Workout:
B.Squat
3RM
At the top of every 2 minutes complete the following:
150m Row Sprint
10 toes to bar
(the remaining time is your rest)
*with a partner, make each round a race.
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 The boys PR.
Well, I have to admit that I felt old all day yesterday. Joints creaked, my step felt leaden, my daughter said that my English was antiquated. I just felt, well, middle aged I guess. In between serenading me with the Beatles’ Birthday, Emily gleefully asked me questions like “can I officially call you my old man now?” and reminded me “that immaturity does not equal youthfulness.” However, she also asked me where I thought I would be at age 40 back when I was 20 years old. I quipped “dead”, but it got me thinking. I lived in Tokyo, the Big T as we called it, when I was 20, two or three years into my six year gig, and I was passionate about martial arts. I trained all day long, read martial arts books, kept notebooks and journals on my training, street fights, and insights, went all over Tokyo looking for teachers and people to train with, and climbed buildings to spy on secret teachers-only training sessions. Beyond my day-to-day training, my one goal in life was to have my own martial arts school some day. If you think about it, a CrossFit box is an awful lot like a martial arts school. Pretty cool. Thank you to all those you took the time to wish me a happy 40th birthday. Besides the kind comments on this site, I received an absolute torrent of calls, texts, emails, in person wishes, and Facebook messages. And it made me feel good, really good. Thank you all again. Workout: Grace (it’s my favorite storm) 30 Clean and Jerks 135/85# (scale up if you want to, go for it)  The Founder That’s right, it’s the 40th birthday of your very own CrossFit West original Founder Mr Sam Radetsky! We expect and encourage you to give him a hard time about it every chance you get. Be sure to come by and join his classes tomorrow and wish him a happy birthday. In all seriousness, we all have Sam to thank for founding our awesome gym 2 years ago. And those of us who were there in the beginning were literally dragged over to the “CrossFit Corner” at Gold’s to give it a try and thus have amazing stories and life experiences to show for it. Sam is a great person and coach with a numerous life experience that shape him. In his life Sam has been a high school history teacher, a collegiate and 3 time All American Water Polo Player, has a black belt in several martial arts as well as studied and competed in martial arts intensively in Japan, he is a level 2 CrossFit Coach and holds both CrossFit Barbell as well as CF Football Certs; he is to co-owner of both CrossFit Los Gatos and CrossFit West Santa Cruz and is married to his beautiful wife Emily. Not bad for an old geezer Sam! We wish you a very happy birthday and many more happy years to come! Workout: Deadlift 5RM 10 Rounds 5 KB Snatch R (2 Pood/1.5 Pood) 5 KB Snatch L (2 Pood/ 1.5 Pood) 10 Box Jumps (20) Congrats to Desmond on his 315lb Clean! Workout: Power Clean 2,2,2,2,2 3 Rounds 30 OH Plate Lunge (45/25) 12 Tire Flips 400m Run  Sascha catching some serious air. 
Every once in a while, it is good to do a death set. Especially if you are one of those people who is super strict, regimented, and tight about your training, bust loose and do a death set. Go ahead, I dare you. You can train for it, or just go for it. A death set is a workout that is long and heavy and a little crazy, something that will tear you up a little. It might be 100 heavy thrusters with a penalty every minute (like CFFB’s Kalsu), 100 bodyweight plus squats, a super heavy near max Grace, the Inman Mile, one of the Painstorms, Murph (with a vest, buddy). You could even go further and try for 2 workouts a day for 5 days in a row. Amundson and I once did Fran, Helen, and Grace every way we could think of for a week straight. A death set is something way out of the ordinary, something that really challenges you to just finish. You don’t worry about your time on a death set, you just get it done. Death sets are very common in martial arts. You might do 500 low kicks on the heavy bag, the same kata 100 times, 1000 cuts with a sword or bokken. Often these death sets take place at a special time, midnight on the solstice, for example, or New Year’s Day, or a birthday. Go ahead and make a celebration of it. The benefits of a death set is not really physical. You are not going to get stronger on one workout, no matter how grueling it is. The real benefits to death sets are mental and spiritual. A death set should be demanding enough that you have to harness all your strength and fortitude just to finish. And that kind of hardship, even in just one workout, will make you stronger. Stronger on the inside. Actually, doing a death set might even set your training back a little bit, because a death set will mess you up. You are going to be bruised and sore and you might not be able to hit it with your usual intensity for a couple days after the death set. That’s ok, it’s to be expected. Don’t worry, you will make some big leaps forward. Death sets build indomitable will even as they turn you to jelly. Regardless of the name, death sets are a lot of fun. And you can reap some big benefits from them. Go for it. Workout: Front Squat 8×2 @ 85% 1RM Then: 7 Rounds Jerk/Rack Jerk 185/115# 5 KB Swings 2/1.5 pood 7 GHD Situps 
