Also, it is important for me as your coach to be able to address, alleviate, and avoid pain, so it is much more helpful to be able to describe your pain before telling me “your shoulder hurts”. (There is a reason that your doctors, Missy, and I start by questioning you about the pain’s history, what have you tried, what makes it worse, what helps it, etc. before suggesting things to do) Therefore, this will be the first in a series on pain, injury, and how to address it for the general CrossFitter.

Baer in the mental version of pain, Kalsu Rx in 27 minutes...

First, we need to define some terms, so you can realize what kind of pain you are experiencing so we can begin to address its causes. Because most types of pain comes from different nerve types, pain will often be distinguished as hot, cold, sharp, or dull:

• Dull: A dull pain is one that is a low-level, often chronic, pain. It can sometimes be difficult to pinpoint the exact source of a dull pain. Often, a dull pain is one that does not demand immediate attention, but you should monitor it to see if it increases or decreases based on your activity level, stress level, nutrition, etc. If the pain worsens or lasts longer than a week, make sure to ask a coach or seek out a professional for help.
• Sharp: A pain is referred to as “sharp” when it has a sudden and intense onset, and is usually your body’s way of getting your attention. This means that a sharp pain will occur very quickly and will be very painful, similar to being stuck with a sharp object. Sharp pains can vary in intensity as well (imagine getting a shot vs. getting poked with a kitchen knife). Often, sharp pains are signs of serious injury and should be addressed immediately. The causes can vary from pulled muscle to broken bones to simply dropping a weight on your foot. However, these types of pain need to be addressed  to determine the severity of the issue before continuing with exercise.
• Hot and cold: I think you guys know what hot and cold feels like, so I won’t go through the description of these two.

Please don't drop the kettlebell...

• Tingling, numbness, or shooting: A tingling pain is one that is similar to the “pins-and-needles” feeling when you arm or leg falls asleep. Numbness is the feeling that you no longer have a sense of tough in the affected body part. Shooting is a sharp pain that “shoots” away from its source in a certain direction. Since tingling, numbness, and shooting pain are often caused by nerve problems, these types of pain will often radiate away from their source towards your extremities along the path of the nerve. As these three are indicative of nerve pain, it is important to address their cause before continuing with exercise.
• Throbbing: Throbbing pain is pain that increases and decreases intensity in a rhythmic way. This means that one second, your pain will be moderate, and the next it will be intense, and will alternate between the two with a set pace. Throbbing pain will often be felt to increase and decrease with your pulse. Again, throbbing pain is possibly indicative of serious injury and should be addressed immediately.

Workout of the Day

A. 4x 250m Row
*the first two will be at 75% with a focus on rowing technique, the last two will be at 90% intensity

B. AMRAP 15:
500m Row as a buy-in,
then,
AMRAP of Cindy as possible in remainder of time

Cindy:
5 Pull-Ups
10 Push-Ups
15 Squats

Fundamentals

A. Pull-up technique – 3 Rounds
Max reps, attempt lighter band
Between each round, perform 20 squats

B. Hill Sprints
5 x 200m
Between each heat, 10 push-ups

Reminder to sign up for your Functional Movement Screen this Friday 2/3 from 3-6pm…..just click on the banner to the right. Make sure you don’t work out before your scheduled time slot. **If the scheduled times don’t fit into your schedule, contact me at mkalbrec@gmail.com and we can try to set something else up! Slots are also available already for Friday 2/24 from 3-6pm.

Next Level Invitational Summer Series – Iron Will I

Some of CFSB’s fittest are at it again this weekend.  Danielle B, Andrea B, Sara C, Hollie P, Gus, Matty Stew, Amanda L, and I will be kicking off the NLI Summer Series – Iron Will with Event 1 this Saturday at the Laguna Hills High School Stadium in Laguna Hills, CA.  Please come show your support for our athletes!  Spectator tickets are $8 online and $10 at the door.

For detailed information on the event, including workouts, heat assignments/times, driving directions, parking info, and to purchase spectator tickets, go to the NLI event website  here.

2012 Reebok CrossFit Games

It’s official, registration for the 2012 Reebok CrossFit Games is now open!  What are the CrossFit Games, you ask?  In short, they are the premier test to find the fittest individuals on the planet.  2012 marks the 6th year in the event’s history and as CrossFit continues to grow, this year’s competition is guaranteed to be bigger and better.

