CrossFit Carson Valley Blog

Back From the Games

And boy were they inspirational. I guess we can equate the level of the athletes to those that are pros in their respective sport, but having little experience with some of the workout moves I am still in awe.

The most important thing that the games delivered for me is a solution to an issue I've been trying to figure out for quite awhile. How to take this training, business, whatever to the next level. Which I envision as providing the tools to take care of ourselves. Sure I can deliver an AAW with the best or programming that accomplishes my goals but what about management of our bodies for continued workouts and quality of life.

I ran across Jeff Alexander from Network Fitness at the games. Jeff is a CrossFit certified trainer and more importantly a practitioner in Self Myofascial Release. He offers a workshop to teach us how to perform that which he practices using implements that you will see around CFCV in the future. Not only does the workshop teach us how to use the equipment but more importantly when we can fix issues on our own or require the help of other individuals such as Stacey for her services.

I have contacted Jeff and set up Sept 12th as a day to offer the workshop. He is offering the option of a 2 day workshop that includes the coaching level of SMR which teaches both the coaching cues and the proper body position recognition.

This is where you come in, I need commitments from those that are sincerely interested. The cost will be in the neighborhood of $100.00 per person for the 1 day workshop and obviously more for the 2 day if we do it. You will receive the ball which costs $25.00  to help you with the therapies as well as a guide to performing the techniques. Here is a link to Jeff's site for more information link. By all means please cruise the whole site but for the specifics for our purposes click the link for CrossFitters click here and then the  links under the heading. By all means view the videos and then download the workshop handout that is listed under CrossFitter forms.

On a seperate note, all that showed today worked our butts off. But the true heroes were Marcus and Madison who were the only kids that showed for CrossFit Kids. What is notable is they did their first "kids style" fight gone bad which included a couple of new and complex moves. Here they are with their most excellent accomplishments:

Nice work!!!

Made it

Staying in Gilroy, Motel 6 is jam packed with CrossFitters. In the hallways, all doors are open, great stuff. Met Freddy in Chili's and there were a bunch others as well. CrossFit Heaven????

Special Session

We were closed today because I was on duty at the FD. But since we are going to the games after all and not leaving til this afternoon, I have decided to hold a special session FGB in celebration of the games (and just cuz I feel like it). We'll roll at noon and all are welcome.

Growth

I want to post about growth and CFCV as I have several times in the past. The focus however is not membership growth although that whole subject still  baffles me, but growth in the fitness of the membership and staff of CFCV.

The issue comes up because Mark and I have been talking over the past couple of days as we often do about CFCV, training and the goings on around us (from a training point of view). And as usual, Mark asked a couple of hard questions that I think all of our members deserve some insight in to.

Why do people come to CFCV?

From my perspective there are a couple of different reasons. There are some with definite goals either fitness or aesthetic focused and there are some that just want to do something different in their workouts. I believe that we can deliver to both sets of customer although aesthetics are really a result of a better fitness level. As far as something different, constantly varied functional movements practiced at high intensity qualifies as something different.

But there was a better question which I am going to paraphrase as, What is the broad base goal of CFCV?

I think its better to explain my vision; I now believe and that's where the growth thing comes in, that fitness is but a component of wellness. I heard that at the level I cert 3 or so years ago but like other things I heard, I didn't get it. But, fitness is just a small piece of the big picture that includes nutrition, control of sickness/homeostasis,  physical and mental well being. My vision is to provide the tools that will assist the members of CFCV in at least the fitness part of the equation and maybe some insight of where they might find some tools for the other domains of wellness. I don't claim to be an expert or even authority at anything, but have put a great deal of resources into trying to be better at what I am doing. With that said, I am committed to continue to learn and grow to better deliver my vision.

So then we talked about the Dutch Lowy challenges, weightlifting and an article Dutch wrote in the Performance Menu this month that has to do with teaching complex movements.

