Hard work by all involved - great stuff!!!

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This time last week, Team CFR were about to embark on the second day of the weekend competition that was the SicFit London Throwdown. Team CFR represented in both the men’s individual through Bolts and in the team competition with Doods, Sav, Mike, Marie and Kate. 

This was a big competition, with top 60 guys and 60 girls and 40 teams from around Europe taking part having made it through the online qualifiers.

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Team CFR tee, 2XU/Skins compression gear, Razorstorm wod shorts, Inov8s, knee sleeves and wrist wraps...is what the average CFR member's gear is about...but you're not going to see this on the catwalks of London Fashion Week.

However, this week, one of our members, Lauren, is working in a highly coveted role at London Fashion Week, and she attributes her success to getting this position partly to being at CFR.

Here's the story. Lauren is a Make up artist and she won a job to work with some of the very top names at LFW. Think if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it type fashion names.

This is like...getting to the CrossFit Games final because you're just so damn good at what you do...i

So how did CFR help Lauren get the role? Well, Lauren has been with us for while now, and a couple weeks before her 'trial', she took part in a Crossfit Reading team throwdown competition that we organised with some fellow affiliates taking part (see blog post 26th Feb Post Wod-Pre-Comp Partaaaaay).

Lauren later revealed that taking part in the throwdown was one of the most nerve racking things she had ever done. However, having participated in the event and overcoming her fears, Lauren told us that she felt that she could do anything....That included going to a trial for the mentioned job at LFW with enough confidence to perform and beat others also hungry for the opportunity. She tore it up.  Well done Lauren!

For those of you who 'um and ah'..about CrossFit, you should take the step as you will find it is one that will only take you forward in life, and you'll have an awesome team with which to help you do it.

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Coaches/trainers and affiliates owners all know that people just want to do things as Rx (prescribed). This is a wod which when you look at on the surface is simple so everyone must be able to do it as Rx.

But we should all know by now, you don't need to do it as Rx to get the full benefit of the wod. In this instance, you should certainly not do it as Rx if you don't have basic foundation movments.

So, we scaled some members and subbed the ring push ups with...push ups on parlettes with feet raised, just push up on parlettes,   good old fusion chest and quad to floor push ups, push ups on knees.

The aim of scaling is not to male the wod easier. It's to make the wod doable with form that's to an acceptable and beneficial standard.

Well done everyone on this tough wod. Rest well earned.

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Since the last blog up date, some super things have happened, including Team CFR making a great show at the SicFit London Throwdown, which we’ll give you a write up about later, but prior to that weekend, there was some pretty stupendous lifting taking place.

1RM dead-lift night saw some fantastic efforts. Becky, who had not done a 1RM in quite a while pulled 120kg! Impressive? Hell yeah, around 2x bodyweight! Jo also pulled 100kg, great for someone who came from an endurance running back ground.

We also saw Andy R pull 175kgs, a 25kg PB….erm, could be the fish oils, shoes? Or just plain old regular training. Then there was Seth, who pulled a pretty useful 230kgs…more then 10 x his age!

1RM max sessions are fun…as long as you’ve put in the time and effort to make the gains. Superb work, well done everyone!

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Work hard, Train hard, Partaaaay hard, and Compete harder

Members of Team CFR are hard working citizens of our planet, and deserve all the good and happy things that come their way. Being part of Team CFR means they get to make awesome friends who are more then happy in sharing in what ever excuse there is for a celebration.

This past week, there were multiple birthday celebrations for several of our members, including Jules and Georgia and a couple of others to tag on. This meant another CrossFit Reading Social, which are starting to have a bit of a cult status for their Epicness of Fun.

To quote:

‘Just experienced her first night out with CrossFit Reading = EPIC! You animals! Bring on the next social :)’

But of course, there’s some training to be done, and they guys have been really busting their chops this week in preparation for an epic weekend of Partying and Competing…in that order.

 More details of the competition coming up, but it is essentially an opportunity to get some of our CrossFit friends from other boxes to come to CFR, hang out and give the chance for more of our members to get exposed to a team competition, because as we know, there’s nothing like a bit of competition to bring out the best in you. The emphasis here though it ‘Fun’.

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Deadlifts 5x3

15 Pull Ups
20 Swings
25 DUs 5 rounds

Also tonight we had a visit from Mr Nick Jones from CF Velocity who was in the area and dropped by to get involved - he's the guy on the left who hasn't broken a sweat...!

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Those were the words of one of our members this week...Iain, he's the one with 110kgs over his head (jerks for doubles).