A huge thank you to Greg Amundson for an incredible seminar. Greg is a highly inspirational speaker and his presentation was completely top notch. I think everyone learned a great deal, I know I did. I will be both implementing what I learned immediately, and assimilating what I learned for many days. Thanks again Greg. If for some reason you missed Greg’s “Goal Setting and Mental Toughness” seminar, we will try to get him back before the end of the year. Don’t miss it. Please post your experience or thoughts on Greg’s seminar to Comments. Workout: On the minute for 15 minutes: 1 Power Clean 80-90% 1RM 2 Muscle Ups 50m Sprint  Papa Beto gets vertical
It’s not a stretch to say that the way you approach your CrossFit workouts is a reflection of how you approach life. If you pay close attention, you can quickly see the similarities in your relationships, your family, your career. Now that’s not to say that if you don’t get the best times, or lift extremely heavy weights, or even lack the best technique that you aren’t great at life. It’s the heart, the guts, and the attitude that are a tell tale sign of who you are out there. Do you show up with a positive attitude or with fear or anger when it’s not your favorite movements? Do you hit every single workout as hard as you can or do you get by just fine cruising at 90%? Do you pick people up? Cheer them on? Or do you stay in your own zone? Do you really push the limits or do you tend to play it safe? When I played college softball at Cal we used to have team bonding exercises periodically throughout the season which aimed to increase team communication and camaraderie. One particular exercise involved answering (and sharing with the group) the question, “if asked, what would you want your teammates and coaches to say about you?” It’s a great thing to think about and something that has stuck with me to this day. So how about it? If someone asked one of your coaches or fellow CrossFitters to tell them about you, what would you want them to say? You might find that your answer makes you much more self aware and accountable in your actions, and you might inspire yourself to always live up to it. Reminder: the 4pm class is the last class of the day today, Friday. The 5pm class has been canceled due to the seminar. Workout: Bench Press 5,5,5,5,5 Partner WOD: 8 Rounds (w partner- alternate rounds until EACH person has completed 8 rounds) 5 Burpees 3 P. Press (155/105) THEN 40 KB Swings (2 pood/53) – Complete 5 reps at a time, alternating between partners until EACH person has completed 40 KB Swings THEN 8 50yrd sprints- alternate sprints in a relay fashion until EACH person has completed 8 sprints  Lee and Lori, owners of CF Sunshine Coast. Thanks for working out with us. When I write a WOD on the board, sometimes I notice people visibly deflate when they read it. Yeah, it is going to be hard, but you knew it would be before you even arrived at the box. Often, these people will get through the first third of the WOD, realize that they can do it, and start to bang it out as their confidence returns. At the 2010 CF Games held this last weekend, one thing that was completely brand new was that the competitors had absolutely no idea what the last WOD was going to be until 30 seconds before the start (actually, it was 3 WODs in 1). The competitors had to have absolute confidence that they would be ready for anything. Of course, each competitor was secretly hoping for this or that movement would be included and fervently praying that this or that movement would not be featured, but they knew that they would have to give it their all. When a WOD is presented to you, you have to have total confidence that you will charge it. You have to have faith, deep down, that you will go at this WOD as hard as you possibly can. You might not kill it, you might not get a good score, you might flounder and barely push your way through (actually this happened to me yesterday). But, and this is a big ‘but’, you can never deflate and start the WOD already cowed and intimidated. WODs are like animals, they can sense fear. Never let a WOD see that you are afraid of it. Yeah, you might not kill it, I know that any WOD with handstand pushups is not going to be my best–a near 7-foot wingspan is great for water polo and kickboxing, but it is the kiss of death for pressing, but you should never start that WOD scared. Right before the WOD is presented, try to summon up some of that Games spirit that the competitors displayed last weekend. Do not let your spirit flag, no matter what the WOD may be. It’s ok to know that it may take you longer than other people. It’s ok to realize that this WOD might be filled with your weaknesses–tomorrow’s