The official CrossFit Games season consists of three stages, all of which are broken down into several categories, to include Individual Men and Women’s divisions, a team competition, and several Masters (45 and older) age categories.  The first stage, known as the Open, begins Feb 22nd and consists of five workouts over five weeks. Everyone in the WORLD is invited to compete at this stage…yes, EVERYONE.  Participants can choose to have their performance validated at a CrossFit affiliate, or submit a videotape of their performance to the Games website.  Scores are submitted online and at the end of the Open, the top competitors in each division will advance to Regionals, the second stage of the competition, in which eligible athletes go head-to-head in a three-day on-site competition, with judges, screaming fans, cameras, and some killer workouts.  From there, only a small number of men and women will advance to the third and final stage – The CrossFit Games, right here in sunny Southern California at the Home Depot Center July 13-15th.  In an effort to avoid plagiarizing the whole CrossFit Games website, I provided a pretty abbreviated description but for more detailed information, just click here to check out the official 2012 CrossFit Games website.  Click around.  You can find tons of info, cool videos, and articles all about the Games.

2011 SoCal Regionals - Cody, Jeremiah, Danielle, and Courtney Straight Crushin' It

What does all this mean for you and CFSB?  Good question…everybody and their mom should register for the Open.  This is not only a great opportunity to be part of the growing CrossFit community and the sport of fitness, but also an opportunity to test your own fitness and see how you stack up against the rest of the world.   But that’s not all.  It only costs $20 to participate and doing so could potentially help our Affiliate Team make it to Regionals. Here’s how…

Chris R. Fresh On The Competition Scene

Everybody registers and competes as individuals, but will also be registered as part of CFSB’s affiliate team. When scores are submitted for each Open workout, the top three scores (both men and women) from our box will go towards our team’s overall score in the region (SoCal).  Yes, your score on any given workout can potentially get our team to Regionals. There are 17 regions in the world, many of which encompass several countries, states, or entire continents.  SoCal, however, is a region in itself and is, by no debate, the most competitive region in the world. We need your help!  You can start by creating your CrossFit Games account here.

Ron's Training For Masters

I know what you’re thinking, “My scores will never be good enough to contribute to the team’s score so why should I even bother registering.”  First of all…BS.  I’ve seen all of our athletes perform and I know many of you are closet “fire breathers” that have some serious talent/fitness that can definitely contribute to our team score. Second of all, on any given day or any given workout…it’s anybody’s game.  Get my point?  Have you registered yet? Oh, I almost forgot…the team with the most registered athletes in the each region will also win free tickets to Regionals, equal to the number of registered athletes on the team.  So you not only get to help our team make it to Regionals, but you could also get a free ride to watch them compete in May.  And if, by some miracle, we also get the largest registered team in the world, we will get the same number of tickets to the Games in July and also get affiliate fees waived for life.  Forrey likey…

Suzie Ready To Destroy The Female Masters Division

If you have any questions about the CrossFit Games or competing in general, just ask me, Forrest, Cody or any of our seasoned competitors.  We’ll do our best to answer any of your questions.

Future Games Competitor...Clearly

Important Dates/Locations

CrossFit Games Open Registration begins
Feb 1
Online Registration

The Open
Feb 22-Mar 25
Your local affiliate (CFSB)

SoCal Regionals
May 11-13
Orange County, CA

The Games
Jul 13-15
Home Depot Center – Carson, CA

Time to start preparing…do you have what it takes?

Workout of the Day

Courtney, beating my pull-up PR. Maybe it was the grip tape

Precious, precious hands – think of all they do for you all day long: typing, pointing, clicking, cleaning, jerking (a barbell). Proud of your tears though you may have been the first one, maybe two, times you tore your hands doing pull-ups, it gets old. Fast. Tears, the hand injury, not the salty stuff from your eyes, do not lead to stronger hands or skin (maybe better pain tolerance though). With a tear, you’re pretty much starting over with that little missing patch.

Tears prevent you from doing most of the stuff we do in every day and not just what we use our hands for in the gym. Starting out with hands not used to the movements we door coming back from a workout hiatus may mean an inevitable tear, especially if your grip has worsened. However, tearing should not be a regular occurrence, even with repeated high-rep pulling-motion workouts.

How do you avoid tears? There is only one answer: hand maintenance. Not gloves, not chalk, not tape, not even an entire roll of tape will effectively prevent tearing.

Hand maintenance includes: 1) skin maintenance 2) grip improvement

1) Skin Maintenance

This means using a pumice stone as your first line of defense, a Ped Egg or callus shaver when necessary, and lotion on a regular basis to ensure that skin doesn’t bulk up on the palms. Any excess callus skin has the potential to turn into a tear. Dry skin caused by overuse of chalk or frequent hand washing, or other, can result in skin cracks which are as painful as tears. Put on lotion before bed if you don’t like having it on while awake. This is a great 4-part series from CF Virtuosity in NY on hand maintenance. Here’s a great inspirational quote from it:

Your hands tell the truth about you. The strength of your handshake sends a signal of confidence. The calluses reveal your work ethic. Soft weak hands are the hallmark of a weak spirit. Putting your hands on that hard, cold steel transforms the hands and by extension the person attached to those hands.

