Friday, December 18, 2009

MOVIE ANYONE?
With a name like “Invictus,” it must be good.  If anyone would like to join me tonight for the 7:00 p.m. showing of “Invictus” at the movie theater in the Gaslamp (701 5th Avenue), please email info@crossfitinvictus.com.  You can purchase your own tickets online, but please let me know when you have done so.  I will call the movie theater tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 p.m. and ask if we can rope off an appropriate number of seats so that our group can sit together.  If you don’t decide until too late, that’s cool too; you can still meet up with us and we will likely not have a problem finding seating.  If you would like to meet at the gym, please arrive no later than 6:30 p.m.

Workout of the Day:
Snatch Pull
3-3-3-3
(Thanks as always to our friends from Catalyst Athletics for the great instructional videos.)
and then,
Five rounds for time of:
8 x Barbell Complex

• Deadlift
• Power Clean
• Right-Leg Reverse Lunge
• Left-Leg Reverse Lunge
• Jerk

Rest exactly 3 minutes
(Load – Men=95-115 lbs, Women=65-75 lbs.  Knee should gently kiss the mat on each reverse lunge.)

Athlete Spotlight – Brandy Barker
Written By Katie Mac

For those of you who do not know Brandy, she is a member here at Invictus who is consistently putting up studly numbers and times. She was a firefighter for 2 years and will soon be joining the military doing some pretty cool stuff!

Hometown: Glendora, CA
Occupation: Navy – working with Spec Ops
Member Since: April 2009
Usual Workout Time: 4:30
Favorite exercise/WOD – Deadlift/Filthy Fifty

What is your athletic history? Did you play any sports?
Yes, I played soccer in high school and one year of college.

Did you guys do any weight training, lifting?
No.

So how did you get into Crossfit?
I did Crossfit with a girlfriend at a 24 Hour Fitness. We started out there together and then another girlfriend actually called me and said there was a new gym (Invictus ) that had opened up out here.

What did you think of your first Crossfit workout?
It was awesome. Coming from a gym like 24 hour fitness where you don’t do it with a group of people, it makes a big difference. And then when everyone is on the same page and you have a coach, and especially when you have a lot of coaches around you showing you exactly how to do it, with proper techniques, it makes a big difference.

Why do you keep coming back?
It’s a good workout and it also gets me super prepared for the military. It definitely gives you a better workout than anything I’ve ever had in the years that I have worked out.

When you were firefighting, what kind of training did you guys do? Did they put you through a certain type of training.
There was a two week fire academy. It was for Cal Fire. From there, once getting into the program, it was hiking with a 50 pound sack on your back for about an hour, hour and a half. And then, weight lifting right after and in the evenings. And then also regular fire fighting training.

So, now that you have done Crossfit, do you think it would have made a difference had you been doing it while you were firefighting?
Yes. With the structure and as far as like pull-ups, I couldn’t do a pull-up back then. Now, after practicing with the bands and all that stuff, it made a big difference. Now, I can do pull-ups without the bands, and now I even have my own pull-up bar and bands at home to practice on.

So now that you are going into the military, do you think Crossfit is preparing you well for your Physical Fitness test?
Yes, for the pushups, situps and pull-ups but not for the actual swim. Some of it I have to go on my own because not only do I Crossfit at night, but I will go to the military base and train with my boyfriend in the morning. I will do cardio with him so, ya know, there’s no pool here so some things I kind have to go off and do to focus on specific things.

In your specific job that you are going to be doing, you have to be more fit than just regular Navy enlisted/fleet folks, correct?
Yeah, you need to have been working out way before you decided to do it. It’s not for the faint of heart. You can’t just walk in there and say, hey, I wanna do this.

What are some of your fitness goals right now?
Right now, I want to run faster.

When you say that, what do you mean?
I want to get the mile and a half in under 11 minutes.

Do you think you can do it now?
I’m at 11:30 seconds right now.

How long to have to reach that goal?
January 4^th is boot camp.

Any other fitness goals in here (at the gym)?
Definitely a better Fran time for sure.  I’ve done it in 15 minutes but I had to do strict pull-ups. I’d like to be able to do it in 10 minutes. I would also like to be able to do butterfly pull-ups.

Is there anything else you want to share with the Crossfit Invictus community?
I think it’s a wonderful thing that has been created at Invictus, and I think Crossfit is incredible. It is the best workout ever!

Brandy will be leaving us soon to begin her journey with the Navy. Her plan is to be back in San Diego in less than a year. I encourage you all to wish her the best of luck and let her know that we will miss her!