CrossFit Oakland

Way to go, Annie. Keep up the strong work!

Wow!

That's really outstanding. Way to go Annie!

Annie, you look so great! I know how hard you work and am very proud of you! Keep it up:)

What changes have you noticed besides appearance? What about energy level, strength, health, and happiness?

I'm going to have to get you your own battle axe, Annie.

It's the strangest thing. Scott mentioned he had never been in a picture on CFO. So I went through ALL of my pictures and I don't have even one crappy one of him. Very eerie!

Yes, but Scott does make a guest appearance in the ''Nicole Trainer'' video from a couple of months back.

If I weren't on my Palm right now I'd throw down the link to said video...maybe later.

Great job, Annie!

thank you guys,
I guess I can tell a difference.. I can tell you that i love what CF has done for my life.
oxoxo

go Annie, it's your birthday... but seriously, you look a lot healthier in the more recent photo. good job. we need to get some photos of the elusive Scott!

just did "Mandy:" 8 "handstand" pushups (feet up on couch, bent over so torso is upside down), 10 pistols, 10 pullups.

8 rounds + 8 pushups. last time had muscle failure on pistols after 6 rounds, this time I finished all 8 rounds! pushups were unbroken, might try 10 next time.

I'm trying to work up to doing "Mary" as rx'd and not kill myself after like 2 or 3 rounds. is this a good strategy? should I alternate cindy and mary every other time it comes up? last time I did 7 ring pushups with legs up +/- 16," which were a little harder than the pushups I did this time, even though this time I did one more rep per round. the pullups are difficult in my apartment. should I try 12 per round next time and work up to 15? any suggestions would be appreciated. thanks.

Speaking of life changing, one of our members told me recently of some frankly astounding changes that CrossFit has made in their lives. Perhaps they will be willing to share at some point, but suffice to say CrossFit continues to amaze me!

Jonathan: I think doing Mary every other time is a noble goal. Perhaps move towards doing it as rx'd, and not worry about the rounds. I don't do it as I am so far off from being able to do a pistol, but watching the video you gave me inspired me to try.

So. Next time "Mary" comes up I will give it a shot. Goal: 4 rounds, with some sort of assist for the pistols. Perhaps we can get a group together to do it. Mike? Peter? Shira?

I first want to once again congratulate Annie on her stellar improvements. Very inspiring!

The reason for reiterating my praise for Annie is because I'm about to throw on my crotchety resident a**hole hat (perhaps instead of Gilligan I should be nicknamed Scrooge) and don't want to detract from the point of Max's post and Annie's well-deserved praise but...

I honestly don't think anyone who can't get a score of 20 on Cindy has any business trying Mary. I actually think it should be some sort of rite of passage (think cap and gown for ''graduating'' from Cindy to Mary).

Mary, if I'm remembering correctly, first came into being because some former gymnast at CF Santa Cruz (can't remember his name) got something like 25 right out of the blocks on Cindy.

It became apparent that he (and others in the 25-30 club) would need more of a stimulus and thus Mary was born.

It was also a great way to level the playing field, in terms of scoring/scaling. I was at a seminar where the elite performers did Mary (with scores ranging from 10 to 17) and everyone else doing Cindy (with scores ranging from 8 to 20). Pretty neat convergence of scores, eh?

Fundamentals, people. Fundamentals.

I know, I know. I'm a real killjoy sometimes.

but what if i'm more interested in building the strength that mary focuses on instead of the endurance that cindy focuses on? that might be anti-crossfit, and I'm sure you'll argue that cindy builds strength, too. I just really like doing pistols I guess.

I really like back handsprings. Perhaps I should sub those for the push-ups in Cindy. I could then call it Candy.

CF isn't only about the workout, although it is easy to think that's the case. CF is about skill development. I see no reason one can't spend 20-30 minutes of each hour working on a particular skill or set of skills (they don't even need to be related, like pistols and back tucks) and then still test one's general conditioning with a 20-min finisher (metcon, strength, whatever).