When it does happen, know what to do so that you can continue training while the wound heals quickly. The CF Virtuosity Part II has some good suggestions.

2) Grip Improvement

The only thing that’s going to significantly reduce friction on the bar is a better grip. The only way to improve your grip is more grip-demanding exercises like the ones we do every day. With this, grip technique is also very important. Check out this video from Coach Rippetoe on grip.

Much like when Forrest hears an unweighted bar clang to the ground, or when Mariessa sees clouds of chalk, I cringe when I see people willy-nillily mummy wrapping their hands in tape or slipping on their globo-gloves. The mummy-wrapped hands make it look like you’re about to go punch your Pantera-poster-covered walls. The gloves remind me of the big, sometimes bedazzled (I’m not joking – I used to go to a globo in West Hollywood) globo-men that wore the string-T, neon short-shorts, the fanny pack and toted the gallon of water around through their 45 min circuit of 2” hacksquats and bi curls. To be fair, if you went back into some CrossFit Hollywood picture archives, you’d surely find a picture of me in my first couple weeks of doing CrossFit wearing my blue Pearl Izumi biking gloves before I got wise.

Gloves may be useful if your skin is very soft or if aren’t coming in often enough to build up your grip to reduce the risk of tears sufficiently. Check out this parable from CrossFit Fire.

Tape may be useful if you’re already injured (torn) or near-injured (cracked calluses or partial tears), but usually it represents the failure to maintain your skin (see #1). There’s a great tutorial for making tape grips efficiently here. I’ve got a great way that I learned and I’d be happy to teach you if you ask me.

“I don’t want man hands” or “My hands need to remain soft” are not really good excuses for using the grip-tapped bars or for wearing gloves. Taped bars and gloves increase friction and gloves allow slipping between your hand and the bar/barbell if your grip isn’t really solid (most people’s grip is not, especially at high reps). Coach Mark Rippetoe said, “…gloves are a completely useless piece of material that create an unecessary moveable surface between your hand and the object being lifted/pushed” (Starting Strength 2ed., 2007).

Also, taped bars may make it easier to hold on now, but that isn’t exactly helping you prepare for the unknown and unknowable (I mean, in the Appocalyse, okay or something more realistic, how likely is it that when you’re gripping on to something for dear life it will be wrapped in nice grippy, pretty pink grip tape?…).

For those days when you’re just feeling tape-y, or if mummifying is your latest way to get wound up for the WOD (pun intended), you now have the option to purchase your tape. That’s right, tape will no longer be free. Each roll of tape will cost you. After you pay, Forrest will cut off a sliver from the tip of your finger, and on your second roll, you will have to sign over a small chunk of your soul (his words, not mine). So, I suggest you 1) maintain your skin and 2) keep a-cleaning and a-jerkin’ to improve your grip and if you must, 3) learn how to efficiently make grips if you are one of the tape-happy and reuse them as you can.

WOD 2/1/2012

A. Power Snatch 3-3-3-3

B. 4 Rounds for Time:
5 Power Snatch (115/75)
20 Walking Lunges
35 Lateral Jumps

Fundamentals

A. 3 Rounds for time:
10 Thrusters
5 Burpees
100m Sprint

B. 3 Rounds: 45 sec on, 15 sec rest
Crab Walks
Box Jumps
Wall Balls

Freestyle Technique- Notice elbow bend and hand placement of the pulling arm, and again with the recovery arm. This shows great arm and head placement, but not enough body/shoulder roll.

The Pull/Recovery:
One arm is reaching forward while the other is pulling back. Your pulling arm starts from the forward position and pulls underwater with a bent elbow greater than 90 degrees. Your fingertips run down the centerline of your body. The pull is finished when your fingertips meet your hip. The pulling arm should then start its recovery forward to the reaching position. Starting straight at your side with your fingers by your hip, the recovery arm will come out of the water elbow first. Your elbow will continue to lead and rise until it is in line with your shoulder. Your fingertips should be almost dragging in the water by your side during the recovery. Once your elbow is directly above your shoulder and your fingertips are next to your armpit, start to reach your hand forward until your arm is straight again. Your fingertips will enter the water in front of your head just before your arm straightens. The opposite arm will begin to pull just before the recovery arm starts to reach forward.

The Kick:
The freestyle kick is also known as the flutter kick. Legs are straight, but unlocked; and lower legs are relaxed. The kick initiates at the hip naturally causing the knee to bend slightly and whipping your foot downwards. Pretend you have scuba diving or snorkeling fins on your feet. Your feet are relaxed leaning towards the pointed position. The kick should be short and quick. You don’t want a huge splash, but a little is ok. The point is to kick more water than air. Shoot for 4-6 kicks per stroke.

