WOD

TWO MORE DAYS…HOLIDAY PARTY IS SATURDAY AT THE GYM FROM 7 TO 10!

Give the crowd what they want

What’s your gym persona? Are you a positive, energetic, focused athlete who people enjoy training with? Or are you a complainer? Do you work hard or do you give up easily?
At Tuesday night’s gymnastics class, a few students became frustrated while struggling with headstands and pistols. Regarding a tripod-into-headstand movement, I overheard someone say: “I can’t do this. I never did one before and I’m not going to get one tonight.” No. Not with that attitude, you’re not.
Why do we even do CrossFit? For the challenge, right? I’d rather gouge my eyes out than spend another mindless hour on an elliptical machine to get fit. So instead, I do CrossFit because it challenges me every day. If we let that negative inner voice win, or give up every time we struggle with a skill/lift/movement, where does that get us?
Instead, challenge yourself to remain positive during training sessions. Rather than beating yourself up for not running faster, lifting more or mastering a certain skill, congratulate yourself for being in the gym at all. This time of year, many people are putting their health and fitness on hold until the new year rolls around. Give yourself a pat on the back for training through the holidays.
Help us make CrossFit Midtown a positive place and let’s squash negative talk in the box. Give the crowd what they want by making CFM a fun, positive place to train!

Oh, and the 50-burpee penalty for saying CAN’T is back in effect. BE POSITIVE!

Welcome to new member Gracie, a GT freshman whose whole family does CrossFit. Her mom Jeanne (background) joined her for Monday’s class while visiting from Connecticut.

Workout of the Day

A1. Press: 3 sets of 6-8 @2211 tempo, rest 60sec
A2. Weighted Pullup: 3 sets of 2-3 @2112 tempo, rest 2min
B. For time: 9 thrusters 95/65#
5 manmakers* 44/26#
7 thrusters
4 manmakers
5 thrusters
3 manmakers
3 thrusters
2 manmakers
1 thruster
1 manmaker
*Man Maker – with a kettlebell in each hand, drop into push up, push into top of push up position, perform a 1-arm row per hand where the elbow travels much higher than the back; pull legs in, perform a squat clean thruster with kettlebells… that is one rep. Here’s James demonstrating:

And coming tomorrow…

A. Back Squat: 4 sets of 5 to 7 reps @3010 tempo, rest 3min
B. “Karen”For time:
150 wall balls 20/14

USA Powerlifting American Open recap

CrossFit is a hybrid of so many different sports – the one I excel at most is powerlifting so one of my goals was to compete in a powerlifting competition. My friend Cam is a former competitive powerlifter and world record holder, so when he told me a competition was coming up, I looked into it and decided to register. Cam agreed to coach me through it. So on Saturday morning I competed in my first powerlifting meet.
Competitors are required to wear singlets. On four days notice, I was hard-pressed to find one. Apparently sporting goods stores don’t carry them. Luckily, CFM member Derek had an old singlet from his freestyle wrestling days, and it was just my style:

I competed in the 148# weight class, which meant I had to drop five pounds last week. I didn’t eat or drink anything from 3pm Friday afternoon until after I weighed in, Saturday morning at 8. SUCCESS! I weighed 146 (DISCLAIMER: this is not nutrition advice. I don’t recommend you try this just to fit into a pair of skinny jeans). Then I HOUSED a plate of french toast, banana bread, biscuits and gravy and lots of coconut water to refuel/rehydrate before lifting. Nerves + gluten bomb = bad idea.
There are three lifts at a powerlifting meet – back squat, bench press and deadlift. You get three attempts at each. It turns out there are lots of rules at these events. On back squat, to make a good lift, you unrack the bar, wait for the judge’s command to SQUAT, then squat to depth (below parallel), then stand and WAIT FOR THE JUDGE’S COMMAND TO RERACK THE BAR. Simple, right?
On my first squat attempt, at 245#, I did it with ease but forgot to wait for the judge to tell me to rack the bar. NO LIFT. Two more shots to get a good lift in.
For attempt #2, we decided to make a jump in weight, to 259#, even though I hadn’t made my first attempt:

