Introducing...

1. Snatch: heavy single; 85% x 1 x 6
2. Front squat: heavy double; 85% x 2 x 2

You get three missed lifts at the snatch before calling it a day and moving on to the back-off sets; don't spend  the whole time trying to find your max. Back-off singles should be performed every minute on the minute after finding the heavy single for the day. Work quickly to a heavy front squat double; again, don't spend too much time here.

And now, introducing the Industrious Barbell Club! That's right folks, we are taking our weightlifting class at CrossFit Industrious to a whole new level, and giving this program it's own identity. We are in the process of affiliating our club with USA Weightlifting (still waiting for paperwork to go through), but we wanted to get the word out about this as new equipment with this name on it starts to show up at the gym.

What does this all mean? Only good things for all of you! As this program continues to grow, we will do everything we can to provide you all with all of the tools and knowledge you need to achieve your goals, whether those include just moving more safely and efficiently in the snatch, clean, jerk, and squats in your CrossFit workouts, or mastery of the competitive lifts and excelling as a competitive lifter. This new identity will help us in that pursuit. Highlights include being able to compete as a team at meets, and being able to host USAW-sanctioned meets of our own like the one hosted by Locals Gym last weekend that some of you came out to watch.

As part of this new identity, we are beginning to outfit the gym with some brand-new weightlifting-specific equipment. You may have seen some of the new bumpers show up yesterday (they mis-printed the yellow 15 kilo plates...we are getting those re-printed). Yes, these new bumpers are in KILOGRAMS. Oh you don't like kilograms? Too bad! The rest of the world measures mass in kilograms, and the weightlifting community worldwide (including weightlifters in the USA) measures lifts in kilograms as well. At any sanctioned meet you go to, you will need to specify your attempts in kilograms (including those we host at Industrious), so it's about time we got used to it! Additionally, these plates are color-coded according to the International Weightlifting Federation standard: 25 kg and 2.5 kg are red, 20 kg and 2.0 kg are blue, 15 kg and 1.5 kg are yellow, 10 kg and 1.0 kg are green; 5 kg and 0.5 kg are white. The conversion from pounds to kilograms is 2.2 pounds per kilogram. For example, 100 kg is 220 pounds. We will make the switch over when the rest of our bumpers (and change plates) arrive in the coming weeks. Don't worry, the pretty colors make them feel lighter!

Along with this, I will be gone this weekend to attend the USAW Sport Performance Coach certification course. Completion will allow me to be recognized as a certified coach with USAW, in addition to the CrossFit weightlifting certification I have already completed. I will also be gone next week for unrelated work for my "other" job. Don't worry, Molly and Stephen will take good care of you guys until I return for class next Saturday.

So, does all of this change our goals and what we stand for in this program? Heck no! The number one goal from the very beginning has been to have fun and create a positive environment for everyone to improve. This goal continues to drive everything we do. The new club identity just gives us another way to accomplish this goal by providing an awesome weightlifting club for you all to be a part of. I hope you all are as excited as I am about this!