In my opinion the key to developing the cardiovascular system without an unacceptable loss of strength, speed, and power is through interval training. Interval training mixes bouts of work and rest in timed intervals.  By varying the duration of the work and rest intervals we are able to control the dominant metabolic pathway conditioned. These short yet intense interval training sets are highly effective in altering the ratio of lean body mass to fat without compromising muscle mass. This is why interval training is so commonly seen in CrossFit because it produces desirable results faster than any other type of workout regimen.

-Andrew

Wednesday's WODs

Level 1

Skill: 15 minutes of snatch technique work. If your form looks good feel free to add weight. If form breaks down (not achieving full hip/knee extenion, don't catch bar with elbows locked out, bar getting away from the body, bending arms early, not landing on heels, feet too wide, etc) lower weight.

3-Position Snatch
(one from the floor, mid-hang, & high hang)

5x3 @ 70% of snatch 1 rep max.  

then,

3 min max reps Power Snatch (115/95)

Rest 1:30

3 min max reps Box Jumps (24"/20")

Rest 1:30

3 Rounds 

- Two scores - total number of power snatch and box jumps.

______________________

Elements

Skill: Power Snatch

then,

Alternating TABATA

Power Snatch (65/35)
Pushups

Sumo Deadlift High Pull (65/35)
Wall Ball Shots (14/10)

20 seconds of work, followed by 10 seconds of rest. Alternate between first two exercises until completing 8 sets of each. In a double alternating tabata there are 8 rounds of two different exercises, making a total of 16 (20s work:10 rest) intervals. Your score is your total number of each exercise. Immediately move on to next two exercises.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

**Please note our new childcare hours. We offer FREE childcare M-F during the 9:15 and 6:30 pm classes including Saturdays at 9:00 am. 

**For those of you eating paleo, mostly paleo, or just care about eating humanely raised products that are also organic and pastured, come this Saturday at 11:30 to CrossFit Fort Wayne to hear from Melvin and Lavern Fry talk about their local farm, Fry Farms Co-op. They will bring some of their products along so you can see them, see how they are packaged ,etc. There will be a Q&A session where you can talk directly to the farmers about their farming practices, the animals...anything! We've been getting their products for a few years now and love them.

**Our 2nd Annual Memorial Day Murph Challenge will be held Monday, May 28th @ 10:00am. Following the work-out we will be hosting a Memorial Day Cook-Out! Lots of burgers, beer, and even better- community!  Please join us!

**Please take note of the new schedule! We have a new Oly class Saturdays at 10:00am and Open Gym from 4:30 to 5:30pm Thursdays. Hope to see you there!

Tuesday's WOD

Level 1

Skill: Handstand Push-Up. Every min, on the min, for 5 min 10 HSPU's . 1 min rest between each min.

*try and do them as strict as possible in each set without kipping. 

then,

70 Double-Unders (210 singles)

14 Dead Hang Pull-Ups

60 Double Unders (180 singles)

12 Dead Hang Pull-Ups

50 Double Unders (150 singles)

10 Dead Hang Pull-Ups

40 Double Unders (120 singles)

8 Dead Hang Pull-Ups

*Remember, If you kip to complete a pull-up then it doesn't count.  We are looking for strict pull-ups today.

____________________________

Elements

Skill: Double Under.  Every minute, on the minute, for 5 minutes of 10 double-unders. 30 sec rest in between each min.

*If you struggle with DU's try and to get a few within the min.

then,

"Kettlebell/Burpee Ladder"

Round 1 = 1 KB Swing (35/15) and 1 Burpee (rest for remainder of minute)  

Round 2 = 2 KB Swings and 2 Burpees (rest for remainder of minute)

Round 3 = 3 KB Swings and 3 Burpees (rest for the remainder of minute)

ANNOUNCEMENTS

**For those of you eating paleo, mostly paleo, or just care about eating humanely raised products that are also organic and pastured, come this Saturday at 11:30 to CrossFit Fort Wayne to hear from Melvin and Lavern Fry talk about their local farm, Fry Farms Co-op. They will bring some of their products along so you can see them, see how they are packaged ,etc. There will be a Q&A session where you can talk directly to the farmers about their farming practices, the animals...anything! We've been getting their products for a few years now and love them.

