Wow!

that last workout was so badass i can't imagine how hard it must of been to complete let alone to complete after doing 7 other WOD's!

I'm so proud of my trainer Tanya for winning the event, go APEX!!!!

Been doing Crossfit for four weeks and am already seeing tremendous results. Thanks to coach all of the informed members of this community. Great stuff...

Had a (potential) injury question. Since doing these workouts, I am experiencing a fair amount of soreness (sometimes pain) in both shoulders. My hope is that this is normal based on the movements of these exercises; my concern is to not over-train and cause an injury. Any insight/comments on this, and/or suggestions on how strengthen shoulders so as to avoid a rotator cuff-type injury? Thx for any/all thoughts

That is the most badass photo I've ever seen. What a warrior.

That pic is what CrossFit is all about. Im in total AWE of these athletes

I'm suffering from Games withdrawals

can we get them to go round again this weekend?

those definitely are not 7 min abs!

going to have a crack at the last WOD from yesterday. does anyone know how far the OH walking lunges were?

That's what I'm talking about, get some!!!

Here are the point totals if you omit the run:

Khalipa: 34
Kelsey: 63
Willis: 68
Hackenbruck: 69
Salo: 76

Interesting, that's all...

#8
it was 300 feet

#10
i see what you are saying khalipa is a beast but im sure uve seen the under armour ads...all athletes run. gotta step that up. salo booked it on those runs and still can hang in the other events. very deserving

Question: "Did the Toppling of Saddam Hussein Lead to Recent Events in Iran?"
Answer: YES. Too bad it didn't happen ten-years earlier.
(1) The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure. - Thomas Jefferson
(2) “L’arbre de la liberté… croît lorsqu’il est arrosé du sang de toute espèce de tyrans (The tree of liberty grows only when watered by the blood of tyrants)” - Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac

Quote reference webpage - http://bartelby.org/73/1065.html

P.S. Those wanting to go on about Iraq being a distraction from the War on Terror (Overseas Contingency Operation responding to a Man-made Disaster?) ought to check their logic by explaining what WWII Nazi Germany had to do with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. Otherwise the mantra "FDR lied while Yanks,Brits,Kiwi & Aussie died" might become more frequently heard. If FDR had ignored Nazi Germany (begged for peace?) then the war against Japan would have been more quickly finished. In other words, Saddam's Stalinist Iraq was part of a larger problem, just as Nazi Germany was part of a larger problem.

HI Playoff Beard,

that's true, but if you omit the sledgehammer one which to my mind, (which would be the one I'd omit first - although I was happy with the WOD), you'd have

Salo 46
Daylight second
Kelsey 80
Hackenbruck 82
Willis 86
Khalipa 93

I think we all agree that Khalipa did brilliantly. He is a champion. But Salo was the fittest guy there and deserved to win.

Finally home from 3 days of fun, sun and dirt at the games :) WOW - what a weekend!!! Meeting up with my FRAT family was awesome!! I met so many great people, got a hug&pic with Coach and was in awe by the energy and spirit of the CF community. So Great to see FitMom compete - Kim you are a BAMF!!! Nice to meet up with Bingo, Playoff Beard, Franiel, Herm, Pony, Goat, Corey B, T,Kim, Russ, Geoff,Eric, Jakers&Rebecca and Nelson. Thinking back to my favorite moments I would have to say the top was watching Nelson get a 20lb PR on his DL and hearing the crowd go nuts, and seeing the two competitiors from Iceland get their first mu's to a roar of cheers from their CF family!!! AWESOME!!!

Like I said, I just thought it was interesting...Khalipa cramped up on the run and that pretty much sealed his fate. The fact that he hung in there and battled back to the top five is epic.

I have the utmost respect for ALL the athletes who competed in the 2009 Games, make no mistake.

thank you Lauren for always posting up the wods! Hey FRAT: Ive just created our opposite twin: BRAT ... which means: Better Read All This. It is mainly used for special announcements and things like that. You can tag it with ***BRAT*** but if you really want people to read it then you say: "YOU BRAT!". Thats is all. Happy rest day! :)

Anyone here a State Police officer?
Just received my testing notice in the mail and I wanted to talk to an actual officer about the job.
Shoot me an email!
Thank you

Monday's Thruster wod:

95#
115#
135#
145#
155#
165# failed
160# PR

Been trying to crossfit somewhat regularly for about 5 months now. Definitely not always able to do it as rx'd with 3 days on 1 day off, but trying. What I have been able to do is lose 20lbs since starting. BTW, this is officially my first post.

m/27/5'10"/200

very well written article, something many people don't or won't understand. Just as many people have belived (including Pres Bush), that when a democracy or at least some form of democracy takes hold in the middle east by an islamic country, that it would over time, possibly a very long time, have an infectious nature and slowly spread to surrounding countries. The fact that this is occurring in a country by a puppet "regime" controlled by the Khamenei system is neither not by coincidence. The fact that the Obama administration is staying quiet on the situation in Iran in lieu of keeping possible "talk" or furture "relations" open with the one of the most repressive regimes and biggest state supporter of terrorism in the world is irreprehensible and would warrant a long rant from me.People fail to grasp our presence/purpose in Iraq because the loss of US servicemen is always heartbraking, and any prolonged engagement in warfare is hard on the soilders and the public. What people have ask themselves is have to realize is would you fight the neighbor down the street or in your back yard? Its easier for the terrorist/extremist to fight us close to their home then to come to our home and try to fight us. Thus why our presence in Iraq/Afganistan is vital to our safety here. The other reason our presence in these countries is if democracy can take hold there, then as this article states it can slowly spread.

sorry for the numerous grammatical errors, it is late and i didnt proof read

"If you omit the run"? C'mon..Mikko was the best guy there. He has no weaknesses. Th guy finished 2nd in the run , then DL's 495. Unreal!!!! BTW--under the scoring format, had Mikko DL'ed 10 more lbs, he would have had a "1" next to his score instead of a 17. That's how close this thing was to a complete blowout. Khalipa is definitely amazing, but the right guy won. Finishing 4th to last in an event is telling of a weakness..] Mikko clearly didn;t have any weaknesses.

Lindsey Smith is a rock solid firebreathin machine

Christopher Hitchens is still trying to justify his chichen-hawkish position on the Iraq War, huh? Real tough guy. He's for war as long as he and no one he knows has to be the ones carrying a rifle.

Have another, Hitch.

135
155
165
175F
175F
170F
155

mikko is a champion no doubt!!! fittest man on earth??? no doubt!!! WHO IN THIS COMPETITION IS NOT WORTHY???? after what i saw.....those final 16 are all champions!!! kalipa, everett...not in the final 16 (damn sand bag) but nevertheless....THEY ARE ALL CHAMPIONS IN MY MIND!!!! i am still on a high from this weekend!!!! what fun!!!

I took Playoff Beard's post as more of a statement of 1) how beastly Khalipa is, and 2) how important the skill of running, and doing it quickly, can be. I could be reading it wrong, but I doubt Playoff thinks Salo is undeserving.

