No Excuses-that Rhonda Rousey....

     So I read the Rhonda Rousey biography and aside from feeling terrible about her dad dying and her mom being a hard ass bitch, I took away a really cool philosophy from the book.  Her mom would tell her (essentially), anyone can perform well on a good day, but you need to be able to beat your opponent twice on your worst day.

     Rewind to my Donny Shankle seminar back in February of this year and his philosophy of find something to PR in everyday, and now I'm feeling dangerous!

     I have friends that mock the PR everyday thing, "Hey Trav, today I PR'd my 1 eye closed, red shirt wearing pistols!".  I just kind of smile and think (Shankle voice), "F you".  (He is just that intense and I'd be scared to death to get on his bad side).

     So to the point:

I used to do all my strength work before the metcons at my gym, I was given the special ok to do the competitive programming stuff at the time I came in and then jump in with the next class and do metcons.  Well, the rules changed.  Now you have to do the class and then any comp stuff after.  At first I was kind of pissed because I thought, "how will I be able to have any energy to Oly or strength after I'm beat down by the conditioning???".

Well, I decided (again in Shankle voice) "f you", I'm going to beat Oly and strength stuff down at my worst.  So I began a mindset of being my best in less than optimal situations.  Would I do better clean and jerking heavy BEFORE I do a God awful "spartan WOD" that takes 45-50 minutes???  Of course!  But you know what?  Screw it, I won't take no for an answer on my performance.

And sure enough I STILL make it happen.  This weekend I was at the gym in my oly shoes and my son needed them (he's training for the raw nationals next week).  So I gave them to him and put back on my flimsy INOV8 192's.

I needed to do a jerk triple.  Well....no excuses.  I PR'd by 20lbs.  In fact I also had to do a snatch balance x2 and OHS x5.  No Oly shoes at first and I thought, "well there goes my PR likelihood....".  Then I decided, I needed to be able to do this stuff on my worst days too and so I did the work and PR'd the snatch bal by 10 lbs too.

Moral of the story:  There are easy excuses to make or there is hard work to do.  Don't let your mind beat you before you start.

Butterfly pull ups-updated

UPDATED PIECE: I guess I never realized it till I cued my buddy yesterday but the arch/hollow cycle is easier if, as soon as you see your toes in the hollow, you whip them back and initate your arch portion. This creates a tighter circle and much more explosion to allow you to rise. 

Here is what I know about butterfly pullups and the bulk of it came from Outlaw camp as few years ago.

1. Kipping, banded, and strict pull ups are all an up to the bar movement.  Butterfly pull ups are a circular movement.

2. The movement is initiated and maintained by the arch hollow cycle in the hips.  It is NOT a reverse bicycle, this technique only results in an up to the bar style and is not efficient or sustainable.

3. Therefore, the knees must not be maintained as straight as possible the whole time.  Think of a bow and arrow.  The bow is your body in the arch position and the knees bending would ruin the power of the bow and its ability to propel the body back into a hollow.  Straight legs allow the circle to be small and tight vs. the big loopy butterfly technique seen by many.

4. Maintaining constant "connection" to the bar is easier with a tight quick circular cycle vs. the loss of connection that usually occurs with the loopy style where the knees are constantly recoiling.

Here we go, this link starts at the pull ups. Watch the technique Eliz Akin uses on her pull ups. She hits her 1st 18 pull ups in 15". Staci Tovar meanwhile hits her 1st 18 in 19 sec. before dropping.

http://youtu.be/JD3jEwlv650?t=7m15s

Arguably the best women's pull-up athlete there is, Camille, took 17 sec to do her 1st 18. Her style is the loopy loose legs but it works for her because she can go forever without stopping and is a bodyweight freak. So if we look at both Eliz and CLB who went unbroken for the 30, Eli still beats CLB by a second in the 30 pull ups. And has her by 30 lbs....

http://youtu.be/izpr_cibpic?t=6m4s

How to learn:

1. Practice the circle and don't worry about the chin getting over the bar. It'll take a bit of time. Took me about 2 weeks of practicing a few times a week.  Then it all the sudden clicked.

