ALBANY CROSSFIT

It doesn't have to be fun to be fun!

When is an intense, grueling, punishing workout fun?  When it's a team workout on a Saturday morning at Albany CrossFit!  Starting with 2 miles or running, Wall Balls, Push Presses, Jumps, Rowing, Swings, and finishing with deadlifts, is not your average person's idea of a good time.  But, at Albany CrossFit we are not average people, and everyone was sweating, bleeding, and smiling!

We were so proud of Andrew V. during today's WOD.  More then anything he wanted to give up as he felt he was letting his team down.  But, we encouraged him to continue and helped him understand as long as he was giving his all and doing his best that's all we can ask.  It was really great to see his team of Jen G., Kwame, and Theresa rally behind him and push him to finish the workout. 

John Marro has been really picking up his performance these last few weeks.  John was the first one back from the run and then came back super fast from his team's one-mile run.  After the workout he had a quick run-in with "Pukie" and was heard saying, "Jay, that was the first time you made me puke in like 5 years"...where else can you hear this stuff?

Thanks so much to Camille for organizing and picking up our meat order! 

Don't forget to check out our all new Blog - Link of the Day...stay informed!

Are you on our "athletes" page? 

Who is in the July Challenge?

"We must all hang together, or assuredly, we shall all hang separately." --Benjamin Franklin

Mass Hysteria

At Albany CrossFit not only do you have to work hard...you need to think hard.  For many of you, the working out is actually the easier part of the WOD! 

"Red Rover" was an exciting workout for a beautiful Friday.  Teams of 3 got together and worked cohesively to see how many point they could score while sprinting, swinging, and hitting burpees.  Strategies were definitely in play, but often lost as teams were cracking under pressure.  The team of Coach Matt, Marine Mike, and the Red Devil had a strong plan going into the workout but once things got started they were in a tizzy and just did what they do best and busted their butts!  

6:30pm class celebrated "Happy Hour" the right way, with a KBs, Burpees, and running.  The women (Kari, Angie, Katie, Kia) represented at they kept up with the men (John M., John N., Alex, and Ernie), all while swinging the 55 pounder.  Ultimately they fell two rounds behind, but put in a phenomenal showing.

We are super excited for tomorrow's team workout.  Show up ready to go as close to 10am as possible.  We will do a quick recap of the event structure and rules and be set to go.  Since equipment setup is part of the workout we should be set to get pretty quickly.

 

Check out our all new blog - Link of the Day.  Coach Brett is going to be posting a cool CrossFit related link every night. 

 

Bisexuality immediately doubles your chances for a date on Saturday night. --Woody Allen

Read Carefully - Be ready for Saturday!

There will be only one class on Saturday at 10am and it is going to be a blast.  Pay attention, there will be rules and you will be required to have read and understand them.  Sue, Marie, Anne...you may want to read this twice!

We will break into teams of 4 athletes.  Each team will consist of two men and two women.  In the case of an odd number we will work it out.  If possible, please post to comments that you will be attending class so we can start to create the teams.

There will be two parts to the workout for every team.

General Rules
1. Each workout will be performed by two men and two women from the team.
2. The movement standards are typical of Albany CrossFit unless otherwise stated.
3. Teams will benefit from strategies that consider the relative strengths of their athletes, particularly in terms of the work/rest demands of different positions in the workouts.

Run Workout
3200m (approximately) run relay

Rules:
1. The first athlete will run one lap (approximately 400m) carrying a short piece of PVC.
2. At the completion of the lap, there will be a well marked transition area in which to pass the PVC to the second athlete, who runs one lap with the PVC.
3. This repeats until all four athletes have run one lap with the PVC.
4. The team then runs one final mile together.
5. When the last athlete crosses the finish line holding the PVC the team can then move on to begin the stadium workout.  The team cannot begin Part 2 until all 4 members of the team are back from the run.