Flutter Kick - start from the hip and whip your foot downward

Posture:
The freestyle stroke is done correctly by rolling from side to side. The bottom arm or reaching arm is closest to the bottom of the pool keeping your stroke long, and streamlining your body. The pull propels you forward as well as helping you to roll to the opposite side. At the end of the pull the pulling side should be at the surface allowing for an out-of-water (low resistance) recovery. The high elbow prevents dragging the arm in the water, and also helps to get your body completely on its side. Think of making yourself as long as possible, and trying to get as long of a reach as possible. The

Reach!

Your head sits in line with the spine, and angled slightly up so your eyes see the bottom 2-3 feet in front of you. If your head is too low (burying your head or looking too far down), your body will follow and end up too deep for an efficient stroke. If your head it too high (staring at the opposite end of the pool), your feet will sink.

Shoulder/Body Roll: Notice how the swimmer's back is to you (3-6), and then the pull rolls his body so his front is facing you again (7-12).

Breathing:
To breathe you will turn your head to the side. Your chin will follow the shoulder of your pulling arm. As the arm pulls backwards, pretend your chin is attached to your shoulder. Follow your shoulder back, take a breath and then follow your shoulder through the recovery back to the forward reaching position. Once your technique becomes somewhat efficient, your forward momentum and the flow of the water will create an air pocket right at your shoulder.

Breathe!

Make sure to keep the ear on the side of your reaching arm in the water the entire time you are breathing. You may breathe on the same side every time or you may breathe on alternating sides. You should be exhaling slowly while your face is in the water. Time it so that your exhale is complete just before you turn your head to inhale.
Give yourself some time to get the details and the timing correct. The kipping pullup is similar in that it takes a while to master, but at least you get to breathe freely. The ocean offers a whole host of variables that will slow progress: waves, lack of visibility, cold temperatures, etc. I suggest starting in a pool, and working on your technique first. Then you can jump into open water – so much fun!!

Workout of the Day 1/31/2012

A. 3 Rounds
3 Push Press
10m Handstand Walk

B. 4 Rounds for Max Reps:
30 seconds Kettlebell Swings (2/1.5)
15 seconds Rest
30 seconds Push Press (85/55)
15 seconds Rest
30 seconds 10m Shuttles
15 seconds Rest

Fundamentals 1/31/2012

A. Power Cleans 10-10-10-10 (safely bring bar from ground to shoulder)

B. 4 Rounds
20m OH Walking Lunges
1 min Plank Hold
15 Ball Slams

Muscle Spotlight: Pectoralis (pec) minor

Location: This little guy hides behind the pectoralis major, connecting from the front of your shoulder blade to your ribs

Function: it basically helps stabilize the shoulder blade, while also helping with small little movements

Detailed Function: stabilizes, depresses, protracts and downwardly rotate the scapula

Why is this muscle important?

This is not really a muscle that we spend strengthening or focusing our workouts around. It usually works without trying when we work on shoulder stabilizing activities (planks, push-ups, ring dips, OH squats, etc.). The reason why this muscle deserves spotlight is because it’s usually the culprit to a lot of dysfunction in the shoulder and/or neck. This muscle commonly become tight and short because of poor posture. When we sit with our shoulders rounded forward, this muscle just continues to stay tight. When it’s tight, the shoulder blade is put in a very very bad position. It causes the shoulder blade to be tilted forward, which then causes problems when we try to move our arms over head. Pec minor tightness alters the normal mechanics of the scapula-humerus rhythm and can lead to shoulder impingement, rotator cuff tears, etc. There are also a lot of nerves and blood vessels that run underneath the pec minor muscle which get compressed when it’s tight. This can lead to problems such as thoracic outlet syndrome that cause numbness/tingling into the arms.

How to we prevent/correct this problem with the pec minor?

Have good posture!!! It’s such a simple recommendation, but very hard to actually do. Just imagine your shoulder blades sliding down into your back pant pockets as you read this:) Good posture can help, but if your pec minor is already really tight you have to work on stretching it. Here are some good stretches to try to target the pec minor. Most of them target the pec major as well, but this is good too because your pec major needs to be pretty stretched out before you can even target the pec minor.

Add the foam roller underneath for a more intense stretch. You can also move your arms up and down like you're making a snow angel, while trying to keep your arms relaxed on the ground.

Similar to the scorpion stretch that we doI haven't tried this one but it looks creative!

The pec minor is actually really challenging to stretch because it’s hard to get in the correct position (hence the millions of various stretches I shared). So it’s probably best to tackle your pec minor with the lacrosse ball as well as stretch it. This way you can really target the muscle and break up any adhesions that have been created from years of poor posture. So give your pec minor some love this week, either with the lacrosse ball on the wall or on the floor if you feel like you can tolerate the pressure from the weight of your body. Try putting the ball on either the wall or one of the racks, and move your arms up and down (or side to side) to do give yourself some active release.

