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Back Handspring Series

Friday, April 19th, 2013

The title is twofold. First, this is indeed a back handspring series, meaning multiple back handsprings in a row. Second this is the third post in a series of posts on kids acquiring back handsprings, therefore it is a back handspring post series.

Athlete Profile and Gymnastics Development and Another Back Handspring are the other two posts in this series.

In the above video we have Meghan R. Meghan has been a Cave gymnast for about 7 months. She joined in our burgeoning level 3 group and has been improving rapidly ever since. This girl is strong. How many of you have tried a press handstand. Meghan can do that. Oh, and she has made 21 consecutive pull ups, mostly strict. Can you do that? As with the rest of her group, she works hard. We’re going to see a lot of great things from her.

Posted in Gymnastics, Training | 1 Comment »

Why Squats are Important

Wednesday, April 17th, 2013

For those of you who still don’t know, we’re currently doing Sword’s Squat Program on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  But why do we we spend so much  freaking time in CrossFit doing squats, when we could be out there doing “Helen,” or “Murph?”

Back Squats at CrossFit High Voltage

Back Squats at CrossFit High Voltage

Simply put, we do so much squatting because heavy squats give you the most bang for your buck.  CrossFit is all about maximizing safety, efficacy, and efficiency; it doesn’t hurt you, it works, and it gives you good results for the time you put into it.  Heavy squats are all of these things.

Squats are a pretty safe exercise, and while it’s not impossible to hurt yourself doing squats, it is pretty hard to do so once you get the hang of it.  And in addition to safety, squats help strengthen your entire body.  Due to its compound nature, the squat “targets” nearly all muscles in the lower body and everything in the mid-line.  This has multiple benefits.  First, it makes your legs and hips strong and flexible, which correlate with increased athletic ability and increased ease of dealing with everyday life.  Second, since you have to lock in your stomach muscles to help stabilize your spine, it makes your core hard as a rock.  Third, it strengthens the muscles of your middle and lower back, which gives you better posture and increases your resilience against back injuries.  Fourth, working so many muscles releases human growth hormone and testosterone, hormones necessary for overall muscle growth and restoration.  Finally, spending time under heavy squatting loads is one of the best ways of increasing bone density.

Overall, heavy squats are easily the best exercise you could do: they are safe, effective and efficient.  Go lift something heavy!

Posted in Exercises, Training | No Comments »

Swords’ Squat Program

Wednesday, April 10th, 2013

Now that the CrossFit Games Open is over, we’re moving back into a more normal cycle of training.  CrossFit is a strength and conditioning program, and so far, we’ve found nothing that is better than heavy squats for gaining strength.  This isn’t to say that we’re not going to program in our regular sweat-fest metabolic/ cardio workouts, just that we’re also going to be focusing on gaining some functional strength.

Squatting is SERIOUS business!

Squatting is SERIOUS business!

Of all the squat programs that we’ve tried, the program developed by Tim Swords, of Team Houston Weightlifting, is one of the most effective.  The program works both front and back squats over a seven week cycle at sub-max weights and low volume.  The upshot of this is that you can do a lot of other stuff without interfering with your strength gains.

And you will see gains if you’re doing the program effectively.  I’m no slouch when it comes to squats, and I was still able to increase my back squat by 25 lbs (over 8%) in seven weeks.

We will be including the squats into the CrossFit programming Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the next seven weeks.  We hope that you’ll be able to follow the program because it will do some great things for you.  But if you can’t come in on those days, don’t despair, you can download the entire program here as a .xslx spreadsheet, just input your maxes in the top and it will do all the calculations for you.  It’s even printer friendly.  If that doesn’t work for you, talk to your trainer and we’ll help you.

Remember, the whole point here is that we want you to be strong because strong people are harder to kill, more useful, and more attractive.  Go lift something heavy!

Posted in Power Lifting, Programming, Training | No Comments »

Advanced Parkour Kids

Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013

Here’s a video recommended by Andrey P.  These kids demonstrate some pretty wild advanced parkour and freerunning skills.

