Back Squat: It’s Good For You

Additionally, the met-con we will be testing will be “Helen”: 3 Rounds of 400m Run, 21 Kettlebell Swings, and 12 Pull-Ups.  Everyone in the gym must do “Helen” during the next week: if you show up on Monday, you get it Monday, if you first day in during the week is Wednesday, you get it Wednesday.

We will be retesting both your back squat and “Helen” twice, once at the end of the cycle, and then again after a specified “prep” week.

Next, some high quality info from someone way smarter and wiser than me on recovery for athletes:

Hey Kelly,

At the seminar you said no more ibuprofen, so I stopped. But what should I take when the DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) is bad? I foam roll, tennis/lacrosse ball roll, etc… But it only goes so far. Crushing the fish oil as well. ASA (an NSAID by the way) or acetaminophen or just suck it up? (all parentheses are mine)

Thanks

WC

———————————-

All right, let’s set the record straight about this stuff.

The Disclaimer: Medicine is serious busines. Always follow the advice of your doctor.

Sorted?

Ok. Ibuprofen has no place in the life of the athlete obsessed with chasing performance.

Taking an anti-inflammatory drug of any kind makes tendons and ligaments weaker, and stops muscles from getting stronger.

Is this clear enough? Yes, we used to call it Vitamin I. Yes, we used to say that RICE should have a second “I” in it (Rest, Ice, Ibuprofen, Compression, Elevation).
We used to also do “21′s” on back and bi’s day too. It’s not ok.

Here’s the low down. Ibuprofen is an NSAID (Non-Steroidal-Anti-Inflammatory-Drug) which is believed to work through the inhibition of cyclooxygenase (COX), thus inhibiting prostaglandin synthesis. Prostaglandins, are like hormones in that they act as chemical messengers, but do not move to other sites, but work right within the cells where they are synthesized. Prostaglandins are vital mediators of the inflammatory cascade. The swelling and subsequent prostaglandin production signals all of the important cells circulating in your body to come and fix/reinforce the challenged tissues. That’s right, all that soreness you feel after Fran is the resultant swelling from all the micro-damage you’ve done to your muscles. It’s this very inflammatory response that is responsible for making you a BETTER ATHLETE. The Worst thing you can do is to go through a horrible workout like Fran and then not reap the resultant gains from the training stimulus.

No good coach should allow their athletes to take ibuprofen at anytime. Even if they are hung over..

Why?

NSAIDs have been shown to delay and hamper the healing in all the soft tissues, including muscles, ligaments, tendons, and cartilage. Anti-inflammatories can delay healing and delay it significantly, even in muscles with their tremendous blood supply. In one study on muscle strains, Piroxicam (an NSAID) essentially wiped out the entire inflammatory proliferative phase of healing (days 0-4). At day two there were essentially no macrophages (cells that clean up the area) in the area and by day four after the muscle strain, there was very little muscle regeneration compared to the normal healing process. (Greene, J. Cost-conscious prescribing of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for adults with arthritis. Archives of Internal Medicine. 1992; 152:1995-2002.)

Long term NSAID use is hard on your tissues and directly responsible from some pretty gnarly chronic body issues.

So how do we treat acute inflammatory/inflammation pain?

You know the answer.

Ice. (Maybe a little Tylenol if you really, really need it, it’s not an NSAID after all)

But remember, Acetaminophen causes three times as many cases of liver failure as all other drugs combined and is the most common cause of acute liver failure in the United States. Even recommended doses especially combined with even small amounts of alcohol (Yes you Crossfitters) have caused irreversible liver failure. Don’t be so cavalier about treating your muscle soreness with drugs. Taking pain meds of any kind is serious.

Can you see the difference between treating pain and treating inflammation? Control swelling and Pain with Ice as seen below, it won’t short circuit the way your body actually heals itself and becomes stronger. (Hell, the Ice bath might make you a little stronger too.)

Bask in your soreness!Brag about it at work as your friends help you get up off the toliet. And above all, practice all the recovery tricks you know! These include: Proper nutrition, fluid intake, ice bath, fish oil, active recovery, stretching, massage, etc.

Hell, you can even sneak in another quick workout the next day before the 48 hour soreness beat down really kicks in! Quick, let’s do Fight Gone Bad before you get too sore from yesterday’s double fran! For example.

Seriously. Knock it off. Get off the Vitamin I.

