It's time to do Murph

Yes, waited for the first post..and its a rest day!
Im looking for some advice to what type of weighted vest is the best. If anyone has any recomendations please let me know.

The article should have been titled, "The Fragility of Online Social Networking," but that probably sounded too oxymoron.

I submit that effective social networking involves face to face interaction and a desire to build honest relationships. Although that is possible in an online community, the possibility of being your fantasy self can take the place of the truth. Therein lies the fragility of the entire network.

Personally, I've never been involved in a pure social networking website and have never understood the draw.

Use a 20# vest - it's prescribed.

Regarding the online community article, I was under the impression that only 15 year olds took those seriously.

J-wall,
I have the V-max, and I really like it, I've seen a few others, one from Gold's Gym and one similar to mine, but I think mine is far better. Super burly construction and you can purchase different sizes and weight ranges. Check it out
www.weightvest.com

Great weekend at CFSD
First cert and it was a kick in the butt
There was a lot of information to take in during a short time frame
The CF Journals were must read pre-cert, and post cert
I stopped taking notes after the first day and attempted to soak in as much information as possible without pausing to write it down
Learned a few good things about my own crossfitting/zoning: I need to work on hamstring flexability, run on real ground not the treadmill, and move from 30zone blocks to 25, even though I am having great results at 30

Coach B was a great bonus on Sunday and he beat my shoulders into submission

The day 2 break-out sessions were a change of pace from the first day the rotating between skill sets added to mastery, though I was toast by then

Thanks for everything this weekend, and I may treat myself with some BLU CHEESE FRENCH FRIES
NICE MEETING YOU SUTHERLAND

I love what??

Check out the new tag line

Good to see DJ from Calgary representin. Hope you had fun.

Amazing Cert at CFSD this weekend. Thank you so much to all of the trainers for amazing lectures and instruction.

And thank you to Coach Burgener for a surprise visit and intense lecture and demo.

Yea Burpees. Hoorah!

social networking is a mystery to me, I prefer real people. I guess you could call CF a social network but the key difference is a shared interest/passion rather than just social networking being the reason for existence in the first place.

#2, J-wall, search the discussion boards. There have been quite a few threads on vests.

Good article...
I have facebook account that I haven't used in 5 months...my wife thinks that facebook is scary. Whatever you're putting out there can end up on any internet connected machine in the world...and I'm not convinced facebook is secure. Someone (or something) somewhere records all that information.

Am going to do Saturday & Sunday's workouts, since I had to take them off to study for a final tomorrow morning. It'll be nice to have it done and stop being lazy.
Also, the article makes a good point - by the time onine (and face-to-face) networks become popular, most of the vanguard are already leaving for the next big thing. In the digital age, though, where transferring one's online persona takes relatively little effort, that trend is especially pronounced.

I thought this article was in reference to CrossFit's community. I don't think it was meant to refer to such communities. Purely social networks may have their function if used effectively. I wonder how young people keep in touch nowadays. We are an increasingly mobile world, and keeping in touch with people becomes harder and harder using old fashioned methods. I suppose these sites, if kept around, can make it easier to keep in touch with old friends. I shunned friendster, myspace, etc., however, facebook has seemed to become quite a bit more refined than previous efforts. We'll see how it turns out. I have a note on my page that says,"I don't update, check, or use Facebook, so don't be offended if I don't respond for months at a time." I worry about those who spend inordinate amounts of time on these sites, though. Go get some sun. I work with plenty of young college age folks, who can't seem to keep their hands off of their phones texting. I wonder about them, too, or about myself. It's kind of a mystery to me their use of these devices to communicate endlessly. I like ruminating in my own head. The constant communication?

Re: Fragility of Social Networking

Rather a timely article as the hate-mongering, radical left clubs of moveon.org and daily kos clubs smart over the conspicuous dual defections by Hillary and Obama.

Radicals, on the left or the right, rarely have the power to get anyone elected. And the social network in the center that can isn’t hooked up.

Gotta say this is the best thing that ever happened to my fitness. Been on it for about 5 weeks. Did my first murph the other day in 40 minutes and i can hardly move. This has been a great learning experience and I don't think all the people staring in the local globogym will ever get old... Thought you guys would all enjoy this:

Crossfit Montana style...
http://crossfit4800.com/news/

Thanks!

Wow...all those days I spent swimming, 1500+ yards a day sometimes for swim and water polo teams in high school, I thought I was just slapping the water to move forward. Very good lecture clip; I wish I would have known that earlier.

Two clubs.

Two no trump.

…

Does anyone know where I can find the Burgener program for Oly lifts. I have the warmup, but i remember seeing a program outlined as a progression of lifts over a period of several weeks. And I believe I saw postings from folds involved in doing this progression here. It may have been in the journal, but I can't seem to find it today.

Much appreciated!

Thanks,

Ray

The fickleness of the online community is only a magnifying glass for the fickleness of society as a whole. Society will accept someone as a savior and just as quickly condemn him or her. An example of this can be seen in cases of Jesus or Joan of Arc, who were hailed as saviors and were just as quickly condemned and summarily executed.

It just never ceases to amaze me. The quality of instruction here is awesome. Thanks Mike Collins for showing me in 2 minutes what I needed to know about swimming that I didn't get from countless hours training on my own for triathlons when I thought that tri's were fun. It upsets me, and then makes me laugh, when I think about the time I wasted training when I was younger. Man, I wish I had crossfit when I was in my twenties and thirties.

