You might have noticed that since the arrival of the new rowers (or ergs), rowing has become pretty common in our weekly programming. Love it or hate it, rowing is here to stay. Why should you learn to respect it? Well for starters, you can’t cheat the distance on the rower. Also, rowing allows us to work the three specific energy systems hard while not giving your joints a pounding. Thus making it an excellent choice for longer workouts that have a fair amount of joint loading already.

Gaining meters efficiently is compromised by poor technique. Short and choppy strokes lead to expenditure of excess energy and load your body with much greater forces than do longer, smoother, and more powerful strokes. The technique is similar to swimming where longer and more powerful strokes will propel you much further.

Sunday morning was a blast. Despite the early morning groans from having to be at the gym at 7:30am yesterday, all 24 athletes did awesome! We couldn’t have made it work without the help of our awesome volunteers. A big thanks goes out to Heather, Jen T., Jen L, Anne Marie, Rick, Marcia, Vickie, Josh, and Charles for volunteering. Here is a movement recap of No Ordinary Race for those not in attendance…

• 8 minutes to find a 3RM power clean
• Begin run (3 & 6 milers)
• Obstacle 1 – 200 m backwards overhead medball toss (20/15)
• Obstacle 2 – Slosh pipe lunges to cone + carry back
• 3 milers head back to gym
• Obstacle 3 – 50lb bucket carry to cone and back
• 6 milers head back to gym
• 2 minutes max effort kettlebell swings upon arrival (53/35)

Here are your winners for NOR 2013:

3 Mile Men’s: Chris Schaar

3 Mile Women’s: Kristen Lucas

6 Mile Men’s: Trevor Speck

6 Mile Women’s: Emile Odeski

 

 

This past weekend, longtime member Fernando Arzola and teammates finished 1st in the 70.3 Ironman New Orleans. While not typically and endurance centered athlete, Nando has put in extra work in the pool and on the pavement over the past few months. The was his first team-style Ironman event and it will be a memorable one for him as he takes a gold medal back to Dallas. He is proof that we just don’t work out inside EDCF, we train for whatever may come at us outside EDCF.

Fast approaching is No Ordinary Race, EDCF’s first ever endurance challenge. On Sunday, April 28^th, you will be given the opportunity to test your true fitness.

There is a sign up sheet at the gym for competitors and volunteers. There is a $20 entry fee for competitors, which includes an awesome t-shirt (shown above), breakfast tacos, and beer. Also, t-shirts are $10 for people who sign up to volunteer. ONLY COMPETITORS AND VOLUNTEERS WILL RECEIVE T-SHIRTS. No extras will be ordered so please sign up at the gym by this Wednesday, April 17!

As promised, we are releasing the routes. This gives you the chance to study your course and run through it before race day if you would like. Still, we will not be releasing the obstacles.

Again, if you would like to participate by competing or volunteering, please sign up by THIS WEDNESDAY and pay Ryan if you would like a t-shirt.

Check out the maps for the 6 and 3 mile courses HERE.

 

 

Our first ever No Ordinary Race .

On Sunday, April 28^th, EDCF will host its first endurance cenetered fitness challenge.  This competition is open to only members of our gym, and all of you are encouraged to participate.

There will be two lengths: 3 miles for intermediate and 6 miles for advanced athletes. This is no ordinary race, though; there will be stations with obstacles and challenges along the way. These hurdles will be CrossFit movements that you’ve all experienced during a WOD at the gym. However, these movements will not be announced. Part of being fit is being prepared for the unknown.

Remember, the Endurance class is every Sunday at 11 am. These WODs will help build stamina and prepare you for running distance.

We will be releasing race rules and official routes later this week. In the mean time, get running!

Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 strength cycle has stood the test of time in the world of powerlifting. Powerlifting a focus on training the basic multi joint movements and a foundation of our programming at EDCF. Wendler states that “the bench press, parallel squat, deadlift, and standing press have been the staples of any strong man’s repertoire. Those who ignore these lifts are generally the people who suck at them. If you get good at those, you’ll get good at other stuff, as they have such a huge carryover.” Now are we training for Strongman competitions or to just get huge? Not necessarily. We would like to strengthen joint and core stability as well as overall raw strength which will carry over into other types of training inside the gym or sport/life outside the gym.

The key to Wendler’s program is the basic concept periodization, a method that has been in strength and conditioning for quite a while. Does that make his method new and novel? Not at all. It is simplified and effective though. Basically the method is designed to start light with more reps then move heavier decreasing the number of reps on a certain movement each week. At the end of the cycle you take a deload week(s) then add about 5% to your previous max and start again. A typical four week Wendler 5/3/1 cycle looks like this:

Week 1: 3 x 5
Week 2: 3 x 3
Week 3: 3 x 5, 3, 1
Week 4: deloading

	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4
Set 1	65% x 5	70% x 3	75% x 5	40% x 5
Set 2	75% x 5	80% x 3	85% x 3	50% x 5
Set 3	85% x 5+	90% x 3+	95% x 1+	60% x 5

We are starting off putting this method to work on the strict press. If favorable results ensue, look for this method to also be applied to the bench press, low bar back squat, and deadlift.

An all new CrossFit Prep Course starts tonight! The prep course is 8 classes in duration and usually start at the beginning of each month. The classes will be held MWTh nights for the next two weeks and only on MW on the third week. All classes will start at 8:30pm and end around 9:30. The cost for the eight classes is $150. Spaces are limited so let us know if you would like to join in!

If you are a member and have a friend complete the prep course AND sign up for regular classes, we will give you your next month for half off! Our way of saying ‘thank you’ for spreading the word.

We are now in week 4 of the 2013 CrossFit Open. Join us as our athletes take on workout 13.4 tomorrow at CF White Rock at 12:30pm. If you’re taking on the WOD today in class, this video goes over tips to help out your efficiency with the movements. We will be going over movement prep before the WOD to help clear up any issues with toes to bar or clean and jerks.