instead, I (and hopefully a few others of you) will be participating in a WOD at CrossFit Cypress to honor and raise money for the Houston Firefighters that lost their lives or were injured about a month ago in the fire at the Southwest Inn in Houston.

Here is CrossFit Cypress' information about the workout.  There is no cost or registration; just show up to either workout or cheer on the athletes that are.  They will be passing boots, etc... to raise money.

http://crossfitcypress.com/houston-firefighters-fund-raising-w-o-d-june-29-2013/

Post food logs to comments.

Thursday, June 20, 2013 - Day 18 of Summer Challenge

Warm-Up:

- Light Jog

- 50 UB DU's or 150 UB Singles

- Joint Mobility

- 2 Round Standard Warm-Up

Group Warm-Up:

- 100m Burpee Broad Jump

Conditioning:

4 Rounds -

- 400m Run

- 15 Kettle Bell Swings (62/44)

- 25m KB Walking Lunges (62/44)

Post detailed workout results and food logs to comments. 

Wednesday, June 19, 2013 - Day 17 of Summer Challenge

Warm-Up:

- Light Jog

- 50 UB DU's or 150 UB Singles

- Joint Mobility

- 1 Round Standard Warm-Up

Group Warm-Up:

- Shoulder Mobility

Strength:

- Front Squat

Conditioning:

5 Rounds -

- 9 Thrusters (95/65)

- 9 Pull-Ups

Post detailed workout results and food logs to comments. 

Tuesday, June 18, 2013 - Day 16 of Summer Challenge

Big Reminders:

Your payment for the challenge is due by this Saturday, June 22.  If you won't be able to do it by then, please talk to Mary or me and let us know when you will have it.

Your team names are due by the end of this week, Saturday, June 22.  Please email or text them to me.  All of you will vote on the best name in the next couple of weeks.

Your team pic(s) are due by July 5.  Please email them to me.

Good Information on prepping for a lift:

Post food logs to comments.

Monday, June 17, 2013 - Day 15 of Summer Challenge

You guys are about 40% through the challenge. If you haven't already it's time to really tighten up your nutrition. I've noticed that some of you are regularly having cheat items, cheat meals, and even cheat days, and in the 3 weeks you have left you really don't have time for that. If you feel like you're eating really clean and still not seeing the results you'd like please ask me about it and we will go over your food logs together and discuss where you could improve. 

Warm-Up:

- Light Jog

- 50 UB DU's or 150 UB Singles

- Joint Mobility

- 1 Round Standard Warm-Up

Conditioning:

- 500m Row for Time

Strength:

- Shoulder to Overhead

Conditioning:

6 Rounds (each in 2 minutes)

- 200m run

- AMRAP of Wall Ball Shots or Box Jumps

Rest 1 minute between rounds. 

Do 3 rounds of each making sure you alternate movements each round. You can record one total reps number or keep up with each round. 

Post detailed workout results and food logs to comments. 

Sunday, June 16, 2013 - Day 14 of Summer Challenge

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Saturday, June 15, 2013 - Day 13 of Summer Challenge

Warm-Up -

- Light Jog

- Double Under Practice

- Joint Mobility

- 2 Rounds Standard Warm-Up

Skill Work -

- Snatch Balance

Conditioning -

20 - 15 - 10 - 5 -

- Power Cleans (115/75)

- Push Press (115/75)

- Knees to Elbows

Post workout results and food logs to comments. 

Friday, June 14, 2013 - Day 12 of Summer Challenge

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Thursday, June 13, 2013 - Day 11 of Summer Challenge

Warm-Up -

- Light Jog

- Jump Rope Practice

- Joint Mobility

- 2 Rounds Standard Warm-Up

Strength -

- Front Squat

Conditioning -

3 Rounds -

- 50 Unbroken Squats

- 800m Run

The squats are designed to be performed unbroken. As extra encouragement to do them that way you will perform a 25 double under or 75 singles penalty for every break you take during the workout. The penalty jump ropes will be done after the workout before you leave.

Post detailed workout results and food logs to comments. 

Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - Day 10 of Summer Challenge

Warm-Up -

- Light Jog

- Jump Rope Practice

- Joint Mobility (wrists)

- 1 Round Standard Warm-Up

Strength -

- Shoulder to Overhead

Conditioning -

A Cleaner Fifty 

(modified version of CrossFit's Filthy Fifty)

- 50 Burpees

- 50 Box Jumps (24/20)

- 50 Jumping Pull-Ups

- 50 Walking Lunges

- 50 Double Unders

You may start with any movement that you wish, but you must complete the movements in order.  For example, if you start with double unders you must then do, in order, burpees, box jumps, pull-ups, and lunges.