2. You will get tired and then you will start to bend your knees to generate power, but you likely will do it before you realize and so its a great idea to have a partner cue you to not do this as long as you can

3. Rather than accumulating a lot of time on the bar, spend a short time more often.  Doing a warm up of strict for 30 sec of max strict, rest, then 30' sec max reg butterfly pull-ups, rest and then 30" max C2B. These need not be unbroken, but eventually you get to a place that the unbroken # increases and you don't ruin your hands by spending very much time on the bar.

I surprised everyone in the gym with my score last year on the OHS C2B open work out (including me) and it has become a strength of mine even though my raw pulling power (strict pull ups) is terrible.  Butterfly pull ups and C2B are literally all technique.  If you are good at pulling then you can get away with less efficient technique.  But if you do it right (like the gymnasts) then you become very good.

A tale of 2 energy systems....

     I am going to highlight the differences in 2 different energy systems by giving an example of my friend Cory and my different approaches to a workout.  Know your strengths, do work better.

The WORKOUT

   Our box owner programs the Lullaby WOD from time to time (he came up with it).  If you are unfamiliar, it is as follows:

Buy into each minute with 5 power snatches at 95lbs and complete 100 burpees.  Then after you've accumulated the 100 burpees, you must accumulate 500 Double unders.  This time you have a buy in on the minute of 5 overhead squats with 95lbs.  There is a 40 minute time cap.

The ATHLETES

     I started crossfit at 40 and prior to that was an ultramarathoner and adventure racer for 13 years so I had an abundance of aerobic capacity.  The first 2 times I tried this WOD I didn't finish it

     My buddy Cory is a former Collegiate soccer player and is a lumbersexual.

The ENERGY SYSTEMS

ATP-This is what we use for energy.

Phosphagen system.  Used for durations of up to 10 seconds. Neither uses oxygen nor produces lactic acid. Primary system behind very short, powerful movements like a golf swing, a 100 m sprint, or powerlifting.  Replenished by creatine phosphate in the muscles.

Glycolitic system.  Known as anaerobic glycolysis.  Used for exercises that are performed at maximum rates for between 30 seconds and 2-3 minutes without enough oxygen.  Refers to the breakdown of sugar to supply the necessary energy from which ATP is manufactured. However when sugar is metabolized anaerobically, it is only partially broken down and one of the by-products is lactic acid.  As a result, muscles lose their ability to contract effectively, and muscle force production and exercise intensity ultimately decrease.

Aerobic system.  Used for long durations.  By 5 minutes this is the dominant system.  Requires oxygen to give a lot of ATP, but...you have to wait for it.  Steady work where breathing stays under control.

Aerobic and anaerobic systems usually work concurrently. When describing activity it is not which energy system is working but which predominates.

The APPROACHES

Cory.  Finished just after the 29th minute.
Cory planned to get 10 burpees a minute.  He also planned to take a few "Barbell Only" minutes when at RedLine (which mostly happened because planned reps took him to the end of a minute)

He had about 3 barbell only minutes during the Burpee portion and finished at about 14 minutes.

He would start his DU's at the 30 second point of each minute and do as many DU's as he could until the top of the minute then do his 5 OHS and then wait till the middle of the minute to do more DU's.

He had another 3 barbell only rounds during the DU's.

Travis.  Finished just after 30th minute.
The last time I tried this WOD, I set out average 7 burpees a minute hoping to finish in 15 minutes.  It killed me and I finished burpees in 24 minutes.  So this time I knew I had to do something different because my HR was jacking up too much last time and I could barely do 4 burpees on some minutes and I HAD to take barbell only minutes.

So out of the gate I chose to front load my burpees and go for 10 burpees in the 1st minute, then 9 the next, then 8, 7, 6 and on down to 5 per minute.  Once I got to 5 per minute I held that pace until 80 reps and then adrenaline got me to do 6,7,7.  Done in about 17 minutes.  

Now I KNEW I was likely to finish if I stuck to the plan.  I decided to just do DU's until I had 20-25 seconds left each minute (like the burpees) and then I would rest.  I averaged 35-40 per minute and got done at 30:40.  Not only finishing but KILLING my last 2 tries at this WOD.

