Author Archives

by

Do You Know Squat?

The lovely squat. Simple in design. Trunk stays perpendicular to the floor, tall chest, butt goes back, knees push outward, butt drops down so your quads are below parallel, and up you come. Repeat as needed with a ton of weight. Sounds easy, right? Look, even a toddler can do it!

20121127-053443.jpg

So what is so hard about squatting?

Balancing the Weight:

Stand in front of a mirror for a side view. Try not too flex your biceps. We all know they are huge and beautiful. Pull your shoulders back and up. You will notice a groove between you traps and rear delts. That’s where the bar goes. It doesn’t go on your neck or directly on your traps. Practice it a couple of times and get used to the feeling. If the weight doesn’t feel secure, neither will the squat.

What am I looking at?

I have a tendency to look at the floor or worse yet, look at my feet. The body follows the head. You look down and you fall forward. Not good if you are trying to balance weight on your shoulders. Pick a spot on the wall at eye level. The head and neck should be in a neutral position. Not looking up. Not looking down. It should be comfortable.

Foot Position:

Part of my rehab for my knee is to do squats with a med ball between my back and the wall. I lined up with my toes pointed slightly out, weight on my heels and outside edges of my feet, and as I descended I pushed my knees out. I was immediately told that was wrong and my feet should be straight and my knees tracking straight over my feet. Weird. I did as I was told. It felt completely and totally wrong!

Shoulder width. Weight on the heels and outside edge of your feet. Countless instructional videos from well respected coaches all have the same points.

Justsquat

Squatting

Squat tutorial

Squat Therapy

Get Depth:

If you think you are deep enough, go down more! The crease of your hip should be below your knees. Just keep working on it and you will get there. Lots of stretching for hamstrings hips. Gotta be loose to get low.

Back Up:

As in getting upright again. Drive through your heels while shrugging your shoulders up. The chest as to stay will. There will be a tendency to lean forward. Look up a little and take a deep breath in. Both of these will help you get tall. Repeat as needed.

What squatting tips can our readers provide? Please list them below in the comments section.

Have fun out there! Lift it, swing it, pull it, press it, and climb it. TIME

by

Compete Against Yourself

The explosion of CrossFit and Reebok’s Sport of Fitness have resulted in a massive overdose of information and advertising. The message is pretty consistent. Jump into CrossFit and you will be in awesome shape. It is for everybody. You can do this. Be elite! Alright, maybe not the last one. I drink the Kool-aid and definitely believe it fuses all of the necessary components for health; strength training, cardio, flexibility, nutrition, and competition!

The competition can be a big component, and in some instances, a hindrance to your performance and progress. We love to watch the clock and we love to check the whiteboard to look at the numbers from previous classes. Competition is good. Competing against unrealistic opponents is not good. The first few months should be focused on learning the exercises and practicing correct form. You will get faster when the movements become automatic.

Try to compete with yourself primarily. A log book is invaluable and there are a wide variety of apps like MyWOD and Beyond the White Board to help you keep track of your weights and times. Don’t be in too big of a hurry to leave when the WOD is over. Stretch and track your performance. It will help you identify opportunities and celebrate the wins. Make it a point to try and break a record at each workout and celebrate every win. Negative Nancy is very lonely. Positive Paulie is always with a crowd. Compete against people with similar experience levels like those who braved On Ramp with you.

This is by no means a suggestion that you shouldn’t aim high. Constantly pushing yourself is necessary to grow and achieve more in any aspect of life. This is simply a recommendation to keep your aspirations realistic and targeted. Write down your goals and keep track of your progress.

I will be out of CrossFit for the next several weeks. I had knee surgery and won’t be able to have fun for quite some time. I miss it already and it’s only been a little over a week. Keeping it Paleo which seems to be helping with recuperation.

Have fun out there! Lift it, swing it, pull it, press it, and climb it. TIME!

by

Don’t Bargain with Yourself

We live in an age of compromise. We are told that we can’t always have everything we want. We spend a lot of time negotiating, whether it be to purchase a car or get a child to eat their broccoli. Bargaining is part of business and personal relationships. We can’t get away from it. This all fine and good however we should not compromise or bargain with ourselves when it comes to diet and getting our WOD on!

Here is how it usually goes. The WOD will have box jumps, something which I suck at, and I will immediately bargain with myself to do half regular and to the other half as step ups. It is a great method to continually not do well at box jumps. We all have movements with which we struggle. Remember that the only way to get better is to practice. Don’t sacrifice your results for the clock. Being fast at a scaled version does not feel as good as writing Rx on the board.