Salo truly did work this weekend and earned his place and title. What a man.

i am iranian-american, i go back frequently and have family moving back and forth between iran and the u.s., and i think hitchens has it wrong. iranians didn't need to see elections in iraq to know that their electoral system is stacked against any real reform and that fairer alternatives are possible. hitchens himself mentions the iranian clerics' inability to keep out western media (of which bbc is probably the most popular--they broadcast everyday in farsi); the media reports on free and fair elections all over the world, including wherever they occur in the middle east. it's silly to admit that iranis have had access to well-reported global news for the past decade-plus and still argue that they had to see elections happen next door before they believed it possible.

since the revolution (i'll omit any discussion of the pre-khomeini madness), iranians have known their elections aren't what we'd call "free." when you have a bunch of clerics vetting the candidate field and a supreme leader that basically issues religious orders to vote one way or another, not to mention rampant ballot box-stuffing and vote-buying, it's not difficult to see your system needs improvement. but the type and amount of fraud that went on this year was simply insulting to people's intelligence. people are angry because their government insists on treating them like blind, deaf, brainless idiots. the government sets the rules heavily in its own favor, and when sort-of-reformers follow the rules, get the votes, and are cheated out of victory, they get mad. wouldn't you? we're not so different.

IMO, the actions of the iranian government were so egregious this time around that people were bound to get fired up. i don't think iraq had anything to do with it.

P.S.: for those of you who think president obama et al. should speak out, let me clarify: the absolute worst thing the u.s. could do for the protesters is to endorse a candidate directly or to provide material support to the protests. it would 100% discredit the national credibility of the reform movement to have it allied with the u.s. we've meddled in iran enough.

P.P.S.: and, for those of you who think the government in iran is soooo brutal that it requires our intervention, i direct your attention to (a) burma (b) turkmenistan (c) zimbabwe. things are a lot worse there than they've ever been in iran.

1. Salo is the fittest man on earth, at least for 363 more days.

2. Jason Khalipa is a fine runner. He runs a 10k race in sub-45 consistently. Cramps suck, and he got one at the wrong time.

3. Many counted Jason out, including Dave Castro. He stormed his way back event by event, and no one was surprised to see him in the final heat with the winner's circle.

4. All of this earned Jason the "Spirit of Crossfit Award" (and a phat sponsorship by Skins) which is given for outstanding character during the games. If this award was given out last year, I'd give it to Kalista Pappas.

5. Playoff Beard is just trying to stir the pot...and it worked! :)

Bottom line: Jason was amazing during all 8 events, including the finish of the run. I'm proud of him, and lucky to have him as a friend!

Clearly, the run ended Khalipa's chances. And it's relatively simple to show that it's a statistical outlier based on his other scores. But that, unfortunately, is life - and life (or luck) is part of the unknowing and unknowable. In combat, like life, sometimes no matter how well prepared you are, you still lose - take all of the losses to IEDs in the past 6 years as a prime example. Khalipa's loss in NO WAY retracts from him or his efforts. If anything, he should be applauded for having the guts and courage to fight the good fight after tanking the run; instead of giving up he came back breathing more fire than anyone - as your score analysis shows.

The other note I'd make about the couple of scoring discussions (throw out the run, throw out the sledge, etc) - it's the same 5 guys. They interchange based on which event is thrown out, but it's the same. To me, this validates even more the 8 WOD format - clearly the events truly showed the top 5 men, which means it was a matter of balance - i.e., who ever performed the best across the 8 events (maybe even if they were selected out of a hopper at random?) was champ.

OUTSTANDING programming my the CFHQ crew, and what a terrific display of Crossfit's superior methodology.

I think Khalipa just had a bad run. I read somewhere his 5km is under 20min which is pretty damn good for a guy with his size/strength/body type, I wish I had a sub 20 5km, I guess I should work on that.

I am already hoping that I'll be out of the sandbox by next summer and get a chance to go see the Games in person!!!

Kallista Pappas was given the Spirit of Crossfit award for the first Crossfit Games in '07.

Hi friends,
I saw the videos and i just can't stop my tears.
I can not believe i wasn't there i have my slot wining the southamerican qualifier.
This weekend was fabulous!!!
I LOVE AMERICA BUT I CAN NOT UNDERSTAND WHY SOME CONSULAR OFFICERS THINK THAT EVERY ECUADORIAN IS A FUTURE MIGRANT WEN HE ASK FOR A VISA.
I hope i can make next year.
i think is better to not do it in competition but give it all than qualificate but don't go because you are a migrant suspect!!
CrossFit is great and i'm proud to live like one.
Now CrossFit-Guayaquil are waiting for the FRAT and every crossfiter in the world who want wods vacations down here.
Bad english-broken heart-Proud for Nelson-Happy for great Cfgames-look forward to try again and again......
hughs.

I tried to watch a funny movie tonight, not a good idea!!! From yesterday's WOD my abs are killing me it hurts to laugh!!! LOL

Lindsey Smith, was a crowd pleaser. She is striking in this picture and her performance was jaw dropping.

***FRAT***

I could throw out a million names right now, but it will have to wait. I've still got a Games hangover and need a few days for all of it to settle in. Despite my almost perfect weekend, one issue must be stated:

Carlox, you and s'more belong at the Games. Do you know how many people asked me "Where are Carlox and s'more?" I know you are thinking about next year.

I will lobby for you again next year. I'm embarrassed by my country's counsular. :(

Yes.

I just did my first day of crossfit which I enjoyed immensely. I had a quick question if anyone could answer it, I was wondering if I should do anything tomorrow for a workout since this was my first day. I am coming off an 8 week hypertrophy session where I was lifting 5 days a week. I'm not sure if I should keep going or take a rest after the first day

Carlox and S'more, love you both, I am a proud veteran of the military and only 25 years old, but embarrassed by our country's ambassadorship (not the right wording but you get my drift), next year, and I want to be there to give you and all of the FRAT that I couldnt be there to meet this year side hugs

Talk all you want about the scoring. We are talking competition here. The fact of the matter is that Mikko had no bad events and Jason had one. Jason will be the first one to tell you that he lost his title fair and square. The fact that Jason clawed his way all the way back to a 5th place finish just shows that his title last year was no fluke.

What is exciting about next year? Jason is still in his early twenties and after his honeymoon (congrats bro), he will likely be back in the gym and hitting it hard getting ready for next year.

On a side note: Big kudos to Austin Begiebing of Crossfit Unlimited who programmed for Jason the last two years to get him ready for the Games. Austin is a legit coach!

Mikko Salo is the man for at least one year!

here's a comment no one will care about. Faith No More was one of the best bands ever, and that was the worst cover of any song I've ever heard in my life.

*** FRAT ***

No doubt the Mikko is deserving of the title, Playoff Beard. It's always good to bring up heathly discussion with different scoring methods. Jason Khalipa is well deserving of the sprit of the games award. I wish I could have meet you this weekend. It was an epic event. That last WOD was cruel as Mikko said. It was the 8th in two days. These athletes power output needs to be measured over the course of both days. Definatly the most demanding sporting event's of all time.

Great meeting you Nelson great effort at the games. S'more, I was one of those guys asking Herm where you were. Great shirts with Hugs and bad english for all. Carlox, I will have to take a trip to Equidor for vacation WODs. I know Nelson was having a great time in California.

FRAT out...

awesome battle scar.

