Xplore CrossFit

Birthday WOD Pics and party reminder

This Saturday at 5pm we are celebrating two years of CrossFit in downtown Seattle. I hope lots of folks can come out. I will bring the protein. You bring something to share.

Thanks for all of the love during my birthday week. You guys were awesome and well done to anyone who had to suffer through the birthday wod.

Goodin leads the troops in a song

7856 blocks of carbs

Never enough thrusters

Jonabell works hard to keep up with Stone

Bell crushes farmer carries

Solo tire flip on the 850 pound beast

Rest up kids. I will be 29 before you know it.

Birthday WOD Pics and party reminder

This Saturday at 5pm we are celebrating two years of CrossFit in downtown Seattle. I hope lots of folks can come out. I will bring the protein. You bring something to share.

Thanks for all of the love during my birthday week. You guys were awesome and well done to anyone who had to suffer through the birthday wod.

Goodin leads the troops in a song

7856 blocks of carbs

Never enough thrusters

Jonabell works hard to keep up with Stone

Bell crushes farmer carries

Solo tire flip on the 850 pound beast

Rest up kids. I will be 29 before you know it.

Schedule Change

Don't get all broken up about it but there will be no class on Thursday November 5th. Schedule for Friday November 6th is 7am, and noon only. 

 

Thank you CF NorCal

Straight from CrossFit NorCal we have a sweet article on a side benefit of exercise. I mostly chose to share it because the picture makes me laugh.

Some of you may be thinking why would I bring up sex on a Crossfit Blog? 
Sex is more than just a fun past time….. Although it is that too. Your sex life has a lot to with your overall health and longevity. Which is why most of you are here in the first place. When we have a new client stroll into our gym for a consultation we ask what they are hoping to get out of our services.  Rarely, if ever, do we hear, “I want better, longer, more intense sex.” 

That would be a little shocking I imagine, but I must say, I would try to snag that client as fast as possible because you know he or she would provide some serious entertainment!

Instead, we hear things like “want to look better” ; “lose a few pounds”, or “ I need some rehab”. These are all the results we are EXPECTING when we join a gym. Better sex is just one of the amazing undisclosed perks of being fit. 
Becoming “fit” improves your body image which means having more confidence in and out of the bedroom. Body image is really what makes or breaks a lot of sexual escapades, especially for women. The willingness to try new positions or leave the lights on is pretty much off the table. For a few reasons: One, because you either do not have the strength or flexibility to do them, or you are worried about a “fat roll” here and there.  Two, you need to be in the most flattering position so that you can get out of your head (for about half a second if you’re a male or about 5 minutes if you are a female!) so we can obtain the BIG O! The fact is that if you like how you look, then the floodgates of good sex can be all yours.

Sex or lack thereof plays an important part of our mental and physical health. There are major physiological advantages to regular enthusiastic sex.  One of the most credible studies was from Queens University in Belfast. They tracked the mortality of 1,000 middle aged men over a span of ten years. It compared men of similar age and health. The findings were published in 1997 in British Medical Journal and stated that men who had the highest frequency of orgasms enjoyed a death rate half that of the sexual lagers. The same university found that men reduced their risk of heart attack or stroke by half, if they are having sex three or more times per week.  Not like the fellas need more encouragement.  Don’t worry ladies there is an upside for us too!

A vigorous rendezvous burns about 200 calories, equate that to rowing for calories…. Anything is better than rowing! Some other fascinating occurrences after shagging include and are not limited to; reduced depression, better bladder control, and even pain relief. Pain relief is a big one ladies for those of us who get headaches, migraines, or arthritis. It happens right before we blast off into orgasm heaven, our levels of a hormone called oxytocin rise to 5 times the normal level which releases endorphins which in turn relieves pain!

So do ya see a pattern…? Eat right and exercise, become aware of how amazing you look, have wicked good sex, ORGASM, enjoy some major health benefits, now repeat. By the way, this in no way endorses unhealthy, unprotected sex. Let’s still think with our good heads!

Happy Birthday to me

28 years of life calls for a very special workout. Version 1.0 debuted at the 11am class on Monday but BWOD Redux made its official appearance this morning at 7am. It was epic. 

1 min L sit

2 tire flips

3 laps around the block

400m farmer carry

5 rope climbs

6 HSPU

7 Snatch 45kg

8 MU- extra awesome after rope climbs and snatch and with no chalk

9 C and J 45kg

10 Renegade Row 40#

11 Thrusters 45kg

12 Push ups

13 Med Ball Cleans 20#

14 Ring Dips

15 Ring Rows

16 Burpees

17 KTE

18 Sit ups

19 KB Swing 2 pood

20 Wall Ball 20#

21 SDHP 45kg

22 Slam Ball 30#

23 Triple Unders-that's right folks TRIPLE UNDERS are the new double unders

24 Back Squats 45kg

25 24" Box jumps

26 OH Lunge Steps 25k plate

27 Calories on the erg

28 Strict pull ups

It doesn't even really get fun until wall ball shots. It took me over an hour but this was to be expected because one of the main tenants of birthday week is to get as far out of the zone and as far away from paleo as I possibly can. Blaze and Rosa led the pack making it to SDHP by the 45 minute cut off. Great job everyone.

