Friday, June 25th

Warm-up

15 minutes of basketball

4 corner warm-up (3 rounds of jumping jacks, squats, push-ups, mountain climbers - sets of 10)

Samson stretch

Metcon WOD

3 rounds of:

15 thrusters (45 lb bar -- Luke and Dan used 95 lbs)

30 v-ups

Strength Exercise

Weighted pull-ups (max weight) -- ranged from 20 to 35 lbs.

Soccer

Diamond drill, juggling, shooting (turns and volleys), 3 v 3

Thursday, June 24th

Warm-up

15 minutes of basketball

Samson stretch -- Some have questioned why we do the Samson stretch and not other static stretches. There is a good discussion of that here:

http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=2985

Metcon WOD

"Death by Suicide"

Full suicides

Slide

Karaoke

Skip

Exercise out, run back:

Broad jump
Bear crawl
Hop (one leg)
Crabcrawl

Exercise to FTL, run remainder

Inchworm

End with regular suicide

Strength Exercise

Power hang cleans (5 x 5)

Soccer

Futsal

Wednesday, June 23

Took it easy today because of 7 v 7. We "warmed up" by pushing the lawn mower from the practice football field to the storage shed. I had killed it the night before while aerating it (after aerating the practice soccer field). For some reason, diesel fuel doesn't work in regular unleaded engines. We then played futsal for about 30 minutes.

Then it was game time. The United States versus Algeria. After 91 minutes of nail-biting, gut-wrenching action, one of the most important goals in US history was scored. The reaction of the boys wasn't caught on film, but the pure elation seen in this video fairly captures our response:

What an incredible moment to have shared with the boys. When I was their age, I was the only one in my school to have even the slightest interest in the World Cup (we didn't have a soccer team). So, I watched the 1986 World Cup final alone in my parent's basement, with only the barest understanding of the sport's history and global importance. (The final was Argentina vs. W. Germany and featured Diego "The Hand of God" Maradonna. Argentina won 3-2.) Things have certainly changed since then. ESPN has (finally) fully embraced the World Cup and with the strong performance of the American team, Americans have taken notice. As the video above shows, the U.S. has truly become a "footballing" nation. It's nice to have company. Now, it's on to the Round of 16 and Ghana on Saturday.

Tuesday, June 22

Warm-up

3 rounds of:

10 push-ups

max pull-ups (up to 10)

10 squats

10 mountain climber

Samson stretch

Metcon WOD

"Griff" (a Crossfit Hero workout)

800 m forward

400 m backward

800 m forward

400 m backward

Strength Exercise

Shoulder press/push press/push jerk (5 x 3/3/3)

Soccer

Group juggling and futsal (4 v 4)

Monday, June 21st

Warm-up

3 rounds of:

10 push-ups

max pull-ups (no more than 10)

10 sit-ups

10 mountain climbers

Samson stretch

Metcon WOD

60 seconds at each station with 60 seconds rest between each one.

Squats

Box jumps

Kettlebell swings (25 - 35 lbs.)

Walking lunges

Knees to elbows

Push press (45 lb bar)

Back extension (may sub Good Mornings)

Wall balls

Burpees

Tuck jumps

Count total number of reps.

Strength Exercise

Front squats 5 x 5

Soccer

4 v 4 with full size goals

Friday, June 18th

Friday was the day of the big US-Slovenia match. Understandably, the players wanted to watch the game, but after a light day on Thursday, I wanted them to get a bit of workout in before the weekend. We met at the high school and then ran (about 1.8 miles) to the Pierces, who had invited us to come watch the game.

And what a game it was. It was a great game, made even better by watching it as a group. I doubt any of us present will ever forget the moment when the US capped its comeback with its 3rd goal, only to see it disallowed. The emotions in the room ran the gamut: elation, disbelief, disappointment, anger. Still, in the end, a good result for the US and more importantly, a good time for the boys.

After the game, we, of course, ran back to the high school (and talked about the game the whole way).

Thanks to the Pierces for hosting the group.

Thursday, June 17th

We had a fairly easy day as many of the boys were banged up a bit from 7 v 7 and a hard week of workouts.

We played some Hoover ball, which involves a medicine ball and a volleyball net. Players catch the ball and through it back over the net as seen in this video:

As the boys quickly learned, it is a total body workout as you can't just use your arms to catch the ball. You have to get your whole body behind/underneath the ball.

We then used the volleyball net to play a little soccer tennis. It is a fun way to work on ball control.

We finished up with some futsal.