CrossFit DC

2012-02-17T09:06:00.002-05:00

BACK UP FOR ANOTHER SMACKDOWN

While it's true that more than a few people did at least one workout that was the exact same as they had done two weeks ago, it's also true that those people got to see how the other half lived that day. It also gave everyone who wasn't able to compete in the Smackdown a chance to see what all the fuss had been about.

WOD #1:

8min AMRAP Shoulder-to-Overhead & Sprints

With only 1 partner working at a time, complete as many shoulder-to-overhead reps with the barbell as possible. Partners could choose to use either 65lbs, 95lbs, or 115lbs, scaling as necessary. The shoulder-to-overhead meant that any style of pressing could be used - strict press, push press, push jerk, or even split jerk. Each movement had to be complete, so both knees and elbows fully extended at the top.

Each partner worked to get as many reps as possible in one go, and then, once the bar dropped or was put down, that partner had to complete 4 cross-court sprints (50' one way, so a total of 100' for each out-and-back) and tag their partner. Only then could the second partner begin their AMRAP shoulder-to-overhead attempt. Partners worked back and forth in this manner for 8 minutes, with the final score being total reps between the two of them.Owing to the number of people, both evening classes were run in two separate heats, so while heat two completed WOD #1, the first heat prepped themselves to take on WOD #2.

WOD #2:

3 x 12 HR Burpees, 24 Sit-Ups, & Bear Crawl

Again, only 1 partner could be working at a time. This time however, the goal was to complete the workout as fast as possible. To do so, the same two partners alternated back and forth, with each completing a full round before the other could go. So, Partner A did 12 hand-release burpees, 24 ab-mat sit-ups, and then bear crawled 50 feet (25 feet out and back) before tagging Partner B, who then did 12 HR burpees, 24 sit-ups, and then bear crawled 50 feet (25 feet out and back). Partners were allowed to hold each others feet during the sit-ups, but shoulders had to touch the floor when laying back and hands had to touch the feet when sitting up-right.

Partners went back and forth in this manner until each had completed 3 full rounds. However, there was a 10min time cap put in place for this workout. In order to calculate a final time, a five second time penalty is assessed for each outstanding rep yet to be completed at the moment time is called. So, if Partner A has completed all three rounds, but Partner B still has 4 sit-ups left to complete when time is called, then that team has an additional 30 seconds of time tacked on to their 10 minutes (20 seconds for the 4 sit-ups, and 10 for the bear crawl, as each 25' length is counted as a single rep).

(limited) Results are as follows:

sorry, I was a little slack during the 7pm class and couldn't quite get everyone's weights for WOD 1, or the number of reps completed by all teams in WOD 2 who hadn't finished by the time the 10min time cap ran out. If you remember, please post in comments and I'll update accordingly.

Nice work all! Things are starting to heat up for the 2012 CF Games Open which starts in less than a week (first workout will drop next Wednesday). As such, there are a few announcements, some of which concern the Open, some which don't.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

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NO Morning Class on Monday
- There will be no AM classes this coming Monday, Feb. 20th owing to the President's Day holiday.

NO 6pm Class on Friday
- Starting next Friday, Feb. 24th, and for the following five weeks, there will be no Friday 6pm class. There will still be a 7pm class however.

Friday Open Workout
- For those athletes registered to compete in the Open, Fridays at 5pm and 6pm have been reserved specifically to run through that week's workout. This includes athletes from CrossFit Dupont, CrossFit Balance, and CrossFit DC.

Saturday Open Workout
- Additionally, CFDC will be running registered athletes through the Open workouts on Saturday at 1pm. Again, this will be for athletes from CFDC and Dupont who have registered to compete in the Open.

Make-Up Open Workouts
- If you are unable to make it to either of the above options for the Open workout, please let either of Tom or Chris know, and we will happily try to arrange another time to run you through the workout. However, this only works if you let us know ahead of time - telling us know at the beginning of class Tuesday night that you still need to complete the workout by the next day won't work (outside of extreme attenuating circumstances, of course).

2012-02-15T10:53:00.001-05:00

VALENTINES : YES

VALGUS TIMES : NO

The 2012 CF Games Open is just over the horizon, and with that in mind, class set about reviewing some important skill work followed by a some short-burst conditioning.

Skill: Kipping Progression

1 set of Hollow position progression work on floor: first pulling the knees to the chest, then extending one leg, then the other, then finally extending both legs; the goal each time is to work on tilting the pelvis forward and pressing the low back into the floor. Remember, this is NOT an ab exercise! The point of this drill is to teach you control over the hollow position in an unloaded position (i.e., not hanging from the bars). After working through the hollow position progression, class hit one set of hyper-position holds before moving over to the bars to apply these positions to some kipping work.

1 set of 3 Arch & Hollow Holds: the point here is to mimic the two extreme positions of the kip, which were just practiced lying on the floor, but now hanging from the bar. It's usually best to start with the hollow position, holding for at least a 1 to 2 second count, before coming back to center, and then transitioning and holding the hyper position. Athletes cycled between the two positions at least 3 times before coming off the bar.

1 x 5 Arch & Hollow Transitions: think of this as a slow kip; the point is to start blending the two positions of the kip into a continuous and smooth kipping motion but still slower than a full kip; and, finally,

1 x 5 Full Speed Kipping: this is where we speed up the arch and hollow transitions into a full speed kip, with each athlete trying to string together at least 8 to 10 smooth and controlled kips before coming off the bar.

Met-Con: 6 x 30 seconds On / 30 seconds Off of

Box jumps,

KB Swings, and

Double Unders

Short, intense all out efforts with an equal amount rest time. Everyone completed all 6 rounds at one exercise before taking a short break (3-4min) and then moving on to the next exercise. KB Swings were American (overhead) and Double Unders were not scaled - those without appreciable double unders simply used each 30sec time block to work on transitioning from single skips to at least one DU (and then back again if possible).

We did introduce a new standard for the box jumps on Tuesday. Athletes were allowed to choose whatever height of box they wanted for the workout. However, our usual standards of jumping still applied, but with one small tweak: you could step up/step down; you could jump up/step down; or you could jump up/jump down BUT ONLY IF you immediately transitioned back into another jump up (and the immediate transition meant instantaneous - no pausing on the ground and getting reset). This is all about preserving and effectively utilizing tension garnered from the absorption of jumping down. When you immediately rebound into the next jump up, you are using the maximum-amount tension built up in the leg muscles from the absorption of the landing. The longer you spend on the floor, the more tension seeps out of your legs muscles, requiring more exertion for the next jump. With this in mind, it should be easier to understand why the optimal place to rest during box jumps is actually on top of the box, rather than on the floor.

One final point regarding box jumps...or really any jumping of any kind...or, frankly, any explosive movement which uses momentum from the body for power: don't let the knees collapse. We hear this a lot for squats ("knees out!"), but the same applies for push press, jerks, jump rope, and, yes, box jumps. When the knees cave in, either during the jump or during the landing, your knees are incurring what's known as "valgus stress." Let me break that down for you:

The Technical definition: A force applied to a joint that causes the distal aspect of a limb to be moved away from the midline of the body;

The Simple definition: valgus force = ACL tears.

So, definitely something to be avoided. And avoidance is as simple as remembering to keep the knees pushed out and in-line with the toes when performing any of the above exercises. Example:

In this picture, the athlete has let her knees collapse during the take-off of a box jump;

After being reminded to not let the knees collapse, the athlete made sure to push the knees out slightly on the next set of box jumps. The result is pictured here, which in turn required less energy to jump onto the box and felt better.

Nice work all around. There's still time to sign up for the Open. Most information is contained in the header above, as well as the links provided, but please don't hesitate to ask if you're on the fence or simply want to know more before committing. See you all Thursday.

2012-02-13T08:51:00.004-05:00

BUILDING BOX

We love us some box squats at CFDC, and for good reason: "The form is the same as the regular squat but with the added bonus of being able to develop explosive strength." So say's Dave Tate, and since his best squat was over 900 pounds, he probably knows his sh!t when it comes to squatting.

Strength:

2RM Box Squat

Although we perform box squats quite a bit, it's not a bad idea to review a few key points about proper execution.

First, control yourself down onto the box. Don't flop or crash down. The descent should be controlled the entire way: initiate with the hips, forcefully pushing the butt back and slowly controlling your descent until you are fully sitting on the box.

Second (and probably most important when box squatting), when you sit on the box, you are de-loading your legs, NOT your upper body! Your upper body should remain tight from the moment you begin to squat down and should last until after you've sat on the box and stood all the way the back up. The key is taking a deep breath into the abdomen and holding it there - think about squeezing your abs as if someone was going to punch you. The goal should be to hold the breath through out the movement in order to help maintain a tight mid-line and support the spine. Breathing on the box will cost you stability, and shouldn't be done unless it's absolutely necessary (i.e., you're going to pass out). In this circumstance, breath quickly and forcefully - breathing shallow into the lungs, rather than deep into the gut, so that you can maintain tension in the abdomen.

Lastly, due to the nature of the box squat, it's imperative that you have at least two spotters when going for max attempts, especially if you're not working in a cage/power rack. It's damn near impossible to bail on box squat, and extremely tricky for a single spotter to help a lifter up off the box and back into the rack. If, at any time, you don't think a second (or third or fifth or whatever) rep is going to happen, play it smart, and simply re-rack the weight.

Met-Con:

2min each of DB Squat Cleans, Sit Ups, Box Side-Steps, DB Push Press, & Rowing

The met-con was simple and straight forward: perform as many reps as possible in two minutes of each of the above exercises. Everyone's was given 30seconds to rotate to the next exercise, and then repeat. Class only went through the circuit once, but it seemed more than enough to give people's heart-rates a slight increase.

Congratulations to all the lifters who competed this past weekend in Baltimore. I'll try to report on the everyone's final lift numbers as I get them. In the meantime, there's still 9 days left until the first 2012 CrossFit Games Open workout is announced. We now have 17 people signed up for the Open workouts, but we're hoping to see a few more sign up. If you have any doubts, concerns, questions, etc., please don't hesitate to ask.

2012-02-10T11:26:00.001-05:00

OUTPUT

The focus of Thursday's class was pretty straightforward: how much work could you do in the allotted time blocks given? The movements weren't complex, but in order to produce the best numbers, athlete had to switch between a plan-out-the-reps mindset and an all-out-gut-check mindset.

Met-Con:

3 min Strict Pullups, 3 min rest;

3 min Handstand Push Ups, 3 min rest;

2 min DB Thrusters, 2 min rest;

2 min Burpees, 2 min rest;

1 minute Air Squats, 1 min rest; and,

1 minute Push Ups

Any version of pull-ups were allowed, whether it be kipping, strict, assisted, etc. HSPU's were scaled to wall walkers, and the weight for the DB Thrusters was RX'd at two DBs equaling 1/3 body weight for women or 1/2 body weight for men. Score was reps per exercise.

The planning stages were up front in the workout: pull-ups and HSPU's. Going all out in these exercises would net you some reps, but a planned approach, including not going to failure on the first set, will net you more.

At the other end of the spectrum were the exercises that required nothing more than gritting your teeth and doing more: burpees and air squats. You can always do more burpees. You might not feel like it. But you CAN do them.

The Thrusters sort-of fall in between those two mindsets: plan out the reps to minimize the time spent with the DBs sitting on your shoulders, but also grit your teeth and push for those reps as exhaustion catches up with you. By the time the push-ups rolled around, it was one minute of staving off complete muscular failure.

The size of class required two groups, with one working while the other rested, and once both groups were done and had caught their breath, everyone hit the mats for some static core work.

1 x Max V-Sit for time;

...followed shortly by...

1 x Max Plank Hold for time

In the end, it was Andraea in the 6pm class and TM in the 7pm taking top honors, each holding the plank position for just over 3 minutes.

Great work across the board. The energy in the gym has been raging lately, and it's pretty awesome to see. Is this due to the recent Smackdown? Perhaps because of the impending 2012 CF Games Open qualifiers? Both? Whatever it is, here's hoping it doesn't die off.

Speaking of the Smackdown, we're still receiving lots of follow-up enthusiasm and compliments. Our goal going into the competition was to ensure that everyone could do the workouts, but more than that, we wanted everyone to have fun. While the first was relatively easy to plan for and monitor, the second one was somewhat more nebulous. The constant feedback, however, has really let us know how much people enjoyed it. And while we could go on and write at length about the positives of friendly, accessible competition, it's probably much better to share blog posts from two of the competitors.

The first is from CFDC-alum (and recent returnee!) Monica Niska (pictured above):

CrossFit & "The Principle"

The second is from current CFDC-athlete and yogini Mary Catherine Starr:

A Strong Dose of Adrenaline...Does the Body Good?

Thank you ladies; truly, it can't be said any better than that.

As well, you all probably noticed that extremely large header that's been added to the top of the blog regarding the 2012 CrossFit Games Open competition. That's there to stay for a while, and although 15 CFDC athletes have registered so far, we're looking to grow that number significantly in the coming weeks. If you have any questions, or are debating signing up, please don't hesitate to ask.

Finally, Best of Luck to Coach Mike, Coach Sara, Reggie, Tom A., Jenn Sargent, and Henry who are all competing at the Baltimore Open Olympic weightlifting competition this weekend!

2012-02-08T11:47:00.001-05:00

PLATE AND SIMPLE

What better way to stretch out some tight and tender hamstrings than with some hamstring-focused Romanian Deadlifts?

Strength:

5 x 5 RDL

The RDL is a sort-of "top down" deadlift; instead of picking the weight up off the floor, the weight starts at the waist and then get's lowered down as far as the hamstrings will allow before the lifter returns to standing.

"As far the hamstrings will allow" is the absolute key to the RDL. Once the hamstrings have reached their maximum stretch point, and the hips stop moving backwards, that is the end-point to the RDL. Any extra distance - i.e., lowering the bar any farther - will be a result of hinging at the waist.

If you have flexible hammies, and you can push your hips back far enough to allow the bar to reach your shins, fine. If you have tight hammies, and you can only manage to push your hips back enough to allow the bar to reach your knees, fine. If you have tight hamstrings, but are somehow managing to touch the floor with the bar, then you are (A) hinging at the waist for the sake of more depth, (B) probably letting the shoulders reach forward towards the ground (as opposed to keeping the shoulders blades pulled back), and/or (C) rounding the back to some degree.

Remember, the RDL is about lengthening and strengthening the hamstrings, not proving how deep you can get the weight to the floor. Keep that in mind next time RDLs (or their kin, Good Mornings) show up in a workout.

Met-Con:

15min Partner WOD; Plate Push & Double Unders

Although the original intent was 5-4-3-2-1 Plate Pushes mixed with 35 Double Unders, a rather large 6pm class required a slight alteration. Instead, class worked in pairs for 15 minutes, with one partner performing a half-court plate push (W @ 25lbs, M @ 45lbs) while the other partner performed AMRAP double unders (scaled to single skips).

The catch was that, with only a half-court to go, the plate pushes were slightly faster than usual, meaning you had to get back to the jump rope as quickly as possible. If you took your time, and used the transition from plate to rope as rest, then your total jump rope numbers (the only score that mattered for this workout) would suffer.

I can't help but think the 6pm class was so much bigger as people tried to get in early before the entirety of the BBall court was wiped clean. Fear not, this was the reason the plate pushes were RX'd at half court only; the 6pm class gets to use 1 side of the court, and the 7pm the other side.

Hopefully everyone's feeling nice and limber by now. The Smackdown web-album has been updated with more pics, so be sure to check them out. Also, we'll have some new links accompanied by a special blog-post regarding the 2012 CrossFit Games Open Qualifiers. I know at least 7 CFDC athletes have signed up so far, but we're looiking to grow that number greatly. If you simply can't wait for the post, check out a few of the links at the top left hand side of the page above.

2012-02-07T12:52:00.001-05:00

SMACKED DOWN!!!

Once again, I just want to say how awesome it was to have so many athletes from the DC, Dupont, and Balance crews come out this past Saturday to compete, as well as cheer on their fellow classmates. The energy and exertion was exciting, and hopefully will lead to more and more interest in future competitions. As coaches, I know we couldn't be any happier or impressed with how each of our athletes performed - this includes not just the physical exertion, but also the camaraderie and sportsmanship.

If you weren't able to make it out, you can check out the workouts below, including the vaunted 4th and final Sandbag Chipper, and a few pics from the weekend. There's also a link to online photo album at the bottom - photos are still coming, and we'll be sure to keep updating the album.

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BALANCE GYM TEAM SMACKDOWN

Saturday, February 4th, 2012

WOD 1:

8 min Max Reps DL

The first workout was for the entire team, and including an escalating point-per-rep which was based on 5 different weight options:

Weight options & Score per Rep:

95 M=0 / W=1

135 M=1 / W=2

185 M=2 / W=4

225 M=3 / W=6

275 M=4 / W=8

This meant that athletes could choose what weight they wanted on the bar, but in order maximize the time allotted (while also maximizing points), teams had to plan ahead and make the transitions as smooth and seamless as possible. To help, there were two bars per team, but the teams had to alternate between male and female competitors. Seems simple, but there was actually quite a bit of strategy required to maximize your team's potential.

WOD 2:

3 x 12 HR Burpees, 24 Sit-Ups, & Bear Crawl

The second workout was limited to one male and female competitor from each team. The two partners alternated back and forth, with each completing a full round before the other could go. So, Partner A did 12 hand-release burpees, 24 sit-ups, and then bear crawled 50 feet (25 feet out and back) before tagging Partner B, who then did 12 HR burpees, 24 sit-ups, and then bear crawled 50 feet (25 feet out and back).

Partners went back and forth in this manner until each had completed 3 full rounds. Scoring was based on time, but there was a 15 min Time Cap with a 5 sec penalty assessed per incomplete rep.

WOD 3:

8min AMRAP Shoulder-to-OH // Sprints

The third workout was again limited to one male and one female competitor from each team, AND it had to be the two who didn't compete in the second workout. The third workout brought back the barbells for some overhead work, and the score was by total reps and again included a scaled points-per-rep scheme based on the weight used:

Weight options & Score per Rep:

65 M = .5 / W = 1

95 M = 1 / W = 2

115 M = 1.5 / W = 3

135 M = 2 / W = 4

However, there was a slight catch this time around: First, weights had to be chosen before the workout started, and couldn't be changed during the workout (well, you could scale down the weight if you chose a weight that was too heavy, but that would negate all the work done prior). Second, each time a partner put the bar down, they had to complete 8 50-foot sprints (or 4 over-&-back widths of the BBall court) and tag their partner before the other partner could start on the overhead (including strict press, push press, push jerk, and split jerk). Partners alternated back and forth to complete as many reps as possible in the course of 8 minutes.

At the end of the 3 workouts, the scores were tallied, and then the 4th and final workout was introduced for the top 5 teams......except, there were 6 teams in the top 5! Yes, believe it or not, there was a tie for 5th place. This called for a tie-breaker - something that would separate the teams, but leave the tie-winner in a condition to still complete the final workout. To this end, each of the two teams tied for 5th were told to choose one male and one female for the tie-breaker, BUT without actually knowing what the tie breaker was.

Tie-Breaker WOD: 30sec Row for Distance

The premise was simple, each of the selected athletes from the 2 teams had 30 seconds to row as far as they could. The timer was reset and distance zeroed out in between. Simple, but effective. And, now that there were only 5 teams in the top 5, it was time for the final workout.

WOD 4: Smackdown Finale, AKA, the Sandbag Chipper

1 x wheelbarrow walk (full ct and back)

20 Zercher Squats with Sand Bag (M 75lb / W 55lb)

2 x Sand Bag push (full ct and back) (M 75lb / W 55lb)

20 stationary Lunges with Sandbag (M 75lb / W 55lb)

2 x Sandbag Zercher carry (full ct and back) (M 75lb / W 55lb)

1 x team-builder suicide

If any one on the top five teams had gas left in the tank after the first three workouts, they surely spent it here. Each teammate had to complete all the reps of a given exercise before the next teammate started, and everyone had to finish one exercise before the team could move on to the next exercise. For the wheelbarrow walks, each teammate had to walk on their hands at least once, although any teammate could do the holding. Of course, being Kalorama, you know pushing weight across the floor was gonna have to be a part of the festivities, with everything capped off by a nice team builder suicide.

A great event with even greater people. Thanks to everyone for being a part of it, whether it was as an athlete or competitor. Much more is in store for the future, including a chance to run through the final workout as an upcoming class (which was requested by more than a few people).

Until then, though, enjoy a few more pics from the event:

Smackdown

2012-02-06T12:14:00.000-05:00

SNATCHED UP

Congrats again to all the athletes who competed in the Smackdown on Saturday, and a big thanks to all the CFDCers who came out to cheer on their fellow athletes. The turnout, and resulting energy, was awesome, and while all the teams performed admirably, it was really inspiring to see some of our first time competitors push themselves. The event was a true success, and will hopefully lead to more such events in the future. We'll post a few pics, as well as a link to even more pics, later today.

In the meantime, a quick recap of Sunday's class, which could've been run as a competition itself with nearly 30 people showing up to workout!

Strength:

8 x 2 Power Snatch

Sunday's class really lucked out, and had both Sara and Jenn Sergeant helping out with form and technique.It's been a while since we reviewed the points of performance for the snatch, and this seems like as good a time as any to re-post our Points of Review for the Snatch, as I heard both Sara and Jenn pass along a number of these pointers more than a few times Sunday morning:

THINGS TO REMEMBER:

(1) Start with shoulders slightly in front of the bar, body weight over your ankles, butt low(er than a deadlift), and chest up. Your gaze will be neutral to slightly downward. Hands are wide with, preferably, a hook grip employed;

(2) Pull off the floor and imagine pushing your feet down through it. This keeps your shoulders in front of the bar for a longer period of time but keeps the hips from rising faster than the shoulders. Quads and hamstrings will engage at approximately equal force;

(3) As the bar passes your knees, explode upwards with STRAIGHT arms, and imagine driving your shoulders through the ceiling. Be sure to get full extension. The rise of the bar and a straight bar path comes from the smooth transfer of force from the legs through the shoulders.

