Kate is back training and this time she convinced her partner Niall to join in on the fun as well. I have had the pleasure of working with kate in the past and it is great to she both her and Niall at Southern Peak throwing down and having some fun.  It is super important to have the support from home when you are trying to better yourself and they have agreed to both getting a bit fitter and healthier. They have both been pretty active in the past but it is great to see they are taking up the challenge again and starting to come in to regular morning classes during the week. It makes for some great banter at home I’m sure, especially when it gets a bit competitive:) They both have busy life styles but it is all about making the right commitments and taking the time to work on your health and fitness. It is a lot easier to motivate yourself to train when your partner or a friend is happy to join in with you. It is a great recipe for success and Im sure you will both benefit from it hugely.

Christian

Wednesday 25/1/17

Skill: Muscle Ups

Level 1: 1-5 reps 7 min EMOM

Level 2: Turnover Drills

Level 3: Pulling/Pushing Strength

WOD: 12 min AMRAP

8 Strict TTB

8 DB Push Press (AHAP)

12 DB Reverse Lunges

Accessory Work: 3 Rounds of

15 V-Ups

20 V-Sit Twist

Reminder: we have put on a 6.30pm class mondays and wednesdays for people who find it hard to make the earlier classes so make sure to turn up to keep the

There are a lot of ways you can scale a workout to make sure you can complete it within a certain time. Sometimes it is about getting work done and sometimes it is to improve a certain exercise that you haven’t quite mastered yet. Let us use the pull up as an example.

Yesterday called for Fran, we all know how horrible that workout can be and how it makes you feel afterwards. If you don’t have the required skill set to complete this workout RX with medium-high intensity you won’t get the same physiological benefits that the rest of the class will and your fitness won’t improve from that workout. In that situation the workout would call for a scaling option that will allow you to keep working hard throughout. The Open has a scaled division which has Jumping pull ups in it so it would be of benefit to you to utilize that exercise to practice jumping pull ups for the Open and still get the physiological response we are after, win/win.

Now, jumping pull ups has a very low resistance requirement because you are of course jumping up so it would not work as a progression to improve your normal bodyweight pull up strength. So, you need to do exercises that will challenge your strength more. You will need to go through increasingly more difficult exercises that challenges your pulling strength starting with ring rows moving to low bar rows and keep increasing the bar until you are using your arms as much as possible and taking your legs out of the equation more and more. From then it gets a bit tricky as we are moving into if a coach is for or against banded pull ups for pulling strength.

My take on it: If a client is able to hang from the bar I would firstly work on getting them to activate the lats as the back muscles are very important in pull ups. Then see if they could possibly do a supine grip pull up (chin up). If they can I wouldn’t use bands to improve their pull up strength but rather do exercise which would strengthen their arms and back in the overhand position. Barbell movements and eccentric reps of a bar. If they don’t even have a chin up I would still do lat activation exercises with them but I would also utilize bands so they get the feeling of the activation coupled with the feeling of pulling themselves up. This has worked with a lot of my members in the past but I know their is not just one way fits all.

I do think there is a place for bands in improving strict pull ups and it would be a mistake to discount them completely. Where I don’t want to see bands being used is for a person who doesn’t have control over their back and shoulder muscles and are therefore continuously yanking on the shoulder joint in an attempt to do kipping pull ups.

I hope this gives you a sense of how you should attack all exercises. Is the goal to improve a specific exercise or is the goal to improve intensity?

Christian

Tuesday 24/1/17

Strength: E2M for 12 min (6 Sets)

1 Hang Squat Clean – 1 Squat Clean – 1 Split Jerk

Build in weight

WOD:  For Time:

400m Run

40 KB Swings 24/16kg

400m Run

40 Box Jumps 24/20′

400m Run

40 Burpees

400m Run

It was a great weekend in CHCH at the masters league comp. 4 challenging workouts, competing against a bunch of great people and we made a lot of new friends. Connie got a bronze medal in the mens Warrior division and Jo got a gold medals in the women Warrior division. Unfortunately I couldn’t bring a medal home but I had fun getting my arse handed to me by Hamish Meddings who destroyed the competition in our 35-39 Hero division:) I hope I get another shot at some stage big guy. It was awesome to see all the Dunedinites give it all in every workout and have the success they had. That will be great for the confidence leading in to the season. The comp was really well run time-vice we were done a little before expected which almost never happens so well done to the organizers Troy Gordon and the rest of the CrossFit Canterbury box. There will be more from the Masters League as this May they will have an online comp to qualify for a bigger comp up north and possibly in Australia as well. It could be a good first year of comps for Southern Peak Fitness as the Open is around the corner as well so its about getting back to training and see how well everyone can represent our gym. If this comp is anything to go by we are looking good for the future. well done again team and hopefully we will see more of you on the competition floor.