Have Fun, Train Hard,

Billy

Thanks to all the great coaches and trainers down at CrossFit San Diego for the cert this weekend!

It was a serious growth and learning weekend for me, I got to reinforced a lot of the fundamentals, plus I learned me some great new things to improve performance!

i'm excited to get home from utah tomorrow, i still gotta hit MURPH hard in the afternoon. congrats to all the new level 1's.

rest hard.

Ok, the fragility of social networking... it depends what the underpinnings of the social network are. Crossfit is an online social network that has as it underpinning an exercise program that works for everyone that tries it for more than a month. I believe the value of the social network is only as fragile as the concept that it has at its core. I believe that using sites like "mySpace" and "Face Book" can facilitate both fragile networks as well as solid networks depending on the topic. I participate in a social network exclusively for skydivers and that network would be in-place regardless of whether the internet existed or not. I believe the same is true for crossfit. The internet merely accelerates the process. If you join social networking to "hook Up" I believe that it would be as fickle and transient as the bars and nightclubs it substitutes. I hope that you get my point, social networking has been around forever and it is a solid as the theme that it is centered around.

Have Fun, Train Hard,

Billy

The SD cert rocked.

My brain is full and my body is wracked.

So much useful information, it's going to take a while to digest it all.

My deadlift was corrected, my squat's soft bottom was hardened, MUSCLE UP.

J-wall comment 2, weighted vests

V-Max weight vests are good and durable but they are pricey at like 200+ dollars. Another option is going to the army surplus store and getting old style body armor. That's where I got mine and it was cheap, like 30 bucks. Another option is to make your own or use a back pack. If you know a military rigger, that's another good source for making your own. Keep in mind that the higher you are able to keep the weight on your body, the better. Also, the tighter you can keep it to your body the better. That's why vests are so good, they keep the weight high and they don't allow it to shift when you move. Good luck in finding something that works for you!

Have Fun, Train Hard,

Billy

I have to agree with Billy #24.

My Facebook "Friends" are all people I know and met in reality first. Facebook (and other e-comms) help me keep in touch with them in between times I can meet them face to face. I would say that any social network (real or virtual) that is not based on real common interest, either from a shared passion, or constant interaction will not last. Think of how many people you've met in bars or at parties (social networks) but have never gotten a hold of again because you had nothing in common beyond that party.
This article seems to me to be more a criticism of how not to use social networking sites and could have been more constructively written as a how to on ensuring that your online friends are real friends. But I guess John C. Dvorak just wanted to rant and spread some negativity.

And yes I know I just added some more negative energy to the world as well, but high horses are just so much fun to ride :P

Excellent training at the Level 1 cert at CFSD this weekend. The level of knowledge posessed by the instructors: Robb, Tony & Dave was very impressive. Thank you for your openness to questions, it made for a great learning environment and experience.

Coach Burgener was truly the icing on the cake. Who knew PVC could feel so damn heavy?

To CFSD: Many thanks & Kudos for offering up your facility for this valuable experience.

The speed of transmitting information and the potential scope / breadth of broadcast are the biggest differences between online and realworld communities.

I managed online communities starting in 1992 and burnt out by 1998. Most of my best friends I met online. During those years, and to a lesser extent now, I can travel to any city and meet up with friends from those networks.

We've developed some solutions to problems that plagued many earlier communities: some involve pretty bona fide identity establishment. On Facebook, 90% of my friends are people I've known from the real world (er, yes, that means I met them on the communities I ran years ago...); our names and details are very real, and we all know it.

OkCupid has always been a clever site and has gotten stronger since incorporating real-world networking links.

HospitalityClub is a group I've used which enables complete strangers to meet up while they travel and host each other in homes --- so this group has your passport number as a bona fide, and a feature which has members marking each other's profiles when they've verified that person's identity.

Recognizing these simple differences --- speed and volume of information transfer, and potential scope of audience --- will let you see the online world more clearly. It can be a true facsimile and adjunct of your real life; it can also be a card house of illusions. But assertions of either absolute are false, and Dvorak is asserting the "illusion" position.

Great fun with "Murph" tonight - 1st time.

Much honor and repect to his memory and his family.

I've been back from my deployment to Kuwait for just over two years now, and while I was there I had the great benefit of being able to not just weight train, but also, train for boxing and do a lot of running. I came back home in the best shape of my life, even after weight training for about 30 years. After being home for a few months, and not being able to find the workouts that I desired, I feel back into just mainly weight training again. Fortunately, a Denver cop I know told me about CF, and I've been doing it for just over two months now. I've discovered that during all those years of mainly just weight training I may have looked like I was in shape, but, the truth has slapped me in the face, and the only time that I have truly been in functional shape was during my deployment. What a wake up call...all those years thinking I was in shape...although there are benefits to weight training, it almost seems like I've wasted a lot of years. I am glad I've found CF...the workouts are kick@$$ hard, and I'm humbled by the scores that are posted.

And, a big thanks for recognizing our country's heros!

I'm going to do Murph too, I couldn't last week.

I think of Crossfit as an online social network. We just all have the same thing in common; we like pain.

The person who wrote that article is sort of behind the times with what social marketing actually is nowadays. People's online networks have merged with their face-to-face networks. He needs to ask his kids what Facebook is (or mypspace or livejournal, for that matter), since apparently he doesn't realize that it's mainly a place to communicate with the people who are your friends in "real-life". Sure, you meet new people here and there, but they're often connected by other friends. In any case, as previous posters have noted, these places are just a place to create communities, not the communities themselves.

