When Lisbeth wrote this it may have been a mental note to herself, but we definitely can relate.

10 WAYS TO BE A BETTER CROSSFITTER posted February 22, 2011 on crossfitlisbeth.com:

Warning: I wrote this post to myself. But if the lifting shoe fits . . .
10.  Hold the bar straight.

9.  Pay attention to your breathing.

8.  Use less chalk. Really.

7.  Read the CrossFit Journal articles and watch the videos. What’s this going to take? Like 15 min a day? Worth the time and worth the $25 per year. Stop whining and commit.

6.  Stop whining and commit. Yeah, that was so good and simple, it needed to be said again and for like all of life.

5.  Put sh** away where it belongs. You might call it housekeeping but, really, it’s a form of discipline. You don’t want bumpers or collars or KBs or whatever all over the place. Pick your item, use it, and put it away. Mental discipline is as important as physical discipline, maybe even more so.

4.  Get to class 15 minutes early, all the time. Use that extra time not to chat or work on stuff you’re good at — use it to suck. Suck at L-sits, suck at deadhang pull-ups, suck at KB snatches. All the stuff you and your ego have been avoiding. Put on your big girl panties and do the stuff you don’t want to do. It’s called being a grown-up. And a CrossFitter. Go do it.

3.  Shut up about programming. Nobody’s ever happy with programming unless they’re the ones doing the programming. Do the workouts. If you’re getting stronger and quicker and feel better, guess what? The programming is working. And if you’re not getting stronger or quicker and you don’t feel better, grab a coach and address your concerns privately.

2.  Pay attention. Stop chatting and daydreaming and goofing off. Focus.

1.  Stop praying at the bar. Gather yourself, address the bar, breathe, and lift. Don’t make it more complex — in movement or thought — than it needs to be. Lift the flippin’ bar.

Do you have your own list of ways to be a better CrossFitter?

WORKOUT OF THE DAY

Squat Clean 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

then,

“Grace”

For time

30 Clean and Jerks, 135/95lbs

We did a power clean version of “Grace” July 26, 2011.  Today we’re doing squat cleans.

WORKOUT OF THE DAY

“Partners Gone Bad”

2 Rounds of

Wall-ball, 10′, 20/14lbs (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 75/55lbs (Reps)
Box Jump, 20″ (Reps)
Push-Press, 75/55lbs (Reps)
Row (Calories)

In this workout you and your partner will move from each of five exercises after 2 minutes.  Teams will be determined by the coach.  Each partner must contribute to each exercise.  Break up the work during the 2 minutes for each exercise however you like.  The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. This is a 10 minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. On call of “rotate”, the athletes must move to the next exercise immediately for best score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.

STILL NOT REGISTERED TO JOIN US FOR FIGHT GONE BAD 6?

GET ON IT AND CLICK ON THE LINK ON THE SIDEBAR.

The Special Operations Warrior Foundation is one of the great causes supported by Fight Gone Bad 6.  In this video, John Carney, the president of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, explains the tremendous efforts his foundation does and how it came about to honor some brave soldiers.

To join the Fight click on the “Are you ready?” link in the sidebar.

WORKOUT OF THE DAY

“Ryan”

5 Rounds for time

7 Muscle-Ups
21 Burpees (Each burpee terminates with a jump one foot above max standing reach)

Fight Gone Bad 6

September 17, 2011

If you haven’t yet joined the team click the picture below.

That time of the year is coming up again!  The Fight Gone Bad 6 fundraiser is less than three weeks away.  Make sure you’re a part of it!  Go to the link below and register to be a member of Team CrossFit Fresno to participate in Fight Gone Bad 6.  There is no cost to register.  You just need to fundraise at least $150 to earn an awesome shirt, designed by Life As Rx, that you can wear with pride.  This year’s beneficiaries are the Special Operations Warrior Foundation and The CrossFit Foundation.

For those of you who haven’t participated in the fundraiser before, you could say it’s like Memorial Day Murph on an epic scale.  Epic!  Affiliates around the world will be doing the Fight Gone Bad WOD at their own locations.  Like Murph it will be an event with food, drinks, and all around good times.  We’ll run several heats as needed.

Last year, having been open for only a few months, we had 7 athletes participate and raised over $1,100.  This year, help us crush these numbers!  We’ve already raised more than we did last year.  Our leader to date is Paul Vaccarezza, having raised over $1,500!  Be a part of Team CrossFit Fresno and let’s show what our box can do!

If you can’t join us, donations can be made at this Link:

Donate to Fight Gone Bad 6

This link will take you to the donation page, but to find CrossFit Fresno you’ll have to click on the ‘search by team’ button.  When the CrossFit Fresno Page comes up choose one of our team members to donate to.  Below are the direct links to the team members who have already joined.