(4) Pull yourself under the bar at a faster rate than the bar is falling. Snap the bar into position with shoulders driven up towards the ears (active shoulders) to support the weight. Be sure to engage the glutes and abs so prevent over-arching and keep the chest up. This will help put, and keep, the bar over your body's center of gravity.

THINGS TO AVOID:

(5) Pulling early with the arms. The most common fault with a lot of lifters, where-in they will begin pulling the weight upwards with their arms before they've hit full extension. This negates the power generated by the hips, and will severely limit the amount of weight that can be lifted;

(6) Donkey kicking or stomping your feet. This kills the upward-driving power in your first and second pulls. The sound your feet make should come from the speed from which they transition to the squat position, not the force from which you pick them up and slam them down;

(7) Watch for the hip hitch. This bumps the weight out causing you to over-compensate to get under the bar. Instead, focus on an upward shoulder drive with full extension;

- - Note that No. 5, as well as No.'s 6 and 7 to some degree, can be corrected by really focusing on No. 2 above:getting a full extension through the second pull. - -

(8) Lastly, take YouTube videos of top level athletes for what they are: amazing and entertaining feats by strong athletes. It's not always a good idea copy or mimic your favorite lifter's specialized lifting techniques. Like a Major Leaguer's baseball swing, no two are alike. Similarly, an elite level weightlifter's mechanics may have been honed over years and tailor-made for his or her body. Examples include extreme laybacks and bumping the weight with your hips. There are a host of reasons why it works for an elite athlete but not for the novice. It's best to stick to the fundamentals with an emphasis on a straight bar path and making the lift as simple as possible.

Met-Con:

Tabata Push-Ups, Sit-Ups, Squats, & Mtn Climbers

With such a big class, and such limited space in the studio, things moved down the basketball court for a short tabata-themed met-con. For this version, everyone rotated through the exercises one after the other - so, instead of finishing all rounds of an exercise before moving on to the next, athletes performed 20sec of work of one exercise, and then rotated to the next exercise during their 10sec break. This kept up until everyone had completed five rounds of each exercise.

Not a bad way to start off Superbowl Sunday. Please be sure to check back later today and tomorrow for some information laden posts, including pictures and a quick run-down from Saturday, and information regarding the 2012 CrossFit Games Open Qualifiers!

2012-02-03T11:21:00.000-05:00

BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS

Just FYI: The Smackdown workouts have been announced! Click the link...or you can simply scroll down to the previous post...

With a few heavy workouts in the bag, and a weekend full of competition and more heavy work, Thursday's classes focused on some explosive plyometric work followed by some interval conditioning.

Plyometrics:

Broad Jumps and Bounding

1 x 5 Broad Jumps

5 broad jumps, maximizing each broad jump to cover as much distance as possible, followed by a light jog to the far end of the bball court. Speed was not a consideration, only maximum distance covered in each jump.

1 x High Bounding (1/2 court)

Also known as "power skips." Although the high bounding was done to 1/2 court, these are not distance-focused; rather, the emphasis is on driving the knee, and by extension the body, as high as possible on each bound. Speed was not a consideration, only driving as high as possible with each skip. Upon reaching 1/2 court, lightly jog the remaining 1/2 court.

1 x Broad Jump x 40'

Instead of a set number of jumps, the goal this round was to cover a set distance (~40', or half the length of the bball court) in as few jumps as possible. Once again, neither speed nor time was a factor, allowing athletes to concentrate on maximizing each broad jump.

2 x Long Bounding (Full Court)

Although termed "bounding," this exercise was very different from the earlier high-bounds/power-skips. The goal is to maximize the distance covered with each stride. The arms and knee-drive still play a large part, but the front leg must now extend, reaching forward. The goal was to cover the length of the bball court in as few strides as possible.

2 x Broad Jump 80' for Time

The culminating exercise was to broad jump the length of the court as fast as possible. Distance covered by each jump will be slightly diminished, but the goal is to use the absorption when landing as the set-up for the next jump (as opposed to absorbing, standing, re-loading, then jumping again). Use of the arms is a must, as is maintaining good posture. Without fully utilizing the arms, both timing and balance will be greatly impaired. Without good posture, stringing together consecutive jumps will become increasingly difficult, as the body fights to re-right itself after each jump while also preparing for the next instantaneous jump.

The focus on posture and explosive movement was not an abstract piece of class, however, as the met-con would involve multiple movements with very similar demands.

Met-Con:

3 Rounds of

- 1 minute max reps Box Jumps;

- 1 minute max reps Wall ball;

- 1 minute REST;

- 1 minute max reps DB Squat Cleans;

- 1 minute max reps Sit-Ups;

- 1 minutes REST

Weight for the DB Squat Cleans was prescribed so that both DB's equaled roughly 1/3 body weight for the ladies, and 1/2 body weight for the gents.

The explosive requirement in the met-con should be evident, whether it's moving the body through space (as with the box jumps), or using the body to move an object through space (as with the wall balls and squat cleans). The ab-mat sit-ups are not simply a random add-in either. As with the pre-metcon plyometric work, posture plays a huge roll in the three other movements, and core stability is the ultimate arbiter of posture. Lose the core, and the first thing you'll notice is chest drop, which makes it hard to jump as high, or throw the ball straight up, or hit full extension with the DB's.

A reminder to come out and support your fellow athletes at the Smackdown tomorrow if you're around. Also, class will be at it's regular time on Sunday, including the 9am Elements (which will cover push press, push jerk, and kettlebell swings).

2012-02-02T23:45:00.001-05:00

BALANCE GYM SMACKDOWN

Saturday, February 4th, 2012

General Information

3 workouts, plus a 4th and final showdown for the top 5:

WOD #1: full team (all 4 members compete)
WOD #2: 1 male & 1 female
WOD #3: 1 male & 1 female (must be different pair from WOD #2)
WOD #4: ???

Rank assigned on a “rank equals points” system (i.e., first place equals 1 point)

WOD #1 scored by reps
WOD #2 scored by time
WOD #3 scored by reps
WOD #4 ???
Lowest total points equals highest ranking (i.e., three first place finishes results in three total points and puts that team in 1st place)
5 teams with the highest rankings will compete in a 4th and final workout to determine Winner and Runner Up

WOD 1: 8 min Max Reps DL
(full team, points-based scoring)

Weight options: Score per Rep:
95 M=0 / W=1
135 M=1 / W=2
185 M=2 / W=4
225 M=3 / W=6
275 M=4 / W=8

Two bars per team, but only one teammate lifting at a time. Each teammate must complete at least one rep. Lifters must alternate between male and female. As one teammate lifts, the other 3 mate load the second bar as needed.

Deadlift Standards:

Starting Position: both plates must touch the ground;
Finished Position: the hip and knee must be fully extended.
Deadlifts may be done in a touch-and-go style, but the weight can NOT be bounced or forcefully rebounded off the floor.

WOD 2: 3 x 12 HR Burpees, 24 Sit-Ups, & Bear Crawl*
(1 M/ 1 F, time-based scoring)

Partners alternate rounds until each has completed 3 rounds a piece of 12 hand release burpees, 24 sit-ups and 1 50 foot bear crawl. For example, Partner A does 12 burpees, 24 sit-ups, and then bear crawls 50 feet (25 feet out and back) before tagging Partner B, who does 12 burpees, 24 sit-ups, and then bear crawls 50 feet (25 feet out and back).
* There is a 15 min Time Cap; a 5 sec penalty will be assessed per incomplete rep

Burpee Standards:

Bottom Position: Chest must be touching the ground, with hands clearly off the ground;
Top Position: hips fully extending with a clap overhead;

AB Mat Sit-Ups Standards:

Starting Position: shoulders must touch ground;
Finished Position: hands must touch feet (may be anchored by partner) and heels must remain in contact with ground.

WOD 3: 8min AMRAP Shoulder-to-OH // Sprints
(1 M/1 F, points based scoring)

Weight options: Score per Rep:
65 M = .5 / W = 1
95 M = 1 / W = 2
115 M = 1.5 / W = 3
135 M = 2 / W = 4

Partners alternate with only partner working at a time. Partner A performs as many consecutive shoulder-to-overhead as possible; if the bar is dropped, or passes below the chest on any rep, Partner A must run 8 sprints (1 sprint = 25 feet). Partner B may only begin their shoulder-to-overhead once Partner A is completely done with the sprints. Bar for the Ground-to-OH starts on the ground. During the sprints, bar must remain on the ground until the sprinting partner finishes. There will be 2 bars per platform, but weights must be chosen at the beginning of the workout and cannot be changed during the workout (scaling down during the workout is allowed, but will negate all previous lifts by that partner).

Shoulder-to-OH Standards:

Starting Position: the bar must touch the front shoulder or collarbone;
Ending Position: Knees must be fully extended with the arms fully extended overhead and the ear visible.
A lifter may not rack the bar on their back.
A broken set is when the bar is dropped or passes below the chest line.

Sprint Standards:

One hand must visibly touch the indicated line at each end of the course.

WOD 4: To Be Determined...

2012-02-01T09:20:00.000-05:00

TO L WITH 'EM ALL

Has it really been 3 weeks since our last front squat session? Why, yes it has. And, why, lookie here, it's time for some more front squats. This time around, the front squats were mixed with some upper-back/core work in the form of L Pull-Ups; however, both were really a stalling tactic for the met-con to follow.

Strength:

5 x 5 Front Squats + L-Hang Pull-Ups

Tuesday's program called for 2 to 3 warm-up sets mixed with two different mobility exercises, followed by 5 working sets of 5 reps which were mixed with the aforementioned L Pull-Ups. If L Pull-Ups were a no go, scaling included strict pull-ups or negatives (but only 2-3 negatives at a time).

Met-Con:

8 min to complete 500m Row, AMRAP Push Press, and Burpees

(PP + Burpee = 100 total reps)

Seems confusing, but it's actually quite straight forward: row 500m, then move immediately to the push press. Perform as many unbroken push press as possible, resting only in the front rack position (not on the ground, and not in the squat racks) for no more than 2 seconds. Once you put the bar down, subtract the number of push press completed from 100, and that's the number of burpees you need to complete in whatever time remains in the 8 minutes.

Weights for the push press were set at 95 and 75 for guys, 75 and 55 for the ladies. Of course, you didn't really have to do any math in the middle of the workout - simply start your burpee count where you left off in the push press, and don't stop till you get to 100. Congrats to Dan and Julia on finishing before time was up, and a shout out to Robin for coming within a scant 2 reps of finishing. Anyone else come within 5 reps of finishing? 10 reps?

Great work across the board in a class with two very intense work portions. Just a reminder: the Smackdown is taking place this upcoming Saturday, February 4th. The event will kick-off at 11AM, with the first workout most likely starting at 11:30. There will be 3 workouts per team, with a 4th workout for the top 5. If you're signed up, start getting psyched. If you're not signed up, but will be around, please stop by to cheer on your fellow crossfitters and classmates!

2012-01-30T11:57:00.000-05:00

PULL AHEAD

It was a slightly more intimate group this past Sunday - and by intimate, I mean not 25-plus people - which worked out well as CFDC reached back for an old school double-strength and simple-metcon type class.

Strength 1:

5RM Overhead Squat

Overhead squats are clearly one of those love-hate exercises: either you love them, or you love to hate them.The rep scheme for the OHS was set up as 10, 10, 8, 5, 5, 5, with the basic goal being to find a 5RM for the day. They can be maddeningly frustrating, mostly due to the fact that they require so many different attributes (mobility, flexibility, strength, balance, and, maybe, just a bit of patience - perhaps we should suggest adding that to the 10 general skills of CF?).

But perhaps one of the best things about OHS is that you can't really cheat on them. Oh, sure, you can short the depth of your squat, but that will quickly get you called out by a coach or your classmates (or both). But there are no real corners to cut in order to get around personal deficiencies. You can't muscle through them. You can't drop, bounce, swing, or really use any sort of momentum. The addition of any of these, and the weight overhead will quickly let you know you are trying to cheat or are getting lazy by promptly falling to the floor. It's just good form and lots of control.

Strength 2:

3 x 3 Clean High Pull

The pulls, either snatch or clean, are great tools for teaching the explosive portion of the Olympic lifts without having to worry about the "catch." This means a lifter can concentrate on generating maximum power through the extension in the second pull, without getting caught up in how he or she is going to receive the weight. The lack of catch, or receiving the bar, also means that lifter can use more weight than they typically would be able to clean or snatch.

Sunday's class focused on two basic variations of the clean pull:

The basic Clean Pull, done from the floor with half just the shrug portion of the second pull (as seen HERE in this video from Performance Menu); and,

The Clean High Pull, also done from the floor, but with a full second pull, including both the shrug and arm-pull (as seen HERE in this second video from Performance Menu).

There is also an extended version of the clean high pull in which the lifter also adds the beginning of the third pull (pulling under the weight).

As seen above, the lifter quickly hits full extension, shrugs, and then pulls with the arms while simultaneously unlocking the knees a second time. This initiates the third pull, and is a great addition for working that tricky transition from power cleans to full Olympic clean (a.k.a., the squat clean - a term which I realize most Olympic lifters frown on).

Met-Con:

2 x Team Suicides

Teams were set up as randomly assigned groups of 3 for Sunday's iteration of the team suicides. The Team Suicides have made an appearance once or twice before in CFDC, but in case you need a reminder, here's how a single team suicide goes: teammate 1 runs a full suicide (half, back, full, back, half, back) as an individual, then teammates 1 & 2 run a full suicide together (arms locked or around the shoulders), the teammates 1, 2 & 3 run a full suicide together, at which point teammate 1 drops off, and teammates 2 & 3 run a full suicide together, and then, finally, teammate 3 runs a full suicide as an individual.

Great work all around. There's clearly a lot of improvement on form, and it shows. Keep up the good work. Also, congrats to Dan on he and Danielle's second place finish in District CrossFit's Battle for the Capitol competition on Saturday. Lastly, if you're still interested in competing in the Smackdown, registration has been removed from the CrossFit Balance webpage, but there are a few spaces left, so please let Tom or I know if you're interested.

2012-01-27T09:38:00.002-05:00

LEAPIN' LIZARDS!

After a run of tough workouts, things were dialed back a bit Thursday, focusing on skills and balance.

Met-Con:

"ANNIE"

50-40-30-20-10 DU's & Sit-Ups

Double Unders were scaled to triple-singles (i.e., instead of 50 DUs, do 150 single skips). The guideline for whether or not to switch over to single skips was whether or not a person could, with some regularity, hit 15 or more double unders - this included single-double or single-single-double. If not - if someone was still only putting together 5 double unders at the most - then it was definitely the time to do the single skip replacement. Remember, the goal is to get a similar response out of the workout, not labor away at it for ages.

Good Posture? Check. Good Double Unders? Check. Coincidence? Probably not.

(Results to be posted soon...)

With ample time left, class was then dedicated to working on some imbalances, followed by some much needed stretching.

Skill-Strength:

3 x 8-12 Single Leg Deadlifts

Using DBs or KBs, perform anywhere between 8 to 12 reps of single leg deadlifts per leg. Although labelled as a deadlift, the single leg DLs are a top-down movement (weight starts at the hips and lowers down toward the shins), as opposed to picking the weight up off the floor as in a true DL. Thus, the movement is really more akin to the RDL, and it's more instructive to look at the points of performance for the RDL when performing single leg DLs.

Chiefly, the movement is about pushing the hips back, not simply bending at the waist or rounding the lower back to touch the weight to the floor. The back should stay flat, with the shoulders pulled back, at all times, and the movement should stop when the hips fail to move back any farther. If you have tight hamstrings, your hips may not move very far - this is fine, so long as your maintaining good posture. What isn't fine is when, in an attempt to lower the weight farther, you start hinging at the waist, rounding the back, or tilting the shoulders (or some combination of all of these) to reach the weight towards the floor.

This is a really instructive photo,

as Kenna's in a great position for the single leg DL:

chest up; shoulders square; scapula pulled back and down; flat back without over arching; and her hips really pushed back, loading up her left hamstring.

The remaining time in class was dedicated to flexibility, including a good dose of calf stretching (essential after all the jump roping), as well as some supine wall straddles, which really turned out to be a good indication of where your level of flexibility currently lies...

"I'm sorry dear, were you saying something about my jump roping? Perhaps if you could push your knees to the wall, I could hear you better."

Nice to see people really getting after those pesky DUs. Stay dry, and we'll see you all on Sunday.

2012-01-25T11:04:00.000-05:00

DOUBLE BACK

If you thought that the two (not one, but TWO) met-cons on Tuesday looked familiar, you wouldn't be wrong. That's because both have been class features on two recent but separate occasions (one less than a month ago on January 3rd, and the other not long before that on December 27th). Each are short but brutish met-cons in their own right, but when paired up, it definitely became an exercise in pushing through the suck (despite the soothing 10min rest in between).

Met-Con #1:

6 minute AMRAP of 6 HS cleans (95/65) & 12 HR Push-Ups

In 6 minutes, perform as many rounds as possible of 6 hang squat cleans and 12 hand release push-ups. Weight for the hang squat cleans was RX'd at 95lbs for guys and 65lbs for ladies, but everyone was given the option to scale to a weight appropriate for their needs. Additionally, those still working on cleans (or just plain uncomfortable with the HS Clean) could perform a hang power clean and then front squat the weight. Score was total rounds and reps.

---- 10 min Rest ----

Met-Con #2:

6 minute AMRAP Cluster/Burpee Ladder

In 6 minutes, perform as many ascending sets of the cluster/burpee ladder as possible, adding an additional rep of each exercise with each additional round. Thus, the first set was 1 cluster and 1 burpee, the second set was 2 of each, the third three of each, and so on. The Cluster is a Clean and Thruster combo, and athlete's had the option to either squat clean the weight right into a thruster, or perform a power clean and then thruster the weight. Regardless, each clean had to start from the floor.

The combination of these two workouts really serves to hammer home the importance of a stable front rack position, and by stable, we mean with the bar resting on the tops of the shoulders with the elbows up and triceps parallel to the floor (as opposed to the a position where the weight of the bar is born in the hands rather than on the shoulders, and the elbows are pulled down and pointing at the floor).

A good rack position can be the source of a lot of pain and frustration for many athletes. As discovered Tuesday, the inability to get into a good rack position affects a whole host of exercises, including front squats, cleans, and thrusters, as well as the pressing triumverate of strict press/push press/jerks. Oddly enough, it's relatively easy to combat this frustration (and by easy, I mean of course that the solution is accessible to all). It just takes a lit bit of time, along with a big dose of desire to fix the primary issue: limited mobility & flexibility.

If you'd like your front rack position to look as comfortable as this, read on....

If you're one of the people struggling to obtain and/or maintain a good rack position (and don't worry, there's a lot of you), ask yourself: what am I doing to work on this? If the answer is "nothing, really," then why not? If it's simply a lack of resources, look no further than the perma-link on the left hand side of our blog entitled Mobility WOD. This link to KStarr's website has been there for over 6 months now. Click the link, and throw "front rack" into the MWOD search box, and you'll discover at least 9 different videos concerning various fixes for problem points of the front rack, including this great discussion about honestly assessing what it is that's affecting your front rack/front squat position and then figuring out how to fix it:

Using this video as a guide, as well as the other 8 related "front rack" videos in KStarr's collection, begin attacking your limitations - all it takes is a few minutes before/after each class or trip to the gym.

Of course, just because you don't have issues with the front rack position doesn't mean you're home free. Let's face it, we all have those movements that frustrate us to no end due, in large part, to the limitations imposed on our ROM (Range of Motion). These limitation are self imposed as a result of un-addressed sticking points in our mobility/flexibility, and while some of us have more, each of us has one that usually dominates, be it awkward ankles, high-strung hamstrings, unhingeable hip flexors, or stingy shoulders.

So, with the new year now in full swing, and what I hope is a subtle realization that none of these "frustrating" lifts are ever going away, I ask all of you to rededicate yourselves to working on those major sticking points of yours.

Now then, rest up, roll out, and we'll see you soon for some more fun later this week.

2012-01-23T09:57:00.005-05:00

CLEAN ENERGY

Another big Sunday class was greeted with another big dose of the cleans - not that that's a bad thing of course.

Strength Warm-Up 1:

1 x 3 x 1 Hang Clean Shrug + 1 Tall Clean

After general warm-up on the court, class broke out into groups of 3-4 people to prep for the days strength session, which started by highlighting two of the most important pieces of the clean: full extension and speed pulling oneself under the bar. To do this, everyone did one set with the bar only, alternating between one hang clean shrug (basically the "jump and shrug" portion of the clean) and one tall clean (from the tip-toes, shrugging and pulling into a full squat clean) until they had done 3 of each.

Strength Warm-Up 2:

2 x 1 x 1 Tall Clean + 1 HS Clean

The second warm-up set had everyone build on the first, by again performing the tall clean, but then following it with a hang squat clean. The first focuses on speed under the bar, while the second piece helps by adding some hip extension (the "jump and shrug" piece) to provide a little more weightlessness to the bar, which of course translates into more time to pull under the weight. Individuals performed the first set of 1 tall clean and 1 HS clean with the bar only, and then added weight for the second set.

Strength:

10 x Clean & Jerk Combo

(1 Power Clean + 1 HS Clean + 1 PP/PJ/SJ)

Finally, each group was given 8-10 minutes to find a working weight for the combo (which, for most, should've been in the neighborhood of 60 to 65% of your 1RM clean). Working sets were un-timed, but the goal was to rest no longer than 3 minutes in between sets. In this manner, each group rotated through until each individual had completed 10 sets of 1 power clean, 1 hang squat clean, and 1 push press/push jerk/split jerk.