Christian

Monday 23/1/17

Strength: Paused Front Squats

4 x 3 @ 75-80% of 1RM

2 sec pause at the bottom

WOD: Fran

21-15-9

Thrusters 42.5/30kg

Pull ups

Accessory Work: 3 rounds of

45 sec Prone Hold

45 sec Arch Hold

Its time to compete everyone got to CHCH and we are ready to get checked in at 7.30am for the comp and underway. Briefing at 8am and then its straight into it. Should be a good day looks like a lot of competitors have found their way up here. I will keep you all updated as much as possible. If you need to get hold of me I will of course have my phone on me and will be checking it sporadically. There hasn’t been any info on WODs so it is completely unknown and unknowable but that suits us fine.

Have gotten a lot of response on Tuesday Topics so I will go through all of them and start posting about them in the coming weeks. Its great to see so many of you are keen to read and learn about new training topics and then get to experiment with them during training time to see what works best for you.

Right, time to get ready for a long Saturday:) Check the gyms Facebook page and Instagram for updates on all of our athletes who are up here competing.

Christian

Saturday 21/1/17

Partner WOD: For Time

800m Run Together

10 Rounds 1:1 w/partner

5 Front Squats 60/40kg

10 HSPU

5 Power Cleans

800m Run Together

The masters Comp team is leaving for CHCH today and the comp will start tomorrow morning and go all day. I will share all relevant links for the comp on our Facebook page and also try to do my own updates as the day goes on. We are all very excited to get the first comp of the year underway.

Marcus will be running things while I’m away. No changes on the timetable all classes will be on.

Next week we will be trialling a 6.30pm class on Monday and Wednesday, make sure you turn up and bring a friend or two if you want the class to stay permanently.

The open is starting 23rd February so make sure you are as prepared as possible for it. The program is geared towards getting you ready for it no matter your level of fitness. There will be open, teens and masters groups and they will each have an RX and scaled option so there will literally be a workout to do for anyone of you. We will let you know when we have sorted out or CrossFit Affiliation so you can sign up under the correct gym. Time to get fizzing for the Open:)

Christian

Strength: Every 90 sec for 15 min (10 sets)

2 Power Clean – 1 Push jerk – 1 Split Jerk

Reset before your second power clean, do not touch n go.

Build to a heavy weight for the complex

WOD: 5 Rounds for time:

4 Power Snatches 50/35kg

8 STOH

12 TTB

1 min Rest

Accessory Work: 3 Rounds of

30 sec Hollow Hold

30 sec Arch Hold

Ok Team I have some T-Shirts and Hoodies which haven’t been claimed yet, it would be great if you could come in and get it. Most of it has been paid for but anything ordered and not paid for will be sold to someone else so we can get a new order away so make sure you get hold of me ASAP if any of the apparel is yours. A couple of you have already asked for it to be sent to you if you have left Dunedin and have paid for it already I will get that sorted for you in the coming weeks.

The Masters Comp is getting close now. We will be leaving on Friday to get ourselves ready for it Saturday morning. Looks like 4 workouts over the course of the day. No news yet of what we are doing though so we will just have to be prepared for anything:) I am sure they will try to keep everyone updated throughout the day but incase of limited updates I will do my best to keep everyone Down here informed on how we are tracking. You can follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more of the action this weekend. Go get It

Christian

Thursday 19/1/17

WOD: For Time

50 Goblet Squats 24/16kg

25 Sit Ups

5 Rope Climbs

40 Goblet Squats

20 Sit Ups

4 Rope Climbs

30 Goblet Squats

15 Sit Ups

3 Rope Climbs

20 Goblet Squats

10 Sit Ups

2 Rope Climbs

10 Goblet Squats

5 Sit Ups

1 Rope Climb

As more and more members are signing up and people asking for a 6.30pm class we will be including a 6.30pm class on Mondays and Wednesdays from next week. It will be trialled for a few weeks to see if we can fill them up. If you feel you need the 6.30pm option make sure to start turning up to it to keep it on the timetable longterm.