We’ve got plenty of kids in our program around this age.  This video is a great example of what you can accomplish with dedication.  Go train!

Posted in Parkour, Training | No Comments »

Bulkiness and Vanity

Thursday, March 28th, 2013

One of the most common things I hear from people, especially women, when asking about goals during Foundations is “I want to get toned, but not bulky.”  I’ve had men say similar things, which boggles my mind.  But, we all have a different perception of ourselves and what we want to look like.

Nikki Fuller does not do CrossFit

Nikki Fuller does not do CrossFit

We’ve said it about a million times, but it bears repeating.  If you want to look like a bodybuilder, you’ve got to train, eat, sleep, supplement, and probably “supplement” like bodybuilder.  If you train, eat, and sleep with the goal of being able to do things, you will build muscle and burn fat, and your appearance will follow.

This post from CrossFit FMS mostly echos my thoughts on the matter.  It’s worth reading, not because it contains any information that is new to any of you who follow this blog, but because the author did a great job in selecting visuals to make his point.

Now, I understand wanting to make changes because you’re unhappy with how you look in the mirror.  But consider this, no matter how you look, there will be people who think you look great and people who think you’re hideous.  What matters is how you feel about yourself, and how you live your life.  As a trainer, I’ve seen many people make positive changes in their lives unrelated to the gym, but in part because they had greater self esteem, confidence, and self worth.  Shouldn’t training be about making yourself a better human being, rather than making yourself a better looking human being?

What do you think?

Posted in Philosophy, Training | 1 Comment »

Workout Music

Monday, March 25th, 2013

As most of you know, there is almost always music coming from the CrossFit Area.  While I regularly work out without music, I know many people who enjoy a rousing beat, or get pumped up by good music blasting in the gym.

Chris Spealler listening to music during the Games

Chris Spealler listening to music during the Games

This article from Scientific American delves into a bunch of research on the topic.

There are numerous studies showing that music has positive effect on working out, and there are multiple hypotheses as to why.  One of the more obvious explanations is that music serves to distract us from the pain of the workout.  Another is that it helps us keep a good pace.

One of the more interesting ideas is that the areas of the brain responsible for processing sounds and for coordinating movement are strongly linked.  “We have also known for decades that there are direct connections from auditory neurons to motor neurons… When you hear a loud noise, you jump before you have even processed what it is. That’s a reflex circuit, and it turns out that it can also be active for non-startling sounds, such as music.”

How does music motivate you when you work out?  What kinds of music or what bands/songs pump you up the most?  Or do you prefer to work out in silence?

Posted in Science, Training | 1 Comment »

Perspective on 13.1

Thursday, March 14th, 2013

This was originally sent out to the Cave’s Google Groups email by Shari M.  It’s posted here with her permission.

Shari M.

Shari M.

    I wanted to share with you all a vulnerable moment that I had yesterday
    during my 13.1 Open workout and the valuable lesson I learned as a result.
    Just to set the stage, I came into the gym yesterday with a goal for 13.1: to improve upon the number of snatches I got in last year’s open workout (the snatch ladder) in comparison to this year’s union of burpees and snatches. Bo agreed to judge my performance. In the final minutes of my 100 lb snatch attempts, I split snatched a rep and did not stand with my feet together before dropping the bar which as you all are probably aware you are required to do for the rep to count. As a result, Bo called “No Rep”.
    My reaction to Bo was to yell an expletive and shout, “You’re not going to
    let me have that one?” And after the workout I even (half-jokingly)
    suggested to Bo that he should feel bad about not giving me that rep. Yes,
    I am embarrassed by my behavior…shame on me. It was poor sportsmanship, plain and simple.
    And now for the valuable lesson I learned….
    Your judge is either your coach or your peer. No one wants to see you succeed more than they do. We’ve worked along side of each other all year, supporting one another through the trenches of sweat and mental toil. Judges are your friends. But, even more importantly, we’ve all worked too hard over the last year to cheat a rep. This will be even more important in the weeks to come with movements such as wall ball where the ball has to touch the tape or toes to bar where both feet have to touch the bar or hand release push-ups etc. The rules are the rules and we all have to abide by the standards set by rule makers. Our goal for a workout should be to earn every last rep that we can. This is a competition and we should compete with integrity.
    And lastly, I did improve upon the number of snatches I did over last year. Last year, I couldn’t even snatch 100 lbs and this year I was able to snatch 4 reps at that weight. I am proud of my score.
    Thanks Bo for keeping me honest!