The big emphasis here, by way of practical comparison, is on the proper application of the second and third pulls of the clean. In the power clean, the second pull (from the top of the knees to the hips/stomach area) must necessarily be extremely powerful, since the weight must travel much higher - all the way up to at least the sternum - in order to be properly received in the rack position. There is a bit of a third pull as lifters will often bend the knees slightly to recieve the bar in a power clean, but it's no where near as clear of a third pull as in the hang squat clean. In the hang squat clean, the second pull, although still powerful, takes a slight back seat to a true third pull, in which the lifter pulls themself under the bar to receive it in the rack position.

Now, take a look back at the warm-up sets and look at the progression that built up that emphasis by first isolating and then re-combining those integral pieces: the first warm-up set isolated the second pull (the hang clean pull) from the third pull (the tall clean); the second warm-up set started with the isolated third pull (the tall clean), and then reintroduced the second pull, merging it with the third pull (the hang squat clean).

If this all sounds like gibberish to you, take a minute and make the jump to our "CLEANED-OUT!" blog-post discussing the three pulls of the Olympic lifts and the common errors associated with each. At this point, the points made in that post should be at the forefront of everyone's mind whenever either of the Olympic lifts come up in class.

Met-Con:

3 x 1 min ON + 1 min OFF of Thrusters (95/65), Burpee, & K2E

Performed in the roughly the same groups as for the strength portion in a follow-the-leader style: Partner 1 performed 1 min of thrusters while Partners 2 & 3 rested. On the second minute, P1 and P3 rested while P2 performed their thrusters. On the third minute, P2 rested while P1 performed burpees and P2 performed thrusters. The workout continued in this manner until each partner had completed 3 full rounds.

Great work in another big class. There are some great improvements across the board in people's cleans - the attention to detail is really starting to pay off. Keep up the good work!

2012-01-20T12:08:00.001-05:00

INTRA-ABDOMINAL SNOWMAN

As the title suggests, Thursday night was all about intra-abdominal control - mastering your midsection to maintain good form and posture throughout the entire 15 minutes of workout. This is inspite of the fact that the workout featured three seemingly unrelated exercises to accomplish this: deadlifts, wall walkers, and overhead carry.

WOD:

15 min to complete

(A) 5 x 9 Deadlifts & 3 Wall Walkers, then,

(B) AMRAP DB OH-Walks

If you've been keeping track, twice in the past two months class has performed a workout with striking similarities to Thursday's: the Deadlift, Hollow Holds, Handstand workout (first done on November 21st, and then again on December 23rd). The big difference, of course, was the pace.

The two originators were done with prescribed rest and with two of the exercises, the Hollow Holds and Handstands, done in a static position. Thursday night's workout was an all out push over the course of 15 minutes with each movement done under load. The key aspect was of course the concentration required to maintain form and position through the mid-line (your "core"). Allow the mid-section to relax during the deadlifts, and the result is an overly rounded back. Conversely, allow the mid-section to relax during the wall walkers, and the result is an over-arched back (with the stomach sagging towards the floor and wall). Of course, allow the mid-section to relax during the overhead carry, and you could end up with either, although admittedly the tendency is to over-arch.

That's Brendan starting his 8th rep on the 5th round - rep 44 of 45 - and still maintaining great control over his position and form.

A big factor in the workout was the selection of weight. Deadlifts were RX'd at 60-70% of your 1RM (if known), while the OH Carry was done with two DBs equaling roughly half BW. Points of Performance were reviewed, and guidelines established for what constituted acceptable form during the workout. Those points of performance also included a new time-out-style rule which allowed any coach to have an athlete pause during the workout for a given amount of rest time when (A) their form strayed beyond what was acceptable and (B) the athlete refused to stop themselves.

I can say with all sincerity that the over-all attention to form during Thursday's workout was really impressive, especially by some of our more notorious individuals with uber-flexible backs. However, that's not to say that last night's new rule was a one-time only deal. Not by a long shot.

The Forced Rest Rule

For lack of a better term, we're going to call this the new rule the Forced Rest Rule. It's basically an upgraded version of the No Rep rule (as defined, and explained, in our 'Standards, Progress and "No Rep"!' blog post). The No Rep rule ensures full range of motion during a workout. The result of the No Rep Rule is that everyone is performing the same complete movements, and, consequently, finishing the same workout. That's not to say that the Forced Rest rule can't be used as a sort-of "No Rep Plus" mechanism, to be used when someone is repeatedly no repped. But its primary goal is grounded more in safety, rather than fairness.

The timing is not random, as it was just last week that we posted an extended post about regarding safety ('WARM UNDER THE COLLAR'). Specifically, we commented that a big part of a coach's job is keeping all of you safe: showing you how to properly execute a movement, and then ensuring you follow through on that execution as you add weight or reps. The new Rule represents a rather blunt tool which helps us institute the latter. It allows a coach to stop someone mid-workout to correct their form, or force them to take a breath and re-focus on their execution, or even adjust their weights.

Weights are prescribed, and adjusted, based on what will deliver the best results for your strength and fitness. When we ask you to calculate weights based off a max effort lift, we're looking for a max effort achieved with good form (not perfect form, I'll grant you, but definitely good form). This is not done by using a weight you lifted with form that was so horrendous, the entire gym walked away doubled oevr in pain. Nor is it done using a weight you want to lift in the near future. It's a weight you've achieved. With good form. Somewhat recently (not five-plus years ago. And preferably, with some consistency (i.e., more than once is great).

But Coach, if I want to hit a PR, why wouldn't I train using that weight as my goal?

Because your body isn't ready. You'd be over-reaching. Be smart, build your body up to sustain that weight. Just ask your friend and mine, Paula Deen. She liked burgers. She liked donuts. Don't we all?! But then she decided to combine them. She over-reached. Did she make a lot of money in the process? Sure. But she also ended up with diabetes. So, could you make that awesome PR lift without properply preparing your body for it? Possibly. But is it also worth wrecking yourself permanently in the process? No, no it's not.

There really isn't a person in our extended CFDC-family that isn't getting stronger - just look at all the squat PRs continuously set over the last two months, as well as all the ladies now banging out legit strict pull-ups! None of these people is getting there through over reaching. They're achieving this through smart choices (scaling and appropriate weights) and hard work. We all have goals of where we want to get to, and sometimes those goals are strength based. However, the steps to achieve those goals are based on what you've achieved in the past, not what you want to achieve in the future. It's the circle of lifts.
and cue the Lion King soundtrack...

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

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First and foremost, best of luck to Sebastian and Tom A. who are heading off to Charlottesville to compete in the SuperFit Games this weekend.

Also, regarding the Smackdown, I know there are still a few people either looking for a team to compete on, or looking to complete their team roster with one or two people. If you're one of those, please feel free to leave a request in the comments section. If you need more information, you can find it here on this CF Balance webpage: http://www.crossfitbalance.com/balancecfbowl/

2012-01-18T11:59:00.000-05:00

GET UP, STAND UP

Originally, this was a much longer post, including a 6 paragraph write-up on the Turkish Get-Up. And then, with-in a mere blink of an eye, Blogger did away with my post, never to be recovered. I tried to re-write it, but I couldn't quite recover, and so went with a shorter, less informative post. Fear not - Blogger won't keep me down for long - I know for a fact that TGU's will make another appearance in the not-so distant future, and I will be back with posting vengeance.

So, anyway, apparently there were some Turkish Get-Ups in the workout on Tuesday...

Strength:

4 x 3/3 Turkish Get-Ups

The reason for the TGU's, as well as the movements selected for the met-con, were to concentrate on some core control, especially after all the heavy work spread across Sunday and Monday, and with 1RM snatches on the program for Wednesday.

The TGU is a great core conditioner, and unlike a lot of things we do in CF, this movement generally isn't done for speed. However, it is still a complex movement, consisting of a very particular sequencing of movements. It can take some getting used to, but because it's a slower movement, you can mentally check-off each step as you go through the movement (wow, wouldn't a nice breakdown and explanation of each part of the TGU be really useful right here?!?)

Now, speaking of some controlled core work, oddly enough some was planned into the met-con as well.

Partner Met-Con:

4 Rounds of L-Hang & Mummy Crawls

The workout was set up such that one partner held and L-Hang for the duration of time it took the second partner to complete a half-court and back mummy crawl. You continued in this fashion until each partner had completed 4 rounds.The L-Hangs were done from the pull-up bars, with scaling options that included pulling both knees into the tuck position, or tucking one knee and letting the other leg hang straight down. A new set of parallettes were also available for some L-Sits.

There were also a few "motivational" extras: each time a partner in the L-hang brought their knees in, both partners did 2 burpees at the switch (same for a partner doing a knee tuck if the let one leg drop down); each time the partner doing the L-hang or knee tuck came off the bar completely, both partners did 4 burpees at the switch. These extras were compounding - so if P1 pulled their knees in from the L-Hang, and then also came off the bar, that was 6 burpees per partner done as they switched exercises.

A little something different. Be sure to keep a wary eye peeled for a TGU-revenge post in the near future, but until then, rest up and get ready for a return to mayhem on Thursday.

2012-01-18T10:53:00.004-05:00

F'n BLOGGER...Bear with me guys - Blogger just deleted an all-but-published blog post from yesterday's workout. I got so angry the computer started to sweat with nervousness. Rightly so.

2012-01-16T11:47:00.000-05:00

AS UP FRONT, SO BEHIND

Another 3 weeks down and another set of heavy front squats in the rotation. I never realized how popular CFDC's front squat sessions were; how else do you explain the mass turn out on Sunday (25 at last count)? Perhaps it's all the PR's people keep turning in.

Strength:

3RM Front Squat

We've gone in to a lot of depth reviewing the front squat in the past couple of months (HERE on Sunday, December 11, 2011, and again HERE on Wednesday, December 28, 2011). There was no accessory work to accompany the front squats this time around, just work up to a 3RM for the day. I know of at least 5 PR's set in class, but I'm sure there's more, so please, please sound off in the comments section.

Of course, while there might not have been any accessory work during the front squats, there was definitely a nice follow up in the met-con for the day.

Met-Con:

Heavy Thruster & Climb/Pull-Up Combo

Scaling was determined ahead of time, with three options to choose from:

(A) 5-4-3-2-1 Thruster & Rope Climb
(B) 5-4-3-2-1 Thruster & 10-8-6-4-2 Towel Pull-Ups
(C) 5-4-3-2-1 Thruster & 15-12-9-6-3 Pull-Ups (Kipping or Assisted)

With such low numbers, you know the weight on the thrusters would be slightly more than the usual 95/65 - guys were RX'd at 135lbs, and ladies at 95lbs. Many thanks to Sara for busting out some of her own chalk to share with the group, as both buckets were as empty as could be.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

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CrossFit Balance-Dupont-DC Smackdown
Remember - Registration for inner-gym Smackdown on February 4th is still on-going, so if you would like to participate and are not on a team, or your team needs another participant or two, feel free to post your request in the comments. There are 20 spots left, and registration closes January 30th, so get if you want in, get a move on.

Run For Shelter 10K
Also, Spring is just around the corner, and for those of you who like to get your run on, that means the start of race season. To kick things off, I'd like to invite all of you to sign-up for a brand new 10K race taking place in Alexandria, VA on Saturday, April 28th. Not that any of you need the motivation, but it helps that our own Julia Lam has ties to the event and is involved with spreading the word about the race!

Here's the deal: The Run for Shelter 10k will benefit Carpenter's Shelter, the largest homeless shelter in Northern Virginia. Carpenter’s Shelter, was founded 20 years ago in Alexandria, VA, when the pastor of Blessed Sacrament Church found a man asleep in the doorway on a cold winter night, and responded by opening the doors of the church basement to men and women in need. Today, Carpenter’s serves over 1,000 homeless and formerly homeless people each year – with a remarkable 90% of shelter graduates never again returning to homelessness. The organization has become a widely-admired model in the national effort to end homelessness. They've also set some lofty goals for this first time race: 1,000 runners; $25,000, with all proceeds benefiting the shelter; And, – as of this writing – just over 100 days to go. Registration is already open HERE; Facebook page and Twitter feed are live; and lots more info will be available soon at the race website, http://www.runforshelter10k.com/.

I'm with Julia in saying that it'd be a of fun to enter a big group. The organizers are hoping to bring out runners from all over the metro region for this inaugural race, and as the first CF affiliate in the metro region, we need to step up. For those of you who want to participate without all the running, we are going to look into volunteer opportunities as a group, so be sure to let us know you're interested.Time to put those running drills and new found conditioning to the test!

2012-01-13T11:37:00.000-05:00

WARM UNDER THE COLLAR

Before I talk about what class did on Thursday, I want to spend a little bit of time discussing an aspect of class that concerns our interaction as coaches with you as athletes.

As coaches, we have a lot of responsibilities, but the big two that are eminently present each and every class are these:

Giving you a good workout, including everything that statement implies, such as teaching you the movements, making sure you execute the movements properly, and creating and running a workout that has true benefit for your body beyond being merely "tough"; and,
Keeping you safe.

Funny thing about that second one - of the two, it's the one that coaches can't do alone. It's the one responsibility where we actually need your help. And you do help us. When we correct your form, you make a concerted effort to incorporate the correction. When we ask you to scale, you do so accordingly and then attack the workout as if it were the CrossFit Games. When we ask you to try something new or different, each and everyone one of you give it an honest shot. But when we ask you guys to warm-up...well, that's a bit of a different story. Not by much, and not all the time by all of you, but it's enough that it warrants addressing.Of course, this isn't the first time we've addressed the warm-up. We've written before about why we need to warm-up:

Warm-ups are arguably the most important part of our class work. Yes, warm muscles = more elastic muscles - we all know (or should know) that by now - but the warm-up goes a bit beyond that. It involves muscles, tendons, ligaments, respiration, blood flow, and, probably most important, your central nervous system (CNS). Without warming-up - without waking-up your CNS - you're going to lack focus, which will lead to lack of form, which will lead to either wasted effort due to a lack of power (i.e., you won't get stronger or fitter) or, at worst, injury. Yes, sometimes the warm-ups are hard, and sometimes they're long, but they're calculated to perform a task specifically geared towards the workout of the day.

We've also written about why we're going to require all of you to do all of the warm-up, regardless of when you can get to the gym:

The above paragraph suggests all the things that warm-ups do for us. No where does it say that warm-ups are punishment. We don't do tardiness punishment; hey, being late happens! In a city like DC, where nothing is predictable except the unpredictable nature of your daily commute, punishing people for being tardy would border on absurdity. That's not to say, however, that we aren't going to require that the warm-up be done - in its entirety! - before any member begins the workout. Early, on time, or late, it makes no difference as far as the warm-up is concerned.

So, to recap:

warm-ups are important; and,
all of you have to do all of the warm-up.

End of story, right? Apparently not.

You see, it's become pretty obvious recently that a lot of you are rushing through the warm-ups, cutting corners or otherwise performing sloppy, partial range of motion, and/or un-controlled movements. Rushing the warm-up is just as bad as not performing the entire warm-up. Warm-ups are time for us to practice form in a controlled, un-timed environment. Often times, that form or skill is one that will be a critical piece of the up-coming workout. In fact, there's a reason we don't do the same warm-up everyday.

We construct each warm-up to prepare you specifically for the day's workout. We do this, so that (A) you're body will be primed and ready to execute the movements and exercises programmed for the workout that day, and (B) you won't be bored doing the same thing over and over again (which, ironically, is often the cause of sloppy or rushed warm-ups). When you shortcut your warm-up you negate the intended benefits we discussed above. If you rush the warm-up with sloppy mechanics, you fail to reinforce critical aspects of the skill to be touched on in the workout, aspects and skills that you won't be able to correct under load. Focus more on form and less on speed.

We had lot's of good stuff planned for Thursday night, but in order to drive home the point about warm-ups, we had to change the program slightly, cutting short some of the workout in order to concentrate on the form. And so it was that each class found itself getting judged on the simplest of exercises which, funnily enough, seems to show up in each and every warm-up we do: the air squat.

The Squat Check

Simple? Possibly, but go through the following check list and ask yourself, are you hitting on each one of these points with every air squat you do in the warm-up?

Set-Up:

Feet shoulder width apart;
toes slightly pointed out;
hips and knees fully extended;
chest up and head neutral (looking straight ahead)

Performance:

Butt travels back first, then down, in a controlled and steady manner (don't simply drop);
weight on the heels;
chest up and head still neutral (not looking down at the floor or craned up looking at the ceiling);
lumbar arch maintained in the lower back, rather than rounded;
if need be, arms raised and/or elevated out in front in order to keep the chest up and back arched;
hip crease of the hips below the kneecap (i.e., below parallel) at the bottom of the squat;
knees pushed out and tracking (pointing in the same direction as) the feet;
coming all the way to standing, with the hips completely open.

If you can't check all these points off, ask yourself why - is it because you haven't gained the mobility and flexibility necessary, or is it because you're simply rushing through the movement? There's a reason we all sought out CrossFit, and it's buried in the knowledge that we all wanted more of a challenge, that deviation from the mental and physical comfort that allows us to become better, more functional athletes and people. Each and every class provides us with countless opportunities to challenge and better ourselves, from the warm-up, to the skill work, to the strength work, to the conditioning, and even to the pre- and post-workout stretching and mobility. We all chose to challenge ourselves, to forsake the mental and physical comfort that comes with bland, unhelpful routines. So why would we now knowingly try to avoid that challenge? Focus and apply that choice to everything from the time you walk in the door to the time you leave. You'll be better for it.

End of Rant.

Mobility:

Keg Drill and Resistance Band Bully Shoulder Work

Post squat check and skill specific warm-up, we programmed some skill specific mobility work in order to get people's shoulder ready for the pressing snatch balance and overhead squats to come. You can check out both movements via this video from KStarr's Mobility WOD site, Episode 71 - Overhead Squat/Snatch Prep:

The keg drill is discussed around the 3:00 min. mark, and the resistance band bully shoulder drill around the 4:30 mark.

Strength/Skill:

Pressing Snatch Balance Review;

3 x 3 Pressing Snatch Balance

Of the 3 types of snatch balance, Thursday's classes concentrated on just the pressing-version. Part of this was due to time constraints, but in large part it's because, of the 3 versions, the pressing snatch balance is the one which really drives home the need to continuously [exert] force upwards on the bar as you descend under it. In other words, instead of pressing the bar upwards, you are pushing against the bar in order to drive yourself under the weight. Done properly, the bar should remain in the same place through-out movement, with only the body moving downwards in a controlled, even manner. To help with this, we began with the PVC, with everyone first performing a few reps on their own, and then performing a few reps assisted by a partner, who simply placed their hands on the PVC on order to stop it being pushed upwards. Following the drills, class moved to the bars to perform at least 3 sets of 3 reps of pressing snatch balance, adding weight as necessary.

Although the snatch balance is clearly meant as an assistance exercise for the snatch, the pressing version also has great carry over into bettering your overhead squat, which is convenient considering there were quite a few OHS programmed into Thursday met-con.

Met-Con:

15-12-9-6-3 OHS & Bastards

Weights for the OHS were RX'd at 95/65, but scaling was roundly encouraged in order to find an appropriate weight which would allow you to maintain control while executing full ROM, but also push yourself through the workout with as few breaks as possible. The bastards (side-jumping burpees) were done over each person's respective bar.

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Reminder/Announcement #1: Registration for inner-gym Smackdown on February 4th is in full swing (as is the smack-talking, it seems). If you would like to participate and are not on a team, or your team needs another participant or two, feel free to post your request in the comments. More information can be found on the CrossFit Balance Smackdown page.

Reminder/Announcement #2: This Sunday's Element's class will focus on the Push Press & Push Jerk, the Kettlebell Swing, and, if time, some of the theory and execution of the Kip (as used in kipping pull-ups, K2E, etc.) For a more information on the new Elements class, including determining whether it's right for you, please check out last Sunday's blog post.

2012-01-11T10:58:00.001-05:00

KNOCKED SIDEWAYS

Back in early December, we ran class through a mash-up girl workout we dubbed KarAnnie Gone Awry, an obvious mix of Karen and Annie, but with one slight tweak: we swapped out Annie's jump roping and sit-ups for side hurdles and supine windshield wipers.

Basically, we wanted to take a break from linear exercises - i.e., those that keep us in a straight line, forwards and backwards - and replace them with lateral and trunk-rotational movements. Tuesday night saw class revisit some of this same non-linear movements - some of it in a workout, and some of it just for fun in the warm-up.

Strength:

Pull-Up Ladder

Everyone was given 20 minutes in which to continuously work at ascending a pull-up ladder: 1 pull-up the first time on the bar, 2 pull-ups the second time, then 3 pull-ups, and so on. Rest time was up to the individual (so, no on-the-minute type of workout), but, when failing to reach the next rung - for example, you made 4 but didn't quite get 5 pull-ups - you had to start back at 1 again.

Second Warm-Up:

Towel Reaction Drill

It's fun, sure, but it's also useful for getting people moving, and more importantly, moving in every direction. Sure you moving forwards and backwards, and side to side, but you're also twisting, turning, bending, jumping, and, for a few people, rolling even.

Met-Con:

5 x 30" On, 30" Off of Box Jumps, Side Shuffle, & Med-Ball Throw Sit-Ups

Five rounds, each consisting of 3 exercises which were done for 30 seconds of work, with 30 seconds of rest in which to rotate to the next exercise. No additional rest was provided between rounds.

Per usual, athletes were allowed one of the three options: Step Up, Step Down; Jump Up, Step Down; & Jump Up, Jump Down. Notice there's no option for stepping up and jumping down? Pretty common sense if you think about it - if you don't have the power and control to jump up on to the box, you certainly don't have it for jumping down as there's often more impact associated with athletes jumping back down off the box than on to it.