My response was, 'No it's because I don't hate you. I put them in to make you better cause you're $hit at them.'

And in all honesty all this was in jest, becasue that's how we are fun caring and cuddly. Our guys know what weaknesses they need to work on and working on them they do. In addition to the double unders in the WOD, Ian also checks out each session with 50 double unders....and once these are fixed, it's another piece in the jigsaw of Iain being better, in some cases, most excellent, at nearly everything....and that's a good thing. And this goes to everyone. Feed you GOAT.

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Back Squat 6x5

100 DUs
75 Box Jumps
50 KB Swings
25 Burpees

Great work by all - some big lifts with Iain getting 140 for reps.

Nice work.

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Already, we’re two weeks into the 1^st month and how fantastic it’s already been. CrossFit Reading members are already back with a bang and a vibe of expectation of the great things they will be achieving in the year ahead.

Right now, Team CFR are preparing for a friendly competition at the end of the month with some Friends, Britannia CrossFit and AFS of Andover. This is meant to be a fun competition and an opportunity just to expose more of our members to that competitive environment and gennerally have a blast of a time. Then right after this, there is a matter of the London Throwdown in which Team CFR will be entering in what is looking to be a fantastic competition.

Then before you know it, the CrossFit Open will be upon us..and all this is just by end of February.

With events growing there are more qualifiers taking place, which are events in themselves, such as the UK CrossFit Games hosted by CrossFit Central Manchester. There’s the ever growing epic Divided We Fall Games at CrossFit Velocity, the CrossFit – British Weightlifting event at AFS. Among all that there are numerous Throwdown events with fellow affiliates and on line challenges taking place. Take your pick.

And of course we have the UK Strength and Power Series, qualifiers and Final for those who fancy a bit of StrongMan based challenges…what surprises are in store this year from this event?

This is all not even taking in the what are now becoming pretty special CFR socials…

There are so many things to look forward to in the CrossFit calendar that we’re almost becoming spoilt for choice. The key though is that there is something for everyone who is a member of Team CFR, be it competitive or just ‘non-competitive’…that term is used loosely, but its intention is all positive. To compete or not compete, the choice is yours. We only ask that members give 100% in what they do and we promise, they will have an AWESOME time and meet even more AWESOME people doing it.

Check out what some out members at a recent Saturday Open session. The vibe is relaxed, but the attitude is positive and doing what we love and getting fitter doing it.

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Haven't posted on here for a while, apologies for this but 2012 has been pretty hectic so far!

Just wanted to comment on how impressed and proud I was with everyone at tonight's session. As people looked at the WOD when they came in they were talking about time caps and not being able to finished - but everyone did. In what ever fashion they attempted it everyone still made it to the end. And this is all I would every ask of anyone who comes down to train with us.

Well done Team CFR

Promise that normal service will resume with pics and post.

Paulo x

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Most of you know Mike one of our Team CFR competition athletes. Mike started 2012 with a big BOOM...a 105kg snatch. This is no accident, through hard work and dedication and also having clear objectives and GOALs, Mike was able to go from Snatching just under bodyweight over 12 months ago to where he is now.

CFR believes goals are vital. Not only do they give you something to aim for, they will drive you to be faster, stronger and fitter. They will ensure that when you come to the box you have a reason for being there, not just turning up for the sake of turning up!

If you are new to goal setting or are a seasoned goal setter, I hope this will help you set the goals that suit you best.

Your goals should follow this simple acronym S.M.A.R.T

Specific -

A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a

general goal. “I want to be better” is not the best goal to set. “I want to do a sub 7, 5 or 3 minute FRAN” is a good goal to have.

Measurable -

Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set. Luckily in CF you will do a couple of repeated WODs in the name of the set GIRL WODs, you will also do your 1RM, both are perfect examples of measurability. However if you feel there is another way to measure your goals then by all means use it.

Achievable -

must be accepted as worthwhile, realistic and attainable. No point in putting down 1000 MUs in under 10mins (unless you are Mike Palmer). However don’t make them too easy, you need to push yourself.

Recordable –

write down your progress. This is best done in a training log. There are CF relevant ones available, or you can use a Note book, up to you as long as you record your progress.

Timely -

 when setting your goals be realistic in the time you want to do them. I recommend this:

SHORT – something you want to achieve by April 2012 (3 months)

MEDIUM – to be achieved by July 2012 (6 months)

LONG – these are the hardest of your goals and you are aiming to achieve these by Christmas next year.

