Pic of Deb getting some air in Wednesday's Leap Day Workout.

Since we have two birthdays to celebrate today we have combined them into the WOD.....So Happy Birthday to Suzie and Peggy - Suzie's Birthday was yesterday March 1 and she is 40 years old. Peggy's Birthday is tomorrow March 3rd and she probably thinks she is getting out of her birthday burpees but we can't let that happen. Peggy is going to be 52. So Happy Birthday Ladies - Hope you enjoy your Birthday WOD.

WOD

Wendler Strength

Then:

GI Jane

100 (92 of these count as Birthday Burpees:) Burpee Pullups

Why Yoga?

Crossfitters always ask why they should be taking yoga class. They feel that all they need is a few key stretches to do before and after a workout and that should be the extent of their flexibility work. Aside from flexibility, yoga is complementary to CrossFit for lots of other reasons too.

Variety

Part of being a CrossFitter is having constantly varied, challenging movements as part of our workouts. While yoga may not incorporate the high intensity element of the CrossFit workouts (usually), it does use our bodies in different ways than we may use it on other days in the gym. Today you may be working on the quick movement in the snatch and tomorrow, in your yoga practice, you could be working on shoulder stability in a pose like side plank followed by some intense poses to improve the flexibility in your shoulders that will allow you to properly perform the snatch without injury.

Yoga will compliment your Crossfit workouts and help you move into and out of lifts with greater ease and mobility.

Balance

Balance not only means the balance training you receive working in yoga balancing poses. That type of balance is essential for our health as we age and allows us to continue to do functional training both in and outside the gym, balance also applies to balancing our workout days with our active rest days. Balance is finding a meeting point between stretching and strengthening our muscles. Balance is beginning to balance our mind/thoughts. Without this balance we are more prone to injuring ourselves both in body and mind.

Awareness

In our CrossFit workouts, we must always be aware of, and pay close attention to our form, but many times, because of the quickness of the exercises and the pace of our workouts, we may not be paying attention to how our body feels as we are in the process of moving it. In CrossFit Yoga we will bring an awareness to not only how our body moves, but how it feels as it moves. So in a workout, say performing a push press, you feel a little ache in your right shoulder. The next day in your yoga practice we could focus on the same movement as the push press, just slower and with awareness. You may begin to notice exactly when in the movement your shoulder tweaks and then you are able to adjust your body and find out how to perform the movement without the aches and pains. Or maybe, you find the ache happens because of a lack of flexibility in your shoulder. By becoming more aware of your body, it becomes much easier to find ways to help your body function better both in and out of the gym.

Yoga is a great compliment to your Crossfit workout. It can help you bring your workouts to the next level, at the same time it will help reduce stress, calm the mind and release your body.



Our Tuesday evening games workout consisted of a 1 mile round and 15 rounds of tabata body weight movements. We followed this up with 45 minutes of yoga. Why yoga if your a BA CrossFitter? You know why!

Make sure you check out Facebook for some awesome Yoga pictures - who would have know some of our boys could move like that?

WOD

Wendler Strength

Then:

Overhead Squats

5 5 5 3 3 3

You will move up in weight as you progress through the OH Squats - form will be mandatory, if you do no hit the ball with full lockout of the elbows you WILL NOT be adding any weight to the bar.

50 Shoulder to Overhead 135/95

If bar hits ground you have to stop and do 6 pull-ups.

PS: Today is Suzie's Birthday but per her request we will be doing her Birthday Burpees on Friday when she attends class....she didn't want to miss her special day burpees!! So Thursday classes you get a break today.

A leap year consists of 366 days, as opposed to a common year, which has 365 days.

During Leap Years, we add a Leap Day, an extra – or intercalary – day on February 29. Nearly every 4 years is a Leap Year in our modern Gregorian Calendar.

Why do we need Leap Years?

Leap Years are needed to keep our calendar in alignment with the Earth's revolutions around the sun.
It takes the Earth approximately 365.242199 days – or 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds (a tropical year)– to circle once around the Sun.
The Earth's motion around the sun

However, the Gregorian calendar has only 365 days in a year, so if we didn't add a day on February 29 nearly every 4 years, we would lose almost six hours off our calendar every year. After only 100 years, our calendar would be off by approximately 24 days!

http://www.timeanddate.com/date/leapyear.html



So today - we are going to focus on leaping and jumping around........

WOD

Wendler Strength

Then:

Leaps Gone Mad

With a partner:

5 Rounds:

400 M Run
10 Depth Jumps
20 Leap Frog Burpees

You must stay with your partner for the entire workout. You will run the 400 M together. Once you are both back into the gym you will then jump up and down onto the boxes that are lined up in the center of the gym. You and your partner will then take turns doing leap frog burpee until you have completed 20 as a team. Go back for more as you try to complete all 5 rounds in 20 minutes.

Pictured above is Zach who came in first at CFM for the CrossFit Games Open WOD 12.1 - the WOD called for 7 minutes of Burpees. Zach topped the gym with 98, a second close was Kevin at 97 and third was Ryan at 93. The top 3 ladies were Julie with 90, Lindsey B with 87 and Carole with 81.