Paul Vaccarezza

Natalie Hauser

Amy Krisch

Marisa Bratcher

Lisa Coffman

Jeff Sherman

Kristy Sherman

Tim Traynham

Rosanna Akers

Jon Akers

Remember that every little bit helps.

WORKOUT OF THE DAY

“CrossFit Total”

Back Squat, 1 rep
Shoulder Press, 1 rep
Deadlift, 1 rep

We last did this workout June 17, 2011.

NO DAMSELS IN DISTRESS posted May 13, 2011 on crossfitlisbeth.com:

This isn’t a fairytale. I can’t manufacture hope out of nothing, like a blanket out of invisible threads, woven on some magic loom. There are no magic beans and there isn’t some long-haired prince who will ride up and save you. Even if your life is seriously f***ed, you will have to save yourself.

That sucks, huh?

Or maybe it’s the best thing ever. See, when you’re given something you never value it as much as when you earn that same thing. You know that.

So, earn it. Earn your happy ending, just like you have to earn that PR on your deadlift, or your overhead squat or the absolutely fabulouso delicioso front squat. (Okay, I might be just a little bit in love with the front squat.)

Put your heart and soul and all the effort you can muster into what needs fixing in your life. If it’s your business: head down, shoulder to the wheel, start pushing. If it’s your relationships: head up, ears open, find out what’s wrong and figure out how you can adjust your own behavior and make things better. (Actually, read that sentence again — it works for your business too.)

Don’t be the damsel in distress, because you know what? Everybody secretly hates that bitch. Whining and crying and wanting somebody else to do the work. F*** her. She’s not a CrossFitter. This isn’t the International Society of Whiny Bitches. (ISWB, for those of you playing along at home.)

Adjust your own attitude. Weave your own hope. Life will get better when you get better.

WORKOUT OF THE DAY

On a continuously running clock, complete the following 3 micro-WODS for time

800m Run
3 Rounds
10 Wall Balls, 20/14lbs
10 Pull-Ups

400m Run
3 Rounds
10 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls, 75/55lbs
20 Sit-Ups

200m Run
3 Rounds
10 Ring Dips
3 Wall Climbs

30 minute time cap for the entire WOD. If micro-WOD 1 is not completed by the 12 minute mark, you must move on to micro-WOD 2. If micro-WOD 2 is not completed by the 22 minute mark, you must move on to micro-WOD 3.

WORKOUT OF THE DAY

Split Jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

then,

10 minute AMRAP

6 Push-Ups
12 Squats
24 Hand-to-Hand Russian KB Swings, 53/35lbs

We last did the split jerk workout August 5, 2010.

ARE YOU A CHRONIC BAD COUNTER?

We’ve all been there, in the middle of the WOD and oxygen is low.  You have a brief moment when for whatever reason you just lose count, and you end up saying to yourself, “Crap, was that 9 or 10 push-ups?!”  It happens to all of us.  And when this does happen, you know what to do right?  YOU GO WITH THE LOWEST NUMBER!  Instead of inflating your numbers, be conservative and take the 9 instead of the 10.  It’s the right thing to do.

Now if you very well know that this happens to you a lot, then it’s time that you address it and work on it.  Think of counting as a skill.  Just like there are folks out there who need to work on their squat depth or their kipping pull-ups, really make an effort to work on keeping accurate count of your reps and rounds.  IF COUNTING IS YOUR GOAT, REALLY TRY HARD TO FIX IT!  We keep chalk and dry-erase markers available to you for this very reason, so use them.  That is unless you want to continue being a bad counter.  Whatever works for you, do a hash mark for every 10 reps, a hash mark for every round.  Just go with a system at the beginning of the WOD and stick with it.  If you want a piece of paper and pencil we can provide that too.  And try this when counting high reps, count out loud!  You don’t have to yell out each number, just say it loud enough to yourself so you know what rep you’re on.  Interesting thing is a lot of bad counters choose to not count out loud.  Makes you wonder why.

But anyways, part of being a good CrossFitter, whether you want to admit to it or not, includes being able to keep accurate score of your WODs even when oxygen is low.  Because in the end CrossFit is about numbers, so work on keeping those numbers straight and legit and post them on the board with pride.  It doesn’t matter to anyone whether you finish first or last, it just matters that you get the work done.

WORKOUT OF THE DAY

For time

21 L-Pull-Ups
20 Pistols, alternating legs
18 L-Pull-Ups
16 Pistols, alternating legs
15 L-Pull-Ups
12 Pistols, alternating legs
12 L-Pull-Ups
8 Pistols, alternating legs

WORKOUT OF THE DAY

Skill Work/Practice:

Rope Climb
Tire Flip

then,

Three rounds for time

50 Double-Unders
15 Hang Power Snatch, 75/55lbs
9 Handstand Push-Ups

We last did this workout April 14, 2011.

