Strong
Brookie gets her first deadhang (strict, no kip) muscle up.
The muscle up is one of the most coveted movements in CrossFit. Everyone wants to get a muscle up. And with good reason. Muscle ups are just plain cool. Cliff joined CrossFit West Santa Cruz years ago because he learned a muscle up in five minutes in his free trial class after attempting them for a year on his own.
I feel that one of them biggest obstacles with muscle ups is the name–muscle up. It should really be called momentum up, because you don’t muscle it, you swing up with momentum and technique. But you can just muscle it, if you’ve got the muscle. A deadhang muscle up is a different beast. All muscle. No swing, no technique, just strength.
Workout:
Graduation Day
Golden, currently on a powerlifting binge (think 395# for 3 on the bench), showed that he can still bust out a muscle up. Admittedly, it was little wobbly, and I feared gravity might not deign to relinquish its hold on Golden’s pounds, but he got it.
UCSC’s graduation is a bitterweet experience for CrossFit West Santa Cruz. Suddenly people who you have seen regularly–trained next to, coached, laughed and sweated with–for a couple of years are gone. Gone back home, gone to the next step in their lives. They were in Santa Cruz for school and school is over, finished, graduated. And thus the bittersweet. We are so proud of you guys, but for many of our graduates, this means the end of their Santa Cruz experience. We will miss you all.
A huge congratulations to all our graduates.
And a huge Happy Fathers Day to all our dads.
Workout:
Push Through
Announcement: this Sunday, June 16, is the 2nd and final CrossFit Watsonville work day! Last week we all had a blast and got a lot done – come back! 
This Sunday 10 AM – 4 PM – we’ll provide food and drink and free CF Watsonville T-shirt for those that spend a good part of the day. We really appreciate everyone’s help and we can’t wait to see you all there to bring this gym to life! 57 Hangar Way, Watsonville, CA 95076.
“…Just…Don’t…Stop!”
Our Heavy Sled-Drive/Double-Under strength/skill-work on Tuesday inspired some outstanding output from the CF-West community in every class throughout the day as athletes dug deep within themselves, fighting hard to push through the burning of the legs and lungs as they were determined to drive the Sled the entire 30 yard length of the turf without stopping, only to then be challenged with 50 Double-Unders immediately after. A great example of that outstanding output can be seen here as both Jeff N (Top) and Daniel J (Bottom) drove 600 pounds the full 30 yards of the turf (167.5 Kilos = 369.274 lb. + 85 lb. + 45 lb. + 100 lb. +3/4 lb. = 600.024 lb.). After encouraging both Jeff and Daniel, our very own Darrielle T drove that same 600 lb. Sled the entire 30 yard length of the turf herself. It was awesome! As I said, outstanding work from the CF-West community the entire day. Strong work, everyone!!
You may not realize it, but learning to reach deep within yourself to “push through”, whether it be a 30 yard sled-drive or a CrossFit WOD, doesn’t just simply “elicit a favorable physiological adaptational response” making you “stronger” physically. It can make you much stronger mentally and emotionally and help you in many other aspects of your life where you may be facing challenge or adversity, often in ways that are hard to quantify.
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