Goals can be whatever you want them to be. Diet, Olympic lifting, WODs, turning up to the box at least 3 times a week ;-) Remember you’re the only person that can reach YOUR goal, so make it relevant to what YOU want to achieve and can achieve.

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Hello All and 2012!

So, hopefully we're all rested fully? And if not, why not? There's a whole year ahead to make yourselves awesome, and being recharged for this is going to nothing but of benefit to you. This leads on nicely to our first article of 2012 from our resident nutritionist Chris Chapman...

What doesn’t kill you...

This is a follow-up to my earlier article about my experiences of, and continuing recovery from, overtraining. One of the things I vowed to do once I started training again was to listen to my body, and learn when to back off from training. So, 7 weeks into my new programme, I started to feel some twinges in joints, and a little bit of overall fatigue. In the past, this is exactly the kind of thing I would have ignored, and either continued to train regardless, or carried on training and just not used the body part(s) where the twinge was. After all, if I had a shoulder twinge, I was programming smartly by sticking to running and leg-centric lifts, right? This time, I figured it was time for an experiment: have a week of reduced load before I felt burnt out, and see how it affected my subsequent training, and how I dealt with it psychologically.

My plan was simple. Since my training plan consisted of 2 days of strength work (a mix of barbell lifts and gymnastic exercises), and one day of sprints, my back-off week would look similar: 2 days of reduced-load bodyweight exercises, and one day of sprint technique work. The first strength day came along, and involved nothing more than some static gymnastic holds, and a few rounds of Cindy (5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 squats). Nothing too strenuous, just enough to work out some kinks really. The following day came a blessing-in-disguise – I got a cold. This led to a big decision, namely to forget the back-off week, and turn it into a week off so I could get rid of the cold. Again, beforehand this idea would have horrified me, as I found a way to train around my illness. This time I did nothing more strenuous than walking the dog, and at no point did I feel guilty for not training. Typically I would beat myself up over not training, convincing myself that I was losing metcon ability and body composition all the while. However this time, whenever I felt the (admittedly faint) urge to train, I just kept reminding myself that you don’t get stronger when you are training, only when you are resting.

At the end of the week, I was fully recovered, cold-free, and bursting to continue training. The next Monday’s workout involved back squats, and gymnastic upper body work. And guess what? The squats flew up, with me practically leaving the ground at the top of each rep, while the gymnastic exercises felt like I was moving a body considerably lighter than my own! So not only did I hit that workout with the enthusiasm of someone who hadn’t trained in a while, I also hit it with the capacity of someone who was fully rested!  Despite not having trained for over a week, I had clearly become stronger. The week off had been a complete success, one I had never previously allowed myself to experience.

While on paper all this seems obvious, it is also the first time I have actually tried it out. I know I am not the only one to get carried away with the great linear progression you get from Crossfit, the constant metcon PBs and increased weights shifted. This becomes a real driver as you push and push to get more and more gains, and you start to ignore little niggles and signs of fatigue in favour of more volume/weight/frequency in your training. After all, if exercise is good for you, then more is better for you, right? Wrong! What this has shown me is that “rest” is not a four-letter word. It’s only the most-ignored, and least-sexy aspect of training. And it shouldn’t be – in fact, it’s probably the most important aspect, and the hardest lesson to learn

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So, just as the London Throwdown qualifiers came to an end, Team CFR also had their annual Christmas celebrations to attend, and what a great night was had by all present. Aside from some of the hardcore partying hard through to 6am the next morning, the social gathering was also an opportunity to present some awards to our members.

Whilst there were some highly prestigious awards handed out that evening (lie the CFR ‘Flexibility Award’,, the two most hotly contested were the CFR Member of the Year (showing the spirit of CrossFit and Team CFR), and CFR Man/Women of Steel award (member to show most commitment and dedication to performance in both competitive and non-competitive environments).

Both these awards were contested by a shortlist of members selected by CFR coaches, from which members in attendance voted from the shortlist.

So, we were very pleased to present the award to the winners for:

CFR Member of the Year: Paul Sweeny

CFR Man/Women of Steel: Katie McQueen

Well done both, well earned.

Then, in the lead up to Christmas, there was one more competitive event for Team CFR.

This was the British Weightlifting – CrossFit event collaboration held at AFS in Andover. Not only were CFR pleased to have great representation in numbers for this event, but Team CFR also had a fantastic set of results, taking both the overall Men and women’s category.

Mens:

Winner: Matt Bolton

Second: Mike Palmer

Womens:

Winner Katie McQueen

Well done everyone that took part! Fantastic results and efforts all round.