Stadium Workout
30 Wallballs (20lbs/14lbs)
Row 300m
30 Box jumps (24")
30 KB swings (24kg/16kg)
30 Push press / Push jerk (95lbs/65lb)
30 Deadlifts (225lbs/135lbs)

Rules: 

1. The workout will begin with a 3...2...1...Go.  At this point each team is required to set up their equipment in a safe orderly fashion.  When they believe they are set and ready to go, they will find a coach that will "ok" them to start the exercises.  With the exception of the row, all movements will be completed outdoors.
2. The wallballs are performed one athlete at a time, starting with the women. When all four athletes have completed the wallballs, they move on together as a team.
3. The middle four drills are then performed together in "Annie R U Ok?" format, meaning all four team members start at different stations at the same time. They rotate in the order listed once all four athletes have completed the rowing and reps. When all four athletes have completed all four drills, they move together to the deadlifts.
3. The barbell will be pre-loaded with 225lbs. Both men will perform 30 deadlifts each, and then the team will be responsible for removing 90lbs. Both women will then perform 30 deadlifts each.
4. The clock stops when all the movements are completed and then the equipment is returned neatly and safely to it's proper place.  At that point the team will get a coach and their time will be recorded.

 

“To me, it's a good idea to always carry two sacks of something when you walk around. That way, if anybody says, Hey, can you give me a hand? You can say, Sorry, got these sacks. - Deep Thoughts (Saturday Night Live)”

Work in Progress

Judging by all the sweat angels we saw today, our new programming is a huge success.  It seems our athletes are really getting the understanding of what  MetCon is supposed to feel like.  "Fran" is a workout meant to kick your a$$...you will get stronger at your thrusters and pullups during our heavy lifting portion of the day and class.

With that being said we can understand some frustrations.  On one hand some of you now feel as if you have to "scale" a workout that in the past you were able to complete as rx'd.  But, you have to not look at these WODs as prescribed vs. scaled.  What we are trying to do is make every workout as individualized as possible, and this means working with a percentage of your one rep max.

For many of you this percentage is lighter then you would have gone in the past.  Our goal and belief is that by going lighter with your weights and bodyweight movements you can actually up your Power and Intensity by going Faster!.  Read more about Power and Intensity on today's Morning Mayhem post.

What does this mean to you?  You will have to leave your ego at the door!  You may have to go lighter, you may have to use a band for pullups, but we are only doing this because we believe right now it is the best training we can offer you.  For some of you it means you might have to go heavier.  For example, Gene had to use 105lbs. for "Fran" today because he has a 210lb. Push Press, but then he used the green band to make his pullups chest to bar and faster.

We also understand it's frustrating when we teach you kipping chin over bar pullups and now "take that away" and tell you chest to bar or strict pullups.  Two things...1) such is life (as our parents always told us growing up).  2)  We are only doing this to make you better athletes and help you perform better.  It is not to punish you, frustrate you, or make you feel bad about yourselves!  

Another idea to remember is that for the past 3 weeks every MetCon you have done has been after heavy lifts.  So, you are not fresh going into every WOD.  On our 7th week of this cycle we will not be hitting heavy lifts, we expect tons of PRs on our standard WODs that week.

We like to think of ourselves as fitness whores.  If we find something that is Proven to work and that is with measurable, observable, and repeatable tests we will incorporate that.  Be that, chest to bar pullups, or percentage based WOD programming.  In fact if Viv started rollerblading and eating donuts 5 times a day and realized her deadlift went up and "Fran" time went down...guess what we will start incorporating...rollerblading and donuts!

Do you get it?  CrossFit is a work in progress and we are constantly learning.  But, we always have nothing but our athletes best interest in minds.  We care about each and every one of you and want nothing more then to see you succeed, so bare with us, believe us, and do your best!

"With great love, all is possible." -- Sharon Gannon

The path of least resistance...

Is a straight line, right?  Even our physics phd Kai agreed with this statement.  Yet, so many athletes push that bar in a circle around their face.  But not Adrianne!  Adrianne took our cue of push that bar into your chin quite literally and proceed to try to push press the bar through her face!  Generally you only make that mistake once.  Like a true champ she got a band-aid and finished the WOD!