Post detailed workout results and food logs to comments. 

Tuesday, June 11, 2013 - Day 9 of Summer Challenge

Balsamic Pepper Rump Steak

(courtesy of thesaffrongirl.com)

For those of you new to the blog, I occasionally post recipes that look good and are very healthy.  To get to the actual recipe you can click on the dish name or the picture.  The fact that I have posted it does not necessarily mean that I have tried it and can vouch for it personally, so if you have any comments on the recipe feel free to add them below.

Post detailed workout results to comments.

Monday, June 10, 2013 - Day 8 of Summer Challenge

Warm-Up:

- Light Jog

- 50 UB DU's or 150 UB Singles

- Joint Mobility

- 1 Round Standard Warm-Up

Group Warm-Up:

- Find max push-ups

Make sure you give your coach your number after this test. It will be used to create some push-up intervals that you will use for the next few weeks. 

Conditioning:

AMRAP in 5 minutes of -

- 50m Sprint

- 5 KettleBell Swings (62/44)

- 5 Back Squats (155/105)

Rest 3 Minutes

AMRAP in 5 minutes of -

- 50m Sprint

- 5 Dips (bar, ring, or box)

- 5 Sandbag Get-Ups

Post food logs and detailed workout results to comments. 

Sunday, June 9, 2013 - Day 7 of Summer Challenge

Post food logs to comments. 

Saturday, June 8, 2013 - Day 6 of Summer Challenge

Warm-Up:

- Light Jog

- 50 UB Double Unders or 150 UB Singles

- Joint Mobility

- 1 Round Standard Warm-Up

Make-Up any of the 8 workouts this week that you missed

Or

For Time:

4 Rounds -

- 400m Run

- 15 Power Snatch (95/65)

- 15 Pull-Ups

Post detailed food logs to comments. If you did make-up workouts please post results to the appropriate day. 

Friday. June 7, 2013 - Day 5 of Summer Challenge

I'm really proud of all of you guys for pushing through and surviving a very difficult week in brutal weather.  I know there were probably points this week that most if not all of you would have liked to quit, and I appreciate you trusting your coaches and pushing past those psychological barriers.

One of our main jobs as coaches is to be confident in you even when you aren't, and to help you accomplish things that you didn't know that you could.  At times that's going to be really frustrating for you, but you need to know that we have your safety and well-being at the top of our priorities, and have worked with over a thousand different athletes at all different levels doing these exact movements and workouts.  We want you to reach all of your goals, and we know from experience that in order for you to get there we are going to have to push you outside of your comfort zone at times.

Keep up the good work and make sure that you stick to your eating plan.  It's very easy for you to completely undo the hard work that you  are putting in during your hour with us during the other 23 that you aren't.  I can tell you from personal experience that I CAN'T workout hard enough to offset me eating whatever I want whenever I want; if I want to reach my goals I have to take my eating as or more seriously than I do my workouts.

Don't forget that if you missed any workouts this week you need to be at the church tomorrow morning at 8:30 with your partner to make them up.

Post detailed food logs to comments.

Thursday, June 6, 2013 - Day 4 of Summer Challenge

Happy birthday to my favorite GTX coach, Mary Dickson!

You're an awesome sister and friend and I love working with you every day!

Warm-Up:

- Light Jog

- Joint Mobility (hamstring warm-up)

- 1 Round Standard Warm-Up

Group Warm-Up:

- 2 minutes of hamstring warm-up

Workout 7:

- 800m Run 

(scaled to 1000m row for a few)

Workout 8:

With a partner and one MedBall per team complete the following:

- 100m MedBall Partner Toss (20/14)

- 100 Wall Ball Shots (20/14)

- 100 MedBall Sit-Ups (20/14)

- 100 MedBall Box Jumps or Step-Ups (20/14

- 100m MedBall Partner Toss (20/14)

Only one person working at a time with the other resting and helping to count. Reps may be split up between the teammates however you'd like. 

We will scale the MedBall weight and movements as needed, but need to avoid scaling the numbers because of the way the challenge scoring works.

Post detailed workout results and food logs to comments. 

Wednesday, June 5, 2013 - Day 3 of Summer Challenge

Don't forget that you need to be at the same class as your partner today and tomorrow. 