–K-There-is-no-I-in-Star

For everyone that missed out, here are some of the highlights:

First: A Group Warm-Up from the Reebok/CrossFit Valley Ladies

Then it was time for some Grace action, 30 C & J for time.

Which was a bit easier with all the CFSB athletes cheering you on!!

Which lead to some incredibly fast times

Then it was time for some fun: Clean and Jerks and Beer!!  (which of course our local crew turned into shotgunning)

Gus won the Beer event…

Overall, it was a day of good food, fun times, and tough workouts while raising money for a great cause.  So again, thank you to everyone that donated or came out to support the event.

Workout of the Day

 
A. Push Press 5-5-5

B. AMRAP 15
10 Push Press (85/55)
10 Wall Ball (20/16)
10 Weighted Sit-ups (45/25)

(compare to on-ramp)

Fundamentals at 10am

A. Pull-up Progression

B. 2 Rounds
20 Pull-Ups
20 ABmat Sit-Ups
20 Kettle Bell Swings
650m Run

C. 2 Rounds
5 Air Squats/Box Jump on 5th x 4 (20 reps total)
10 Pushups
20 Mountain Climbers
5 Burpees/Box Jumps

Last year’s CFSB Grace Crew

Everyone that participates will be doing “Grace”, one of the original girl workouts.  ”Grace” is 30 Clean & Jerks (135/95) for time.  Scaling will be allowed and encouraged.  However, even if you don’t plan on doing “Grace”, make sure to come out and enjoy the event.

Register or Donate Here.

Details
What: AMAZING GRACE
Where: CrossFit South Bay (725 5th Street, Hermosa Beach, CA)
When: 11AM October 2
Why: To Have FUN!!! And raise money for a great cause

So, I have had a bunch of people asking me why I am involved with Mammograms in Action and B4B, so here is my story:

When I was in middle school, my mom was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer.  In one year, her mammogram had gone from clean to having a golf ball sized tumor.  Also, the cancer was already spreading to the lymph nodes in the local area.  After 6 months of chemotherapy to reduce the tumor size, she had a full mastectomy followed by another 6 months of radiation to ensure the cancer was eliminated. Let’s just say she was a fighter and was determined to overcome it.  Unfortunately, at the time, I never realized the full extent of its seriousness or its impact on our lives. All I knew was that my mom was sick and that she was getting treated for breast cancer, then she beat it, and the cancer was in remission.  That was about all I understood.

However, in 2010 she was again diagnosed with breast cancer, now on the other side; the doctors had neglected to inform her that there was over a 90% chance that the cancer would re-occur on the opposite side.  Thus, after some more rounds of the fight, she had her second full mastectomy in October of 2010.  Unfortunately, I now lived 2000 miles away and was unable to physically be there, yet, realizing how serious my mom’s condition was and the fact that she had to experience it for a second time, I was looking for any way possible to support my mom even while living far away. Additionally, it was only now that I realized the extent of what my mom had experienced when I was younger, making me even more dedicated to help.

First Experience with Amazing Grace at the CF Games 2010

Luckily, I found the perfect way through the local “Amazing Grace”, Barbells for Boobs, events. “Amazing Grace” was a CrossFit event that raised money to pay for mammograms for women whose insurance will not cover them.  There are hundreds of “Amazing Grace” events hosted around the world during October, with a bunch being hosted in Southern California.  However, I was recovering from finger surgery, and thereby only had the use of one hand.  Still determined to do “Amazing Grace” regardless of my injury, I ended up doing a “1/2 Grace” (15 Clean and Jerks @ 135 with one arm) at two separate events.

First at CF 714 with the CFSB Crew (who swept the event)

Once the organizers realized that I wasn’t just crazy, and that I had a passion for getting involved, I was offered a chance to be on the Mammograms in Action team. I jumped at the chance, hoping to help others avoid the same situation my mom experienced.

Then again at the Final B4B event in Orange County

During the past year that I have been involved, B4B has made some amazing strides with the help of the CF community to fight breast cancer and make waves internationally as a charity organization.  They have continued to expand the number B4B events held year round, including Helen-Meets-Grace, Burpees 4 Boobs, Box Jumps 4 Boobs, etc, while focusing on “Amazing Grace” as their premier event.  With the fundraising, they have donated thousands of dollars to Susan G. Komen to support cancer research and have paid for hundreds of mammograms for women whose insurance wouldn’t.

