CrossFit New Zealand

Friday 16 December

Once again, congratulations to our Spring cLEAN winner, Chanel Paul!  Chanel made amazing progress over the 8 weeks of our challenge, both in performance and body composition.  Chanel was very dedicated with her training, turning up consistently and working hard, as well as embracing the philosphy of eating real food and avoiding processed carbohydrates.  She was also a regular at all of our associated team challenges, and she did well to harness the powerful support of the community when she encountered road blocks.

Chanel gave us permission to show you her before and after pics, and her Facebook page was littered with positive comments after she posted them there as well.  My favourite comment?  "I like how your smile got bigger......."

Here's a few words from Chanel.

Since joining Crossfit I have completely changed my out look on exercise and eating. I have also had the chance to meet a wide range of amazing supportive like minded people who are always there to cheer you on when you run out of steam.

Why did you sign up for the Spring cLEAN challenge?

I had heard that it was a good way to meet all the other crossfitters, also that it was a lot of fun. There was also the the lure of looking hot for summer.

What did you think of the challenge?

I really enjoyed all the challenges even swimming in the rain during the beach challenge. As soon as one challenge was completed I was holding out to find out what was coming up next.

What was the hardest part?

Not eating the wrong things at shared lunches, when i was rushing around and when I was stressed. 

Was there a food you craved, or a time where things were just tough?

Potato chips. That was the big thing for me. I have also had a rough time as some of you may know in my personal life. Things just kept going wrong one after another, so staying on the right eating plan and making it to classes was extremely tough at times.

The easiest?

Cutting out sugar was easy for me but I have never really had much of a sweet tooth anyway.

Most memorable moment?

During the spring clean I was at on open gym session on a Sunday and managed to go from dead hangs pull ups with a blue band to dead hangs with no bands, thanks to a whole bunch of cheering from those there. Just a couple of days later I managing my first kipping pull up. Getting my first pull ups was a great feeling finally getting something that was hindering me for so long.

What advice would you have for people trying to improve their nutrition?

Keep it simple and there is such a thing as good fats. Mmmmmm Bacon.....

Workout

Deadlift 3 reps, rest 30s,
Ring dips, max reps, rest 90s
5 rounds, first set should be at 85-90% of 1RM.
Then,
21-15-9
Deadlift 100/70kg
42-30-18
Lateral Jumps over barbell

Thursday 15 December

CFNZ represented well at the recent competition held by CrossFit Newmarket.  Well done to everyone who participated.

Some curly events, with a couple of challenging tests of gymnastic and accuracy skills thrown in amongst the usual movements.

Rx Men- 1st Mike Rankin, 2nd Carl Grace, 4th Tim Holdsworth, 7th Dan Rankin, 9th Wes Verhoeff, 10th Sam, 12th Joe McPhee, DNF Chris Stewart (those incredibly long hammies seizing up.......:) but an awesome effort) and big props to  Dave Carran making the category jump into RX and representing well.

Rx Women - 1st Amanda Bunn

Scaled Men - 3rd Matt Peat

Scaled Women - 2nd Eilis Breen

Thanks for the sweet pic Joe McPhee!  Check out the rest HERE.

Workout

Thruster 3-3-3

Then,

The Fit Test - can you beat Jenny May?  An Olympic swimmer?  A Black Stick, or a Black Sox?

Coming up with a workout that could challenge all of the above athletes and more, without too much technical difficulty involved, heavy enough to avoid being purely an aerobic test, yet light enough that no one would find themselves unable to lift the weight, as well as being short and exciting enough to put on tv was pretty tricky, but I think it turned out ok in the end.  All the athletes put in a great effort, even if the movements were completely foreign to them.  Inspiring stuff.

500m row

20 Swings 24/16kg

20 Box Jump up + over 60/50cm

15 DB thrusters 15's/10's

10 Burpees (hand release)

3 x 10m medball carries 9/6kg

Watch another New Zealand athlete take on the The Fit Test on Maori TV tonight at 8pm and see if you can count how many times I say "ummm"......

Congrats Larissa on graduating from Physiotherapy School!!

Wednesday 14 December

Dan H giving the bar some stick.  That technique is getting so much better Dan, but it's still mostly brute force at this stage! :)

Workout

10 TTB
10 Wallball 9/6kg
40 Double unders
AMRAP in 12 mins

Tuesday 13 December

Jen during the baseline retesting

Spring cLEAN Wrap Up

Our 8 week nutrition and team challenge was a resounding success.  You all have made tremendous progress not only physically but in your understanding of how much of an effect nutrittion can have on your well being.  Keep those lessons front of mind, and while it will be good to relax over Xmas, don't go and undo all the fantastic effort.  There is no January challenge scheduled!!!!

Hats off to our finalists, you were great sports going on display Saturday night. It was a close call between the top two, but in the end our winner was...............

Chanel Paul!  We'll get a few words off her soon to share her experience with you all.

Runner up - Adam Hurdley

Second Runner up - Duncan Hodgson

Winning Team -  Team Witness The Fitness.