The side shuffles were done back and forth over a roughly 10m course, with athletes required to shuffle sideways (no turning the feet) to one line, with both feet passing over the line and both hands touching the floor, before starting back in the opposite direction.

Med-Ball Throw Sit-Ups were done using ab-mats and with feet anchored roughly 3 feet away from the wall. To execute, each athlete began laying down with a med-ball of appropriate weight overhead touching the floor, and would then sit-up, lofting the ball from the overhead position against the wall and catching it before laying back down.

Excellent work. Don't forget, registration for inner-gym Smackdown on February 4th has begun! If you would like to participate and are not on a team, or your team needs another participant or two, feel free to post your request in the comments. More information can be found on the CrossFit Balance Smackdown page.

2012-01-09T11:37:00.000-05:00

ELEMENTS, MY DEAR WATSON, ELEMENTS

Yes, we had over 20 people in class again on Sunday. And yes, there was no met-con at the end. But no, that's not what I'm going to focus. Nor am I going to focus on the fact that the 10AM class got a double dose of explosive movements followed by a little extra barbell strength work, although I'll touch on that a little later. Instead, I'm opening today's blog-post with a little discussion about the new and improved 9AM class.

ELEMENTS

A little over a month ago, we were noticing a distinct dichotomy in the people coming to the 9AM class: those who were there for their first time, and those who had been a few times (or even a few months), but still wanted some refreshers and help cleaning up some of the more complex movements. With this in mind, we decided to split the class in two separate, but somewhat complimentary pieces.

The first half remains an Intro class for the brand new and uninitiated. The second half of class has been restructured as the new Elements class.The purpose behind the Elements course is to review a few of the basic, but slightly more complex, movements in CrossFit and then showing how those base exercises translate into more complex lifts and movements. The Elements class is specifically meant for those who are still relatively new to CrossFit and need to take a little extra time outside of normal classes to focus on practicing some movements they may still be struggling with. The Elements curriculum consists of the following 3 groupings:

Front Squat, Clean, and Hollow Position;
Overhead Squat, Snatch, Jump Rope and Double Under; and,
Push Press & Push Jerk, Kettlebell Swing, and Kipping.

Although we've give through a few trial runs, Coach Sara took the lead this past Sunday for the first full-fledged class. Sara's a great resource for us, having intimate knowledge of both the CrossFit and Olympic lifting realms, and it's exciting to see her helping out in this capacity. Having run through the first grouping at least twice in the past month, Sara took Sunday's Elements class through the second grouping of OHS and Snatch, with Steph and Sara teaming up to review some jump rope and double under pointers.

Class was a true success, and we're excited to keep the rotation going. Next week we'll be reviewing the Push Press/Push Jerk, Kettlebell Swing, and some kipping, but just to help everyone keep up, we'll post the upcoming Element's curriculum here at the end of the Thursday class blog-post. Two final notes, though: (1) there is no workout in the Elements class, and movements will be performed with little to no weight (this is a skill review class - a back to basics, if you will - which leads me to the second point...); and (2) the Elements class is for beginners, those who are relatively new to CF and struggling to grasp the set-up and execution of these movements - if you understand a movement but perhaps aren't quite executing it perfectly yet, then Elements is not for you. If you're not sure which group you fall into, please don't hesitate to ask.

THE BIG SHOW (A.K.A., MAIN CLASS)

As stated above, the 10AM class was rocking with at least 23 people showing up for the day. After a involved warmup on the court, things moved back upstairs for the remaining 3 portions of class.

Explosive Strength 1: 5 x 2 Seated Box Jumps

Starting in a seated position, where the tops of your thighs are at or just below parallel, lift your feet off the ground while leaning back slightly, and then quickly rock forward, slam your feet down, and explode off the box into a full vertical jump onto the other box. Remember to land light, absorbing your landing with soft knees.

The big focus on Sunday was driving upwards as soon as the feet made contact with the floor - as opposed to allowing the feet to flatten out, the torso to lean forward and the butt to lift up from the box slightly, and then getting tensing up and getting ready to jump.

Explosive Strength 2: 10 x 2 Power Cleans x 90 seconds

The goal was to warm-up to a weight that was 80% of your 1RM, and then, using that weight, perform 2 power cleans every 90 seconds for a total of 10 sets. With three people to a bar, this gave everyone a 3o second window in which to perform both of their reps - not a super tight window, but definitely not enough time to dawdle.

Accessory Strength: Barbell Lunges

Class closed out with one practice warm-up set of alternating barbell lunges followed by 2 work sets at roughly 50% of each person's power clean weight. Exact numbers for the lunges were left up to the individual, but the minimum was set at 8 reps per leg, and the maximum at 15 reps per leg.

Great work as always, especially with the chaos and confusion of the Paleo Challenge kick-off taking place on Sunday. Sorry I missed everyone, but I do have to say getting coaching tips from Chris Spealler did go a little way to alleviating my sense of separation from the rest of CFDC. See you all on Tuesday.

2012-01-06T11:07:00.001-05:00

PRESSED FOR TIME

After a class full of skill-intensive movements on Tuesday, Thursday's class saw the return of strength followed by a little more strength, followed by some balls-to-the-wall met-con fun.

Strength 1:

1 RM Push Press for the Day

After the general warm-up, athletes were instructed to take to the racks to find a 1RM push-press (no push-jerks) for the day, starting with at least one set of 7-10 reps on an unloaded bar, a set of 3 with a lightly loaded bar, and then at least three sets of 3 to get ready for some heavy overhead weight.

Less than a month ago, we posted a lengthy review on performing proper jerks. Although most of the review simply incorporated Coach Mike Choi's Points of Review on the Jerk, we added one more point to the end which, as stated, applied "with equal effect to both the Push Press and Jerk," and that was the need to push the knees forward during the dip portion of the dip-drive while keeping the torso as upright as possible. Pushing the knees forward, as opposed to pushing the hips back, helps to maintain the upright torso and will allow you to drive the weight with the chest (instead of pressing only with your arms - remember, we're trying to impart momentum to the bar from our bodies). However, this comes with the caveat that we still need to keep our weight centered in our feet.

Whenever overhead lifting in class, it's common to hear, among the grunts of exertion and shouts of encouragement, the coaching cue "from the heels." So, does that really mean your entire weight should be rocked back onto your heels? No, of course not. Instead, this is simply a short two-word cue to remind lifters to keep their body-weight centered, rather than pitching forward on the toes. When a lifter shifts onto their toes, the heels will lift and most of the power generated from the dip-drive will be lost. Instead, by cuing a person to drive from the heels, the attempt is to get the weight of the body centered and thereby helps the lifter recruit the maximum power available from the glutes and quads. If you struggle to keep your heels down, often time simply lifting your toes up inside your shoes shortly before you begin your dip-drive can help to center your weight.

NOTE: driving from the heels does NOT mean that the heels will necessarily stay glued to the floor the entire time. Often times the heels will lift AFTER a lifter hits full extension. This is simply a result of momentum, and is not detrimental. Again though, the difference is that when heel lift is a by-product of momentum, it occurs after full-extension, not before.

Strength 1.5:

1 x AMRAP at 80% of the day’s 1RM

Once everyone had found a 1RM for the day, the day's programming called for a single set of AMRAP push-presses at 80% of the day's 1RM. Time to break out the calculators.

Met-Con:

5 rounds for individual time of 10 Wall Ball, 10 Med-Ball Cleans, 10 Burpees

Rounds were run every 4 minutes, so the faster you finished, the more time you had to rest. The rest time may have seemed long, but that was sort of the point: sprint as fast as you possibly could through the 30 reps and then take a nice long break. In this manner, each round became an all out blast, rather than a slightly slower and paced 5 round effort.

Nice work everyone, especially considering the evening's time-frame was somewhat thrown-off by the late basketball game. If you missed the announcements from Tuesday's post, please take the time to go back and review them, and feel free to ask questions if you have any. See you all on Sunday.

2012-01-04T09:12:00.000-05:00

DOUBLE DIPPING

A fresh new start to the new year seems like the perfect time to revisit some skill review, especially for those of us who have an ever growing list of goats on our "2012 Goal List." Specifically, for Tuesday's class, we doubled-back for some double under work.

Skill:

10min Double Under Practice

As we have in the past, class was broken into three separate groups:

Group A: This group included those athletes who can consistently hit DUs over 15 to 20 reps at a time.
Program: “Flight Simulator.” Unbroken sets of 5/10/15/20/etc. up to 50 and back down - getting as far as possible in 10 min. For any set missed, continue trying to complete that set and then move on (i.e., if you made 15 but then broke on the next set at 17 before you got to 20, keep trying for 20 - this, as opposed to starting over again from the beginning);

Group B: This group included those athletes who are hitting anywhere between 5 to 10 DUs at a time.
Program: AMRAP unbroken reps. In other words, use the 10 minutes to really concentrate on stringing doubles together, trying to achieve the highest number of unbroken reps you could.

Group C: This group included those athletes who can occasionally hit a DU or two, but not consistently.
Program: 2-3 single skips followed by 1 double under attempt. If any athlete was consistently successful with that, they moved on to 2-3 single skips, 1 double under, followed immediately by 2-3 single skips. The next logical step of course was to try and string together sets of 2-3 singles and 1 DU for the highest number possible.

The practice certainly seems to be paying off, as we're seeing lots of improvement through-out class. Great job, and keep working on them. This wasn't the day's only work, however.

Met-Con:

6 minute AMRAP of 6 HS cleans (95#/65#) & 12 HR Push-Ups

Awesome work, and thanks to everyone for braving the cold temperatures that the new year has brought with it. A things to be aware of:

(1) CrossFit Games Open Qualifiers!

It's that time of year again, and on the heels of this past Sunday's CF Games marathon on ESPN 2, I'm hoping for lots of interest.

- Registration for the Open Qualifiers begins February 1st, 2012 (4 weeks from today) -

- Competition begins February 22nd and runs until March 25th, 2012 -

What are the Open Qualifiers? Read on for the rundown provided by the CrossFit Games website.

The Open is a worldwide competition consisting of five workouts over five weeks. Last year, more than 26,000 athletes competed, and this year will likely be a multiple of that!

Each week, the workout will be announced on Wednesday at 5 p.m. PT (starting February 22). Everyone will have until the following Sunday at 5 p.m. PT to complete that week's workout and submit their score. You can do the workout at your local affiliate or film your attempt from any gym, a garage, or park.

Once you submit your workouts to the Games site, you'll be able to find your rank, both worldwide and in your region. You get one point for each place (i.e. five points for 5th place) for each workout. Your overall score is the sum of all the workout scores, and lowest total points wins. You can compete both as an Individual and on a Team. Individuals are divided between men and women, and Masters are divided by gender and age.

The individual athletes and teams that perform the best across the five Open workouts, in each of the 17 regions, will be invited to compete at the second stage of the Games, the Regionals. The top 20 Masters in each age and gender category will earn an automatic spot at the Games in July.

If you're gung-ho for the competition, mildly interested, wondering if you should compete, or just plain want to know more, please talk to Tom or Chris. We're looking for lots of involvement this year, and are excited to see as many of you as possible give the workouts a go.

(2) The CF Balance/Dupont Paleo Challenge

CF Dupont and Balance's Paleo Challenge will start this coming Sunday. I've pasted the details below verbatim from the CF Dupont website:

Seminar and Measurement dates/times: Sunday, January 8th 11am-12pm at CF Dupont; Monday, January 9th 6-7pm at CF Balance.

Pre-registration through website prior to measurement date is required. Cost is $40. This will include: weight, measurements, bodyfat, before/after photos, before/after analysis, email weekly support, recipe contests, performance based measures, and eligibility for individual and team prize.

Paleo Seminar- Kari will be holding a one-hour kick-off that will cover the general paleo guidelines and give you an opportunity to ask your questions. She will cover what you can and cannot eat, meal plans, and how to make the Paleo Diet fit into your everyday routine. This seminar will give you the tools for you to be successful in the challenge.

Measurements- Will take place prior to the seminar. Measurements will include: weight, body fat caliper pinches, before and after photos.

(3) The CF Balance/Dupont Smackdown

The inner gym competition has also been scheduled. Again, details pasted below verbatim from CF Dupont:

Who: CF Dupont, CF Balance, and CF DC athletes!

When: Saturday, February 4th, 11AM – 4PM

Where: CrossFit Dupont Thunderdome

Here are the Rules:

Maximum of 20 Teams

1 Day of Competition starting at 11 am. Three WODS per team. There will be a 4th chipper WOD for top 5 teams

4 People Per Team: 2 Men, 2 Women

Judging will be done by the coaches

We are all going out to celebrate on Saturday night

Prizes: Will include massages and Lululemon gear.

Team theme: dress inappropriately

Workouts will begin at 11am, soo please arrive by 10:30am. LAST DAY TO REGISTER IS MONDAY, January 30th. Sign-ups will be with Tex at CF Dupont or Danielle at CF Balance.

2012-01-01T21:21:00.001-05:00

WELCOME TWENTY-TWELVE!

Another year at CrossFit DC is in the books (or on the blog, as the case might be). To be sure, 2011 was not without it's interesting occurrences in, around, and among CFDC. To say that it was memorable would be a slight understatement. We added some great new-CFDCers to the fold, and some CFDC-veterans welcomed some newcomers to their own families. We hit a bump or two with some injuries and set-backs, but also some amazing perseverance, come-backs, and significant breakthroughs. There were some bold announcements, frustrating hurdles, and rays of sun-shine. 2012 is already shaping up to be a momentous year for CFDC with lots on big changes on the horizon. As such, in order to welcome the New Year, and get things started off on the right foot, we served up a special little workout in honor of 2012:

2012 New Years Day WOD: 20 Reps of 12 Exercises

20 OHS

20 Thruster

- Church Run (250m) -

20 Hang Squat Cleans

20 Push Press/Push Jerk

- Church Run (250m) -

20 KB Swings

20 Pull-Ups

- Church Run (250m) -

20 KB SDHP

20 Sit-Ups

- Church Run (250m) -

20 Hand Release Push-Ups

20 Box Jumps

- Church Run (250m) -

20 OH Lunges (45#/25#)

20 Burpees

- Church Run (250m) -

We ran this as a partner workout, which allowed people to push themselves a little more. Of course, before we could get started we had to set some ground-rule:

Each partner had to complete 20 reps of each exercise;
Reps could be broken down as needed (i.e., P1 does 10, P2 does 10, P1 does another 10, P2 does another 10, so that each completes 20);
Each partner had to complete all 20 reps of an exercise before either partner could move on to the next exercise, including the run;
Partners had to leave on the run together, but the first partner back could start on the next exercise as soon they returned from the run;
Weight used was up to the partners, although it was highly encouraged that the weight on the barbell remain the same for the first 4 exercises;

The Results:

Congrats to Mark and Sebastian who really set the bar high, blazing through the workout in just over 30 min.

There was some great energy from everyone on Sunday morning, but we had a few new faces that deserve some attention:

Props to Christine (above) who jumped in whole hog after completing only her second Elements class that same morning (and also to Katie for pushing and helping Christine!);

and to Ben & Erica's friend, Ray, who was in town visiting and decided to give CF a try for the first time and truly handled the workout in style;

and also to Jaime for venturing up from Thomas Circle to join us for the morning.

Definitely a great way to kick off the New Year. Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend, and may 2012 provide you with success regardless of your goals! See you all Tuesday.

2011-12-30T11:28:00.001-05:00

PALM REDDER

Apparently there were some raw hands after Thursday's class? I honestly can't imagine why - I mean, it was ONLY 25min of KB snatch progression practice followed by 8 minutes worth of AMRAP KB snatch...oh, and I guess we can include the additional 4 total minutes of games-style push-ups.

In all seriousness, the goal was to avoid the quads for a bit in a week of front squats, clusters, snatches, and, for those of you working out today, heavy back squats. Instead, we took a good portion of class to review the KB snatch before letting people loose on a KB snatch based workout.

Review:

KB Snatch

The above progression is taken from a Russian KB web page, and you can clearly see the KB rotating around the outside of the wrist as the model brings the KB down from the overhead position into the swing, and then repeats the same rotation in reverse as he swings the KB back overhead.
A few important points when performing the KB snatch:

Remember, the KB Snatch is an entirely different movement from the DB Snatch or Barbell Snatch;
Grip the KB slightly off center, with the thumb side closer to the inside of the horn (i.e., towards the side of the handle);
Use your hips to start generating force, just as you would a KB swing;
As the KB travels upward, rotate the hand so the thumb points towards the ceiling;
Allow the KB to rotate around the outside of your forearm and finish off by pressing the weight up and into the overhead position;
At lockout, palm is facing forward (hand can be open), and the wrist and elbow are straight;
On descent, the KB should follow the same path down, rotating outside the arm;
As shown:

The goal in rotating the KB around the wrist is to avoid bringing the KB straight up and over the top of your hand so that it flops against the top of your forearm! This is a recipe for injury:

NOTE: there is an alternative method which involves taking the KB straight up and punching through so that the KB doesn't flop against the wrist. When executed properly, this can be effective, but sadly, it's rare to see it executed properly, and most end up simply banging the ever-living-sh!t out their wrists as pictured above. We teach the rotating method because we believe it to not only be friendlier to the body, but just as efficient, if not more so. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Skill:

KB Snatch Progression Review

To help everyone grasp the KB snatch as discussed above, we used the following progression to step everyone through the movement Thursday night:

1 x 15 x 2-handed swings;
1 x 10 x 1-handed swings/arm;
2 x 5 x 1-handed swings with a pull at the top/arm;
1 x 5 x top-down rotations into 1-handed swing (to execute, press the KB overhead in one hand, and then lower the KB in a smooth motion by pulling the elbow across the chest and allow the KB to roll around the forearm and into a 1-handed swing); AND, finally,
1 x 5 KB snatches/arm (reversing the same rolling motion used for the descent in order to get the KB overhead on the snatch)

WOD:

4 x

1' AMRAP KB Snatch (Weak Side);

1' AMRAP KB Snatch (Strong Side);

1' HR Push-Ups;

2' Rest

KB snatches can be tricky, and throwing technical movements like this into a workout isn't an all the time thing. However, sometimes, it can actually help to reinforce a movement pattern, so long as the rest of the workout isn't overly complicated or daunting. Thus, the KB snatches were paired with games-style, hand-release push-ups.

For the workout, the KB Snatches were scaled to 1-handed swings to allow athletes to concentrate on using the hips to generate momentum while keeping the shoulders pulled back and down to avoid rounding. Scoring was done Tabata-style, taking the lowest number of KB Snatches achieved with either arm (so, most likely, athletes were limited to numbers produced by their weak arm) and lowers number of push-ups.

It was awesome to see those new to the KB snatch start to get the hang of things as the workout carried on. Remember, it's still about the hips: don't get so caught up in the rotation that you forget to start moving the KB with the hip pop. Also, be mindful of your back position, as it's easy to allow the shoulder to pull forward as you swing the KB through your legs, rounding out the back.

Sebastian showing some great form on the swing through.

REMINDER: There will be class this Sunday (both a 9AM intro/Elements class and a regular 10AM class). I would encourage all of you to dedicate yourself to coming Sunday morning, which will hopefully keep everyone smart Saturday night.Of course, if we don't see you Sunday, Happy New Year!

2011-12-28T09:39:00.001-05:00

THE FRONT LINES

With the majority of the Holidays out of the way and classes back on schedule, it seemed appropriate to kick things off with some barbell work.

Strength:

6 x 3 Front Squats

Just under 3 weeks ago, we went to some lengths in discussing the big keys for success in the front squat (flexibility and mobility) as well as the lead-off cue (initiate with the hips). Initiating with the hips starts the descent, and sets us up for better posture and control as we reach the bottom of the squat and ready ourselves to come back up. Appropriately enough, this time around we're going to focus on the second big cue for the front squat: drive up with the elbows / drive with the elbows / drive the elbows up.

First, let's look at the inverse of 'driving up with the elbows,' which is to cue on driving the feet into the floor and simply stand up with the weight (a decent cue for a heavy back squat); unfortunately, this will cause the hips to shoot up, putting the weight even farther forward in the front squat. When the weight shifts forward, the hands and wrists are now supporting the bar - not the shoulders - and the back will round over, with the neck often jutting forward, in an attempt to maintain the neutral position. In essence, we have created a slightly upright version of a bad deadlift, where the back is now doing the work to right the body and stand the weight up. Instead, initiate the ascent of your front squat by driving the elbows up first (in short form: "drive the elbows up").

Starting with the elbows - instead of the hips - will keep the weight from tipping forward and allow the torso to stay upright, especially when standing with the weight. Preserving this vertical position, with the chest up and scapula back and down, is vital to finishing a heavy front squat.

Of course, the same positioning is true for other movements involving the front squat position, such as wall balls, cleans, and thrusters. So what do you imagine came next?

Met-Con:

8min AMRAP Cluster/Burpee Ladder

As programmed, each athlete had 8 minutes to see how high up the cluster/burpee ladder they could climb, adding an additional rep of each exercise with each additional round. Thus, the first rung was 1 cluster and 1 burpee, the second rung was 2 of each, the third three of each, and so on. The Cluster is a Clean and Thruster combo, and athlete's had the option to either squat clean the weight right into a thruster, or perform a power clean and then thruster the weight.

The thruster is an awkward marriage of front squat and push press, neither of which are simple to perform perfectly on their own, but infinitely more difficult when put together. This is because the ideal front squat uses a different elbow position than the ideal push press. The front rack position is hard enough, but in the thruster, a lifter must not only have a solid front rack, with the elbows up as high as possible, but must then be able to transition mid-lift into a solid push press position, where the elbows are only slightly forward of the bar with the hands gripping the bar.

It was great to see so many people raring to go after the short holiday break, and lots of good form to boot. Classes are back to their normal schedule, including both a 9am Elements and regular 10am class this coming Sunday (New Years Day). Of course, when I say regular, I mean regular only in the sense that it will be at the regular time; there just might be something special in the works for the first day of the New Year.