Get some…

Workout of the Day

A. 3 Rounds:
Snatch x 3 Reps
Rest 30s.
Max Frogstand Hold
Rest 90s.

(Advanced athletes, use a tuck on Frogstand Holds)

B. 4 Rounds
5 Power Snatches (115/70)
15 Burpees
25 Air Squats
60s Rest

(Advanced athletes must hit full ROM on all movements, or no rep will be issued)

What is your passion??  This is normally what would you do for free if you didn’t need money to maintain your standard of living. So what is it?? Would you teach, help the homeless, build cars, run marathons every day, get drunk (I bet you wouldn’t last a month), learn to fly, go travel??  Would you continue doing what you are doing, or would you give your two week notice tomorrow??

Not a long, drawn out post, just something to contemplate today, we don’t always have to pump you full of new info to incur greatness…  If you are feeling extra talkative, feel free to post your passion to the comments.

Upcoming Events

CrossFit Games

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of this week are the CrossFit Games, the biggest and baddest show of masochistic tendencies and human sacrifice on the face of the planet.  Seriously though, some of the best athletes in the world are throwing down right in our backyard at the Home Depot Center for the title of the “Fittest Man and Woman in the World”, “Fittest Affiliate in the World” and “Fittest Masters Man and Woman in the World”.  More info and tickets can be found here: games.crossfit.com

If you haven’t heard of this, go check it out, it is humbling to see what these “humans” are capable of.

Along with the CrossFit Games come the CrossFit parties:

1. CrossFit LAX Buy-In
1. Thursday afternoon from 1-6 on a hotel roof in Long Beach, more info here: http://games.laxcrossfit.com/the-buy-in/
2. Discounted tickets here: http://buyin.eventbrite.com/?discount=CFSB
2. CrossFit LAX Boom-Box
1. Friday night after the Games at CrossFit LAX, more info here: http://games.laxcrossfit.com/boombox-party-lax-crossfit/
2. Discounted tickets here: http://laxboombox.eventbrite.com/?discount=CFSB
3. SICFIT Games After Party on Sunday night after the CrossFit Games are done, more info and tickets here: http://www.sicfit.com/coverage/238884-The-After-Glow-The-CrossFit-Games-After-Party

Workout of the Day

A. 3-4 Rounds:
5 Med Ball Leg Throws (12/10)
5 Med Ball Overhead Throws
5 Med Ball Left Rotation Throws
5 Med Ball Right Rotation Throws
5 Med Ball Overhead Throws
5 Med Ball Shoulder Throws
Rest while throwing ball for partner

B. “Fran”
21-15-9
Thrusters (95/65)
Pullups

Compare to 1/31

Pain and CrossFit… They seem to go hand-in-hand, don’t you think??  Well, they shouldn’t…

Sure looks like he is pain to me….

But wait, Fran elicits some of the worst pain imaginable, so pain has to be part of CrossFit, right??  Yes and no: temporary pain such as moderate soreness, lactic acid buildup, dinged egos, and Fran-esque feelings are an accepted and lauded as a part of CrossFit, but any pain during movements or after workouts should never be accepted or tolerated.

Just because you are doing “this crazy, workout thing called CrossFit”, pain during movements isn’t part of the equation.

Below is a list of very common injuries that we see on an almost daily occurrence at CFSB that can be “cured” with some simple mobility and soft tissue work. (I am not a doctor, PT, Chiro, or Physio, and my advice cannot replace theirs, but we have a fair amount of experience helping fix tweaks and dings in ourselves and others, ask around CFSB if you don’t believe it)

While the elbows are not as high as we like, Jeff has most of the bar weight up on his shoulder, saving his wrists

Wrists hurt on Cleans, Press, Push Press, or Split Jerks?? Take a look at your mobility and technique.  Cleans should be caught on the shoulders, not on your wrists, while all overhead movements require proper positioning of the wrists and forearm to keep the wrists happy.  Also, a little tape/wrist support is always a good idea.

Hips pinching on any squat variation??  Ask a coach to take a look at your form, there is a good chance you aren’t using your glutes properly or are rolling your hips into a bad position.

Demonstrating Torso positioning and a real example of Sean’s Straight Lines post

Knees feeling spicy and aggravated??  Time for some mobility work.  Outside: attack the IT Band with a foam roller, lacrosse ball, or other massage tool. Inside: Hit the adductors and medial quad with a barbell.  Top: Take a lacrosse ball to the tissue just above the knees. Bottom: Lacrosse ball the hamstrings and calves and check your walking/running form.

