May Newsletter

Greetings from Metropolis Fitness!

Hey y’all! Spring is truly here and I’m thrilled to be putting that hill outside to use again. If you haven’t joined the Metropolis Endurance Club yet, you really have to. Dan has earned his running stripes, and will make you faster and fitter. Running is a huge piece of fitness: It is the most functional movement.

This month we’ll wrap up some testing following our raw strength cycle, we’ll hit that back squat, bench press and clean and jerk, and we’ll also hit some classic benchmarks, see below. And then there’s this old favorite from 3/15/15:

For time:
21 Deadlifts, 275/185
5 Hill sprints
15 Deadlifts
3 Hill sprints
9 Deadlifts
1 Hill sprint

Sounds like a bad time? Do it anyway. If you think you might throw up, throw your back out, or throw a tantrum, then scale it to your level. One of my mantras is: Every workout should be equally intense. Whether it’s “Cindy”, “14.5/16.5”, “Murph”, or Back Squat 5×5. If you’re looking at a workout and it looks hellish, then figure out a pace or a scaling option that will allow you to push yourself without killing yourself. Contrariwise, if you see a WOD that looks easy, and is right up your alley, then you better haul butt!

Take Jon Boorstein. Last month, Jon saw this workout: 3 rounds for time: 25 ring pushups, 20 GHD sit-ups, and 15 calorie row. It looked easy, he said he could do it in less than 7 minutes. I said no way, and told him I’d do a burpee for every second he did it under 8:30.

He did it in 6:28. Whoops, I had to do 122 burpees! Anyway even at that pace, Jon still wasn’t feeling challenged, so he scaled up, and doubled the volume. He did the workout again in the next class. Now that’s not most time-efficient way to get at intensity, but that’s one option! Way to go Jon.

Scale appropriately. Find intensity. Achieve greatness.

Upcoming Events

• The Whole Life Challenge! – Begins 5/7. Commit to bettering yourself for 8 weeks. You won’t regret it.

• Murph! – May 30th, Memorial Day at 10:00am

Benchmarks

Time to check up on your progress! We’ve got a few benchmarks coming up:

• Eva 5/4
• Jackie 5/13
• Clean and Jerk 5/10
• Back Squat 5/12
• Bench Press 5/13
• Angie 5/18
• Fran 5/26

Bodyweight Skill of the Month

Each month I’ll select one gymnastics skill for you to focus on. You’ll see this focus in the daily WOD, but if you want to master the move, you’ve got to put in some solo time as well.

April’s Skill: The Ring-Dip

Most gym-goers do not use gymnastics rings. They are unstable, the false grip is uncomfortable, and while many exercises are possible, the progressions are not always obvious, and often frustrating. It’s much easier to build arm-strength by adding a little bit more weight to that bench press or bicep curl.

But we aren’t most gym-goers. We train like gymnasts, because gymnasts excel at expressing strength in positions of extreme flexibility, instability, and brevity. The typical upper body strength routine ignores these realms, because they are hard. Almost everyone has the flexibility and coordination to do a bicep curl. Very few have the strength, body composition, or skill to do this:

But everyone has the capability, with enough hard work! May is ring dip month. You’ll see it in the programming a lot. If you really want to crush this skill, put in your own work on the side. Ask me if you want some advice, or follow something like this: Ring Dip Progression from Chris Stroud.

CFM Book Club

When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10,1996, he hadn’t slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin the perilous descent from 29,028 feet (roughly the cruising altitude of an Airbus jetliner), twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly to the top, unaware that the sky had begun to roil with clouds…

Into Thin Air is the definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest by the acclaimed Outside journalist and author of the bestselling Into the Wild. Taking the reader step by step from Katmandu to the mountain’s deadly pinnacle, Krakauer has his readers shaking on the edge of their seat. Beyond the terrors of this account, however, he also peers deeply into the myth of the world’s tallest mountain. What is is about Everest that has compelled so many people–including himself–to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense?

Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer’s eyewitness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement.

Read this book, so we can talk about it in cobra stretch.

Links to Cool Internet Stuff

Back in Spring 2015, Noah Ohlsen did an AMA on Reddit. He won this year’s CrossFit Open. Learn from the best! He trains 5-6 hours a day, 5 days a week. Does strength training, pure cardio, gymnastics skill work, heavy metcons, light metcons, short metcons, and long metcons, just like we do! He just does A LOT more.

The definitive answer from Greg Everett: Why We Recover Front Foot First in the Split Jerk.

Repost from Ledbelly: Dhani Jones on how cross-training extended his NFL career.

One more thing!

Congratulations to Coach Steph and her new husband Andrew!

Happy Training!

-Matt