*You may feel some numbness/tingling into your arms with these stretches because there are a lot of nerves and blood vessels under the pec minor! So take frequent breaks to shake out your arms. No need to push the stretch until your arms are numb.

** It’s always important to take big breaths while you stretch, but it’s especially helpful with this muscle because of it’s attachment to the ribs. So think of your rib cage expanding as you take breaths in and out during the stretches or with the lacrosse ball.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Workout of the Day 1/30/2012

A.  3-5 Rounds: 90 seconds rest
(to build strength for Muscle-Ups:
<1 strict pullup and <1 strict dips = 5 strict pullups + 5 strict dips with the lightest band you can do for 5 reps in a row
<5 strict PU and <5 strict dips = max strict PU + max strict dips every round
>5 strict PU and >5 strict dips = 5 chest-to-bar PU + 5 bicep-to-ring dips
>5 strict c2b PU and >5 strict b2r dips = 5 muscle-up transitions + 5 false-grip pull-ups
<5 Muscle-Ups = 5 Strict Muscle-Ups with the lightest band possible and false grip work if necessary

B.3 Rounds, each for time:
10 Box Jumps (30/24)
10 Burpees
400m Run
Rest 1 minute

Fundies

A. 5 Rounds
10 DB Push Press
20 Squats
45 sec Chair Pose

B. 3 Rounds:
B. Single leg Back Kick w/extended DB Press
Hanging Ab Twist
Knee Tuck Jumps

Why the heck am I rambling about this? 1. Because I did a research project on it and learned a lot about how important the awareness of this topic is 2. Because no one seems to know about it and it is relevant to all populations (even CrossFitters!). DRA occurs in about 30% of women, and these women end up visiting a physical therapist years later to fix all of the problems that occurred from having weak abdominals. My goal is to increase everyone’s awareness about DRA  so that you know that it’s possible to fix AND possibly prevent it from happening in the first place.

It doesn’t seem like a lot of doctors test for DRA, so make sure that you ask about it after having a baby. Especially if you are having trouble regaining your abdominal strength, or if you start to have any of the complaints listed above after pregnancy. There is an easy test that can be done to measure for the separation (read more here). Sometimes the DRA will resolve automatically on it’s own. However, some do not resolve this easily and require some specific exercises to help the abdominal muscles work together again. A small percentage may require surgery, depending on the amount of separation, but most of the research that I read stated that it’s possible to regain abdominal strength after a separation.

So beautiful!!!

What to take home from this post:

1. DRA is treatable!

The basics of treatment involve abdominal exercises where you actually pull your abdominals together as you do a crunch. This helps the 2 bellies of the rectus abdominis grow back together as you strengthen them. In cases where the separation is large, an abdominal brace may be recommended to help speed up the healing. It also important to improve the coordination of all four abdominal muscles working together……so also strengthening the transverse abdominis, external oblique and internal oblique. It’s actually recommended to avoid normal sit-ups if you have an abdominal separation because this can actually make it work! Breathing is also an important aspect of re-training the abdominal muscles to work together because if you hold your breathe you are cheating!

2. DRA can be preventable!!

The stronger you are before pregnancy the better your body will bounce back from the pregnancy. This doesn’t mean just doing sit-ups. Over-doing normal sit-ups actually increases your risk for abdominal separation…..so you gotta mix it up and include exercise like I discussed last week. Your abdominals are made up of 4 different muscles, and It’s important to work all 4!

So I’m sure I’ve lost all the guys by now at this point……..BUT abdominal separation can happen to you too! Here are some other common causes:

• Excessive sit-ups!! This is why balance between all abdominals is key.
• Excessive use of the valsalva maneuver during weight lifting!! Keeping your core strong to help you support your spine during lifts will help you avoid “bearing down” too much.
• Obesity

Click here for some more info on this topic

Working on the ab balance....

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Workout of the Day 1/27/2012

A. Split Jerk 2-2-2

B. 5 Rounds for Time:
5 Shoulder to Overhead (155/95)
400m Run

Fundies

A. 4 Rounds for time:
10 Push Press
10 Abmat Sit-ups
10 Box Jumps (go higher than usual)

B. Run Intervals
Rest 2 minutes between intervals
6 x 400m

No…this post isn’t about Evan’s handstand push-up footwork either.  But if you think about it, Olympic Weightlifting consists of only three different movements (the snatch, the clean, and the jerk), all of which are essentially a jump and a land.  I know what you’re thinking…that’s probably an oversimplification. And you’re right, a lot of different “stuff” happens in between the jumping and landing portions for each of those movements but in terms of footwork, we’re only worried about two things: the jumping/pulling position and the landing/receiving position.