Another scoring system topic:

This is an idea someone else proposed due to the number of ties (eg on the deadlift and heavy snatch). All the points available should be allocated. 16 (or maybe 17) people maxed out at 505 on the DL. They all received 1 point. Whoever lifted 495 got 17 points for second place. A huge drop! The suggestion was to split the points from 1st to 16th between all the people in first. The total number of points is 136 - split between 16 people. Therefore all people in "FIRST" with a 505 receive 8.5 points. Second place would still receive 17. This devalues a first place score - which I think is the right thing to do because if 16 people achieve the weight/score/time, then it is not as impressive.

(As an aside Tony B did not expect to many guys to max out - neither did I. It would have been nice to see them go all the way to failure instead of having a 505 limit, but they obviously couldn't change that after it began. Going to failure would have spread out the top 16.)

Also, since Mikko got 'second' aka 17th, he still would have been the champ - but all those 505'ers would have had new scores....

#27 Thanks for the interesting viewpoint!

"The Cyborg" Mikko Salo

http://www.vimeo.com/5046144

I WOULD LIKE TO SEE MORE VIDEOS OF THE NEW CHAMPION MIKKO SALO!!!!!!!

I'm just pumped it's a rest day.
My body hurts,
And I'm no cf gamer.
.....sick

Palojulli,

I uploaded all video footage of Mikko in action at the European Qualifier to HQ.

For the 21-15-9 c&j, hspu wod I got one of my guys to video only Mikko as I knew we were seeing something spectacular in him. His demolition of this wod was unreal. But the footage is out there, it just needs spliced toagether..

just completed the last games WOD

15 barbells cleans (155 lb.)
30 toes to bar
30 box jumps (24 inches)
15 muscle-ups
30 push presses (40)
30 double-unders
15 thrusters (135)
30 pull-ups
30 burpees
Overhead walking lunges (45)

as rx'd 25:13

and that was without doing 7 other workouts.

Kudos to the top 16 who managed to get through to this very tough workout and still managed to have something in the tank as well as their sanity

When I used to ski competitively, we used to get points per race based on % difference from best time. So, if you went 95% of the speed of the winner, you'd get 95 points. The winner would get 100 in each race.

If you use this methodology for the Men's results, you get the following for the 11 guys who finished every event (% is sum of scores, bracket is actual placement):
1. Mikko Salo- 706% (1)
2. Jason Khalipa- 695% (5)
3. Tommy Hackenbruck- 690% (2)
4. Patrick Burke- 677% (8)
5. Blair Morrison- 671% (7)
6. Steve Willis- 670% (4)
7. Moe Kelsey- 652% (3)
8. Peter Egyed- 631% (6)
9. David Millar- 629% (9)
10. DJ Wickham- 623% (10)
11. Michael FitzGerald- 616% (11)

You get a very different picture, because you don't have the impact of a big pack of people finishing with similar results- exactly what happened with the deadlift. Similarly, finishing at the back of the pack on the run.

It also leads to a different competition- when using placing, it's about beating the guy beside you. When using the %, it's about the performance.

My other thought is regarding the surprise of the event: this truly seems to be a test of which athlete has no holes in their physical preparation. If you were to take a poll of this board before the event, I think that you'd get unanimity that it would be impossible for both Spealler and Everett to miss the final 16.

#27, thanks for taking the time to post your perspective

#27

Fascinating name and email,

It would make sense that a bit of instability in a region will breed more instability. Another probable factor that influenced Iran's instability is the price of oil. In the U.S. it has always been true that people vote with their wallet. Assuming that the bottom line matters a fraction as much in Iran as it does in the U.S. the decline in oil prices and drop in demand would probably be more destabilizing than seeing a similarish country go through a drastic change.

a wise man once said "when the tide goes out everyone can see who is swimming with no clothes on"

Did anyone notice on the one video where it showed Josh Everett deadlift 505lbs with an OVERHAND GRIP with both hands?! That is pretty amazing with that kind of weight.

Sandman: I am a State Police Officer and our agency is hiring.

Go Mikko Salo!

We´re very proud of you, atleast every CrossFitter here in Finland. You Rock!

- OlliS

i know this is a low post but if someone can diagnose this for me I would be very appreciative. Go ahead and email too. Everytime I do a thruster I get a pain in my back about an hour after I'm done. It's right next to my spine between my lats, hurts when I move my neck and goes away in about 48 hours. Does anyone know what I might be doing wrong on my thrusters?

really inspiring...

Hoping salos victory will bring crossfit more to europe!

Does anyone know why I get a pain on my back between the lats right next to my spine when I do thrusters. It starts about an hour after I finish my thrusters and lasts about 48 hours where it hurts for my to breath deep or move my head quickly

#60 Mad Scientist - I had similar issues and had to visit my chiropractor. It was a knot and pressure that had to be released. See a chiropractor and they should be able to fix that up for you. If you see your regular doctor they will give you bad medicine.

Herm, Todd, Corey, FRAT.
Thanks for the support.
Don't even thik the invitation is just words, we really planing a southamerican meeting, and we going to put some details in our face book next week, the exact date is still unknow.
Please don't forget i have enormous respect for a countrie like yours, full of freedom and the motherland of great people, y just don't understand the decisions of 1 person.
FRAT IN ECUADOR, believe me you have a lot of thins to do and see down here.
BAD ENGLISH - GOOD FRIENDS THAT I DON'T SEE YET!!!

#50 Rookie - Good job completing that WOD. I always wondered what my time or for mere mortals would be. It looks like yours is the time to beat. Eric Gohl and I were talking about doing that WOD. I will wait until I have my garage gym complete in a couple of months. I think it will be tough to do that many different exercises in my globo type gym. I'm going to go and make up a couple main site WODs now.

"Did anyone notice on the one video where it showed Josh Everett deadlift 505lbs with an OVERHAND GRIP with both hands?! That is pretty amazing with that kind of weight."

I think it may have been a hook grip...

Food For Thought:
I would really like to know the following about, say, the top 10 men and top 10 women finishers - not to discount the others, but just due to the fact that I'd like to know it about the winners:
Specifics of:
-Diet and supplements
-Training routine
-Rest routine
-Outside training work and family general info (other stresses of life, etc.)

I believe this would really help me to shed some light on things I could change to possibly be competitive, at least at a local level, in a couple years.
What does everyone think?
God Bless....

Hey I wanna thank the Crossfit media team on their amazing videos and pictures taken during the games.

they serve as a real motivator. Keep up the good work!

I just found this little article on SportingNews.com:

http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sporting_blog/entry/view/28281/a_day_at_the_crossfit_games

It's definitely an outsider's viewpoint, but no terribly slighted against. Thoughts?

