Track Today and Spring Social Tomorrow!
PARK WORKOUT WEEKEND! SEE YOU AT BOULDER TRACK TODAY!
Run one mile for time
Rest 5 minutes
Run 1200m for time
Rest 4 minutes
Run 800m for time
Rest 3 minutes
Run 400m for time
Rest 2 min
Run 200m for time
Score is total time.
Track Today and Spring Social Tomorrow!
This weekend is the May edition of Park Workout Weekend – when we get outside, soak up some Vitamin D, and put our fitness to use in the great outdoors. And, DON’T FORGET, tomorrow is the SPRING SOCIAL! Read on for details.
Saturday: Track Workout
8:00 and 9:00am
Where: Boulder High School Track
Sunday: Park Workout and Spring Social!
9:30am park workout at North Boulder Park
10:30-12:00 Spring Social at The Cup!
Come get in a great workout at 9:30am at North Boulder Park. Then, move on to The Cup to mix, mingle, and socialize with the Roots Crew – and your coffee is on us! We’ll also have some fun Paleo treats on hand. Ali will be handing out drink tickets after the workout (if you work hard) for use at The Cup and during the Social from 10:30am to 12:00pm on Sunday. Tickets are good for one coffee or tea drink.
We hope you can join us for a cup of good cheer and convo! Not planning on working out? Please come join us anyways.
Back Extension Part 2
Take 20 minutes, after warm-up, to establish a new 1 rep max backsquat.
No set # of attempts in 20 minutes BUT it is a hard 20 minute cut-off.
Back Extension Part 2
Yesterday we detailed the back extension. Today we add a video. Be sure to read through the information from yesterday’s post in regard to set-up and execution of the lift.
In the above video, Nicole performs two reps of a back extension. A few things to note:
- Athlete tucks the chin to the neck and rolls down, one vertebrae at a time
- The range of motion of this movement is small compared to the hip extension and the GHD sit-up
- The movement should be done slow and controlled, especially when first learning
- Athletes should be able to perform 25 repetitions in a row, smooth and controlled
The Back Extension
Three rounds for time:
10 clean and jerk (135/95)
400m run
Endurance post workout last week. The spring endurance program took on a whole new meaning since winter decided to stick around.
The Back Extension
Hey! Sit up straight as your read this post! And, do your back extensions to help combat that desk posture!
Last week we saw back extensions in the workout for the first time. Like the hip extension and the GHD sit-up, the back extension should be performed weekly before or after class in sets or a single set equaling 25-40 reps.
We perform this movement for many reasons – to develop awareness of different spinal positions as well as strengthen the muscles around the vertebrae of the spine.
Check out the description below and ask a coach to check out your moves while at the shop!
Set-up:
Set-up the Glute-Ham Developer for the back extension by placing the foot pad such that the crease of the hip is on top of the pad. This traps the hip joint so that it can not close (as it can in a hip extension when the hip is forward and free of the pad).
Execution:
The movement begins in a neutral position where the glutes and abdominals are tight and the spine is in its natural S-curve. To begin the movement, tuck the chin to the neck and roll the spine one vertebrae at a time until the point where the athlete can not go any further without releasing tension in the glutes. Then, continue back out of the movement in reverse.
Practice:
To practice the movement prior to getting on the Glute-Ham Developer, stand with your glutes and shoulder blades along a wall. Hold your glutes (your butt cheeks) squeezed together. Tuck your chin to your neck and roll your body one vertebrae at a time down and off the wall. The set-up of this practice method will allow you to travel a shorter distance than on the Glute-Ham Developer but will give you the sensation of how to move one vertebrae off the wall at a time.
Once you have mastered this practice, take your heels 4 inches from the wall. Squeeze your butt cheeks together and roll down one vertebrae at a time until your butt cheeks tap the wall. Then, initiate rolling back out of the position by pulling your low back toward the wall and rolling one vertebrae up at a time.
Go practice!
Confused on the hip vs. back extension? In the hip extension, the hip joint is whats moving (and the spine is locked in) and in the back extension, the spine is moving (and the hip is locked in).
Whip My Hair
21-15-9 reps for time:
wallball (20/14)
burpee
toes to bar
Whip My Hair
Need a good laugh? Check out Jimmy Fallon and Bruce Springsteen’s rendition of Willow Smith’s Whip My Hair.
Feel free to whip your hair back and forth during today’s workout!
Spring Social is Sunday, May 5th!
Row 500 meters
5 strict press
5 push press
5 push jerk (135/95)
Not “any way overhead”, must complete lift specified for rep to count.
Ever run with a plate before? Maybe, just maybe, you’ll be able to experience it this Sunday! Which carry method is best? Here, Walker demonstrates the shoulder carry.
Spring Social is Sunday, May 5th!
The Spring Social is Sunday, May 5th as part of this month’s Park Workout Weekend. Every month from April through October we get out of the shop for one weekend a month. We head to a park, the track, the trails and use our fitness outdoors.
This Sunday, we celebrate Spring with the Sunday park workout and Spring Social to follow.
Come get in a great workout at 9:30am at North Boulder Park. Then, move on to The Cup to mix, mingle, and socialize with the Roots Crew – and your coffee is on us! We’ll also have some fun Paleo treats on hand. Ali will be handing out drink tickets after the workout (if you work hard) for use at The Cup and during the Social from 10:30am to 12:00pm on Sunday. Tickets are good for one coffee or tea drink.