The ANALYSIS

Cory's ability to work anerobically made his strategy of pushing hard for 3-4 minutes and then resting for a 1 minute to recover work fantastic for him.  When I tried that last time, it didn't work at all because I just could not come back from 3-4 minutes of hard work.

I on the other hand turned it into small intense bursts of work in the beginning when I had the capacity and then turned it into a very slow controlled grind with built in recovery periods.  I take creatine supplements daily and I'm very good at working at 80% for a loooong time.  But ask me to work in that anerobic system and I suck.

How I learned bounding box jumps

DISCLAIMER!

     Box jumps can hurt you!  Unless you want to be competitive, you should probably stick to step downs whenever permitted and consider step ups when permitted.  Back in 2012, I was trying to bound and tore into my shin to the tune of 7 stitches and bone exposure.

BACKSTORY

     My box jumps used to suck.  A few years ago in the CF open they allowed step ups (you've always been allowed to step down) and we found out that for many folks it actually was faster than jumping up.  Then there were the freaks that could bound up and down and so stepping up and down for them was much slower.

     So I started to step up all the time from that point forward.  Our box programmed a WOD one day and Rx was jumping not stepping.  I was pissed off because my box jumping was #1 slower and #2 more tiring.  I ended up switching in the middle of the WOD back to step ups and complained to anyone who would listen.

     Then I had a shift.....As I wrote in the beginning, if you want to be competitive, you should probably learn how to bound.

METHOD

     Around August 1st, I started to bound on the 20 inch box each day for 30 seconds as part of my warm up.  Mind you, prior to this I had done double unders, pistols, etc..and some of my usual mobility so I wasn't doing these cold.

     I got to where I could get 18 in the 30 seconds.  At that point, I moved up to 24 inches.  I was getting 13 at the start.  Then the other day I did 19.  I'm moving up to 30" next week.

TECHNIQUE

1. Shoulder blades (this is the KEY that made all the difference to me)

     You cannot use your arms to do bounding box jumps.  You CAN use them to box jump and get the initial jump, but the explosiveness is just too fast for you to get your arms forward upon impact if you are bounding.  The way that you do it is through the movement in the shoulder blades.  

     At the top of the movement, standing on the box, set the blades down and back.  At this point you drop to the floor.  Then on impact as your heels kiss the ground, you initiate the explosion with shoulder blades moving up and apart.  Reset them as you are about to drop to the floor again.

2. Corner jumps

     I learned this from Invictus.  Angle the box so that you are jumping to the corner.  It will cut your forward trajectory down so that you are literally jumping more "up" and then bringing the feet together vs. jumping with feet in the same spacing but up and forward.  It also cuts down on the catastrophe that can result from a miss.

3. Abdominal tension

     This should go without saying, but if you can't maintain tension in the core, then you are not going to have a stable place to brace the impact from and create the rebound force needed to bound back up.

Bottom up squat warm up

     I warm up for squats the same way every time.  It takes under 10 minutes or so and I never have a problem with squats since doing this.  If I skip it or cut things out, I tend to have a few issues (getting too far forward, tight hips in the bottom, quad strains, etc...)

ANKLES

Banded distraction for a minute or so each side.



I usually will not use a plate for this, but you can.  I roll the knee gently to each side and will step on the band near my ankle with my free foot to give it more tension the last 30 sec or so.

Getting my ankles mobile allows to be stay MUCH more vertical in the torso during the lifts.

KNEES

I love a couch stretch.  Usually same thing, a minute or so each side.


I feel this lengthens the cross bridges in the quad muscles and really helps avoid strains from the heavy eccentrics that come from full depth heavy squats.

HIPS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbozu0DPcYI  Ido Portal...need I say more?

Here's a less than 3 minute video showing the Ido Portal Squat routine 2.0.

I run through all of the poses for about 3-5 minutes, depending on how they feel.



I LOVE this warm up for the hips.  It is hands down the best I've seen.


There are other stretches I've played with over the years but its come down to these 3 things as the best and most efficient for me.

The warm up....

     There are somethings that are important to visit regularly and with constantly varied programming there are times that you don't see things except for once in a good while.

     So I came up with a warm up that allows me to hit and benchmark some things that are weaknesses for me as well as some regular stuff that should be visited more than every week and a half to two weeks.