I Obama's relative silence on the issues was more strategic than anything. It would be bad for protesters for the US to be very vocal - our preference for moderation is pretty clear. But, should the moderates prevail - we'll still have to negotiate nuclear issues- only Iran will have a lot more support globally for it's positions as a moderate regime. He is playing hard politics and doing a decent job. Mousavi in many ways would be harder to negotiate with because of the sympathies he would have- and it's not like moderates wouldnt also want Iran to be a nuclear power.
Is it possible that Amenhijad (sp-Im in a hurry) man of the people persona may have been because some of the oppositon are known to be corrupt business guys- whereas perhaps Ahmenijad (sp again) is known as an idealogue first.
The point on the price of oil seems valid- wallitics at work.
But It's also possible that as the population ages and young people get more active the forces of moderate/secular politics are just getting the demographic edge- with the election fraud being an ill timed (for Khameni) catalyst.
Then there has always been an underlying question of Khamenis legitimacy in taking over the supreme leader- many people apparently never thought he was qualified for that position. Rajastani (spelling- Im reaaally sorry) helped position in that role thinking that he would maintain his power base in the background- Khamenie basically build his network from a weak (given the title Supreme leader) position.
I think there may be a link between an Iraq in a civil war with shiites bound to win and a revolution in Iran- But Hitchins didnt have much to bolster that arguement because he doesnt delve deeply enough in the Iranian political undercurrents- his article seemed as concientious as my spelling. And he didnt seem to address (perhaps in the new republic link it goes further) the question of there being a role for supreme leader after Khomeni- who by all Iranian accounts Ive seen was suited to lead the country in that capacity.
It's definately an interesting time over there.

congrats to all athletes, organisers and every1 involved in the games, special shout to Steve Wallis from Aus well done mate u put us Aussies on the Crossfit map now. This years Games has set a new level 9 wods in 2 days is tough. Time to rethink my training as the crossfit.com is a great basis for getting fit but for the Games need to supplement with more training and add lots of variation to reach a competitive level.

GREAT photo.
I agree with #43 - awesome battle scar.

Was I the only one who thought the Games would have made for more compelling television than, say, pretty much anything else on TV this weekend? Is HQ opposed to a deal with The Ocho, or maybe an actual sports network? Too bad Wide World of Sports is no longer on the air.

Meanwhile, the argument about the fittest athlete on the planet remains unresolved in my mind until we get Brian Clay (world champion decathlete) to mix it up in Aromas. There might be some others out there, too. The label "fittest" seems a bit presumptuous. I prefer "top bad-ass/CrossFitter royale."

For time:
75 Push-ups
95 pound Sumo-deadlift high-pull, 50 reps
50 Ring Dips
45 pound Weighted Pull-ups, 30 reps
25 Handstand Push-ups

17:22

#41 Johnathan,

LOL! I was thinking the same damn thing bro. I'm a huge Faith No More Fan, have been since the late 80's, WOW I'm old. Anyway That was a piss poor cover and Angel Dust is a great album just to name one.

I give that video a 9.9 out of 10.

11 out of 10 for the Footage, -1.1 for the bad FNM cover. ;)

Just reading the Twitter posts over the weekend gave me extra motivation to hammer out the weekend WODs. Really want to get out there to watch someday...

congrats lindsey smith on an outstanding games. another bad ass woman from hell's half acre.

FRAT

#13: You're kidding right?

#17 Franiel: I love it! I'm actually picturing you rapping that post :-)

#28 Herm: Agreed. And I'm sorry I didn't get to say goodbye on the way out of town on Sunday. I really enjoyed spending time with you and the rest of the FRAT this weekend. Also, great job working security, I know it was a thankless job.

#29 Dave: Well said. After initially thinking that Saturday's workouts were "too much", I've since changed my mind. The programming was awesome.

#33 Carlos: Next year you'll be here brother...and yes, we missed you lots! Nelson represented Ecuador with a ton of heart and class. I am very proud to call him a friend...pictures coming soon!

#40 Freddy C: No argument here. Mikko Salo is the champ and he deserves the title. Also, thanks for your hospitality, you and your Wife are awesome!

#50: Rookie: Great work on that WOD bro! Also, I thought you might be interested to know that I got your text message while I was working crowd control at the row/stake/row wod on Saturday. That was pretty cool.

~Never Quit!

#51 "When I used to ski competitively, we used to get points per race based on % difference from best time. So, if you went 95% of the speed of the winner, you'd get 95 points. The winner would get 100 in each race."

That seems like it would be a great scoring method for timed crossfit events. Gives 1st place an incentive to go all out regardless of lead, and forces everyone else not to sandbag an event.

Would be interesting to see how it played out for Max Effort events... definitely think it has potential.

In reflecting on the Games, it occurs to me that the organizers are torn between a timed event as in '08 and a points system as was used in '07 and last weekend. The problem, I suspect, is they can't have a max lift event with a cumulative time event. Or can they? Why not award time bonuses based on the amount of the lift and, at the same time, factor the lifter's body weight? Let's say next year Saturday's wods are all timed (you could even have done the dead lift scale up as a timed event which would have avoided the log jam at the top). The first Sunday wod would be the CFT when the field has been narrowed. Each lifter's body weight is tripled,and subtracted from his/her CFT total, to create a time bonus in seconds subtracted from their cumulative time. For example, a 150 pound lifter who scores a CFT of 900 would get a time bonus of 450 seconds (900-450, thereby reducing their time to that point by 450 seconds or 7:30. The 200# lifter who gets the same CFT of 900 would only receive a time bonus of 300 seconds or 5:00 off their time. A runnning time system rewards a competitor who crushes a particular wod and it tends to keep everyone in the hunt in the ultimate wod if the competitor wins by so many seconds. Moreover, by basing the time bonus on the lifter's body weight in the max rm wod, you've addressed one lingering problem in the Games, i.e. body weight/heavy lift bias. I submit this to the CF Community at large for its thoughtful and, as always, intelligent consideration.

Damn Salo!! Good Job!

amazing picture!!!

#60 Mad Scientist - I just started CrossFit, but I've had the same problem for about 4 years. I'm no doctor/therapist/trainer, but here goes... Just as Corey said, you probably have a knot and pressure placed on your back (ribs/spine) when you breathe. This can also escalate to getting so tight that it will slightly "twist" vertabrae so that your rib(s) can move more freely than they're supposed to. I've seen Orthos, PT's, and Chiropractors. The only thing that's helped semi-long term is working on remedial strenth training for my entire shoulders and back, focusing on form and stability (slow low, intensity, rehab type). My quick fix is to put a softball on the ground and lay on it, rolling it over the "knot", then stretching, and sometimes a good crack of the upper back helps... painful, but effective. This gives me anywhere from 15 minutes to 1 day of relief.

@ 78

Interesting idea. One problem I see with it is that competitors might try to manipulate their body weight prior to competitions (like with wresting). This can be unhealthy and possibly dangerous.

Monday's WOD:

95
115
135
145
155
165 failed
160 (PR)

m/27/5'10"/200
First post ever, I have been attempting to do crossfit as rx'd for almost 5 months now but it is still proving to be too difficult at times(I've had to take extra days off multiple times, had to scale down WOD's a lot).

I have lost 20 lbs so far and plan on losing another 15 or so. Love crossfit, love that it is data driven, love that it is researched based, love the application of the scientific method to exercise, love the feedback and love the fact that I am making gains in strength, power, endurance, etc. and not sacrificing any of the other areas of fitness.

Bit of (Finnish?) press on Mikko Salo...includes a video from the Euro Quals.

http://body.se/content/tavlingar/artikel.asp?CID=2959

Did sundays wod today in 15:04.

Re Hitchens take on Iraq’s influence on Iran:

In 1956, students in Hungary revolted against the Soviet regime. It gathered full steam when the students took over the radio network headquartered in Budapest. Radio Free Europe joined in, promising NATO or US help, which never materialized, of course. My perception of the Tianamen protests was that the fax, then a relative new technology in China, played a major role in fertilizing discontent against oppression, especially among the youngest adult generation. A parallel exists in the Iranian unrest, this time using the Internet, and especially Twitter and Youtube. Hitchens didn’t perceive any of this role of communications in popular uprisings.