Shoulders pinchy??  Check your range of motion.  You should have full range of motion in multiple directions, and “full range” is waaay more than you think it is. Any lack of range can result in funky positioning for your shoulder, especially in overhead movements.

Overhead Squats require flexible… well, everything…

Low back pain??  This one is a bit more serious, so make sure to ask a coach to help you out, as it can be a variety of things, some serious, some not.  Some of the ones we deal with on a regular basis: tight hip flexors, tweaked backs requiring soft tissue work, SI Joint issues, poor movement patterns, glute engagement, etc.

Jeremiah (pictured above) is at CrossFit just about every day (even in the rain and sometimes twice a day).  But what you didn’t know is that Jeremiah had back pain for years.  And while it bothered him a bit, he ignored it and over time, it worsened, until it became debilitating and required immediate attention.  He now works every day to insure that it won’t return or affect his performance in the future.  While it was unfortunate, I hope others can learn from it, so speak up if you have an issue.

In conclusion, there is a large range of acceptable and unacceptable movements that we see on a regular basis, and while we do our best to fix movement patterns, bad mechanics, and mobility issues whenever we see them, there is only so much a coach can see and infer while watching you do a couple reps.  Additionally, there can be a movement that hurts you that looks fine to an observer.  So, above all, if you are having any pain caused by CrossFit, a chronic issue, or an accident in your daily life, be sure to ask a coach about it.  If you keep it to yourself, we cannot help make it better.

Announcements

Mobility Class every Thursday night at 6 PM

Missy is helping collect shoes for Soles for Souls, a relief effort helping to get shoes for Japan earthquake victims.  So if you have any used shoes you aren’t wearing anymore, be sure to drop them off at CFSB before April 8th.

Workout of the Day

A. Overhead Squat 3-3-3

B. “Helen”

3 Rounds

• 400M Run
• 21 Kettlebell Swings (1.5/1)
• 12 Pull-ups

Although, Brittney’s drawing does make me want to go back to 1st grade

For the most part, the people that attend classes at CFSB work hard to take care of the equipment and clean up after themselves.  However, after a couple fiascos on Thursday, I feel the need to point out a couple things in order to make CFSB a fun place for everyone.

6am’ers working hard before anyone else’s coffee has kicked in

1.  If you use a piece of equipment, put it away.  Yes, the next class may use a bar/belt/weight vest, but you shouldn’t leave it in the middle of the floor.  For some of the newer members, they may not know where something goes, and think that the floor is a fine place to leave it for the next class.  There have been a fair number of unclaimed bars floating around the gym for hours after the class they were used.  Be nice to the 7pm class and clean up your toys so they don’t have to.

Adj in the zone at 6AM

2.  If you change something, return it to its original state before returning it to its proper place.  I particularly noticed this with the weight vests on Thursday.  Forrest honestly spent 20 minutes finding and fixing the various straps to the weighted vests just before the night classes.  But sometime between the end of the 4pm class, and the beginning of the 7pm class, the straps for the weight vests were magically scattered on the floor in three separate pieces, for each vest!!  I found this one particularly frustrating and subsequently limited their use for the 7pm class (sorry 7pm’ers).  So the message here is simple, if you change something, return it to its original state, because the next person to use it might not know how to put it back together (or that there was even a togetherness in the first place).

Mobility Class: Every Thursday at 6PM, who is ready to get low??

3.  This is an easy one, put the stretch bands away when finished and put the PVC back in the metals pipes.  The bands only take a second or two to take down, and it literally takes about 2-3 extra seconds when putting the PVC away to put it back in the pipes.  Each pipe in the rack holds 4 PVC “bars”.  Gets a bit frustrating when there are PVC pipes in the way off putting plates back into the racks.

Kris showing off the clapping push-ups

When you guys are on it, you do an awesome job cleaning up after yourselves, so don’t slack.  Keep up the good work, and look around for that extra box/medball/plate/clip/band that you might have forgotten about.

Workout of the Day

A. Fran

Pull-ups

B. Use this time to practice technique with your worst lifts or gymnastics moves. You can use this time to also practice things like double unders or work on mobility.

The new On-Ramp class happy after their first night of CrossFit.