We hope you can join us for a cup of good cheer and convo! Not planning on working out? Please come join us anyways.
Farewell to a Dear Friend and Coach
15-12-9 reps for time:
135 pound barbell thrusters
45 pound weighted pull-ups
Tracie will be missed dearly but we wish her the best in Durango!
Farewell to a Dear Friend and Coach
As many of you have caught word of over the past few weeks, our very own coach Tracie Holcomb is leaving us on May 10th. Off to take on an exciting new adventure, she and her family have decided to move to Durango.
While it saddens me so greatly to think of her leaving the floor at Roots and our community, I also know that the sadness of her departure is far outweighed by the incredible, positive, and life changing influences she has had on all of us at Roots over the past five years.
The coaching staff is a better crew of individuals because of her. We’ll miss the shenanigans in the office, the cut throat attitude that challenged you to be better, and the caring friend we all love. We wish her the very best on the Western Slope!
And here is Tracie’s farewell in her own words…
Well Friends,
The time has come. It’s been a crazy ride over the last 5 years, and like so many other things in CrossFit, I would have never guessed that it would come to this. Like many of you, some of my best and worst moments have come at CrossFit Roots. I’ve achieved goals, celebrated gains, and it’s not a reach to say that I’ve grown into a better person. I’ve also glimpsed the side of myself that would rather quit, heard the voices that say it’s just too hard, walked away feeling defeated knowing that I hadn’t given my best and vowing never to let that happen again. But it isn’t the place. The journey began in Nicole and Eric’s sometimes steamy, sometimes freezing garage. And I will try my best to take it with me as I uproot with my clan and head south to Durango. The unique tie that links all this together is you: the Community of CrossFit Roots.
While it pains me terribly to leave this amazing community of athletes, friends, mentors, and sources of inspiration; I will take your lessons with me. I will hear your voices of encouragement, see your examples of hard work, honor your hopeful expectations, and respect your unflinching standards. I am proud to consider myself one of you. Coaching you has been an honor and a privilege and NEVER, not even a single day, did it feel like a job. On the contrary, I was humbled by your willingness to trust me and inspired by your hard earned gains.
There are not words to thank the many individuals and the community as a whole for all you have given me, but I am grateful for you and all you have meant to me over the years in the deepest fibers of being. I’ll do my best to stay connected…stalking the website, maybe even getting back on Facebook for the first time in 3 years, popping back in periodically to get my ass kicked…but know that if you ever need a friend in Durango, I’m there for you.
Cheers Friends,
Tracie
Posterior Chain
10 Rounds for time:
15 Deadlift (135/95)
15 Push Ups
Posterior Chain
Can you feel it?
A Classic Benchmark.
“Nancy”
5 rounds for time of:
400 meter run
15 Overhead squats (95 lbs/65)
A Classic Benchmark.
Nancy is a classic benchmark workout. The goal of benchmark workouts is to bring measurable, observable, and repeatable results to the CrossFit program. With a constantly varied program it’s easy to see why the black box concept of CrossFit could leave folks questioning “is this really making me fitter?” Benchmark workouts are just one of many ways to test and track your fitness to gauge improvement.
Did you PR your Nancy time today? You’ll only know if you track your workouts!
Back Extensions.
3 rounds:
100ft walking lunge
50 air squats
25 back extensions
Ray works his front rack position during Wednesday’s front squats.
Back Extensions.
Today we’re doing back extensions – in the workout!
Back extensions are another exercise you can employ on the GHD during your weekly work before and after class. It’s more slow and controlled compared to the other movements done on the GHD.
We’ll walk through the movement toady in class but be sure to start throwing it in the mix!
Check out last week’s description of how we expect athletes to utilize the GHD as part of their weekly time at Roots. And stay tuned for a walk through on the back extension if you don’t make it in to class today!
Congrats Bob!
For time:
45 thursters (95/65)
45 pull-ups
Bob and the rest of the CrossFit Endurance crew at Chautauqua on Wednesday.
Congrats Bob!
Congratulations Bob!
This weekend, one of our own ventured out for an early season test run of his racing legs. Make no mistake, Bob Africa has been a bad ass trail runner and ultra distance competitor for quite some time. He is certainly no stranger to racing but his training this time around was radically different. After years of logging untold hours and miles on the trail, Bob became a CrossFit Endurance convert. He started CFE last June and has not missed a session since. We have watched Bob humbly address his running technique flaws and struggle through kipping pullups and snatches. He listened when we suggested taking a little weight off the bar and trying to move a little faster. And when we suggested that he dig just a little bit deeper for that last 400M repeat, Bob found another gear.
So how did all this business of less volume, higher intensity work in Bob’s debut? He finished 5th overall in the Fruita marathon, 1st in the “old guy division” (his words, not mine), and took 5 minutes off his time from when he was 10 years younger. Not bad for a Master’s athlete who has not run more than 13 miles since last November. Even better, he says he felt fantastic and his last 6 miles were as fast as his first 6 miles.
I’m impressed.
Congratulations Bob. Hopefully this is the start to your best race season yet. The CrossFit Endurance crew and your Roots family are proud to have you in our ranks. And the coaching staff appreciates your willingness to trust us that higher intensity and lower volume actually does work better than hours and miles of long slow distance.
And the best part? After a rest day on Sunday, Bob was back in the gym on Monday with the rest of the CrossFit Endurance crew hitting it hard again.
