Running

Join us on Saturday, 17 April for a FREE Running Seminar!

All guests are welcome, whether you belong to CrossFit Mount Olympus or not!!

How is your running technique? Several studies estimate that running causes more injuries than any other athletic pursuit.  Did you know that Cross Country running has the HIGHEST injury rate for high school sports? 

Come learn from our CrossFit Endurance certified coaches how to run more efficiently.  You will learn the following:

• Move FASTER with LESS EFFORT!
• Improve your technique
• Avoid overuse injuries
• Get better results

Sign up at CrossFit Mount Olympus, or Email us to reserve your spot

Watch the following BBC report on the POSE running method for a preview:

Today's Workout

Tabata This!

8 rounds of :20 effort/ :10 rest for each of the following, resting 1 minute between each exercise.

• Squat
• Pullups
• Pushups
• Situps
• Rowing (calories for score)

Record least number of reps for a :20 set for your score. 

Today's Endurance Workout

Time Trial Distance

At least three hours before or after Today's Workout, do ONE of the following based on your goal race distance:

• Swim: Short Course: 600m TT, Long Course: 800m TT, Ultra: 1000m TT
• Bike: SC: 10 mile TT, LC: 15 mile TT, U: 25 mile TT
• Run: SC: 1.5 mile TT, LC: 5k TT, U: 8M TT
• Row: SC: 2k TT, LC: 3k TT, U: 5k TT

Changes in Classes and Schedule

We are thrilled to roll out our new classes and schedule for Spring! We have expanded the class times, and added two new classes-Bootcamp and Endurance.

Bootcamp

Bootcamp will provide an entry class for people new to CrossFit Mount Olympus.  We will teach you the skills and create an enviroment where you will develop strength, stamina, and most of all CONFIDENCE!  The scaled down workouts will be performed as a class so we can encourage one another.  If you feel a bit intimidated by normal CrossFit workouts, this is the one for you!  All classes will be encouraging and constructive, but challenging.

Endurance

Are you training for a fall marathon, triathlon, or even a 5k?  Our endurance class will focus on run technique, supplemented with rowing, biking and swimming workouts to round out the program.  The endurance workouts fit seamlessly with Today's Workouts.  Ideal training for a triathlon or marathon would be 4-6 of Today's Workouts in a week, with a complementary 4-6 Endurance workouts. 

Today's Workout

Demonstration courtesy of our friend Andy Petranek at CrossFit LA.

• 10 L-Pullups
• 2 Dumbbell Cleans
   
• 8 L-Pullups
• 4 Dumbell Cleans
   
• 6 L-Pullups
• 6 Dumbbell Cleans
   
• 4 L-Pullups
• 8 Dumbbells Cleans
   
• 2 L-Pullups
• 10 Dumbbell Cleans

Today's Endurance Workout

ALL-OUT SPRINTS

At least 3 hours before or after Today's Workout, do ONE of the following:

• Swim: 2 x 500m/y with a 2 min recovery.
• Bike: 2 x 5k with a 2min recovery.
• Run: 2 x 1000m with a 2 min recovery.
• Row: 2 X 1200m with a 2 min recovery.

Record interval times. 

Spring Cleaning

You may not guess it from the return of snow, but Spring is nearly upon us.  You never know what a Salt Lake City winter will bring.  To get ready, we will do our own of "spring cleaning" today. 

What behavior do you need to change? Take inventory of your life today, and write it in your journal.  Then get rid of it.  We'll give you a moment of Zen to clear your mind!

 Photo by Kristi "Pull-up Princess" Ward

Today's Workout

5 Rounds of:

• 5 Power Cleans
• 5 Overhead Squats

Use as heavy a weight as you can manage for 5 reps.

Today's Endurance Workout

At least 3 hours before or after Today's Workout, do ONE of the following

Run, Bike, Swim, or Row

6 Rounds of:

• :40 sprint/ :20 rest

Change in Philosophy

At CrossFit Mount Olympus we strive to be the premier fitness center in Utah, if not the Universe. We subscribe wholeheartedly to the CrossFit mantra of functional excercise performed at high intensity and constantly varied. 

New scientific studies have determined a better way to shape up, so we will be embracing it whole hog.  Please bear with us while we eliminate the pull-up bars and free weights to make room for our new shake weights.  We feel this 6-minute workout will not only save you time, but will develop incredibly toned arms in everyone.

Instead of the traditional warm-up, we expect everyone to show up in sleeveless shirts of all kinds and spend a good six minutes on the shake weight.  The variety will come by doing a variety of different exercises. 

Join us tonight for a group flex-off so we can have better before and after pictures. 

