8 rounds for time:
Lake Merritt stairs/cascades (this morning, there were approx. 110 stairs)
Push-ups each time at the top – 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40.

The crew this morning was introduced to some serious metabolic conditioning 🙂

Post times under the Comments section.

Rob Barnum getting some on the rower. Rob is using a little more backward lean than we’d like to see, but he’s a former crew guy, so what’re you gonna do.

Check out Concept2’s video clip on C2 rowing technique.

Tabata Pull-ups/Rows
Tabata Sit-ups
Tabata Thrusters
Tabata Push-ups

After working on squat- and handstand technique, we introduced everyone to the Tabata concept with today’s WOD.

For a nice overview of the Tabata protocol, see this article.

“Jackie”

Row 1,000m
45-lb barbell thruster, 50 reps
30 pull-ups

A quick entry today. I don’t even have an article to post.

Post your time to comments.

4 Rounds for time:
50 Squats
45-lb dumbbell push press, 15 reps

Back in action today; my time: 19:14. Can anyone out there break the 10-minute mark?

Post your time to Comments.

Dr. Uffe Ravnskov’s The Cholesterol Myths.

Rest Day

I’ll be back in action tomorrow. Check back for tomorrow’s workout.

In the meantime, I came across the following quote that sprinter Maurice Greene uses for inspiration in his pursuit of athletic greatness:

“Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up and it knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter if you’re a lion or a gazelle, when the sun comes up, you better be running.”

While I completely agree with the sentiment, I’d like the quote even more if we were to substitute the word “move” for the word “run”. For above all else, it’s functional movement that we’re after here (yes, we need variance and intensity as well). Running is certainly one of the irreducible functional movements that we love, but it ain’t the only game in town.

5 Rounds for time:
Row 500m
Rope climb, 2 ascents
45-lb Dumbbell thruster, 21 reps

While Jim took Team 6 and Team 7 on a running workout, I subjected myself to the above workout. I’ve let my metabolic conditioning slide a bit and really felt the metabolic cost of this workout. The rope climbs on the heels of the 500m rows were my undoing!

My final time: 29:06. Ouch! I know there are athletes out there far fitter than I, so have at it. Is there anyone who can do it in half my time?

Post your times for today’s WOD to Comments.

Looking for a link between exercise, diet, and evolutionary theory? Check out Art DeVany’s blog. His views on variety, intermittency, and intensity, as it relates to exercise, are perfectly compatible with what we’re doing here at CrossFit Oakland.

4 Rounds for time:
Run 400m
20 Push-ups
30 Jumping pull-ups

Today we introduced Team 6 and Team 7 to the wonders of the jumping pull-up. The jumping pull-up is not only a tremendous gateway exercise for developing the pull-up, it’s incredibly functional, as evidenced by its core-to-extremity motor recruitment pattern, and as an added bonus, it packs a metabolic wallop.

So have you started CrossFitting yet? If not, what are you waiting for? Courtesy of the NorCal S&C crew in Chico, CA, Exercise is not Optional.

Now that the pull-up bar has been installed at CrossFit Oakland, the possible permutations for CrossFit programming are nearly limitless, and incredibly robust to boot.

The value of the pull-up, whether on its own or in combination with other functional movements, cannot be overstated. Not surpisingly, then, the pull-up is a staple of our programming here at CrossFit Oakland.

CrossFit is spreading! Even Men’s Journal knows about CrossFit (see entry #4 on their list).

“There is NO better fitness program for fire fighters or law enforcement.”

– Mike Bender, 10-time winner of the “Toughest Cop Alive” competition