**Our 2nd Annual Memorial Day Murph Challenge will be held Monday, May 28th @ 10:00am. Following the work-out we will be hosting a Memorial Day Cook-Out! Lots of burgers, beer, and even better- community!  Please join us!

**Please take note of the new schedule! We have a new Oly class Saturdays at 10:00am and Open Gym from 4:30 to 5:30pm Thursdays. Hope to see you there!

**The Toughmudder is coming up on Saturday, June 16th. It's not too late to sign up. Please talk to Andrew if you're interested. We're going to have a blast

It is often very easy to get wrapped up in chasing skills that we aren’t really ready to go after.  Before you begin chasing muscle-ups let’s make sure you meet some minimums.  First of all you need healthy shoulders.  Those of you who have bad shoulders (you know who you are) are better off spending time on other ring drills.  Muscle-ups place a tremendous amount of stress on the shoulder joint and tend to make bad shoulders unhappy fast.  You also need at least 10 strict pull-ups and 15 ring dips. If you don’t meet those minimums then your time is better spent building basic strength and getting your shoulders healthy.  Be patient as that increased strength will help you get further down the fitness road.

Once you meet those minimums you need to spend time working on hanging from the rings with a false grip and on false grip pull-ups.  The false grip is critical when first learning the muscle-up because it shortens the lever arm and puts us in a better biomechanical position to complete the move.  The false grip pull-up has a very different feel than a traditional grip and stresses the wrists and forearms very differently.  Realize that the false grip is a temporary solution and that as your strength improves we will work towards doing a muscle-up with a standard grip.

Once you meet the requisite basic strength requirements and feel comfortable with your false grip pull-ups the primary challenge when developing a muscle-up is always learning how to work through the transition.  The simplest solution is to add a portion of the transition to the top of each pull-up and the bottom of each dip.  So for each pull-up try to pull yourself a little higher and add more transition to the top of each rep and on each ring dip try to lower yourself a little bit lower than the supported bottom of the dip.  Be careful to only lower yourself as far as your strength will allow you to pull back out of and continue on with the next dip (Less is definitely more in this case).  Over time you will be able to smoothly pull yourself up to the top of the rings and smoothly lower yourself down.  The downward phase is critical so that you can eventually string several cool ring moves together.

Check out the video above demonstrating both of these drill (Notice his excellent false grip).  For ease of presentation we have combined the moves, but for practical purposes I recommend practicing the pull-up portion and dip portion separately in the beginning.  Notice on each pull-up he is pulling himself a little higher into that transition and on each dip he is lowering himself a bit more, but still pulling himself out of the transition.  Obviously, he is very strong and make these drills look easy.  Realize that these are challenging drills and plan to spend some time slowly building up strength through the transition.

Once you can do a single muscle-up you should continue to develop your proficiency until you can do 3 consecutive (including a controlled lower to full extension under the rings) and then it is time to move on to a harder variation.  There isn’t much point in spending any more time on that variation.  Progress in gymnastics strength development does not come from beating one particular variation to death, but in learning the basic movement and then carefully proceeding through the subsequent progressions. It should also be remembered that there are far harder exercises than a muscle-up. Once you are proficient and have progressed through the variations in question it is time to move on.

