2 Days & Counting....Til the 2011 CrossFit Games

Hey Guys!!!
Sorry for leaving you hanging for so long. But summer came and took over my life. What can I say? I have been enjoying myself, but I’m back!!! And I have got big news too!

This weekend is the CrossFit Games!!! CrossFit is what originally inspired this blog, and this time the Games are even BIGGER!!!

In just a matter of a few years, the games have completely transformed as the CrossFit athletes become rockstars and the games go from being held on a farm in the middle of no where to being held at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA and sponsored by Reebok.

With the CrossFit Games just two days away, I thought I’d share some interesting facts about this year’s games

1. This is the first year the Games are sponsored (by Reebok).

2. This is the first year the athletes are treated like rockstars, with custom fitted apparel, meals and more.

3. This is the first year there is a CrossFit kids/teens competition.

4. The CrossFit Games are known for having throwing something crazy and unexpected into the WODs (most commonly referred to as the hopper WOD).

5. Just announced: ALL competitors must take a swim test.

6. On July 31, 2011, the fittest (wo)man on Earth will be determined!

Check back soon for more news and updates!!! Also, follow AMRAPlife on Twitter for live updates.

Also, it is not too late to get tickets. Just $50 for all three days!!

Happy Mother's Day

Celebrate your mothers on this special day by doing a workout together. Whether your workout consists of a walk or run, or a few sets of burpees, just enjoy your time together working up a sweat, and make sure to end it with a delicious breakfast or lunch.

Memorial Day Murph

"Memorial Day Murph"

As you may or may not know, the CrossFit community has a lot of named workouts, some of which named and dedicated in remembrance of the fallen soldiers of the CrossFit community.

Throughout the CrossFit community, CrossFit athletes will be celebrating the life of Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy on Memorial Day (May 30) with a CrossFit Hero WOD called “Murph” in his honor.

Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy was part of the failed counter-insurgent mission in Afghanistan better known as Operation Red Wings. While on a mission to capture a Taliban leader, a group of local goat herders stumbled upon the SEALs hiding place. Soon after letting the local herders go unharmed, the SEALs were confronted by a large group of Afghan fighters. After about an hour of fighting, Lt. Murphy noticed the team’s transmitters were not working properly and entered into enemy fire to call for help for his SEAL team. In the process of making the emergency phone call, Lt. Murphy was shot; yet he still returned to cover and continued to fight until finally succumbing to his wounds.

Lieutenant Murphy died June 18, 2005 at the age of 29.

The workout, original called “Body Armor” by Lt. Murphy but later change to “Murph” by the CrossFit community consists of:

(For time)

1 mile Run

100 Pull-ups

200 Push-ups

200 Squats

1 mile Run

(To be done with a 20lb vest)

This was Lt. Murphy’s favorite workout. So, in honor of Lt. Michael P. Murphy, go find a CrossFit and join in on this workout come May 30. If this is not quite your cup of tea, then go cheer your fellow crossfitters on through this WOD and help the community raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project, Lone Survivor Foundation and the Lt. Michael P. Murphy Memorial Scholarship Foundation.

Also, check out this letter of support from Daniel J. Murphy, father of Lt. Michael P. Murphy.

2011 SoCal CrossFit Sectionals

With week 6 of the CrossFit Open coming to an end, the SoCal CrossFit Sectionals plan to wrap it up with a bang. This weekend in Aliso Viejo, Calif., over 300 athletes will be competing in hopes of getting their fastest times possible and qualifying for the 2011 CrossFit Regionals.

The CrossFit Sectionals gives the athletes the opportunity to compete in a game sized stage. Furthermore this competitive setting will serve as a preview to the CrossFit Regionals as it showcases some of the top competitors.

The Sectionals will be a full day event with the fastest heat going off at the end of the day. In addition to getting a good workout, or watching some great athletes getting a workout, there will also be vendors that serve the CrossFit community, food trucks, a beer garden, fundraisers and much more throughout the day.

So, if you are in the area, check it out! Free admission for spectators!