This means if you can’t make 5.30pm you have an extra chance of getting the Wod done. Anyone will be able to join in on those late classes to make sure nobody misses out. As always if you have any inquiries make sure you speak up so we can make this place the best possible training environment for all our members.

Christian

Wednesday 18/1/17

Skill: 12 min EMOM

1st: 20-40sec Handstand Hold

2nd: 50 Double Unders

3rd: 10-20 Pistols

10 min EMOM:

3 Deficit Handstand Push Ups

Build in height

WOD: 9 min AMRAP

15 KB Swings 32/24kg

15 Burpees

We always do a coach led warm up before every session but sometimes the wod might call for exercises where extra mobility and/or flexibility is needed. Every member will know themselves the best and know what exercises they have a harder time with. In those situations it is important to turn up a few minutes early and go through a few of your own stretches to make sure you are as prepared as possible. This is especially important for gymnastics movement and olympic lifts. There is a big difference in standing around chatting or hitting a Couch stretch or Samson stretch while still talking to fellow members. There should always be time to enjoy yourself while you are training but still remember why you are here and make sure you get the most out of that hour.

The coach is always here early so if you are unsure of what to do ask us and we can help you find a couple of stretches or activation drills you can do to make sure you are ready for the session. Everyones needs are different when it comes to flexibility or mobility issues. We all have things we need to work on so make sure those things are taken care off before every session. The coach led warm up is more general in nature but will still address specific issues connected to the exercises you are about to perform.

Make sure you get some warming up done beforehand to make sure nothing is left out of you being ready to perform to the best of your ability. You need to be warmed up right to perform right

Christian

Tuesday 17/1/17

WOD: EMOM for as long as possible

1st: 10 Box Jumps 24/20′

2nd: 10 Wall balls 9/6kg

3rd: 10 Pull ups

4th: 10 DB Snatches 32.5/20kg

Following round increase reps to 11 then 12 and so on.

When you fail an exercise, cut it from the wod and continue with the rest of the exercises until you only have one exercise left.

I have always specialized in 50 plus age groups when it comes to personal training and it is cool to now start focussing on people who wants to compete in the various masters comps that are coming up this year. The first one of the year is this weekend in CHCH and it will be a good test for us all. It will show us what we need to work on coming into the Open in feb.

I invited the Dunedin competitors in for a training session on Saturday to help them prepare for the comp as it will be a big challenging day with plenty of work to do. It went really well we got through some strength work and went through a couple of WODs to try and predict what would come up from looking at previous comps. Also to make sure everyone would feel as prepared as possible. As soon as I find out where to follow all the action i will post it on here and our social media platform as well. Dunedin is sending a good group of competitors so far it’s Harlem Irwin, Conrad Frew, Suz Mckillop, Jo Harris, Big Dog, Chris Ludlow, Hamchan, Hamish Meddings and myself. It should be a great weekend with heaps of fitness and great banter. I am looking forward to it for sure.

If anyone is interested in getting involved with high level competition feel free to let me know and we will make sure you are as prepared as possible beforehand.

Christian

Monday 16/1/17

Strength: Back Squat

15 min to find 5RM

WOD: Every 5 min for 20 min

Complete as fast as possible

5 Power Cleans 70/50kg

5 Burpee over bar

5 Power Cleans

10 Burpee over bar

5 Power Cleans

15 Burpee over bar

We are well and truly into things now. The students aren’t back yet but classes are still filling up which is awesome to see.

This Blog is our main internet platform but we also have Facebook and Instagram where you can follow daily pictures and videos of what our members have been unto during classes. You should check them out on Southern Peak Fitness Facebook page and @southernpeakfitness on Instagram. It is always great to see our members working hard and having a great time together.

Make sure you get your friends and family to have a look through our social media pages and give us a like:)

There will be heaps of fun things going on throughout the year so make sure you visit the sites to keep up with everything. We wouldn’t want you to miss anything.

Christian

Saturday 14/1/17

WOD: Partner WOD

For Time:

1000m Run Together

80 Burpee Box Jump 24/20′

60 DB Snatches 32.5/20kg

40 TTB

20 Clean & Jerk 60/40kg

Partition reps as needed between you.