Think OLAD (one lift a day) and its numerous permutations.

In your case, warm up, then see how many pistols you can do in 10 minutes. Then work up to a 1RM in the push press. Rest 10 minutes and see then how many rounds you can get in Cindy for 10 minutes.

That's just something off the top of my head that could easily be modified into endless combinations.

It's one thing to be strong (a very important thing, in fact). It's quite another thing to be fit, though.

And being a ''big'' guy is no excuse for not having a great metcon base. Greg A (not a natural athlete by any means) clocks in at 200 lbs and took fifth in a triathlon on a whim. What does he do to train? CrossFit!

ouch. in my defense, the w.o.d. did say Cindy OR Mary, so I thought it was optional. I didn't know (no one ever told me) that Cindy should come first and that Mary should only be done after scoring a 20 on cindy. (I'm sure you'll argue that if I came to class more, I would have known that). next time I'll do Cindy and see how it goes. oh, and now that you'll have classes at normal human being times at the new space, I'll come to more of those :) since when is it mandatory to be a morning person to work out? sorry, that's a total tangent, and not directed towards CFO. It just seems that lots of CF affiliates only have early morning classes. what's up with that?

Annie, sorry if I'm stealing your thunder. Good job, again.

J,

It's not actually written anywhere about getting 20. I just happen to think 20 is a nice score to get to demonstrate proficiency in Cindy and have adopted that as a baseline for doing Mary.

It also comes from observing a trait in a lot of elite CFers that is sometimes overlooked: patience.

Many of the elite CFers wait until several high scores in a row before moving on to the next, more challenging version of a workout. Or they practice front squats for hours and hours before moving on to cleans.

We're all eager to move onto the next thing. But moving on before mastering the basics, or even becoming proficient in them, seems a wee bit shortsighted (this isn't directed at you specifically, Jonathan).

Anyway...you get the point. I hope.

Great work, Annie!

Mikey - I think you had one too many Americanos yesterday. Deep breathes my dear. Deep breathes. Although I do like the idea of naming a workout "Candy" – stay on that track of thinking. Back-handsprings, headstands and some dance moves. Those will all be a part of “Candy”

you all crack me up..
miss you guys, I think I might be better by tomorrow. I am really sick of being sick. it is boring, but i did just start watching The Shield... I like the bad cops. thank you again for all the support.....

ok, so my legs are sore today from all the pistol squats yesterday, and I remembered hearing coach burgener mention something about alternating cold/hot baths for recovery, and I'm psyched for teh CFT tomorrow, so I googled that and found this post on a message board. I'm gonna try it right now. it's probably gonna suck, but it probably will work.

This is not a question but more or less just some advice for athletes involved in running or weightlifting. One of the best ways (I find personally) to help prevent muscle soreness and to prevent muscle injuries from occuring is an ice bath or otherwise known as a cold bath. I was amazed at the number of athletes that had never heard of it or tried it. An ice bath is simply when you fill a bath tub with the coldest water you possibly can and then fill it with ice cubes to ensure that the tub maintains a cool temperature. You SHOULD NOT submerge your cardiac area below the water. Simply sit in the tub so that the water is at or just above the naval area for 15 minutes. Some sports complexes actually have professional cold tubs. I use an ice bath after every practice and very seldomly have injuries and have not felt sore after any workout since I started using them. Another idea that works just as well is a contrast bath where you switch back and forth from and ice bath to a hot shower (or hot tub if you have one) for 15 minutes each. This helps to force blood in and out of the muscles which not only speeds up muscle recovery, but also helps flush out lactic acid therefore reducing muscle fatigue and helping you feel energized. Try having an ice bath after every practice or workout and have a contrast bath on your day off. They suck for the first 3-5 minutes but get better after that and they work miracles. Try one, results are almost gauranteed!

Annie,

You are an inspiration! I hope to be as fit as you one day...