You probably get tired of us, coaches, telling you to start with your feet under your hips, then shoulder width apart, then back to under your hips.  Which one is it already?!  Basically, any time we squat (front, back, overhead, partial) we want our feet about shoulder width apart.  In general, that is going to be the most stable position in terms of strength, flexibility, and balance.  However, when we clean, snatch, or jerk, we generally start with our feet under our hips.  For these lifts, we are trying to create a large amount of force through hip extension to drive the bar up.  With our feet directly under our hips, we are able to transfer as much force as possible from the ground to the barbell through hip extension.  In a much simpler sense, this is also the stance that most people will naturally assume when preparing to jump.

So when we perform the olympic lifts, we generally start with our feet under our hips and finish with our feet shoulder width apart, which makes sense considering we finish the snatch, the clean, and the jerk with some version of a squat.  That’s not to say we can’t successfully perform the oly lifts with  different stance widths; every athlete is different but for the most part, the landing/receiving foot position will fall somewhere between 1 and 3 inches outside the jumping/pulling position.  The split jerk is a whole different story as far as footwork is concerned, so check out Mariessa’s informative post here.  Moving on…

The movement of the feet from the jumping/pulling position to the landing/receiving position should be fast and aggressive, and the feet should only be lifted just enough to slide the feet out.  Think about jumping hard, not high and making the feet fast, not loud.  In other words, try to avoid donkey kicking or deliberately lifting your feet off the ground and stomping back down.  In contrast, try to keep your feet in contact with the ground as long as possible because it’s your feet pushing against the ground that are producing the force to drive the bar up.  Only after you are finished with the jump/drive do you push/pull yourself under the bar and slide your feet out to receive the bar.  We’ll talk about pushing and pulling ourselves under the bar in future posts…stay tuned.

We already addressed foot placement from left to right, but what about foot placement front to back.  Long story short, your feet shouldn’t travel forwards or backwards.  If they do, chances are you will miss the lift, especially at heavy weights (starting to see a trend?).  Think about jumping straight up, and landing with your feet slightly wider.

Finally, practicing footwork for olympic weightlifting is easy.  You can do snatch or clean drops, which basically involve dropping from the finished position to the catch position, while moving the feet from the jumping to the landing position.  You can also do snatch balances which involve both footwork and upper body components of the snatch.  Try any combination of these at different squat depths, aiming to start and land with your feet in the same position every time.  If it helps, you can mark your jumping and landing positions on the ground (see photo above) and check your feet each time. Be consistent.  Practice makes perfect but in this case, repetition breeds retention.  Sooner or later, the muscle memory will take over.

Announcement

There will be a competitor’s meeting at the gym tonight at 8pm.  This includes current competitors or anyone interested in competing in the future, especially those planning on participating in the CrossFit Games Open next month or on the CFSB Affiliate Team.

Workout of the Day 1/26/12

A. Overhead Squat 3-3-3

(If you do not have the mobility for OHS, do back squats with mobility in between sets)

B. 30-20-10
Pull-Ups
Push-Ups
Sit-Ups
10 Overhead Squats (95/65) between each round

*Advanced: C2B

Fundamentals

A. Thruster technique

B. 2 Rounds (untimed):
10 Front Squats
10 Push Press
10 Thrusters

C. 5 rounds
Sprint 100m
10x Burpees

I mean, we're pretty much the same person

I am Wes Welker. We practically have the same build and are the same age. I guess the only big thing separating us is that he has a Super Bowl ring (oh wait, they lost, my bad)…and he’s athletic…and he’s rich…and he gets to hang out with Tom Brady. When it comes down to it, we are about the same size: both 5’10” about 185 pounds. Why can’t I be the one playing in the Super Bowl? For now, let’s stick to one of many possible answers. Athletic ability.

D building those pathways with a clean. NBD

You hear us talk about neuromuscular pathways when we are coaching the classes. A lot of you nod your heads with a glazed over look of confusion as we continue on our rant. To clarify things a bit, neuromuscular pathways are basically the communication channels between your brain and your muscles. It’s the means at which a person’s brain tells the muscles how to achieve a particular movement or task. For example, if your brain wanted to walk, it would send signals to your muscles to fire your legs in a sequence that will resemble walking. If we then put a 20 pound weight on one leg, your brain would send signals to compensate for that weight and your walk would look different.

Jason shows his "pathway" face

Pathways are developed by the brain sending these signals over and over again. Think about a well-traveled hiking path. Now developing new hiking trails takes more than just one person going off of the trail. It needs hundreds or thousands of people to develop a new trail. Unless you’re actively trying to blaze a new trail, it becomes very easy to fall back into the old trail.

The other Danielle figuring out the clean.

Part of the reason why Wes Welker is a all-star NFL receiver, and I am not is partially (mostly) because he is much more athletic than I am, but partially because he is constantly building newer more efficient neuromuscular pathways. His training has helped him improve his god given ability and refine it by constantly redefining the way his brain tells his muscles to move.

