And the pic of the day goes to Brad for this highly unusual 355# back squat with a 2 hands self spot. Don't try this at home kids.
At CF West, we just love to lift heavy. And not just any lifts, but barbell lifts. You might say that we have a bit of a crush on the barbell. Not that we cuddle with the barbell at night (well, Golden might), but power lifts, Olympic lifts, assistance lifts–we do them all. And we do them regularly and heavy. We certainly have nothing against dumbbells or kettlebells or sandbags or kegs, in fact we have and use them all, but lifting the barbell often and heavy gives the ability to lift just about anything.
I recently received an email from a CrossFitter from CF North Atlanta who likes to hit the CF West WODs now and again. A lighter guy, 158#, he said that he doesn’t lift heavy as often as we do and he got bogged down on the heavy deadlift in a recent WOD, but that the 73# kettlebell swings were surprisingly light in comparison. He writes, “…it was kind of funny how light the 2 pooder felt during the WOD.”
His email is perfect example of the CF West hard and heavy philosophy. The programming is a door that swings both ways, allowing for increased work capacity in both shorter heavier domains and longer lighter domains. The heavily loaded barbell, lifted fast and hard, allows for carry over to any other weight lifting tool. Intermix liberally with sprints, high box jumps, and other extremely explosive movements for a highly successful recipe for CrossFit fitness.
How has lifting hard and heavy increased your work capacity? Please post to Comments.
Congratulations on all who participated in the CrossFit Football Total at CFWSC today. A ton of PRs were set in a literal rewriting of the record boards. A special shout out to CF West’s resident graphic designer and muralist extraordinaire, Golden Brown aka GBizzle aka The Bizzle aka Le Bizz, who scored 1460 on the CFFB Total. His monster 520# deadlift, a PR, took a good 15 seconds to lockout–I thought I might have time to nip out for a quick mocha. One doesn’t see that kind of determination everyday and it was impressive to watch. Nicole was the day’s top scorer for the women, with a suspiciously appropriate 666 points. Great work you guys.
Workout:
Ring work–inversions and levers.
Then:
15, 12, 9
Thruster 110/75#
Pullup chest-to-bar (C2B)
Post WOD and score to Comments.
Danny
Cliff
Vince; way over 2xBW.
Golden
Le Bizz in action; 520#!
Joe
Kirsten
Big Dave
Brad pulls 435#. Some big lifts today, Brad. Well done.
Coach Sam-
I’m glad I was able to provide you with some material for your blog. You guys have a great site!
Love your insights and programming. Looks like there is no room for cardio bunnies at CFWSC.
Dang, according to these pictures Cliff has a much more correct position than me on the back squat. Must be that L1 cert… but luckily I’m such a beast it doesn’t matter.
2 Things:
1 – I love that in the background of all our pictures there are always people drinking water out of red keg cups. It makes us look like the most hardcore CrossFit box ever – “yeah, so what, we have a keg on tap, get wasted, and still lift more weight than you!”
2 – Golden, I’d be happy to go over the back squat form with you any time. In fact, I’d really love to just sit down sometime, grab a coffee maybe, and just discuss the many, many things that you do wrong on a daily basis. Let me know when you have a good 6-8 hours free in your schedule so that we have enough time to cover it all.
Cliff, coffee is not paleo perhaps we can trade your CF training advice for my extensive nutritional knowledge.
This probably has nothing to do with the current topic — I just wanted to place a quick testimonial to CrossFit West. I am very new to CrossFit I joined mid May of this year and I never had any weight training or this type of workouts in my life. I always just mountain bike, thats it until now. Jesse asked me the other day if I have noticed a difference in mountain biking and on a day where CrossFit kicked my ass again – I replied no, I had noticed no difference. Then the next day I went out for a ride up the infamous U-CONN trail to UCSC and was able to climb that hill in my middle chain ring ! – this is a first for me! challenging and difficult for most other riders. Anyway, the whole way up that hill I thought of Jesse and his question and YA!! what a difference in just less than one month. I am really enjoying these workouts and is challenging to me on all levels – all the coaches and everyone at Crossfit is very inspiring and supportive, I am truly in awe of this program – you ROCK! and Ill be back for more! Sharron
Ya Sharron! That’s what I like to hear. That’s what CrossFit is all about. This stuff is supposed to increase your work capacity in all areas of life. You hear us say it all the time around here- “It’s almost like this stuff works!” It’s been awesome having you in class. SEe you soon.
Sharron! Thank you for the kind words and great testimonial. You’ve been kicking some major butt here in class and it is so awesome to watch your progress.
If you have a moment (and in fact, I would say this to everyone that trains with us here in CF West) – please, please, please, post your testimonials (and 5 star reviews!) to our yelp site:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/crossfit-west-santa-cruz
Thanks!
Congratulations to everyone who participatd in CrossFit Football Total today..Hard stuff! I must say that my jaw dropped when I read Golden’s total.. And of course, Nicole, you killed it too! Wish I could be there, but I’ve still got another week here in Maui. I haven’t done CrossFit for nearly 2 weeks, and I am afraid I will suck when I get back! :0
Awesome pictures! CrossFit Football Total looks amazing. Can’t wait till I’m better and back at the box. I miss CrossFit West. xoxo
Great advice, Clearly explained and easy to follow. Thank you