The question came up whether or not CFCV members understood why we're doing the challenges. And I guess the answer really is no. I should explain;

More learning here, complex movements deliver the most bang for the buck (read power/intensity) than any other. As such they also improve the 10 domains of fitness as described by the founder of CrossFit, Greg Glassman. Those are Cardiovascular and Respiratory endurance, Stamina, Strength, Flexibility, Power, Speed, Coordination, Agility, Balance, and Accuracy.

The complex movements include the olympic lifts, thrusters, wall balls and a host of others. As I see it, Dutch is on a personal mission to help CrossFit affiliates deliver on the 10 domains of fitness. I am assuming that in my case and some of the others he is providing trainers a goal to attain each month through challenging them to program the workouts with improvement in the complex move as a goal. I also believe that through conventional CrossFit programming during the month, we can additionally target those 10 domains. Besides that they are just downright fun as well as challenging.

This is not to say that there is anything whatsoever wrong with the mainsite programming as it is also targeted to improve the 10 domains of fitness, obviously.

So back to the growth thing. Since the early days in the garage there have been a good many folks improve in the 10 domains of fitness as well as other components of wellness. And we have had a great deal of fun in my opinion. We will continue with some of the great kettlebell workouts, deck of cards workouts and other favorites because as Mark says, they are some member's niches. That is a good thing, so we will absolutely continue.

I guess that is pretty much what is on my mind regarding the growth thing and why things have changed. I also believe we are all better for it, I know the improvements in the 10 domains of fitness in the majority of our members is measurable and consistent and that is the point as I see it.

So if you have comments, observations, suggestions or concerns either post them in the comments or e-mail me directly, please.

Countdown

The CrossFit Games are coming up this weekend in Aromas Calif. Should be quite a spectacle and I would like to go but at this point not sure we can afford it. I was  hoping there was some interest in watching Every Second Counts with some of the CFCVers Saturday but everyone seems to be busy. It's that time of year.

The other countdown is the Dutch Lowy July challenge. Today we did the baseline workout from which we will build upon for another strong finish towards the end of the month. The folks at CFCV have come a long way and continue to impress me with their effort and dedication.

After the trip to Wild Island this past Friday, it was refreshing to see adults and kids at CFCV who are working on improving their health through fitness. I was taken aback by the amount of fat people young and old that just kept taking trips to the snack bar for more shitty food. It's no wonder our health care system is such a wreck.

July 3rd

I have received quite a few comments from people that enjoyed the deck of cards workout two days ago. This workout regimen is fun for a few reasons; the uncertainty of the movement order, the friendly "competition" its grueling nature and ease of movements just to name a few of the obvious ones. Unfortunately I'm not sure of the effectiveness at improving any of the fitness targets which is why we do it only occasionally. But it will come up again in the future with different movements any maybe in a different configuration.

Here's a pic of one of the sessions:

Still waiting to hear the final results of the Dutch Lowy June challenge. At the 11th hour someone posted a 36 average from another affiliate with 6 people on their team. Our average was 30.28 with 25 folks on the list. Whether we win or not is not really the point, the increase in the abilities of those who participated is truly impressive. The July challenge will be fun and we'll do the baseline workout early next week.

The CrossFit Kids class last night was great. Only four showed but they did their first "girl" workout that is now recorded on the board. All the Kids did great and really put forth their best effort. This was the first class for Rachael's daughter Drew and Michelle's daughter watched with a curious eye. Marcus kicked butt and did the full workout, 400 meters and all.

Some of you will come in on your next visit and notice your name is no longer in the same spot on the whiteboard. We moved some of you to make room for the kids and those without consistent attendance have been removed. We keep all numbers and will replace your names on your return.

