CrossFit Ocean City

FUNDRAISER TO SUPPORT FALLEN CROSSFITTERS AND WARRIORS AT FORT HOOD

This coming Saturday, December 5th, the entire CrossFit community will support our fallen CrossFitters and wounded warriors from the Ft. Hood shooting.  At both of our Saturday morning classes, we'll run through the "Lumberjack 20":

20 Deadlifts/400m run

20 Kettlebell swings/400m run

20 Overhead Squats/400m run

20 Burpees/400m run

20 Pullups/400m run

20 Box Jumps/400m run

20 Dumbbell Squat Cleans/400m run

All we ask is for a small donation to support our fellow affiliate's fundraiser.  We'll post the link to the CrossFit Ocean City fundraising page later this week.  You don't have to participate in the WOD to donate, but you do have to donate to participate in the WOD.  What you donate is entirely up to you, but the funds donated will help the families of those killed and provide support to those who were wounded in the shooting.  Click HERE for a link to CrossFit Lumberjack.  Are you in?

A FUN THANKSGIVING DAY WOD!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our CrossFitters and their families!  Nothing starts a day better than an awesome team workout with kettlebell swings, pushups, and running (and some squats thrown in for the men's team).  Today's workout was a great way to start the holiday weekend and we were happy to see that some of you could join us despite the busy time with your families, weekend travel, and dinner preparations. 

Kelley and I are very thankful for our wonderful CrossFit community.  You all make CrossFit Ocean City the great place that it is!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The training staff of CrossFit Ocean City wishes you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving!

Reminder, the gym is closed Thursday through Sunday.  The Thanksgiving Day workout will be held at the OP Veteran's Memorial at 8 a.m. 

Regular class schedule on Monday.

ADD A LITTLE LOAD TO YOUR PULLUPS

Andrew goes for some weighted pullups during his workout.

One way to add to any pullup workout is to add some weight.  This can be done with a dumbbell between the feet, a weight belt with plates or kettlebells attached via a chain, or by using a weighted vest.  The vest is great because you can keep it on for the entire workout and not just for the pullups!  Of course, if you're still trying to get a pullup, then get off the rings and the bands and start practicing pullups every time you come to the gym.
  

PERFECT FRONT SQUAT RACK POSITION

Nicky with a perfect front squat rack position after eight weeks of training with us.

The importance of starting slow and learning the fundamentals is critical to success down the road.  Many new CrossFitters want to jump right to the heavy loads and believe they have perfect form.  It takes weeks and months to learn to do the movements correctly.  For example, before one can perform a proper clean, one must have a proper front squat.  The front squat form requires wrist flexibility and the ability to keep the elbows up and parallel to the floor while maintaining the weight in the heels, a good lumbar curve, proper tracking of the feet over the toes, and the ability to keep the torso upright so that the load is carried on the shoulders.  This takes practice and patience.  There's a lot to think about to get the movement down right.  Practice the movement with light loads, then work up to heavy loads before going hard and fast. 

WALL BALL TARGET

Peg just catching the ball and about to squat while Mendy awaits the ball to come back down after hitting its target.

Unlike our prior gym, the new gym only has one wall ball target height - 10'.  The women initially found this "new" height very difficult to hit, but soon learned to scale the ball weight rather than forgo hitting the target.  By raising the height of the target, we've seen increased hip extension, more follow through and full range of movement, and better accuracy from everyone.  
 

COACHING - IT'S WHAT WE DO

It's great to be able to work out hard on your own.  Many are disciplined enough to do so, but most people who work out solo, or without a coach or trainer, reach a plateau, get bored, and then back off or quit altogether.  At CrossFit Ocean City, we coach you.  Coaching is different than just training.  Coaching means we teach you what you need to do to get in the best shape of your life.  We push you hard, but we make sure you're working within your capabilities.  We keep an eye on form and demand a lot of your attention.  We focus on full range of motion and proper movement patterns so that you maximize your potential .  To that end, we do a lot of drills and skills before we even get to the workout.  We make sure you warm up fully and are both physically and mentally prepared for the workout.  After the workout, we coach you through stretching and follow up to ensure you got the training you needed.  Often times, our classes include short lectures on the science behind what we're doing.  It's important to understand how and why CrossFit does what it does for you.  And if you don't show up and miss class, we'll call you to find out where you are and what's going on.  Why do we do this?  It isn't because you're paying us to, although that's a great reason.  It's because we're not just trainers, we're coaches.  It's what we do. 

New member, Suzi (right), getting coached on rowing form from Lorie (left).
 

TEAM CHALLENGE TOP 3 TEAMS ANNOUNCED

Congrats to all participants.  Now that you have a baseline, you can train for improvement over the next 8 weeks.

Scoring for the Fall Team Challenge Prelim is total power generated by the two team members in all three events. 

The lead team is Team Bald and Balder with a Power Output of 3468 watts

Second place is the H-Force Team with a Power Output of 2501 watts

Third place is the P & E Team with a Power Output of 2246 watts

Results for all teams are posted at the gym.  Check it out!

   

Way to go Team Bald and Balder.  

MORE WORK IN LESS TIME

When you have a need to move furniture or stack a cord of wood or haul fallen tree branches or hoist a 300lb archaic TV onto the back of a truck,  what do you do to make the job easier?  You call a friend, right?  With assistance, you know you can do more work in less time.  That's what teamwork is all about. 

Teams of 2 tackled 3 wods and 1 assignment this past Friday night.  They worked together to generate as much power as possible.  Not only did they work really hard, they had a ton of fun! 

Karen and Colby, "Team Squirrel"

  

 Kristy and Alicia, "Team Cropper Girls"

LOVE THE FLOOR

The bottom of the push-up is you on the floor.  How to get there? Increase your strength so you have solid mid-line stabilization. Improve your flexibility through the shoulders so you are assured full range of motion.  Practice reverse push-ups-lie on the floor, pull your abs in tight, and push-up into the top of the plank. Lower to the floor and repeat.  Practice perfect push-ups to get perfect push-ups.

Kristin leaves no doubt that her push-ups are legit.