Posted in CrossFit Games, Training, Workouts | No Comments »

Fitness on the Road

Sunday, March 10th, 2013

This one is by Bill Berry.

A few weeks ago, I helped my son move to the Dallas area.  The night before leaving I came up with the idea of 100 double unders at every stop, whether for fuel, food or bathroom.
Final set, hotel in Addison Texas. Again you can see how long the rope is.
Lunch and gas. Check out all the extra rope on the end.

Starting day 3. I shortened the rope but it is still flying way over my head.
Middle of nowhere in west Texas on Interstate 20. So windy could not finish the hundred. Flat tire followed which ended the day of double unders. Too tired when I arrived in Odessa at about midnight.

Lunch in El Paso, Texas.
Another hundred somewhere in New Mexico.

I had to buy a screw driver to shorten the rope before I could begin. Benson Arizona.
Dick's Sporting Goods was open at 9:30.

67, Oh no, the rope broke. Thank goodness!
Okay, can't we get better gas mileage? We still have a lot of miles to cover today and I am already at 400. This was on the way to Palm Springs.

Jumping way to high, but starting to get tired. This was at the foot of the Grapevine.
Breakfast stop at Gustine, across from Pea Soup Anderson.

First stop 5:15 am, James needed his Starbucks. This was in Livermore. This is going to require a bathroom stop, hopefully we can make it to breakfast.

By the time I was finished the knees were a little sore and the calves were a little tired.  I am not sure I want to do this again, but it was a really good way to practice!

Posted in Training | No Comments »

Keeping Tight

Monday, March 4th, 2013
Mark isn't tight enough

Mark isn't tight enough

If you listen to the south side (gymnastics area) of the gym you will often hear “keep tight”, “tighten up”, or other similar statements coming from the coaches. In gymnastics this idea of keeping key parts of your body rigid is essential to performance of the sport. It is completely second nature for me to squeeze my legs any time they come off the ground.

There are several reasons behind this need to keep tight. The most obvious to an outside observer is that gymnastics is a subjective sport with judging. It is not merely who can perform the biggest tricks, but who can do it while keeping in control and making it look a certain way. Fortunately, for the most part, these cosmetic demands and performance demands are not at odds with each other. Keeping good form, and staying tight generally makes the movements far easier, in many cases it is the only reason they are possible.

This efficacy that comes from keeping tight has everything to do with efficient transfer of energy. Loose body parts act as energy dissapators. Wiggly legs during a swinging skill will act as a shock absorber and mute some of the effort put into a skill. Keeping certain body segments rigid helps to efficiently transfer energy from one part of the body to another, which is absolutely critical in many gymnastics elements.

This skill is taught, encouraged, and constantly trained in gymnastics, but not in many other sports. However, the concept is still applicable and important. Top athletes in any sport do this intuitively. Watch a golfer at the top of his game, when the club is swung, there is a tight line from the golfer’s hip through the torso and shoulder, down the arm to the club. There are key points of tension and pull that allow maximal energy transfer from hip to club head. You can see this in any sport if you watch closely. It certainly applies to CrossFit and is part of why some people can perform movements with far less effort than others.

So take a look at your movements. Are you wasting energy unnecessarily? Could you tighten up on some movements to make things easier?

Posted in Gymnastics, Skill work, Training | No Comments »

Firefighter Fran

Sunday, March 3rd, 2013

An oldie but goldie in the world of CrossFit videos.

What’s your Fran time?

Posted in Training, Workouts | No Comments »

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