History: the CrossFit games began in 2007 with athletes showing up to a family ranch in Aromas California. It was a two day event with 3 workouts and first prize was $500 cash. In 2012 the Reebok-CrossFit Games has 2 qualifying stages: Open and regionals. Last year the opens hosted 26 000 competitors and this year there’s been talk of 60 000 or more. The main event is now a 3 day extravaganza held at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California with mens, women’s, team’s, and master’s divisions. 1 million in prize money is up for grabs including $250 000 for the first place man and woman, and it all begins today…

Yesterday marked the beginning of phase one:

The Opens: From Feb. 22nd to March 25th every participating gym around the world will partake in 1 workout a week (5 in total). Workouts will be the same everywhere and will be released each week on the CrossFit Games site. Athletes will complete and post their scores to the scoreboard and see where they stand both in their region and against the rest of the world. The top 60 men, 60 women, and 30 teams from each of the 17 regions will move onto the next phase…

Regionals: Our region is “Canada West” and includes BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. Regionals this year will be held on April 27th-29th with the venue to be announced. This event is modelled much like the games and is not to be missed. From this level our region will send the best 2 men, 2 women, and 2 teams on to California to compete at the Home Depot centre on July 13th-15th.

What’s important to note:

-Anyone can participate in the Open Qualifier, all you have to do is register on the games site and pay your entrance fee of $20.
-Our gym will be doing the open WODs whether you register or not, and they will most likely be done on either Fridays or Saturdays (depending on what the WOD is)
-All competitors in the Open Qualifiers will be judged and have their reps counted. Every week, along with the WOD, the movement standards will be posted.

Jesse

Sounds like you guys had a pretty good week all in all given the weirdo weather/highway closures/ferry cancellations. We are happy that you are happy to have us back

The trip was reeeally fun and group consensus is that we are going to make it an annual thing… we’ll set the week shortly so that those of you who missed out this time around can pencil it in/save up for next year.

I’m just collecting photos from the trip and will put an album on photobucket soon.

I just heard from Steve and unfortunately he is stuck in Victoria because the ferries are cancelled. He will be unable to teach the morning classes and both he and Mike are unable to teach in the afternoon/evening. We REALLY aplologize for the inconvenience.

Here is a home wod to do instead (you aren’t off the hook):

20 min AMRAP:

5 V sits
10 russian twists (google it, im on an iphone!)
15 count hollow rock

As you know, 19 of us are leaving for Mexico early tomorrow (Thursday) morning. We wish more of you could come with us….

Steve will be covering all classes as per the condensed schedule online. If you need anything schedule related please contact Steve directly by either email or cell. His info is at the bottom of his trainer profile on our website. Jesse and I will be on email (but NOT texting) intermittently but may not be able to respond right away so please contact Steve with anything urgent. Yoga is still on as per usual this week and next.

And…. as January rolls in so do more 2 year anniversaries (there are no 1 years for January)…

Steph
Kevin
Jamie
Cliff
Amber P.
Onur

…time flies.

Have a good week and we’ll see you when we get back!

H&J

… it’s time to make sure you are managing your body accordingly. Here are a few suggestions to keep your upper body happy while moving forward with your new domination of pushups and associated incredible muscle mass:

1. Stretch your LATS. Best option here is the one we do with the bands off the pullup bar. Get your rib cage right underneath your arm. If you have never done this one (seems impossible to imagine) ask one of us to show you.

2. Pay attention to your TRICEPS. They work so hard but get neglected.

a) Have them worked on if you go to massage or physio (it’s shocking how good you will feel after). Roll them out on the lacrosse ball while lying on the floor.

b) And I personally love the classic stretch with your elbow pointing up to the ceiling, because you can use your assisting hand to add a little myofascial stretch by pulling the skin towards your elbow while you pull your elbow behind your head:

*** Make sure to slide your shoulderblade down your back to keep your shoulder from creeping up to your ear while you are doing this stretch.

3. Stretch, roll out or massage/physio your FOREARM EXTENSORS:

*** Make sure to keep your elbow straight when doing this stretch

4. And of course… open up your chest by stretching your PECS. There are a bunch of great options for this one. My favourites are lying on the foam roller with the ribs anchored down, shoulder blades low and the arms open out to the side:

Or lie on your back and twist one leg over to the floor, then open up the arm to the other side. Your arm may not even come close to the floor (a sign that you need this stretch badly):

Keep the knee on the floor to bias the pec

Let us know if you have questions.

Heather

As our Push-ups Series gets more and more time consuming and taxing on the system I’ve scheduled them into our programming in a fashion that best suites both class time, and your recovery. Here’s what the next couple weeks and the conclusion of this series look like (please read carefully, print off, or mark on your calendar as to avoid getting off course or left behind):

Push-up Series Schedule:

Push-ups Day 12/18: In class or as homework (Friday Jan. 13th)
Push-ups Day 13/18: Homework (Sunday Jan. 15th)
Push-ups Day 14/18: In class (Tuesday Jan. 17th)
Push-ups Day 15/18: Homework (Friday Jan. 20th)
Push-ups Day 16/18: Homework (Sunday Jan. 22nd)
Push-ups Day 17/18: Homework (Wednesday Jan. 25th)
Push-ups Day 18/18: In class (Saturday Jan. 28th)

Also: if you’re sore as f*ck from yesterday, spend today on gentle mobility and active recovery. You’ll need those legs again tomorrow:)

I’d recommend: paying attention to the hips, especially the hip flexors…. maybe even yoga tonight!

