CrossFit Ocean City

THANKS FOR THE KIND WORDS

 
Jenn working on her overhead squats as Jess looks on.

All of you, our CrossFitters, work really hard for the gains you realize through hard work, dedication, and consistency in your training.  The reward we get as your coaches is your success.  We ask for nothing else in return; however, we want to thank all of you for the constant words of thanks we receive.  It means a lot to Kelley, me, and the rest of the training staff.

    "I really appreciate your and Steve's encouragement, and I know you spend a lot of time personally keeping in touch with everyone.  I have a lot of coaches, and you guys are GREAT coaches, so thank YOU! . . . this weekend, my team entered one of the largest rugby tournaments in the country and came in second place.  Although this was a team effort, of course, I can say that my contributions on the field were greater than what they have been in the past season or two.  Three of my teammates (including our captain) even made comments to me about how I was playing more aggressively and getting into position faster.  This made me feel so good, and I immediately attributed my improvement to Crossfit; Kelley for holding me accountable through emails and journaling, and Steve for working with me individually and encouraging me to push my limits."  - Jenn F.

CROSSFIT GYMNASTICS CERT

 
Coach Tucker and the attendees of the CrossFit Gymnastics Cert held this weekend at our place.  Lots of new moves and new friends.  If you haven't been to a Gymnastics Cert, make plans to get to one this year!  You'll be glad you did.  For those of you who coach, you'll become an even better coach.  For those who just want to get better at things like handstands, ring work, paralletes, and more, Tucker's coaching can't be beat.  What you learn here will make you a much better athlete and a stronger CrossFitter. 

Check out the photo album on this website for some pics from the weekend.

CROSSFIT GYMNASTICS CERT KICKS OFF

Coach Tucker kicks off the CrossFit Gymnastics Cert with some active warmup routines.  Here, the attendees are working the "inch worm" as they cross the gym.

REMINDER - SATURDAY 8:15 WOD AT THE VERRAZANO BRIDGE

We're hosting the CrossFit Gymnastics Cert at our gym all day on both Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday's class will go at the Verrazano Bridge at Assateague.  Meet at the Visitor's Center on the western shore of the bridge at 8:10 a.m.   Be prepared to run, squat, burpee, pushup, and a whole host of other fun things! 

ROWING - WHY AND WHAT THE BENEFITS ARE

Heat 3 from Saturday's Winter Challenge Finals.

Why row?  Without getting into the benefits of cardiovascular endurance and stamina provided by rowing, rowing work's just about everything.  Here are some specifics taken right from the Concept 2 website:

Legs
Each rowing stroke involves full compression and extension of the legs, working the muscles of the calves, thighs, hamstrings, buttocks and hips. And because it’s low impact, it’s much easier on your knees than most activities that build leg strength.

Core
Rowing is one of few exercise modes that will work your “core” abdominal and back muscles. Fitness experts believe a strong core yields numerous benefits, from a stronger back to better posture.

Upper Body
Rowing will strengthen and tone your upper body. Shoulders, back and arms are all involved in the rowing stroke.

Heart and Lungs
Because it engages so many muscle groups simultaneously, rowing puts a healthy demand on the cardiovascular system resulting in improved cardiovascular health.

TABATA SQUATS

Tabata Squats to finish off our Winter Challenge. Pete, Lora, and Allison going hard and fast with their counters keeping track.

We used Tabata Squats for our third event in the Winter Challenge.  Why Tabatas and what are Tabatas anyway?  Quite simply, Tabata Squats are a simple movement that allowed us to measure power output over 160 seconds of actual work, the air squat.  By taking your height and bodyweight and knowing the number of reps completed, we can easily compute the power output for each individual.  Remember, force multiplied by distance and then divided by time equals power and power equals intensity.  So that's why we used Tabata squats.  But what is a Tabata anyway?

The Tabata protocol was developed by a Ph.D. from Japan, Dr. Izumi Tabata, to measure improved VO2 Max for Olympic speedskaters.  By using various testing methods, Tabata determined that you could challenge both the aerobic and anerobic metabolic systems in the body by combining a series of 8 rounds of 20 seconds of all out efforts followed by 10 seconds of rest.  This effective four-minute workout led to greater improved training results for athletes than longer duration efforts performed more times per week.  We just like to use it at CrossFit because it's hard.  Click HERE to read more about the protocol. 

OVERALL WINTER CHALLENGE WINNER FOR IMPROVED BODYFAT LOSS AND IMPROVED POWER OUTPUT

 
Kristi getting ready to weigh in at the finals.

And our final winner in the category of greatest improvement in bodyfat lost and most improved power output is Kristi Grande!  She had the greatest improvement in bodyfat lost by more than 3% above any other competitor.  While she only placed 9th in overall power output, her combined score in both categories put her head and shoulders above the competition.  Kristi wins a free month of unlimited training. 

Keep up this pace and you'll be primed and ready for the CrossFit Games competition next year!

A huge congrats to all those who competed in both the prelims and finals.  The Spring Challenge is just around the corner.  More details to come.

WINTER CHALLENGE UPDATE #3 - HIGHEST NUMBER OF INCHES LOST

Jenn hitting it hard on the rower and got a PR on her 1000m row by 2 seconds with a time of 3:42.6, 254 average watts, and 72 calories.

Jenn Fenzel hit it out of the park in the category of inches lost for the Winter Challenge.  Her total inches lost was 7.75 inches from three sites.  Her bodyfat percentage change was a decrease of 5%.  Jenn wins a 4-session coaching package with Kelley.

WINTER CHALLENGE UPDATE #2 - LEAN MASS INCREASE WINNER

Kristi going overhead.

Kristi Grande is our Winter Challenge winner in the category of Greatest Increase in Lean Mass.  Kristi lost 14 pounds of fat and gained 9 pounds of lean mass, which resulted in a decrease of 8% body fat.  This is an excellent example of what happens when you dial in the diet and train hard and consistently.  Kristi wins four Paleo Kits.  

WINTER CHALLENGE - POWER OUTPUT % IMPROVED RESULTS

Meredith halfway through a shoulder press. 

This was an interesting result.  In most competitions, the one who generates the most power output wins.  According to our scoring, we were looking for the most improved percent power output.  Taking into account the prelim score and the final score for overall power output, the greatest power output percent increase winner is . . . . .

Meredith McGann with an improved percentage of 137.25%  She wins a free pass to our April Specialty Class.

Doug Jacobs had a strong second place showing with a 53.6% improvement.  The rest of the top five were:  Suzy Taylor, third with 50.9%; Eric Huovinen, fourth with 47.57%; and Allison Bescak, fifth with 39.01%.

Though not a winning category, I'd like to highlight the top five men and top five women power output raw scores for the finals:

Men
1. Steve Fowler - 1751.3 points
2. Hal Carmean - 1513.4 points
3. Doug Jacobs - 1132 points
4. Eric Huovinen - 1261.8 points
5. Ben Davis - 984.3 points

Women
1. Kristi Grande - 792.1 points
2. Holly Duvall - 678.6 points
3. Jenn Fenzel - 655.6 points
4. Jill Zia - 500.2 points
5. Jess Waterman - 478.3 points

More results to come later for Greatest Increase in Lean Mass, Highest Number of Inches Lost, and Greatest Improvement in Body Fat Lost AND Most Improved Power Output.  These computations take a while to mull through.