Spring Time, Fresh Class, more Kettlebells and Wallballs

First Xfit class of 2016, its been a while since I coached a class. I have a great group for this spring class, everyone is eager to learn and trusted me enough to smash their shins on the box going for a max box jump.

yesterdays WOD was a running baseline that I borrowed from my coach.

Running Baseline
400m run
40 squat
30 situps
20 pushups
10 pullups

Jenny ended up taking the box jump with a 34" leap, and Carrie took the baseline with a 4:58 RX

New Year New Challenge Whole Life Challenge

It’s a new year, and again, I have been slacking on my blogging. Today I embark on a new challenge, The Whole life Challenge. My wife and I are getting settled in a new home, a permanent home in Burns Lake, BC. My home gym is coming together, I have a space set aside for it, and the squat rack is set up, I just need to get a gym floor in there. My wife found out about a cool, paleo, lifestyle challenge through our friends at Bodyshop Crossfit in West Kelowna, BC.

The Challenge is run through the wholelifechallenge.com website and for the next 56 days, we organize our life around the WLC 7 Daily Habits:

1.       Eat by the WLC rules you choose at the level that is right for you. Make conscious choices that support your vision for a healthy lifestyle. Earn up to 5 points daily for nutrition.

2.       Exercise for at least 10 minutes each day. We recommend 3-5 “workouts” each week. The other days you’ll earn your points by being active. Ride your bike, surf, hike, even take an invigorating walk at sunset. This is your time to move daily. You earn 2 points for exercise.

3.       Stretch for at least 10 minutes each day. You earn 2 points for stretching.

4.       Water One third of your body weight in oz. of water each day (20 ml per kg). You earn 1 point for water.

5.       Supplement with a dietary supplement that would make a difference for your body if you took it every day. You earn one point for your supplement.

6.       Live the WLC weekly lifestyle practice – things like sleep, meditate, & supporting others. You earn 1 point each day you complete the weekly lifestyle task.

7.       Reflect at the end of each day and check in with how it went and how you’re doing. No amount of numbers can paint the whole picture. Your daily reflection helps you see how the challenge is really going. You earn 1 point daily for your reflection.

Our LIFESTYLE PRACTICE for Week 1 of the Whole Life Challenge is to practice Mindfulness for 10 minutes each day.

     What does that mean? Every day of week 1, starting on Saturday, January 17 and ending Friday, January 23 I will earn my lifestyle points for participating in a practice of mindfulness each day, 

·         Mindfulness can come in the form of meditation, prayer, or journaling

·         Any form of meditation or prayer counts

·         Any form of journaling counts, even if you develop “writers block” and have a hard time actually putting pen to paper for the full 10 minutes

·         Any combination of the above two is also acceptable. If you choose to meditate or reflect for a short period and then journal about it for the remainder of the 10 minutes, you can do that as well.

So this is where I’m at, completing my mindfulness task of the day blogging to you. I encourage you all to check out this website and try it out. Be a part of my Cannon Strength and Conditioning team. I hope to continue on this journey and complete the next Challenge starting May 2^nd as well. I hope you will be a part of that challenge with me.

Now on to the fun part, in order to start the challenge we must take before pictures, take measurements, step on the scale, and complete an introductory workout. I plan to use the WLC Fall 2014 Official Workout.

In 11 minutes:

Row/Run 500 m, 1000m, or 1500m(choose a distance you can finish in 6 minutes or less)

In the time remaining, complete as much of the following list as you can:

30 Air Squats

30 Sit Ups

30 Plank Ups

40 Lunges

40 Bicycles

40 Push Ups

50 Squat Jumps

50 Flutter Kicks

50 Mountain Climbers

100 Burpees

Your score is the total number of reps you complete.

Notes:

- Don’t worry – this workout was not designed to actually be finished in less than 11 minutes – just get as far as you can in the list and count all your reps as points.

- Your choice in run/row distance must remain the same for both your prelim and the final inventory.

So enjoy! And start following again, because, I’m back baby! 

Here is a little taste of the new digs...

Goals!

I mentioned in the Holiday update post, that everyone should have goals. I have been really trying to lead by example lately. As most of you know, I am doing a 5050 Burpee Challenge, but I have also asked that as many people as possible join me. I have heard one excuse that I feel I need to respond to. It was "I can't do it because the CrossFit Open is starting soon" Well... I think that is a pretty lame excuse. Really if you wanted to, you could program your burpees throughout the day to avoid fatigue, or you could program the majority of your burpees after your open workout, giving yourself as much time to recover for the next open wod as possible... I never said you had to do burpees every day. So to prove my lead by example, I have signed up for the open. 

Here I go with some goals, I'll list them here, please feel free to ask me my progress to keep me accountable. You can also post your goals to comments if you would like me to keep you accountable. 