Also, some announcements:

(1) Paleo Challenge - if anyone is interested in trying (or getting back on) a Paleo regimen, CFDupont is kicking off the New Year with a 30day Paleo Challenge beginning the first week of January. There will be pre- and post-measurements (weight and body fat), as well as a few prizes for those dropping the most body fat;

(2) Inner-Gym Competition - to conclude the challenge, any member of CFBalance, CFDupont, and CFDC is invited to participate in an inner-gym "Smackdown" to tentatively take place on February 4th. More details to come, but if you're interested, please let Tom or I know;

(3) Crossfit Games Open Qualifiers - the Open kicks off at the end of February (a scant 9 weeks away!), and I highly encourage any and all of you to think about competing. We will be running all of the workouts at the gym, so you don't have to worry about travel, crowds, etc. This is a great opportunity to take part in some great workouts and help encourage your fellow athletes. Again, if you have interest (or simply want to ask questions), please feel free to catch Tom or I.

2011-12-23T10:24:00.002-05:00

CORE VALUES

After a hell of a beatdown (and a hell of turnout) on Tuesday, things slowed down quite a bit for Thursday's class. Instead of an all out push, the tempo was slow and concentrated, with the focus being on achieving and maintaining good form, especially through the mid-line of the body.

WOD:

5 x AMRAP Deadlift (12 max), Rest,

Hollow Position Hold, Rest,

Handstand Hold, Rest

Deadlifts were Rx'd at 100-150% of body weight, but were limited to no more than 12 reps. Again, the focus was not on numbers, but on maintaining perfect form through out all 12 reps. Hollow position holds and handstand holds were done for as long as possible. Rest periods were for a minimum of 45 seconds (goal was to limit rest-periods to no more than 120 seconds if possible though).

This triplet really emphasizes the importance of postural control, especially through the mid-line, and it's relationship among seemingly unrelated exercises. Maintaining proper posture in the deadlift get's harped on by . But the every respected strength coach till they're blue in the face. However, the need to control the lower back position isn't a one-time deal, nor is it a one-way deal. Lower back and mid-section control isn't just about creating and keeping the lumbar-arch position. If you don't have enough control over your mid-section to keep your back from arching in the hollow position, or over-arching in the handstand, you probably won't have enough control to keep it from rounding during a DL.

Part and parcel of the handstand is the hollow position. We've worked the hollow position and progression
quite a bit as of late, and while it may seem tedious and redundant, we're seeing some really marked improvement in people's form during movements which incorporate the hollow position. This includes kipping (for either pull-ups, K2Es, & T2B), push-ups, the dreaded mummy crawl, and of course, handstands. While class was definitely smaller on Thursday, check out how many people felt more comfortable trying out wall-facing handstands (as well as the resulting improvement in posture and positioning):

Slower pace, but just as much, if not more, to be gained from a class-program like Thursday (as opposed to Tuesday's). Here's hoping each and everyone one of you have a great holiday weekend, as well as safe travels for all of you leaving the Metro-area. Remember, Sunday's class (Christmas day) is CANCELLED, and the gym will be closed Saturday through Monday. The regular schedule begins again Tuesday, December 27th. See you all then.

2011-12-21T09:38:00.001-05:00

FULL PLATES

With a large majority of people heading out of town this week, we figured we'd send everyone off with a kind-of super chipper done in the style of last year's CrossFit Games final workout. Interestingly enough, when we thought we'd send "everyone" off with this workout, we didn't think we'd do it in the span of a single class (final count for the 6pm was 22 people!)

WOD:

‘GROUNDHOG DAY HELL’

in 5 min, complete the following:
1 Plate-Push Suicide (Rx'd M:45/W:25)
15 Box Jumps (Rx'd M:24”/W:18”)
30 Ab Mat Sit Ups
REST IN THE REMAINING TIME, IF ANY; then,

in 10 min, complete the following:
1 Plate-Push Suicide
15 Box Jumps
30 Ab Mat Sit Ups
40' OH Plate Walking Lunge (Rx'd M:45/W:25)
15 KB Swings (Rx'd M:24kg/W:16)
30 Hand Release Push-Ups
REST IN THE REMAINING TIME, IF ANY; and finally,

in 15 min, complete the following:
1 Plate-Push Suicide
15 Box Jumps
30 Ab Mat Sit Ups
40' OH Plate Lunge
15 KB Swings
30 Hand Release Push-Ups
15 KB Jerks/side (Rx'd M:24kg/W:16)
30 Plate Get-Ups (Rx'd M:45/W:25)

Notes & Scaling for the workout:

1 Plate Suicide = to mid-ct & back, far-ct & back, mid-ct & back. This was scaled down to mid-ct & back, far-ct & back, or even further to far-ct & back.

40' OH Plate Walking Lunges were done to mid-ct and back (so that the plate would end up back on the towel for the following plate push). Scaling could be accomplished by dropping to a 25lb plate (from a 45lb), or to a 16 or 14lb medicine ball (from a 25lb plate).

KB Jerks, while seemingly straight forward, can be tricky if un-practiced. Unfortunately, the middle of a 30minute workout isn't the time to practice a new movement, so anyone unfamiliar with the KB jerk replaced the exercise with a DB jerk (push presses were fine for either movement as well).

Plate Get-Ups = from the prone position, and with the plate held in both hands - hugged against the body or held out away from the chest in both hands - come to a standing position in any manner possible while keeping both hands on the plate at all times. Scaling included holding on to the plate with one hand while using the other to assist in getting up and down, and/or reducing the weight of the plate.

The above represent the more major scaling options that had been considered in advance of Tuesday's classes. However, there were also some last minute adjustments that were required.

Necessary Class Adjustments:

6pm = well, let's just say that, while the coaches had considered the potential for a large class, 20+ people was beyond what even we had considered. As such, we made the following adjustments for the 6pm crew: plate-push suicide was equal to 4 trips to mid-ct & back (scaled down to 3 trips, or 2 trips); additionally, in the 5min block, athletes had the option to complete the ab-mat sit-ups before the box jumps, and in the 10min block, athletes had the option to complete the Push-Ups before the KB swings.

7pm = sadly for the 7pm crew, while there were only 7 of them, the floor had pretty much been scrubbed clean, resulting in ridiculously difficult plate pushes - we might as well have poured glue all over the floor (it took the 7pm crew, on average, a full minute more to complete the plate pushes, and the sticking points in the floor were glaringly obvious). As such, the time for the first block was increased to 6min, the second block to 12min, and 18min for the third block.

It was cool to see such mass-chaos come off as well as it did in the 6pm class. Also, a huge shout-out of praise and thanks to Sara, Steph & Julia for being kind enough to remove themselves from the 6pm and wait around for the 7pm class instead; it was extremely gracious, and they ended up being thanked with brutally sticky plate pushes. I also want to thank the 7pm in general for helping put all the equipment away. I know many of you are leaving before Thursday's class, or have already departed, but it's our sincere hope that all of you have a Happy Holidays. For those of you still in town, we'll see you back here on Thursday.

2011-12-19T12:06:00.000-05:00

LEFT IN THE ZERCH(ER)

Sunday continued our focus on mixing heavy posterior chain movements with complimentary, but lighter weight, posterior chain movements. For example, last Sunday we paired heavy front squats with sets of lighter weight RDLs in between. This week we combined heavy Zercher squats with body weight Bulgarian split squats.

Strength:

4 x 5 Zercher Squats + 10 Splits Squats/side

The Zercher squat is named after a lift developed by Missouri-born strongman Ed Zercher. Zercher's are great for working the glutes and hamstrings, abs and back. They are a great supplement to your deadlift training, though they do take a little getting used to.

To perform the Zercher squat, begin with a barbell in a rack at about stomach height (above the navel, but below the sternum). Loop your arms under the bar so that it's resting in the crooks of your elbows, with elbows about shoulder width apart and knuckles pointed up towards the ceiling. Take a deep breath into your abdomen, and lift the bar out of the rack. Assume your squat stance (you may want your feet slightly wider than normal to ensure that the elbows don't drive into the tops of your thighs), and really press your abs into the bar. Concentrate on driving the knees out and push the hips back as your descend, squatting down until parallel or slightly below (if you can, try to get the bar to touch the top of the thighs). To stand, keep your back tight and push the fists towards the ceiling while driving the hips forward.

Zercher's can be tricky, key in on keeping as upright as possible with the bar pulled in tight to the abdomen. The weight will tend to pull you forward, and if you allow the elbows to pull out away from the body as you descend, the tendency to get pulled forward will increase significantly. Zercher's can also be uncomfortable, but using a thick bar, or using a pad or a towel wrapped around a regular barbell, will help.

Now, truth be told, the Zercher squat is actually a pared-down version of the original Zercher lift. If you ever want to have a little fun, try out the original Zercher lift, which starts with the bar on the floor instead of in a rack. From the floor, deadlift the bar up to standing, then squat down to parallel with the bar balanced on your thighs and hook your arms under the bar as you did with the Zercher squat. From this position, squat the bar up to standing. To put the bar, reverse the process: squat down to parallel, balance the bar on your thighs, re-grip the bar with your hands, and then lower it to the platform (for true 1RM Zercher's you're actually allowed to drop the bar from the crooks of your arms so long as it's below your knees).

The Zercher squats were paired with 10 body weight Split Squats per leg, all done at a tempo pace of 1-2-1-0 (so a 1 count descent, 2 count hold at the bottom, 1 count ascent, and zero count hold at the top). There was some question as to placement of the front foot (farther out versus in closer), but the truth is that it depends: the key is to keep the front shin as vertical as possible, so adjust how far out you step the front foot accordingly.

Met-Con:

21-15-9 DB Snatch Rt, Push-Ups, DB Snatch Lf, & Hollow Rocks

Once the the discomfort of holding a barbell with your elbows was over, class moved on to the discomfort of a slinging dumbbells around. Weight for the DB snatches was anywhere between 1/4 to 1/3 of your body weight. To complete the met-con, perform 21 DB snatches with the right arm, 21 push-ups, 21 DB snatches with the left arm, and then 21 hollow rocks (back and then forwards again = 1 rep), before repeating the 4 exercises at 15 reps each, and then 9 reps each. Mark and Julia were the pair to catch, both setting blistering paces with little to no rest.Awesome work with a unique and potentially uncomfortable movement.

All this work was not in vain though, as it prepared everyone who was available to chow down at the CFDC Holiday Get-Together, which included a seriously delicious pot-luck feast.

Many thanks again to Ben and Erica for hosting what turned out to be a definite success, full of good times and good friends. It's always fun getting to see everyone in "street clothes," and the good food and drink was icing on the cake. It didn't hurt that there was real icing on a real cake either!

Feeding the Future of CFDC!!

Speaking of the holidays, a quick announcement about classes over the holidays:
(1) the gym will close early Fri, Dec. 23rd, but CF Dupont's 6 and 7pm classes will be held at their normal times;
(2) the gym will remain closed Saturday (Dec. 24th), Sunday (Dec. 25th), and Monday (Dec. 26th). CFDC will NOT hold class on Christmas Day (Sunday, Dec. 25th) nor will CF Dupont hold classes on Boxing Day (Monday, Dec. 26th);
(3) all classes will resume their regular schedule as of Tuesday, Dec. 27th;
(4) Finally, CFDC will be hosting a special New Years Day workout (Sunday, Jan. 1st). Most likely we'll get started at our usual time, but we'll keep you updated as we get closer. If you're leaving town (or already left), enjoy your Holidays.

2011-12-15T23:43:00.000-05:00

AND YOU JERK IT OUT

Julia's birthday was on Thursday, and to celebrate, she decided to hit a PR split jerk of 150lb!

After another monster Tuesday, things slowed down a bit on Thursday. And of course, the best way to slow things down is to add weight!

Skill: Kipping Practice

We've been through the kipping progression a few times now, and with people making good progress, we'll continue to revisit this same set-up:

- 1 set of 3 Arch & Hollow Holds (holding each extreme position of the kip at least 3 times - so hold the hollow position, come back to center, hold the arch position, come back to center, hold the hollow position, etc.)

- 1 x 5 Arch & Hollow Transitions (making a smooth transition between the two positions rather than holding, but still slower than a full kip); &

- 2-3 x Full Kipping and Kipping to Single Pull-Ups (this is where we speed up the arch and hollow transitions into a full speed kip. Those with at least 1 strict pull-up were allowed to do the kips and then a full kipping pull-up before coming back down and into three more kips. Those without a kipping pull-up stuck to kipping, trying to string together at least 5 to 10 smooth and controlled kips before coming off the bar).

Strength: 6 x 2 Heavy Jerks

For those who have been practicing the jerk, we moved right on into 6 sets of 2 reps (with at least 1 warm-up set depending on the end goal weight). For those who are unfamiliar with the movement or haven't practiced as much, we started with a quick review of the difference between (A) the strict press (no lower body movement), (B) the push press (dip & drive the weight into position overhead), and (C) the push jerk (dip & drive the weight, and then, before the weight is fully overhead, unlock the knees again and push the body under the weight).

Not so long ago, Coach Mike Choi put together a nice Points of Review of the Jerk, which I'm going to re-post here:

THINGS TO REMEMBER

1) On the dip-drive, be sure that you do not drop under the bar so quickly that it creates separation between you and the bar. This kills any upward momentum. Instead, dip-drive as if loading a spring, lowering at a controlled (but not "slow") rate before quickly reversing direction. The stored energy is quickly released on the upward motion.

2) It's not a press up. Drive yourself aggressively under the bar with as much speed as possible. Don't be so concerned with how deep to go. That depends on the weight relative to your strength and flexibility. Go as deeply as needed. This will take practice to find the best natural mix for your body.

3) Turn your feet slightly in at the bottom of the split. Feet should be slightly wider than a normal lunge to create lateral stability at the bottom of the split.

4) Recover by bringing the front foot forward, then the back foot, then the front foot. Moving the back foot first can create quite a bit of instability.

5) Demonstrate control before lowering (not dropping the barbell). Your hands should not release the bar until it's past your waist. Only drop the bar if your body position is compromised or you're in danger.

6) If dumping, be sure to push the bar gently in the direction it is falling and step in the opposite direction. Do whatever you need to do to get out of harm's way, but generally a little push creates a surprising amount of space between you and the bar.

THINGS TO AVOID

7) From the rack position, don't fumble around too long. Set your hands, take a focused breath of air and do the jerk. It's not being suggested that the lift should be rushed. But many people sit and hold the weight for long periods of time as it depletes strength.

To this list, I would add one more thing, which applies with equal effect to both the Push Press and Jerk: when dipping, push the knees forward to drop, as opposed to pushing the hips back.

The first - knees forward - will allow to maintain an upright torso, with the weight held on (and then pushed by) the chest. The second - hips back - will often cause the torso to tip forward, causing the weight pull forward off the chest and into the hands. When the weight is moderate, you'll be able to get it overhead, but often only after you've leaned forward and hyper-arched your back in order to get under the weight (or jumped forward to get back under it). When the weight is heavy, you'll simply lose it out in front of you. The above photo set is a nice clear representation of the correct dip and drive position used in a push press, but check out the following photo set of Sage Burgener applying the same technique to the split jerk:

Team Met-Con: 100 Pull-Ups, 200 Wall Balls, 300 Sit-Ups

There was some last minute adjustments due to time and space constraints, but the effect was the same: mass body weight work being carried out by multiple people.

Awesome work. The kipping is looking great, and there are some people who'll be ripping off kipping pull-ups before they know it. Don't Forget: This Sunday is the CFDC Holiday Get-Together (3pm at Ben and Erica's in Adam's Morgan). If you have any questions, please e-mail Tom or I. Otherwise, be prepared to get your swole & sweat on Sunday morning in class and then make merry with the rest of your CFDC compatriots Sunday afternoon.

2011-12-13T22:09:00.013-05:00

BLOCKED OUT

When is a grinder not really a grinder? Perhaps when you break it up into pieces and sandwich some rest in there.

WOD:

3 x 4+4 Blocks

Each 4+4 block was made up of two exercises, and each exercise was done for 4 minutes straight, one right after the other. So, in each block, you would complete a 4 minute AMRAP of exercise A, and then move right on into a 4 minute AMRAP of exercise B. In each block, exercise A was patterned as a more cardio intensive movement, with exercise B being a slower paced, strength and stability intensive movement. Score for each block was combined total number of reps (reps of exercise A plus reps of exercise B).

Block 1: Shuttle Runs & Wall Walks

For Tuesday's purpose, a shuttle run equaled one round trip to mid-court and back.

Transitioning from the shuttle runs to wall walks demanded that everyone pay particular attention to their mid-line. Less than a month ago, we discussed the position of the hips/pelvis in movements such as handstands and handstand push-ups which "benefit from tucking the pelvis under into a posterior pelvic tilt in order to eliminate the lumbar arch." The idea isn't necessarily to round the back, but rather to stop the back from over-arching and make it easier to utilize the entire core to stabilize the spine. Check out the following series of pics as Eric performs one of his wall walks Tuesday night:
Specifically, check out Eric's mid-line (mid-workout, no less); In each picture, representing different stages of progress up the wall, his core is tight with his pelvis clearly tucked forward into that posterior tilt. As a result, he's able to walk his chest all the way to the wall without allowing his back to over-arch.

Block 2: Double Unders & Mummy Crawl

The mummy crawl distance was half that of the shuttle runs, so 1 rep equaled a trip to mid-court, and making it back to the end line equaled 2 reps. Scores for this block were reported as combined total of reps, however, those doing single skips had their scores divided by three for the round.

As it was with the wall walks, so it was with the mummy crawls: tuck the pelvis forward into that posterior tilt and really squeeze the abs and glutes. Keeping your mid-section locked into this position will keep the middle from sagging (over-arched back). This will also make performing the mummy crawl much easier; when the middle sags, more stressed is placed on the shoulders, making it extremely difficult to use the arms as propulsion.

Block 3: Burpees & DB Ground-to-Overhead

Burpees are burpees, and the DB G2OH was as straight forward as it sounds: take the dumbbell from the ground to an overhead position (knees extended, elbows extended, shoulder active and driving up). You could accomplish this by performing either a DB snatch or a DB Clean and Jerk. Weight for the single DB was prescribed as 20-30% of total body weight. Scoring was equal to number of reps completed with each arm - i.e., if you did 25 reps with your right, and 25 reps with your left, your score was for the DB G2OH was 25. However, the reps had to be even, so you if you got 25 with your right, but only 24 with your left, your score was 24.

After all was said and done, and the scores had been tallied up, there was an outright tie between Dan and Steph, each with a total rep tally of 390 reps - sadly, there was no time left for a face-off. Also, big shout out to Sara for using a 40lb DB for the G2OH!

A tough workout to be sure. Awesome work all around, especially in really focusing on good form, and pushing the pace across all 3 eight minute blocks. Really impressive. Rest up, and we'll see you all back on Thursday for what, I promise, will not be a repeat performance of Tuesday.

2011-12-11T20:25:00.007-05:00

FRONT AND CENTER

This was just the week for Front Squats - not that that's a bad thing. Especially if you're someone who listed "improving the front rack position" as one of your new goals.

Strength:

6 x 3 Front Squats + 6 DB RDLs

A big key to success with the front squats will be flexibility/mobility. Getting your elbows up with the triceps parallel to the floor is essential to keeping the weight centered as close as possible to the body's center of gravity. Not to mention the hip and ankle flexibility which will allow you to sit back into the squat while keeping the chest up.

So, flexibility and mobility will make front squats easier to perform, and thus are key to adding weight and reps. However, they aren't the most important points. The most important point of the front squat is starting the squat with the hips, not the knees.

It's imperative that you not initiate your front squats by bending your knees first. This puts the weight forward of your center of gravity, causing the body to pitch forward. The more you pitch forward, the more the weight will start pulling off your shoulders and into your hands. This will make the lift more difficult due to the awkward distribution of the weight, but more importantly, this precarious position can also quickly put you at risk for injury: in trying to correct the movement, most people will try to re-right themselves using their backs, pulling themselves back up into position (as opposed to driving their elbows up, which will re-center the weight and make it easier to stand up without hurting themselves). To avoid this situation, make sure you initiate each front squat - as well as any other squat - with the hips. Tilt the hips back first, accentuating the lumbar arch, and then slowly lower yourself while maintaining an upright torso position with the knees pushed out and elbows driving up.

To further emphasize the necessity for hip movement and core stability, Sunday's front squats were mixed with 6 DB RDLs (Romanian Deadlifts) per round of squats. While RDLs are often considered a supplemental movement to the deadlift, they have excellent carry over to the Front Squat, particularly in light of the conversation above. RDLs (along with their brethren, the Good Morning) help to develop strong spinal erectors (as well as glutes and hamstrings). The spinal erectors ("erector spinae muscles") run the length of the back, from the sacrum all the way up to the base of the skull, and are responsible for keeping the head and spine extended while the body is under load, thus allowing a lifter to maintain a "neutral" spine position with the lower back naturally arched (rather than rounded). When you now consider the emphasis on maintaining a strong core and tight back, especially with the weight located forward of the center of gravity during the front squat, you can see the benefit of the Front Squat/RDL mix.

Some really good form and effort. The hard work and effort is paying off, including a few PR's on Sunday: Erica and Amelia at 100# for all 3 reps, Steph for 3reps at 120#, Sebastian for the 3 at 205 (his old 1rep PR), and Julia for 3 at 190#. Any other PR's? If so, let's hear about 'em in the comments section!

Team Met-Con:

50-40-30-20-10 DUs,

10-8-6-4-2 Burpee Pull-Ups,

50-40-30-20-10 Sit-Ups

In teams of three people, complete each descending ladder in order and with only one person working at a time. So, P1 does 50 DUs, then P2 does 50 DUs, then P3 does 50 DUs, before P1 starts on 40 DUs. Scaling for the DUs was 3x single skips. Continue in this manner until all the DUs have been completed, and then move onto Burpee Pull-Ups and then Sit-Ups. Speaking of Burpee Pull-Ups, Tom called 'em "burples," but I think "Burp-Ups" come much closer to the mark, in both description and the resulting feeling. Yea or Nay?