CrossFit's online presence is probably made up largely of people who have never met each other, but many of the people have met each other, have gone to certs together, train together, etc.

His evidence for how transient online communities are a couple of the first failed examples of online communities. That's like saying airplanes won't last because the first ones crashed, and then saying, "But everyone knows these [airplanes] are fickles and their [pilots] flaky." Why does everyone know that?

It's also saying that online communities are fickle compared to real life communities without actually comparing the two. I could write an article saying that online communities are way more stable than in-person communities, because my running club broke up.

Why do people get paid to write articles like that?

LOLed when I saw post #1

Yup, it's time

Speal was right - my legs are still 'not right' after the thrusters/pullups "Frindy" which I did Friday. Glad to be resting, although just barely got myself to rest today, and looking forward to reading the article. Paul

Texas Rules! Glad to be home... CFCoronado would like to welcome Allison S.D. to town, and extend an invitation to train anytime.

The cert at Alvin TX this weekend was awesome. All the CF staff were great. Having been to a number of these now, I can honestly say I've learned something new/improved something/refined something every time!
Matt Munson

anyone know how i can get in touch with Mike Collins? He used to be my swim coach at DAM.

Just got back from the beach this weekend

Saturday- a Painstorm workout of sorts on the beach
I looked like a Sand Monster after too- sand head to toe, ha ha.

110 m Run
50 Burpees
220 m Run
100 Sit ups
340 m run
150 lunges
440 m run
200 squats
340 m run
150 lunges
220 m run
100 sit ups
110 m run
50 burpees

Then ran 1.5 miles back to the house.

Sunday- ran 45 min, 6 miles

Erin

Crossfitters:

Need a vector. I'm active duty military and looking retirement square in the eyes. I've been thinking about what to do after I hang up the uniform and want to continue to serve. I would like to get into the field of firefighting professionally. Are there any resources out there that can show me the best way to go about it? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
T-Heavy

I wanted to say that the Cert.I class in Alvin,TX was a kick ass class. Andy, Mike,Nicole,Todd, and the rest of the coaches really inspired and motivated me in all levels possible. I couldn't recommend a better team of coaches.

I will be pursuing my Cert.II in another year. Keep up the great work.

Ryan

PS. My ass,traps, and back is screaming today.

AllisonNYC, are you going to multiple level 1 certs?

Thanks for making the trip to Alvin Tx guys, it was such an awesome weekend. Couldn't think of a better way to spend my birthday. The training staff was top notch, appreciate it so much guys. Look forward to seeing everyone at more events in the coming months and years. Thanks

Neal

I'm trying to figure out how obvious the article's point is. There are so few online phenomena of any kind that aren't transitory, social networking sites included. Are there really so many web services or sites that have stayed prominent for more than a few years? The only ones that do are founded around a real (non-virtual) service like Amazon, ebay, crossfit, etc. Those that focus on user-generated content that actually offer little are likely to be trumped by the next big thing.

I wonder though, whether fragility is desirable in a social networking site. When you think about your real social networks, you typically don't want them to last forever, you want them to ebb and flow according to your needs. There are few people that want to be hanging out with the same group of friends at 40 as at 20, or even at 25 as at 20.

Had a blast at the Alvin, TX cert this past weekend. Not only did I get to learn a lot of great stuff and meet a lot of great people. We also got to see Trainer Chris Spealer from Crossfit Park City, UT smash "Fran" as Rx'd with an unbelievable time of 2:14 !!! That was with Andy Stumpf keeping time. To bad they didnt get it on video.

Usually post as "penty" but think I'll be changing it to "Troy in TX" to give the name some context to people who met me this weekend. (unless someone speaks up saying it's taken)

Okay, I'm that guy. You know the one, the one that everyone say "if your just startin out attend a cert, I wish I had", so I did, the level 1 cert in Alvin this last weekend.

background: I've been on the main CF site for about +2.5 years (been posting under penty), reading the comments, learning, and gettting started in DOING CF over and over again as life tends to get in the way. Well I've been in worse shape and in December I started to really get serious. I've improved from VERY assisted pullups to 5-6 unassisted, from can't run period to a just about a 30+ min 5k.

So when a cert was placed a mere 20 mins from my house I had to do it!

Review: Awesome!!
I had read pretty much everything before getting there including every CF journal but the lectures filled in the gaps that you just can't convey with the written word. The questions asked were great and the answers even better. There wasn't any holding back on the knowledge given/shared or the reasoning behind it. CF has found what works and if CF as a whole find something better they'd change... this leaves them incredibly open to questions, awesome.

As for the practical stuff, I felt like I was getting one on one attention even though I was in a group of 10:1 ratio with trainers. Even being one of the ones called to the center of the group to show flaws and such didn't the stigma one would usually feels at such times.

Workouts were "tough but fair", a taste of CF while knowing scaling might be necessary. So even while draggin my butt thru the workouts(scaled) I got support and encouragment from trainees and attendees like, relative intenstiy is a fact.

I did get alittle star struck at times, have to say one of the only times it's ever happened as I'm pretty jaded.

So, I have to get going:

To all the Trainers, I can't thank you all enough it was incredible and really made for an awesome, fearsome, totally brutal and educational weekend!