Iran was also primed for a revolution because of the whole history with Iraq. Perhaps every Iranian knew someone killed in the prolonged war of attrition with Iraq, but now after the stalemate, it’s the Iraqis who enjoy an unprecedented freedom and the Iranians who are enslaved. The Iranians are well aware of that freedom just over the border, and not so much by the pilgrimages to Iraq as Hitchens believes. It is known by cell phones and twitter and video. It is, but now perhaps was, known by free and open communications. Hitchens didn’t pick up on those points.

Hitchens may be saying that Iran’s presidential elections themselves were enough to cause an insurrection. If the tally had at least given the appearance of being honest, the people might not have taken to the streets by the tens of thousands. After all, Iranians seemed willing enough to accept a slate of apparatchik puppets on election day. To me, the elections seemed more the straw that broke the camel’s back.

But in each of these cases, the government prevailed in the end. This will always be the case in rocks v. bullets. As in rock-paper-scissors, the rules are firm. The Soviet Union might have survived the bankruptcy of their Afghanistan and arms adventures, the futility of their primitive technology driven home by Reagan’s Star Wars, and Reagan’s Tear Down This Wall speech, had Gorbachev only decided to use bullets against the mass of East Germans fleeing Soviet rule. For this reluctance to act, or perhaps for his innate human instinct, he earned the Nobel Peace Prize.

Reagan’s foreign policy resulted in the collapse of the Soviet Union. Bush’s foreign policy was designed to infect the Muslim world with democracy, and the insurrection in Iran may yet prove to be a key outbreak. Hitchens approaches the scene cautiously, from the standpoint of a Democrat who prefers death to recognizing any Bush ’43 achievement.

As for Obama, we’ll have to wait and see if he ever develops a foreign policy, meaning a proactive one, of course. He won’t have a lot of time. He has yet to meet another dictator that he doesn’t like. Unlike Teddy, Obama speaks loudly, if he has a teleprompter, and he wants to burn his sticks. He lacks even the native instincts of a negotiator. He has no life experiences on which to bank; he has all the skills Affirmative Action and celebrity demand. All his cards are face up on the table, and he wants nothing from his opposition but forgiveness for his predecessors and adulation for himself.

Anyone have a review on the effectiveness of the those SKINS compression socks. They look cool but are they a difference maker for anyone?

I apologize for this but crossfit chicks are hot!! Crossfit chicks that bleed for the WOD are even hotter!!! Congrats on the acheivment!!

RE #82

the bodtweight-lift ratio could have been used as a tiebreak of sorts, without it being known ahead of time that it would be used to separate.

i also agree with a comment i saw during the games, there should have been a tiebreak session where all the "1st place" finishers had to do say max rep DL with 405 or some other weight in a specific period of time, but even with that there is the possibility of a tie. rest would also become an issue at that point, where the early lifters (slowest runs) would have more rest than the later lifters (faster runs).

i dont know, im not creative enough to come up with this stuff. great job HQ!

Yeah Lindsey, We're all so proud of you at Atomic!!!!

AMRAP in 20 min:
5 bw bench presses
10 kb swings, 2 pood
15 wall ball shots

I got 11

#3 - Mike (shoulder pain)

Ice the shoulders...

My shoulders hurt a little when I started the program as well. This was probably due to a lack of prior use, and the fast movements like pullups dips and have always been a little lose in the socket.

If they were really bothering me on a day where the WOD called for a ton of pullups, I'd use the gravity assist pullup/dip machine to slow down and focus on form & control. (or avoid that WOD if really bad) It gradually faded over the first few months.

Recently I had a real non-crossfit shoulder injury with a partial tear of a rotator cuff muscle (supraspinatus) and some tendinosis to go with it. This a whole different story: MRI @ ortho doc, RICE, and a month to get back to a non-pain state. Now it's time to rebuild the strength and flex over time.

You'll definitely know the difference if you wind up with a real injury. Take it easy on the fast movements until all of your muscles have adjusted to being used again. This should be a couple month process--no rush. Do proper stretching & warm-ups.

If you have journal access, there are some good videos on the anatomy & shoulder.
http://journal.crossfit.com/2009/05/shoulder-impingement.tpl

A couple of thoughts on Coach's post:

I tend to be much more conservative about making conclusions about the fall of the Soviet Union, along with President Obama's cards and motivations.

It certainly appears that Reagan's foreign policy helped bankrupt a Soviet government trying to out-arm us. On the other hand, I hesitate to state things as a simple cause-and-effect relationship, since there were no doubt myriad factors.

As for Obama's cards, Coach must know the President much better than me. Some of Obama's decisions have made me question his ability to implement meaningful reform in areas like energy policy. Regardless, I don't claim to have omniscience like people watching the World Series of Poker. I know even less about his motivations. Heck, I'm still scratching my head over President Bush's.

What does assuming we do know these things provide? Does it lead to more effective foreign, domestic, or personal policy? I prefer to assume I have extremely limited access to the TRUTH in most things. This forces me to stay humble, be mindful of my likely biases, and to continually seek feedback through exploration and experimentation (a.k.a. pushing it). Isn't that what CrossFit is about, when applied to the human body?

That picture is badass!

Jeff G. -- I doubt that most of the people protesting in Iran are doing it because they're jealous of how great they have it in Iraq right now. Beside hearing about election in Iraq via cell phones and twitter, they also hear and see video of Iraqis being killed constantly by the terrorists that have been running rampant in Iraq since we invaded. Yes, we've made progress, and yes, the good things that have happened in Iraq don't get enough coverage, but the point is that I don't think mainstream Iranians think great things are happening with Iraqi democracy. (Yes, I've been in Iraq as a soldier.)

On the other hand, I can imagine the Iranian people may be less willing to deal with an oppressive regime and more willing to rebel if they don't feel that there is a threat next door in the form of Saddam Hussein.

I'm not sure what the name calling towards Obama has to do with this, by the way. It doesn't exactly add to a rational dialogue. I mean, you can disagree and think he should take a harder line versus letting the Iranian people speak for themselves, but do you actually believe that he "likes" dictators, relies any more on teleprompters than anybody else in the public eye, etc.? And how does his success have anything to do with affirmative action, since none of his positions that I'm aware of depended on his race (Harvard Law review, lawyer at a respected law firm, the famous "community organizer" role, elected official, etc.)?

And none of that adds to the discussion by saying what you dislike or think he should be doing with regards to foreign policy and what (if anything) he should do to help Iranians.

Thanks for your insight AnonIranian. Regarding: " iranians didn't need to see elections in iraq to know that their electoral system is stacked against any real reform and that fairer alternatives are possible."

I would agree but would also contend that seeing fair elections in Iraq would underscore this point (lack of a quality election process) and would necessarily add competitive insult to injury, so to speak. It would be embarrasing for me too and should spur demand and resentment. In that respect I think Hitchens' point is made.