So, with all that done and dusted, there was a small matter of some well earned rest over the Festive period. Different people ‘rest’ in different ways, but either way, rest is needed….

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Yes, I know it's been like far too long a while since we last posted on the blog, but there have been many reasons for this...and all good. We have been very busy Team CFR in December. Not just busy, but full of great achievements.

So, in addition to the usual awesomeness that our members brought to the box there was a matter of a couple a competition our members took part in.

Firstly, was Team CFR participation in the first qualifier of the new event, the London Throwdown. Similar in format to the CrossFit Open whereby anyone can enter via on line entry or validation at an affiliate.

3 WODs all to be done in the space of a week...

The workouts are shown below (full movement standards can be found at the London Throwdown website:

http://www.londonthrowdown.com

We've mentioned it before , and we will mention it again, there is nothing like the challenge of a competition to raise the passion and commitment in people no matter what level.

To say the workouts were challenging, is t's an understatement.

You just had to see the chatter on the social networks to realise how tough these WODs were, no matter what level you are.

From Firebreathers to Ice Chokers, these WODs were tough....but this is one of the beautiful things about CrossFit.

No matter what level you are, if YOU put in the effort, you will feel the pain and suffering that the workout can inflict. But, in the same light, you will also feel the achievement and satisfaction of conquering the WOD.

The vibe at CFR was just phenomenal. And, to top it off, 5 of our athletes finished in qualifying positions for the individual events. Our guys, Gareth, Mike, Matt and Sav all finished in the top 20 of the Men’s and our Kate McQueen qualified for the ladies event. superb effort. And if you have any doubt about the vibe of competition driving effort, just look how close 3 of our other members finished to each other:

Position.

This was out of over 370 competitors

Great effort

The WODs were:

WORKOUT 1:

Complete in any order or breakdown…

75 Thrusters 35/25kg

75 Burpee bar hop-overs

75 Pull-ups

WORKOUT 2:

BUY IN: Output 1200/800kg of power clean. (Select your own weight).

Then complete…

5 rounds of:

5 Shoulder-to-overhead 60/40kg

7 Front squats 60/40kg

9 Toes-to-bar

CASH OUT: Output 1200/800kg of power clean.

WORKOUT 3

100 Double unders

30 K2E to pull-ups

30 Hang snatch 35/25kg

100 Double unders

Then after all that, we had the massive CFR Christmas night out followed by another competition for Team CFR...

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Thursday night also saw our Netball girls hitting some Clean and Jerks.

It’s great to see so much progress has been made since they first started training with Coach Doods at CrossFit Reading. The progress in lifting ability is fantastic to see. Yes chicks, lifting heavy things is good for you…

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We love to train at CrossFit Reading because it’s more then just training, it’s about being part of Team CFR and around people who are passionate and supportive of the training and each other. Sharing in success breeds more success. I love it when the HI 5s are flying. It’s good for the vibes, good for morale and in turn good for the soul.

So tonight, we made it part of the team WOD that when there was a change over of partner, there had to be a HI 5. It felt GOOD, you should try it.

So after some Push Press 5x5

Paired partners did:

5 rounds

300m row

15 Overhead squats (42.5kg)

1 person does 1 rounds then HI 5 the their buddy.

5 rounds EACH.

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We love to train at CrossFit Reading because it’s more then just training, it’s about being part of Team CFR and around people who are passionate and supportive of the training and each other. Sharing in success breeds more success. I love it when the HI 5s are flying. It’s good for the vibes, good for morale and in turn good for the soul.

So tonight, we made it part of the team WOD that when there was a change over of partner, there had to be a HI 5. It felt GOOD, you should try it.

So after some Push Press 5x5

Paired partners did:

5 rounds

300m row

15 Overhead squats (42.5kg)

1 person does 1 rounds then HI 5 the their buddy.

5 rounds EACH.

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30 reps each

1. Mov to floor Burpees
2. Mov to bar pull ups
3. Double unders.
4. Ring dips
5. Double unders
6. Toes 2 bar
7. Double unders
8. Hand release push ups.
9. Double unders
10. Sumodeadlift high pull 40kgs.
11. Burpees

Great fun for a great cause.

Well don’t all involved and thank you everyone who donated!

And of course the previous two days were as follows:

Monday

Front Squat 5x3

In teams of four

Row (Kcal)

Burpee Box Jump

DUs

Wall Ball

1 min per station

5 rounds

Tuesday

Deadlift 5x5 (Touch & Go)

Push Press 5x2

10 x T2B

10 x KB swing

AMRAP in 10mins

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