Whould have changed a thing? No.

This is slightly an aside to the article but. . .

I don't buy the whole thesis that technology is ruining us as a society, or giving us false hope. I know that's not what he is saying, but it touches on it a bit. I only say this because at church on sunday, our pastor said the same old "technology is damaging our society" stuff. I just don't buy it. Kids are fat because they are lazy and the parents accept it. Social networking us popular because it allows people to play around in a little fun online world when they are bored at work or college. Not because we have grand aspirations of climbing to the top of the corporate ladder through a social networking site.

Technology has advanced throughout history. Get used to it. It's still just a box sitting on your desk. Not the devil's playground that needs constant and in my opinion- ridiculous analysis as in this article.

Thank you to Vas, Sniper 64, CR and Billy for your advice on weighted vests. I will defiantley be reading through the discussion boards for more help. Thanks agian, Happy Cross-Fiting!

I find this article dumb,

people that over analyze techonolgical advances like social networking have too much time on their hands. I would imagine the writers at PC magazine love this, but who cares.

Our pastor on sunday had a sermon that touched on the theme of how "technology is ruining as a society"- its all BS. It didn't rain fire and brimstone when we got cars, television, indoor plumbing/heating/AC, or whatever else.

I like technology- I can get work done faster, listen to good music, get information on topics I know little about very fast, and best of all I can look at Crossfit!!!!

Technology moves forward- deal with it. Don't over analyze it

#46 Troy in Texas

classy post

I know this is wrong, but I have to say it.

I'd put a $20 on the assumption that John C. Dvorak's son or daughter had their heart broken after getting dumped on MySpace.
- Chad

Stretched out on the sofa semi-comatose yesterday afternoon, I stumbled across an interview with Lawrence Solomon, author of "The Deniers". According to Mr. Solomon, a Toronto based journalist, the basis for the claim of a scientific consensus that global warming is the result of human activity is a UN report, purportedly endorsed by 2500 leading scientists. Solomon asked the UN to give him the names of the scientists. The UN refused. Mr. Solomon did ultimately interview numerous scientists and learned that many of them either disagreed with the UN report or worked on a portion of it and did not endorse the report as a whole. Those scientists who publically disagreed with the media-hyed "fact" of human caused global warming were subject to university ostracism and loss of research grants. The only Inconvenient Truth here is that many in the scientific communmity do NOT believe global warming is the result of human activity.

41yo/f/154#
lisaq wu x1
50 burpees for time
5:30:01

Anybody who has followed technology journalism for any length of time can tell you John Dvorak is a quack. He was never particularly relevant or insightful, and over the years has gone steadily downhill. As he has become more and more irrelevant, he has taken to just writing outlandish rants in order generate controversy. It's amazing he still has a job.

On a lighter note, I've discovered a very new CF affiliate gym in my area. Going to check it out today, uber-excited!

Finally did murph today for the first time!
55:58 and it kicked my ass the whole time! I was just excited to do it in less than an hour.

Run 1 mile
10 rounds of 10 Jumping Pullups, 20 pushups and 30 squats
Run 1 mile

Pushups were the hardest.
Cant move my arms.
Great workout!

Allison, Did you do another level one cert? How many is that?

TEXAS CF-CERT WAS KICKASS!! (and quads!)

Thanks to the Alvin locals and all CF staff for making my first CF experience a brutally awesome one.
I was introduced to CF about a month ago and was one of those guys that said "hey cool workout plan, let's go get certified" (ouch). Having just turned 40 @ 6'2" 215# and not real fit and by no means "CrossFit", my main goal going in was just not to be the guy puking or coming in dead last and hopefully learn some things i could pass on to my girls fastpitch team. I bit off a lot more than i could chew, but so glad i did. In two days i got in my first "Fran", 1st "Helen", 1st time I've ever touched a med ball and 1st Tabata anything. I wished we'd saved the b2bT squats till the end. they just roasted my quads and i wasn't worth a shit the rest of the weekend. i still can't get up without using my arms. (Thanks Andy)But, hey that's crossfit isn't it! The amount of technical info you guys passed on in two days was amazing and very clear. Doc was great! I had already dropped the sugar and starches, but what he said about the alcohol really sunk in. I'm not real sure when or where i'll realize the level of fitness i witnessed this weekend, but it was a big step in the right direction. Thanks again to all. Hope to see some of you at CFKids in 2 weeks.

Troy from Tulsa

Nice to have a rest day but I must confess, I switched Saturday's WOD for rock climbing and Sunday's WOD for a day at the beach playing frisbee. I had loads of fun with the activities but does it mean I am not truly a crossfitter?

#55 - Keith, that all depends...

- did you rock climb with a dumbell between your legs?

- were you playing frisbee with a cinderblock?

....if the answer was no to those questions then I am sorry you aren't a true CFer. Better luck next time.

Hey guys, just wondering if anyone can help me out. There is roughly a 200 pound discrepancy between my deadlift and squat (deadlift more than squat). Any ideas on what i could be doing wrong?
Thanks
John

John, Are you getting any coaching? No substitute for going to get help from a professional, assuming you can find one that really understands the squat.

2nd, get Rippetoe's books, and look at all of his vids on the Ex and vid section.

Last, most folks can dead more than they can squat. Rip's books show the numerical relationships between the two based on body weights and typical weights for beginner through advanced.