CFNZ CrossFitter of 2011 - Ruth Sullman

If you want your before/after pics sent to you, please email me.  We've learned a lot from this challenge ourselves, as we do every year, and continue to improve upon things.  Next year will be even better!

Workout

Power Snatch 4 x 1.1.1
Then,

5 Rounds For Time of:
200 Meter Run
5 Power Snatches 60/40kg

Monday 12 December

Taz is moving to America, the land of opportunity, the land of dreams, the land of large people who don't know where NZ is......

It's been a crazy 3.5 years working with her to grow CFNZ from a handful of mums running around in the park to the large and varied community of awesomeness we have now (big shout out to those mums who are still with us - Kirstine, Rach L, Jo G, Lynn!)

We had no idea what we were doing when we maxed out both our credit cards straight out of university to get a bunch of crappy barbells and plates (some of which are still being used!) and set up in an old army barracks.  But we both hated what we were doing before that (working in a commercial gym) so it was an easy decision to team up and have a crack at something new. 

Taz has been invaluable to CFNZ, the complete opposite to my casual approach, she rapidly got the reputation as the 'tough' coach.  She made all the hard decisions about money, probably saving us from financial ruin many times over as I tried to spend every penny on equipment we didn't need and business courses that wouldn't teach us what we were figuring out anyway in the School of Real World.

Somehow we made it work, and the main reason for that is you guys.  If we owned a dog grooming business or a portaloo company, we probably would have gone our separate ways long ago.  You guys are like family to Taz and I, and I know she is going to miss you all immensely, just as you will miss her (telling you that your overhead position is rubbish......)

 Today is her last day of coaching and she leaves this week, so be sure to wish her well with her new gym and new direction in life.  She is already planning a trip back home here and we will definitely get her in to coach you kick your arses........

Workout -"Taz"
2 legless rope climb
4 Squat Cleans 90/60
16 swings 32/24
32 Pullups
16 swings 32/24
8 HSPU
4 squat cleans 90/60
2 legless rope climbs

Happy Birthday Anna Haggerty and Matt Peat!!

Saturday 10 December

Not sure which coach has drawn such laser focused attention from all the athletes, but I like it!!

Partner workout today.  Maybe you can continue your winning partnership later on today with some tennis at our Xmas party......

Workout “Me against You”

Partner A – 400m run
Partner B – Max reps wallball during Partner A's run

-rest 1 min-

Partner A – Max reps sit ups during Partner B's run
Partner B – 400m run

-rest 1 min-

Partner A – 400m run
Partner B – Max pushups during Partner A's run

-rest 1 min-

Partner A – Max pull ups during Partner B's run
Partner B – 400m run

-rest 1 min,  switch around, and repeat workout.  Score is total number of reps.  Can you beat your partners score?  The faster you can run, the lower their score will be.

No Open Gym tomorrow - we're sleeping in after the party.......

Friday 9 December

Some of the amazing food at last weeks Spring cLEAN Cooking Challenge......

Workout

Spring cLEAN Baseline Retesting.  Go hard guys!!  All the best today.  You've all worked your butts off over the last 8 weeks, and no matter the results of the baseline test or the before/after photos, the main aim for us is for you to have learned more about nutrition, how your body responds to certain foods, and how your performance and health are so dependant on real food.  Keep up with everything you have learned, but continue to learn.

See you at the Xmas party tomorrow.  Classes are still on as normal tomorrow for those that want to 'offset' any partying they have planned for later.......

Clean and Jerk 3RM

Then,

1 min of thrusters (40/30kg)
2 min of Over-bar burpees
3 min KB swings (24/16kg)
4 min of rowing (for calories)

DON'T FORGET THE INOV-8 PEEPS ARE IN WITH SHOES TO TRY AND BUY TONIGHT AT 530PM!

Thursday 8 December

All of a sudden I've noticed a massive surge in the general awareness of CrossFit.

Whereas in the past I've had to carefully explain what it is that we do in an old warehouse tucked down a sidestreet, now if I just say the word CrossFit, chances are the person I'm talking to might say they just saw it on ESPN, or read an article in the newspaper or a fitness magazine.   CFNZ is getting some good exposure on Maori TV's 'The Fit Club" at the moment, and there is a CrossFit gym in most areas of Auckland. 

Did NOT see that coming..........

Check out the pic above.  That's the first CrossFit Games in 2007.   Held on Dave Castro's (the Director of Training, although I bet he didn't have a title like that in 2007......) family farm, there were about 60 competitors and they all brought along 2 friends to watch them run a 5k, do a CrossFit Total and a metcon that was drawn out of a hat!  Founder Greg Glassman gave the winners $500 out of his wallet....

In 2008, there was a surge of interest, with 300 competitors being allowed to enter, but they still didn't bring more than about 2 mates each.  Organisers got fancy this year and threw down old mats to minimise the dust inhalation in the 35 degree heat.  CFNZ coach Pat Barber pulled off a 4th place and his new boss Jason Khalipa staged an epic, out of nowhere victory in the final workout.  CrossFit NZ opened it's doors about 2 months prior, the first CrossFit in the country and part of about 500 worldwide, most of which were USA based.

