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Lulu meets CrossFit LA

2009-11-06T07:16:15+00:00

We finally found a group of people who like to have more fun than we do, and are almost as competitive - Lulus! Becca became a Lululemon Ambassador a few months ago - and organized this workout at CFLA to introduce the staffs from the Brentwood, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills stores. This video is what happened when they all got together! We love Lulus!

Today's Workout
Clean & Jerk - 5-5-5-5 reps
- you may drop the bar from the top of the jerk
- time between reps must be minimal... re-grip the bar and go again

Uh oh…It’s a SMACKDOWN!

2009-11-05T06:30:27+00:00

I know you've all been waiting on pins and needles! Well it's that time again. Can you feel it in your stomach? What is that? You all know that anything's possible when you step into the gym, but why does it gnaw at your gut not to know ahead of time? That anxiety - That's ENERGY! Everyone has it, it's just a question of what you're gonna do with it. Well, you already love CrossFit or you wouldn't be here. So welcome that stress because it means it's time to amaze yourself. So come into your workout, step up to the plate, and turn that energy into something incredible. You're all capable of such fantastic achievements - I see them every day. How about you? When was the last time you surprised or amazed yourself?

Apparently we're not keeping you guys busy enough...

Today's Workout

Thursday Smack Down!

Within the first two minutes of class, one person will choose a workout from the CFLA Smack Down Deck.
NO card is a "safe"... whatever you choose, we guarantee a Smack Down! Good Luck!

Learn you must.

2009-11-04T05:57:51+00:00

Show up. Don't quit. These are the first four words of our original slogan - and, quite honestly, they are words that still hold true today... if you show up and don't quit, the results will come. But there is one thing missing from that phrase... "Learn." Well of course... you're supposed to learn... but did you ever think of it as a responsibility? My responsibility as a coach is to show up and teach... your responsibility as a student (and mine, when I'm a student) is to show up AND LEARN. We structure our entire program around learning and educating - so that as a student member of CFLA, you're getting so much more than just a hard workout.

If you have a RESPONSIBILITY to learn, how do you show up to the gym differently? How do you take class differently? If there were going to be a pop quiz at the end of class, would you listen, comprehend, ask questions, take notes and remember differently? If so, why? If you goal is to get to ELITE FITNESS, learn, you must.

Sweet Cheeks' Wonder Twins (Alyssa & Shirley)!

Today's Workout

“NATE”
AMRAP 20
2 Muscle ups
4 Handstand push ups
8 Kettlebell swings (32 kg/24 kg)

Pick a Sport, Any Sport

2009-11-03T05:31:06+00:00

If you could learn any sport, what would it be? Now...why haven't you learned it yet? One of CrossFit's recommendations for fitness is to "regularly learn and play new sports." When is the last time you picked up a new sport? What's stopping you? If you are consistently doing CrossFit, chances are you will pick up that new sport quicker than the average person and probably have more fun, too. I recently started taking fencing lessons. I was inspired to do so by a couple potential students who came by the gym. So, let's hear what sport you secretly want to learn and maybe we can inspire each other.

Is this what happens if you misbehave at CFLA? In the corner....but not exactly facing the wall.

Today's Workout

1 mile sprint for time

- rest -

Pull up ladder
(On minute 1 do 1 pull up, on minute 2 do 2 pullups, etc., until you can no longer complete the required work within the minute allotted.)

What’s waiting in your pantry?

2009-11-02T07:13:15+00:00

Is your pantry well stocked with the food you need for quick, easy and good preparation of meals? Do you know what you need to have on hand so that you're ready to make almost anything? Are you armed with a shopping list when you go to the market? Preparation is truly the key to success in eating good food, and maintaining a healthy diet. If you plan well, are organized, and, most importantly, have good food available in your pantry or refrigerator to eat when your stomach starts churning for lunch, a snack or dinner, chances are, you'll make good choices and eat well most of the time (rather than stuffing your face with whatever you can find to fend off the hunger pangs.)

I was surfing the web over the weekend and came across a great blog called Real Food Rehab that includes a post from Oct 27 with a Pantry Essentials Guide. Check out the blog - some really cool stuff regarding food, preparation, ingredients, recipes, and food motivation. Comments?

Say "Burpee!"

Today's Workout
21-18-15-12-9-6-3 rep rounds for time of:
Knees to elbows
GHD Sit ups
Wall Ball Double shots
Rev. Grip Push Ups

Training your strengths

2009-10-30T04:30:06+00:00

You hear a lot of people in CrossFit talking about training their weaknesses, and while this is great in practice (who, after all, really wants to have "chinks" in their armor) it's really fun and exciting to work on the skills at which you naturally excel, love doing, and consider to be your strengths. I for one love when a workout comes up that hits all my strengths, and while this may not do as much for me in terms of training my weaknesses, damn it's fun - and also usually really hard! Remember that training strengths is how specialists become the best in the world - they find the one thing that they're great at, and do nothing but train in those areas that will make them better at that one skill or sport (Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Usain Bolt, etc).