When you watch a competition, you don’t usually get to see what goes on behind the scene. In this video we get to follow Ben Bergeron and his team CrossFit New England pre and post final event of the 2011 CrossFit Games.

WORKOUT OF THE DAY

Bench Press 3-3-2-2-1-1-1

then,

15 minute partner AMRAP

500m Row
50 Box Jumps
20 Toes-to-Bar

Okay, sorry if this gets confusing…

Between you and your partner, alternate who does the 500m row for each round. Whichever partner isn’t rowing works on the box jumps and toes-to-bar. When the partner rowing completes 500m, he/she can help complete the box jumps and toes-to-bar, but only one partner can work on these two exercises at a time.

WORKOUT OF THE DAY

Skill Work/Pactice:

Snatch

then,

“Nancy”

5 rounds for time

400m Run
15 Overhead Squats, 95/65 lbs

We last did this January 10, 2011.

YOU’LL ALWAYS BE FAMILY

The past couple of weeks we’ve had to say good-bye to a few of our athletes.  Whether it’s work or higher education that takes you away from us, know that you’ll be missed and you’re always welcome to return.  For those of you heading back to school (Danny White, Michael Bohn, Aaron Neal, Steven Venter, Bill Whitney and Aaron Horowitt), just like in any family, we expect you to visit when you come home.  To Tim and Stephanie Traynham, although you’ll likely find a new CrossFit family when you move to Sacramento, you’ll always be considered a part of our CrossFit Fresno Family.  Come back and visit soon!

Last workout with Tim T. and Stephanie T.

Tim T.

Stephanie T.

Danny

Michael

Aaron N.

Steven

Bill

Aaron H.

WORKOUT OF THE DAY

15 Shoulder-to-Overhead, 95/65lbs
15 Burpees
15 Power Clean, 145/95lbs
15 Double-Unders
15 Deadlift, 235/165lbs
400m Run
15 Deadlift
15 Double-Unders
15 Power Clean
15 Burpees
15 Shoulder-to-Overhead
80m Farmers Carry, 70/53lbs
15 Shoulder-to-Overhead
15 Burpees
15 Power Clean
15 Double-Unders
15 Deadlift
400m Run
15 Deadlift
15 Double-Unders
15 Power Clean
15 Burpees
15 Shoulder-to-Overhead

Oh yeah! This is going to be fun!

WORKOUT OF THE DAY

Skill Work/Practice:

Skin-the-cat
Wall Climb

then,

For time

21/21 Kettlebell Snatch, 1.5/1.0 Pood (53/35lbs)
21 Pull-ups
15/15 Kettlebell Snatch
15 Pull-ups
9/9 Kettlebell Snatch
9 Pull-ups

then,

For time

500m Row

We last did the Kettlebell workout March 5, 2011 and the row June 8, 2011.

“Joy lies in the fight, in the attempt, in the suffering involved, not in the victory itself.”  –Mahatma Gandhi

WORKOUT OF THE DAY

Thrusters 5-5-5-5-5

then,

7 rounds for time

10 Push-Ups
10 Dowel Crunches
200m Run

FIGHT GONE BAD 6 – SEPTEMBER 17,2011

That time of the year is coming up again!  Make sure you’re a part of it!  Go to the link below and register to be a member of Team CrossFit Fresno to participate in Fight Gone Bad 6.  It isn’t too early.  There is no cost to register.  You just need to fundraise at least $150 to earn an awesome shirt that you can wear with pride.  This year’s beneficiaries are the Special Operations Warrior Foundation and The CrossFit Foundation.

For those of you who haven’t participated in the fundraiser before, you could say it’s like Memorial Day Murph on an epic scale.  Epic!  Affiliates around the world will be doing the Fight Gone Bad WOD at their own locations.  Like Murph it will be an event with food, drinks, and all around good times.  We’ll run several heats as needed.  Last year, having been open for only a few months, we had 7 athletes participate and raised over $1,100.  This year, help us crush these numbers!  Be a part of Team CrossFit Fresno and let’s show what our box can do!

FGB6 Registration

WORKOUT OF THE DAY

“Fight Gone Bad”

3 Rounds of

Wall-ball, 10′, 20/14lbs (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 75/55lbs (Reps)
Box Jump, 20″ (Reps)
Push-Press, 75/55lbs (Reps)
Row (Calories)

In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute.The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. On call of “rotate”, the athletes must move to next station immediately for best score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.

We last did this workout June 15, 2011.