Hey guys,
It’s Sunday and you know what time it is…time for another addition of the CrossFit Simplicity Weekly Rundown! Wow, what can we say about these weeks here lately at CrossFit Simplicity? The atmosphere involving the gym has been nothing short of electric. You guys have been killing it and encouraging each other like never before. We have a pretty special theme this week for you all. While it may be a little bit dated, hopefully this Jurassic Park theme isn’t too “prehistoric” for you all. (Maybe watch the first one tonight so you can catch some of these workout references for you younger Simplicity members.) All jokes aside we have a really solid week ahead with lots of variance and the continuation of our strength cycle. Make sure you get in here and stay as consistent as possible. Now check out the announcements below and let’s dive into things!
- Bring A Friend Day: What an amazing Bring a Friend Day we just had! Thank you so much to each and everyone of you that make up this amazing community and special thanks to our awesome coaches and DJ-LA for putting on an awesome event! Be on the lookout for our next one in January!
- CFS Christmas Party: We can’t wait to celebrate Christmas with you all here at the gym this Saturday night at 6 PM. CrossFit Simplicity will provide the main course and we are asking you guys to either bring your favorite side or dessert! Also don’t forget your ugly sweater and a Dirty Santa gift with a $15 limit!
- Christmas Cheer: You all DID IT! We have filled all of our gifts for our Christmas year family this year. Thank you guys so much for reaching outside of our community and helping those in need. We hope you all were just as blessed by this experience as this family will be!
Monday: I mean there’s really no better way to kick off a Jurassic Park themed week then with the workout, “Jurassic Park.” I wonder what it feels like to run from an escaped Tyrannosaurus rex… never mind, I know exactly what it feels like while I was testing this workout! This one is definitely going to test your aerobic capacity. You have five sets today of a row and assault bike. In a five minute window you will have a set amount of calories you will have to row and bike. You may also choose to row and run. The goal here today is to knock out each set in about three or four minutes and have about a minute of rest before the next interval. The stimulus today is pretty high intensity but not quite a sprint. Try to keep effort around 80% or 85% for both movements. We want you to repeat your pace across each round and ideally would love to see some negative splits…Meaning each round is a little bit faster than the previous round. Easy day!
Tuesday: Heavy day! Well, since we are deloading a bit this week it’s not going to be that heavy, but it is going to get you moving under a bar. We will be back squatting today and working up to some sets of five around 60%. Even though we are allowing your body a chance to rest, recover, and rebuild, we still want you guys to maintain a good focus on form and position in the bottom. After this we will be doing a bit of a play on CrossFit benchmark workout Isabel. “Jumping Isabel” will be 30 power snatches for time With the caveat that every time you break you’ll have to perform 50 double unders. Remember that Isabell is a bit of a sprint work out so intensity should be very hard today but you might want to go into this with a strategic rep scheme. Make sure you select a weight that you can easily perform 5 to 6 touching the reps…ideally more. It’s tempting to muscle snatch reps but I would focus on maximum efficiency and a bit of a slower pace that allows you to pull yourself under the bar in a bit of a power snatch. Any more than six sets and you will miss the stimulus we are looking for today so make sure you don’t go to heaven! Double unders should be something you can complete in 1 to 2 sets so you may need to drop to a lower number or go to singles. Remember to always keep breathing and moving!
Wednesday: Weightlifting Wednesday! We are going to kick this off with one clean and jerk every minute on the minute for 10 minutes at 80% of your one rep max. This is definitely working weight so make sure you maintain good form and position throughout your lifts. Take your time with each rep because you only have one to complete each minute. This is an amazing chance to work on the form so use it as such! After this we will hit a workout that will be pretty tough but hopefully it won’t leave you feeling like a big pile of s***! For real though…we are hitting “Big Pile of S***!” (You’ll definitely need to watch Jurassic Park to get this reference so my apologies if you have not seen the movie.) this one is definitely going to leave you feeling a little bit rough. This is a descending rep scheme couplet with wallballs and kettlebell swings. It’s not that long but don’t get too excited because as soon as this first couple of ends with descending reps we will rest five minutes and then hit a chipper of one big set of wall walls and kettlebell swings! Oh my! Each part of the workout will have the exact same number of wallballs and kettlebell swings but they have a different layout which makes things very interesting. Make sure you don’t totally blow out on the first one and have some in the tank to hit that second part equally intense! We would love to see some consistency across both metcons. Obviously this was going to be tough on the shoulders and grip but don’t count out your legs as they will be taxed from the wall balls. Break things up early if you need to make sure you push hard on that second chipper. Good stuff!
Thursday: Our lifting cycle is back with the shoulder press! Just like the back squats we will be backing off the percentages and allowing your body to catch up a bit this week. Still focus on maintaining no movement in the hips or knees as you complete these strict presses. After this we will be completing “Clever Girl.” I feel like this is one of those workouts that you either love or hate. If you hate burpees it’s likely one you’re going to hate. But that’s good, that means it’s what you need! It’s always good to attack those weaknesses like a velociraptor attacking and injured troodon! This one is going to open and close with a big set of front rack dumbbell lunges. Sandwiched right in the middle will be a big set of burpees over the dumbbells..tough! You are definitely going to feel this one of the legs so be ready. We want a steady pace throughout the entirety of this work out. Break your lunges up in manageable lengths but try to keep a constant steady movement in your burpees with minimal breaks. Your dumbbell lunges will be performed with two dumbbells. The only standard here is that one hand must be in contact with each dumbbell at all times. So get creative with how you carry them on your shoulders/traps. The burpees over the dumbbell will be performed parallel to the dumbbells and not facing. You do not have to reach full extension or clap overhead during the reps so try to stay low as you hop laterally over your dumbbells. Do your best on this one and keep pushing right through that last set of lunges!
Friday: Hold onto your butts today! No really, “Hold Onto Your Butts” is the name of today’s workout! This one is a straight chipper! The movements follow a bit of a pyramid style as you will see power cleans, ambat sit-ups, and box jumps twice as they are on either side of a set of shoulder to overhead reps in the middle. The reps aren’t too high on this workout today so just have fun working through this one at a moderate intensity. These chipper workouts are always great when you get to go back through. Really try to learn from earlier mistakes the first time through and make adjustments to maintain a good push on the backside of this workout. You also want to try to break things into consistent sets. Ideally it would be good to knock out the power cleans and shoulder to overhead in 3 to 5 sets and then just stay moving on the sit ups and box jumps. Have fun with this one today and really turn it on towards the end!
Saturday: Partner Day! We love the Saturday partner workouts here at Simplicity and we have a great one for you today. This one’s going to be a little bit more on the aerobic side with some running, rowing, double unders, and a little something else thrown in. I don’t like to give away too much of our Saturdays so you’ll just have to show up to find out the rest! Remember this evening is also our annual ugly sweater Christmas party. We hope to see you all there!
It’s looking like a perfect week ahead of us here at CFS! These workouts might not be as terrifying as the resurrection of a whole species of dinosaurs but they will be exciting and challenging. Besides these workouts, we have so much to look forward to the rest of this month here at the gym and this is an especially exciting week culminating with our Christmas party Saturday evening at 6 PM! We know there’s going to be some tasty treats there so you guys be sure to get in the gym as much as possible this week and stay consistent. As always thank you so much for being a part of this amazing community. It’s really our privilege to get to be here with you guys each and every day and we don’t take that for granted! See you all in class…
~Daniel
