Hey guys,
…where’d you go? I missed you so. Seems like it’s been forever since you’ve been gone… The public outcry for the Rundown has been heard and we are back! First off let me just take a moment to congratulate everyone on an amazing Open season! We truly did not expect the amount of turnout we would have for this year’s CrossFit Open so congratulations for stepping outside of your comfort zone and stepping up to the plate! If you didn’t sign up this year then you still most likely hit the workouts so good job! We will now have something to retest and go off of in the future. The Open is an amazing time to discover where you are weak and where you need to focus your efforts on in the coming year so use it as a time to reflect, grow, and build in areas you feel you are weak. Because the Open is over it’s now time to get back to our regularly scheduled programming. As you guys know we are in the throes of an eight week strength cycle so this will be continuing in this week’s programming. Be sure to get in here as consistently as possible so that we can make the most of this cycle and really see some results. This week’s theme will be interesting for all you DC comic fans out there so check out the announcements below and let dive in to another amazing week at CrossFit Simplicity!
- Bring A Friend Day: Now that the Open is over these will commence so keep an eye out for the next day!
- Gymnastics Skills Class: Our next free gymnastic skills class will be Sunday, April 18 at 3 PM!
- T-shirts are still on sale at the gym so ask your coach about grabbing one this week!
- We are waiting on one part to arrive and then our new water fountain/bottle filling station will be installed! Sorry for the delay.
Monday: It’s week four of our strength cycle and we are rolling steady. We’ll be running the same back squat layout we have been running the past three weeks yet we will be trying to add 30 pounds to our 60%. Remember as I mentioned in class that this number is relative to what your one rep max is, so for some people 30 pounds might be a 20% jump and for others 30 pounds may only be a five or 10% jump. So approach this accordingly with your coach. After our five sets of five on the minute we will go to pause back squats. Today will be five sets of three reps with a three second pause in the bottom of each rep. Today you have two minutes between sets which will give you ample time to recover and try to go a little heavier. After this we are going to break things down for an old regionals workout from 2018! This one is going to be two rounds of 10 power snatches and 12 burpees over the bar…Directly into two rounds of 10 lighter power snatches and 12 burpees over the bar. The stimulus today will be moderate intensity in the first two rounds and then a bit of a higher intensity/pace in the last two rounds. The lighter weight in the second couplet will definitely result in a different rep approach on the bar for most of you guys. Think about quick singles for the first two rounds and then string together some touch and go reps to knock out those last two lighter rounds as fast as possible! Easy day!
Tuesday: Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, Batman! Batman! That’s right..we’ll be hitting “Batman” today! This workout is going to be a 15 minute AMRAP consisting of a 500m row, 25 box jumps, and pull ups. The interesting part about this one is that each round the pull ups will increase by five reps. This means that after your box jumps on round one you will have five pull ups but after your box jumps on round two you will have ten pull ups. Because this workout is 15 minutes long you’ll need to plan your pace accordingly so that you can keep intensity consistent across the entire workout. Try to row around 75% so that you are comfortable coming off and going right into the box jumps. I always encourage you guys to jump up and step down between reps rather than rebounding so that you can save some of that wear and tear on your calves and achilles. It’s not likely that we will get through too many rounds of pull-ups so try to push through these and get them done as quick as possible so you can get back on the rower in the next round. After this workout we will have some great accessory work for your legs and shoulders so stick around!
Wednesday: hitting hump day with a nice little partner work out for you guys…(And especially for you Jeremy!) “Superman” It’s going to be a partner workout consisting of GHDs/sit ups, Clean and jerks, bike calories, and more clean and jerks! Like some of our partner workouts in the past you guys will alternate full rounds until each of you have completed five rounds. So 10 rounds total between the pair. Remember that when we hit this style of workout it’s important that you push the pace a little bit more when it’s your time to work because you will get a full round of rest while your partner goes. The weight is going to be a little heavy today but should be something you can complete in smooth singles and should not be more than around 70% of your one rep max clean and jerk. If you’re not familiar with GHD’s we would really encourage you guys to stick with sit ups today as you will have 100 reps total. Pacing on the bike should be steady but not so much that you can’t constantly return to the bar and immediately begin lifting. We are looking for about a three minute round here today. Get after it!