I was 7 years old when I first learned how to ride a skateboard. My parents bought me a Santa Cruz Tony Hawk Eagle board and I was so excited. I was going to be just like Christian Slater in Gleaming the Cube. I stepped on the board for the first time, gave it one kick and my legs shot out from under me as if Bugs Bunny left a banana peel for Elmer Fudd. I immediately realized that i wasn’t going to be gleaming any sort of cube anytime soon. I lay there on the ground with bloody hands and a broken ego with a new found love for skateboarding.

Matt D. working on gymnastics. He doesn't want a sucky strength prowess.

As we get older it becomes more difficult to learn new things, therefore we become less apt to try new things. We get set in our ways and start to be stubborn like our parents. We become comfortable with what we are good at and avoid the all the things we are bad at. As adults we are taught that failure is unacceptable or we will permanently injur ourselves or we look ridiculous trying something new. We forget how to get up from falling down and how to stumble gracefully. Those dreams of being great are replaced with voices of doubt. We do things that aren’t even fun for us anymore because we have pigeon holed ourselves into a rat race of monotonous type-A antagonism.

Dane and I showing just how special we really are

Do something new, but have fun doing it. I’ll use Dane as an example. Dane played linebacker for the University of Arizona and is a stud at CrossFit. He is one of the best all around athletes we have at CFSB. Dane recently started playing beach volleyball. Now for those of you who have had the pleasure of watching him play, you know it’s nothing short of entertaining. Bless his little soul, he is out there flopping around the sand while having a grand ol’ time swatting at the ball like Godzilla trying to knock down airplanes. Granted, 3/4 of the time he’s playing it’s a game of ace (4-on-4 jungle ball which includes beer chugging), but at least he’s out there having fun. He doesn’t have to play AVP or even look that cool playing, but he’s as happy as a shortbus kid on free ice cream day.

If you’ve been doing CrossFit for a while now and haven’t done anything else, I challenge you to take yourself out of your comfort zone and try something new. Enter yourself in a half Iron Man or organize a team to play in one of Hermosa’s intramural sports leagues. We can have a CFSB sponsored team if you decide to organize it. Or maybe sports aren’t your thing, so sign up to become an after school tutor for at-risk children. I’ve done it and it’s awesome. We train hard just about every day, don’t you want to test how you have changed both mentally and physically?

Weekly Updates

Paradiso Box Jump was a huge success. I want to personally thank David and Martina Paradiso for arranging such an awesome event. We had a fun day of volleyball and playing on the beach. Hopefully we can do it again soon. Anyone have any ideas who to invite to CFSB next?

Our Coaches’ Prep series will continue this Wednesday instead of Thursday at 6PM. We’ve had an amazing turnout and really great feedback. We will cover scaling and relative intensity, teaching the squat and “what is CrossFit?”.

We have a graduating class of On-Rampers entering in to the regular classes this week so be sure to greet them or pay your toll. We also want to welcome in the new On-Ramp class of 14 strong.

This Friday we will have another happy hour and the email will go out this week. I remember our first happy hour had 5 of us there, now they are starting to get pretty darn big. Nicole has done a great job as social chair. Also, do we want to do another day at the beach this weekend?

Our first CFSB quarterly challenge is in the works. We will hold an internal competition in an intermediate and advanced division. The challenge will be announced within the next few weeks and everyone is encouraged to enter. It will most likely consist of 2 or 3 workouts in one day and utilize our surrounding area (i.e. the trails in PV, the beach, ocean). Let me know if you’re interested.

Workout of the Day 6/22/2010

A. Power clean 2-2-2-2

You may drop at the top and regrip at the bottom as long as you begin the second rep immediately.

B. “The Chief”
5 Rounds
AMRAP 3 min on / 1 min off
3 Power Cleans (135/85)
6 Push-Ups
9 Squats

Record how many rounds and reps for each 3 minute round. Start from power cleans on each round and try to stay consistent with the number of rounds.

Compare to 1/20/2010 or 4/27/2010

• First Aid:
  • We will be creating a designated First Aid area with supplies and equipment.
  • In July one of our members, Allyson, will be certifying all coaches in First Aid and CPR.
  • She will also be helping us purchase and certify us to use an AED.