Here's better Hitchens though: http://www.slate.com/id/2222734

FRAT big hugs and bad english...Carlox and i were sad because we had to stay here...but we hope to go overthere next year...again big hugs guys you are the best

Going on holiday on Thursday so from now on, until the end of the holiday, we'll workout when we get the opportunity.
Today's workout was a 5km lazy jog as I had a baby in a stroller and a dog on a leash. Then I managed 20 box jumps (this is a feat as until now,I've been kind of chicken to jump up on it as it's 25" high and I've got a fear of tripping). Then I did some TRX strap exercises.
Feel suitably exercised.

By the way Rookie great job brother!!! That WOD from the games is insane

feelings. nothing more than feelings....

coach glassman, i disagree with your characterization of iran as "primed for a revolution." in my experience, the opposite has been true. people are tired, tired, tired of war. the revolution followed by 8 years of fighting with iraq took a huge toll on the national psyche. whatever the flaws of the current government, people will live with it as long as it's tolerable--as long as they can live their private lives without interference [which they can, for the most part]. if a desire for a forceful overthrow of government even exists, it's on the fringes of the society, or among those living elsewhere in exile. and while i'm sure iranians recognize the irony of having a free iraq as their neighbor, they also see that it took u.s. military intervention and plenty of civilian violence to get that way. very, very few people in iran want that for themselves.

i don't think the protests were calling for wholesale regime change. instead, they were saying something like "follow the rules," "death to the dictator [ahmadinejad]," "count my vote." [they say "death to" everything over there. it's tradition.] in much of the news footage the protesters are chanting "mousavi, mousavi, take my vote back." there's a difference there; these are not people begging for a totally new system of government. at the moment, i think they just want theirs to work like it should, restrictions and all. that's enough for now.

right on andy c (@93). some simultaneous commenting going on there.

#51, I like your proposed scoring change. It gives a better perspective on how people actually performed. The competition at the Games was great. It was so tough it was a little hard to watch at times. I have mixed feelings about the sledge event. Despite the best efforts of the planners, there simply is no way to make soil consistent. Some people are going to have holes in their path, and some will have hard spots or rocks, so that one event has some bias that can't be quantified. The concept is good, but I would stay away from that one in the future.

Mikko Salo congratulations on your win. Get it on TV for next year please, it was so frustrating not being able to watch it.

2k row, 6:55; bench press 140lb., 20 reps non-stop; 2k row, 7:08. Kind of made this workout up as I went along.

Cash out: OHS 5-rep ladder (keep adding weight until you can't do 5 reps) 45-65-85-95-100-105(4).

Great picture! That radiates determination, anger and power! Lindsey, you are a true warrior!

Nice work!

"Cindy" 15 Rds RX: 19:57

Hey HQ how about a 2010 calendar with all these awesome pics. Or motivational posters! If a picture is worth a thousand words a CrossFitter picture like Lindsey above must surely be a .........priceless!

I missed the games this year but the pictures posted on the games and main site have such an impact and really speak to what we do and who we are, or in my case hope to become.

Right on # 27. Thanks!

SPare/#51,

Great suggestion on scoring. I too used to ski "competitively," but never attained a level where it made sense to figure out the scoring system :). I didn't need math to tell me I was getting smoked.

Glassman Family,

My apologies for confusing Jeff with Greg in my prior post addressing "Coach's post." I should be able to keep you separate, considering that you post under different names and all. Nor do I presume you have the same views. As Phil Hartman's version of Ronald Reagan would say, "back to work!"

"...but watching something like the real thing next door may well have increased the appetite for the genuine article in Iran itself."

That's his argument? How scientific.

Please.

Awesome weekend!! I took my two boys to the Games (our first) and there is no doubt we will be there next year. CROSSFIT has changed our lives for the better, and after watching good ole Dad work out in the garage for the last 20 years with no interest in participating, my boys are the ones pushing me on the WOD's. Its all because of CROSSFIT! Thank you Greg and Lauren!!

have 3 free Personal Trainer workouts with my membership at Globo so I used one today. Actually not too bad...
3 rounds
Plyo Boxes. 36", 24", 12", 20 reps pistols on each leg on the last box.
Alternating Pushups off of the half swiss ball. 30 seconds
Standing Rows and Butterflies. 20 reps.
Ab Planks with feet on slider moving legs back and forth. 30 seconds.
Half Swiss Ball Med ball tosses, 20 reps.
2 minute break
Might do the crossfit endurance 10K....

The notion that Saddam's fall precipitated recent events in Iran is classic "Post hoc ergo propter hoc" fallacy. Jeff Glassman is on the right track in pointing to the role of increased communication in the process. In fact, what is happening in Iran is nothing less than the natural progression of an evolving national identity, which will always eventually reflect the average level of development of the individuals who make up that nation. Traditionalist societies will always eventually give way to modernity. It is as inevitable in Iran as it would have been in Iraq - eventually - without the war.

Andy C #93, anoniranian #99,

Thanks for the insight from Iraq. I’ve never been there.

I don’t think the Iranian motivation looking to the West is jealousy. It is the vision of a possibility, as W intended.

I heard the chants from the street, including “death to the dictator”, poignantly in English. First, I didn’t think that this might have been meant for Ahmadinejad, and as you say, that may have been my mistake. Secondly, so many of the signs and slogans were in English, I took this as a significant plea to the West for help.

The Afghanistan resistance, which some say was highly instrumental in bankrupting and collapsing the USSR, was made possible through Reagan’s arming and training of the Afghans. Bush’s policy in Iraq evolved into a similar strategy in about three phases. My remarks about Obama were intended to give reason why this President is not likely to help the people of Iran in any military, i.e., significant, way. And without it, Iran ’09 is going to be just another Hungary ’56.

Like Colin Powell, Obama casts himself as a product of Affirmative Action. Here’s Wikipedia (ugh!) on his keynote address to the Democratic National Convention, 2004:

>>>> I stand here today, grateful for the diversity of my heritage, aware that my parents’ dreams live on in my two precious daughters. I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story, that I owe a debt to all of those who came before me, and that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.

>> Obama then alluded to the basic freedoms enunciated in the Declaration of Independence, and stated that the 2004 election was a time to reaffirm these values and realize that "We have more work to do." He went on to mention several Americans he had met who were struggling with jobs, healthcare, and education, stating that "they don't expect government to solve all their problems ... But they sense, deep in their bones, that WITH JUST A SLIGHT CHANGE IN PRIORITIES, we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life, and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all." CAPS added.

He has a microscopic view of America. He speaks as if those things didn’t already exist, and moreover hadn’t been biased in favor of select minorities by birth right for five decades. For these trained victims of oppression, apparently nothing will ever be enough. Where is his macroscopic vision for the United States?

As to Obama’s accomplishments pre-office, my understanding is that he has not released his academic records, i.e., grades, exams, and papers. Wikipedia says Obama worked at two law firms, but as a summer associate, and not as counsel. His community organizer work was extensive, but rather ACORN-ish, and hardly the stuff of a lawyer’s c.v. Is there something else I’m missing that would have prepared him for high office other than high office? Do you recommend I read “Audacity of Hope”, his tribute to Jeremiah Wright?

It’s interesting that this should come up on a day when we are considering advancing Sotomayor to the US Supreme Court, giving her a pass for her racist and bigoted statements -- statements that also reflect a lack of judicial temperament -- all because of her heritage and gender. Oh, and party!

