CROSSFIT VENTURA

Trick or Treat

Pumpkins by: CrossFit Fredericton, Hudson Valley CrossFit, Body Armor, Adam Kayce, Alanna Trotter and Kim Carris, and Mark Messina

Was today's workout a trick or a treat?
Post thoughts to comments.

REMEMBER! Daylight Savings Time ends Sunday. So don't forget to enjoy your extra hour of sleep before you come by for Sunday's workout.
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Workout of The Day

As many rounds in 15 minutes as you can of:
225 pound Deadlifts, 10 reps (155 pound for women)
10 Burpee Box Jumps

Post number of rounds completed and modifications to comments.

Inverted

Darcy practices some gymnastics on the rings

We spend about about 2/3rds of our life standing and sitting up. The other 1/3rd, we spend laying down. So on the rare occasions when we are turned upside down, we become very uncomfortable. Heart rate goes up, kinesthetic sense (body awareness) completely disappears, and panic begins sets in.

This is exactly why it is so important to practice being inverted. To get comfortable being upside down, improve your body awareness, and be able to control yourself. Let's say your out on a bike ride, crash, and flip over the handle bars. The difference between an ugly crash and a safe landing is likely going to depend largely on body awareness while your head is below your feet. For Soldiers, Firefighters, Law Enforcement Officers, the advantage of this awareness is both obvious and crucial.

Let's get inverted!

TODAY'S MUST SEE VIDEO - Inversion Basics and "Skin The Cat". Let's get practicing these! *Macs, I'm sorry if you have trouble seeing this video, it was the only format I could find.
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Workout of The Day

Front Squat 5-5-5-5-5 reps

then,
work on your top three goats

Post loads to comments.

"You learn you can do your best even when it's hard, even when you're tired and maybe hurting a little bit. It feels good to show some courage."
- Joe Namath

What's Your Goat?

Faith and Martha get their "Goat" on!

The "Goat" concept (introduced to me by San Francisco CrossFit) is simple. A "Goat" is an exercise or movement you suck at, hate, or both. This can include anything from running, thrusters, handstands, or stretching your hamstrings. This point is, we should work harder at the things we suck at instead of always trying to improve what we're already good at. Spending some time during your warm-up or cool-down to improve some of your "goats" will make a HUGE difference in how fast you progress!

Post three of your biggest "goats" to comments.

TODAY'S MUST SEE VIDEO - Dutch (7th place in CrossFit Games) gets challenged by Jessica in "Helen". Check out who wins!
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Workout of The Day
(compare to Monday, July 28th, 2008)

"Helen"
3 rounds for time of:
400m Run
1.5 pood Kettlebell Swing, 21 reps (1 pood for women)
12 Pull-ups

Post time to comments.

"The notion that holding a heart rate of 180 bpm for twenty minutes on a bike is good cardio whereas holding 180 bpm for twenty minutes in a circuit of weightlifting is of lesser cardiovascular value is widespread yet ludicrous."
- Greg Glassman

Interview With Luke!

***IMPORTANT*** There WILL BE a 6pm class tomorrow!
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Workout of The Day

"Kelly"
5 rounds for time of:
400m Run
24 inch Box Jump, 30 reps (20 inch for women)
20 pound Wall Ball, 30 reps (14 pounds for women)

Post time to comments.

"We may affirm absolutely that nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion"
-Georg Hegel

Finished!

The Caption Game continues on! Post your best caption for this photo to comments. (sorry Chris...this picture is just too good to not post!)

TODAY'S MUST SEE VIDEO - One of the greatest CrossFit videos I've seen. 9-year-old Mavany, from CrossFit Marina, whoops some ass!!!
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Workout of The Day

Push Press 3-3-2-2-2-1-1-1-1 reps

then, 100m Tire Flip for time

Post loads and time to comments.

"Competition is a by-product of productive work, not its goal. A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others"
-Ayn Rand

October's Crossfitter of The Month

The "Crossfitter of The Month" is Luke Mitchell!

Luke has now been doing CrossFit for about 6 weeks. The progress he has made this month has been tremendous. His pull-up number has more than doubled. Yes, Luke can now do 30 pull-ups unbroken! A muscle-up, an ultimate marker of complete upper body strength, is no longer an obstacle for Luke, as he picked it up within mere weeks of being introduced to the rings.

