CrossFit Oakland

Nicole, you're the f****** bomb. You go girl. One day.............

Target= 300

Round one:
Row - 22
Wall Ball 20
SDHP 22
Box Jump 20
Push-Press 24
Total = 108

Round two
Row - 20
Wall Ball 18
SDHP 20
Box Jump 18
Push Press 22
Total = 102

Round three
Row 18
Wall Ball 16
SDHP 20
Box Jump 12
Push Press 22
Total 90

overall total 300

I haven't watched the video yet, but I'm sure N.O. is kicking butt!

My plan for the next FGB is to follow the advice that I've heard many times from Max (continuous motion) and Mike (do some reps while you're winded). I hope get into a decent rhythmn and slam through into the 200's!!!

Nice work Nicole, I did my first FGB on Christmas and learned first hand what all the fuss is about. This is a great workout I would like to get up over 300 next year.

F

That looked awesome but it was liking watching a movie with no punch line. It was Rocky without ever knowing how he does in the final fight. What was the final score!?! Was it a PR for you Nicole!?! My goal is 300 but my form needs a lot of work before that will come.

Nicole, great work!! I particularly loved your push press. What a great example of strength and determination you are!

Candace, how'd the WOD end up working out for you? How about everyone else?

I need to work on my form but Max, Nicole, and Tim gave me some helpful instruction:) I understand the concept, but it's really difficult for me to translate that into movement. Video taping more often may help.

PS I'm glad that only a couple of you saw my "splits" during the HPC's.

I'd like to join with the chorus of Nicole cheerleaders and say, "You go, girl!"

Great work, Nicole. Nice technique even under extreme metabolic duress.

It must've been the coaching that got you through it. ;-)

Re: FGB

I'll likely employ my anti-strategy (Max gets credit for coming up with that term for my approach to WODs) and get 300 by getting 300.

As an aside, I think it would be a great idea for all of us to do FGB on Mar 10, 2007. As a neat little coincidence, the big-screen adaptation of Frank Miller's "300" comes out on Mar 9, 2007. I propose we all do FGB on Saturday morning, doing our best to get to 300, then meet up later that evening and take in "300" on the big screen during opening weekend.

This would give everyone a target (in terms of score and date) to shoot for in FGB and would be a fun way of zeroing in on the vaunted 300 score that's so desired in FGB.

Ann, I cleaned 125 x 3. Mike thinks that I am making it up and is making me prove it on Sunday so you can come watch if you like. It is true that my math skills are questionable at times but this time I double checked because some guy at the gym unloaded all my weight mid-workout because he "thought I was finished" (jerk!) Anyway, on each side, I put a 25, 10 and 5. That makes 115 assuming the bar was not the wrong weight and I am pretty sure it wasn't too far off because I cleaned that as a warm-up 5 or 6 times.

Mike - I would be down with trying to hit 300 on March 10 and then watching your movie choice. I have to make sure I don't have a match but otherwise, I will be there, smiling and ready to go! (probably whinning a bit as well since that's what I tend to do best)

opps. i meant that makes 125. not "that makes 115". ... and the math teacher strikes again. i suppose it's good i am looking for a new job next year:) who knows how many students have received inaccurate test scores because of my careless calculations.

Candace: that would be amazing. 125x3 is close to my max for power cleans. It is, by far, my worst lift, but still...

Mike, I whole-heartedly agree with the march 10th plan. that movie looks rad.

here's a question: the first time I did FGB, I started with the row and got 201 (granted, this was my first day of crossfit), the next time, I started at the push press, did the 53lb kettlebell instead of 65# bar for the sdlhp and got 256 or something like that. I thought starting with hte push press helped me a lot. I got 24 push-presses the first round and totaled 100 the first round. then I died.

ann said a lot of people start with the row because they think it helps. what's the deal?

Good Effort Nicole, but really - someone needs to teach you guys how to row on the ergometer before you hurt yourselves!

Ian Simpson
Coach - Oakland Strokes Varsity Women

God damn Candace, I gotta see that... what are they feeding you in Ohio? whatever it is I want some too!
I wish I could blow you away with my FGB score but it was around 225 (Mike do you remember?) a drop since the 246 I got at the Cert in Santa Cruz. Lot's of heart but not a lot of strategy involved. I occupy the space somewhere between Strategy Lewin and Anti Strategy Mike. I could make a million excuses, but suffice to say, I lost confidence AND drive--I will also NEVER start with the row as I find it leaves you spent for the wall ball throws. I too am shooting for 300 eventually.

Ian, by all means, come on in and show us the light!

Jonathan,

I have a term for it: parlor tricks. A little harsh perhaps, but in the end I think it's mostly just conjecture and playing to one's strengths. There's nothing magic about starting with the row. Just because a lot of people do it doesn't make it so. I've personally witnessed huge scores (like 395) posted without having the athlete starting on the row.

When an athlete gets to a certain level (I'd say somewhere between Advanced and Elite, if we're using the standards that have been set per our modified CF North Skill Assessment Guidelines), these sorts of distinctions begin to fall by the wayside. In other words, once someone moves past competence in the movements and moves toward mastery (in terms of skill and in terms of performing at peak intensity levels), it really doesn't matter which of the exercises he or she starts with (Coach G may have said something along these lines already; credit to him if so).

But such stratagems certainly make for interesting discussion around the FGB coffee table.

Having said all that (and to muddy the water further), I like doing the rower last so that I can go all out on it and not be penalized in the exercises that follow (due to having 1 minute of rest at the end of the 5 exercises). But then again, of the 5 exercises, rowing is by far the worst for me and yields the smallest number of points, especially when viewed in the context of an effort expended/points received ratio (admittedly a fairly subjective ratio, but nonetheless good enough for our purposes; I think everyone can sort of feel how much a certain exercise takes out of them after performing it, and then take note of how many reps they actually perform in that exercise over the course of FGB).

Ian,

Thanks for the well-meaning (if somewhat glib) words of advice.

I see the title you've posted after your name, and the small bit about you that I read on the Oakland Strokes website (http://www.oaklandstrokes.org/AboutUs.php?ics=a8) leads me to believe you're not just some internet troll. With that in mind, we'd love to have you come to CFO and give a rowing/erg seminar (your time would be paid for, of course).

We're always looking for experts from the various disciplines (and we love the Concept2 stuff) to improve our game.

Please email me at info@crossfitoakland.com so we can discuss this further.

I went back at what I thought suggested doing the rower first: it turns out Mark Twight says doing the rower LAST on Tabata Something Else will raise your score.

http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/faq.html scroll down to 4.3

That being said, I find doing the rower first makes sense somehow, not sure why. My highest ever score (289 with poor form) was done with the Push-Press, my strongest suit, first.