A word on kipping muscle-ups – a kipping muscle-up is just that a kipping muscle-up.  Let’s not confuse that with a strict muscle-up. A strict muscle-up does not include a kip and is one smooth motion from dead hang to support on the rings. Some folks like to go straight to practicing the kipping version, but this isn’t the best idea.  Kipping muscle-ups place tremendous ballistic stress on your shoulder girdle.  I’ve actually heard of a few folks  who have dislocated their shoulder practicing this variation.  Just like I would never encourage someone to try clapping push-ups before they mastered the standard version, I don’t think it is a great idea to spend time working the kipping muscle-up version.  The kipping muscle-up also limits our strength development in that critical transition phase because we are using the kip to power through it.  Obviously someday you may come across a WOD with a bunch of muscle-ups.  If you can do strict muscle-ups and have solid kipping pull-ups you will have no problem turning a good time.  The inverse is definitely not true.  Additionally, mastering the strict muscle-up opens up a whole new world of cool gymnastics skills to chase.

-Andrew

Monday's WODs

Level 1

Strength: Front Squat

Three sets (based upon 1 rep max) If you do not know your 1RM, perform all sets at a moderately heavy weight without form breaking down.

x 5 reps @ 70%

x 3 reps @ 80%

x 1 rep @ 90%

x 10 reps @ 75%

then,

10 Front Squat, 135/95

100m Farmer’s Carry, 35/15

20 Overhead Squat, 115/75

100m Farmer’s Carry

30 Back Squat 95/65

100m Farmer’s Carry

_______________________

Elements

Skill: Front Squat

then,

400m Run

15 Front Squats (65/35)

5 Rounds

ANNOUNCEMENTS

**For those of you eating paleo, mostly paleo, or just care about eating humanely raised products that are also organic and pastured, come this Saturday at 11:30 to CrossFit Fort Wayne to hear from Melvin and Lavern Fry talk about their local farm, Fry Farms Co-op. They will bring some of their products along so you can see them, see how they are packaged ,etc. There will be a Q&A session where you can talk directly to the farmers about their farming practices, the animals...anything! We've been getting their products for a few years now and love them.

**Our 2nd Annual Memorial Day Murph Challenge will be held Monday, May 28th @ 10:00am. Following the work-out we will be hosting a Memorial Day Cook-Out! Lots of burgers, beer, and even better- community!  Please join us!

**Please take note of the new schedule! We have a new Oly class Saturdays at 10:00am beginning this week and Open Gym from 4:30 to 5:30pm Thursdays. Hope to see you there!

**The Toughmudder is coming up on Saturday, June 16th. It's not too late to sign up. Please talk to Andrew if you're interested. We're going to have a blast

Friday's WODs

Level 1

Strength: Clean Pulls, 3x5 (85% 1RM)

Tall Cleans, 3x5 (65% 1RM)

Then,

400m Run

4 C&Js (75% of 1RM)

400m Run

3 C&Js (80% of 1RM)

400m Run

2 C&Js (85% of 1RM)

400m Run

1 C&J (90% of 1RM)

_________________________________

Elements

Skill: Handstands; 30 sec. hold, 1 min. rest

3 Rounds

Then,

400m Run

--------------

10 Push Presses

20 Sit-Ups

4 Rounds

-------------

400m Run

ANNOUNCEMENTS

**Know a friend or family member that wants to try CrossFit Fort Wayne! If so, please invite them to workout with you this Saturday, May 12th for a FREE Guest Day!

**Our 2nd Annual Memorial Day Murph Challenge will be held Monday, May 28th @ 10:00am. Following the work-out we will be hosting a Memorial Day Cook-Out! Lots of burgers, beer, and even better- community!  Please join us!

**Please take note of the new schedule! We have a new Oly class Saturdays at 10:00am beginning this week and Open Gym from 4:30 to 5:30pm Thursdays. Hope to see you there!

**The Toughmudder is coming up on Saturday, June 16th. It's not too late to sign up. Please talk to Andrew if you're interested. We're going to have a blast.

Cranberry Spinach Salad

1 T. butter (substituted w/bacon grease)

1/2 c. almonds, blanched and slivered

8 oz. spinach

1/2 c. dried cranberries (substituted w/strawberries & blueberries – over 1 c.)