Besides just being evil on its face, Affirmative Action has the shortcoming of forever labeling the people it is designed to help as inferior, having been given what they were in capable of earning. On this, and maybe all of this, I agree with Thomas Sowell.

P.S.

Please don’t call me Coach. Greg and I just get our e-mail confused.

m/178cm/90kg/33y
DT
scaled 135 lbs
5 rounds
17:32

Jeff,

Do you really believe the doors of opportunity have been been "biased in favor of select minorities by birth right for five decades"? Would that bias extend to black kids growing up in resource-limited places like inner city Baltimore? My understanding is that it is extremely difficult to get out based on minimal access to quality education, decent food, safe places to play, and role models to follow. Opening those doors in a meaningful way would require significant change in our policies toward poverty and drugs.

I agree that "inferior" labels, which are likely perpetuated within people and from others, are part of the problem. As long as we perceive ourselves of victims of a system, chances are we will act into that reality. Thus the responsibility is all of ours. But I'm not ready to call it good because some people have received assistance through affirmative action-related policies.

m/180/5'7"/30

Playing catch up, did

weighted pull ups @ 35 x 3
Strict pull ups x 5
Kipping pull ups x 7

for 7 rds. at 28:31

Jeff G. & all,

my bad on the names mix-up; i'm new here and still getting the hang of which glassman is which. honest mistake, won't happen again.

57 y.o. 153 lb 5'10"

Ran 8 miles.

Comment #60 - Mad Scientist at 5:57 AM

Everyone is giving you sound advice and is on th right track but there is a reason it is getting tight and merely massaging out the spot will only offer temporary relief.

It sounds like you have a dislocated rib. Visit a chiro and they will pop it back in. It usually takes a day or a nap for the symptoms to be relieved.

Also once you suffer from it you are move likely to suffer a dislocation. Bicycle wrecks, reaching for my seat belt and in general crashing can cause it to pop out.

Good luck

jakers

Gotta play catch up with my posts. sorry for the confusion.
Sunday - homeade wod on trails here at my house
Monday - ghd wod 8:37 - also did thrusters but missed my previous pr - really put out about it but it is life
Tuesday - a little something my coach calls 20 pieces of Angie - 5 of each pull ups, push ups, sit ups and squats 20 rounds for time. 19:46
SOOOOO much harder than it sounded.
Hope you all have been doing well. The game highlights were awesome - cannot imagine what it was like in person. Take care everyone and Happy Today!
Scrat over and out
F/36/127/5'9"

JimSTL (#91),

Thanks for taking the time to post - very helpful info.

'Preciate it!

Bwt:192
Helen 3rds for time
400 mtr run
25lbs dumbbell swing 21 reps (calls for 1.5 kettlebell)
pull-ups 12 reps 100 of assisted
:21::59

@#3 Mike

I had/have the same problem with my shoulders especially after kipping pullups and sometimes overhead squats.

Watch your form and ice like #91 Jim said.

I also found doing lateral/front and bent over raises with 3-5 lbs in each hand every morning help tighten and strengthen my joint. It helped a lot, now I don't need to do them anymore as the joint and shoulder muscles have come along and adapted to the workouts.

#78,

I agree, the games could have used a more dynamic scoring system this year, and I expect they will next year. After the first 5 events, many of the top 16 stood little chance of catching up to the top contenders and relied more on huge failure by the leaders to allow an upset, rather than a great underdog performance. There are a lot of ways to do it, and with CF's love of number crunching, I'm sure they'll come up with something.

46/M/6'/185

DID CF NORTHWEST TUCSONS WOD TODAY...

ROUND 1: 18:59
ROUND 2: 23:13

800M RUN
15, 275 POUND DEAD LIFT
50 SDHP
15, 32' BOX JUMPS
50 BURPEES

2 MIN REST...THEN DO IT AGAIN IN REVERSE ORDER.

OLD MAN

RURAL/METRO FIRE DEPT.
TUCSON, AZ.

WeemsFit #116,

Have we had biased doors of opportunity? Aren’t you asking if Affirmative Action exists? I'll take it as rhetorical.

Does that bias extend to inner city Baltimore? I’d sure be surprised if it didn’t. I’d like to see data on two economically similar US communities, one black, and one white. I’d like to see a bar graph comparing dollars per capita spent on welfare, social workers, cops, schools, food programs, emergency hospitals, scholarships, and what have you. How do you think the graph would look? Would you wager that the whites lead in any category?

Outcome, though, is a different question. If you ask about positive mobility out of the ‘hood, I’d guess that the whites win. Same with measures of crime rate and crime victimization. It’s like CrossFit: fitness comes from pain. You know, school of hard knocks, all that kind of stuff. Doing good is the propaganda of AA; the reality is to build a dependent constituency.

#4, #5

She works out at my gym sometimes here in Houston. First time I saw her, she corrected my snatch form.

Main-page love for Lindsey!!! Congrats girl - see you two soon!

M/49/151/1-1-06

Did this from the Games

3RFT
30 Wall Ball (12#)
30 Hang Squat Snatch 45#

21:26

How did they go that fast after all that work?

WOD for M/28 bday!
28oz "Cowboy cut" steak
1 round for time

about 20 minutes.....I hope that nancy doesnt kill me tomorrow!

WOD for F/27
12oz NY strip steak
1 round for time

failure to complete.....got disgusted by M/28 and almost met pukie watching him!

Jeff,

In terms of programs and funding, I don't think more of the same will produce much for neighborhoods like the kind I am picturing in Baltimore. Simply eliminating them won't help much either, although in some cases it would likely create more "pain."

For me, fitness is more likely to come from carefully applied stress. That takes good oversight and management. That will be absent in a lot of places until we do things like involve people more directly in the process of improving their lives, address outright corruption, and shift the incentives for public officials currently benefiting from padding stats (e.g., number of drug arrests) rather than making meaningful changes.

Did Sunday's and Monday's workout to catch up:
Thrusters:
135-155-155-155-145-145-145-145
10:20 (Form needs work)

30 Gluteham Sit-Ups / 25 Back Extensions:
Used medicing ball and Reebok step master - smoked abs and lower back -- 15 minutes

The US cannot treat Iran, a well-developed and well-educated country, as another puppet regime, or purport to direct its elections. But the US, as she is, can certainly continue to lead through example. And she is thus far failing to do so.

America, at least since the days of the Cold War, has indeed been the "shining city on the hill" that Reagan described, a meritocracy in which the best and the brightest can rise and through which the structure of the Constitution leads the free world toward a better place. Leading by example has been a way of life for American diplomats, who, when faced with obstructions in their paths, can let the success of our own policies provide the best argument for their goals vis-a-vis their counterparts. Communism vs freedom? Ask Walesa. Ask Kasparov. Confused? Ask Kissinger.

Our success, in both creating America and projecting her ideals onto the world, came through leaders who believed in those ideals and gained moral strength from that belief. America was borne of those who believed in the idea that is America.

Now, though?

When, in the course of human events, has a country sought US support for its own goal of democratic and legal rule and found no such support? Not until Honduras asked such support of Hillary Clinton.

When, in the course of human events, has a country sought US justification for the revolt against voting bias, illegal balloting, and forced outcomes and found no such justification? Not until Iran (albeit indirectly) asked such support of the President of the United States.