I wanted to pass on an article that appeared in a San Francisco newspaper about CrossFit and Bootcamps. Its incredible what the media can do with a little information and some mis-information. I know that Kelly Starrett is one of the best coaches in the CrossFit community and where I go for a lot of my information and must be really stewing at this point. Please be careful what you say publicly about CrossFit and CFCV as there are some that take things out of context and put their own spin on it for whatever their motivations are. This shit is hard no doubt but the intent is not to hurt anyone and the Pukie badge is way over rated. Cult, maybe but so are a lot of other credible organizations. You can read the story here
 
Have a great 4th

Last Day of June

And the Dutch Lowy challenge. So far we are in the lead but being a pessimist I wonder who's got one more average thruster than CFCV. Bottom line is y'all are awesome. There were some seriously improved numbers of which I am proud. Dutch has not announced the new challenge but has thrown the gauntlet down to us the owner/trainers of the participating affiliates. I guess we'll see if I am worthy over the next 30 days or so.

So I found my copy of Every Second Counts and would like to schedule another weekend day to have a viewing/barbecue. I am open to suggestions and know there are several who have not seen it. Norcal margaritas, some kind of healthy fare and a good movie anyone?

I am hoping that the moving of air will suffice for the cooling of the gym this year. I have purchased a couple of more fans and don't plan on using an air conditioner or swamp cooler this summer. The swamp cooler sucked last year and I can't afford to air condition the whole gym.

Scored another Concept 2 rower today for $45.00. It's an original and not pretty but seems to work the same as the newer ones. Two of the ones we have are about a year old and the other is 3 or so years. It is amazing how the one I bought today resembles the mechanics of the other 3 and is 22 years old. Still $45.00 vs. $950.00 is a good score.

More fun coming for the balance of the week....

June 29

Wasn't able to post yesterday due to lack of access at work. I wanted to point out that I have uploaded a few of the members doing the thruster challenge. They can be accessed in youtube from my boatsk8 video list.

I have also tabulated the scores and posted them on the competition page of Dutch Lowy's blog. We'll see where we stand. I think the remarkable thing is the effectiveness of CrossFit. We haven't done thrusters since the first day back at the beginning of the month yet almost every single person who participated in the challenge improved, some dramatically. The original and final scores will be posted in the gym this week.

I wanted to bring you attention to a new movie that has been released. As you can imagine, I can't find it playing  anywhere near here but when and if it does I'll let you know. The trailer can be seen here.

Brian and Sean did their first workout Friday since finishing their foundations sessions. Whaddya think boys? Gayle also finished foundations and is now ready for the full Monty.

I reckon that's enough for today except the new Douglas track is dynamite. And Ryan does a great job of taking care of it. C-shift station 14 mile o death fo;;owing a good day of wild land training O-Yeah!

Reece Makes the Big Time

Even though regular visitors of CFCV have no doubt seen the picture of Reece's squat on our blog, check out the CrossFit Kids website. Them same picture appears on their front page today and thanks to the Martin's for posting it. You can review the CFK site here.

We are almost done with the Dutch Lowy thruster challenge and will post the original and final numbers this evening, along with some links to Youtube videos of some of the efforts. Thanks for you participation and I think you'll agree that this stuff works!

Young and Old

Workin the basics at CFCV. The adults worked Sprints, cleans and KTE during the wods.

All did really well working on the "real" clean (aka squat clean) especially William and Tami. It will get easier as the mechanics improve.

Then the kids got their shot at sprints and squats. They have come a long way and today we really saw great improvement in their squat technique. Its still a work in progress but I was proud of their effort. Marcus did a great job-especially for his first day.

Hannah in the background and Reece in the foreground:

It often helps having a legit CrossFitter counting reps and looking for the bad ones like Kara counting for Reece. Of course Reece is sporting a CrossFit Kids t-shirt.

Today's box jumps, snatches and presses (kb) workout was really well attended at 9:00. In fact there were 15 which made it a little crowded. Alright alot crowded. Remember its nice to have advance warning of big classes. I knew we had 11 signed up already so I could program something we could accomplish. So please, let us know if you're coming. Thanks to Denny for keeping an eye on things and locking up while I had to go see a man about a mule.

Several folks are either finishing up their foundations or getting close. Welcome!