Monday 121231

Strength

Deadlift

Work up to a 1RM in 10:00

3 x 5 Dimel Deadlift, 135#/95#

Work for speed.

WOD

Complete as many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of:

6 Thusters, 145#/95#

15 Pull-ups

20 Double-unders

REST 1:00

As many reps as possible in 2:00 of:

Burpee Box Jumps, 24"/18"

 

Todd!

For the next 8 weeks of programming I worked with Coach Drew to help me put it together. Drew recently attended the Westside Barbell Powerlifting Seminar and he was willing to refresh me on some of the Westside concepts and provide me with any changes from when I attended. As always with the Westside approach we will be doing strength work on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays using the Westside Conjugate method. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we will have some good Oly work for you.

This is all fine and dandy but we have bigger fish to fry. This program will be taking us right up to the start of the CrossFit Open and due to this fact, the main focus of this program will be to prepare you as best we can for this event. Now I know some of you are thinking, "well I wasn't planning on doing the Open." Well don't worry, this program will satisfy everyone. However, now is as good of a time as any to address this. We want and encourage all of you to do the Open regardless of your level or abilities. Competition can be intimidating but it also does great things for us. It gives us something to focus on and train for and best of all it helps push us to those higher heights that we just have not reached for yet. Now what makes competition scary is the internal thought of failing. Well, I am here to tell you that you will never know great achievement unless you are willing to risk that.

There is a small section from a speech that Theodore Roosevelt gave in Paris titled Citizenship In A Republic that Jon and I often use for inspiration. We have used this in past posts and the section of importance is referred to as The Man In The Arena.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

The first year of the Open we had an athlete who was reluctant to participate. She did not have double-unders at the time and of course the first workout had that movement. To say she was distraught is an understatement. However, this feeling did not keep her from doing the Open or doing that that first WOD. It was an AMRAP and the first movement was DU's. Most would have locked themselves in their homes and turned off the lights for that week. Not this lady. She showed up and that day she got her first double-under. She got a PR in a competition WOD. She is not the only one, it happens all the time (that's what is awesome about doing the Open). Now, that's not even the best part. Jon, Tyson, Drew and myself had to take our written test at a Level 1 Cert that year during the open. As the CrossFit instructors stood up in front of the class of about 50 people and talked about ALL the events occurring all around the WORLD during the open, they brought up the fact that there was a lady in our region that had a score of "1" for the first workout. They all knew how cool that was because they all knew that she got her first one. Well that lady that scored that 1 rep is our very own Wendy Tomaschow, and she got the attention of the elites in the CrossFit community and many others throughout the world because she stepped into the arena. Who is going to follow her in there this year?

Alright, I gave myself goose bumps, but I love that story. So to help us with the goal of getting ALL of you ready we used a statistical analysis done by Anders Larson. He gathered data from all the Open, Regional, and Games WODS through the years, to determine frequency of movements and weights. This is what Coach Drew and I used to select movements and weights for the WODS in this program. We structured the format of the WODS in similar fashion to what we have seen through the years as well. They are typically short AMRAP's and you might see some AMRAP's where when you look at it you think that you will be lucky to finish 1 round. Well you are right, that is the Open.

On top of this, you will notice that some days will have multiple short WODS. Almost a series of mini WODS with specific rest between each. We took this from the style of the Outlaw Way. It is basically interval WOD training. Anyone who is not familiar with Rudy and his programming, check it out. Pretty much all of your coaches do his programming from time to time. We enjoy it and we wanted to add some of that Outlaw flare to this program. 

So, be brave and sign up for the Open. Have fun with this program. Come in everyday with a focused and determined attitude. Lastly, let’s see just how awesome you can get in 8 weeks! Please give feed back to Coach Drew and I. That is very important us and have fun!

 

Comments

[JoAnne]

Wendy...you are an inspiration!

[Marcio]

Great write-up!

[Stephanie Juhnke]

Awesome write up! Wendy you were and still are an inspiration; I have looked up to you since day 1. Much accreditation to the Coaches for always seeing the best in everyone. For pushing us to a level many of us thought we could never attain; not only in the box but outside as well. And of course for not letting the 'I can't" mentality overpower our minds. The positiveness and comradery of the athletes and COACHES is at an ELITE level.
I miss the box, but its a comfort to know i have the website and you all are only a phone call away.
CROSSFIT EVOLVE IS THE BEST BOX EVER!

Stephanie J

[Erin Kessinger]

I love this! And of course Wendy T., she is pretty bad ass. The quote is fantastic!

[Hanif]

Yea some changes may need to hpaepn for legs. We can collaborate as we go. Squats, 31545 b0 Leg Press, 600Stiff Leg Dead Lift, 185Ten rounds for time of:95 OH Squat, 10 reps10 Ring push-ups9:55