But Luke's improvements in his fitness is only a small part of why he is our crossfitter of the month. A much larger part is his increased level of commitment this past month. Being a firefighter, Luke was not able to come workout at CFV on a steady schedule...at first! Now when Luke has to work, he gets up early and works out with the 6am crew (yes, 6am is early for some of us). He also started the Zone Diet and has it completely dialed in. He even has an application on his cellphone that keeps count of his blocks! Now that is commitment. Great work Luke!

At the rate Luke has been progressing, I think he has a great chance of being a contender at the CrossFit Games. I'm excited to see the workout times Luke will be producing 6 months from now. I'm predicting a sub 4 minute "Fran" and an over 24 round "Cindy" by then. Pressure's on Luke! Let's see what you can do!
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Workout of The Day

"Test Day"

100 Pull-ups for time.

100 Push-ups for time.

100 Sit-ups for time.

100 Squats for time.

Rest as needed between workouts.

Post times and modifications to comments.

Saturday School

Today's Saturday 10am crew put on some smiles for a post-workout group picture. The workout must have been too easy. We'll fix that next time!!! Haha, of course I'm just kidding...that workout was a brute and you all kicked major ass!

I know we're supposed to be revealing the new CFV "Crossfitter of The Month" today, but you're gonna have to wait one more day. Just like last time, we will be including a video interview to learn more about the hard-working winner.

TODAY'S MUST SEE VIDEO - What about abs? We did a LOT of ab work today. And no, I'm not referring to the abmat sit-ups.
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Workout of The Day

4 rounds, 20-15-10-5 reps, for time of:
95 pound Overhead Squats (65 pounds for women)
Knees 2 Elbows
Ring Push-ups

Post time and modifications to comments.

Going Heavy

Julian deadlifts 265 pounds three times during his first heavy day at CFV. Nice!

While metcons (metabolic conditioning) are the heart and soul of CrossFit and comprise the majority of our workouts, we do have "Heavy Days". These days are just what they sound like: lift heavy weights with few reps, and take plenty of rest between sets. But don't make the foolish mistake of considering these days easy. They are only easy if you make it so. Each set should be as heavy and difficult as you can manage. If this day feels easy, your not going heavy enough!

Tomorrow, we will be revealing October's "Crossfitter of the Month"! Hmm, I wonder who it is going to be...

TODAY'S MUST SEE VIDEO - An awesome video of one of the most stacked heats for the hill run at the 2008 CrossFit Games. 8 out of the top 12 placers at the games were in this heat!
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Workout of the Day

As many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
10 Pull-ups
20 pound Wall-balls, 20 reps (14 pounds for women)
30 Double-unders

Post number of rounds completed to comments.

Extra Practice

Have some areas in your fitness that you'd like to improve upon through practice? Try spending some extra time working on your weaknesses in front of your TV during commercials. If your push-ups need work, try doing some 6 round versions of tabata push-ups. If your having some flexibility issues, spend time stretching out. If you have room available, try working on your handstands. The more practice you get at these things, the faster you will improve and you will become a better crossfitter because if it.

TODAY'S MUST READ -  Want to build your own set of parallettes to practice on at home? Here are the step by step instructions. They are both simple and cheap to make (I think it costs a little more than $20 to build a set).
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Workout of the Day

Deadlift 3-3-3-3-3 reps

then
3 x 400m Sprint
*rest as needed before each sprint.

Post loads and times to comments.

"Cardiorespiratory endurance, stamina, strength, power, speed, flexibility, agility, accuracy, balance, and coordination: you're as good as your weakest link."
-Greg Glassman

Spartans!

This picture taken of Sue standing before the Roman Coliseum blows my mind!

Here's a little bit of CrossFit trivia for you. The actors who played the Spartans in the movie "300" trained together for 8 months prior to shooting the film. Their training program? CrossFit!

TODAY'S MUST SEE VIDEO - A peak at the training used for the actors of "300". It should look familiar to you... It's 100% CrossFit. Unfortunately Mark Twight, their trainer, did not give due credit to CrossFit on this video.
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Workout of the Day

"Elizabeth"
3 rounds, 21-15-9 reps, for time of:
135 pound Cleans (85 pounds for women)
Ring Dips

Post time to comments.

"When I drove west I was confident in my level of fitness – certainly my VO2 Max, Anaerobic Threshold and endurance and – but a single workout destroyed that notion. The workout, called Fight Gone Bad..."
- Mark Twight