A cool little team work-out to close out Sunday. Speaking of PR's, it was awesome to see Ben Brown banging out full burpees after his pec injury! One week left till our CFDC Holiday get-together. Thanks to all who RSVP'd; to those who haven't please do so! We'll send out a reminder e-mail today, but I thought I'd remind everyone on here as well. See you all Tuesday.

2011-12-09T09:43:00.008-05:00

AMERICAN HANDSTAND

With a lot of one rep max testing going on this week, and after a long grinder on Tuesday, things slowed down a bit for Thursday's class and focused on some skill application.

Skill 1:

Handstand Push-Ups

Everyone began with a set of 5 scaled HSPU's, with knees on a box and both hands on small boxes to ensure full range of motion. To slightly scale up, raise your knees by placing a bumper plate on the box. To slightly scale down, place your feet on the floor (or on a short box) but keep your hands on the small boxes. The key to the scaled versions is "verticality;" i.e., ensuring that your torso is not only as vertical as possible at the bottom (with head touching the floor), but remains as vertical as possible as you press back up - don't allow the spine to arch and the chest to flatten out, which turns the movement into a decline push-up.

For the slightly more advanced members of the class, those who have substantial HSPU's under their belts, we had a special version of the HSPU to try: Wall Facing Band-Assisted HSPU on parallettes/dumbells.

But if these athletes can already do HSPUs, why use the bands? Because, in this case, the bands weren't there to assist them as a strength supplement. Admittedly, we're not big fans of using bands to aid in facilitating HSPUs, at least not where a lack of strength is concerned. There are plenty of more adequate progressions to help you build strength and comfort in the handstand position. Instead, use of the bands Thursday aided athletes with their balance when facing into the wall, creating a situation where these athletes could work on maintaining good hollow-body position and form through out the movement while still tapping into their strength.

In the line of handstand progress, we often start with our backs to the wall. This allows us to develop strength and comfort in the handstand position while also allowing us time to play with body alignment. However, handstands facing away from the wall do not encourage a proper hollow handstand posture. In fact, most athletes will allow themselves to over-arch in this position:

This is where handstands facing the wall come in. Practicing handstands facing the wall helps to ensure a proper hollow, upright handstand position:
(Cheers to DrillsandSkills for the photos, taken from their Handstand Push-up article.)

Unfortunately, handstands facing the wall don't allow as much leeway with balance as facing away from the wall does. Thus, when HSPUs are called for, most CrossFitters default to the facing-out position, which allows them to focus on strength rather than balance and position. Thus was born our band-assisted HSPU facing the wall.

By having people face the wall, we allowed them to concentrate on maintaining a good hollow-body position through-out the movement. However, by simultaneously using bands to assist with balance, we also ensured that they would be able to incorporate their strength. In fact, in this set-up, the bands will allow you to pull your feet away from the wall, and perform an assisted free-standing HSPU if comfort allows. Additionally, placing people's hands on parallettes/DBs requires full range of motion, but also helps in learning to keep the elbows in towards the body.

These are not for everyday use, but are simply another tool in helping to develop proper posture and form. Speaking of development, to help cement in all this form and posture, as well as build some all-around strength, these movements were then used in a follow-up workout.

Skill WOD 1:

2 (or 1) HSPU on the minute for 15 minutes

Using the scaling option most appropriate for you, perform 2 HSPUs on the minute for 15 minutes. If performing a full two reps isn't possible, or if form begins to overly break down on the second rep, switch to 1 rep for the remaining time.

Skill 2:

Kipping

We've been covering kipping a lot lately, but Thursday's kipping review had a slight twist to the end of it. Before the twist however, the entire class ran through the same progression of 1 x 3 Hanging Arch & Hollow Position Holds (for reference on what this looks like, check out our November blog-post with accompanying pictures).

Hollow Position: Shoulders up with the hips tucked forward and low back pressing into the floor to create a rocking-chair shape while on your back.

Arch/Hyper-Extension Position: Shoulders up and thighs raised with the hips tucked back and abdominals pressing into the floor to create that same rocking-chair shape while on your stomach.

This was followed by a set of 4 or 5 smooth kips (putting the two positions together in a seamless but controlled movement). Then the twist: instead of applying the kipping to pull-ups, Thursday's kipping practice would be used to help develop kipping Knees-to-Elbows.

The function of the kipping in the K2E movement is the same as the pull-up. However, where, in the pull-up, after drawing our knees up towards our abdomen, we would add a hip "kick" to pull our chests back into the bar, we now continue to draw our knees up past our waist and in to our elbows.

Adding the kip to the K2E will obviously help you improve your numbers in the knees-to-elbow movement. However, kipping K2E can actually act to help improve your basic kip. First, it will really drive home the importance of keeping your scapula retracted while hanging on the bar. Relaxing the scapula and allowing your shoulders to pull-up towards your ears will effectively close off your shoulder muscles and rob you of the ability to press away from the bar. Second, kipping K2E requires you to pull your head back as you press away from the bar and into the hollow position. This will help angle the torso up towards the bar, allowing you to raise your knees high enough to touch your elbows. Leaving your head forward of your arms will force you to remain in a vertical position, make it near impossible to get your knees anywhere close to your elbows (thus turning the movement into a hanging leg raise instead).

Once again, to help nail these points into place and build up a little more strength in the process, everyone was given the chance to put this practice to use.

Skill WOD 2:

3 x AMRAP Kipping Knees to Elbows

It was a little tight using the bars on the court, especially depending on your height, but doing them in that set-up will serve to keep your form in check, demanding control over the movement instead of wild leg-swinging (which will inevitably send you crashing backwards into the wall). If you're struggling to apply the kip to the K2E continuously, take the same approach that we use for the pull-ups, and try a few kips, one full K2E, and then try to immediately regain your kip.

Excellent work - look for more skill work in the near future, but more importantly, look for us to start applying more of the skills and progressions in actual workouts. Until then, keep practicing.

Also, if you haven't already, please be sure to RSVP for the Holiday Get-Together. See you all on Sunday.

2011-12-07T12:56:00.008-05:00

GRIN AND BEAR IT!

Grinder workouts. Long, laborious undertakings which often involve lengthy time domains and persistent repetition of exercises, and always involve an abundance of determination. Determination to stop, to not pause and catch our breath for endless seconds, but, most importantly, to not give in to sloppy, spastic form or insufficient movements. Grinders have their value in teaching us how to push through excessive volume, "grinding" through the work while still adhering to our strictures of form and performance. They test our endurance, both physically and mentally. They don't show up often in our programming, but this is what I'm hoping everyone will focus on when they do.

Pre-WOD Mobility:

Partner-Assisted Bully Drill & Sampson/Sampson-Plus Stretch

For the Bully Drill, lie on your back, press your hips up into the air, and then fold your arms and slide your hands, palms down and overlapping one another, behind your back and as high towards your neck as you can, before slowly lowering your hips. Your shoulders will, most likely, pull away from the floor, but your shoulder blades should remain pinched together as much as possible. This position in itself is a good stretch, but having a partner slowly and gently apply pressure to the front of shoulders, pushing them back down towards the floor, really serves to increase the intensity.

For the Sampson-Plus, instead of raising your arms over your head, reach back and grab your foot, pulling it off the floor towards your butt, then push the hips forward towards the ground.

WOD:

20 min AMRAP of 1+ DB Bear Maker and DB Suicide

A single Bear Maker = push-up, renegade row, renegade row, stand-up, power clean, single arm press/push press, single arm press/push press, thruster. Done with dumbbells totaling anywhere between 1/4 to 1/3 of body weight.

The "1+" designation indicates the addition of a full Bear Maker complex each round. So, perform 1 Bear Maker the first round, 2 in the second round, 3 in the third, etc. (adding a round means another single Bear Maker, as opposed to increasing the reps of each movement).

DB Suicide = to mid-court and back, and then to the far end of the court and back, with the dumbbells. One, and only one, DB suicide was performed each round, and you could carry the DBs however you wanted (farmer's style, on the shoulders, etc.)

A quick 20 minutes, and it was all over. However, with everyone's shoulders really nice and warm, it seemed an excellent opportunity to revisit the bully shoulder mobility with our partners.

Post-WOD Mobility:

Partner-Assisted Bully Drill, Part 2

Exact same set-up and position as before, but with each partner holding the stretch for at least a minute each time to really open up the shoulder.

Awesome work, especially in heeding the calls to use good form through-out the workout, but especially when picking up the DBs in the later minutes of the workout (nothing like being tired and then heaving 1/4 to 1/3 of your body weight off the floor with a bowed back to set you up for some problems). Rest up, stay dry, and we'll see everyone on Thursday.

2011-12-05T07:04:00.007-05:00

CLUSTER BOMB

After two information laden workouts, and their resulting posts, Sunday took a turn for the simple.

Strength:

6 x 3 Cluster Deadlifts

The "cluster," for our purposes, means together but separate. So, in each set, you perform the given number of reps, but with 10 to 20 seconds of rest in between in each rep. This emphasizes the initial, un-loaded set-up for every rep (as opposed to having one initial rep with an unloaded set-up, followed by two more reps which are performed under tension garnered from the preceding rep). Lifters could increase weight across the 6 sets up to 80-85% of their 1RM.

Performing bottom-up lifts in this manner (think DL, Cleans, Snatch - anything where the weight starts on the floor) will really help you in getting tight during your set-up, and can be especially helpful for those who struggle with the lift off for the DL.

Met-Con:

Odd & Even AMRAP

12 Min AMRAP of 3 Burpees on the minute followed by AMRAP Thrusters on the Odd minutes (i.e., the 1st min, 3rd min, 5th, etc.) and AMRAP Sit-Ups on the Even minutes (2nd min, 4th min, 6th, etc.). Score was total reps (thrusters & sit-ups only) during the 12 minutes.

Definitely a tough way to finish off the day. Nice work in a big class. If you haven't had a chance to RSVP for the Holiday Get-Together, please do so. We'll be following up with some more information soon, but we'd like to get a semi-accurate head count before then.

2011-12-02T09:14:00.010-05:00

BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN

After our little dressage reference on Tuesday, I thought the title of today's post was pretty appropriate, especially considering the start to Thursday's programming.

Skill:

Kipping

After the warm-up, which paid specific attention to getting our respective scaps warm and mobile, class reviewed the two extreme positions of the kip - while still on the floor.

Hollow Position Review: Shoulders up with the hips tucked forward and low back pressing into the floor to create a rocking-chair shape while on your back.

Arch/Hyper-Extension Position Review: Shoulders up and thighs raised with the hips tucked back and abdominals pressing into the floor to create that same rocking-chair shape while on your stomach.

After reviewing each position, class then took to the pull-up rig to re-create these same two positions while hanging from the bar.

- 2x3 Hollow & Arch Holds;
- 1x3 Smooth Kipping; and
- 1x3 Kipping Transition

Check out this same progression, along with accompanying pictures, when we ran through it at the beginning of November. Skill review over with, it was time for the day's fun.

Met-Con:

KarAnnie Gone Awry

(weird name, awesome workout)

Stay with me for a second, as I walk you through the progression of how this workout came to be:

Karen = 150 Wall Balls for time
Annie = 50-40-30-20-10 Double Unders & Sit-Ups
(for us math challenged, that would be 150 total reps of each)
Annie Gone Awry = 50-40-30-20-10 Side Hurdles and Supine Windshield Wipers

and thus was born the amalgamation that was dropped on class for Thursday:

KarAnnie Gone Awry = 50-40-30-20-10 Wall Ball, Side Hurdles, & Supine Windshield Wipers

It's not often that wall balls show up in our workouts in such high numbers, but there is definite value to this approach. Anyone who has ever done “Karen” in it's original form knows how much endurance, both cardiovascular and muscular, that's required to do high reps of wall ball in any time domain. Maintaining good form throughout the movement is key. Keeping the ball high on the chest (like the front rack of the front squat) while keeping our weight on our heels from top to bottom of the squat will help delay muscle fatigue by keeping us as efficient as possible throughout the movement. Yes, I realize, it's relatively easy and straightforward to say, but another thing entirely to perform during 150 reps.

Speaking of straightforward, the whole point of this sideways-version of Annie is to avoid going straightforward...literally. A lot of exercises require us to move in a linear fashion. That is, forwards and backwards. Our goal Thursday night was to add both (A) lateral motion (the side hurdles), and (B) trunk rotation (the windshield wipers) to the workout.

Lateral motion aids in developing our kinesthetic awareness (sensing where our body is in space). It's this awareness that tells us where the box is for box jumps and how high we need to jump to land on it. It also tell us where the hurdle is, and how high and far we need to jump to clear it. To gauge your level of kineshetic awareness, ask yourself this question: where were you looking last night when hurdling? Were you looking straight ahead, "feeling" your way over the hurdle, or were you looking down at the hurdle to make sure you cleared it each time? The first builds kinesthetic awareness, which in turn helps build proprioception (the ability to control our body, and pattern our movements, and important ability when learning complex, compound movements such as the Olympic lifts). The second, looking at the hurdle, circumvents kinesthetic awareness. It also, in the case of the side hurdles, often causes us to break at the waist, disrupting our midline, making it even harder to control our bodies and increasing muscle fatigue.

Trunk rotation is especially important for building core strength. Any movement which utilizes trunk rotation demands balance and stability, mobility and flexibility, as well as power. Of course, trunk rotation also adds power, via a strong core. Think of any sport, and you'll find trunk rotation embedded in it's foundation. Baseball is probably top of most people's lists, with both throwing and batting, but there's also tennis, soccer, lacrosse, hockey, martial arts, football/rugby, skiing, swimming, and even golf. The ability to keep the body stable through rotation allows us to impart more muscle capacity to whatever movement we are performing. In short, more power. Imagine discus throwers at the Olympics. Without a stable core, they would lack the ability to adequately control the pre-throw spin. Less control means a slower spin, and a slower spin keeps them from maximizing the power they put into the throw.

Apologies for another lengthy post with lots of information, but the intent is to help explain why we do some things; for instance, both the lateral movements and trunk rotation have clear carry over to our daily lives, which is the essence of 'functional movements.' Additionally, this is just another way for us to encourage all of you to seek out ways of adding such to functionality to your daily lives on your own. In other words, GO OUT AND PLAY!

It was awesome to have John join us while he was in town from NY. John's a true CrossFit journeyman, having worked-out at San Francisco CF (with the now infamous Kelly Starret), CF Oahu (from whence longtime CFDC-friend Katie Heinrich originally hails), and now CF Virtuousity.

Nice work everyone. Definitely a bit of a grinder, but really happy to see people push all the way through with good form (including quite a few self-assessed "no reps" - to quote Peter last night, "this new 'no rep' rule sucks!" Very true, but because of it, none of you will suck, and, really, isn't that the point!?

Also, the date for the CFDC Holiday Get Together has been decided as December 18th (by way of the popular vote). If you got the evite, please be sure to RSVP; if you didn't get the evite, please let Tom or Chris know so that we can add your address to the e-mail list as soon as possible. See you all on Sunday!

2011-11-30T08:53:00.014-05:00

HIP TO IT

Over the past few months, we've regularly programmed at least one "skill day" a week, either for working on a particular skill or understanding how to best scale a skill movement for a workout. This Tuesday, we switched gears, but only slightly. Instead of focusing on a skill movement, we focused instead on a key body movement: use of the hips and the integral role they play through-out the broad spectrum of exercises CrossFit utilizes.

Neutral Spine and it's associated curvature

Standing, or lying, in a nice, neutral position (the position most of us should find ourselves in naturally), our spine produces a subtle S-shape. This is our natural position, and the one we should normally default to. Under load, however, it's sometimes necessary to actively promote the lumbar curve by tilting the hips back ("Anterior Pelvic Tilt") or, conversely, negate the lumbar curve by tilting the hips forward ("Posterior Pelvic Tilt").

Anterior Pelvic Tilt
In an anterior pelvic tilt, the top of the pelvis is tilted forward and the bottom backwards (i.e., if your hips were a bucket of water, you'd be spilling water forwards onto your toes).

In lifts such as the squat and deadlift, we cue initiating or leading with the hips: i.e., slightly tilting the pelvis backwards and pushing the hips back (notice I said "slightly" - beware that if you have a hyper-mobile lower back, you can actually over-arch, creating a problem as significant as rounding). In these lifts, the anterior tilt, or flexion, will help maintain the lumbar arch, stopping the lower back from rounding and thus helping to avoid compressing the vertebral disks too much.

The cue to "lead with the hips" focuses our attention on creating that anterior pelvic tilt. Pushing the hips back first will help to center the weight over our mid-line while simultaneously helping to maintain our natural lumbar arch through-out the lift. The converse of this is to lead with the knees (bend the knees first) which will have the effect of putting the weight forward of our mid-line while causing the body to sacrifice the lumbar arch and rounding our back in order to maintain our grip on the bar.

Posterior Pelvic Tilt
At the other end of the spectrum, we have movements like push-ups, handstands/handstand push-ups, and kipping, to name a few, which benefit from tucking the pelvis under into a posterior pelvic tilt in order to eliminate the lumbar arch and create a slight rounding in the lower back. In this position, the posterior pelvic tilt, the top of the pelvis is tilted backwards and the bottom forwards (again using our bucket of water image, we'd now be spilling water backwards onto our heels).

Tucking our hips to create that posterior pelvic tilt helps stop us from over-arching the lower back. During push-ups, or really any plank position, this keeps us from sagging in the middle. In kipping, it allows us to create a more stable rhythm, as our kip is then based on the movement of the hips rather than the swinging of the legs.

This is a great comparison drawing of a neutral pelvis at left in relation to a pelvis with posterior tilt at right and the resulting hollow position. Apparently Posterior Pelvic Tilt has carry-over to horse riding, as I borrowed the above photo from a dressage web-site.

The In-Betweens
Note that some movements, like overhead pressing, require us to squeeze our glutes and tilt the pelvis forward in order to avoid over-arching our backs when the weight is overhead. In other words, we are actually using a bit of posterior pelvic tilt in order to maintain the lower lumbar arch while creating a more stable spinal position when holding weight overhead.

To help everyone understand these concepts and put the particular positions into practice, Tuesday night's Tabata workout consisted of 4 exercises all of which prominently featured the hip and hip position.

WOD:

Tabata Mummy Crawl, Tabata B2B Squats,

Tabata Hollow Position Hold, & Tabata Plank-to-Squat

Tabata = 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest, for 8 rounds (4 minutes total); 1 minute of rest in between exercises.

Mummy Crawl: Get into a plank position (arms extended) with feet on a towel, and then using only your arms, drag yourself across the floor. The emphasis here is posterior pelvic tilt (hips tucked forward) and a tight core to stop the body from sagging towards the floor.

B2B Squats: squats are a normal tabata exercise, but the B2B version (Bottom-to-Bottom, meaning you hold the bottom squat position during the 10sec rest) really drives home the need for that anterior pelvic tilt at the bottom. Without it, the pelvis will actually tilt under, causing the back to round. This is bad at body weight, but can be devastating with a loaded barbell.

Hollow Position: The "push-away" portion of our kip, the hollow position is the quintessential posterior pelvic tilt exercise, as failing to tuck the hips up/forward will result in the lower back peeling away from the floor, defaulting back to the natural lumbar curve. Pulling the shoulders off the ground during the hollow position helps to maintain the rounded position and completes the rocking chair shape.

Appropriate scaling for the hollow position is to pull one leg in towards the chest, in order to make tilt the hips forward easier. This is opposed to simply bending the knees slightly and raising the feet higher, which does flatten out the low back, but also presses the pelvis flat, turning the movement into a crunch-hold.

Plank-to-Squat: We chose the plank-to-squat as the 4th exercise in Tuesday's hip-focused tabata because it utilizes both the anterior pelvic tilt (in the plank) with a quick transition to the posterior pelvic tilt (in the squat). Moreover, this is a movement we really like using to help create a more efficient burpee.

By jumping our feet close to our hands and landing in a squat position, we transition from the push-up to the jump in one move. The alternative is to jump the feet up a little, push off the ground with our arms, and then right ourselves the rest of the way using our lower back. The former is not only more efficient, but clearly better posturally, helping to keep better spinal position through-out the burpee. This efficiency translates not only into faster burpees, but will also allow you to maintain better form when said burpees are pared with a lift (e.g., deadlifts). To prove the point, we gave everyone a 5 minute break before putting this theory into practice with a quick 20 burpee finisher.

Great work - saw a lot of self-induced form correction during the workout, which was exactly the point. It's a lot of information to be digested, but well worth the time to ensure that we function better as athletes. Now, go polish off some left-overs and get ready for Thursday.

2011-11-28T08:16:00.005-05:00

BOX OFFICE

Since people still seemed to be dragging themselves out of their turkey-induced torpors, we thought it was a great idea for everyone to just have a seat during Sunday's class.

Strength:

Box Squats

The first part of Sunday's box squat program called for everyone to work up to a 2-3 rep max. The range (2-3 reps) was given as failure should not be an option on box squats. Can it, and does it, happen? Yes, but it should be avoided if possible: the act of sitting on the box makes it awkward to spot (side spotters are a must), but also makes it extremely dangerous to bail if you aren't in a proper cage. Thus, if you struggled to complete the second rep in any set, and thought the third rep might not happen, don't push it. Simply call that set at 2 reps, and then proceed to the second part.

The second part of the box squat program was to back down to 90% of your 2-3 rep max for the day, and complete and additional 2 sets of 3 reps each. While lighter, pushing the volume in this manner will really pay dividends in building your strength base.