My other favorite is bargaining that I can eat something bad or have a few cocktails and make up for it the following day with a run or “working out harder”. We know how that ends. Doesn’t happen. I am guilty of this a well.

In the end, Who are you bargaining with? Only yourself! Why purposefully short change yourself? You have already paid the dues, bought the funny looking shoes, and are all chalked up. Might as well see it through.

We often short change ourselves by automatically thinking we can’t do something, often without trying. Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’ll be right. Courtesy of Henry Ford. So what if it takes you longer to complete the WOD as prescribed. Our friends at CrossFit Syndicate recently wrote a blog pertaining to this subject: http://cfsyndicate.com/?p=5040

My point is that you may have to negotiate or bargain in other aspects of your life; however your diet and the quality and intensity of your WODs are off limits.

Break a record this week. Try something you haven't tried before. I recommend the HSPU slingshot!

by

CrossFit Sweat

 

Sweat angels are a thing of beauty. Nothing shows how hard you have worked like laying on the floor leaving a puddle of DNA for future analysis. You filthy animal!

That’s what I’m Talking About!

Most of us have worked out before, and worked up a sweat. You have never sweated like a CrossFit sweat before. You are drenched. Shirts can be wrung out like a damn towel. Your car seats will never be the same again. Go ahead, buy the “moisture wicking” gear. It won’t help. It will only increase the size of the sweat pool on the floor as you are standing over the bar.

How to Prepare:

Febreze:

Buy a lot of it. Keep a can in your car. Spray your shoes, your gym bag, the seats,..heck spray yourself while you are at it!

Doing CrossFit leads to you smelling like Victory. Try a different, better smelling version of Victory to cover it up.

Beach Towels:

Keep two in your car. Drape one over your seat, otherwise your car will smell like a hockey bag. Never smelled a hockey bag? Good for you. Count yourself lucky. Use the other to try and dry yourself off, otherwise your seat belt will smell like a gym sock.

Chalk:

No joke, your hands will sweat. Do you know what happens when you try KB swings with wet hands? You might kill somebody and you don’t get to pick so don’t risk it. A little goes a long way. Use too much and you will tear your hands which looks cool however takes you out of the game for a day or two.

Does anyone have any other tips they would like to share to battle the stink! Chuck Norris does:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxUKLQ8x7z0&feature=related

by

Last Week of October

Trick or Treat…no candy for you because you thought it would be a good idea to do Whole Life Challenge!

It isn’t that bad. I don’t like candy, however if they were handing out IPA’s with corn dogs, we’d have a problem! Two weeks to go in the challenge. We did break down Saturday night and have a few cocktails. That will be it until the end of the challenge.

WOD’s:

Monday:

Workout of the Day
Max Snatch(Full) in 20 min

then
7 Min AMRAP
7 Overhead Squat 95/65
7 Burpee over Bar

Three rounds and a few OHS

then

5 min AMRAP
20 Unbroken Wall Ball Shots

2 rounds and a lot of ten wall ball rounds

Tuesday:

4 sets
10 (CTB) Pull Ups
10 Deadlift 225
Run 400m
rest 4 min

Thursday:

5 sets
60 Sec Row for Cal 22, 20, 22, 23, 19
60 Sec Singles 87, 63, 79, 85, 62
rest 2 min

Friday: 

Max Power Clean in 20 min

185lbs.

then

Press 3,2,1,3,2,1; rest 30 sec

135, 155, 175 (f) 155, 165, 175(f)

Unbroken Kb Swings 20 reps 2 pood

rest 2 min

Saturday:

for time:
1000m Row
30 Db Front Squats 45/30
30 T2B

Tuesday: 

20 Min AMRAP
Row 500m
15 GHD Sit Ups
AMRAP Strict Ring Pull Ups

5 rounds, 12 pull ups

Aside by

We topped this past week with “Barbells for Boobs”, which is a great cause. We had several participants and raised a little over $6,000.00. Plus the Ravens just lost, which is a great ending for any week!

So, tell me again how CrossFit isn’t a Team Sport?Image

WOD:

Helen Meets Grace

Two-person team workout with one person working at a time, except for the 400m runs, which must be performed together.

  • THREE rounds of:
  • 400 meter run
  • 21 kettlebell swings (Rx 53/35#)
  • 12 pull-ups
  • 30 clean and jerks (Rx 135/95#)

Eric and I did it in 16:24. The run was the worst part, it just adds a lot of time for me, because, well, I hate running.