Jesse

1. The best street art of 2011

2. Nightline Review of The Talent Code
I’m a little over half way through this book. Certainly worth a read.

3. Taylor sent me this. We will now except these in lieu of Double Unders:

Jump Snap

The persons face on the Stationary Bike 7 seconds in is money.

…Or you could just seek out, and enjoy, the sun:)

Jesse

Not a single one of you has asked who our guest staff is Friday night and Saturday morning…. We’re not sure whether this means you have full faith in us or you just haven’t noticed.

We are heading up to Vernon (Steve included) to do a weekend of Olympic Lifting with Guy Greavette. Our friend and long time CrossFit coach Andy from CrossFit Vancouver will be covering for us. You are in VERY good hands. Andy is a CrossFit Level 2 coach, along with CrossFit Weightlifting certified, CrossFit Endurance certified, Z-Health R-, I-, and S-Phase certified, RKC Kettlebell certified, NCCP Level 1 Weightlifting Certified, Stretch Therapy. Andy has competed 4 times in California at the CrossFit Games, twice as an individual male representing Western Canada and then twice as part of Team Vancouver. He’s a great athlete, great coach, and a modest guy. Best behaviour for Friday and Saturday!

Jesse & Heather

Every so often someone asks what happens in the gym during the time between morning classes and evening classes. To commemorate 2011 and address this question I’d like to share with you 3 things from my iPhoto Event called “Safety 3rd” (DO NOT DO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING 3 THINGS, this means you!):

1: 85# Duct Tape Dumbbells. I used these sketchy buggers for Benching until we got proper ones. The documentation was more so I’d have something to show for a potentially busted face.

2: 20″ Box Jump off the knees, again video documentation… Just in case.

3: Keg Grace: 30 Clean and Jerk for time with a 140# water filled keg. phthhh.

…Anyways… On to 2012. Here are Heather’s and my top picks for competitive events in 2012 (DO AS MANY OF THE FOLLOWING AS POSSIBLE, this means you!):

Cretus Ex Duellum: 1st Annual Pre-Open CrossFit Competition; Jan. 21st-22nd, Lynnwood Washington
BC CrossFit Olympic Lifting Competition: 2nd Annual provincial CrossFit Weightlifting meet; Feb. 4th, Semiahmoo High School White Rock
The Monster Erg: 2000m and/or 4x500m relay indoor rowing Competition; Feb. 5th, Victoria
2012 CrossFit Games Open: Step 1 of the CrossFit World Games, Registration opens Feb. 1st, events run from Feb. 22nd to March 25th, Opens are held each week at CrossFit Squamish
Vancouver Marathon: New course as of this year; May 6th Vancouver
Ore Crusher: Multi-lap classic XC through the Cheekeye Fan single-track trails of Brackendale; May 12th, Squamish
Northwest Iron Quest: Spring Powerlifting Meet; May 12th Lynnwood Washington
Whistler Half Marathon: 2nd Annual Whistler Half Marathon; June 2nd, Whistler
Test of Metal: you know, and if you don’t you should; June 16th, Squamish
Tough Mudder: 10-12 mile (16-19km) obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie; June 23rd-24th, Whistler
The CrosFit Games: CrossFit World Finals; July 13-15th, Carson California
Gear Jammer: 52 km point to point race through the Squamish single-track; July 21st, Squamish
Canadian Death Race: 125km foot race in the northern Rockies; Aug. 4-5th, Grand Cache Alberta
Squamish Days: Premiere Loggers Sports Competition of 2012; Aug. 3-6th, Squamish
Squamish 50: Brand new 50 mile race with relay option, Aug. 11th, Squamish
JABR: Finish the season with Squamish’s newest mountain bike race; Aug. 21st, Squamish
Taranis Winter Challenge: A 3 day epic CrossFit competition; Nov, Victoria
Mount Rainiers Strongest Man and Women: A CrossFit Strongman event to raise money for Fragile X; Nov, Sumner Washington

Feel free to Post to Comments any others you may have or I may have missed. As always I strongly encourage you to sign up early if you’re keen as many of these events fill up very fast. If you have any question or are unsure about any of these events come talk to Heather or myself (as always we’ll give you our honest opinion ).

In case anyone is interested in a full season of Loggers Sports and some travelling I’ve got the hopes of attending 4-6 events this year. Let me know.

Jesse

My dad is a family physician in Ontario and just told me about this video that is circulating in the medical community right now. Though the info won’t be ground breaking for the majority of you, there are a ton of interesting stats stuffed in there, backed by some good research. I think it’s well done. And maybe you have some less “motivated” family members or friends that you would like to pass it along to

Heather