Check out our July Challenge!  Great job to everyone that competed in our June Challenge...mostly morning mayhem folks.  Did anyone hit the goals of 1000 Pullups?  If so, you get a prize, please post to comments!

We are seeing incredible changes of everyone in the Paleo Challenge!  Rich is looking ripped, Tracey has dropped over 10lbs., Jen C. is looking incredibly lean, Buzz is getting slim, Nicole is tearing up WODs, and everyone else is doing fabulous!  How are YOU feeling?  Post to comments.

More Performance Logs are in.  If you pre-paid come pick yours up.  If you still don't have one there is a limited quantity available. 

Don't forget meat orders are due this Wednesday, July 8th.  Camille will be picking up the meat on Saturday, July 11th.  Be prepared to pick it up at the gym at around noon.  Please come prepared to pay for the meat you have ordered.

We have some new athletes...if you are not already in "Our Athletes" section be sure to send us a write-up about yourself.

Anyone interested in looking extra goofy while they workout?  Fleet Feet just down the road is now selling Vibram Five Fingers.

 

Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it.  I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down.  --Charles F. Kettering

Independence Day and much more

We were not sure if we should hold class on the 4th of July...30 athletes later, and we realized we had made the right decision!

The fact that 30 athletes would show up on not only a Saturday morning, but a holiday, just further goes to show how amazing our community is. 

We hit a fun WOD "First Series" that was a killer workout, but a great one to do with friends encouraging you and pushing you harder then you thought possible.  

Allotta Tabata:

Fantastic job by all athlete's tonight with "Tabata This".  Some crazy high scores and some incredible form.  Definitely one of our most killer all bodyweight workouts.  What is everyone's least favorite exercise for Tabata?  Pullups?  Pushups?  Situps?  Squats?  Running?  Rowing?  Or something we haven't even thought of?  Post your thoughts to comments.

 

 

Find your 1RM:

Tons of new deadlift PRs tonight and it's time to give a little shout out to the men of Albany CrossFit.  Led by Kwame with an astounding 455 deadlift, we saw some incredibly heavy lifts.  Here are just a few: Fuji - 405, Alan - 405, Albert - 415, Bill J. - 300, Brett - 425, Kai - 235, Steve S. - 255, Arnold - 185, Larry - 430, Dave W. - 430, Mike Mc. - 370.  Some solid PRs by the ladies as well: Jackie - 240, Adrianne - 210, Elise - 225, Amanda - 200, Sarah - 155, Alison - 200, Kari - 220.  

 

 

While Jess is away the beginners will play!  

All of the beginners did awesome tonight during the 6:30pm class.  They were able to hop right into the "Tabata This" workout and keep up with the entire class.  Form was good, intensity was high, great job by everyone!

 

Don't forget meat orders are due this Wednesday, July 8th.  Camille will be picking up the meat on Saturday, July 11th.  Be prepared to pick it up at the gym at around noon.  Please come prepared to pay for the meat you have ordered.

We have some new athletes...if you are not already in "Our Athletes" section be sure to send us a write-up about yourself.

 

A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.  -- Christopher Reeve

Athlete of the Week

Certain things are always associated with one another.  Peanut Butter...Jelly, bagels...cream cheese, lime green tank tops...Dave Walker!

Whether he is sporting his infamous tank top or not, one thing is certain, Dave will be giving it his all when he steps through the doors of Albany CrossFit.  In fact often times his all leads to some dangerous conditions as he leaves not just some sweat, but a pool of sweat!  

 

Dave is consistent, coming in at least 4 times every week.  He works on his weakness, has amazing flexiblity for a big guy, and is always fun to be around.  Dave has now stepped up his nutrition has he hopped into the Paleo Challenge and is already seeing and feeling the results.  Dave definitely has the potential to run away with the whole competition.  Keep up the great work!

 

"If you live life, then you become what you are." --Dave Matthews