The showers are still out of order, but should be back up and running for wednesday NYE Team Twist

Cindy

20 min AMRAP

5 pull ups

10 push ups

15 push ups

Nicole

20 min AMRAP

400m run

max pull ups

odd object

Due to major work on changing rooms the showers are out of order till the new year Bring on a Big Saturday 9am  15 min EMOM  min 1 - row 20/15 cals  min 2 - 15 burpees  min 2 - rest  into  Team WOD  In Partners  30 min AMRAP  4 Dball Cleans  10 syncro push ups  40 KB swings  30 syncro sit ups  40 syncro squats 10:00 am 1 RM Snatch  then  1 RM clean and jerk

Special Saturday WOD

So although we will be celebrating Christmas I thought it would be a great chance to remember all those that serve our country. Some families will be without parents for Xmas either due to work or loss of life so we will be spending this saturday in fancy dress remembering. 

When Dave Castro spoke on the death of his friend, “I’ve lost a lot of friends as SEALs. It happens. But this was a shock. Suicide, that’s a tough one. I don’t understand it.”

Castro, admits he isn't trying to raise suicide awareness with this workout, recognising the burden many service members carry around, especially those in the elite special forces community.

“So many people who’ve done this for a long time have seen things and done things that most normal people don’t,” Castro said. “These people are carrying around things we don’t understand.” 

Dedicated to Chad Michael Wilkinson of the US Navy who died on October 29, 2018, in Virginia Beach on active duty after 22 years of service.

CHAD

1000 box step ups 20" wearing a 20/15kg back pack or vest

2018 Awards

It was really nice to read your nominations and hear what positive things you had to say about each other. I really am blessed to have a gym full of such great people and a community that goes from strength to strength.

Over the past 6 months I have seen so many of you make great progress in your gymnastics, some getting there 1st Pull up, TTB, HSPU, ring or bar muscle up. With an increase in basic strength and understanding, these movement are now being linked together and becoming more consistent.

Weightlifting is always going to be up and down, but yet again you guys are smashing it and growing in confidence to push on with your weights and the wanting to learn technique.

Going into the new year it would be great to hear from you all, with what you've enjoyed this year and what you would like to work on in 2019.

So moving forward to what you've all been waiting for... the awards for this year...

DRUM ROLL PLEASE !!!

Most improved member 

Female - Anna

Male - Dave Ellis

Members member of the year 

Female - Fiona

Male - Woody

Alexander

5 rounds

31 back squats

12 power cleans

Bar muscle ups

2 - transition or kipping practice

3 - timing

20 min EMOM

min 1 - box jumps

min 2 - golfers deadlifts

min 3 - Pistols

min 4 - DB devils press

Skills - DU

TTB

for time

100 80 60 40 20

du

50 40 30 20 10

TTB

Saturdays 9am class will be our 12 days of Xmas 

Fancy Dress WOD, due to this there will be no 8am class 

Lynne

5 rounds

max BW bench press

max pull ups

rest as needed after each round

Sickness during the Xmas Period - It happens to us all

Great Little Read 

Let's face it.  “It” happens, even to CrossFitters. You come to the gym and go to pick up a weight and it feels abnormally heavy. You brush it off as fatigue from yesterday's WOD and continue to lift. Then, the daily metcon  feels really hard, and your score stinks, and something isn't right.

After the WOD you lay on your back and ponder whether you didn't eat right, or perhaps you just aren't hydrated or didn't sleep right last night, anything but a cold. Let me share the harsh reality with you. You can be a great crossfitter, do everything right, and still get sick. It happens, so accept it. Everyone gets sick at some time, the key thing is what you do while sick to minimize your downtime.

I've worked with many athletes who believe that taking several days to a week off will make them weak as a kitten. Relax. A week off will not impact your strength and conditioning.

So, what's the right thing to do when sick? What I see a lot a of athletes do is try to pretend they aren't sick, and throw in a heavy Oly session or a hard metcon thinking that will get their blood flowing, and them back in grove. Sorry, tearing yourself down when your body is already working overtime to heal whatever illness you currently have doesn't  make sense.