Dressing:

1 T. toasted sesame seeds

1/2 T. poppy seeds

1/8 c. sugar (omitted)

1 t. minced onion

1/8 t. paprika

1/4 c. balsamic vinegar

1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

12 oz. bacon (optional)

Cook bacon (drain, reserving some of grease). Cook and stir almonds in grease until lightly toasted. Remove from heat & cool.
Rinse spinach. Combine in large bowl with toasted almonds and fruit.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, onion, paprika, balamic vinegar and olive oil.
Toss everything together just before serving. (It makes lots of dressing. I don't think you even need half for 8 oz. spinach.)

Thursday's WODs

Level 1

Strength: Snatch Balance, 5x3 @ 65-75% of 1RM

Then,

"Jackie"

1000m Row

50 Thrusters (45/35)

30 Pull-Ups

__________________________________________

Elements

Skill: Kipping Pull-Ups

10 Overhead Weighted Lunges (15/10lb plate; R+L=1)

10 Pull-Ups

AMRAP in 10 min.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

**Know a friend or family member that wants to try CrossFit Fort Wayne! If so, please invite them to workout with you this Saturday, May 12th for a FREE Guest Day! The workout begins at 9:00 am.

**Our 2nd Annual Memorial Day Murph Challenge will be held Monday, May 28th @ 10:00am. Following the work-out we will be hosting a Memorial Day Cook-Out! Lots of burgers, beer, and even better- community!  Please join us!

**Please take note of the new schedule! We have a new Oly class Saturdays at 10:00am beginning this week and Open Gym from 4:30 to 5:30pm Thursdays. Hope to see you there!

**The Toughmudder is coming up on Saturday, June 16th. It's not too late to sign up. Please talk to Andrew if you're interested. We're going to have a blast.

Here are brand new CrossFitters, Jeremy, James, and Charlotte stretching during the warm-up. The warm-up is key to developing good range of motion, preparing the body for the work ahead, and preventing injury. That's why we do trainer-led warm-ups - so you go into the workout prepared and ready for the challenge ahead.

Wednesday's WODs

Level 1

Skill: 30 sec. hold on the rings (in locked out position)

30 sec. rest

30 sec. as many ring dips as possible

30 sec. rest

5 Rounds

Then,

15 Hang Power Cleans

15 Burpees

4 Rounds

Rest exactly 1 min.

100 sit-ups for time

______________________________________

Elements

Skill: Power Clean

Power Cleans

Lateral Shuffles (from one end of your barbell to the other; R+L=1)

14-12-10-8-6-4-2

ANNOUNCEMENTS

**Know a friend or family member that wants to try CrossFit Fort Wayne! If so, please invite them to workout with you this Saturday, May 12th for a FREE Guest Day!

**Our 2nd Annual Memorial Day Murph Challenge will be held Monday, May 28th @ 10:00am. Following the work-out we will be hosting a Memorial Day Cook-Out! Lots of burgers, beer, and even better- community!  Please join us!

**Please take note of the new schedule! We have a new Oly class Saturdays at 10:00am beginning this week and Open Gym from 4:30 to 5:30pm Thursdays. Hope to see you there!

**The Toughmudder is coming up on Saturday, June 16th. It's not too late to sign up. Please talk to Andrew if you're interested. We're going to have a blast.

Martha, Jen, Renae, and Christy during a Saturday morning WOD. What's so special about Saturdays? We've always got a team workout that day; teams of two, three or four work together to complete the required tasks. Having a team member count on you makes you push yourself that much harder.

This Saturday bring a guest to the 9:00am class to try CrossFit and see what we're all about!

Tuesday's WODs

Level 1

Strength: 5x2 Weighted Pull-Ups

Then,

Deadlifts

Box Jumps (32''/24'')

Choose one of the following rep schemes with weight you can move efficiently and with good form:

12-10-8 @ 265/185

16-14-12 @ 225/155

20-18-16 @ 185/125

26-24-22 @ 135/95

___________________________________

Elements

Skill: Deadlift

7 Deadlifts (135/95)

7 Half Moons (R+L=1)

7 Rounds

**Every min on the min, 3 box jumps (20''/12'')

ANNOUNCEMENTS

**Know a friend or family member that wants to try CrossFit Fort Wayne! If so, please invite them to workout with you on Saturday, May 12th for a FREE Guest Day!