My belt wasn’t tight enough and I didn’t breathe right. FAIL. No pressure Lis. One more fail and you’re out of the meet. That’d be a really cool story to go back and tell everyone. NOT. So I had a mini-panic attack. Cam and my new friend Laura (co-owner of CrossFit Johns Creek) talked me off the ledge. Lifting in a quiet ballroom is weird. I told myself to go out there and pretend I was lifting in the gym with Woody & Dyer, with Rack City blasting in the background. I tightened my belt, held my breath, waited for the judge’s command, squatted the weight, waited for the rack command, and then re-racked the bar. BOOM! Successful lift. I got to stay in the meet. Way to make it dramatic.
The next lift was bench press – by far my least-experienced lift. Luckily Woody was kind enough to bring in his fancy bench from home last week and coached me on some technique. He made me promise that if I won the meet, I would never speak ill of his bench again. That bench is awesome.
On bench press, there are three judge’s commands. The spotter helps you lift off, judge tells you to START, then at the bottom of the rep, you pause until the judge tells you to PRESS, then at the top of the rep, you pause until the judge tells you to RACK the bar. I opened at 121#:

Easy weight. For attempt #2, we went up to 130#:

Two-for-two. Let’s put some weight on the bar. Final attempt, at 149#:

I forgot to wait for the judge’s PRESS command… I faltered when I remembered, and failed the lift. Pesky rules.
Going into the deadlift, I was already 50# ahead of my competition. My opening weight was 20# more than hers, and easy weight for me at 60# less than my PR. There’s also only one judge’s command on the deadlift, so less stuff for me to mess up. First attempt – 280#:

Second attempt – 308#:

After each lift, you have 30 seconds to inform the judges of what your next attempt will be. Cam handled this for me. So after my second deadlift, we discussed how much weight I’d pull for the last attempt, and agreed on 336#. He came back from the judges’ table and told me he’d only increased the weight to 319#… for a minute I was angry, but I figured he thought I couldn’t pull more and trusted his judgment. I was just relieved the meet was almost over. Then when I got out to the platform and they announced my final attempt was at 336#, I realized he’d tricked me. Sneaky devil. Final attempt – 336#:

Yaaaaay, three-for-three! I earned a celebratory vodka-soda for surviving the meet:

I swear it had nothing to do with the tray of glasses I knocked over 20 minutes later back in the ballroom. Bull. China shop.
I knew I’d done well but had no idea where I stood against the competition. Cam said I was sitting pretty, so we hung around to wait on awards. Turns out, I won the Open in the raw (unequipped) division.
I learned a lot and had fun. My big take-aways from the event:
1. Lululemon should make singlets.
2. I’m bad at following directions.
3. Next time, I’ll extend my meet preparation beyond just four days.
Thanks to Woody for the bench press coaching, Derek for lending me that amazing singlet, and to Cam for answering all my silly questions leading up to the meet and for coaching me through it.

CFM Holiday Party IN FIVE DAYS!

FIVE days left! It’s the week we’ve all been waiting for…PARTY TIME! Join us Saturday from 7 to 10 pm, right here at CFM. We’ll provide the main course and beverages. You bring your favorite appetizer or dessert to share (paleo optional!). Lindsay is bringing her grandma’s Better-than-Sex cake (that’s right, I just said grandma and sex in the same sentence). What are you bringing???

Me & Coach Cam

Workout of the Day

A. Split squat:8 rep max at 3010 tempo
B. As many rounds & reps as possible in 20 minutes of:
5 Power Clean 145/100
10 Toes to bar
15 Wall balls 20/14

Pro Shop goodies

Yaaaay, just in time for the holidays we have new RED pullover sweatshirts aaaaand new RED knee socks arrive today! Hoodies are $40 and socks are $15. And our sale on all t-shirts & tank tops continues – get 2 for $40 through the end of the year. And I know what you’re wondering – YES! All of this gear is appropriate attire for your holiday office party.

GOLD & SILVER members – don’t forget you cool kids get a discount on pro shop purchases! Gold gets 15% off and Silver gets 10% off… regularly price merch only.
Check out the snazzy new red pullovers (model not included)! Plus these Welcome to the Jungle Ts and all other Tshirts & tanks are on sale through the end of the year.

