Hunter-Gatherer - CrossFit

CrossFit is officially mainstream

John — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:32:56 +0000

If you haven't seen it already, Reebok is now running CrossFit ads. Expect to see one during the Super Bowl.

Just in time, CrossFit NYC is in the process of moving into a much larger space. Right now it feels like we're working out of one of those shipping containers. We'll probably look back on it with nostalgia.

Gawker: CrossFit is over.

Holiday WOD: The Twelve Days of Christmas

John — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 17:27:24 +0000

One of the things I love about the holidays is holiday-themed WODs. Here's today's workout.

“12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS”

Rep scheme follows the song: 1, 2-1, 3-2-1, etc. Anyone wearing an ugly Christmas sweater for the duration of the WOD may subtract two minutes from their time.

1. Handstand push-up

2. 24″ Box Jumps

3. Thrusters (95#/65#)

4. Pull-ups

5. Burpees

6. Toes to Bar

7. Wallballs (20#/14#)

8. KB Swings (24kg/16kg)

9. Double-unders

10. Overhead Lunges (5 each side, 45#/25# Plate)

11. Hang Power Cleans (95#/65#)

12. Snatches (95#/65#)

via CrossFit NYC.

Hanukkah Hero WOD: Judah Maccabee

John — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:06:06 +0000

Best Hanukkah WOD ever: Judah Maccabee.

From Wikipedia:

Judah Maccabee (or Judas Maccabeus, also spelled Machabeus, or Maccabaeus, Hebrew: יהודה המכבי, Y'hudhah HamMakabi, Judah the Hammer) was a Kohen and a son of the Jewish priest Mattathias. He led the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire (167–160 BCE) and is acclaimed as one of the greatest warriors in Jewish history alongside Joshua, Gideon and David.

The Jewish feast of Hanukkah ("Dedication") commemorates the restoration of Jewish worship at the temple in Jerusalem in 165 BCE, after Judah Maccabee removed the pagan statuary.

And the WOD (notice the 8s):

“Judah Maccabee”

8 Rounds of 8 Reps of:

Hang Power Clean (95/65#)

Front Squat (95/65#)

Push Press (95/65#)

Burpees

Pull-ups

Dips

Box Jumps (20″)

Sit-ups

I scaled to 85# and finished six and half rounds when we hit 45 minutes. Brutal. Awesome. Love CrossFit NYC.

Happy Hanukkah!

Paleo Thanksgiving, venison liver, kick-ass graffiti at New Species CrossFit

John — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:25:11 +0000

Last week I joined New Species CrossFit for a Paleo Thanksgiving, and then I gave a talk. Total blast. What other type of gym gets together on a Saturday afternoon for a Thanksgiving potluck?

I brought venison liver and onions from the deer that I shot the prior week. I cooked the onions in grass-fed butter, cut the liver into fairly small strips, cooked quickly on medium-high heat (90 seconds or so on each side). Added more butter to the finished dish.

Others made bacon-wrapped dates, seafood gumbo, salad, a big ole' turkey, deviled eggs, those sausages with half an egg in the middle (Scottish something?), and a bunch of other goodies.

Check out the awesome graffiti in their gym.

Thanks to everyone there, awesome crowd.

Rope burn

John — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 04:40:51 +0000

I'm back in Michigan, so I've worked out at CrossFit Transformation a couple times. I love being able to drop in somewhere and already feel like you know people.

Anyhow, the other day we did rope climbs. We never do rope climbs at CrossFit NYC because we don't have the space (not an excuse). I didn't take the time to get the proper form with my feet. After 10-15 rope climbs, I had a nasty rope burn on the front of my ankle area.

Here's the photo. My leg is angled down, so the burn is longer than it actually looks in the photo -- almost two inches long. It doesn't hurt, but it's making it uncomfortable to do explosive movements because it's right at the part of my leg that flexes and moves. Which also makes it hard for a scab to form.

Use good form.