Thursday: We have a big day today…It’s going to be “Frantastic!” That’s right, we are hitting Fran…CrossFit’s most infamous workout. As always this will be 21-15…April Fools!!! Ok ok, all jokes aside…We will really be hitting “The Joker!” and we aren’t fooling…This is another partner workout! This is going to be a cool workout that’s going to get the posterior chain nice and warm for our deadlift cycle immediately following. You and your partner will work through run distances and kettlebell swing reps. You will run together but you will split up the kettlebell swings as needed. The run should be based off the slower partner and you definitely don’t want to come out too hot on this portion of it because you can adjust your pace as the rounds go and the distance decreases. Although the kettlebell swing is a little on the heavy side it should still be something you’re able to swing for at least 10+ reps before alternating. Remember to utilize a strong hip drive that will help save the shoulders from fatiguing early on in the swings. After this we will jump right back into our same deadlift layout for week four of the cycle. Today we will have five sets of five reps at 77.5% of your one rep back squat. Note I said back squat and not deadlift. This will certainly be backing things of a touch so that you can recover this week and get in some good volume. We will still have our same floor press reps after each set. Good stuff!
Friday: Okay guys, Open workout 21.5 is…..I kid, I kid! But check this one out today. “Flash” is very much Open esque And its layout, design, and movements… Making it a very effective workout! You have three different five minute AMRAPs. Each couplet will have 50 double unders and 10 dumbbell movements but the dumbbell movements will change each time. Couplet one will have 10 dumbbell deadlifts, couplet two will have 10 dumbbell front squats, and couplet three will put both of those movements together and take things a step further overhead with 10 dumbbell squat clean thrusters! We are looking for at least three rounds in each APRAP so expect to keep a nonstop steady approach. Stay in your lane on this one and don’t come out like a racehorse or you may crash and burn too early. The goal for the double unders is unbroken but with this much volume you may want to scale the reps back in touch. We will all of the dumbbell movements to be unbroken in each round except for the squat clean thrusters. This means you’ll want to take a couple extra seconds of rest before you grab your dumbbells. On the squat clean thrusters make sure you have a weight selected that you can do at least 3 to 5 reps without stopping. The squat clean thruster will definitely be the heartbreaker of the workout so settle in and get gritty!
Saturday: Can you guess is already? Yes, another partner workout! This has certainly been the week of the partner workout. This one will be a chipper style workout with rope climbs, assault bike calories, moderately heavy power cleans, more assault bike calories, and finally more rope climbs. Think of this one is an inverse pyramid where we will work our way through and then flip over and work our way back. You will have the option of trading the rope climbs out for burpee chest to bar pull-ups if you and your partner so desire. This is definitely going to be a fun and longer partner workout that will test your grit as well as your skill. I would suggest alternating rope climbs in singles back-and-forth with your partner. Keep the bike effort around 80% and only stay on for amounts of time that will allow you to stop before reaching burn out or really heavy leg fatigue. The power clean weight should be around 75% of your one rep max so smooth singles with no risk of failing or over resting. Ideally we would like to see you guys at two or three reps and then switch with your partner on these power cleans. Have fun with this one today and as always, encourage your partner!
That’s it, we are back! And doesn’t it feel good? As I mentioned in Rundowns past, doing these every Sunday is a great time of reflection for me to think on our community and all we have built here at CrossFit Simplicity. It gets me excited and ready for the week to come and I hope it has the same effect on you all. The atmosphere at the gym has been nothing short of spectacular and motivation has been high. It’s so important that we continue to foster this positive environment that encourages consistency and showing up each and every day. It’s this consistency that leads to results. You don’t have to be on your “A” game every time you step in to the gym, but you should be showing up and doing your best on that day. Your best will change day to day based on your recovery, your energy, and your attitude, but as long as you do your personal best every day you’ll be on the track to big success in your health and fitness or any area of the life that you apply this principle too. I hope you guys enjoy this beautiful Sunday in Burlington North Carolina, get plenty of rest and recovery, and we can’t wait to see you all in class!
~Daniel
