Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Workout of the Day:
Clean-Grip Snatch
2-2-2-2-2-2
and then,
Five rounds for maximum reps of:
60 Seconds of Ball Slams
60 Seconds of Kettlebell Swings
60 Seconds of Box Jumps
60 Seconds of Rest
(Loading and Box Height – Select loads and heights that are manageable. You should be able to keep moving throughout the minute . . . well, the first three minutes at least.)

Try something new! Half the fun of being fit is playing games and taking on new challenges. Have a sense of adventure, it will keep your body and spirit young.

Fran-tastic Results!
Written by C.J. Martin

Everyone gets nervous on Fran day. I am no exception. I get a little bit nervous any time we run a benchmark workout for our members. It’s kind of a test of whether our programming and coaching is doing right by our clients.

Programming for a large group is a tricky thing because every member has their own unique deficiencies and strengths. When our coaches work with individual clients in a one-on-one or small-group setting, we can easily assess the individuals and prescribe a program that we know will shore up any weaknesses and improve their overall performances. When we’re looking at a group of nearly 200 members, we have to make some sweeping generalizations based on our observations as coaches and the feedback we get from our benchmark workouts. So, I get nervous, but I love these days because it tells me whether our program is working, and it gives me a data point and opportunity to plan our next training cycle.

So how did our fourth and final Fran of 2009 go? Pretty darn good. Our numbers were a bit small due to the first proper storm of the San Diego winter, but the trends were pretty definitive. We had 18 new PRs from the 21 members who had done Fran back in August. One of the three missed a new PR by two seconds, and for one this was his first workout back after a two-week layoff due to a respiratory illness (and he still managed a 3:39). We had two others miss PRs set back in February, but both were away from the gym for nearly six months due to service obligations. So, let’s call it 85-90% of our members moving in the right direction showing improvements in their performance. I’ll take that.

Congratulations to each of the following:

• Joe E. – 12:13 down to 8:15
• Andre C. – 9:02 down to 5:27
• Jen M. – 11:38 down to 8:31
• Kristie K. – 12:38 down to 10:05
• Courtney J. – 9:44 (02/09) down to 6:43
• Bassem E. – 8:00 down to 5:44
• Chris H. – 7:00 down to 5:36
• Richard M. – 5:12 down to 4:35
• Jim H. 5:32 down to 4:58
• Thom K. – 10:30 down to 8:45 (with exactly 5 feet of barbell travel per thruster)
• Keren A. – 8:17 down to 6:44
• Jason C. – 7:30 down to 5:44
• Gary M. – 10:07 down to 9:15
• Marek – 8:42 down to 7:19
• Megan – 8:46 down to 7:44
• Barry L. – 7:51 down to 7:32
• Lori L. – 7:30 down to 7:07
• Christina R. – 10:36 (blue band/53#) down to 10:12 (red band/60#)

If you missed Fran on Monday, but want to take a crack at it this week, please shoot an email to one of our coaches or info@crossfitinvictus.com and we will make sure we get you in to do a make-up session. We need all the data points we can get to keep improving our program.