Bastrop SUP Cup
July 31, 2013

Bastrop SUP Cup

Have you ever done Stand Up Paddleboarding?  Have you ever wanted to try?  It’s a great exercise in balance, and core strength, and a whole lot of fun!

The Bastrop River Co. is hosting the inaugural SUP Cup on August 16-17, 2013.  They are partnering with CrossFit gyms in the area to get some new, fit people interested in Stand Up Paddling.  They have taken any possible barriers out of signing up for the race.  They are providing paddleboards, paddles, and any necessary gear to you for no additional cost.  Come try a new event and have some fun! I’ll be out there as well.

Visit their website http://www.bastropsupcup.com/index.html for more information and to register.

SUP at the next CrossFit Games?

Workout

Clean 4 x 2 @ 60%

EMOM 10 minutes
5 Push Press
15 Air Squats

Darla , , , ,
July 30, 2013

Congrats Marry!

Marry competed in her first figure competition this past weekend at the Naturally Fit Show.  She has been training very hard for this show for the past few months.  In her first ever show, she placed third in the Master’s division, and 4th overall in the entire Novice Class!

Training for figure takes extreme dedication, to training and diet.  It is no small feat to compete in figure, much less to place as highly as Marry did.  Did I mention that Marry has 2 kids and a full time job? Oh yes, she put any potential excuse by the wayside and chose to do more. Congrats Marry!

marry

Workout

Back Squat 3 x 5 @ 60%

3 Rounds @ 80%
20 Wall Ball Shots
10 Pull Ups
Rest 2 minutes between rounds

Darla , ,
July 29, 2013

Thoughts on the CrossFit Games

The 2013 CrossFit Games just wrapped up, for the top CrossFit athletes this means a week of competing to be crowned, Fittest on Earth. Now some of you may have watched every event on ESPN3 or just waited to hear updates around the box. Regardless, the games have me reflecting about a couple of things…

The Open: Do you remember the five CrossFit Open workouts? Yes 150 wall balls…how could we forget. Well every athlete at the games did those workouts; actually around 150 thousand people signed up and competed in the open. That is a staggering number of fellow CrossFitters who threw down all around the world with you.  If you didn’t sign up for this past years open, make it a goal to participate in next year’s!

Progress: High intensity and constantly varied drive progress, it’s been an amazing experience witnessing athletes at BCF get stronger and tackle new skills. Think about all the first double unders, kipping pull ups, and toes-to-bar we’ve had this year. Still searching for your first? Great! Set your goal, write it down, keep working hard, and believe it’s going to happen. We’re all at BCF working to improve together.

Lets be honest, the majority of us will never snatch 300 pounds. However, we all know how it feels during the middle 15 thrusters of Fran and we all know how if feels to fight for every last rep before the clock ends. Unlike other sports the CrossFit games are special because you can relate to what athletes are going through. Remember that when your friends and coworkers say they watched some CrossFit on TV this week, and when they ask if that is what you do you can smile and say, “Yes you can too, come give it a try?”

-Justin Riojas
Balcones CrossFit Instructor in Training[divider]

Our crew had a blast working out at Total Nutrition on Saturday. Thanks for having us Tyler, Ted and team!

Our crew had a blast working out at Total Nutrition on Saturday. Thanks for having us Tyler, Ted and team!

Workout

Snatch 4 x 2 @ 60%

10 Min AMRAP @ 80% pace
400m Run
15 Deadlifts (light)

Darla , ,
July 28, 2013

Deload Week (Finally)

We’ve reached the end of our strength cycle.  Before we test your maxes again, we are going to take a deload week.  If you’re new to BCF, a deload week is a week where we take a step back on the intensity that makes CrossFit what it is.  When we deload, it give your body a chance to recover.  From talking with folks around the gym, it seems like many of your are feeling pretty run down and beat up.  That’s not too surprising; we’ve been working very hard for the past six weeks or so, without a chance to fully recover.  We will deload for this entire week.  Once you’ve recovered, we will do some testing in the following week and see how much you crush your PRs!

The way to approach this week is to lift at the prescribed weights, and workout at the prescribed intensity percentages.  Don’t overdo the work this week.  Take an extra rest day if you need to, and spend extra time working on mobility issues.  If this is your first couple of weeks training at BCF, you can go a little harder and lift a little heavier, as you do not need to deload just yet.  [divider]

Brian

Workout

Shoulder Press 3 x 5 @ 60% of your last set of 1

4 Rounds at 80% intensity

10 Box Jumps
10 Kettlebell Swings
15 Sit Ups

Darla , , , ,
July 25, 2013

It’s OK to Take a Rest Day

The CrossFit mindset is to work as hard as you can for whatever time or number of rounds we have up on the board.  We often carry that mindset over into the rest of our training with the “more is better” attitude.  While training hard is better in most respects than sitting on the couch all day, there is a point in time when you need to take a rest day, or two, or five.