Did the Navy PFA last Thursday which has thrown me off the WOD routine a bit. However, despite a windy day, I posted my highest total and fastest run I can remember doing since AOCS in 1989. Maxed PU/SU again, cut the run by another 10s over last spring's time while doing nothing but the WOD for running. Damned gratifying to be beating the snot out of what I thought was a decent score from 5 years ago. Paul

Thanks to everybody at the San Diego cert this weekend-It was a fantastic experience and great to meet so many talented people and make new friends.

any type of real or virtual social network, requires continuing effort from the particpant(s) in order to continue. If the member(s) so the network stop trying to communicate with each other, the network breaks down

#19 : Ray

I think you're looking for the olympic supplemental lift program. It's in Issue #64 of the CFJ.

FRAGILE? Hmmm, must be Italian . . .

Is it just me, or is the reason why that was posted because, in many ways, CF is a virtual community? You can sit here and bash myspace, facebook, or other blogs, but in reality if you post on CF website you are engaging in a form of communication with a virtual community.

Furthermore, what really strikes me is the irony of this article in the first place. This guy works for PC magazine and he is writing a web article about the fragility of internet communities and the fickle nature of internet users. Doesn't he realize that those people and those communities are precisely who employ him?

What happened to Greg A? I haven't seen him round this site in a while. That guy's awesome.

To all Alvin Cert participants:

Sorry I wasn't able to say a goodbye. Early flight back home but I just wanted to say awesome work to everyone and it was awesome to meet all of you. Good luck with whatever you are doing in the future.

Harry, if you have that Krav Maga info please pass it onto me. I'd love to check it out.

Would crossfit be where it is today without social networking? The only reason why I became part of the crossfit family was because of the website and the surrounding community. Crossfit.com is the main portal of a huge social network. The difference between crossfit.com and sites like Facebook, however, is the content. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and all those sites that have jumpped on the social networking bandwagon, for the most part revolve strictly around the individual in a general sense - the benefit of which is small for the vast majority. Once the novelty of these sites wears off, there is little to attract continued use. Crossfit.com, on the other hand, adds specific value to thousands of individuals in the form of a like-minded fitness community. While the general social networking sites are fragile and will likely fail in the long run, social networking sites that are able to provide a more specific context to its users will (and do) succeed. That said, the first general social networking site that truely embraces the concept of groups and communities (and implements it well) will likely be in it for the long haul (IMHO).

Woody's 10,000th day today!
Did 10,000 lbs of pull-ups (75 reps for me), then

For time:
10,000 lbs from ground to overhead, then

10,000 lbs of ring dips (another 75 for me)

I finished in 27:14
Mike 25:17
JJ 25:11
Ashley 35:35

To all the CrossFitters in Alvin this weekend - great job! It was a rough weekend for you guys, but you did great. Hope to see some of you around!

I know rest days are necessary for recovery (especially since I'm not 19 any more!), but I miss working out just the same.

Just found out I'll be away from all gyms, equipment, etc. for the next couple days. Any suggestions for workouts without anything but running shoes and the great outdoors? I'm thinking tons of push-ups, burpees, squats, and running.

Cheers.

Scott/m/37/197

Not a rest day for me-

Been itching to see if my Fran time improved after last weeks WOD and all my extra squat training.

Previous PR was 6:30 as rx'd. My goal was 4:59.

Fran 21/15/9
95 lb thrusters
pullups

4:40!

Very happy yet not satisfied. Excited for getting it under 4 next time around.

John, comment 57, what's wrong with my squats?

Apolloswabbie is right on the money with the book advice and the training, let me add my two cents.

First, like Apolloswabbie said, Starting Strength 2nd edition 2007 by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore is the best information that I have ever seen about the basic lifts. It's well worth the 29 bucks and it will probably save your back and knees in the process. I only wish that there was a book like it for the Olympic Lifts, if anyone knows of a great book on Oly lifts, please let me know.

As for having a 200lb difference between your squat and your deadlift, here are some good rules of thumb:

If you can squat your body weight you should be able to dead lift 1.5 times your body weight. If you can squat 1.5 times your body weight you should be able to dead lift 2 times your body weight. If you can squat 2 times your body weight you should be able to dead lift 2.5 times your body weight.

If your squat to dead lift ratio is way different than what is above, your technique is suspect on one or both of the lifts, or you have an injury. It is also possible, although unlikely, that you may be a genetic freak of nature that makes it easy for you to dead lift and not easy to squat but I would not go there first :>)

If you post a little more about your weight, age and how much your squat, dead lift, shoulder press, snatch, clean and jerk, etc, myself and others may be able to help you more. Also, if you have a crossfit gym close-by, go there, someone can watch you and tell you on the spot what's up. Well, there's my two cents :>)

Have Fun, Train Hard,

Billy

Rest day today is very welcome.

The combo over the last few days tore me up good!

The rest is much needed.

Just fininshed my very first Cross-Fit workout. I know it is an off day but I started with the "Baseline" in 5.00.01

I can squat almost 600 lbs but right now I can't hardly feel my legs, much less walk on them. Much to my dismay the "Baseline" appears to be one of the easier workouts.

As a long time weight lifter, former college athlete and current police officer I can't wait to become a regular Cross-Fiter!

Ok, last two WODs-
Shoulder press:
115, 135, 155, 165, 185f
Push press:
135, 185, 185, 205x2, 205x1
Split jerk (going for form at the end):
13,5 185, 135, 155, 175x4
50 burpees:
4:46

John, 57

If you can afford it, attend a basic barbell cert with Coach Rip. Best money I have spent in a long time...

