Archive for February, 2010
Wednesday WOD, 2/17/10
Posted on 17. Feb, 2010 by .
Tabata This!”
Tabata Row
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Squat
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Pull-up
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Push-up
Rest 1 minute
Tabata Sit-up
The Tabata interval is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest for 8 intervals.
Tabata score is the least number of reps performed in any of the eight intervals. Unit for the row is “calories”.
Post Tabata score for each exercise to comments and total for final score.
E.G., 10, 22, 9, 15, 15 = 71
Play Whac-A-Mole online! Post high score to comments.
Continue Reading
Tuesday WOD, 2/16/10
Posted on 15. Feb, 2010 by .
(Bring these – you’ll need them.)
Skill Work: Jerk
Work up to a heavy weight. Focus is on technique first, PR second.
WOD
1-10-1-20-1-30 Back Squat
Rounds with 1 rep will be heavy weight; rounds of 10-20-30 will be a challenging weight, not as heavy as your 1 rep rounds.
Post loads to comments.
(Here is a video of clean and jerk. You do not have to to clean the weight; skill work is the jerk from a rack position.)
Continue Reading
Monday WOD, 2/15/10
Posted on 14. Feb, 2010 by .
5 rounds for time:
5 Overhead Squat (135 lb./95 lb.)
5 Sumo Deadlift Highpull (135/95)
5 Muscle Up (sub is 15 pullups and 15 dips)
Post time to comments.
Continue Reading
Becoming Fearless
Posted on 14. Feb, 2010 by .
Fear is an emotional response to a perceived threat. Fear is also almost always associated with a future event, such as worsening of a situation, or continuation of a situation that is unacceptable.
I have a fear of snatches.
Pick any lift – squats, clean, jerk, press, etc. and, I can do them without even thinking about it. It may not be a perfect lift, but I can clear my mind and just lift. Snatches on the other hand, are so technical…I can’t do them yet without having to “think” about it. I can coach others in perfecting their technique with snatches, but as far as my own lifts, they are by far my greatest nemesis.
About this time last year, I almost broke my nose doing snatches. On one particular attempt, I heard Coach Burgener in my head saying “BE AGGRESSIVE” – I was a little too aggressive and drove the bar right into my face. I cannot adequately describe how bad it hurt, other than to say I’m fairly confident my nostrils touched my eyeballs. I thought I had done something so unique too, and when I sent Coach Burgener an email about it, he sent one back that simply said, “You didn’t finish the pull.”
(Owen Franks at Mike’s Gym, finishing the third pull – see the sequence of pictures below.)
I’ve learned a great deal from that day. First, when you fall down, get right back up and try again. The worst mistake I made was not listening to the next piece of advice Coach Burgener told me….Coach Burgener told me to get back on the bar right away, don’t wait, get back in the gym the very next day and try again. I see now why. It’s like riding a bike – you fall off, the best thing to do is get back on and try again. Unfortunately, I really thought I had broken my nose (luckily I didn’t), and it hurt so, so bad. I avoided snatches for a long time, and I ended up building up a fear in my head that snatches were going to hurt me.
The longer I waited, the worse the fear got. I suffered greatly from “paralysis by analysis” to the point where I had trouble snatching just the bar. When I finally decided to try again, I had to start all over from square one. I owe a debt of gratitude to Coach Burgener and Dutch who tolerated my endless questions and training sessions to help me get back on track. Dutch has an endless amount of patience because he has told me nearly 5,000 times the one or two things I need to correct, and my mind still gets in the way.
The biggest lesson I have learned is though I still fear snatches, I have learned I have to be FEARLESS.
Being FEARLESS means you get your mind out the way and just lift. Being FEARLESS means trusting that your body does indeed know what to do, and at the end of the day, all you really have to worry about is jumping and landing. Being FEARLESS means practicing snatches knowing each rep is an opportunity to make the next rep more perfect than the last.
My goal for 2010 is to become FEARLESS.
(Owen Franks snatch progression)
(Owen finishing the third pull!)
(Photos courtesy of Coach Burgener)
Continue Reading
Weekend Reading
Posted on 14. Feb, 2010 by .
The Winter Olympics are underway, and I’ll try to post stories about athletes throughout the Olympics. I LOVE the Olympics, particularly the Winter Games. The first time I ever went skiing was at Lake Tahoe, and by accident, I skied the Giant Slalom run from the Winter Olympics there about thirty minutes after learning how to ski. Go big, or go home, right? (P.S. I was done skiing for the day after that particular run…)
Today’s Olympic athlete is Angela Ruggiero , 30, who is skating on her fourth Olympiad Hockey team.
Follow Angela on Twitter here.
Hannah Kearney (pictured below) won the first U.S. gold medal of this year’s Games competing in Women’s moguls. Hannah finished 22nd in the moguls in 2006 and came back this year, winning gold and defeating the Candian favorite Jennifer Heil.
Continue Reading
