CrossFitValleyPark

Thank you everyone for coming in today for our take off seminar for the Next Level Challenge. We hope you learned enough to get you started on the right path. We applaud you all for your dedication to do this! It looks like we have 22 people. $880 to the winner! You will all be getting an e-mail to let you know who your "check-in" coach will be. Remember to go over all the details of the challenge so you know precisely what you will be scored on. The tentative date for our final check in is April 11th. We will be keeping you updated on benchmark repeats, pics, and other details. The winners will be announced later that week. Tomorrow morning starts with a 3-2-1-GO! Good luck everyone!

Our gamers are getting ready and we've had some  get together workouts. David Cornthwaite (who trains independently) and Mike Walerius (a trainer at CrossFit St. Louis) came out to join us. They are both training hard for sectionals.

Jason Kahlipa (2008 CrossFit Games Champion) and owner of CrossFit Santa Clara is doing something fun. He's posting a WOD every Tuesday. Anyone interested is welcome to do it and send in their results. He will announce a winner each week. Submissions have to be in by the Thursday following each Tuesday announcement. Friday night our own Jake Howard did the WOD with a time of 15:02. Turns out the winner was 16:48. Jake would have won had he submitted it earlier. Awesome job Jake! For those interested in this one try 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 Clean and Jerk (#155, #95). In between each set, do 1 round of Cindy (5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats).

Monday Strength/Skill Work: Deadlift 2 X 5, 2 X 4, 2 X 3. Do each couplet (2 sets), then do one set of max rep. ring dips. For those of you strong on ring dips, use the belt with additional weight.

W.O.D.

-Partner up (if you are an odd number, go with one team of 3 and mirror one teammate)

-Between partners, complete:

-2000M Row

-100 OH Lunges (#45, #25)

 
 
 

 
 

"The Face of Determination!"

Everyone is doing an awesome job with their benchmarks for the Next Level Challenge. We are seeing some great numbers! The buzz is being felt and everyone is excited about dialing things in towards better health.

The first cooking event will be on February 6th, 5:30 p.m. The location is the Sayer's residence at 232 South Ballas, Kirkwood, Mo. 63122. Be sure to tell us if you are bringing your spouse. You don't need to bring anything except your appetite!

Friday Strength/Skill Work: You will have 30 minutes to warm up and work on skills of choice. If you haven't got your benchmarks in, this would be a good time to do it.

W.O.D. "In Between"

-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 Thuster (#95, #65)

-In between each set perform:

-10 Push-ups

-15 Sit-ups

-20 Walking Lunges

 

Tammy Finder and Todd Seabaugh are new athletes who are part of our early morning crew. They are doing great and a blast to work with. Everyone got a little taste of some light clean and jerks today. Remember to groove those movement patterns and use your legs!

Friday Strength/Skill Work: Back Squat (try the low bar position) 5 X 6. Alternate with push up practice (still having alot of people keeping the arms high, outside, and letting the shoulder blades collapse). For those of you strong on push-ups, try having a partner place a sandbag on your back.

W.O.D.

-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 Deadlift 

-In between each set, perform 5 burpees
 
 

We will be conducting bodyfat testing here on Tuesday, February 2nd. BodyFat Test will use a immersion tank system on site.  They will be here from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. The cost is $55 for the initial test and $35 for any at a later date. Please check with us to sign up. Here is some information.

Download The MOST accurate test and retest 2-2-10

Download BFT female sample

Thursday Strength/Skill Work: Front Squat 5 X 3. Alternating with ring skill of choice.
 
 
 

It looks like we'll be having our next St. Louis Affiliate Team competition sometime late March! This is a great chance for you to experience the fun and excitement of competition. The division sctructure is going to present every level of experience a chance to compete. We'll keep you posted on details.

Great interaction on the Next Level Nutrition Blog. A couple things. When you comment it would be helpful to include your last name or at least last initial. Since we are considering the interaction once the challenge starts, this will be important. Also, if you read something and you question whether the information is accurate, please feel free to bring it up! We want everyone to be informed. Nutrition is a confusing subject and we don't know everything. We're posting information as accurately as possible while relying on certain published information to be correct. 

Wednesday Strength/Skill Work: Deadlift 5 X 3. Alternate with KB Windmills, 6 on each side. Work towards heavier KB weight.

W.O.D.

-14 Minutes with a continuously running clock.

-On the top of each minute perform: 6 Split Lunges, 8 Push-ups, 10 Squats. You get to rest for any remaining time during each minute.

