Tag Archives: motivation

I Keep Waiting …

For fitness to get easier …

For the weights to feel lighter …

For food to get simpler …

We’ve been working on people’s fitness for DECADES!

You’ve probably been working on your own for just as long.

Why is it still so HARD?

It’s not your fault …

There are very few things in daily life that encourage you to get and stay in great shape.

Even if you CAN navigate the lies we’re sold about how to eat or work out.

You have to go OUT OF YOUR WAY to eat well, make time to train, and get a good night’s sleep.

You have to say no to SO MANY temptations in your daily life.

Fact is, it’s HARD.

We get it.

And if you are able to muster up the motivation and discipline to take ANY steps toward improving your health or fitness, we salute you.

You’re not always going to be perfect, you’re not always going to be happy about it, and you’re not always going to want to do it.

But we appreciate the effort you put in, week after week, to live a better life by improving your fitness.

And we promise to keep doing everything we can to support you.

See you at the gym.

Coach “Happy Monday” Jay

P.S. – A quick LOL for you. This is exactly how workouts feel some Mondays. 

 

Announcements:

Saturday, October 5: Guest Day at Hale

All levels welcome. 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. Please arrive early to sign a waiver if this is your first class!

October 10 – November 11: CrossFit Games Open

With the new format of the CrossFit Games, this will be the first time the Open is held in fall (these results lead to the 2020 season).

We will do the Open WOD in Friday class each week—workouts will be announced on Thursday afternoons, and we may update the weekend’s programming to adjust!

Expect: a fun chance to THROW DOWN on a “Perform” WOD each Friday. One of these should be a repeat (re-TEST!) of one you’ve done in the past. We will not be tracking points with Early Birds versus Night Owls, but you will have a fun time competing with yourself and your swolemates. Get it!

Registration online is optional.

P.S. There are a few skills we are likely to see in the Open:

  • Overhead squats!
  • Advanced gymnastics: bar muscle-ups, muscle-ups, chest-to-bars
  • Toes-to-bars
  • Double-unders
  • STRICT gymnastics: HSPU, Pull-ups, etc.

You’ll see some of these more frequently in the programming, but if you’re looking to brush up, now would be a great time to schedule a few skills sessions. Email [email protected] to set these up!

Workouts for the Week

Monday—TRAIN/PERFORM

A. As warm up to B:

8-min EMOM:
3 power snatch

Work up to and beyond the workout weight—feel solid in the catch!!

8-min EMOM (or as needed):
Pull-up/bar muscle-up practice

Extended warm-up today—with the shorter WODs you should feel like you’ve had a LOT of practice before 3-2-1-GO!

B. PERFORM!

“Open 16.3”

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 7 minutes of:
10 power snatches (75/55)
3 bar muscle-ups

Take this as a chance to compare to your previous effort or practice some skills you haven’t had much time to try.

HIGH skill, low volume today. With light weights, this should feel SPICY! If you don’t have BMU, pick a scaling that you can move through unbroken or with quick singles. If you’re close, attempts are cool!

Tuesday—TRAIN

5 rounds, not for time:
10 body-weight deadlifts
400-m run

(30-minute cap)

Just. Do. Work! This should be plenty sweaty. Take your time to set up and get good, quality reps! Play with rep schemes and sets and breathing. This is PRACTICE.

Wednesday—RECOVER

A. Warm Up:

15 mins to accomplish:

3 rounds:
10/side slow plank knees-to-elbows
8/side Bulgarian Split Squat
(back leg on bench)

3 rounds:
10/side: side plank w/1 breath pause
12 Spanish squats
(3-2-1 down, controlled UP)
30-s rest

B. 5 rounds:
300-m row (80% pace)
Between rounds:
Max box/bar/ring dips in 1 minute

Sub push-ups as needed. Note total reps!

C. Mobility

2 mins tricep smash
10/side slow scorpion (3-breath pause)

Thursday—TRAIN

5 rounds for total time:
21 wall balls
30-s rest
15-cal row
30-s rest
9 toes-to-bars
30-s rest

Goal is to hit each set as hard as possible—keep T2B unbroken or FAST if able, move at an aggressive pace on the row! Your transition time COUNTS in your rest. BE ON IT in 30 s.

Friday—TRAIN

A. (Front rack) split squat for load:
5-5-5-5-5

5 per side per set. YIIIIKES midline and balance. Aim to drop straight down, NOT shift forward and back between feet.

B. 15-min EMOM:
Clean and jerk
PRACTICE

NAIL THAT SPLIT JERK!

Work up to 75-85% of max, and keep it cute.

Saturday—TRAIN—Guest Day!

One partner works at a time:
100-m run
1 DB man-maker
100-m run
2 DB man-makers
100-m run
3 DB man-makers

etc.

Push-up + row
Push-up + row
Burpee to squat clean thruster

Split work as needed, finishing 1 full man-maker before switching. One partner runs each round, or split to 50 m/each as relay.

Mandatory high fives!

Score is the round you finished (i.e. finished the 7 man-makers) plus additional reps (AND you ran 100 m)

Sunday—TRAIN

12-9-6-3 reps for time of:

Clean and jerks (135/95)
Chest-to-bar pull-ups

Rx +
♀ 125 lb. ♂ 185 lb.
Bar muscle-ups

Living Better Podcast – Ep. 41 – Steph’s First Steps

In this episode, we get to know new Hale athlete and staff member Steph.

Steph’s First Steps

Have you met Steph yet? 