Warm-Up:
- Light Jog
- 40 Unbroken Double Unders, or 120 Singles
- Joint Mobility
- 1 Round Standard Warm-Up

Workout 4:
- 50m Partner Dynamic Burpees

Workout 5:
- 6 minutes to find combined Front Squat 1RM with your partner

Workout 6:With your partner -
- 100 Double Unders or 300 Singles
- 50 Push-Ups while Partner Holds Plank
- 50 Deadlifts while Partner Holds Bar at Top of Deadlift (115/75)
- 50 Shoulder to Overhead while Partner Holds Bar in Front Rack (115/75)
- Finish with both Partners lunging 50m with their Bars in the Front Rack. (115/75)

On workout 6, both partners must count every rep out loud.  Any rep not counted out loud does not count.  You can only complete reps while your partner is in the hold position.  For the jump rope only one may be working at a time.

Post food logs and detailed workout results to comments.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - Day 2 of Summer Challenge

Like I explained last night, you are free to choose whatever eating plan you would like for the summer challenge.  The only requirement is that you post everything you eat or drink (water optional) to the comments of the daily posts.

We highly recommend Whole9's guidelines.

Whether you decide to do a Whole30 or not, you should definitely stick to "Real" foods.  Stay away from stuff in packages.  Something along the lines of: lean animal proteins, lots of vegetables of as many different varieties as possible, little to no starches, a few nuts and seeds, and no sugar in any form, real or artificial.  If you stick with that you will see great improvements in the next month.  Whole9's Whole30 is a lot more strict than that, and includes absolutely no chewing gum, soy, legumes, dairy, sugar, real or artificial, etc...  If you do a Whole30 that is great and the benefits are incredible, but there is no such thing as a "Whole30 except for 'fill in the blank'".  You are either doing a Whole30 or you aren't.

Some good recipe sites that specialize in Whole30 compatible foods:

- Whole9's Steal This Meal Series
- The Clothes Make the Girl
- NomNomPaleo
- Whole Life Eating
- The Foodee Project (Whole30 Approved Link near the top)

I would highly recommend adding those to your favorites and checking them out from time to time.  Melissa Hartwig of Whole9 has a similar list of sites here: http://forum.whole9life.com/topic/10-whole30-friendly-recipe-sites/

Post your food logs to comments and check the blog tomorrow morning for more important challenge information.

Monday, June 3, 2013 - Day 1 of Summer Challenge

All workouts today are individual workouts. All team workouts will be on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, so make sure you are at the same class as your partner on those days. That also gives you a couple of extra days to find a partner if you haven't already.

The scoring for the challenge will consist of the following parts:

- Percentage gain on each workout after 5 weeks

- Daily food log posting on the website. Random days will be scored. 

- Daily attendance to classes. Random days will be scored.

- Bonus points for having the best scores on the initial workouts this week (this is to keep people from gaming the workouts and to help give higher-level athletes a chance to compete in the challenge)

- Bonus points for random questions asked during class about things posted on the blog.
- Bonus points for the best team name (voted on by all challenge participants)
- Bonus points for the coolest team photo performing any one of our movements in a public place (voted on by all challenge participants) Here is an example: http://www.inspiredfitstrong.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Handstand-sea.jpg

We highly recommend that all of you do a before picture so that you will have it at the end of the challenge for your own records/testimonial.  Mary and I will have cameras with us this whole week if you would like us to take a picture of you.  I've seen others take the picture in something they wished they look good in and tape a copy of it to their fridge and mirror for the duration of the challenge for extra motivation...

Note:

I've had a few people ask what will keep people from going slower than possible on the workouts this week to give them a better chance of winning because they would have greater gains. That is kind of hard to police, but I will say that we expect everyone to do every workout as fast and as well as they possibly can this week.  We also expect everyone to have the integrity to be honest about that and allow the team that works the hardest, eats the cleanest, and makes the most gains win. 

Warm-Up:

- Light Jog

- 35 UB Double Unders or 125 Singles

- Joint Mobility

- 1 Round Standard Warm-Up

Challenge Workout 1:

- 3 Min Row for Meters

Anytime after you finish your warm-up jog ask Mary or me to setup the rower for you and row for 3 minutes as fast as you can recording as many meters as possible. Make sure Mary or I record your meters before you get off of the rower when you are through. Rower damper must be set on 5. 

Challenge Workout 2:

- 5 Minutes to find your 1RM Shoulder to Overhead

You must use the same movement at the end of the challenge that you do at the beginning.  For example, if you do a strict press at the beginning you must do a strict press for the final test out.  If you have a question about what movement you are doing just ask your coach and they will tell you.

Challenge Workout 3:

For Time -

- 500m Row

- 40 Squats (to MedBall)

- 30 Sit-Ups (touch ground behind and toes on top)

- 20 Push-Ups (hand release)

- 10 Pull-Ups (arms locked at bottom, chin over bar on top)

Pay close attention to the standards for each movement and make sure every rep counts. 

Post everything you eat or drink today along with detailed workout results. An example is posted below.