Jeff in VA John in NY
We took a rest week from the 23rd to the 30th. On the 30th I got clearance from the Doc to come back 1/2 intensity for 2 weeks to ease my TE back into things. Was gone turkey hunting for 4 days last week, so had to sub: Did 100 burpees on Thur, 150 yard tractor tire flip on Fri, and we both did the 50 burpees iwith the Rx'd 1 foot clearance yesterday.
Jeff 48/70"/190 5:43
John 48/68"/160 4:12
Its good to be back.

JCS #54: I think this was my 3rd level 1. I learn something new every time. Dave and Rob did such a great job with their lectures this weekend.

It was great to meet so many cool CrossfItters. I can't believe how many of you guys got your first Muscle Ups! CJ is a great coach! Congrats!

Thanks to everyone for a fun weekend.

San Diego is great but I need a car! So many gyms but no way to get to them. Painful.

Thanks to all of the coaches and staff at the CrossFit San Diego cert this weekend.

Had an awesome time and really learned a lot of information. Just further evidence of what a great community CrossFit is and the commitment and dedication of those involved in it.

It's amazing how much you can read, practice on your own, and even try to help others with but still find out you've got a long way to go. Dave's statement that there is always room for improvement on air squats is spot on and reinforced the need for me to get back to the basics of "blocking and tackling." Also further reinforcement of Coach's article on virtuosity.

I've been to lots of different training events over the years but this was probably the most efficient and effective implementation of a ton of information. Kudos to all who made it happen.

Thanks also to Coach Burgener for showing up. Definitely the highlight of the certification and made me want nothing more than to sign up for one of his certs.

Simply awesome. Thanks to CrossFit San Diego and staff for being such a great host.

Stefan

#36 Andy: Thank you! I'll be there soon. I checked out your gym when I picked up some balls with Dave and Pat. It's a really cool lookin' place.

Forgot to mention how impressed I was with how Coach B runs a class. It's incredible how he can get so many people to do exactly what he wants and needs them to do. It's almost hard to believe.

Anyone elses shoulders screaming from just holding that PVC?? Unreal.

What a treat. Thanks Coach B.

Miles Key - front and centre! Hope you enjoyed the cert mate

I've just completed ranger school and was looking for advice on getting back into it. Should I jump in tomorrow or should I ease in somehow?

Gonna have a few brews tonight for Cinco de Mayo so did not take a rest day.

40 pu
3.5 miles in 30:56
10 pu 10 squats, 9 pu 9 squats......

Thanks Brian and Carl for everything at the Running Cert here in Rockford, great coaching, great time, learned a ton. A definite must for anyone that does CF.

Zach Comment 80

Dude, you're an animal if your thinking about doing PT right after Ranger School. How much weight did you lose? I would ease back into it with the warm up first and then the scaled WOD available at brand X martial arts. Get some food and some sleep brother man and congratulations on Ranger School!

Have Fun, Train Hard,

Billy

Did "Murph"
53:06
Oh wow! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW!!!!!
I ran the first lap with my vest. It is a POS Everlast vest with five 8 lbs sandbags. I ran with 24lbs, but I took it off because it was jossiling too much and this was the first time I have ran since I fractured my big toe.
Then I partitioned cindy style. 10 rounds with 24 lbs vest and 10 rounds no weight. The ground at the pull up bar is like a sandlot so I got a ton of dirt in my mouth(-:
I could only run half a lap of the last mile, then I came really close to calling it quits. I felt dehydrated and was starting to cramp up and dry heave, but Murph didn't quit so I had no right to. I walked two laps and ran the last lap. The two laps that I walked I talked to my good friend who did a half Murph with 50 jumping PUs. I told him about Lt. Murphy and we both just talked about what an amazing person he must have been. Thank you Murph for eveything you gave and everything you have showed me. Thank you!

M/47/6"1"/185

Just finished doing "Murph" 50:56 not thrilled with my time but thrilled to be done. Must have been too much easy living this weekend.

Fair seas and following winds shipmate.....

The CF social network imo is based on 3-2-1 GO not tap-tap-tapping in cyberspace.

Really really busy with finals yesterday so I did yesterdays WOD today.

4:17

M/18/172/6'1"

Appolloswabbie

what did you fly? I completed AOCS in 1985....holy crap I'm old. Tomcats...you can see them in a museum :(

T-Heavy, #40. I spent 6 yrs. in the Marines, now a FF for 13 years. Email me at scottmacarthur@yahoo.com, be glad to help you out any way I can. Semper Fi.

I need the rest day, for sure.

I learned to do a muscle up at the Utah Level 1 cert a few weeks ago and the by-product is my bicep tendons are incredibly sore.

Has anyone else dealt with this? Any advice beyond rest, ice, compression? More rest?