 

Tuesday Strength/Skill Work: Ring push ups/Ring dips alternating with KTE. 3 sets of each. Then pull-ups/kipping pull-ups alternating with good mornings. 3 sets of each. For those of you participating in the Next Level Challenge, use your 2nd set of pull-ups as your benchmark number.

W.O.D.

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 Reps of:

-Thruster (#95, #65)

-SDLHP (#95, #65)

-Push-up

-Burpee

 

The Saturday crew did great with our "Odd Ball" WOD. Tina Zimmerman conquered her fears with getting all 48 box jumps on the 16" box! Face your fears head on and soon it will be a strength. Kara Funk has her sights set on trying out for our Affiliate Cup team. This take a tremendous amount of courage! Also trying out will be Tawn Keener, Raelynn Chase, and Tracy Strubberg. There are some others considering so we should be in strore for an exciting event. Remember this is an "open" tryout so if you think you have what it takes, consider the challenge!

Monday Strength/Skill Work: OH Squat 5 X 5. After each set take a short rest. Then perform the next couplet quickly with no rest. 10 Toe to Bar or KTE, max rep. push ups.

W.O.D.

-1 Round of Fight Gone Bad.

-For those of you participating in the Next Level Challenge, you will use your first set of push-ups and 1 round FGB score for your benchmark numbers.

 
 
 

 
Dan Rohlfing came in Friday and asked for some help on doing a muscle up. We went through the false grip, deep ring dip position, transition move, and kip. After about 15 minutes it was time to tie it all together and go for it. We usually expect to see a handful of attemps, a few close calls, and maybe....maybe a successful muscle up. We Dan decided to bypass all that hogwash and just get it on his first try! So why not string 2 together? How about 3? Dan did it all within about 10 minutes. Great job Dan. That was very impressive.

The 2010 St. Louis Indoor Rowing Championships will be this Saturday, January 30th at 8 a.m. These are held at Washington University. Anyone can compete, regardless of age or experience. The distance is 2K for everyone. It should be neat to see a real rowing competition. I encourage anyone to give it a try. Right now Corey Lewis and Alex Fox are going to give it a shot. More details can be found here:St. Louis Rowing Club

Sunday: Rest Day. We are one week away from the Next Level Challenge. Use vision to help you succeed. Start thinking about how good you are going to look and feel. Picture yourself accomplishing your goals and it will happen.

 
One of our members, Jared Erickson has relocated back to Minnesota. This was all very sudden and we didn't get a chance to plan any kind of farewell. Jared is a great athlete and good guy. We all wish you and Becky the best of luck up north. Keep training hard and stay in touch!

There are alot of people posting on our Next Level Nutritional Blog! We are so glad to see the interaction. It's important to go through and read posts you may have missed. Also, if you have questions or comments on a previous archived post, comment on the most recent post. This way we will be sure to see it and respond. Keep it up everyone!

Saturday A.M. Class: Warm up. Find a partner and start working on back squats and OH presses. After a warm up weight quickly increase your load and find your 3 rep max. You will have about 40 minutes to do this. For those of you participating in our Next Level Challenge be sure to record your numbers on the white board. 

W.O.D.

-For time

-Row 800 meters

-Run 800 meters

"Our good friend Orie Shafer. We sure miss you."

Decided to pull out an old but great photo of Orie Shafer. Our good friend and nutritional guru has been helpful in answering our many nutritional questions as we prepare to launch our Next Level Challenge. He sends his regards and warm wishes to everyone.

Robb Wolf has also been great in answering our e-mails. He recently trained and sponsored a friend who attempted a world record of playing the drums for 120 hours! Can you imagine? Anyway, the wrap-up story is neat. Take a few minutes to read. Lou Mars: 108.5 Hours. Notice Lou lost 17 pounds in 2 weeks following strict Paleo!

Another article worth reading comes from a woman in Lima, Peru. CrossFit is everywhere! My Inner Athlete.

Friday Class- Spend exactly 10 minutes going through a dynamic warm-up. Jump right into the workout of the day. Spend the time remaining working on skills of your choice!

W.O.D.

-Set up a barbell. #95 for men, #65 women. (scale if needed!)

-For time, complete 3 couplets. You must finish each couplet before moving on.

-5 Thrusters, 5 push-ups, 5 rounds

-5 SDLHP, 5 pull-ups, 5 rounds

-5 Back Squats, 5 burpees, 5 rounds