• Equipment:
  • New equipment to be purchased for the 2^nd side of our box:
    1. 10- 45 lb plates
    2. 12-25 lb plates
    3. 12-10 lb plates
    4. 3 Men’s bars
    5. 3 Women’s bars
    6. Spring Clips
    7. Wooden rings
  • General use equipment:
    1. Rowers
    2. Glute-Ham Device (GHD)
    3. Hang our two climbing ropes

• Programming
  • Trust the programming
  • Designed for the athlete to peak before a milestone WOD (Hero/Girl)
  • If you have questions concerning a specific week’s WODs, talk with Forrest
• Transition times between classes
  • Up to the coach to move the classes along
  • Up to the athlete to be on time
  • Please perform your post WOD stretching/foam rolling on the other side if possible.
  • If you happen to be in the gym during the next class’ PVC instruction, please keep your voices down out of respect for the athletes/coaches.
  • We may instate cutoff times for some WODs to help with the flow.
• Warm-ups
  • Generally people are happy with the variety
  • People, however, miss the “group” feel of the old warm-ups
• Signing up for classes online
  • Trying our best to stay away from sign-ups
  • Due to some class sizes, sign-ups maybe necessary
  • When/If we do start sign-ups
    1. We will have a kick off meeting or post with instructions
    2. We will instate a $5-$10 penalty for signing up and then skipping
    3. We will have a waiting list. If you are on the waiting list, and then get into the class; you will receive a text message notification
• Safety
  • Concerns about safety in the gym during both A and B portions of the WOD
    1. General setup
    2. Dropping bars
    3. Transitioning between stations
  • Up to the coach to explain safety setup during the instruction
  • Up to both coaches and athletes to carry out safety during the WODs
• PVC Instruction
  • Coach’s responsibility to explain
    1. How to dump weight
    2. Common mistakes
    3. Possible injuries/prevention
  • Athlete’s responsibility to carry out as much as possible
• Coach’s roles
  • Clearly identify lead coach
  • Clearly identify assistant coach
• Coaches work out
  • Try not to start doing your own WODs
  • Important to workout in regular classes
    1. Earn client’s respect
    2. Gives you a chance to fix any form issues

• Parking
  • If CFSB lot is full, try 5t St.
  • Usually open spots on 6^th St.
  • Please do not double park in lot
• Class expansion possibilities
  • CFSB has 70-80 people in classes per day
  • Sundays
    1. NLP training focus for next 8 weeks
    2. Potentially designated as a hero/girl/makeup WOD
    3. Must be considered in programming
  • 8pm class
  • Endurance focus class 2x/week
• Potential Certifications or Clinics at CFSB
  • Rowing
  • Olympic Lifting
  • Flexibility/mobility
  • Kipping/Pullup
  • Running
• Dual meets with other boxes
  • First with Paradiso CF next weekend at CFSB – 9am
    1. Mixed team WOD
    2. Day at the beach following WOD – volleyball, etc.
  • Possible challenges with other gyms in the future.
• CFSB Finances
  • Healthy
  • Able to comfortably pay rent
  • Padding to buy more equipment
  • Expansion
    1. Remove wall between rooms
    2. Add shower – future
• Torrance Branch
  • 3-6 months out
  • Near Honda just off of Torrance Blvd
  • 3000 sq ft, cheaper rent
  • Will have locker rooms
  • Dual memberships (Torrance/Hermosa)
  • CF Kids program
• Attitude
  • Continue to introduce yourself to new clients
  • Continue to be receiving to any and all who come into our box
• Pics
  • Generally good feedback concerning pics on Flickr
  • A good means of form analysis
• Filming – Form analysis
  • Working to instate monthly or quarterly filming/review sessions
  • Will aid in form improvement especially on more complex movements
• Technology
  • Working with Dan U. to improve the technology at CFSB
• Social
  • More monthly outings, not just happy hours
  • Forrest, please send Nicole updated list of clients
• Forrest
  • People wish you to be seen working out more – good chance
  • People wish you to be seen going out more – lesser chance
  • The two are inversely related

CFSB will continue to host Town Hall meetings on a quarterly basis. Please attend and have your voice heard. We will only improve with your suggestions. Your training experience will only improve with your suggestions. If you do decide to show up with Starbucks, Jamba Juice or the like; please bring enough to share.