CrossFit's biggest innovation

John — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:25:13 +0000

When I was at the CrossFit Games in Los Angeles this summer, they had a booth set up that couples were coming out of. Naturally, I assumed it was a kissing booth, so I got in line. Turns out it was a video booth where you could talk about CrossFit and what it means to you. Not as fun, but whatever. My video is about 3 minutes long, and I cover the following topics:

when I first tried CrossFit
getting looks for doing CrossFit workouts in conventional gyms
getting into CrossFit through paleo
[flirting]
the biggest innovation of CrossFit

Fast Company profiles CrossFit

John — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 18:34:40 +0000

Fast Company just did a piece on how CrossFit has continued to explode, completely defying the recession.

"Affiliate gym growth went from from 49 worldwide in 2001, to roughly 500 in 2008, finally ballooning to its current size of 2,800, according to a CrossFit spokesman."

And it's not just CrossFit itself:

"The equipment suppliers fueling the affiliates are, perhaps, doing best of all. Gilson says he's experienced 1,000% growth through the recession, with $3,000 in revenue in 2006, $2.94 million in 2010, and a projected 4 million in 2011. "If you chart Again Faster's growth, it is in almost exact line to affiliate growth," he says. "CrossFit's amazing in that it's created its own economy."

Full article here.

Fight Gone Bad 6: Incentives and prizes for a good cause

John — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 19:46:10 +0000

Just eleven days ago, on August 6th, 30 American special forces lost their lives in Afghanistan. Their helicopter was ambushed while reinforcing an engaged group of Army Rangers. As reported, "the 30 American deaths represent the greatest loss of U.S. military lives in a single incident in the decade-long war in Afghanistan that began in 2001."

As many of you know, each year thousands of CrossFitters around the world endure one of our most grueling workouts, Fight Gone Bad, in order to raise money for charities that benefit armed services and first responders. On September 17, I'll be participating in Fight Gone Bad 6. One of my charities is the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which provides assistance to the families of killed and wounded special ops forces, including (but not limited to) Navy SEALS, Army Rangers, Green Berets, and Marine Corps special ops.

If you'd like to help a good cause, you can donate here. I'm also using what little is at my disposal to provide a few incentives for folks to donate.

Any amount: Listed and thanked here on the blog, with a description and link to your blog or business.
$10 or higher: Entered into a raffle to win an NYCBR tech tee. I will raffle off one tech tee for every 10 people who give above this amount, so your odds will never be worse than 1 in 10. These tech tees are awesome, come in both male and female cuts, with a clean and simple design.
$35 or higher: Send me an email on any health questions you might have, and I'll move you to the top of the queue and will respond personally and in depth to the best of my knowledge.
$100 or higher: An hour-long phone conversation on any topic of your choice (well, any topic within reason) OR a couple leisurely rounds of gluten-free drinks at my NYC apartment OR a two-hour MovNat workout and/or barefoot running instruction in Central Park.

So if you give $100, then you get listed and thanked on the blog, get entered into a raffle for a tech tee, get an in-depth email response on any health questions, and an hour phone conversation on any topic / a couple rounds of drinks at my place / two-hour MovNat-barefoot running instruction.

As for what I'll be doing, let's just say it ain't no 17 minutes on the elliptical.

Fight Gone Bad

In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. Repeat 3 times. The stations are:

Wall-ball: 20 pound ball, 10 ft target. (Reps)

Sumo deadlift high-pull: 75 pounds (Reps)

Box Jump: 20" box (Reps)

Push-press: 75 pounds (Reps)

Row: calories (Calories)

You can help the cause by donating here.

The 30 U.S. special forces who died on August 6, 2011.

CrossFit Games Update

John — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 20:22:08 +0000

I few observations from Saturday and Sunday, which were awesome. I'll post some video and more pictures soon.

2011 CrossFit Games Champions: Rich Froning Jr. (men), Annie Thorisdottir (women), CrossFit New England (team)
I wish I had a picture of every hilarious CrossFit t-shirt I saw there. Burpees, paleo, boxes, so much hilarity
It can be a little hard to see who is winning in some events. The final individual events ended with a sled pull, which allowed you to actually see who was ahead by how much. Also, in each heat, they should include an average person just for comparison.
After watching Iceland Annie in action, there is little doubt in my mind why the Vikings were such dominant warriors

Gone CrossFitting

John — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:23:02 +0000

At the Games today. If you're not, get a great start to the weekend by doing a hard workout.