Your body is a wonderland

Your brain and body are constantly in a state of learning, adapting and recalling movement patterns. A training program that reinforces faster, quicker and more explosive movement forces the body to accommodate this goal and find a way to make it happen. This is partially the reason why people feel stronger after two weeks of On-Ramp. Their muscles aren’t necessarily stronger, their brains have just started to develop newer more efficient pathways. The body begins to adapt to the new stimulus by allocating more resources to muscle growth as well as tendon and bone strengthening. It also finds ways to engage more muscle groups at once and fires them in a sequence that makes certain movements feel easier.

That shit cray

The result is your muscles firing in more efficient sequences and in faster succession with one another. In other word, coordination. This is why elite athletes are so elite. They train their body to become extremely efficient and can perform extremely difficult tasks with ease.

Skyler watching and learning every day. She's going to be able to swing a kettlebell before she can walk.

We train in CrossFit to become better athletes. To get generally fit. All of CrossFit’s movements are considered athletic movements meaning that they require a certain level of coordination. Even our simplest movement (the squat) requires a ton more coordination than a preacher curl. In class you will hear us yelling out cues to “open your hips” or “pull yourself under the bar” or “tighten your midline”. All of these are trying to reinforce good movement patterns and rebuild your neuromuscular pathways. This is why:

• We emphasize technique over weight – Getting your form correct will make your movements more efficient which makes you stronger. Once the foundation is correct, your strength can begin to increase.
• We don’t do curls – Globo gyms reinforce turning off everything else while you “isolate” one muscle. The perfect example is the preacher curl.
• Deadlifts take a while to learn…correctly – Just like getting off that hiking path, it takes lots of reps to develop new pathways. Your body has to learn over and over how to pull with glutes and hamstrings while not using your lower back.
• We don’t have machines – Machines teach your body how to move…well…on machines. The last time I checked, there aren’t any sports that involve elipiticals.
• We make mobility mandatory – The body is task oriented. It’s going to get the barbell over your head whether or not your shoulders can do it. The lower back is the catch-all. Fix the mobility issues and do the movement right. Don’t believe me? Take a functional movement screen from Missy.

Most of us might not be in the NFL or an elite athlete, but we sure can train like we are. Be an athlete. Be Wes Welker.

Workout of the Day 1/25/2012

A. Hang Power Clean 2-2-2-2

“Fight Gone Bad-esque!”

Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 20 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
Hang Power Clean, 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, 20″ box (Reps)
Push-press, 75 pounds (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.

(CF > 1 yr can attempt regular FGB)

Fundamentals

A. Burgener Warm-up

B. Hang Power Clean
(Front squat if working on technique)

C. For time:
21-15-12-9-6
Squats
Push-ups
100m Sprint

You are killing WODs at CFSB 3 or more times a week. Your lifts are heavier. Your milestone WODs are better. Your recovery is faster, and you feel great. So why not try something new, or jump back into an old favorite? I have had several athletes who regularly play a sport and use CF as a strength and conditioning program to supplement their passion tell me how much faster/stronger/better they have become after only a short time at CFSB.
Make CF your sport. If you admire our competing athletes, and think to yourself, “maybe someday”; try a competition this year. Often the events have categories of novice/beginner, intermediate and advanced. Just give it a try and see if it’s your thing. You may hate it, but there’s a chance you will love it and get hooked on competing. Find a competition that other athletes from CFSB are entering, so you can all go together and cheer each other on. See Coach Vinny, Coach Cody, Danielle, Andrea, etc. to get a list of this year’s competitions to choose from. The Next Level Invitational is an excellent choice and is right around the corner on Feb 4th. Don’t limit yourself to CF events. Check out a 5k or 10k, or maybe a triathlon.

Have you thought about trying a new sport or returning to an old one? In SoCal we are surrounded with active people and amazing weather. It’s actually cold and raining as I write this, love the irony. Volleyball is an incredibly popular sport, and it’s a blast to play. If you’ve never played before, take a lesson. Get in touch with our very own Dave Fulton or go to www.beachvolleytraining.com. He is one of the volleyball instructors for Hermosa Beach on Sunday mornings. They take beginner, intermediate and advanced players.
Jump in! If you feel like getting wet, find a lap pool near you. There are many pools that offer lap swimming: Begg Pool in MB, South Bay Aquatics in Torrance and The Plunge in El Segundo to name a few. We’ll keep you posted as to when our CF Endurance Swim classes start up again. If the ocean is more your speed, dig out your wetsuit and hit the surf.
If you want to start running, there are several running clubs in the South Bay. South Bay Running Club; Villiage Runner – Redondo, Tues 6pm or Sun 8am; Road Runner Sports – Torrance, Th 6pm; Saturday Morning Easy Runners Group. Don’t forget to join Coach Micah for our CF Endurnance running class on Wed/Sun at 6pm to improve your POSE method and your speed.