Party Update

The whole thing is going down on November 14th. That is final. It starts at 5pm. Show up whenever and hang out until whenever. I will provide the provide. You bring something else to share. There will be NO WOD. You do NOT need to bring a swimsuit. I just want to hang out with my athletes and meet your significant others, kids, cousins, and whoever else you decide to bring. There will be time for members to air grievances and there will also be time for spouses of members to complain about how they hear too much about CrossFit and they hate me without ever having met me. We made it two years. Lets celebrate that. Casually. Not every CrossFit celebration has to commemorated with a never ending workout. That being said, I hoped everyone enjoyed my birthday WOD. If you didn't get the evite. Consider this your invitation.

Effing heavy is relative

I know it's heavy. Your hands hurt, your arms are tired, your legs are sore, I get it. I really do. I even care a little bit. Very little but I do care. I know that this is more than you have done in the past. That is a good thing. It is going to take a long time. You will probably finish last. That is cool. I am here all day and the stopwatch goes up to 99:99'99".99 so take your time. Sometimes I do want you to be fast but today I want you to be strong. To get strong we need to lift heavy. Really effing heavy. It is relative though. 

Heavy for you isn't heavy for me so don't point at someone else's bar to make your point. 

Heavy last week is not heavy this week and next week heavy will be heavier. 

If you are telling me how heavy it is while you are lifting it, it isn't that heavy.

Yes it could kill you. It probably won't, so pick it up. And what doesn't kill you...

With enough reps, everything gets heavy.

Don't look at it and tell me it's heavy. What can you tell by looking? For instance, Stone "looks" strong...

You are on the path to elite fitness. It is a painful road to be on but one with significant benefits. When you started down it so much seemed impossible. Whether it was push ups, muscle ups, or for some it was sit ups. Now you are better than you were and for many, better than you have ever been. That is because what was heavy is heavy no longer, and it got that way but picking up something heavier. Next time you unrack a back squat and have that "I hate Jordan and I hate CrossFit" thought cross your mind I want you to put it back on the rack, add 40 kilos and then unrack. THEN it will be effing heavy, but only for a while.

It only "looks" like a party

It is impossible to quantify, but the the psychological effects of an audience are real and powerful. It might be the nerves before your first tap recital or the cheers at the finish line that force you to gut it out just a little bit longer but there will is a tangible effect. What the effect is will vary between situations, and from person to person. Some people take the pressure of performance and use to break records while some just cry. Heather Eacker likes to do a little of both. We start with a good whine, crush an old PR and then have a nice cry. It makes for a very good show. Today with the normal spirit of defeat hanging over her before she begins every workout she sat on the erg and pulled a lame 500. She was unsurprised. I was enraged. New plan. Special K pulls a sub 2:05 500m row or EVERYONE pulls a 500 EVERYDAY until she is successful. It was rife with possibility. One of the beautiful things about CrossFit is the genuine desire of every person for every other athlete to succeed. Every success in here belongs to everyone. This is as much a team sport as it is an individual one. Watch the group on a heavy squat day or a heavy deadlift day. Half of the people in the room will be tightening their abs and holding their breath every time they watch someone lift. We are invested in each other and that is what makes coming in here so much more powerful than doing this dreadful business on your own. What are you going to do with the psychological edge you get in here? Are you going to break records or cry? The vegan crushed a record today.

 

You can't stop it

It is finally happening. Xplore CrossFit's 2 year anniversary party. It is going to be...wait for it...

enjoy this 2 year old picture and keep waiting...

wait until Kim stops thinking she doesn't need us and comes back to CrossFit...

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AWESOME! The spectacle is going down on November 14th. It will be a sweet BBQ at the Rex Mansion in Seattle on November 14th. The epic event kicks off at 5pm. Bring your husbands, wives, kids, elderly dependents, boyfriendds, girlfriends, bosses and there is a special prize if a single person can bring one of each. We are going to do this thing potluck-ish. I will supply massive amounts of delicious meats. Bring a side dish. Sugar and grains are allowed but they are frowned upon. We are going to hang out, play some hooverball ( think volleyball with a 20 pound dynamax), eat, laugh, maybe throw together a sweet team workout and get to know each other outside of the gym. Games and revelry to continue until the police arrive or someone is seriously injured. RSVP to comments. I want EVERYONE and their plus one to be there. Don't make me hate you. Directions and other details to follow. If you have worked out here even once you are invited.

Tell 'em

Jonas Bros. did a kick ass job of getting the Kosher Nostra through a dreadful team workout on Friday. If only motivation was enough to establish lumbar curve, rooted heels, elevated elbows, properly tracking knees, and a smile. I am making fun of a silky haired friend but it really does excite me when people take on the roles of motivator and trainer in the gym. I know you guys are coming to receive training and Irvine and I do our best at least 60% of the time but many of you have something to offer I am proud when you do. I hope and expect that each of you knows enough about the squat, press, and deadlift to offer someone basic instruction. On some level we are all trainers even if it is only ourselves but many of us will instruct at least one other person whether it is your spouse, your child or your boss. I harp on movement standards and movement corrections to make you a better athlete but we often explore the why so that you can take what you know outside of the gym. Take it to the streets.