Strict Paleo diet for 90 days (Due April 7, 2013)
I should mention That I started on January 6, so today marks 30 days clean. This is very strict, were I am not drinking any alcohol. I have no intention of losing weight; I have lost 5lbs but this isn't on purpose, i am trying to maintain as much weight as possible so I don't lose strength.

Complete 5050 Burpee Challenge (Due May 11, 2013)
I started the movement, I believe it is my responsibility to lead the pack. 

Complete all CrossFit Open workouts (Due April 7, 2013)
I signed up, and I want to follow through and complete all open wods. Up to this point I don't believe I have finished the open workouts any year.

If you want to register for the open, you can do that here.

Lifting Goals
Deadlift - 560lbs - (May 18, 2013)
Squat - 400lbs - (May 18, 2013)
Jerk - 265lbs - (May 18, 2013)

Please create your own goals, and make them happen! 

 Meanwhile, here is some inspiration 

5050 Burpee Challenge

Hi all, as promised, here is the layout for the 100 day Burpee Challenge. For our challenge it will be called the "5050 Burpee Challenge". We will start on Feb 1st! This challenge will have a different layout than the way my CrossFit Kelowna friends did theirs. We will keep a continuous burpee count. All burpees completed in the 100 days count, and your end total will be 5050 in 100 days. You can do as many or as few per day as you like. So long as end with 5050 burpees. The simplest method would be to do 51 burpees per day for 99 days, then  on day 100 do one perfect burpee to complete the challenge. 

We will start on Feb 1st and Finish May 11

This challenge is for fun, and all you will get in return is the satisfaction that you accomplished 5050 burpees in 100 days. Please don't do these burpees for time every day, as it is likely your form will fall apart and you are likely to hurt yourself. We aren't looking to blow up shoulders, bruise knees or puke... This challenge is to improve your form, increase your efficiency and to help us all feel ready to do burpees.

For those of you that somehow managed to read through all that while not knowing what a burpee is... Here you go. 

Please work to improve your form, after all this challenge isn't just to beat you up. Check out the following video from Carl Paoli. I have also added some links as well to help give you some ideas to improve your burpees.

Burpee Skill Transfer pt 1 Gwod
Burpee Skill Transfer pt 2 Gwod
Burpee Skill Transfer pt 3 Gwod
Burpee Skill Transfer pt 4 Gwod
Burpee Skill Transfer pt 5 Gwod
Burpee Skill Transfer pt 6 Gwod


Now make a plan and stick to it. My plan is to do 5 sets of 10 throughout the day each day. The original method for this was to do a ladder, each day completing one more burpee than the day before. Day one, one burpee, day two, two burpees.. and so on. You could do it this way if you choose, but it creates a large volume of burpees in the end and creates a possibility of over-training. Another smart option would be 3 days on 2 days off. this would allow for a recovery period, but would up you volume per day to 85...

Please comment and let us know that you are going to be completing the challenge with us. And let us know what your plan is, it may help someone else get through the challenge. Keep motivated and hit those burpees every day!

Holiday Update

The lead up to the holidays, I wasn't eating very good, I'm still not... I'm gaining weight, but with weight come strength. I recently pulled a 505lb deadlift... For a triple, My previous 1RM was 507.5lbs. I'm pretty pumped on this. So I figured I would put it out there and pat myself on the back a little. 



As per my previous post the NEW CANNON STRENGTH & CONDITIONING shirts are ready to be purchased. So, me being my biggest fan, I purchased a few shirts for my family, and myself. So here they are!

For Xmas my wife mentioned that she wanted to go to CrossFit again. Yes, I am CF-L1 certified CrossFit coach. No I cannot coach my wife, she doesn't listen to me and she thinks I am too hard on her. So I got her a gift certificate, to get her going at Bodyshop CrossFit. I highly recommend this CrossFit gym. 

I want everyone to start thinking New Yeas Resolution! Something with a clear goal that is attainable. We will be getting strict with our diet at home, especially with my wife starting CrossFit. My goals will be strength related and will finish in March maybe, I will post the goal on my next post along with my progress. I predict it will be something like Deadlift 560lbs, Squat 400lbs, Jerk 280lbs.

New T-shirt Logo for 2013!

I have been working on a new logo for a little while now, finally I added it to my store. As I have mentioned before any money from the sales of these shirts goes into Cannon Strength & Conditioning. This includes but is not limited to buying equipment, setting up a brick and mortar business, and education. By Purchasing Cannon Strength & Conditioning you are supporting my dream of owning a gym and running it full time. This year I  made four sales in my online store, this is less than I would have liked, but I haven't been promoting enough either. 

Moving forward I  promise to make at least one post a month. the contents of which will be a combination of what is happening in my little gym, news related to the fitness industry, and anything else that seems to be running through my head.