Realising that trying to manage hundreds of competitors through multiple events was suicide, 2009 heralded the start of Regional qualifiers.  Taz won the Australasian qualifier and headed to the big show, still hosted on the farm in Aromas near the birthplace of CrossFit, Santa Cruz, California.  Sponsor tents, grandstands, a full rubber competition area and more prizemoney didn't stop the organisors from sending the athletes out into the poison ivy strewn wilderness for a 7k run and then straight up the side of the now legendary hill.  CrossFit's Auckland, Birkenhead, and Christchurch sprang into life.

The Aromas local council said "Hell no!" this year.  The crowds were getting too big, so things stepped up in a major way with a shift to the home of the LA Galaxy soccer team, The Home Depot Center in Los Angeles and $50 000 prize purses.  CrossFit NZ was lucky enough to qualify a team to compete at the big show, after individual and group qualification through what the new Sectional competiton and then Regionals.  CrossFit in NZ started to take off with multiple gyms opening in Wellington, as well as Dunedin, Palmerston North, and worldwide numbers approaching 2000.

Same venue this year, but a LOT more people and a s#$ load more dinero.  Reebok signed up as the title sponsor for a massive 10 year journey and dumped a million bucks into a prize purse that was now rewarding teams, kids and masters divisions, 26 000 people had a crack at the first stage of qualification via an online competiton, our team narrowly missed a spot with a 5th place finish at Regionals.  This was the first year of television coverage, that is still being replayed on ESPN 6 months later.

There are now about 10 CrossFits in Auckland and just over 20 around the country.  Worldwide there are now 3500, and a prediction of 30 000 in five years!!

What will 2012 bring?!  Will you be a part of it?

Check out this sweet infographic of the Games History.

Workout

Snatch Balance 1 rep, rest 30 sec,
(newbies OH Squat for sets of 3),
Deadhang Pullup, 6-10 reps (add weight if needed), rest 60-90 sec,
6 rounds

Remember you have to get your after photo done by today Spring cLEAN'ers!!  Don't leave it till the last minute.........and last chance for the baseline is tomorrow.

Also, are we seeing you at the Xmas party on Saturday?  You RSVP'd right?  If you didn't, don't expect any meat off my plate....... I'm going to need it after smashing you all at tennis......

Wednesday 7 December

Big congrats to Alan Sutcliffe for smashing out the Kepler Challenge in a tad under 8 hours on the weekend.  Alan supplemented the usual carb gels and drinks on this mountainous 60km race with my new favourite post workout fuel - baby food!!  But apparently cold kumara paste is not that desireable when running through the rugged South Island terrain.......

Workout

Front Squat 3 reps @90% or more, rest 30 sec,
Handstand Pushups 5-8 reps (on plates if needed), rest 60-90 sec,
5 rounds

Finisher
Sled Drag 200m, rest as needed, then 100m (20/10kg)

Tuesday 6 December

Sophie looking focused...!

So the days's are getting longer, the sun is up earlier in the morning and setting later at night.  Which is great for our classes at each end of the day, it's always a little easier to train hard in daylight...... the warm weather helps too.....

But how's your sleep?  Are you finding that you're staying up later, or waking earlier because of the extra sun?  It's an easy thing to do over summer.  But don't forget, sleep is when you recover from these tough CrossFit workouts.  Now, summer is there to be enjoyed to the max, so I'm not going to tell you all to start taking afternoon naps like I can, or to just go to bed earlier; but you are going to have to at least consider it if you want maximum results from your training. 

Failing that, here's a couple of things you can try, to get the most out of the sleep you do have.

• Put up black out curtains.  How dark is your room?  It should be pitch black.  PITCH. FREAKING. BLACK!  Not even a digital alarm clock (throw a tea towel over it).  Most fancy pants venetian blinds and other curtains don't block out enough light.  And no the airplane mask wont work.  Not only will you strangle yourself in your sleep (surely I'm not the only one that happens to...?), but your skin actually has photoreceptors that react to light, so just covering your eyes wont work.
• Turn off the telly and the computer at least an hour before bed.  I find this one the hardest.  Somehow I'm still emailing one of you 2 hours after I should have gone to sleep....  My new thing for summer is to switch to candles after dinner (yep, very romantic.....), and turn the electronic devices off in favour of a book.
• If you have a rough nights sleep, then the following day be sure to avoid carbs as much as possible.  Yes lack of sleep has been implicated in fat storage, and as you already know by now, so are carbs, so stick with the leafy greens after a hard night if you want to avoid the blubber double shot.
• If you don't have the luxury of a siesta (I'm heading for one as soon as I'm done writing this......) give meditation a try.  Plenty of studies have shown how great it is for relaxation, and for productivity too.  So find a quiet spot in the office if you can, for a quick 20mins of focused breathing, and you will reap dividends.

Workout

400 Meter Sandbag Run (25/12.5kg)
21-15-9
Wallball (9/6kg)
Chest to Bar Pull Ups
400 Meter Sandbag Run (25/12.5kg)

 

Happy Birthday Tate McClenaghan!!