Yoga tonight

Monica’s yoga class has been moved to Thursdays at 8:15pm. Join her tonight to stretch those sore muscles and work on mobility, balance and mental focus.

CFM Holiday Party IN NINE DAYS!

NINE days left! Uran & Dyer are recruiting a few more elves to help them with final party plans, decorations, playlists and set up. Post in the comments below if you can help. JUST WHEN IS THIS AWESOME PARTY, you ask? Why it’s next Saturday from 7 to 10 pm, right here at CFM. We’ll provide the main course and beverages. You bring your favorite appetizer or dessert to share (paleo optional!). I hear Lindsay is bringing her grandma’s Better-than-Sex cake (that’s right, I just said grandma and sex in the same sentence). What are you bringing???
BUSY NOON CLASS: Nate, Josh L, Ricky & Lindsay rocking the jumping muscle-ups while Anna hits slam balls.

Workout of the Day

A. Back Squat 4 sets of 7-9 reps @3010, rest 3 min
B. Eight 3-minute rounds:
In three minutes, complete 8 kettlebell swings, then sprint (run, row or AirDyne) for 15 to 45 seconds at 100%.
Rest the remainder of the three minutes. Repeat for a total of 8 rounds.

Fall Survey

Jennifer and Matt (from the eaaaaarly AM crew) are MBA students at GA Tech and have designed this survey for one of their classes. Everyone who completes the survey will be entered in a drawing (if you wish) to win a CFM Tshirt of your choice. Please click here to take the survey and send us your feedback. Thanks in advance for your input on making CFM a better box!

Gymnastics classes

For the four Tuesdays (11/27, 12/4, 12/11, 12/18) between Thanksgiving and Christmas, CFM is hosting an ALL LEVELS gymnastics class from 8 to 9 pm. The class is coached by Aimee Kurzner, a former gymnast/gymnastics coach, and will cover gymnastics positions, handstand progressions/holds/walks, pull up progressions/grip/kip/chest-to-bar/butterfly, pistols, cartwheels, ring rows/push ups/holds/L sits, double unders, toes to bar, muscle ups and rope climbs. Each class will include a warm up, skill work, a WOD and homework.
This class is included in your membership, and will count toward your weekly attendance just like any other class BUT YOU HAVE TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT. The class is capped at 14. Attendance at ALL FOUR CLASSES is required. If you can attend only three of four classes, let us know and we will put you on the waiting list. If 14 other students can attend all four sessions, they will be given first preference. If you’d like to attend, please email us with GYMNASTICS in the subject line.

Will burpee for food!

Throughout November, bring some non-perishable goods to donate to the Atlanta Community Food Bank. The CFM team is willing to do a burpee for every food item you donate. Simply assign the burpees to the coach on duty (or Lis!) when you drop off the donation and we’ll burpee our hearts out!

Upcoming events

BIRTHDAY HOOVERBALLThis weekend, Birthday Girl Brianne has requested a Hooverball revival. Join us at Piedmont Park at 11am for a Hooverball game (meet at the sand volleyball courts on the active oval).
HOLIDAY PARTYOn Saturday, December 8th, join your CFM friends for our holiday party here in the box from 7 to 10! We’ll provide the main course and some beverages. Please bring an appetizer or dessert to share. Friends are welcome!

Thanksgiving schedule

CFM will hold all regularly scheduled classes next week on Monday through Wednesday. We’ll be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving. On Friday, regular classes are cancelled, but there will be Open Gym sessions from 10am to 12noon and 4 to 6pm. Saturday there will be an open gym session from 10am to 12noon.
Open gym sessions will be supervised by a coach, but will not have formal group warm-ups. A coach will be on hand to answer questions, review movements and technique. You’ll have a choice of doing skill work, a programmed workout and/or doing a workout from recent weeks.

Nina, RUsty, Vanessa & Levy on swings.

Workout of the Day

A1. 3 rounds of Strict Press: 8-10 reps @1212, 30sec rest
A2. 3 rounds Weighted Pullup: 4-6 reps @2112, 2min rest
B. 5 rounds for time:
2 rope climbs
5 handstand push ups
10 kettlebell snatches (5 per arm)