Two of the cycling clubs in the South Bay are COBRA (mountain biking) and Beach Cities Cycling Club. Hockey in the South Bay can be found at the Toyota Sport Center  in El Segundo. Soccer in Hermosa and Manhattan can be found here and here.
Many of our own athletes are members of the LA Rugby Club . Go out to a game and cheer them on. If it peaks your interest, join the fun!
Outrigger canoe paddling is offered right down the road with Lanakila Outrigger Canoe Club in Redondo Beach. Think Hawaiian war canoes. Now think about racing them. Rookie Sunday’s start in March, and are crazy fun!
There are so many more sports and possibilities in the South Bay. These are just a few. Why not test out your functional fitness by applying it to a sport or to the sport of CF. You just might surprise yourself!

Workout of the Day 1/24/2012

A. Ring work in order of progression:
30 seconds Ring Support
20 seconds Ring Support with external rotation
Inverted Hang 5x without coming off the rings
Skin the Cat 5x without coming off the rings
5 seconds Straddle Front Lever &
5 seconds Straddle Back Lever

B. AMRAP 12:
10 V-Ups
10 Knees-to-Elbows
30 second static ring support

Fundamentals 1/24/2012

A. Rowing Intervals 2 rounds, cover max distance
Row 1 minute
Rest 1 minute
Row 1 minute
Rest 50 seconds
Row 1 minute
Rest 40 seconds
Row 1 minute
Rest 30 seconds
Row 1 minute
Rest 20 seconds
Row 1 minute
Rest 10 seconds

B. Burgener warmup
Power Clean technique (lifting bar from ground to shoulder correctly)

C. 6 AMRAP
5 burpees
10 squats

First, what you can expect from me:

1. Do no harm. My first goal as a coach is to avoid causing any physical harm to any of my athletes. An injury is detrimental to not only your performance, but your life, as it brings with it pain, frustration and lifelong changes. Doing no harm also includes working to heal past injuries, whether through rehab or mobility, in addition to smart programming and coaching to minimize future injuries.
2. Improve athletic performance. My second goal as a coach is to improve your athletic performance as quickly, safely, and easily as possible. This includes all ten of CrossFit’s general physical skills: cardiovascular endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, accuracy, agility, and balance.
3. Educate. My third goal as a coach is to educate my athletes on both what they believe is important, as well as what I believe is important. This includes nutrition, programming, mental health, etc.
4. Achieve goals. My final goal as a coach is to help my athletes achieve challenges they never thought possible. This is what fuels me when I wake up every morning. From your first push-up, to your first 5k, to your 500lb deadlift, to your CrossFit Games preparation, I want to help you guys achieve everything you are capable of.

1. Avoid injury. Just as my first goal is to do no harm to you, I expect that your first goal should be to do no harm to yourself. This often gets lost in striving for new ground on athletic improvement, but is important to your lifelong development as an athlete. This includes informing your coaches of pain, weakness, or general malady that we should be aware of.
2. Be coachable. Simply stated, the athletes most willing to learn and be coached will see the best improvements, from health, to body composition, to movements patterns, to injury prevention. Those that listen and learn will always come out a step ahead.
3. Show up. Don’t make excuses, make commitments.
4. Ask questions. It is what we are here for, to help you guys. Often, we have a huge amount of knowledge, but only give a little bit in a class setting due to time constraints. So, if you want to know something, ask. We will either have an answer, or find one out.
5. Use common sense. While often taken for granted, every single one of you is smart, so act like it. You know when something doesn’t feel right, or when you should take a second to figure something out on your own.
6. Respect others. This means cleaning off your sweat, picking up your bar, and cheering on your classmates. It’s the golden rule, enough said.

Finally, as both a coach and an athlete, I expect that you will never stop believing in yourself, that you will never stop dreaming of what is possible, and that you will never stop attempting to better yourself on a daily basis.

If you don’t know already, I am an advocate for Barbells for Boobs, and while I rarely campaign for things, this one is super easy for all you Facebook fanatics. For every “like” SicFit (think Facebook for CrossFitters) gets between January 18 and February 18, they will donate $1 to Barbells for Boobs. So go and like the page already.

Workout of the Day

A. Deadlift 5-5-5

B. 5 Rounds For Time (>365/225 DL: Use a Vest):
7 Deadlifts (225/155)
11 Burpees
(Josh Everett: 4:06 with 25lb vest)

Rest exactly 5 minutes, then run 1 mile. Score is total time.

* Compare to 9/19/11

Fundamentals

A. Pistols and Pull-ups (review scaling)
4 Rounds:
5 pistols each side
5 Pull-ups

B. 3 rounds
10 Pistols, left leg
10 Knees to elbows
10 Pistols, right leg
10 Push-ups
100m Run