Monday March 8th 2010

Who is ready for another (not nutrition) CrossFit Draper Challenge? Stay tuned; details to come on Wednesday’s post.

The Nutrition Challenge has been over for a month now and we know that most of you have been keeping up with it and continuing to see great results. Post to comments how this last month has been for you struggles, triumphs, AHA moments, or anything else you would like to impart to the rest of us. Thanks in advance.

 WOD

Strength: Bench Press  5/5/5 You will have 15 min to complete 

Conditioning: Complete 3 rounds for time of:

5 overhead squats @ 60% of 1 rep max Overhead Squat Elements [wmv][mov]

7 burpees

15 jumping pull-ups.

Rest 90 seconds after each cycle. 1 cycle consists of three rounds.  Repeat for a total of 3 cycles. 

The best thing about work/rest cycles is that it gives you the opportunity to give an all out effort at the work. The key to being able to give that all out effort is to maximize your rest. The very first time I did a work/rest cycle workout, Austin told me to experiment with the recovery. So I played around with it. I tried laying down flat on my back. I tried standing upright and leaning against the wall. I tried walking around the entire rest period. I tried curling up in the fetal position and whimpering, but that definitely got me nowhere. After a few weeks, I found that just taking a seat worked best for me.
However you decide to position yourself for your rest period, you must concentrate on your breathing. Oxygen into the body! The first thing to concentrate on is that your spine is in the neutral position. If you are slumped over with a rounded out back, you are compressing the chest cavity which constricts the amount of oxygen you can intake in a single breath. You can test this out on yourself right now. Place a finger tip at the top of your sternum and a fingertip at the bottom of your sternum. Stand upright and take in a long big deep breath of air and exhale. Now slump over, essentially rounding out your back. Notice that your fingertips are closer together. Your chest cavity is now compressed. Try to take in the long big deep breath. Not so much air now huh?  — Courtesy of CrossFit One World

 A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more.
Steve Prefontaine 

Joe exhibiting his Jedi mind tricks by lifting this bar off the ground without even touching it. Who can touch that? Joe is one of the hardest workers we have here at CrossFit Draper. Thanks for setting the bar so high Joe! (No pun intended)