Workout of the Day:
Bench Press
3-3-3-3
and then,
Five rounds for time of:
12 x Bench Press (70% of today’s 3-RM)
12 x Pull-Ups
Big Ben Rides Again
Written by C.J. Martin
A job change recently took Ben S. from us, but it didn’t stop him from rocking his Invictus gear in a recent skateboarding competition. Ben spent a lot of time on his skateboard as a kid (check him out here), and has used CrossFit as his means of getting back into shape to have some fun skateboarding again. Ben put in good consistent work at Invictus for several months prior to this competition, and his hard work paid off. Ben took Third Place in the Masters Division of the competition in Phoenix on October 17. Here is what he reported:
I placed 3rd in the Masters division out of about 15-20 skaters. It was a 5 minute jam style format where 5 guys would skate the entire park for 5 minutes at a time. This is different than your normal 1-2 minute run per skater. Most of the guys got tired after about 2 minutes of skating however, due to the strength and endurance CrossFit has given me, I was able to skate non-stop for all 5 minutes and bang out trick after trick. Is this the first application of CrossFit to Skatebaording? Coincidentally, one of the owners of the skate company is super into CrossFit also. I should also mention, the high for the day was around 105 degrees, and a lot of folks ended up with heat exhaustion, including myself.
And here’s the evidence:
Congratulations Ben! Keep up the good work and keep checking in with us on the blog.
great job dude!
Congrats.
Well done Ben! Now if we could just get you to jerk as well as you skate….
Nathan (from yesterday),
I didn’t see your post until late last night, but you had it right on with the form for the hip bridges. However, using a dumbbell was probably a bit to light. Look at it this way…let’s say your DL is 300. Clearly your glutes are capable of extending your hip with a load of 300 pounds. Now you do a hip bridge using a 50 pound dumbbell with your 300 pound glutes…they’re not getting quite the overload you need. Here are some PG-13 pics on T-Nation of the exercise and a few variations:
http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/advanced_glute_training
I guess I should weigh in on the travel WODs as well since I just made a meandering drive out to San Antonio. Here’s a quick recap–Monday: 1 burpee, 1 breath, 2 burpees, 2 breaths…up to ten and back down. We’ve done this with KBS, but burpees are WAY more legit. Try it if you want to torture yourself for about 8-10 minutes. Tuesday I hiked about 3 miles down then 3 back up into the Grand Canyon with my dad. He was hanging in there pretty well, and he’s looking forward to doing the whole thing in the future, as well as having a showdown with Pops Martin. Friday: used the hotel gym for some running, DB snatch, and PP triplet. Sunday: 50-40-30-20-10 of push-ups, squats, and sit-ups.
Now I’m back in the gym where I get to watch guys spotting each other on machines (I’m serious).
Way to go, Ben! Masters Division, eh? Then that Werther’s candy you got on Halloween was appropriate, you old fart!
Great job to Liz on the bench presses this morning. And to Kristen on the WOD. Way to keep at it!
Way to go Ben! We will miss you in Sage’s class. Keep up the solid work and repping the Invictus brand!!!
Mark, we miss you. Can you please come home now?
I would like to thank all the little people out there that made this possible…namely Mark and Calvin for kicking my ass day in and day out to never stop moving in the middle of a horrible met-con WOD…
Thanks everyone!
Ben
Cool picture Ben! and Congratulations way to go! take care.
Nice! Crossfit rocks any way you look at it! See you at PHXAM!
Yeah!! Ben that is so awesome! My first hands on CrossFit experience was with Dani and CJ. I am forever grateful and pleased you have found great coaches. Come visit us next time you are in Phoenix.
Not bad for an old guy. Seriously though, congrats Ben. Great work!
Mark,
Thanks for the follow-up information.
If anyone is interested in travel/body weight W.O.D.s, I’ve been collecting a bunch from various sites. The location where we’re trying to get a CrossFit gym established doesn’t have any weights yet so I’m stuck trying to program for body weight only.
Luckily, I’m currently at a gym with weights so I can do the CrossFit Invictus WOD. It makes my life simpler.
Nathan
Well done Ben! You will be missed! Where you off to?