So what can we do to to get past this? Short answer, “REST”.  Longer answer “REST and MOBILIZE” . If you have a fever, please don't come into the box, you're contagious. If you don't have a fever, and want to do something positive for yourself, use this forced "down time" to work on mobility. There isn't a member of our box who can't improve the quality of their movement in some capacity.  Coming in for a 30 - 45 minute stretching and mobility session will allow you to focus on problem areas. Tight shoulders, calves or hips? Foam Roll, voodoo band, do the stretching for your problem areas. This will make you move better and more fluidly than before; that way when you do get back at it you will be a well oiled machine. Don't stress about not working out while sick; you're resting, you're working your mobility, and you will be back at it in a few days.

View your illness as an opportunity to work on quality movement. You may surprise yourself with better technique and speed when you come back. Remember, CrossFit is strength, conditioning, and quality of movement, 3 points of a triangle, all are vital for success. To recap - the best things to do when you're sick is

• Accept that you're sick
• Don't stress about it, your hard earned muscles aren't going to deflate
• REST
• Drink lots of fluids, eat sound nutrition, use shakes if you have to
• Work your mobility if you must work out, use this forced down time to positive effect
• Don't kill yourself on your first WOD back, ease into it over a few days

Last day to vote  Member of the year  male and female  Most improved member  male and female  your vote counts so please send in your votes  3 rounds

10 power cleans

20 cal assault bike

30 m HS walk

20 cal row

start new round every 10 mins

8am

E3MOM

20/15 cal row

15 thrusters

rest as needed

9am

In Partners

40 Burpee box get over 48"/40"

120 pull ups

40 Burpee box get over 48"/40"

80 CTB

40 Burpee box get over 48"/40"

40 Bar muscle ups

10am

Power snatch + snatch balance

6 x 2

Hang Snatch + snatch

6 x 1

Pause snatch pulls

6 x 2

Remember to keep voting for member of the year and most improved Your chance to have a say Currently have prizes from Kitbox and Nocco drinks for those winners Ozzy

7 rounds

11 DHSPU

1000m run

Bar muscle ups

2 - transition or kipping practice

3 - timing

20 min EMOM

min 1 - DU

min 2 - 5 sec arm hangs

min 3 - hollow rocks

min 4 - ring dip support

Come on People get your votes in for this years AWARDS 

Member of the year both male and female 

most improved member both male and female 

ITS YOUR CHANCE TO HAVE A SAY 

3 rounds

2 min Bike cals

2 min burpees over box

2 min row cals

4 min rest

Nominations

Can you please send me over your Nominations 

- Most improved 

Male 

and 

Female 

- Member of the year 

Male 

and 

Female 

Strength

Front Squat

8 Tempo front squats

Oly

pause hang clean +  clean

heavy for the day

Push jerks

5 x 3

Skill - HS walks

4 rounds

3 min AMRAP

100 DU

30 TTB

Max HS walks/shoulder taps

1 min rest

8am - Engine building team wod

20 min AMRAP

21 cal row

15 Push press

10 Bar muscle ups

9am - Partner WOD

30 min AMRAP

50 DU

12 TTB

9 DB box step over

10 am - Clean and jerk

Clean grip OH squat

6 x 2

Clean and jerk

8 x 1

Pendlay row -

5 x 3

Killing gains and causing a plateau

Great post via Kill Cliff 

Sleep, we all know it is important, but the vast majority aren’t getting enough. In fact, some estimates put the number as high as 2 in 3 Americans suffering from sleep deprivation. Recently I posed a question on Twitter asking experts in the field of Strength and Conditioning what the number 1 recovery modality was for student athletes who participated in strenuous training programs.

The options were:
Breakfast
Cool Down / Stretching
Sleep
Post Training Nutrition.

