Blue Crab CrossFit October 2023 Newsletter

Tell us a bit about yourself!

I was born in Inglewood California, I am a twin, Lorraine, and Lurine…yes, we do have very similar names. My family simplified things by handing us nicknames Lulu(me) Mush (my twin). We lived in Oakland, California for a bit and then we settled back In Los Angeles, more specifically South Central. Things were not easy growing up, but my father was very strict, and looking back it most likely saved my life. I moved to Victorville, California to go to a better school and have better opportunities in my Junior Year.

I dabbled in Softball and basketball; I say dabbled because I was only mediocre, borderline not good at both. More so, my family really could not afford sports. Growing up I was able to visit quite a few theme parks, Six Flags, Disney Land, Knotts Berry Farm, and Universal Studios. These outings were usually birthday gifts from our father.

Tell us about your fitness journey and discovering CrossFit

I have been a CrossFitter for 5 years, my husband who at the time was my Boyfriend was hard-core into CrossFit. I would visit with him every month In Texas, and he kept talking about CrossFit. I finally joined him for a class, and when I walked into that gym, I was intimidated…and I am a hard person to intimidate. The workouts were difficult, and I had no idea what I was doing, but I still joined. I only did CrossFit in Texas for 6 months before we moved. When we moved to West Virginia I did boot camp at a CrossFit gym for a while. I was nervous to go back to CrossFit, mainly because I had gained weight. The itch to lift heavy eventually came back. 3 months before moving to Hawai’i I was a full-blown CrossFit chick again. My gym in Hawai’i is where I went all the way down the CrossFit rabbit hole. I went to class Monday through Saturday and on Tuesday and Thursday I did the Olympic weightlifting class. The Community in Hawai’i was amazing and essentially solidified my love for CrossFit.  I even participated in two different competitions in Hawai’i. Moving back to the mainland was a little bumpy with CrossFit gyms, and I almost gave up at one point. Once I found Blue Crab, I knew I found my community and my people. CrossFit has influenced my life because I enjoy lifting heavy and meeting new people who share those same interests. I am well aware that CrossFit does have a bad reputation, but I try hard to make sure new people feel welcome. It is not hard to say hi, Introduce yourself, and smile. It may change how someone sees the gym, and you’re your community just might get a new member.

CrossFit inspires me every day to be a better me and show up. I have made some amazing friends in this community over the last few years for which I am grateful. I move so much, it’s nice to go somewhere, where everyone knows your name.

What goals do you have within the next year – CrossFit and non-CrossFit?

My CrossFit goals are to be more efficient with pull-ups and toes to the bar. I have them just need to get better at stringing them together. I also plan to keep working on my cardio engine.

Non-CrossFit- I am 6 classes away from finishing my Master’s, and the goal is to be done by the end of 2024.

Tell us more about your life outside of the gym – favorite thing to do when you’re bored, favorite meal, music, job etc. 

My main hobby is you guessed it….  CrossFit. I also enjoy bike riding, hiking, and traveling and I love to read. My favorite meal hands down, is Sushi. I love all music except heavy metal can’t get into it. The last concert I went to was Carrie Underwood, she is my favorite artist at the moment. I am a Senior Human Resource Manager in the Army. I am in charge of the personnel shop where we service over 450 Soldiers, so I stay pretty busy at work.  I have a large magnet collection; I always get a new magnet when I visit a new place. I love, love, love cheesy 80s music, I also have a playlist for almost everything.

What to Expect in October’s Programming

September brought us some big wins, starting with the retests of our Snatch and Clean + Jerk. Everyone saw huge improvements, and even if it didn’t lead to heavier weights, it resulted in a greater understanding of the Olympic Lifts! We also got a small taste of the short but potent strength cycle on the horizon, with the Overhead Squat and Bench Press taking center stage almost every week.

We saw some focus on the Deadlift and the Double Under, as well as a shift in our conditioning focus to be more General Physical Preparedness (GPP) instead of those shorter anaerobic burners! Going into October, we have some super exciting stuff, so let’s dive in!

October is going to kick off our final two strength cycles of the year! This month and next month, we will see wave loading for two different sets of movements, and this month will revolve around the Power Clean, Bench Press, and Overhead Squat.

We will see these movements once a week in a strength session that will gradually build us to heavy doubles and then finish off with a 1RM attempt. While this won’t be a test/retest strength cycle because it’s so short, we are confident we can see some serious progress over the five weeks to put a nice bow on the end of the year.

We will also see a gymnastics skill session once a week to help continue the things we learned/improved upon throughout the year! The overall conditioning through the end of the year will get back to more consistent GPP…this means we will see a more even split of time domains across the weeks which will prime us nicely for the Open that’s right around the corner!

The last piece of this month will include an optional finisher for Chad, the Hero WOD we will be completing the week of Veterans Day. It is a four-week build-up and is meant to be done outside of class times. We are looking forward to starting the final three months of the year, so let’s get to work!

Workout October Highlights

Strength Focus

(1) Gymnastics Skill Day

(1) Overhead Squat Day (Wave Loading)

(1) Bench Press Day (Wave Loading)

(1) Power Clean Day  (Wave Loading)

Metcon Focus

(2-3) Moderate Time Domains

(1-2) Short Time Domains

(1-2) Long Time Domains

(2-3) Benchmark Retests

Saturday Class Time Change

With CrossFit Youth starting on October 14th, we are going to change the Saturday class times to the following starting October 14th:

• 8:30am will now start at 8:15am
• 10am will now start at 10:15am

This will allow for a 30 minute CrossFit Youth class in between the class from 9:30-10am. If this change is well received, we may keep the times at these times to allow for Open Gym between the two classes whenever CrossFit Youth is not in session.