So, I guess the magic question is: what if someone in the online crossfit community was a fraud? would we all just shrivel up and turn to swiss balls and spin class?

i don't think we will.

and, frankly, it's all just a matter of time before some online crossfitter gets exposed as a lying fat cigarette smoking pig. their amazing times / progress / bodies will all just a cyber-fraud. someone who has a computer, wants to participate, but won't put the work in to become a reptoid, so they turn to lies and fabrications.

okay, that doesn't affect ME. i'm still good with the results i get, the friends i make from CrossFit (the real ones, who you can see, smell, touch, and kick in the jimmies). the fact that I get online pals is just gravy. if someone shows up online, is full of noise and then doesn't turn up in real life, or aren't what they say they are, well, that's their thing. the rest of us aren't going to implode buy memberships at curves.

i wonder if we're due for some bad news? like, umm... someone's all talk? it's okay. we won't even notice when they're gone. of course, we'll surround them, pounce, and rip them to shreds with our talons first. but, hey, you only hurt the ones you really don't love, right?

and, some of my online x-fit friends are awesome in cyberspace and then i meet them in real life and they're even better. case in point: allisonNYC. fun online to be sure, but just a darling in the real world. josh was just electrons till we worked out, he became my friend, turned me on to the idea of hormonal calibration, i ran with it, and well... that changed everything for me. thanks.

i'd love to meet: billy. hari. raze. shannon. gnat. tim. apolloswabbie. I6. tattoo nicky. nadia. ken c. bingo. the deployed soldiers I baked for at christmas. JONZ. All the people I gave zone advice to. Lots of others. i'm sending you the love!

And, well, at this very moment, I'd REALLY like to meet that gorgeous firefighter from yesterday's video. Mmmmmmm.....

I'm reading "Enter The Zone". I need between 16-20 blocks of protein depending on my activity level for the day. I'm making some meal plans tomorrow. I also ordered a scale and bought a measuring cup. I'm crazy. Just like when I found out about crossfit and bought an olympic barbell, rings, and a weight bench withing a month. Hopefully I'll be able to eyeball the amounts in the future and just know how much I need.

#36 Andy

Funny!!!

lousy article. how the heck did jeff glassman (#15) manage to shoehorn a shot at moveon.org into his comment on this piece? radical left! radical left! hate-monger! what?

as for crossfit, completed murph as rx'd for the first time on friday.

51/m/140, murph, 58:06

Billy #71, I'm 5'10, 195. I have a good history in most powerlifts as I was a collegiate shotputter/jav thrower. My squat is right around 325 and it is deep and legitimate. my deadlift however is right about 515. as far as the rest of my lifts, power clean about 285, same for jerks. SHoulder press is 205 and snatch (i don't practice enough) is around 185. I don't know what the deal is, I can almost lift more over my head than I can squat. I have had a knee injury in javelin, but it doesn't hurt when i squat. Any advice anyone can give would be great. I would like to know whats up with the squats. Thanks,
John

The last sentence pretty much summed it up for me. Having said that, my experience with this site is the best use of the internet to date. Thanks Coach & staff.

While I think that the article was rather poorly written, I suppose it does bring to light a pretty interesting point about the fickleness of the users who create these "communities". In general, I don't really take much stock in social networking communities. These sorts of forums might be a bit of an exception, mostly because I think it's fair to assume that, in the the case of Crossfit, most of the people who post have real, meaningful interactions with other people who have similar goals or who would like to attain such goals, etc.

From my own experience, I have seen how people slowly begin to change how they interact personally and how they begin to construe the so-called relationships that they cultivate on places such as myspace, facebook, twitter, etc. and even something like World of Warcraft. Eventually the latter becomes more important, and ultimately become just as real as their personal interactions and in some cases even eclipse those. I noticed this with a couple of friends of mine. They would be talking about "hanging out" with people but in reality they were just online sending posts back and forth. I found it to be rather disconcerting but to my personal dismay this is what they preferred. Needless to say we are no longer very close because all of the things we used to do were over run by the compulsion to be "hanging out". I think that it's really sad.

Ran Bloomsday Run in group formation (12K)

Did kettlebell workout today...
5 rounds
- 4 turkish get-ups per arm
- 14 swings per arm
- 8 push presses per arm
- 14 walking lunges per arm (holding kettlebell in alternating hand)

dsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsds

41 M 190#

Tough rest day for me, had to make up some WOD's since I was a slacker

CFWU 3X

50 burpees 3:34 Way slow, did jump a foot each time though.

Then went to press, push press, push jerk
compared to last time: WEAK

press 155, 175,175,175,185(f),175
push press, 185 X 5
push jerk 185 X 2 (ran out of time, had to go teach my class)

dsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsds

Fantastic time in SD!! Props to Allison NYC for punk'n Patrick! HA! Apologies to our friends from Manchester UK...I did not mean to puch Patrick into, thus causing you to call on that cactus...

THIS here social network has changed a fair bit since I tracked it down in'02! It interesting that CrossFit models much of what we see in other social networking scenarios but I'd say the stability grows as the affiliate base grows. We live in Chico, CA a great little town but totally off the beaten path. We had 5 people drop in for training from out of the area last week...some drove up from Sacramento to train (hr& 45min drive). This seems to cement the community both virtual and "real". Suffering, hard work, friendships...this seems to be a pretty good antidote to potential instability.

John, comment 95 What's up with my squat?