Met-Con:

2min AMRAP each of Push Press, Burpee, K2E, & Box Jump

The met-con was done in teams of 4, with each member starting at a different station. Complete as many reps as possible within 2min, and then rotate during the prescribed 1min rest. Score was total reps for all 4 exercises combined.

Nice work all around. If you fell off the healthy eating band-wagon as badly as I did this past weekend, then really challenge yourself to getting back on track this week. Hey, it's Thanksgiving, it's allowed, but all the same, we should do our best not to roll T-Giving and Christmas into one big cheat month. Exemptions can be made for the odd holiday party, but in between, really work hard to be as strict as possible.

Also, congratulations to Reggie on his 5th year anniversary with CrossFit DC

(and CrossFit in general)! Here's to 5 more.

2011-11-25T10:31:00.012-05:00

THANKS GIVEN FOR @$$ WHIPPIN'!

Hope everyone enjoyed their respective T-Giving festivities, where-ever you were and whom-ever you were with. It might seem middle-school-essayish, but what are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? Hopefully, somewhere among the myriad answers, fitness can be found. No, I'm not talking about the type of fitness that allows you to rip of 100 DUs, or Deadlift 200 or 300lbs, or even complete Fight Gone Bad. I'm talking about the type of fitness that allows you to walk to the grocery store without getting winded, or being able to walk to the grocery store at all.

Yes, we all make choices, and we're pretty thankful each and every day that all of you made the choice to come be a part of the CFDC community. Sometimes our fitness, our actual physical health, is in within our control, and can be improved by making simple choices. Sometimes, though, it's not within our control, for reasons such as genetics, occupational hazards, unforeseen accidents, etc. So, as we close down the holiday, remind yourselves how lucky you are, not only to have made a great choice as it regards your personal health, but how luck you all are that you're physically capable of following through on that choice.

AND, as a small celebration of these capabilities and choices, CFDC and CFDupont came together for a little T-Giving throw-down on Thursday morning. You know, just to make sure we all earned our feasts.

T-Giving Partner/Team WOD:

The Hero & the Girl

For this iteration, we chose DT as our hero WOD & Angie as our Girl WOD. It was designed as a partner/team workout, with everyone assigned to teams of 2 or 3 people.

Part 1:

DT (5 x 12 DL, 9 HP Cleans, 6 Push Jerk)

To complete, each member must complete one round of DT at a time: so P1 does one round of 12-9-6, then P2 does one round (then P3 if applicable), before P1 starts on the second round, etc., etc. until each member of the team has done all 5 rounds. Rx’d weight for men was 155lbs, with ladies at 105lbs.

Part 2:

1 Mile Run

Once each member is done with DT, the entire team heads out for a 1 mile run.

Part 3:

Angie (100 each of Pull-Ups, Push-ups, Sit-Ups & Squats)

Once all members of the team are back from the run, start on Angie, where the team must complete 100 total pull-ups, 100 total push-ups, 100 Sit-Ups and 100 Squats. Totals is 100 reps of each exercise(not 100 per member), and all 100 reps must be completed before moving on to the next exercise (i.e., exercises must be completed in order). Teams can divide the reps among members as they see fit, but only one team member can be working at a time. Teams of three have the option to scale up to 150 reps of each exercise.

A good way to start the day. For more photos, click on the link to the CFDC Picasa web album below.

CFDC T-Giving Photos

Remember, we're back to our regularly scheduled programming on Sunday, but until then, rest up, enjoy some left-overs, and post thoughts on the workout, as well as what you're generally thankful for this T-Giving.

2011-11-23T10:19:00.006-05:00

LUNGE BOX!

Explosive, Olympic-style movements took on a slightly different flavor with Tuesday's programming, including Pendlay Rows and some DB Snatch work.

Strength:

5 x 5 Pendlay Rows

We last visited the Pendlay Row a little over a month ago, and the following blog post included a short paragraph about set-up and execution (you can jump to it HERE if you want to review it). One key reminder about performing Pendlay Rows: it's not about the weight you move, it's about how explosively you move it. As such, you're not looking to stop or back off the weight when you can't get the bar to your chest, you should stop/back-off when the bar slows to a grinding pull.

Instead of mixing the Rows with an accessory lift, we used the intervening time between lifts to work some thoracic spine and shoulder mobility. Thus, everyone hit the gym floor in between sets to carry out alternating sets of the overhead thoracic spine opener with the aid of some ab-mats and bumper plates (photo above) and a supine version of KStarr's "Bully Shoulder Drill," with both hands behind the back, as high up towards the scapula as possible, and hips pressed down into the floor.

Met-Con:

4 x

6 DB Snatch Rt. Hand,

Rt. Arm OH Lunge 20ft,

6 DB Snatch Lf.,

Lf. Arm OH Lunge 20ft.

The DB snatch is essentially the same movement as a full-blown Olympic Snatch, except it's done with the weight in just one hand instead of two. In fact, read through the Points of Review for the Snatch list posted last week, and simply replace the word "bar" with "dumbbell," and you'll have an excellent set of reminders on how to properly perform a DB Snatch.

The workout called for everyone to perform 6 DB Snatches with their right arm, leaving the weight overhead on the 6th rep, and then lunge 20 feet(with the weight held overhead), before turning around and doing the same thing, but with the DB held in the left hand. RX'd weight for guys was ~30% of body weight, and ~20% of body weight for girls. Points of Performance, as always, keyed in on full range of motion for both exercises; i.e., standing all the way up with the weight overhead on the snatches, and knee to the floor on the lunges (with the weight locked out overhead). In order to complete the lunges, feet had to come in contact with the line, and you must stand all the way up (no dumping the DB while still in the bottom of the lunge).

RESULTS:

I was super excited to see a lot of people doing an extra full lunge to cross the line when their toes were inches away on the previous attempt, and at least two people (John and Katie) no rep themselves on lunges because they bailed out before they came all the way to standing or the lost balance and had to stutter step. Truly awesome on all accounts!

Shoulder Mobility Work

Class closed out with some much needed shoulder stretching and mobility work.

(IMAGE COMING)

(1) Partner Assisted Assume the Position w/ PVC

(2) Partner Assisted Rearwards External Shoulder Rotation w/ PVC

(3) PVC Kimura-ish

REMEMBER, we will be having a special Thanksgiving class on Thursday starting at 10AM at the gym (all other classes are cancelled - there will be Friday evening classes at 6 and 7PM, but no morning classes). If you're in town, come throwdown with us and really earn that holiday feast you know you're going to put away! Otherwise, enjoy the holiday.

2011-11-21T08:58:00.009-05:00

THE GOOD MORNING AFTER

This was no episode of "The Dr's," but I trust it was enough to leave everyone with a good reminder of where our hamstrings are located (if you didn't quite get the reference at the beginning of the sentence, don't worry, there's a nice little rant at the end of this post that will clue you in).

Strength 1:

6 x 3-5 Heavy Good Mornings

Increasing weight across sets, work through 6 sets of between 3 to 5 good mornings per set - all reps must be performed with good form (no rounded backs, no hinging at the waist, no squattish-GMs).

and since Good Mornings are to Deadlifts what Apples are to Apple Pie, it's only appropriate that we followed up with a little bit of deadlifting.

Strength 2:

3 x

AMRAP Deadlift (Max 15reps), Rest 45 sec,

Hollow Position Hold for Time, Rest 45 sec,

Handstand Hold for Time, Rest 45 sec

Weight for the DLs were set at a minimum of 100% of body weight and a maximum of 150% of body weight. To complete the workout, perform as many DLs as possible (up to 15 reps), then rest 45 seconds before attempting to maintain a good hollow position for as long as possible. Then rest another 45 seconds before attempting to hold a good handstand as long as possible.

This triplet really emphasized the importance of postural control and it's relationship among seemingly unrelated exercises. Sure it's easy to concentrate on your form during the deadlift - we tend to harp on it enough. But the need to control the midsection isn't a one-time deal, nor is it a one-way deal (and by one-way, I mean it's not only about creating and keeping that beloved lumbar-arch position). If you don't have enough control over your mid-section to keep your back from arching in the hollow position, or over-arching in the handstand, you probably won't have enough control to keep it from rounding during a DL.

Now, speaking of maintaining good form...

If, by chance, you don't follow the daytime talk-show "The Drs" (and I can't imagine why any of you would), then you may have missed that most frightful of fitness flunkies, Jilian Michaels, giving CrossFit a try on national television last week. Please, feel free to catch up by watching the clip below:

(Embedded video has been replaced with a link: http://www.thedoctorstv.com/main/home_pageinit_type=Feature&init_id=5302%3Fl%3D3ca81cb4-65b3-4e93-979f-00709b39366e)

Now, admittedly, I am not a fan of Ms. Michaels, and I loathe the show the Biggest Loser due, in large part, to her horrifying approach to training (coupled with her sicky-sweet screeching). However, all personal sentiments aside, that performance was abysmal. Her mechanics were what I would expect from someone beginning Foundations rather than a nationally recognized "fitness trainer" with, supposedly, at least 17 years of experience. Watch the clip again: see her knees caving in on every box jump? How about a complete inability to lock out the push press? Or to simply catch a dyna-max thrown at the ground? And on top of that, she was utterly gassed by a 2min workout.

Maybe you think I'm writing this to make fun of Jilian Michaels, and, well, you'd be right to some degree. However, there is a larger issue beyond pointing out that all of you are more technically proficient and fit than Jillian (and, after watching that video a few times, I do mean ALL OF YOU). It's this: our collective-job as CrossFitters just became that much harder, because there are now thousands of people out there who are thinking to themselves "well, if an all-around awesome arrangement of awesomeness like Jillian Michaels struggles that much with CrossFit, I'll never be able to do it!"

Although CrossFit isn't for everyone, everyone CAN do CrossFit. Sure, there are people out there who like their routines and cling to them like a baby koala. There are people who don't want to touch a weight, let alone clean and jerk a loaded barbell; they're perfectly happy to run, /elliptical/yoga themselves into oblivion. That's fine. Hey, at least they're doing something. But that doesn't mean they can't. Nor does it mean anyone else can't. Age, weight, sex, previous athletic experience (or lack there of) - none of these prevent anyone from doing CrossFit.

With the inexhaustible ways to scale a workout or substitute exercises, any movement, any workout, can be made to suit a persons abilities. We take pride at CFDC in practicing the "infinite scaleability" so many are quick to preach. There is little else that makes us as happy as being able to make things work for everyone who attends a class. True, not every coach out there will do this, and some are better than others, but now, because of Jilian Michaels gross display of coordination, it's likely that few will even bother looking for a good coach. As such, we must now task all of you with the responsibility of assuring everyone with whom you discuss CrossFit that they CAN do CrossFit, and that there are coaches who can ensure that. Cheers.

2011-11-18T10:47:00.008-05:00

PISTOL WHIPPED

Pistols have been popping up as skill work a lot recently, but skill work without application isn't really beneficial.

Skill:

Pistol Work

While pistols may seem like a parlor trick, their application to all aspects of fitness is undeniable. Pistols demand that we constantly exert power through-out the entire range of motion, all while on only one leg. Beyond mere strength, pistol squats also require balance, flexibility, coordination and endurance.

Working on pistols in a controlled environment, such as a skill session, you can focus on your specific weakness in the movement, concentrating intensely to overcome what ever holds you back. However, in a chaotic environment, such as Thursday's metcon, focusing solely on one piece of the movement will often create more problems. It it's for exactly this reason that we put skill movements, like the pistol, into workouts.

Met-Con:

5 x

3 Power Cleans,

6 Pistols,

9 Bar-Facing Burpees ("BarFees")

Weight for the cleans wasn't really RX'd, though a good working weight for guys was set around 135, with women around 95. Pistol scaling was based on performance in the preceding skill session: anyone who could maintain control to just above parallel and then stand back up, unassisted, was allowed to perform strap-assisted pistols during the workout. Anyone unable to maintain that level of control were scaled to 8 single-leg floor touches.

BarFees = perform a standard burpee, but instead of jumping and clapping overhead, simply jump over the barbell. That equals 1 rep. Results:

So, usually I close out posts with a "great job" or "awesome work," but what impressed me most about yesterday's workouts was the camaraderie and support everyone gave to their fellow CFDCers; because of the size of the evening classes, we ran two heats per class, and, to a member, no one wandered off, or went upstairs to do something else while they waited, or even went home early after they were done. Instead, everyone stuck around, helped out, and cheered each other on. Find me a globo-gym where that'll happen, and I'll invest in a membership. I'm guessing my money's safe, though.

2011-11-16T22:20:00.007-05:00

FIGHT MINUTES, SNATCH SECONDS

Well, now that Blogger is letting me back in, and since I have actually been afforded a few minutes of free time, this would be a great time to update the blog, wouldn't you agree? First up, a review of Sunday and Tuesday's classes, which went hand-in-hand. This will shortly be followed by a review of this past weekends adventures in Glen Burnie, MD at the BWI Mid-Atlantic Hopper Challenge.

Sunday/Tuesday = Snatch Time

Both Sunday and Tuesday's classes concentrated on the reviewing the Snatch, with Sunday's class spending quality time with resident Oly Coach Mike Choi, while Tuesday's class was stuck with Tom and Chris. A lot of information was handed out in both classes, so to distill things down, we're going to first review the modified Burgener Warm-Up which Tuesday's class worked through extensively, followed by a review of the Snatch (as adapted from a previous Points of Review post by Coach Choi).

The Burgener Warm-Up

The Burgener Warm-Up is named after well known Olympic Lifting coach Mike Burgener, who, in his own words, found that

when learning the olympic lifts for the first time ... the following warm up is very helpful learning bar path requirements in snatching. there are several steps in this warm up protocol. before we go into this warm up, all students are taught foot position: jump (feet under your hips) land (feet 2" outside hips with bent knees weight on heals.) practicing jumping and going to landing is essential in the understanding of: CREATING MOMENTUM AND ELEVATION ON THE BARBELL THRU A RANGE OF MOTION!! understanding that the barbell in the snatch position is approximately 8-12" above the head (a wide grip) and is held by using the hook grip (thumb around the bar, fingers around the thumb)

For our modified version, we worked through the following progression, working each step for at least 5 repetitions (except the 3rd, which, owing to it's importance, we went through 10 repetitions of):

1st - The First Pull: Starting position (with PVC mid-shin) to the knees, keying on the shoulders and hips rising at the same rate;

2nd - The Second Pull {OR, Triple Extension}: Low Hang position (with PVC just above the knees) through full extension, with the knees and hips fully open and the shoulders shrugging violently towards the ceiling (arms are still locked however);

3rd - Transition To Third Pull: This should look exactly like the second step, however, at the end, the arms will continue to pull up on the bar, with the elbows driving high and outside;

4th - Mechanical Third Pull: Slowly pull the PVC into the top of the transition (PVC should be near the bottom of the sternum), elbows high and outside, and then quickly snap the bar into the overhead position;

5th - Landing Position: with the PVC overhead, jump the feet from the extension position to the landing position (i.e., your OHS squat position);

6th - Hang Power Snatch: from the low hang position, combine the 3rd, 4th, and 5th steps into one smooth movement; and, finally,

7th - OHS: with the PVC held overhead, work through a few controlled OHS, double checking foot position and maintaining balance.

That's a lot, especially the first time you work through it. However, it was well worth it, as there was some significant improvement in a lot of people's snatching following the warm-up.

Points of Review for the Snatch

I've borrowed heavily from Coach Choi's Points of Review for the Clean, because, except for the hand positioning and receiving position, his break down of the movement holds true for both lifts.

THINGS TO REMEMBER

1) Start with shoulders slightly in front of the bar, body weight over your ankles, butt low(er than a deadlift), and chest up. Your gaze will be neutral to slightly downward. Hands are wide with, preferably, a hook grip employed.

2) Pull off the floor and imagine pushing your feet down through it. This keeps your shoulders in front of the bar for a longer period of time but keeps the hips from rising faster than the shoulders. Quads and hamstrings will engage at approximately equal force.

3) As the bar passes your knees, explode upwards with STRAIGHT arms, and imagine driving your shoulders through the ceiling. Be sure to get full extension. The rise of the bar and a straight bar path comes from the smooth transfer of force from the legs through the shoulders.

4) Pull yourself under the bar at a faster rate than the bar is falling. Snap the bar into position with shoulders driven up towards the ears (active shoulders) to support the weight. Be sure to engage the glutes and abs so prevent over-arching and keep the chest up. This will help put, and keep, the bar over your body's center of gravity.

THINGS TO AVOID

5) Pulling early with the arms. The most common fault with a lot of lifters, where-in they will begin pulling the weight upwards with their arms before they've hit full extension. This negates the power generated by the hips, and will severely limit the amount of weight that can be lifted.

6) Donkey kicking or stomping your feet. This kills the upward-driving power in your first and second pulls. The sound your feet make should come from the speed from which they transition to the squat position, not the force from which you pick them up and slam them down.

7) Watch for the hip hitch. This bumps the weight out causing you to over-compensate to get under the bar. Instead, focus on an upward shoulder drive with full extension.

- - Note that No. 5, as well as No.'s 6 and 7 to some degree, can be corrected by really focusing on No. 2 above:

getting a full extension through the second pull. - -

8) Lastly, take YouTube videos of top level athletes for what they are: amazing and entertaining feats by strong athletes. It's not always a good idea copy or mimic your favorite lifter's specialized lifting techniques. Like a Major Leaguer's baseball swing, no two are alike. Similarly, an elite level weightlifter's mechanics may have been honed over years and tailor-made for his or her body. Examples include extreme laybacks and bumping the weight with your hips. There are a host of reasons why it works for an elite athlete but not for the novice. It's best to stick to the fundamentals with an emphasis on a straight bar path and making the lift as simple as possible.

Now, I'm not sure what Sunday's class had in store for them, but Tuesday's class had a fun little met-con awaiting them after their snatch work.

Met-Con:

For Time, complete

21-15-9 OHS, Box Jump, and Bear Crawl

Perform 21 OHS (RX'd at 95/65), then 21 box jumps (RX'd at 24/20), and then one full-court bear crawl. Then 15, 15, and one full-court bear crawl, and then 9, 9 and bear crawl.

The bear crawls definitely took a toll on the stability of the OHS and the quad-strength for the box jumps.

Nice work everyone. Apologies again for the super-late posting, but I will get back on track. Also, if you haven't yet responded to the Holiday Get-Together e-mail, please do so as we would really like to make it work for as many people as possible.

2011-11-11T09:15:00.015-05:00

HAPPY VETERANS DAY!

To All our Veterans, we share our deepest gratitude with you on all days, but most especially today. Thank you.
-CFDC

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Skill Work;

or, Learn To Love Your Goats

Breaking from the norm, the sole focus of Thursday's class was on skill work, and skill work alone. Why? Well, there's a lengthy explanation to why, and how, we practiced the 4 skill movements chosen for Thursday's session. First, the why.

10,000 Hours

In his 2008 bestseller, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell describes the logic behind why people become successful, decrying the myth that natural talent or high IQ are predictors for achievement. Instead, Gladwell hypothesized that it was practice and devotion to improvement that governed success. To this end, Gladwell sought out information about high achievers across a wide range of fields, professions, and skill sets to see if there were common ties between their paths to greatness.
One of the more iconic studies set out in Gladwell's book is a 1990’s psychology study of violinists in Berlin, Germany. The experimenters asked each violinist how many hours they’d practiced over the course of their career. Since all were relatively accomplished musicians, they had all begun to play around the age of 5, practicing the same amount each day. By age 8, there was some divergence where some practiced more than others. And by age 20, there was significant divergence. Based on these results, the examiners concluded that elite performers had around 10,000 hours of total practice, while the less able performers of the group had around 4,000 hours. Furthermore, they found there was very little indication of ‘natural talent;’ i.e., there were no performers who achieved elite status despite low hours of practice. Instead, each elite violinists had developed their mastery through around roughly 10,000 hours of practice, and no less.

CrossFit and Motor Skills

What does this have to do with us as CrossFitters? Many, if not all, of the movements utilized in CrossFit are skill based, requiring concentration and practice. Admittedly, however, some are much more rooted in 'skill' then others. The term 'skill' in this sense refers to motor skills, the learned sequence of movements which, when properly combined, produce a smooth, efficient action required to master a particular task. The development of motor skill, and specifically fine motor skills, occurs in the motor cortex, the region of the cerebral cortex that controls voluntary muscle groups. They key, then, is learning the movements, then learning the sequence, then working on combining the two to produce a "smooth, efficient action." In other words, it's all about progression and practice. With this in mind, we approached the 4 following exercises Thursday so that everyone, regardless of ability, would have the opportunity to learn and understand the correct progression, and then practice that progression outside of a workout.

------Progression #1: HSPU (Handstand Push-Ups)------

Everyone began with a set of 5 scaled HSPU's, with knees on a box/bleachers and both hands on small boxes to ensure full range of motion. To slightly scale up, raise your knees by placing a bumper plate on the box/bleacher. The key is "verticality;" i.e., ensuring that your torso is not only as vertical as possible at the bottom (with head touching the floor), but remains as vertical as possible as your press back up - don't allow the spine to arch and the chest to flatten out, which turns the movement into a decline push-up.

The next step in the progression was negatives with hands on parallettes. However, in order to attempt this option, people first had to "audition" by showing that they could perform one FRoM HSPU with hands on the floor; Full Range of Motion (FRom) means from lock out, down to head touching the floor, back up to lock out. Anyone who could demonstrate adequate control during the negatives was allowed to try FRoM HSPU's on the parallettes.

--------Progression #2: Pistols--------

Everyone began with a set of band assisted pistols (these were scaled down to band assisted onto a box, which acts as a depth limiter and adds a little more assistance in balancing before trying to stand back up). From there, anyone comfortable with the movement was allowed to try FRoM Pistols without assistance from the bands (although, these could be scaled down slightly by using a light dumbbell as a counter balance).

