Take the first 20 minutes of class to get serious about your overhead squat position and mobilize. We’ll go over bracing sequence , activating your shoulders as well as hit some ankle and hip mobility. Choose where you are in the overhead squat and spend another 20 minutes actually practicing the movement, PVC, empty bar or loaded bar depending on ability. Mobility / Positioning Overhead Squat Prep Overhead Mobility Squat Mobility Active Shoulders and Bracing Sequence Overhead Squat PVC Pipe to a box Empty Bar Practice or Overhead Squat 5,5,5 Conditioning AMRAP in 9 Minutes 30 Double Unders 20 Kettlebell Swings (53/35) 30 Air Squats 20 Push-upsRead more

For those of you that wonder where we come up with some of the strength pieces we do, I wanted to share some info today.  Newbies read no further, just show up and be ready to go! Almost every dead lift program out there is designed to increase raw strength and therefore is based on improving 1RM over the course of the program.  In our case we’ve decided to work on volume as its more directly related to what we do as CrossFitters. The University of Cal Poly has a program that was designed for sprinters and is based on volume.   The issue is that its a 3 day program and it urges no other barbell training during the cycle.  For us, what I’ve done is combined the 3 days into one day of training and augmented the percentages to work in an hour class but still stay as...Read more

Start out today with an EMOM designed to hit the upper and lower body. Using your handstand push-up progression, find a movement and range that you can work on for 4 sets to improve. Go heavy on the lunges, as we won’t be here long… Our met-con is a triplet, go unbroken on push- press if you can!! EMOM x 8 Minutes A. Handstand Push-ups (5-10) B. Front Rack Lunges 5/5 (135/95) Conditioning For Time 12-10-8-6-4-2 Push Press (95/65) Box Jump (24/20) Cal Bike / RowRead more

26 years young Mike Reilly walked into Thermal and now as he approaches 28 he’s in the best shape of his life! When he’s not coming into the box for a nooner, the occasional 5:30 or updating his nutritional commitments for Jamie (lol), Mike can be found at home seeking out his next adventure with his fiancée, Stephanie. After all, if it wasn’t for her he may have never found Thermal! She encouraged him to get into CrossFit because she realized his athletic potential after years of soccer, running, vinyasa yoga and weight training through high school and college. Mike is particularly proud of his career PR running the 4x400M during the last race of his high school track career; 50.9 seconds. More recently he also achieved the 24 mile Rim to Rim hike in the Grand Canyon in less than 9 hours with his father. He’s also damn proud...Read more

Our new phase of strength training begins today – Titan Phase II Here at Thermal, CrossFit is about improving our health, increasing our overall fitness level and having a blast while doing it.  While that will remain our focus no matter what types of workouts we do, it’s sometimes beneficial to add even more structure to our program.  This new phase of training is designed to increase raw strength and capacity in the dead lift, as well as create proficiency for the overhead squat.  We’ll be doing this while maintaining a high level of gymnastics proficiency and keeping our conditioning at its peak. How do you get the most out of this phase?  Show up on Monday’s and Thursday’s ready for strength.  If you miss a day of the phase the Forge is available for make-up work.  If you fall behind you will always be able to jump back in,...Read more