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!!

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)?

Have No Fear, "AMRAP Life's WOD" is Here!

The New Year is already in full swing, with diet and workout plans/resolutions well under way. Are you tired yet of just running on the treadmill, or only eating salads? Well, have no fear, “AMRAP Life’s WOD” is here!!

This blog is dedicated to exploring other options of health, and fitness. Having gotten very involved with the sport of Crossfit over these past two, I have seen and tried some of the “tricks of the trade”, and I hope to share these secrets with you.

"For many of our people fitness training has become their sport--a sport where the aims are simply to become as fit as possible."-Greg Glassman, founder of Crossfit.

With a background firmly rooted in crossfit, many topics and ideas for this blog have come and will come from this idea of fitness being a sport, and the developments and ideas surrounding this sport. Even the title of this blog “AMRAP Life’s WOD” comes from the sport of crossfit.

In crossfit, there is an official ‘workout of the day’ (WOD), these WODs always contain a combination of functional movements at a high intensity with a goal of finishing the workout (which contains infinite rounds of an overwhelming number of sets of exercises) as fast as you can or getting in ‘as many rounds as possible’ (AMRAP) in the allotted time.

As my friend and fellow crossfitter Gabriel Perez said, “Life is one giant WOD. Except we don’t know the rounds or what the AMRAP is, so you had better get in as many rounds as possible.”

This is the philosophy of this blog.