Today's Workout

6 minute Shake Weight

6 minutes of Flexing for the camera

Today's Endurance Workout

Run a 5k
Eat 3 Corndogs
Rest 5 minutes

Run a 5k
Eat 2 Corndogs
Rest 10 minutes

Run a 5k
Eat 1 Corndog
Collapse.

Expectations

"Now, I return to this young fellow. And the communication I have got to make is, that he has great expectations." Charles Dickens, Great Expectations.

Jaime Escalante, America's most famous teacher, died yesterday of cancer.  The movie Stand and Deliver portrays the success Mr. Escalante achieved teaching Advance Placement calculus at Garfield High School in east Los Angeles. 

During a recent fundraiser to help pay for rising medical bills Actor Edward James Olmos, who portrayed Mr. Escalante in Stand and Deliver, said, "Jaime didn't just teach math. Like all great teachers, he changed lives."

"His passionate belief [was] that all students, when properly prepared and motivated, can succeed at academically demanding course work, no matter what their racial, social or economic background. Because of him, educators everywhere have been forced to revise long-held notions of who can succeed," said Gaston Caperton, former West Virginia governor and president of the College Board, which sponsors the Scholastic Assessment Test and the Advanced Placement exams (Elaine Woo, Jaime Escalante dies at 79; LA Times, 31 March 2010).

Take some time today and thank a teacher who made a difference in your life.

Today's Workout

• 2 Minutes Max Reps Pushups
• 2 Minutes Max Reps Situps
• 2 Minutes Max Reps Pullups
• 2 Minutes Max Reps Squats

Rest 5 Minutes

• 1 Minute Max Reps Pushups
• 1 Minute Max Reps Situps
• 1 Minute Max Reps Pullups
• 1 Minute Max Reps Squats

Today's Endurance Workout

95% Effort Tempo

At least 3 hours before or after Today's Workout, do ONE of the following:

Swim: 12 minutes
Bike: 30 minutes
Run: 20 minutes
Row: 12 minutes

You should be at a Rate of Perceived Exertion of 17-18 according to the following scale:

• 6 No exertion at all
• 7 Extremely light
• 8
• 9 Very light - (easy walking slowly at a comfortable pace)
• 10
• 11 Light
• 12
• 13 Somewhat hard (It is quite an effort; you feel tired but can continue)
• 14
• 15 Hard (heavy)
• 16
• 17 Very hard (very strenuous, and you are very fatigued)
• 18
• 19 Extremely hard (You can not continue for long at this pace)
• 20 Maximal exertion

Weighted Step-ups

Some of our exercises generate a lot of questions.  This one in particular led to a number of calls and emails.  Functionally, the weighted step-up resembles carrying weight up stairs, a skill you definitely want to maintain.  If you let people know you can move heavy weights up and down stairs, however, you WILL get called to help move heavy things, like bags of water softener salt or pianos!  (This is Salt Lake City, Utah after all.)  Perhaps we'll have a piano moving for time workout in the near future.  Anyone willing to donate a piano to the cause?

Today's Workout

5 Rounds of:

• 10 Weighted Step-ups (20" Box and 85/135# bar)
• 5 Pullups
• 200m Run

Today's Endurance Workout

Long Distance Tabatas

3 hours before or after Today's Workout, do ONE of the following:

Sprint for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds until you cover the prescribed distance

Swim: 800m

Bike: 5 miles

Run: 2 miles

Row: 3K

Junk Food Addiction?

A study at Princeton University determined that,  " 'Food addiction' seems plausible because brain pathways that evolved to respond to natural rewards are also activated by addictive drugs.  Sugar is noteworthy as a substance that releases opioids and dopamine and thus might be expected to have addictive potential,"  (Avena NM, Rada P, Hoebel BG. "Evidence for sugar addiction: behavioral and neurochemical effects of intermittent, excessive sugar intake." Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2008;32(1):20-39. Epub 2007 May 18.) 

I find that when I steep myself in the CrossFit workouts, my eating naturally improves and eating healthy becomes easier.  Coupled with the ever-important Success Journal and the accountability to your coach help change this.  Bring your Success Journals in this week for accountability.  We have a new set of them for those without.

What are your experiences?  Have you discovered any other tools for altering behavior towards eating? 

Kristi the Pull-up Princess showing a dumbbell who is boss!

Today's Workout

3-3-3-3-3-3-3 Front Squat

Post weights to comments.

Today's Endurance Workout

At least 3 hours before or after Today's Workout, do ONE of the following:

Swim, Bike, Run, or Row

• 5 min on/5 min off
• 4 min on/4 min off
• 3 min on/3 min off
• 2 min on/2 min off
• 1 min on