Good luck to all the athletes competing tomorrow! Shout out to my friend Gabriel Perez! Have Fun!!

Check out the leader board for some of the top athletes you may see tomorrow!

Your Easter Workout

One of my favorite parts of the year is all of the holidays and it is not because of all the food, family or presents present on that day. Rather it is because of the workout of the day. In most workouts, you are tackling a standard workout of what seems to be an outrageous number of sets and reps all on your own.

However, at CrossFit Monrovia at least, you get to have a little more fun (but really, when is a WOD ever not fun?). Whether it is Christmas, New Years, Thanksgiving, Labor Day, a wedding announcement, Halloween or even Easter, these lab rats know how to create some of the greatest WODs around.

These WODs usually consist of a theme around the holiday being celebrated and are often in teams (it gets pretty competitive!).In the past some of these WODs have consisted of chasing down fed-ex which was really running around the block with a stack of boxes filled with weights, or pushing a two-ton truck across thestreet, Santa’s cookie and milk (downing an Oreo and glass of milk at the “starting gate”), a sobriety test (taking a shot of alcohol or apple juice followed by somersaulting to a beam,

walking across the beam, and ending with a 180 degree burpee), midnight fireworks (star-jumping over your teammates to make it across the room) and many more fun and kooky things.

What are you’re holiday workout plans? Thinking of trying something new, fun and maybe even a little crazy? Maybe a little Bunny Gone Bad (a twist on fight gone bad)?

The Best Single Exercise Is....The Burpee?!

People spend enormous amounts of time trying to find the best exercise, whether it is walking, running, squats, the butterfly stroke, jump roping or anything else that comes to mind.

Yet, if you ask a number of doctors and physiologist which exercise is the best, you are bound to get a variety of answers.

“Trying to choose a single best exercise is like trying to condense the entire field of exercise science,” Martin Gibala, the chairman of the department of kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario said to New York Times Magazine.

When pressed for an answer, however, Gibala suggested the Burpee, “one of the foundations of old-fashioned calisthenics,” (and of crossfit!!!)

A burpee consists of dropping to the ground, kicking your feet our behind you and dropping into a push-up, pulling your feet back in and jumping up as high as you can (while clapping your hands together overhead).

Gibala added that, “It builds muscles. It builds endurance; but it’s hard to imagine most people enjoying an all-burpees program, or sticking with it for long.”

I can attest to that as well as anyone who has ever done a workout consisting of burpees. Burpees are one of the most painful bodyweight movements if done correctly and at high-intensity.

However, many physiologists believe that other movements are the best form of exercise. Michael Joyner, M.D., a professor of anesthesiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. said to New York Times Magazine that, “brisk walking is far and away the single best exercise.”

However, Stuart Phillips, Ph.D., a professor of kinesiology at McMaster University and an expert on the effects of resistance training on the human body “nominates the squat; it activates the body’s biggest muscles, those in the buttocks, back and legs.”

Gibala suggested that one could make a strong case for high intensity training (H.I.T.). Not only is it adaptable to almost any sport, it also aids in reducing blood-sugar levels, and diabetes risks. Gibala also expects that it aids in weight control.

As a person with experience in a variety of exercises, I believe that a combination of each movement is most effective, as long as it is executed as a high intensity. However, I must also attest for the burpee, while I find this to be one of the worst and most painful movements, it is definitely one of the most effective movements, in that it requires the use of your ENTIRE body, from arms to your core, back, glutes and legs...as well as your lungs! Dare you to try it! :)

"Cone and Get It"

Hey guys!!

While diet and exercise are two very important aspects to living healthy. Every now and again, it is also very important to take a break and treat yourself.

In times of high stress, we often tend to forget about ourselves, and enjoying life--you know, that laissez-faire approach. My challenge to you today is to take a break, enjoy the sun, and get a free scoop of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream! That's right! FREE!!!

So...Go to your nearest Ben & Jerry's and get your scoop of FREE ICE CREAM!!!!

Today ONLY!!!