While all are important, I was blown away by the lack of understanding from those who are deemed “experts” within my field of Strength and Conditioning.
Now, to play devil’s advocate, I probably could have further clarified “important,” so I’ll clarify now by re-posing the question in more than 140 characters. “What recovery modality is most impactful on positively affecting physiological profile, biomechanical function, injury reduction, cognitive performance and physical performance?” With that out of the way, the answer is Sleep.

Numerous studies have shown that sleep is directly correlated to testosterone production in healthy men. In fact, it is nearly as straight forward as saying “the more you sleep, the higher your testosterone.” One of the best studies on the subject compared testosterone levels to hours slept per night, and came away with data showing every hour of sleep lost has a direct negative impact on testosterone level.

Not surprisingly, recent studies have also shown that Testosterone levels have declined in every generation over the past 20 years. In my opinion, the biggest lifestyle change in those 20 years have been obesity and sleep pattern changes. Interestingly enough, obesity has been accounted for and determined to be the main factor. I will go out on a limb and attribute sleep pattern changes as the biggest factor in lower testosterone. TVs in the bedroom and smartphones in the bed are the biggest culprits in my opinion, and while this is an opinion, there is enough anecdotal evidence to support that 20 years ago there wasn’t a tv or smartphone in every bedroom. I feel so strongly about this that I have a rule in my house, no tvs in the bedroom, and smartphones turn off at 9 pm (my wife breaks rule 2 constantly, but what you gonna do?).

Injuries are also affected by sleep, and recent studies have shown just how important sleep is to staying healthy. Athletes who sleep less than 8 hours per night are 1.7 times more likely to have had an injury compared to athletes who have slept more than 8 hours per night. The quickest way to derail progress is to get injured and stop training and that’s because no matter how much you try to fight through it, Injuries derail training, period. While the athlete generally has no input on the practice scripts, travel, uncontrolled competition environments etc. the athlete does have control over their sleep.

The next factor to consider actually brings us to the shelves of the local supplement super store. Over the years, the biggest product to take up space on the shelves is “Pre-Workout.” While there is plenty of evidence showing benefits of caffeine, amino acids, creatine, etc. most people buy pre-workout because they are mentally fried before hitting the gym. We know that sleep is tied to cognitive function and energy levels, so it is no coincidence that sleep is directly tied to the same buzz words being thrown around on pre-workout labels: drive, focus, energy, etc. I will be the first to say, there are absolutely great pre-workout products on the market, but the BEST pre-workout on the market is 8 hours of sleep, a big breakfast and adequate hydration (another article for another time). If your testosterone is in the dumps, your adrenals are fried, and your focus is so shot that you need 3 scoops of MegaJacked9000 just to step in the weight room, you will not make great progress.

Finally, for those “never sleep,” “sleep when I’m dead,” and “Do work while my competition is sleeping” types, research directly supports a loss in physical performance related to sleep deprivation. It goes back to the fable of the lumberjacks. 2 lumber jacks were cutting down a forest. 1 never stopped, and hacked away hour after hour. The other regularly stopped to sharpen his axe. While lumberjack 1 put in more work, lumberjack 2 was more productive. Once the axe is dull, the performance of the lumberjack suffers. The same can be said for sleep. There is a big difference between working long, working hard, and working long and hard. Those who forego sleep generally find themselves in the working long category. Those who regularly prioritize sleep, will find their days more productive, and the long term results will reflect those productive hours of work.

klepto

4 rounds

27 box jumps

20 burpees

11 squat cleans

Ring muscle ups

or

Bar muscle ups

20 min EMOM

min 1 - row cals

min 2 - Shoulder Taps

min 3 - Chin over bar hold

min 4 - L-sit hold

E5MOM  20/15 cal bike  15 front squats  10 Plate OH lunges  rest remaining time

Extras

Back off week

Snatch Balance

8 x 1

Pause hang snatch + snatch

heavy for the day

Snatch Jerks

3 x 3

- for time

1000m row

50 TTB

30 HSPU

- Back Squat

tempo 4-0-3

4 x 10