Your body needs rest to recover and propel you forward to make more strength and fitness gains.  If we constantly beat ourselves up, working at a high output, and never allow ourselves to recover, we can actually slow and stall our progress.

Instead of training hard 5-6 days per week, take one of those days to do active rest.  Active rest is a very low intensity, steady state exercise.  A 30 minute walk is a great form of active rest.  Active rest should not be difficult.  It should not be high intensity or something that will beat you down.  CrossFitters are notorious for taking “active rest days” that include 3 mile runs and then playing a pick up sport. Rest is rest, treat it as such.  If you’re feeling run down, or like you aren’t making gains as fast as you like, take a couple of rest days and see how well you bounce back![divider]

Marlene

Workout

Skill work – Pistols

“Mary”
20 min AMRAP
5 HSPU
10 Pistols
15 Pull Ups

Darla , , , , ,
July 24, 2013

Weekend Schedule and Lake Workouts

This Saturday at 10 am, we will host a free workout at Total Nutrition in Pflugerville.  Their store is located off of FM 685 in the Stone Hill shopping center.  There will be no classes at the gym, but come out and show off your CrossFit skills!

Lake Workout Schedule Change

Beginning next week, there will be no 1230 pm lake workouts on Tuesdays.  We will still have the 6 pm Tuesday and 11 am Saturday workouts.  Finish out the summer strong![divider]

Albert lifting heavy yesterday!

Albert lifting heavy yesterday!

Workout

Power Clean and Push Jerk 5 x 1

For time:

100 double under buy in
3 Rounds
8 KB snatches per arm
50m Bear Crawl (down and back across gym 3 times)

Darla , , , ,
July 23, 2013

Sacrifice

The owner of CrossFit Wilmington recently wrote an article on sacrifice.  It’s a great article, click the link to read it in full.  I’m going to provide my 2 cents here.

I firmly believe that you only live once, so you should life to the fullest and enjoy whatever it is that makes you happy.  However, if your goal is to get fit, maybe shed a few pounds and get stronger, then you’ll have to make some sacrifices and pass on some things that you would normally do.

To sacrifice is give up something smaller in the pursuit of something greater.  In order to reach the ultimate goal of fitness, you may have to give up certain things in your day to day life.  Instead of visiting the bar for happy hour, you come to the gym and work out.  Instead of eating pizza and staying out til 3 am, you go to bed a little earlier and try to get a good night of sleep.  Instead of slamming down M&Ms and a Dr. Pepper at the movies, you stick with some almonds and a water.

These things may seem like they make your life “no fun.”  They may be tough at first, but the ends do justify the means.  You may have to live a little differently for a little while, but making small sacrifices, like the ones mentioned above, will help you to reach your goals. Ask yourself the question, what do you want most? Do you want to be as lean and fit as you have ever been?  Or do you want to continue to indulge yourself and be dissatisfied with where you are?  The choice is yours.[divider]

Gina

Workout

Deadlift 5 x 1

3 Rounds for time:

100m barbell overhead carry
40 Air Squats
200m Sprint

Darla , , , ,
July 22, 2013

Guest Days – August 22nd and 23rd

Do you tell your friends about all the fun workouts you do here at BCF?  Have you tried to explain CrossFit to them, but they just don’t seem to get it?  Here’s your chance to stop telling people what you do and show them what you do.

Introducing Balcones CrossFit Guest Days.  On August 22nd and 23rd we are inviting you to bring your friends into Balcones CrossFit. It’s a chance to show your friends everything that makes BCF great.  We will have special team workouts to allow you and your friends to workout together.  This is a very fun introduction to CrossFit, and a chance to show off all of your hard work.  Stay tuned for more details on these 2 days.

Pedro

 

Workout

[Snatch + Overhead Squat]  x 5 sets

For max reps:
3 minute AMRAP – Burpees
3 minute AMRAP – Wall Balls
3 minute AMRAP – Box Jumps
3 minute AMRAP – Push Press (75/55)

Darla , , , , ,

CrossFit Total PR Challenge

Chris Shoulder Press

During the week of August 5th we will begin our next PR Challenge.

What is it?  A chance to increase your CrossFit Total max lifts over the course of 8 weeks.  The CrossFit total is a 1 rep max total of Back Squat, Shoulder Press, and Deadlift.

When is it?  You will have a chance to perform the initial test   The final test will be on Saturday, September 28th.  For the final, we’ll treat it just like a competition.  There will be set start times, food, drink, and of course loud music!

Cost – $25.  The majority of this cost goes into the prize purse.  There will be prizes for top total, as well as most improved.  If you’ve never competed before, this is a great opportunity to get out and get in the game!

There is a sign up sheet on the upcoming events board, you can also register online here

Darla ,