**Our 2nd Annual Memorial Day Murph Challenge will be held Monday, May 28th @ 10:00am. Following the work-out we will be hosting a Memorial Day Cook-Out! Lots of burgers, beer, and even better- community!  Please join us!

**Please take note of the new schedule! We have a new Oly class Saturdays at 10:00am beginning this week and Open Gym from 4:30 to 5:30pm Thursdays. Hope to see you there!

**The Toughmudder is coming up on Saturday, June 16th. It's not too late to sign up. Please talk to Andrew if you're interested. We're going to have a blast.

Dave and Aaron work as a team at the office and at the gym. These guys have been making great progress in their mobility, strength, and endurance! Keep up the great work guys. Having a great supportive group makes taking care of your health that much easier.

Monday's WODs

Level 1

Skill: Work on your goat / rope climbs

Then,

AMRAP in 6 min. of

1 Rope Climb

12 Weighted Barbell Lunges (95/65) (every lunge counts as one)

Rest 2 min.

AMRAP in 6 min. of

14 KB Swings

7 Bar Roll-outs

_______________________________________

Elements

Skill: Squat Therapy

Then,

5 Burpees

10 KB Swings (35/15)

15 Air Squats

AMRAP in 15 min.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

**Know a friend or family member that wants to try CrossFit Fort Wayne! If so, please invite them to workout with you on Saturday, May 12th for a FREE Guest Day!

**Our 2nd Annual Memorial Day Murph Challenge will be held Monday, May 28th @ 10:00am. Following the work-out we will be hosting a Memorial Day Cook-Out! Lots of burgers, beer, and even better- community!  Please join us!

**Please take note of the new schedule! We have a new Oly class Saturdays at 10:00am beginning this week and Open Gym from 4:30 to 5:30pm Thursdays. Hope to see you there!

**The Toughmudder is coming up on Saturday, June 16th. It's not too late to sign up. Please talk to Andrew if you're interested. We're going to have a blast.

I love seeing new faces at the gym. Beginners, transfers from other gyms, and guests. It seems like there are always new people walking around CFFW–training, lifting, getting stronger, getting fitter, getting better. I love getting to know the new faces, learning what they do, who they are, where they came from, and watching them progress. I love seeing their eyes light up with that spark when they get something, when it clicks. I love seeing them show up in new workout clothes because their old stuff no longer fits.

I love seeing guests walk into CFFW for the first time. Seeing them stop a moment and take it all in, staring at the the pullup rack, the ropes, the size and space. A lot of hard work has gone into CrossFit Fort Wayne and it is so gratifying to see that initial jaw drop. It’s even more gratifying to get that sweaty handshake at the end of class and hear, “great class, great gym, thanks for letting me train, you have a great thing going, I’ll definitely be back.”

It is this mix of old members, new members, returning members, guests, trainers, and everyone in between that makes CFFW such a dynamic community. Each person, each PR, each workout adds to that ever-growing community. Thanks for being part of it all, folks!

Friday's WODs

Strength: Split Jerk, 5x1

then,

10 min AMRAP of:

Double Unders

At the top of every minute (starting at 3, 2, 1…GO), execute 3 Thrusters (135/95)

Score is total number of DUs completed in the 10mins (or singles divided by FOUR)

______________________________________

Elements

Skill: Thruster

then,

21 Thrusters (65/35)

12 Bent Over Barbell Rows (65/35)

4 Rounds

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Know a friend or family member that wants to try CrossFit Fort Wayne! If so, please invite them to workout with you on Saturday, May 12th for a FREE Guest Day!

Our 2nd Annual Memorial Day Murph Challenge will be held Monday, May 28th @ 10:00am. Following the work-out we will be hosting a Memorial Day Cook-Out! Lots of burgers, beer, and even better- community!  Please join us!