WOD may be filled with your strengths, but be sure to attack both of them with equal heart and intensity. One of the true signs of a champion, and more importantly, of real character, is indomitability in the face of adversity. Please post thoughts to Comments. Reminder: the 4pm class is the last class of the day this Friday. The 5pm class has been canceled due to the seminar. Workout: Back Squat Find new 5RM Then: 10, 9, 8, 7…2, 1 Snatch 115/75# 2oom Run after each snatch set  Super V...  and Rene. Looking good guys. CrossFit West Santa Cruz is starting a new back squat program tomorrow. It is a form of linear progression called wave style linear progression. The program consists of a nine week macrocycle and is divided into three 3-week microcycles. Each microcycle is exactly the same, just the weight changes. Each microcycle is 5-3-1. Week 1=5×5 (5, 5, 5, 5, 5) Week 2=5×3 (3, 3, 3, 3, 3) Week 3=5×1 (1, 1, 1, 1, 1) The first week is comprised of 5 sets of 5 reps. Each set is heavier than the last and culminates in a 5 rep max. The second week is 5 sets of 3 reps. Each set is ascending weight and culminates in a 3RM. The 3RM should obviously be heavier than the previous week’s 5RM. The last week of each microcycle is 5 progressively heavier singles ending with a 1RM. The second microcyle starts back with 5 sets of 5. Your final 5th set should be heavier than your 5RM from 3 weeks earlier. The next week is 5×3 and, again, your 3RM needs to be heavier than your first 3RM. The final week in the second microcycle is singles and your 1RM is heavier than your 1RM from the first microcycle. The final microcycle is the same as the other two, 5-3-1, just heavier. The end result, on the final 1RM day, 9 weeks after the first 5RM day, is a big PR. This program brings up a couple points. Firstly, you have to do the back squats. If you miss back squat day, the trainer will let you make up the squats in the lieu of whatever movement the class is doing. Open gym on Sunday is also a chance to make up squat day. Secondly, you need to keep a record of your lifts–a training journal. You should be keeping one already, but if you aren’t for some inexplicable reason, start now. Below is a beautifully detailed graph that I whipped up on autocad to illustrate the 5-3-1 macrocycle (back squat) that I did at the beginning of this year. While the weights are pretty modest, the results are great. 
Some pretty strong people (me too, but as seen by what’s above, I don’t include myself in the ‘pretty strong’ group) have used this program over the past year and we can all testify that it works, and works really well. So Good Luck and Go Heavy. Questions? Thoughts? Please post to Comments. This is your final chance to register for the Greg Amundson seminar this Friday. We have only a few seats left. If interested, please email info@crossfitwest.com immediately. Due to the seminar, there will not be a 5pm class on Friday. The 4pm class will be the last of the day. Workout: Rest Day  Kyle squats 385 for reps
Do you know what my favorite part of the game is? The opportunity to play. Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. The highest compliment that you can pay meis to say that I work hard every day, that I never dog it. There are only two options regarding commitment; you’re either in or you’re out. There’s no such thing as life in-between. Some people say I have attitude- maybe I do…but I think you have to. You have to believe in yourself when no one else does- that makes you a winner right there. Show me a guy who’s afraid to look bad, and I’ll show you a guy you can beat every time. When someone tells me there is only one way to do things, it always lights a fire under my butt. My instant reaction is, I’m gonna prove you wrong. Adversity cause some men to break; others to break records. The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital. It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself. The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand. You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them. It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness. I learned that if you want to make it bad enough, no matter how bad it is, you can make it. -Gale Sayers The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a mans determination There’s no substitute for guts. To succeed…You need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you. Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. If you can believe it, the mind can achieve it. The principle is competing against yourself. It’s about self-improvement, about being better than you were the day before. The best and fastest way to learn a sport is to watch and imitate a champion. -Jean-Claude Killy . It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog. Workout: Deadlift 1×5 @80% *warm up to 1 heavy set of 5 DL at 80% of 1RM 3 Rounds: 10 1 Arm DB Thruster R (50/30) 10 1 Arm DB Thruster L (50/30) 50 Double Unders 10 1 Arm DB Rows R (50/30) 10 1 Arm DB Rows L (50/30)
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