Yup, you are right. Your Dead lift is about 2.5 times your body weight and your squat is about 1.5 times your body weight. Your press is basically your body weight so I would say, without seeing your form or anything else, that your squat is about right for the weight the you shoulder press. Your dead lift is just better than it should be, not a bad thing at all. If you can, video your shoulder press, your squat and your dead lift and put it on youtube. Then go to the message board and post a message under "Digital Coaching" and give the link to your video. Someone there can pick it up and critique it for you. From your numbers it looks like your dead lift is exceptionally good and that's cool :>)

Have Fun, Train Hard,

Billy

took off yesterday. Today:
90 seconds jump-rope
50 lunges
50 pushups
50 situps

90s jumprope
40
40
40...

down to 90 s jumprope
10,10,10

~20 minutes

What a fantastic cert. I in Alvin, Texas this past weekend. All of the trainers were excellent. They talked the talk and walked the walk. They are all obviously devoted to Crossfit and it showed.
The facilities were first class as well. Great place to learn and workout. Thanks guys!! Worth every penny!!

dido Craig on the cert in Alvin this weekend.
Great staff, great facility, great workouts, great weather, great weekend!

My legs are still killing me! Thanks Andy!

Spider Chick comment 91

Thanks, that's pretty cool :>)

I saw an interview with you awhile back and whether you know it or not, you are a skydiver. You should find a drop zone near you and go make a skydive. You will really enjoy not only the skydive but the no BS attitude from people who just enjoy life. You are one of those people.

Have Fun, Train Hard,

Billy

Thanks to CFSD, Dave, Tony, Robb, Coach Burgener, Deanna and all attendees at the SD cert this weekend.

It was a fantastic experience that: re-energized me, challenged me, pushed me, taught me a bunch of new stuff and gave me the opportunity to meet a lot of AWESOME people.

Thanks again to all.

Steve

Billy-

I only went skydiving once. It was pretty much the most intensely compacted euphoric moment in my life, and um... I've had some fun times here & there. I howled "Tawanda" as I jumped out. Didn't care if I "went in". It was the ride of a lifetime. Perhaps its time to go again.

I also enjoy cliff diving. White water rafting. Mountain road motorcycle rides at night. Midnight jogs in New Orleans. One summer in Louisiana, I decided to audition for a musical just to sing in public and give myself a good scare. I won the lead in South Pacific and had a blast all summer long. And, well, my tour in Baghdad was pretty amazing too. Delicious. Agony.

No small wonder that I like CrossFit, and that "Murph" is my favorite WOD. A natural extension of a ferocious life force. Nod to you.

Semper CrossFit.

8k run with CF-San Diego at 6am
Legs killin from yesterday, it was hard to run

I've had two relatives steal significant amounts of money from other relatives. If they had been on social networking sites together, this could have been seen as the failure of "social networking". I just saw it as a failure of family loyalty.

If decent people network on the internet, it will be a decent situation. If bad people network, the same thing will happen as in real life when your "friends" borrow money and never pay it back, or sell you down river some other way.

One way of putting it is that the internet makes things faster, but doesn't change the fundamental dynamics of human social life all that much.

I'll ponder a bit more, but that's my first pass.

a day behind, doing WOD for May 3rd:
shoulder press 1 x5: 115/125/135f/125/125
push press 3 x 5: 135/145/155/155/155 failed on 3rd
push jerk 5 x 5: 155failed on 3rd/145failed on 5th/135/135/135

after WOD..
5 x 115 thrusters 2 sets
10 x 95 thrusters
9 x 95 thrusters
100 pull ups: 20 straight arm, then FINALLY nailed the kipping motion, finished up with kipping p/u's. It's a great feeling to get this down after two months with CF. Next mission, find some rings.

Some funny stuff. Jeff Glassman always baffles me with a reference to something I don't get. I hate that (not getting it - I genuinely feel I missed something. And it's not the moveon.org post. I don't play bridge, either.)

Barry - I got a chuckle out of the article and immediately thought of the difference with CF. There have been frauds here. We've ferreted out quite a few over the time I've been here. They are castigated and discarded. And the core remains...even if it is "new" in some respects.

The Games become a GREAT way to transfer the electrons into images, as do the outstanding vids. The Certs also cement the real with the online. Dvorak is lost.

Travel today also makes the online community much more useful. I was in St. Louis once to interview witnesses. So I went and looked up John Seiler. I went to Mike's Gym about 12-15 times over a year when I was on a case in Cali. Met some folks in Quantico at a Cert. Went to Eastside in Seatte and Dave Werner's Level IV, too. They were all very "real" workouts.

Spider Chick - You slay me. Keep it up.

spider chick- where did you jog in Nola?

The article makes me wonder why I'm spending so much of my time on this damn website!

cheers!

We haven't had a post in nearly a day, so let encourage anyone still reading to take a look at William Ayer's interview, published on Sept. 11, 2001, in the New York Times.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E1DE1438F932A2575AC0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

This guy is a friend of Barack Obama, who as many of you know won't wear a flag pin, allowed a picture of himself to be taken with a Che Guevara flag behind him (his campaign workers had hung it), and still considers Ayer's a friend.

Obama is either really dumb, which I don't believe, or he is really dishonest about just how far to the left his politics really are.

A student radical in the 60's

I started to type something else, then forgot I had started. Ayer's was a member of the Weather Underground in the 60's, and lives in Hyde Park, which is Obama's stomping grounds. So, of course, do Farrakhan and the Rev. Sharp--no, that's not right--Rev. Wright.

One wonders if Michelle Obama wasn't proud of America until it responded well to her husband's candidacy, if she nonetheless considers Ayers a patriot. My bet is yes.

Remember, you don't have to love your country to be a patriot. That's what leftists keep telling me. It's enough to hate it.

You know, it's Ayers. Ayer's Rock is in Oz, right?

Another, less partisan description of the relationship between the two men.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/02/obamas_weatherman_connection.html