Hey guys,
Happy Fourth of July! It’s another Beautiful day in Burlington North Carolina…But more importantly…It’s a beautiful day in this great nation! I’m so excited to get to celebrate our freedom and fitness together with you all this week at CrossFit Simplicity! The Fourth of July is an awesome time to recognize all the amazing privileges and freedoms we have in America that we sometimes take for granted. Our programming theme this week is about as patriotic as it gets and we have some really awesome workouts in store that are going to be challenging and very effective. So let’s not waste any time so you all can get to your barbecues and fireworks!
- Monday Schedule: Remember we will only be holding open gym hours on Monday the fifth. 8 AM to 10 AM and 4 PM to 6 PM. There will be a workout programmed!
- MS Strong: Our very own Tiffany Light is hosting an event right here at CFS to raise money and awareness for MS! This is going to be a fun CrossFit event Saturday, July 24th at 9 AM! This event is for all levels of fitness so invite your friends! It’s $25 to register and all of the proceeds go to the MS Run Organization! (Oh yea…and DJ-LA will be here!)
Monday: raise your hand if you’re proud to be an American! Now raise your hand if you like running in road climbs…I think I sensed a couple hands go down! Nevertheless, “Proud to be an American” is our open gym workout for today and it’s going to be a partner workout at that! When you see the layout of this workout you quickly pick up the holiday significance. Teams of two will be working through multiple rounds of running and rope climbs. The running will be completed as a pair but the rope climbs may be split between each partner as desired. The stimulus today is going to be moderate pacing and we want you guys to run at a pace that repeatable across rounds so you can get in and get to that rope as soon as you return! We haven’t done a rope climb workout in a couple weeks so make sure you practice some pulls before you get started with your partner! After this if you would like we have some muscle snatch and overhead squat work that will be on Wodify. I’ll be there for the morning open gym session and Coach Chase will be there for the PM so feel free to ask us if you have any questions about set up or the weightlifting! If you have time it’s not a bad idea to get in here and work off those burgers and brats!
Tuesday: “God Bless the U.S.A.” Is the workout for today and it’s a great one! You guys will have a 12 minute AMRAP of wallballs, toes to bar, and strict handstand push-ups. You need to be prepared to move for the full 12 minutes with small breaks to prevent failure on all these movements. Remember that this is not a sprint. Stay calm and keep chugging along. Wallball weight should be something that’s easy for you to knock out in 2 to 3 sets through the entirey of the workout. Toes to bar are one of those movements that we commonly burnout on so focus on small quick sets and chip away at these reps. The handstand push-ups are going to be strict today which is going to be tough. Be honest with yourself if you need to add an extra abmat or modify with a kip. After this we have some really good overhead work that’s going to consist of a heavy push press and then directly into a heavy push jerk hopefully adding weight to the bar as we move through each movement. Remember to stay upright in your dip, keep it short and tight, and then get an explosive leg drive on the way up. Use those powerful hips! Good stuff!
Wednesday: Hump Day! and we have a good one! Kicking things off with “Stars & Stripes Forever.” This is going to be a descending rep ladder of burpee dumbbell deadlifts and calories on the bike. This is going to be a tough workout on your lower body so try to find a steady pace on the burpee dumbbell deadlift and push the pace of the bike only to a level that will allow you to continue pacing on the deadlift. This movement is slow and steady. Similar to a devils press, trying to speed up this movement to a fast pace will only result in less efficiency and be harder on the lower back. Also remember that this movement is finished when you are standing tall with the dumbbells to both sides. Do not jump with the dumbbells. After this we are having some fun…front squat max out day! It’s time to put all this lifting to the test and see how much our front squat has improved. Remember to go by feel and make smooth calculated jumps in weight early on. Slow down the weight jumps when you reach around 80 to 85% and take a little longer rest of normal between sets when it gets heavy. Do it for freedom!
Thursday: These colors don’t run…but do they lunge? I know you all will be if you come today to hit “Red, White, and Blue.” This one is going to be five rounds of double unders, hang clean and jerks at a very light weight, and a 100 foot walking lunge. Stimulus today is moderate to high intensity where we want you guys to stay consistent on the double unders and look to recover the upper body on the lunges for fast round times. Goal should be to keep the hang clean and jerks unbroken while trying to stay consistent with rounds. There’s no weight on the walking lunge so just focus on finding a steady pace that will keep the heart rate down and focus on relaxing the upper body. After this we are hitting my all-time favorite movement… The snatch! It’s time to max out so get excited and get your mind right to move confidently under heavy weight! You guys have been crushing proper positioning and technique lately so I’m confident we will have a great day. Allow yourself 2 or 3 misses before calling it a day because we don’t want to risk any injuries. If you’re feeling great go for it!
Friday: I absolutely love today’s workout. Not only for the name and what it signifies for our freedom and independence in this nation, but also for the effect it’s going to have on your body! “American Soldier” is going to be five sets of a two minute AMRAP with a one minute rest between each set. Each one will consist of 25 floor presses and then directly into a max calorie row. This is the epitome of push/pull and I love the feeling! This is also going to be quite a conditioning piece as you will be sending it on the rower! We will have moderate to high intensity here and you want to choose your dumbbell weight carefully so that you can keep your sets smooth and fast while avoiding failure. We want you guys to attack and get on the rower with a consistent fast pace. This workout is all about how quickly we can get through the floor press and have at least 60+ seconds of time for the max calorie row. It’s Friday…Always a good time to get a little pump! After this…you guessed it, max clean and jerk! Basically the same stuff we talked about here for the front squat and the snatch. You guys have put in the work so expect yourself to succeed here today and let’s have some fun with this before the weekend!
Saturday: It’s Saturday at Simplicity…The best day of the week! And then also means a partner workout! “Where the Stars and Stripes and the Eagle Fly” is going to be a partnership or consisting of pull-ups, sit ups, synchronized air squats, box jumps, and single arm dumbbell push press. This workout has a little bit of everything and a little something for everyone so grab a partner and let’s have some fun chipping away at this thing today. Stimulus today is moderate intensity throughout where you guys will have to play to each other‘s strengths and weaknesses in order to keep the wheels turning. Remember that reps don’t have to be split evenly but try to partner up with similar skill sets for steady workflow! Easy day!
Well I’d love to stay and chat but I just heard the screech of an eagle overhead and freedom is calling so I’ve got to run! Like always we have an awesome week here CrossFit Simplicity and I don’t know about you but I am super jacked up about this week’s theme and I’m ready to crush it with you all. Everyone has worked so hard over this last strength cycle so take a moment to pat yourself on the back and recognize all of your hard work because we certainly do! Even if you come in one day and you’re not feeling so hot and you don’t PR a lift try to keep your head up and realize that it doesn’t come down to one single day or one single lift. It’s the culmination of all those days in the gym and all of those reps that will add up. Maybe one day you get a PR and the next day you’re not feeling so hot and you don’t. It doesn’t mean that it’s not in you, it just might not have been your day so don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Now, go enjoy your cookouts and this beautiful whether and we can’t wait to see you all in class!
~Daniel