We wait patiently for WOD # 2 to be announced this Wednesday at 7:00 pm. Workouts are planned for 6:00 pm on Friday evenings. You are welcome to come out and help us through these workouts...it's always nice to have extra eyes and judges. And of course extra encouragement!!

5:15 am Yoga

6:15 am and 4:30 pm CrossFit

WOD

Wendler Strength

Then:

15 Minutes Gymnastics Practice

10-1

DB Thrusters
K2E

(10 Minute Time Limit)

6:00 Games WOD Practice

7:00 Endurance with Jason

What a busy weekend...we had 30 people RX on the first games workout of 2012 on Friday night. It was much harder than we expected it to be but there were some awesome numbers put up by CrossFit Michiana athletes. Check out our Facebook page for pictures and STATS!

On Saturday 34 CrossFit Michiana athletes and friends ventured to Climb Kalamazoo and spent a few hours testing our climbing skills...we then had a table set for 30 and enjoyed a nice evening of story telling and re-strategizing on the burpee workout from 24 hours earlier. Oh, if we only could have a second chance:)

We're back to the grind this Monday with a Hero that only a few can RX on, but many of us love.

WOD

Wendler Strength

Then :

Nate

AMRAP in 20 minutes of:

2 Muscle Ups
4 HSPU
8 KB Swings 70/55

The CFM Gamers will be meeting at 6:00 pm tonight for CrossFit Open Games WOD #1. The WOD is a 7 minute AMRAP of CF Burpees. The Gamers have to be measured at full height with arm outstretched...they must jump up to a target that is 6" above their reach and touch it with 2 hands in order for the rep to be counted. They must touch their chest and legs to the ground in the bottom of the burpee in order for the rep to count.

This year 2012 so far there are 55,000 athletes registered for the CrossFit Open - this is doubled from last years number of 26,000. There are 1,615 teams competing, CFM being one of those teams. There are over 2,875 affiliates being represented in the open that counts for 85% of the affiliates world wide. Gamers - this is amazing news. You are a part of history as it happens....CrossFit is so awesome. 3,2,1 GO!!!!

WOD

Wendler Strength

Then:

3 Rounds

10 Ring Rows
20 Box Jumps
30 Walking Lunges (each leg)
40 Double Unders

I believe it was at this moment in this past Saturday's WOD during the Lame Dog Race that Holli asked if we believed in euthanasia. Hehehehehe....Hol we love you!

We haven't had a birthday in some time now so we are going to get hi\t with a big one today.....let's all wish Holli Hamilton a very happy birthday by attending today's WOD and knocking out 52 CF Burpees in her honor.

Holli - I want to take today, your birthday to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your volunteer hours helping me with my kiddos. I have to be completely honest I CANNOT do what I do with the kids without your help. You are changing little lives every day and should be very proud of yourself. Happy Birthday to you my dear friend, and many more to come your way!! Carole

WOD

Wendler Strength

Then:

DB Linda

10-1

Floor Presses
Power Clean
DeadLift

So today is the day the 2012 CrossFit Games Open WOD 1 is announced. Tonight we will all sit by our computers hitting the refresh button until the WOD is placed in front of us, and then what. Do we start to plan and strategize? Do we run to the bathroom and throw up in anticipation of it all? How are you going to handle the WOD being announced?

I am sure for each and every one of us there is SOMETHING you don't want to see announced in this WOD. We all have a particular exercise that can bring us to our knees in an instant. Will you cry or cheer? Will this be the WOD for you to sink or shine? None of us know - and that's the beauty of CrossFit.

We have trained for this day - we have done what we can and we are who we are. As of this moment we are as strong as we are going to be- the announcement of the WOD isn't going to make us any stronger.

I came across this post by CrossFit Lisbeth yesterday - and I am very proud of the 30 CrossFit Michiana athletes that have signed up for the CrossFit Games Open 2012 - because you didn't let any excuses get in your way and I am excited to have each and every one of you on my team. This is going to be an awesome journey!!

You know I signed up for the CrossFit Games Open. I can’t stop myself. I’m still not 100% injury-free and I’m tired from travel and I work way too much and I have kids and fifty other excuses why I should have kept my $20 in my pocket and just said “See ya next year!” Wah wah wah wah.

I have excuses … and they are simply not acceptable.

See, where I work, you don’t get excuses. There is success and there is failure. Excuses don’t get honored. It sounds tough but it’s brutally honest, when you think about it. Succeed or fail. There are only two options.

Why should the gym be any different? Why should the Open be any different? Why should CrossFit be any different?

You can produce, or you can fail. What’s not acceptable is believing there’s a valid reason that excuses your failure or that somehow makes your lack of success okay.

What if you adopted this attitude in your life? It’s brutal, but what if you tried it?

Stop making excuses. Stop explaining failure. Stop looking to take the heat off. What’s the worst that could happen? You could fail. SO WHAT? At least you tried and at least you didn’t flap your gums with some lame-ass excuse.

Real badasses don’t make excuses. They succeed or fail. And then they try again, often at something harder.

Sign up for the Open. Get your ticket to the party. I don’t care if you win, but I don’t care if you come in last either. I only care that you don’t make excuses … and that you suffer with me.

WOD

Wendler Strength Lift

Then:

Turkish Get Ups

1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1

10-1

Russian KB Swings 70-55
Chin Ups