It's only been six months. These are two hugely significant events and America has failed, egregiously so, to be, well, American about either of them.

America has, in these instances, decided that it has no moral authority to weigh in on the course of events in these countries. America's leaders have passively argued that the shining city on the hill is a mirage and should not be emulated. America's leaders have damned America's greatness and given freedom to foreign countries not to emulate her. America is eating herself.

We are a great country. We came to leadership of the world not by the point of a gun, but by the adulation of human ability. When others were faced with the club, we stood in the way, in the name of our own ideals. Our failures have come only when we flinched at the prospect of defending the very ideals that made America.

It's only been six months, and that's two flinches so far.

Hitchens has a point about Iraq vis-a-vis Iran, and anoniranian in this thread has a valid - and very eloquent - counterpoint regarding our role in Iran today. But the American ideal, whether projected forcefully or passively, remains the foundation of democracy across the world. It is incontrovertible, it is moral, and its evidence is irrefutable, and yet America's leaders are selling it short.

iranian culture is not a polyglot arrow launched at the heart of america. You have the time to study it, if you are an empiricist, if you sre not a bigot or a chauvanist, if you are not a pretender, a fear mongerer, if you think the enlightment or common sense is domething thst can usefully guide you, then you will look upon the iranians, their culture, their language, their history as every bit as complex as your own; not as an empty vessel to be filled with your own ambitions (however well-intentioned).

Two years ago a number of 'regular' posters (proprietors?) on this forum asvoxates either a nuclear attack on iran, or whatever is involved in 'paving over' iran, in response to iran taking several british forces hostage.

Could you imagine the result?
What path coiuld your 'American Century' ambition take now if that had ocurred?

iranian culture is not a polyglot arrow launched at the heart of america. You have the time to study it, if you are an empiricist, if you sre not a bigot or a chauvanist, if you are not a pretender, a fear mongerer, if you think the enlightment or common sense is domething thst can usefully guide you, then you will look upon the iranians, their culture, their language, their history as every bit as complex as your own; not as an empty vessel to be filled with your own ambitions (however well-intentioned).

Two years ago a number of 'regular' posters (proprietors?) on this forum asvoxates either a nuclear attack on iran, or whatever is involved in 'paving over' iran, in response to iran taking several british forces hostage.

Could you imagine the result?
What path coiuld your 'American Century' ambition take now if that had ocurred?

Ran 1 mile with the dog
CF Warmup
Pyramid lunges (to make up for thrusters)
7 at 60 up to 1 (and some extra) at 100
2 Rounds of incline sit ups, back extensions

Tried to make up for having the weekend off without overdoing it.

CF Warm up
1 mile run with the dog
Pyramid back squats starting at 7 with 60 lbs up to 1 with 100 lbs
2 rounds of incline sit ups/ back extensions

Tried to make up for the weekend off without overdoing it

Made up for an extra rest day earlier last week.

4 rounds of
50 squat
30 pushups
1/4 mile run

19:27

m/29/193/6'1

as rx'd

huge pr by over 3 minutes

13:09

My WOD (sprained knee, so taking it light)

CFWU (with very cautious squats)
5 rounds of:
Dumbell curl and press 40lbs x 10 reps
Weighted Dips 40lbs x 20 reps
5 GHD situps

Prole,

Do the Iranian people deserve a government of their own choosing? To the extent I can see, that question can be answered without implying chauvinism.

This is your problem: multiculturalism has blinded you to the point of liberalism. Libertas: to be free. Same root for both liberal and liberty.

What is interesting is how often multicultural intellectual aesthetes will, in their craven desire to avoid despotic UNIculturalism (a belief that we might just be right), will SUPPORT despotism in the NAME of freedom.

And yes, Iran still needs to be dealt with. The current regime wants to nuke Israel, and one factor that has not been mentioned yet is that the bulk of the Iranian people may not be confident that the Hidden Imam will block an Israeli strike/counter strike. Yes, the opposition candidate started the Iranian nuclear program, but he has not been on the international stage threatening to use the nukes aggressively. Maybe he wants to, too. I don't know.

As far as Hitchens, I think the point on timing needs to be made. The Iranians have been putting up with rigged elections for, what, 28 years or so? 1979 was the revolution, as I recall. Easy to remember: Jimmy Carter was President, and did more than anyone else to make sure the last remnant of the Persian Empire fell, and fell hard.

Given a 30 year run, why was this year exceptional? I think Hitchen's thesis is plausible. There were cell phones and other media in the last one. As far as I can tell, most of the action was pretty obvious, in any event: things burning and smoking in the street.

The signs in English, to me, signify a fundamental sympathy to our cultural system. They did not likely think they would get help, but I think they wanted to be sure they were understood. English, itself, was a rejection of Imamist despotism. The signs, in effect, said "we want to be like you".

They used to be able to dance in Iran. Wear Western fashions. Eat Western food. Listen openly to Western music.

From what I've heard, rock and roll, as much as anything, played a roll in the eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union. Kids were just tired of relentless oppression and antipathy to simple fun.

Here's the latest from Ahmadinejad: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSDAH65258120090716?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=22&sp=true

Oh, and Israeli warships are rehearsing a strike on Iran.

Obama is irrelevant to this process. He has NO credibility as a hard-liner, which we might define for this purpose as someone willing to use military power for anything that is in American interests. He might shoot down Israeli jets, but he wouldn't think of touching the Iranians.

And Ahmadinejad knows this. He kept his mouth shut from roughly 2002-2005. I wonder why that would have been? And why did they stop their nuclear program in 2003? And why did they resume it recently?

History shows, over and over and over, all the cause and effect relationships any rational human being would ever need. That some people evidently need more is prima facie evidence of their irrationality--which we might here define as continuing policies that don't work, because they believe they OUGHT to work.

Had the wknd off, tried to do a little bit of everything I missed:

Ran 1 mile with the dog (Flynn)
CF warm up
Pyramid back squats starting at 7 at 70 lbs up to 1 at 100 lbs
2 rounds of back extensions, inclined sit ups

glad everyone was focusing on the sick abs and didnt read the garbage article from C. Hitchens.

Thanks again hitchens for being an apologist to the invasion of iraq. Anything that supports his thesis, he does not hesitate to drink whiskey and write about.

Emos, your comment intrigues me. Could you elaborate on what Hitchens wrote, highlight where you disagree and why?

Goat's question, of course, was posted with the answer known in advance. Of course Emos had nothing to add. It's unlikely he or she even read the article.

Alinsky 12, with respect Hitchen's irrelevant drinking: http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/8925/alinsky.htm

Leftists really like that one. They get to express righteous indignation, get to insult people, and don't have to use their brains in the slightest to do it.

34 yom 203lbs

Did GHD situps using a bench with feet anchored on weighted barbell.
3 rounds GHD then two rounds straight leg situps. Time was 10 min flat. 2 min slower than last time but ghd were tougher using bench vs Swiss ball.

Afterwards ran 4 two minute Walk/run intervals outside

34 yom 206 lbs

Run were really good today, felt strong. At end of round 3 time was 12:41. In April I did three rounds in 15:25. Did four rounds in 17:30: runs were on treadmill between 8.5-9.5 and weight was 65 lbs. Go heavier next time.