Happy Thursday!

1. FNL and Sunday Special this week

2. Ugly sweater Chrismahanukwanzakah party Saturday 12/22 at CF.  Bring a dish / drink.  Time TBD

3. Hero week - Winter 2012 will be from December 26th - Jan 1st… Get ready!!

Thursday 6:30 am WOD:

10 snatches (65#95#)
200 m farmer walk
10 snatches
200 m med ball sprint
10 snatches
200 m walking lunge

In between shopping and feating of leftovers today, there might be time to check out a very interesting article entitled “The Island Where People Forget to Die,” published last month in the New York TImes.  It’s a fairly long read, but worth the time.

Inhabitants of the Greek island of Ikaria live to such a healthy late age that many actually forget or don’t know how old they really are.  The basic Ikarian life includes: 1. Eating a local diet including beans, veggies, some goat milk and cheese, little meat and no processed foods, 2. Setting no schedule - Ikarians get up when they are ready and go to sleep when they are tired, 3. Socializing regularly and drinking the local mountain tea and wine…  Sounds like the good life!

 

 

The kipping pull-up may be one of the most difficult and technical exercises to learn, but it also leads to a huge sense of accomplishment when you get it!

A successful kipping pull-up requires transfer of energy from the horizontal plane to the vertical plane and from the core to the lower extremities and then to the upper extremities.  This requires a well-choreographed symphony of movements, and muscle involvement throughout the entire body: hands, shoulders, back, chest, hips, legs - you name it!

 

 

 

 

 

This video shows some successful floor training and some common first-time-kicking-on-the-bar form.  We often see first-timers kicking their feet back a little too far / towards the butt, and a lack of that violent hip action that catapults the upper body above the bar.  The result is that the upper body does much more work than necessary, and the energy transfer is basically lost.

Check out these videos and others, and start working on your kips!  If you have questions or would like pointers on your kips, just ask a coach before or after class!  Getting there will take some work, but nothing worth doing is ever easy!

Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.
-Oprah Winfrey

Thankful for the extended family that surrounds us with unconditional support every time we walk through the doors.  Thankful for the people we know and who we have known over the years.  Thankful for those who are no longer with us in person but who we carry with us every day in spirit.