I was really proud of everyone who participated today. Everyone worked hard. I heard a few people set PR’s with the clean and jerks. Nice to see!

There are three weeks left for Whole Life Challenge and I think we are all buckling down and making a big push to get the most out of the last three weeks. We cheated on Friday night and had a few beers with some friends. We both woke up Saturday morning and agreed we were good for another few weeks. I definitely feel better and am not in a hurry to go back to the old ways any time soon. I think we’ll stick with it for a while after it is over.

This Week’s WOD’s:

Monday: 

Michael

  • Three rounds for time of:
  • Run 800 meters
  • 50 HIp Extensions
  • 50 Anchored Sit-ups (no GHD)

This was tough and my hamstrings and lower back are still tight! 150 hip extensions is no joke.

Tuesday:

Jackie:

  • Row 1000m
  • 50 Thrusters 45 pound bar
  • 30 Pull Ups

Thursday:

  • High Hang Clean(Full) + Hang (Above the Knee) Clean; 8 sets x 2 reps OTM; 145 lbs

then

  • Back Squat 225 x 10 reps x 3 sets; rest 3 min

then

  • Split Jerk 5 reps x 3 sets rest 60 sec
  • Pendlay Row 10-12 reps; rest 60 sec
  • 145 lbs

Friday:

3 Rounds

  • 10 Power Snatch 95 pounds
  • 7 Handstand Push Ups
  • 10 T2B

I took Wednesday and Saturday off. I did take Berger for a four or five mile walk Saturday morning.

End of Another Week

by

The Ten CrossfitRook Commandments

Below are ten  tips I have learned during my CrossFit experience. I don’t always follow them, however when I do, I usually have better results. Please feel free to comment and add your tips.

10) Show up Mentally and Emotionally Prepared

It is an hour of your day. Be ready to go when you get to the box. Leave family and work stress at the door. This is your time. If your head isn’t right, the WOD won’t be right either.

9) Drink the Kool-Aid

Is CrossFit kind of like a cult? Sure is. We wear funny looking shoes, have our own language, and we talk about it all of the time. Get a few of us together and others will look at us like we have two heads. It is O.K. It is a good cult. We want everyone to be healthy and to succeed. Now, if your trainer shows up wearing a white robe, and asks you to drink the actual Kool-Aid, turn around and run.

8) Compete Against Yourself

CrossFit is definitely moving into the mainstream. ESPN 2 now regularly shows the Games. It is easy to fall into a trap of comparing yourself to the professional athletes, or the elite athletes at your local box. Try not too. Track your times and weights for the WOD’s. You will notice that you are getting stronger and faster, keep competing against yourself or against other team members who are similar.

7) Don’t Scale Only to be Faster

I often fall into this trap. I am worried about time so I sub ring rows for pull-ups    because I can do them faster. Guess what? I am good at ring rows and still suck at pull ups. Not quite what I wanted. Check with your trainer and ask their opinion. If it is a WOD that is supposed to be fast, it might be OK to sub. The only way you get better at the movements is to practice,…a lot.

6) YES YOU CAN!

One of the beauties of CrossFit is that any WOD can be scaled. There are substitutes if you have not yet mastered HSPUS or DU’s; however don’t talk yourself out of it if you haven’t even tried it! Give it an honest effort and then sub if needed.

5) Do the Whole Warm-Up

O.K., so the three legged dog looks dumb as hell and I hate baby elephant, but guess what, you have to warm up the muscles and stretch to reduce the chance of injury. Don’t, and you’ll be out of action for a while.

4) Celebrate the Wins

Don’t always focus on the weights you didn’t do, focus on the records you set. Every box has a bell for PR’s, ring it! You are going to get stronger and faster. You will accomplish things that you previously thought weren’t possible. Be happy!

3) ]Don’t Stop, you are not Going to Catch your Breath

It may sound odd, however it happens to me quite often. I am in the middle of doing a WOD and I feel like if I just got ten or fifteen seconds, I could catch my breath and then finish out. It doesn’t happen and instead my time is a lot longer. Just keep going, try not to stop.

2) Nutrition is Just as More Important than Exercise

Proper Nutrition is the Foundation

The image above shows that nutrition is the foundation. GIGO. Garbage In, Garbage Out. Changes to your diet such as following Paleo will result in quicker and bigger gains. You are asking your body to do more so don’t you need better fuel?

1) Listen to Your Trainer

Your trainer wasn’t born knowing all of the movements and lifts. They made mistakes and learned the correct form. Listen to them. They want to make sure you get a quality workout and are not injured.