Workout of the Day 6/14/2010

A. “Fran”
21-15-9
Thrusters (95/65)
Pull-Ups
Compare to 2/15/2010

B. Pick a skill to work on (i.e. ring dips, muscle ups, double unders, handstand push-ups, pull-ups)

Bailey, exhibiting extreme cuteness prowess

My three-part ‘How much?’ series on CHO, Pro and Fat will continue next week. Don’t forget that this week is the last week to turn in any food logs, measurements, and get ‘after’ pics taken for the Paleo Challenge. Look out for the Paleo Challenge WODs and make them up this week if you can’t make it that day.

Like Forrest, the CrossFit Gymnastics Cert for me was a serving of humble pie. I don’t think of myself as having ‘prowess’ in much of anything outside of maybe cooking, board games, and perhaps studying, creating PowerPoint decks, and process flows in Visio. The latter three could be said to account for the ‘sucky strength prowess’ or why I don’t have the same base of strength as lifelong gymnasts or Olympic lifters (if I could only go back and do it all over again right?). Doing and learning to teach true gymnastics skill work for the first time since I was 11 years old was definitely a good reality check.

Many of you were confused by ‘sucky strength prowess’. The ‘sucky’ part we added as a joke, but ‘strength prowess’ is a term that was used a lot by our Cert coach Jeff Tucker to explain how gymnastics movements and most CrossFit movements are strength-based. When we learned most of the progressions to key gymnastics skills this weekend, to get past the first few steps required a significant strength foundation. Failing beyond a certain point elucidated the lack of ‘strength prowess’ or body control for example in that area. Most of the movement progression steps almost none of the participants at the Cert were able to fully complete. One area where I was surprised to find strength prowess to be an issue was in my kipping pull-up. Like most skills, the kipping pull-up requires mastery of the progression to it, and to my surprise, I developed a habit that compensated (in the past, and maybe presently) for a lack of upper body strength which now inhibits the efficiency of my pull-up. Ask me about it in person and I’ll show you, or take note of the change in the way we teach it the next time we teach it in a skill set.

More importantly, what was elucidated from the Cert this weekend was all the tools we have at our disposal to work on our weaknesses and build up our strength and gymnastics base. The “How-to” on the CrossFit main site emphasizes mastering the basics of gymnastics (along with the major lifts and other functional movements) to achieve the highest level of fitness – that is, CrossFit fitness. The founder of CrossFit, Greg Glassman, was himself a gymnast. A quick glance at the definition of CrossFit’s fitness and a quick wiki of ‘Gymnastics’ makes it clear that improved mastery of all areas of fitness looks a lot like mastery of gymnastics.

Creating a good hollow (pictured drill) position is an essential part of midline stability

In CrossFit we see a somewhat bastardized version of what gymnastics is traditionally as a sport and art. And ‘bastardized’ is not meant as a pejorative. CrossFit’s methodology makes the fittest men and women and it uses gymnastics as one of its foundations to do so. The most common way gymnastics appears in CrossFit is when gymnastics skills and drills are done (taught and scaled if necessary) at high intensity in a workout usually mixed with other functional movements.

What is meant by gymnastics skills and drills? We’re doing movements that are skills that are practiced either as part of a progression to do gymnastics movements or to improve upon a gymnastics movement. The gymnastics skills, drills, and scaling for each that most of us have become familiar with only scratch the surface. The bag of gymnastics goodies that have direct transference to the rest of our CrossFit game is enormous. Consider the progress made with the small handful of gymnastics skills and drills we use, and what stands to be gained from incorporating even more. It’s powerful stuff.

The crossfit.com programming incorporates some gymnastics skills and drills, but the emphasis and importance of gymnastics skill-building is left to the individual and affiliate to execute. The CrossFit Gymnastics Certification is perhaps the only effective way to improve gymnastics skills through programming (WODs) unless an affiliate coach happens to have a deep gymnastics background. This certification is taught by Jeff Tucker, a renowned gymnastics and CrossFit coach. Tucker is kind of CrossFit’s gymnastics programming spokesperson and makes the case that gymnastics skill work needs to be a larger part of our regular warm-ups and skill work. The gymnastics certification gave us the technical and safety skills to begin going to work on this.

Tucker emphasizes gymnastics skill work as essential and necessarily separate from the gymnastics movements we do in WODs. Why? To summarize, untimed skill work in a given movement and in other related movement progressions builds the strength and muscle memory to progress effectively to do a movement in a timed environment, as well as toward other movements (most of the other movements we do in CrossFit) with similar strength, coordination, flexibility, agility requirements of our bodies.