--------Progression #3 Kipping--------

(NOTE: not kipping pull-ups, just kipping)

For the kipping work, the entire class followed the same progression:

- 1x5 hanging scap retractions.

- 2x3 hanging hollow and arch holds - this was a slow and controlled drill who's goal was to get the body into the two extreme positions of the kip:

the hollow position (above), with the arms pressing away on the bar, hips tucked forward and back pressed into a controlled rounded position; and,

and the arch position, or hyper-extension (above), with arms pulling on the bar, hips tucked back, and the back arched.

- 1x3-5 smooth kips (putting the two positions together in a nice fluid motion)

------Progression #4: DUs (Double Unders)------

- For those with more than 10-20 consecutive DUs at any one time: Flight Simulator (10DUs, 15 DUs, 20DUs, etc; for any set missed, simply retry for that number before moving on);

- For those with roughly 5-10 consecutive DUs at any one time: Junior Flight Simulator (2DUs, 4 DUs, 6 DUs, etc.; again, for any set missed, simple retry for that number before moving on);

- For all others: begin with a standing single-count DU (so no single skips, just one DU and reset); if successful, move on to two single skips followed by a DU; if successful, move on to two single skips followed by a DU right back into single skips; if successful, begin working on stringing together two single skips and one DU.

But What are Goats?

Simply put, your goat is an exercise or movement you suck at, hate, or both. There are certain movements, skills, strengths or whatever that we simply are not good at. This can be due to genetics, training modalities, choices made, life situations while growing up, etc. Whatever the cause we all have things that we struggle with. The 4 skills we focused on during Thursday's class are usually top among most people's goat list, which is, thus, why we spent an entire class working on them.

Naturally we have a tendency of avoiding our goats. Sadly, this is not a great approach. If we avoid practicing what we dislike, our goats simply get bigger and bigger, and will continue hold us back in our pursuit of fitness. Instead, we must learn to “embrace the suck” and choose to spend a little extra time on the things we each struggle.

And, in case any of you are wondering why we refer to them as "goats," I have no idea - my best guess would be that it comes from the idiom about something that "get's my goat," meaning something really annoys you. As in: "double unders really get my goat." Yea, that statement would be pretty accurate.

But, it says "hate," so can burpees be a goat? Well, sure, if you really despise them, because they're not exactly mentally challenging. Or, are they?

Enter the CFDC Drunken Alphabet Burpee Chain!
In a single file line, each person performs a burpee calling out a letter of the alphabet starting from Z and working backwards down the line (so, P1 does a burpee and calls out "Z," P2 does a burpee and calls out "Y," etc. etc.) Any mistakes, and the chain restarts at Z with the person who made the mistake. Just a fun little mental team-building exercise to close out the class.

A long post with lots to read, but worth it if we are all to continue growing and improving in our fitness pursuits. Hopefully the positions and progressions will be foremost in your thoughts the next time any of these movements show up in a workout. Until then, spend a little time before/after each class, and practice one of the above. In the meantime, I'd like to recognize Malcolm Gladwell, CrossFit Marin (& in particular their "10,000 Hours" post), and good ole Wikipedia for their contributions (both in ideas and language) to today's post.

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Best of luck to all those competing this weekend at the 2011 Mid-Atlantic Hopper Challenge at CrossFit BWI this weekend! This includes Steve O., Tom A., and the CFDC Team of Julia, Cali, Sebastian, Ethan, and Chris. If you're interested in dropping in to watch and cheer, click on the link or picture below to get directions and times.

Additionally, despite the fact that Tom will be at the Hopper, there will be class on Sunday; Coach Mike Choi has kindly agreed to lead class this Sunday. Mike is our resident Olympic lifting coach, and I would highly encourage all of you to use this opportunity to learn from him.

2011-11-09T07:50:00.008-05:00

GO DOWN FIGHTING

Tuesday's workout was relatively simple and straight forward: Tabata Fight Gone Bad. After a few day of heavy squatting though, class took their time warming up.

Warm Up #1:

2x 10 Squats, 5 Alt-T Push-Ups, Inch Worm 1/2 Ct,

10 Jump Squats, 5 Dive Bomber Push-Ups, Crab Walk 1/2 Ct,

10 Sit-Ups, 5 Supermans/Hyper Extensions

Warm Up #2: Towel Reaction Drill

A little different, and hopefully, a little bit of fun, but not without purpose. The constant movement of course helps to warm up the body while opening up joints, but it also helps get the CNS revved up by requiring constant reaction and response.

Workout:

Tabata Fight Gone Bad

5 exercises. 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off. 8 rounds per exercise. 24 total minutes to complete the workout. Sounds like a recipe for fun to me!

Everyone was given 1 minute of rest between exercises, in order to rotate, call out their scores, and gasp for some more air.

For this iteration, scores were recorded as total number of reps, rather than lowest per exercise the goal was all out work.

(spreadsheet to be posted a little later)

Nice work everyone - I think the debate's still on as to which version is better/worse: Fight Gone Bad or Tabata Fight Gone Bad.

It was great to have Peter and Doron back in class, especially as their new addition:

Baby Ezra!

Also, if you didn't get a chance to check the blog yesterday, I highly recommend you go back and read Tom's post entitled "Standards, Progress and "No Rep"!". See you all on Thursday.

Standards, Progress and "No Rep"!

2011-11-07T23:12:00.001-05:00

Our blog posts are usually reserved for cool stuff like reviewing the previous workouts, posting a few fun pics, and occasionally making announcements. This particular post is a different story, and I'm posting between workouts to get an important point across, something that I feel really needs to be addressed immediately. Before I get too far, however, I want to give you a little background on our approach to coaching.

Both Chris and I have at times trained under the type of coach that revels in brandishing power. This often is manifested in an attitude that any chance to point out a fault or weakness in an athlete should be taken. Such "coaching" is often done as publicly as possible to both belittle the athlete and accentuate how great the coach is. Even in the realm of CrossFit, we have come across coaches who feel that athletic prowess or technical knowledge allows for a demeaning nature. That is not us, nor will it ever be.

We have made a conscious choice about what kind of coaches we want to be. Actually, it probably wasn't a "choice" per se, but an affirmation of what we already knew and desired: we want everyone who comes through CFDC to be treated respectfully, motivated through our genuine concern for their well-being and progress rather than some arbitrary system of cutthroat competition. We have a lot of pride in CFDC. It's not about the building, or the logos. or even the workouts. Its about the community - it's about YOU! So what's the point? Why the long-winded blathering?

In short, we're being too nice...and its not fair to you. Of course we're not going to try and come in next time and coach with some fake gruff attitude - honestly, who wouldn't break down and laugh at us anyway - but we do need to hold everyone to a higher standard. Our side of the bargain is to not only believe that you all can do more than you can imagine, but to encourage you to get there. Part and parcel of that is not allowing people to cut corners. Every point we go over on each movement has a purpose. Standards are set for a reason, and there is no justification for accepting anything less.

Progress comes from wholeheartedly applying yourself. Its no secret that CrossFit works, and we have had a lot of success with our programming. Conversely, you can get caught in a vicious circle of ego and regression if you don't give everything you have while simultaneously trying to maintain an image of success. First you start to cut corners to get ahead and you stop improving, then you resort to lowering your standards just to keep up with the rest of the group. Things just keep getting worse and worse - it's a sinking ship that will never right itself, doomed to go under. So make the conscious choice to hold yourself to the highest standard. Really, no one cares how many reps you do, or your time on the met-con, or your weight versus theirs. What they care about, what we've striven to ensure they care most about, and what ultimately should matter the most to you, is how you carry yourself.

Finally, that brings us to the "No Rep". One of the best things to come out of last year's CrossFit Games was the standardized approach to judging. In years past there was a lot of calls to "get deeper" and "extend off the box," but these didn't mean that the rep was disallowed. This is similar to what we see in class; I'm often calling out "lock the elbows," "chest all the way down," "stand all the way up," or just plain "deeper!" But how many people, even when they know it's directed at them, discount that rep? As a result, the judging standard at this last year's Games was a universal "No Rep," and guess what? The rep didn't count. So next time you don't fully lock your elbows or squat below parallel, know that your rep doesn't count. We won't count it, but more importantly, you shouldn't count it. Put your nose to the grindstone and get it legit. If you can't, accept that and scale down to a movement or weight that you can master. Work that version so hard that you know you'll be able to improve and move up, because we know you have it in you. All we ask is you try your hardest and hold yourself to the highest standard.

(Warning: any and all comments may be met with harsh reality)

2011-11-07T08:00:00.006-05:00

IN A TIGHT SQUAT

Right off the bat, you knew something heavy was in store on Sunday just by the length of the warm-up:

3 x 5 Body Wt Rows (Rings or Bar), 10 Push-Ups, & 15 Squats

...followed by...

3 x 25 Band Good Mornings, 20 Spider Lunges, & 15 Sit-Ups

And so what did all this lead up to? Squats (not squat, squats!).

Strength:

5 x 5 Squats

Class was divided up into 6 different groups and then given the task of working up to a 5rep max for the day. We talk about a lot of different cues for different pieces of the squat, like initiating with the hips or driving the knees out, but sometimes, it's important to remember why we focus on these pieces. So let's step back and see the whole forest rather than concentrating on a few different trees.

Get Tight - Stay Tight

Maybe you think "If I drop down fast, then I'll save energy to come back up," or "If I bounce, maybe just a little, at the bottom, it'll help me come back up." Maybe you don't actually think it, and it just happens, a sort-of subconscious decision. Either way, it's tempting, isn't it? I mean, unlike the deadlift where we can let go and drop the weight, once that bar's on our back, and we're at the bottom of the squat, we HAVE to stand up with it. So, maybe if we, just, you know...a little??

NO. A million times no. The only way to properly squat (or deadlift, or press, or bench press) is to get tight, and then stay tight. The first, getting tight, involves drawing in as deep a breath as possible, holding the breath, and squeezing it in your belly (as opposed to in the chest - a big chest is important, but it won't help you stabilize the lower spine). The second action, staying tight, involves tensing up every muscle in your body at one time, locking down the essential parts to create as stable a base as possible from which to initiate your lift. That includes grinding the heels into the floor (which not only tenses up our posterior chain, but also sets us up to keep our knees driven out when lifting). However, it also includes pulling the bar into your back, as if you were actively trying to bend the bar across your shoulders (which helps us tighten up our lats). Combined with our deep breath, our trunk should be well equipped to squat heavy.

Partner Met-Con:

10! Push-Ups, 10! Sit-Ups, 10! Burpees

With nearly 25 people in class, the met-con had to be simple, yet tough, space saving, yet intense. The result was a trio of 10! ladders (10! = 10-down-to-1) made up of push-ups, then sit-ups, and finally, the ubiquitous burpees. So, P1 does 10 push-ups, then P2 does 10 push-ups, then P1 does 9, etc., etc. until the pairing has finished all three ladders and called time.

Great work in a big class. Take the opportunity to rest up what I'm sure are some well-worked posterior chain muscles, and we'll see everyone Tuesday.

2011-11-04T05:43:00.008-04:00

3-2-1 CONTACT!

Where as Tuesday's class was heavy on the technique and skill, Thursday's class was relatively simple: as many reps, as many rounds, and as many minutes. How hard could that be?

Strength:

3 x Strict Pull Ups

Everyone had 3 shots to get as many strict pull-ups as possible, limiting their rest to roughly 3 minutes between sets. Scaling for those with fewer than 4 pull-ups was 2 sets of 4 strict pull-ups, completing the set of 4 with as many negatives as were needed, and 1 set of box assisted pull-ups (the 6pm went with a recently recommended floor assisted rack pull-up which, I'm sad to say, didn't seem to work out so well).

Met-Con:

2 x 5min AMRAP of

8 Wall Balls,

10 KB SDHP, &

12 Burpees

A double dose of Met-Con fun. Perform the 8-10-12 triplet as many times as possible in 5 minutes. Rest for 3 minutes, then perform the triplet again for another 5 minutes starting where you left in the first round (so, if you stopped at 8 burpees in the first 5min round, you would begin on burpee #9 in the second 5min round). Score was total rounds and reps.

A quick note on the standards for wall balls: while the focus is usually on getting the ball high enough (i.e. to the 10ft line), the depth of the squat is just as important. Although the following language is from the Open Qualifiers Workout #5 this past year, it's pretty much the universal standard for judging (or even teaching) the movement:

In the Wall ball, the medicine ball must be taken from the bottom of a squat, hip crease below knee, and thrown to hit the specified target...The center of the ball must hit the target at or above the specified target height. If the ball hits low or does not hit the wall it is no rep.

So if all 8 of your wall balls are at or above the 10ft line in Thursday's workout, but they were all done from a 1/4 squat position, then not a single one of them would count (If you're not sure that your getting down deep enough, you can always grab another med ball and stick it underneath you for a depth gauge).

Finisher:

1 x Plank Hold for Time

One shot to give it all you've got on the plank hold. Andraea led the way, clocking in a full 4 minutes of legit plank-hold, and by legit, I mean that she never even changed position - no butt in the air, no sagging, just flat-out plank hold. Awesome.

Extra time was used to take class through some much needed stretching and mobility. Half the time was devoted to some couch stretches (AKA the death stretch) and elbow-to-ankle hip stretches while the other half focused on loosening up the hamstrings with some flexion-extension work against resistance bands.

See you all on Sunday. And don't forget, Daylight Savings Time ends at 2AM on Sunday morning, so be sure to re-set your clocks back an hour Saturday night before you go to bed!

2011-11-02T08:27:00.004-04:00

ROPED OFF

After an awesome outdoor workout on Sunday, it was back inside for Tuesday's fun which included another healthy does of skill work. In fact, we've been focusing on a variety of skill work lately, and while potentially discouraging, this is not without a purpose.

It's understandable that we aren’t often in the mood to voluntarily frustrate ourselves, to commit serious concentration to the details of our weaknesses. But that's a mentality that will only serve to hold us back. So the next time your "favorite" skill pops-up, persevere, and devote as much attention and effort to learning new skills as you would to achieving a new 1RM on a lift. It will pay off.

Skill Work: Jump Rope

We took a new tactic on jump roping Tuesday night, with the three different variations that would, theoretically, work us up to understanding the requirements for better double unders:

3 Minutes: Jump Rope (any style of single skips)
1 Minute Rest
3 Minutes: Jump Rope Intervals (single skips with 10sec sprints every 20sec)
1 Minute Rest
3 Minutes: Double Under practice

Those proficient at DUs worked the movement for the entire three minutes. Those that are still working on achieving double unders took a different approach: to perform 3-5 single skips followed by one DU. The transition, from single to double, is marked by speeding up the wrist (similar to speeding up during the sprints performed in the preceding interval - who'da thunk it!?).

Strength: 6 x 2 Tall Cleans

The Tall Clean can really help to teach you how to get down fast, aggressively pulling yourself under the bar during a full-on squat clean. The tall clean takes the hips out of the mix, generating movement using only the shrug. This is then coupled with a forceful pull down and under the bar (as opposed to simply dropping). It can be a frustrating movement, but serves its purpose well. If you have partners handy, a good cue can be to limit the upward movement of the bar with the use of PVC pipe - this can help you to gauge whether you're pulling under the bar as opposed to pulling the bar up and then front squatting with it.

Arbi and Ben are ready to punish Sebastian if he screws up his lift...

Once you have gotten the Tall Clean down moderately well (mastery will take a long time), a full on squat clean will seem relatively easy. Why is this important? You will be able to move a lot more weight with a squat clean than you ever will with a power clean.

Met-Con: Partner Suicide

P1 performs a 90degree handstand hold while P2 performs a suicide run (mid-court and back, full court and back). The only rule was you couldn't start running until your partner was in the hold position. The 90 degree hold was scaled to planks (arms extended) either on the floor, or for a slight scale up, feet elevated.

Nice work. A lot of potential for frustration on Tuesday, but glad to see people really trying to apply themselves to new stuff. See everyone on Thursday.

2011-10-31T13:03:00.005-04:00

A COLD SWEAT

With the gym having been taken over by the Church for their celebration of All Saints Day, CFDC took things outside for a chilly change of pace.

The big focus of the day was on squats, especially dialing in technique. Class worked through one round of pause-squats (pausing at the bottom) as a group before moving on to a rotating warm-up of pause-squats and push-ups. A noted new addition to the squat repertoire were squats with the front of everyone's feet hanging off the edge of a curb(now dubbed "curb squats"). This was to force everyone to center the weight back into the middle of the foot - often cued as "from the heels." This centers a lifters weight, as opposed to raising up on the toes which pitches the body forward, and thereby helps the lifter recruit the maximum power available from the glutes and quads.

After a few rounds of the warm-up cycle, class moved on to pistols. The basketball court at Mitchel park doubles as volleyball court, and the two posts in the middle of the court served as excellent assistance for those still working with balance and range of motion issues when it comes to pistols. Jim Bathurst (pictured above) has a really good article he wrote a while back entitled the ONE LEGGED SQUAT (THE PISTOL), which includes a number of alternate scaling options. Check it out and then report back in the comments section as to thoughts.

Of course, this was all skill work, and class was in need of some good ole' fashioned body weight strength training. The result was a 300m uphill lunge, done on S. St. from Mass. Ave. all the way to the stairs into Mitchell Park at the top of the hill.

To finish the day off, everyone worked through three sets of Paloff presses (the bands having been attached the previously used volleyball poles) and upright band-resisted crunches. And since we were in a squatting mood and coming up with new squat variations, howabout a few Fireman's squats with a partner:

Great work by everyone who came out and joined us in the cold. Tom made a side comment on Sunday, pointing out that we've been forced outside every year for at least 5 years running, and each time we were lucky enough to have some great weather, albeit a little bit warmer in the past. Tuesday will be back in doors, just about the time the weather starts to warm up around here.

And congrats to MacKenzie for surviving her first ever marathon!

2011-10-28T08:52:00.007-04:00

Thankfully, no one lost their head at the end of the workout on Thursday (although I don't really have any pics to prove it sadly).

However, after a few heavy workouts, and with a lot of people going for some new 1 rep maxes this week, class took on a few body weight exercises for Thursday's class for a change of pace.

Skill:

Hollow Position Progression

Things started off with a quick review of the hollow-position progression, with class holding each variation for 20sec. The progression went as follows:

- legs bent with feet pressing into the floor, with the arms OH and shoulders up;
- knees pulled into chest, with arms OH and shoulders up;
- 1 knee into chest with the other leg extended, with arms OH and shoulders up;
- as above, but with legs switched.

After the skill session, class was split into two groups, with one tackling Met-Con #1 and the other Met-Con #2. There was a brief intermission, and then the groups switched places to finish off the evening.

Met-Con #1:

7min AMRAP of 15 Box Jumps & 9 Pull-Ups

Kipping was allowed for the pull-ups, with scaling options provided by a variety of bands.

Intermission:

5 x 20sec Hollow Rock, 40sec Rest

After a few minutes of rest, everyone hit the floor for a few rounds of Hollow Rock work, just to see if people were really paying attention at the beginning of class. A few more minutes of rest, and it was time to switch.

Met-Con #2:

7min AMRAP of 9 KB Swings & 15 Push-Ups

Push-up scaling was to whatever would give you full ROM (chest to floor), whether it be on the knees, to boxes, to tables, or to the wall. Overhead was prescribed for the KB swings ("American" style), but were scaled to eye-level swings for anyone uncomfortable taking the weight over-head ("Russian" style).

Confused about the differences? There's an older CF Journal article (2004) explaining why CF prefers the American-style, overhead swing to the Russian, eye-level swing. However, I really like this breakdown of the two styles from CF Silicon Valley entitled "Ending the Kettlebell Swing Controversy." I highly recommend you check both of them out.

Good luck to everyone participating in Amazing Grace tonight (Fri, Oct. 28). If you'd still like to participate, feel free to check out the info from Sunday's blog post - I know there's still room, and, honestly, the more the merrier, right?

Also, a huge congratulations to Dan and Lizzy who got engaged over the past weekend:

Also, best of luck to MacKenzie who's running the Marine Corp Marathon this Sunday. This will be MacKenzie's first marathon, but she's been training hard and I know she'll do great. If you want to see how she's doing during the race, you can track her through this website (her bib number is 8444).

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

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Class Change for this Sunday (Oct. 30)

Both classes this Sunday will be outside as the gym will be closed for a church function. Sunday's predicted to be warmer than tomorrow (40!?!), but not by much (47), and certainly not by 10AM. So please dress appropriately, and be sure to bring plenty of water as we may not have access to any outside. Don't worry, once you get there, we'll be sure to raise that body temp.

The plan is to meet at the gated entrance to the parking lot, and then walk over to our designated workout spot as a group (Mitchell Park is a possibility, but we've been known to take over Rock Creek before as well).

Just What the Dr. Ordered!

Feel the need to get your recovery on, but don't like paying gobs of money for a massage? Well, our own Joanne Goodwin has a solution. If you didn't know, Joanne just graduated from the Potomac Massage Training Institute up in Friendship Heights, and passed along this information regarding massages offered from the school:

The school, Potomac Massage Training Institute, has two clinics where people can get cheap massages.

In the student clinic you can get a massage from a second or third term student (there are 3 terms total) for $37. A massage from a second term student will be Swedish, which is great for recovery and relaxation. A third term student will incorporate some deep tissue work into the session. When you sign up, you can't choose which you'll get.

In the graduate clinic, all massages can include deep tissue massage. Practitioners have graduated from school. Some have been working in the clinic for a while; others just graduated in July. These sessions are $55.

The school is located at 5028 Wisconsin Ave NW, suite LL, near the Friendship Heights metro stop and about half a block from Rodmans. The phone number is: (202) 686-7046

If anyone has any questions, they can contact the school or ask me.
Also, here's a link to the school's web site describing the two clinics: http://www.pmti.org/index.php?id=31

There you have. Now get your massage on!