Split Jerk3-3-3-3-3-3-3thenTabata Abmat Sit-ups Shake It Up Ryan likes heavy metal and AC/DC. Ali has a thing for Ke$ha. Nicole would do anything to meet Katy Perry but playing her Pandora station 24/7 helps fill the void. Shane loves Dubstep. Trevor chooses Geronimo radio most mornings and Eric, well Eric is a little unpredictable. Kirk and Dave don’t get to chose the music very often… With the many coaches at Roots and our wide variety in music tastes, the Pandora stations are pretty eclectic. But, what if you could request a Pandora station…what would it be? Post to comments, and maybe, just maybe your request will become a reality.Read more

4 rounds for time of: Row 500 meters 155-lb. overhead squats, 10 reps Sleep Cocktail Yesterday we posted about sleep and research that supports that this precious part of your day can actually help flush toxins from the brain.  But many people find it hard to fall asleep. Overstimulation throughout the day, the excessive use of phones and screens in the evening time, and late bedtimes make it that some folks think about bedtime with dread.  Awhile back Eric became very interested in sleep and through his internet searches and podcast subscriptions he learned about Doctor Kirk Parsley, a physician in the US Navy who became particularly interested in sleep and its impact on health and performance. If you have a bit of time today, we highly recommend you check out Dr. Parsley’s TedTalk video above where he spouts out some fascinating statistics on sleep.  Recently, Dr. Parsley created what...Read more

5 rounds for time of:155-lb. squat cleans, 7 reps14 kettlebell swings, 1.5 pood Goodnight. Sleep Clean. It’s 6:45pm and you’re finishing up dinner. You look at your watch and think, “I’ll be in bed by nine!” But then you think through all of the things you want to get done before you hit the sack – do the dishes, pack a lunch for tomorrow, fold a basket of laundry, read a blog post someone sent you, oh and brush your teeth. Not bad, you have two hours! But somehow you don’t hustle through those things and glance at your phone as you turn off the light shocked to see that it is now 10:30! Maybe this only happens to me but after reading “Goodnight. Sleep Clean.” its given me the extra nudge hustle through the bedtime routine, and even leave a basket of laundry for folding over the weekend.  The article reports...Read more

“Amanda”Three rounds, 9-7- and 5 reps, for time of:Muscle-up135 pound Squat snatchthenHandstand push-up Yearly BenchmarkMax handstand push-ups in 2:00 minutes The Last Benchmark of the Series! One year ago we embarked into uncharted territory with the kick-off of the Benchmark Series. CrossFit, by definition, is constantly varied, functional movements, executed at high intensity. The belief in and goal of that training methodology is that it will increase work capacity across broad time and modal domains. The workouts are the expression of this goal – they are designed to increase our fitness level.  But without a systematic approach to testing our fitness, we are left with a black box of workouts that may give us some data points (we’re leaner, fitter, happier) but don’t highlight in a measurable, observable, and repeatable way – if we’re fitter, or not. To truly know if we’ve increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains we...Read more

Squat Snatch 1-1-1-1-1-1-1thenSkill Benchmark Toes-to-Bar retest Want to Be Good at Oly? – by Chad Vaughn Humans learn in many different ways and most of us learn the best when we are exposed to a variety of teaching methods. In class you may have heard a coach tell you to sweep the bar toward you as your pull the bar from the ground in a snatch. Or they may have told you to draw the knees back as the bar comes off the floor. But there’s another way we can reinforce our learning, understanding, and application of good technique – and that is through reading about the movements. In the article below, two-time Olympian Chad Vaughn, talks through four points he believes make for lifting the most weight. His articulation of the how and why is superb and this article can help anyone better understand how to perform these lifts well....Read more