Fight Gone Bad V

In 4 weeks from tomorrow, I will be taking on Fight Gone Bad - the legendary CrossFit workout. In this workout, you have 1 minute per station with 5 stations total per round. There are 3 rounds and you get 1 minute rest between rounds. Looks like this:

• Wall-ball: 20 pound ball (14# for women), 10 ft target. (Reps)
• Sumo deadlift high-pull: 75 (55#) pounds (Reps)
• Box Jump: 20″ box (Reps)
• Push-press: 75 (55#) pounds (Reps)
• Row: calories (Calories)

The clock does not stop between exercises. On call of “rotate,” you have to move to next station immediately for good score - no rest! One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is 1 point. The goal is to get the highest score possible. You've got to focus on what you're good at and give yourself a minimum goal for the movements that will be tougher.

The Fight Gone Bad competition is a nationwide event held each year that raises money for the Wounded Warrior Project and CrossFit Foundation, and Livestrong. Learn more and help me raise funds for these three wonderful charities here.

CrossFit Central and other Austin CrossFit Affiliates are teaming up to hold this year's Austin-Area Fight Gone Bad 5 on Saturday, September 25, from 8:00 - 11:00 am, at Westlake High School. Come out and participate or cheer us on! CrossFit is definitely a spectator sport!

I've never done a complete 3-round FGB workout - but have done 2 rds in class. I found that I achieved the highest number of points (reps) on the wall-ball and SDHP (in the 30s). My row yielded about 12-15 calories, which is pretty standard. Box jumps were tough, but mostly b/c I was having to "re-set" in between jumps rather than just bouncing. And, push press was tough after 15 reps - the weight is heavy enough to burn you out. My class score was185 last time we did it in the spring.

I'm strategizing for how to pull off a score of 300 at the competition on 9/25. Coach JDP helped me out with the "bounce-bounce" this morning for box jumps. I have a training plan for how to get efficient at doing 25-30 unbroken. I will need to shoot for that if I want to get 300 total! I should look like this come competition day:

Want More FGB?! Check out Mel's experience from last year, "Fight Gone Bad: A Story in Photos", and Lyssa's experience with a vairation of the workout, adapted to her new surroundings, "Fight (Football/Skiier) Gone Bad". Lyssa scored 333 at last year's FGB IV workout (she's a bad-ass!)

Brick Walls

"The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people!"                                                                                                               - Randy Pausch (The Last Lecture)

Never seen The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch?! Watch it when you have a few minutes and be inspired to live your childhood dreams. Definitely worth it! Or, check out a sample of the quotes from this lecture here. Good stuff!

100 Day Burpee Challenge...who's with me?!

This morning while I was checking my Twitter feed, I came across a tweet from my tweep, Lisa. She and her tweep, Heidi are starting a 100 day burpee challenge this Sunday and were looking for people to join them! I jumped on it right away - this is exactly the kind of challenge I need to help me reach my goals of becoming mentally tougher and better at things that suck. And, believe me burpees suuuuuck.

So, here it is (drumroll) ...the 100 Day Burpee Challenge!

100 days, a shit ton of burpees (actually 5,050), a . Who's with me? Before you tell me I'm nuts, consider this: could you be faster, stronger, and mentally tougher? I know I can be! What better way to train ourselves to push through the "suck" in life than to take on burpees...lots of them...daily?!

We are going to do one burpee on day one (August 15th) and add one each day until we get to 100 burpees on the 100th day (November 22nd). Heidi will document this challenge on her blog (http://www.runwithheidi.com/) and post the benchmark videos of all participants. Check it out here. 

The Rules:

1. Use Burgener's burpee standards for form - or - the standards as set by your CrossFit affiliate
2. You can complete each day's burpees all at once, or broken up and done at different times throughout the day
3. If for some reason you miss a day, you have to make up all the missed burpees the following day
4. If you don't start the challenge with us today, you can "buy-in" at any time by doing ALL the missed day's burpees on your first day
5. Any burpees you complete during your regular workout can count towards that day’s Challenge burpees, if you want them to
6. For performance tracking purposes, the 25 burpees, 50 burpees, 75 burpees and 100 burpees days will be timed and video taped (Heidi will post the videos on her blog to track our progress)

 Burpee Challenge Form Standards: 

1. Start with hands on the ground in front of your feet. Keep your back straight.
2. Kick feet out behind you into the top of the push-up portion of the burpee. Your body should be straight and tight in a flat plank.
3. Lower your body into the lowest part of a push-up. Your chest and thighs should ultimately touch the ground at the same time. Remember to keep your whole body, especially your midline, tight.
4. Push up into the top of the push-up position again.
5. Jump your feet up to your hands into your starting position.
6. Jump into the air and clap your hands overhead so that your ear is exposed in front of your arms. Your feet should leave the ground.

Like this:

I've created this PDF to help track our progress. I'm posting this on my fridge at home. The dates in gray are the benchmarks that should be timed and video taped. Woo-hoo!!

Weekly Shuffle

Music is my favorite art form. I love, love, love everything about it. When it comes to workout music, I go through phases - some days I like hip hop/rap, sometimes alternative/indie, and even electronica. I'll even throw in some folk or classic rock upon occasion just to spice things up. The only thing constant in my workout playlists is "change".

I thought I'd share my playlists with you each week with my Weekly Shuffle posts. Here's what's playing now:

Home - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Four Winds - Bright Eyes
Oh My God - Ida Maria
Money Maker - Rilo Kiley
Lisztomania - Phoenix
Can You Discover - Discovery
Daydreamin' - Kid Sister (feat. Cee-Lo)
Enter Galactic - Kid Cudi
The Suburbs - Arcade Fire
Animal - Miike Snow
Giving up the Gun - Vampire Weekend
Where is My Mind - Pixies
Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap

Here's a video for the Ida Maria's "Oh My God". It's a great song to listen to while running fast or lifting something heavy :