Monthly Archives: September 2012

Rest Day 9/6: What’s your 2k Race Plan? Mobilize and Share!

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New RR T!
Remember Smooth Is Fast!

Rest Day 9/6:

What’s your 2k Race Plan?

Get hydrated, eat well, and get a good sleep.  It’s been a solid three days of training/testing.  Be sure to take the time to mobilize those quads, hips, and hamstrings.  In training we ask a lot of our quads whether it’s rowing or running stadiums.  Show them some love even if it’s painful.  Do it!

For those that have been following the Rowing WODs you’ve probably noticed we are in the middle of a testing week.  We tested the 5k on Monday, the 1′ domain and 1 RM for our lifts on Tuesday, and our general fitness on Wednesday.  If you’ve missed those or are looking for the ultimate test, Friday will be a chance for you to attain 7 or 8 minutes of glory.  Start thinking of your goal and developing a race plan that will get you there.

Rowing WOD 9/5: 3RFT – 500m Row, 40 AS, 30 SU, 20 Push, 10 Pull

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Rowing WOD 9/5:

Renegade Benchmark

3 Rounds For Time

500m Row

40 Air Squats

30 Sit Ups

20 Push Ups

10 Pull Ups

As a Renegade Rower you should be developing broad, general, and inclusive fitness as well as your competence in the sport of rowing.  Today’s assessment is a way to test your abilities in both.  It should give you an idea of your work capacity in the 12-15 minute range.  Try to row each 500m piece at a consistent pace to stay fresh for the other movements.

Post your time and strategy to comments.  What stroke rating and 500m split did you try to maintain?

Rowing WOD Demo with Renegade Rowing: 

Rowing WOD 9/4: CF Rowing Total – Post Score

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Rowing WOD 9/4:

CF Rowing Total

Row 1′-1′-1′

Squat 1-1-1

Press 1-1-1

Deadlift 1-1-1

The CF Rowing Total is meant to test your power and strength in the 1 minute range on the erg.  It’s also an opportunity to test your functional strength.  

After doing a dynamic warmup, do a good 10 minute warmup on the erg where you build up to race pace above a stroke rating of 30 for a few bursts.  When you’re ready to go, set the monitor for intervals time with 1 minute on, 4 minutes off.  The goal is to do as much work as possible in a minute.  Be sure to paddle for a minute after each attempt to help your body deal with any lactic acid that may start to build up.  

The stroke rating is open, but keep good form.  Don’t compromise you’re body.  Maintain a strong posture at all times.  Anyone can pull hard for a few strokes, but those with functional rowing form can build throughout the minute test, stay safe, and produce the most power.  

In rowing there are three things you can vary to go faster.  Force, distance, and time.  The best rowers know how to combine all three… row harder, row longer, and row faster.  Basically, put more force into the handle, row as long as possible every stroke without compromising your body, and increase the stroke rating.  

After making three attempts on the erg, setup for and perform the three lifts.  Make sure to roll out your back, hips, and hamstrings as needed in between lifts.  

How much Strength and Power do you have?  Your score for the CF Rowing Total will be Max Average Watts + CF Total Score.  

Post your total as well as each individual result from the row, squat, press, and deadlift to comments.  Report the max average Watts for the best Row.

Rowing WOD 9/3: 5k Row – Post Results

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Rowing WOD 9/3:

5k Row

It’s been 7 weeks since our last 5k, how has your aerobic capacity and endurance improved?  Today’s assessment will give you an idea of both your aerobic capacity and endurance.  Set your monitor for 5,000 meters and get after it.  Be sure to record your time, average 500m split, average stroke rating, and average watts.  This will give you an idea of your work capacity over about 20 minutes.

For those wondering why we’re doing such a long test and how to attack it, think of this as a Girl Wod like “Mary”.  The athlete who can efficiently and effectively move their body weight will be able to consistently do more work aerobically without having to dip into anaerobic energy stores.  Also, when tackling “Mary”, good competitors will go in with a game plan based on what they know they can maintain.  The first couple of rounds may be used to ease into the work without flying and dying.

Whether you’re a Vet or Novice, the goal should be to maintain a consistent 500m split and stroke rating throughout the whole piece.  If this is your first 5k aim to build your confidence by negative splitting.  Start the first 1k at a moderately hard pace that you can consistently hold.  Then every 1k after that try to pull a little bit faster, perhaps 1 split second every 1k.  What you should avoid is going out to hard, say 1:45 /500m, and then dying half way through to limp in at a split of 2:00 /500m.

Novices should try to maintain a stroke rating of 24 to 26.  Vets should work on executing a race plan, maintaining their splits, and rowing at a stroke rating of 26 to 28.

Let us know how you do!  Post your results to Comments.

Rest Day 9/2: Do you cheat? Share!

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Rest Day 9/2:

Do you cheat?

Share your thoughts!

Below is a great post from Alex Black of Wicked Good Nutrition on cheat days!

Why Sometimes Cheating Is  A Good Thing

And by “cheating” I mean on your diet, not your workout or anything else.  Anyway…

Bacon Wrapped Bananas!

I’ve written about “cheat days” before on the CrossFit Boston blog. But as Labor Day weekend and its end of summer festivities involved are approaching, I thought it was a good time to revisit the topic. I first started thinking about the idea of “cheat days” back in July when a coworker asked me if I’d heard of the “Four Hour Body” by Tim Ferris (he also wrote the “Four Hours Work Week). Apparently, he encourages dieters to take one day and cheat to the extreme, eating as much “restricted food” as possible, almost to the point of sickness. His reasoning is that this will make that bad food unappealing all week and the bump in calories will keep your metabolism from slowing down due to calorie restriction. While I don’t (and probably never will) encourage anyone to go to that extreme, cheating – when done right – can be good for you both physically and mentally. Here’s why…