Category Archives: CrossFit

Our program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist. –CrossFit.com

Mark finishing his push press while detaching his ribs from his spine

What is CrossFit? It’s a competitive fitness program, run out of simple gyms, where full-body and functional movements are emphasized. Basically, we go for an hour class, and in that time, we do a warm-up, practice a skill or two, and then do an intense 3 to 45 minute workout (Workout Of the Day or WOD) that involves olympic lifts, body weight exercises like push-ups or pull-ups, and sometimes gymnastic movements such as handstands or ring motions.

I say it’s “competitive” because the workouts are usually timed or reps are counted in some way, and you compete with all of the other people from your gym that day for the best score. It’s also competitive because each year, people from around the world participate in the CrossFit Games, and compete against each other for the title of “Fittest Man or Woman on Earth”.

Kate starting a 75 pound jerk with a disturbing facial expression

The Games start with The Open, where everybody can pay $20 and do the same five workouts to compete against everybody else in the world. The top 60 from each region will move on to Regionals, and the winners from there go on to the World-Stage.

Mark and I have been doing Crossfit for a couple of years now. Well, Mark has been doing it consistently for more than three years at Norco CrossFit. I started, got pregnant and stopped, and then started and stopped a bit more until finding a good gym (Become CrossFit) and rhythm this fall.

Last year, Mark participated in The Open, and was not thrilled with his results. This year, I signed up as well, and we both worked insanely hard on our Saturday mornings for five weeks to put in the best scores that we possibly could.

Mark recovering from an open workout

The Open workouts are designed so that almost anybody can complete a rep or a round or two. The trick is being good enough to get into the heavy weights or the later rounds. Mark and I are not that good. But results were better this year! And the experience was a good one for both of us. Mark went in optimistic but aware of his limits. I had no clue as to what I was capable of, and managed to either surprise and amaze myself or desperately disappoint myself each week.

Each Wednesday night when the new workout was announced, Mark and I would decide on a goal. We tried not to focus on final scores, but instead on strategies or ideals. “I just want to keep moving for the entire 7 minutes.” or “I’m hoping that if I focus on form I’ll be able to lift something heavier than I ever have before!”

The med-ball is your friend!

Mark’s final place was 1,263rd in the Southwest region (of 1,554 men who completed all 5 workouts) and 17,409th in the world (of 22,183 men). Kate’s final place was 876th in the Southwest (of 967 women who completed all 5 workouts) and 11,067th in the world (of 12,802 women).

The workouts definitely helped highlight our strengths and weaknesses. I have some skills to work on: wall balls and chest-to-bar pull-ups among others. Mark needs to work on increasing his lifting weights – both through a focus on form and pushing through some mental blocks.

Mark goes Chest-to-bar!

And while neither of us will be continuing on to Regionals, we did manage to complete all five workouts, and had a great time doing it!

How is cross-training going for everybody out there? Anybody have a fun competition you are prepping for this spring?

Mark’s 2012 CrossFit Games page, and Kate’s 2012 CrossFit Games page

Workout 12.1
AMRAP 7 minutes of Burpees
Mark: 103 Kate: 88

Workout 12.2
AMRAP 10 Minutes of Snatches
Men: 30 reps at 75 lbs, 30 reps at 135 lbs, 30 reps at 165 lbs and AMRAP at 210 lbs
Women: 30 reps at 45 lbs, 30 reps at 75 lbs, 30 reps at 100 lbs, and AMRAP at 120 lbs
Mark: 30 Kate: 31

Workout 12.3
AMRAP 18 minutes of 15 Box Jumps (M: 24″, W: 20″), 12 Push Press (M: 115 lbs, W: 75 lbs), and 9 Toes-to-bar
Mark: 164 Kate: 125

Workout 12.4
AMRAP 12 minutes of 150 Wall balls (M: 20 lbs, W: 15 lbs), 90 Double-unders, and 30 Muscle-ups
Mark: 155 Kate: 82

Workout 12.5
AMRAP 7 minutes, add 3 reps each round of Thrusters (M: 100 lbs, W: 65 lbs), and Chest-to-bar Pull-ups.
Mark: 70 Kate: 3

Last year, Mark signed up for the craziest day of obstacle-coursing, costume-wearing, beer-drinking, warrior-screaming fun that we have had in a long time! I, of course, was pretty darn pregnant at the time, so did not get to participate in the obstacle course or beer drinking, but I had a great time anyway. This year, well, things were very different!

We made our reservations for the race last year, just after the last one finished. One great thing about the Warrior Dash is that they run “heats” all day long. People sign up for a time, and you can run through 3 miles of crazy, scary, fun, painful, messy obstacles anytime during the day. So, Mark picked a race in the morning (11a) when all of his friends were going, and I picked one in the afternoon (3p). This way, we were able to take the baby along with us, and just take turns watching him!

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The race was held at the Copper Mountain ski area, and the course ran over 3 miles along the base of the mountain. There were about 12 different obstacles on the course that ranged from running through hanging tires, belly crawling through a deep mud pit, climbing up a 30ft “ladder” made of 2×4’s about 4ft apart, and then sliding down a near-verticle wall on the opposite side, and, of course, jumping over fire!

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Even though I was not in very good shape, at all, I finished in a (relatively) decent time of about 53 minutes, and Mark, who still claims he “ran slowly” finished in about 39 minutes, only 2 minutes slower than last year. G did great that day, napping in our friends’ condo in the afternoon, and playing in his PeaPod tent in the evening. Beer was consumed and warrior-screams were shouted.

Another great part of the weekend was our campsite in Dillon. We parked our little trailer right on Dillon reservoir, and enjoyed mountain views, glorious wildflowers, and lovely sunrises all weekend long.

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After our race, we headed back to the trailer for a nice warm shower, hotdogs over the fire, and the best sleep I’ve had in months.