1/2 marathon vs. 50 Burpees

Jamie, her sister, on the left & Jenny on the right

 Jenny attends my Tu/Th 8am Athletic Training class at Barton Hills Elementary. She came to class as an avid long-distance runner and has only improved her endurance since adding Relentless training to her repertoire. Less than 2 weeks ago she made a trip to see her family in Wisconsin and ran the Madison Half Marathon.

Jenny did amazing with only 2 weeks of increased running. I remembered the day she came to class the 1st week of May and said, "I'm running a half at the end of this month." She didn't even think twice about it.

In her division she finished 10th out of 265 and overall 129th out of 2398 with a time of 1:44:20. Jenny, of course, did not think her time was great, but I was super impressed with very little training and a time well below 2 hours. She writes--"I pictured doing about 50 burpees during the last couple of miles and knew I had this."

Now that's what I call a RELENTLESS Athlete. Congrats, Jenny!

Happy Birthday, Michelle!

40 Burpee Buy in

 My 5:30am & 6:30am O.Henry and 8am Barton Hills Athletic Training classes took on Michelle's 40th Birthday WOD today, and it was a doozie. Michelle is a dear friend of mine and has been in Relentless Training for close to 3 years. My goal is to be in shape just like her by the time I turn 40, which is closer than I realize--> 9 years to go!

40th Birthday WOD
Buy-in: 40 burpees

O.Henry class took off from the school and ran up the hill on 12th St. to Meriden and back.
Barton Hills class ran up Wilke and back.
1 round-
40 American/Russian swings (alternating back & forth)
40 thrusters
40 dips
40 frog jumps
Finish with the same run from above.

The workout took anywhere from 23-28 minutes. I was very proud of all my athletes today! I have some brand new gals who just joined from our 6-Week Boot Camp and they did awesome. You are never too out of shape or too fast to get in a Relentless workout. We meet you right where you are and push it to the limit.

Email me at meganparsons@crossfitcentral.com to try one of my classes complimentary.

The Monster

(Renu performing the sumo deadlift high pull)

(Matt performing the pushup part of the Monster)

This morning in the 5:30am Tu/Th Deep Eddy class everyone performed a new kettlebell exercise. We named it the Monster. I learned the entire combination yesterday with Coach Ben Flores and decided to implement the exercise into a Relentless workout. This was the 1st time I had someone say they considered the burpee portion of the workout the rest part. Renu and Matt (pictured above) are hard-core athletes in this class and set the pace for everyone to chase. Great job today!!!

Monster = hands on kettlebell on the ground, jump back into a sprawl, perform a pushup, jump back into sumo deadlift high pull stance, perform a sumo deadlift high pull, then perform an American swing. All the above movements equal 1 rep.

Try this workout at home. Choose a kettlebell weight that is challenging to swing overhead.
3 rounds--
8 Monsters
5 burpees
Post times and comments below.

Strength by Body Weight QUOTES

(A few of the 5:30AM Tu/Th Deep Eddy boot campers adding strict pushups into their burpee workout)

The Strength by Body Weight Challenge is firing up Relentless boot campers for the New Year to get more fit and inspiring friends, family, and significant others to join in on the fun. Below are a list of quotes from some of my clients.

Michelle in 6:30AM Tu/Th Deep Eddly class-- "I did just shut my door and do 20 pushups...and there are about 7 people out in our conference area...one asked what did you just do? I said Push Ups of course? Who doesn't do Push Ups in their office at 230 on Fridays!"

Mary in the MWF 8:30AM Lake Pointe class-- "400 pushups done…my arms are turning into rocks haha…no but really I can tell a difference!! Yeah!"

Kara in the Tu/Th 6PM Dick Nichols class-- "400 down. And now I'm doing almost all pushups on my toes. This is actually working. Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"

Sarah in the Tu/Th 6PM Dick Nichols class has turned the challenge into a competition with her boyfriend. Not only is she setting out to complete 1000 pushups but her boyfriend has joined in and they both are keeping each other motivated.

Jay, one of my personal training clients, was inspired by a co-worker who does Relentless Boot Camp to take on the Strength by Body Weight Challenge too. This morning he informed me has completed 280 pushups and now half his office has taken on the Challenge as well.

Keep up the hard work!!! You all are committed and will complete the goal.

100 Thrusters

A picture is worth a thousand words. Above is Jess, Alex and I after taking on the CrossFit Football WOD. These WODs are no joke, especially in the form of strength and endurance combined. This workout pushed me mentally as much as it pushed me physically today. At my 50th thruster I wanted to set the barbell down and say "NEXT." However, that is where the beauty of working out in a team setting is so powerful. Each of us kept on pushing and did not quit. 35 minutes later I was done with my 100 thrusters and who knows how many burpees. I can guarantee I did at least 100. We all were covered in black from the mats, sweaty from head to toe, but felt stronger and more empowered than ever.

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WOD:

On the minute: Complete 5 burpees and perform max rep 135 lbs thrusters on the minute. The goal is to complete 100 total thrusters.

*At the beginning of every minute perform 5 burpees, for the rest of the minute perform as many thrusters as you can during that minute. At the beginning of the next minute perform 5 burpees and then max rep thrusters and so on until you reach 100 total thrusters.

Deep Eddy Success

"We improve ourselves by victories over our self. There must be contests, and you must win."

- Edward Gibbon -

Deep Eddy 5:30AM and 6:30AM Tues/Thurs boot camps (pics above) are blowing up. Each morning these boot campers show up for a challenge and come out victorious. Everyone is racing against time, encouraging one another to get in that last rep, running further and faster than ever before, and pushing out more work in an hour than they ever dreamed possible. This morning both classes started off with the following:
4 rounds--
30 walking lunges
15 box jumps
30 mountain climbers
15 burpees
And there was plenty of more fun added to the mix for the remainder of class.

I am looking for more boot campers excited and ready to be victorious. Let's go out there and win the fight and get SIC FIT for summer! 3, 2, 1 GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!