Since there are so many areas that go into making an elite level CrossFitter, you will naturally have strengths in certain areas. Have you identified them? Have you set a goal? Are you training in those areas? And are you seeing progress?

Cathy yawns, "Can we get on with the workout already?!"

Today's Workout
400m Run
25 HSPU
50 KBS (24/16)
25 Pull Ups
50 Jumping Lunges
25 Snatch Balance (95/65)
50 Double Unders
25 Ring Dips
50 GHD Back Extensions
400m run

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

2009-10-29T05:00:27+00:00

I know that many of us, myself included, started working out not to become a better athlete necessarily, but just to get in better shape. The more I do this, though, the more I feel that inner athlete yearning to get out. What we do is a sport, and one of the most exciting ways to participate in sports is to test yourself. Of course we do this each time we work out - but did you ever want to get out and see what you could do outside of our walls?

Our newest challenge was created so you could do just that. CFLA's next challenge is a 10k run, culminating with the Junior League of Pasadena 10k out at the Rose Bowl at the end of January. That means that everyone in the challenge will enter and run in an organized 10k - official times, t-shirts and everything - with dozens of their workout buddies. It'll be a great opportunity to put some skin in the game and to push your limits with the support of the people you train with every day. And for anyone with travel plans over the holidays, you can to continue to use this as a training tool when you're away from the gym!

Everyone is invited to participate, but especially those who have never entered a race or one of our challenges before. Ask yourself, when was the last time you did something for the first time?

"Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own; sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction."
- William James, American psychologist and philosopher

Safety first!

Today's Workout
OHS 1-1-1-1

-Rest-

12 Rounds of partner “Cindy”
Partners alternate each round for a total of 6 rounds each

CFLA Training Principles

2009-10-28T05:02:24+00:00

We wrote these to put some handles on training at CFLA. What do you think? Did we miss anything?

1. Do not think you can master CrossFit or achieve elite fitness in a day. It will take an entire lifetime to learn. Keep showing up. Be consistent, even when you don’t feel like it. That is the key.

2. Arrive early and stay late. Anything less is to cheat yourself of the experience, and to rob others of the gift of your presence and support as part of the community.

3. Virtuosity is defined as performing the common, uncommonly well. Master your body and the mechanics of movement. Practice the fundamentals. Then add speed and intensity.

4. Accidents and injuries usually come as a result of impatience. Don’t be greedy. Slow down. Ask questions. Ask for help. Check your ego at the door.

5. Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Clean up after yourself. Wipe down and put away all equipment, clean up sweat, spit, blood, chalk, dirt, and handprints after every workout.

6. Empty barbells were not designed to be dropped. Neither were dumbbells or kettlebells.

7. Chalk is useful, even necessary. It is also messy. Use as much as you need, but keep the excess inside the chalk bucket.

8. Grunting, screaming, cussing and otherwise making noise are all welcome and encouraged during a workout. Also remember that there can be such a thing as too loud, crass, gross or rude – be respectful.

"Iceland Annie" dropped by CFLA for a workout last Friday!

Today's Workout
3 rounds for time of:
100m Farmer's Walk
20 Wall Balls (20/14)
3 rope climbs

Tilting at Windmills

2009-10-27T04:18:05+00:00

Sometimes I imagine, that to our friends, CrossFit must appear to be a Quixotic adventure. They don't see the "giants" we see. Why must we do hundreds of things? Why must we lift so much, so fast, so often? To that I say, because I can, because I want to, because it is there. And maybe, because as a kid I imagined myself a superhero, and now for an hour a day, I get to be one. I get to lift heavy things, leap on boxes, and do things that to my friends seem inhuman. If I picture my cape flying behind me, maybe I can even run faster.

So, let us be a legion of Don Quixotes, tilting at windmills and being superheroes. Let us go out into the world inspired and big. Let reason and logic remain for the small.

Clark, pushing dumbbells at the sky.

Today's Workout:

5 rounds for time:
15 Deadlifts (225# men, 155# women)
400m Run

Power of Positive Thinking

2009-10-26T03:42:40+00:00

I ran in the Marine Corps Marathon yesterday. At no point during the first 12 miles did I think I needed any encouragement, I felt great - pose running, light on my feet, asesome! But then I hit mile 13... things started to unravel. Every step became difficult, and the bottoms of my feet felt like someone had been whacking them hundreds of times with a stick. By mile 20, I thought I might quit... I started calculating mentally how long it would take me if I just walked the last 6 miles. I must have been passed by hundreds (and maybe thousands) of people as I walked every mile at the water stops.

But with the help of the 29,999 other people running and the thousands along the sideline, I didn't quit. Watching the other runners, I kept saying to myself, "If they can do this, so can you... now keep running!" And I did, for the most part. With a finishing time of 4 hours and 30 minutes, I didn't exactly set the world on fire, but I did prove to myself that thinking and believing has as much to do with finishing as physical training or ability. Anyone else have a similar experience they'd like to share?

Jenna goes hard on a CrossFit run

Today's Workout
2,000m row
8 min rest
1,000m row
4 min rest
500m row