She joined the Hale family a few weeks ago, both as an athlete and a staff member working the front desk at the gym.

Though she played soccer as a kid and young adult, she’d been relatively inactive before CrossFit. But after enduring an ectopic pregnancy, she heard the three words she never thought she’d hear: “You almost died.”

“At 24 you don’t ever think that you would hear those three words,” she said. 

Steph wants to be here for the long haul and to be able to keep up with her now 2-year-old son. So she joined CrossFit Hale. Even though she was “terrified” in her first class and sore for a week after, she came back. 

“I felt good; I felt amazing,” she said. “The environment’s super, super welcoming.” 

Listen to the rest of Steph’s story in Episode 40 of the Living Better Podcast. And don’t forget to introduce yourself if you haven’t met her already!

In this episode, you will learn:

  • Why the busy mom of a toddler decided to prioritize her health.
  • How Steph went from terrified and intimidated in her first CrossFit workout to happy and confident.
  • The secret to conquering fear: Just show up. 

Links and resources for this episode:

Thank you for listening!

Thank you so much for checking out our podcast!

Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below, or email us.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe via iTunes or Stitcher.

Subscribe via iTunes.

Subscribe via Stitcher.

Do you have a burning question you want answered? Click here and share it with us!

Living Better Podcast – Ep. 40 – Dee: “Suck It Up and Drive On.”

In this episode, Dee shares how CrossFit helped her get mentally and physically stronger after her mother’s death.

Dee: “Suck It Up and Drive On.”

Dee had been a cardio fanatic all her life, but when her mother passed away in 2013, she needed something different to distract her and help her process the loss. 

So she joined CrossFit Hale, despite never having picked up a weight before. 

“The first time you told me to jump on a box I looked at you like, ‘What?!’” she said to Coach Jay.

She’s faced many more challenges since then, from her first Murph to competing in the 2019 NorCal Masters competition, and says she’s only gotten better for it. 

“It was hard but it set off a trigger, I took it as a challenge,” she said of her first impression of CrossFit. “This is different and it’s difficult, but I want to learn how to do it.”

In this episode, you will learn:

  • How embracing difficult things has made Dee better.
  • How CrossFit has helped her improve her mental health and focus.
  • The best piece of advice she’s ever received: “Suck it up and drive on.”

Links and resources for this episode:

Thank you for listening!

Thank you so much for checking out our podcast!

Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below, or email us.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe via iTunes or Stitcher.

Subscribe via iTunes.

Subscribe via Stitcher.

Do you have a burning question you want answered? Click here and share it with us!

Living Better Podcast – Ep. 39 – Kenny Kicks Butt; Loses Gut

How Kenny lost 35 lb., gained a 450-lb. deadlift and stopped running from the camera.

Kenny Kicks Butt; Loses Gut

Kenny had been in great shape all of his life. He played football in high school and baseball in college.

But once he joined the working world, his fitness took a turn for the worse.

“Once I started working, I just started eating everything in sight, and I just lost control,” he said.

He’d make half-hearted attempts to hit the gym, but would usually pack up and go home after 10 or 15 minutes. He needed something more interesting than the treadmill.

Enter CrossFit. 

His first day at CrossFit Hale, Kenny watched someone doing double-unders. 

“‘Is the rope coming around twice?’” he asked himself. “I thought I was seeing things.” 

It wasn’t always easy, but he committed to training—even when he felt like he didn’t know what he was doing or when he finished a workout dead last.

Three and a half years later, Kenny’s the one rocking out the doubles—and a few other skills, too—and is down 35 lb. 

“Be patient, it will come,” he advised. “All you have to do is show up.”

Listen to the rest of Kenny’s story in Episode 39 of the Living Better Podcast.

In this episode, you will learn:

  • How Kenny lost 35 lb. after joining CrossFit Hale.
  • How he found balance with his diet.
  • How fitness has transformed Kenny’s life in and out of the gym.

Links and resources for this episode:

Thank you for listening!

Thank you so much for checking out our podcast!

Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below, or email us.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe via iTunes or Stitcher.

Subscribe via iTunes.

Subscribe via Stitcher.

Do you have a burning question you want answered? Click here and share it with us!

Living Better Podcast – Ep. 38 – How Sarah Palmer DeFrank Rewrote Her Story

Sarah Palmer DeFrank has been many things: Single mom. Broke graduate student. Chef. Overweight. Unhealthy. Unhappy. Listen and learn how she used CrossFit to rewrite her story.

How Sarah Palmer DeFrank Rewrote Her Story

Sarah used to cry at her kitchen table after workouts. She thought she was no good, and couldn’t understand how it seemed so easy for everyone else.

That was more than three years ago, and today, Sarah is proud of what her body can do—she’s lost 60 lb. and gained 7 lb. of muscle, along with toes-to-bars and double-unders.

But the road hasn’t always been smooth.

In Episode 38 of the Living Better Podcast, Sarah shares how she changed the narrative of her life from depressed, overweight and unsatisfied to thriving physically, mentally and professionally—and how CrossFit helped along the way.

In this episode, you will learn:

  • About Sarah’s tough past and depression after her mother’s death.
  • Her struggles with inadequacy when she first started training.
  • How she rewrote her story, lost 60 lb. and found happiness.

Links and resources for this episode:

Thank you for listening!

Thank you so much for checking out our podcast!

Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below, or email us.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe via iTunes or Stitcher.

Subscribe via iTunes.

Subscribe via Stitcher.

Do you have a burning question you want answered? Click here and share it with us!