Chief, exhibiting tire prowess

A 2006 article from an issue of the CrossFit Journal on the role Gymnastics concluded with an overview of the state of gymnastics skills incorporation in CrossFit affiliates and garage gyms across the world wasn’t as widespread as Coach Glassman would like to have seen it. As far CFSB goes, much like many other affiliates according to Tucker, programming tends to be biased toward our strengths which tend to be the lifts (Olympic and power), and toward monostructural (rowing, running, etc.).

Gymnastics skills incorporation into affiliate programming worldwide seems to have improved judging from the frequent appearance of gymnastics-like skills and movements in CrossFit competitions as the sport of CrossFit progresses. Several are moving toward gymnastics movements judged with traditional gymnastics range of motion standards as well.

Even if gymnastics skills never appeared in competition WODs their inclusion in training undoubtedly sets those who train them properly way ahead of the pack. The skills progression of gymnastics movements help break through training plateaus because of the universality and transference to other functional movements. Improved flexibility, strength, and midline stabilization acquired through mastering a front lever or even the progression to a front lever for example transfers to improvement in a variety of lifts.

Check out this video Tucker had us watch at our cert of Danny Rodrigues (…human?) performing as part of his routine the “Victorian”, a movement once considered mythical and unachievable on the rings. Talk about humble pie. Danny Rodrigues: Impossible Is Nothing

Scrub prowess - CrossFitters make anything look good

WOD 6/9/2010

“Fight Gone Bad”

Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 10 ft target (20/16#) (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull (75/55#) (Reps)
Box Jump, (20″) (Reps)
Push-press,( 75/55#) (Reps)
Row (Calories)

In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute.The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. On call of “rotate”, the athletes must move to next station immediately for best score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.

Libby "loves" the foam roller

Back in the early days of CFSB, there was one foam roller and nobody used it. I began to develop a little bit of knee pain and constantly had muscle soreness. After doing some research, I found that foam rolling was supposed to help alleviate these problems. I eagerly showed up to the gym to try out my new discovery. Out of all the research I read on foam rolling, none of it said it was supposed to feel like a Hades was trying to give me a Charlie horse. It hurt…bad.

What is fascia?

Foam rolling and using the lacrosse ball is a form of self-myofascial release. Without getting to much into the science of it, the fascia is the soft tissue component of your connective tissue. That connective tissue supports and protects most of the components of the human body. Think of your muscles wrapped in and connected to one another by this tissue. This soft tissue can start to harden and start to become inflexible. Think of beef jerky versus filet mignon. Overuse and inactivity can cause this tissue to harden and form scar tissue.

Jen working her abs while rolling her booty trigger point.

Why does it hurt?

When we exercise, we create tiny tears in our muscles and fascia. On our recovery days, our bodies begin to repair those muscle tears, but in doing so builds up junk in the form of knots caused by use to the muscle. Inactivity can also cause these knots to form because the fascia and muscle begin to tighten if not used. All this junk is generally scar tissue which can lead to muscle imbalances, inflexibility, muscle soreness and instability. The foam roller acts as a meat tenderizer by breaking up all the scar tissue thus making the fascia and muscle flexible and pliable again.

How do I fix it?

Foam rolling and using the lacrosse ball is the most effective (and cheapest) way to fix all that junk. Yes it hurts, but only for a little bit. Roll around for a little bit until you find a hot spot (AKA a trigger point), when you find that spot apply some pressure. Slowly roll in all directions and then come back to that spot  until the pain has been reduced by about 75%.

We had to trick Lisa to foam roll by rubbing peanut butter on it.

Why put myself through all the pain?

We are all constantly living with a little bit of muscle soreness. The foam roller is like a poor man’s massage. It also helps keep the muscles pliable so you can get full range of motion in your joints and muscular system. It will cut down on pain in your knees, back, shoulders and ankles. It will also help elongate (I love that word) your muscles. Overall, foam rolling every day will improve the overall quality of your muscle tissue.

WOD 5/20/2010

“Bear Complex”

5 Rounds, 7 sets of the following sequence:

Power Clean
Front Squat
Push Press
Back Squat
Push Press

Rest between rounds as needed.
Notes:  The Power clean must be seperate from the front squat.  No resting on the ground during rounds, not even to re-grip.  You want to be at max load by round 4 or 5.