     I tend to do this warm up 2x a week.  It prepares me for whatever the WOD is usually as it really is a whole body thing.

     30 seconds on/30 seconds off at 10 stations-once through so the whole warm up lasts 10 minutes.

1. Burpees

(great overall warm up to start.  Also very important to learn your pacing for other WOD's)

2. Double unders

(Again, good to know how many you can get in 30 sec.  Preps you for #9)

3. Strict HSPU (moving into pushups if failure comes before 30 sec)

(If you don't have these, you would just do push ups or even wall walks would be good)

4. Strict pull ups

(These are a different skill/move entirely vs. kipping.  Very important to get them.  Also preps for #6)

5. Ring dips

(An important skill to have/work.  Smart to know how many unbroken you can get or within 30 sec)

6. C2B pull ups kip or butterfly

(You can sub reg pull ups but this carries over to soooo much)

7. Pistols

(I can do alternating pistols all day.  But as we saw this season, it is important to have speed on these)

8. Toes to bar

(Again, 1 max set for 30 sec...important to know and train)

9. Box jumps

(Gives you time to learn bounding if you desire.  Start with low box, move up as proficient.  FGB anyone?)

10. Muscle ups

(Uggghhh...very good to go after these under duress.  If you don't have them, sub out for something else, wall balls, hollow rocks, whatever you want!)

Why this is good:

This allows you to benchmark things.  It's so minimal that you won't disrupt your current day's work with 1 set or 30 seconds of something.

There's nothing worse than having sore calves after a WOD with DU"s in them because you haven't done DU's for a few weeks!

It's entirely measure-able, scale-able, substitute-able, customize-able for your specific abilities and weaknesses.  This just happens to be the version I use.  And I see the #'s improving regularly and I compete with myself to get better and faster.

Now I know I can get 50 DU's in 30 sec.  When it comes up in a WOD I can plan, pace, or whatever!

Good luck!

What is the BEST programming available-UPDATED

****UPDATE: Sadly, In July 2015, Blair started restricting the times available to do the level 2 programming.  I have been forced to train in the regular class and then try to fit in any extra work in the following 30 minutes after class.  Well.....it hasn't stopped my progress!  I've been able to continue to make steady improvements following the plan CF classes 3 days a week and then customizing with programming from Competitors training and the various sources I follow online.  Plus a weekend day of 2 hours dedicated to what the regular programming at my gym was missing.


     There is an abundance of great (FREE) programming on the internet.  My favorite has to be Invictus (CJ Martin is a genius) and Competitors Training (Ben Bergeron is also a programming mad scientist with WOD's based on if you are a games, regional, or open level athlete).  I also like Outlaw (heavy on the Oly) and Proving Grounds (I like it for its simplicity) too.  OPT is touted as a great site too, but I've never been able to get into it (too much function, will, being, she, he, her, us, them....blah blah blah).

     I personally follow the level 2 programming from my coach Blair Morrison, perennial Regional compeitior, Reebok athlete, and 3x times Games competitor.

     BUT

     None of these are the BEST.   

     The BEST programming is the programming that is literally tailored to you.  

     Blair and I sat over lunch for an hour discussing my weaknesses, strengths, nutrition, rest strategies, and all the things that pertained to my situation.  While I still follow his level 2 template, he has given me specifics that I drill regularly (daily) and the liberty to forego certain skills or movements that are in my wheelhouse and to focus more on my weaknesses.  It has made a HUGE difference.

     I could follow one of the other sites above, but I would HAVE to tailor the programming to me specifically and not just follow it to the letter.  All programs are going to make you overall better at Crossfit, BUT....

if you can't do strict HSPU's
if you can't walk on your hands
if you don't have double unders nailed
if you can't do 50 push ups
if you struggle with overhead squats

Whatever it is....

you HAVE to attack it regularly in your personalized programming or else you never will be getting the BEST programming!

Rest days/weeks, deloading, active rest (updated)

          First of all let's be VERY clear, there is no universal one size fits all.  The biggest factor in the discovery of what you need regarding rest is genetics... period-and then nutrition (of which the interaction of such largely relates to your genetics).  And by this I essentially mean hormonal interactions that allow for muscle and CNS recovery.  That being said:

Rest days

What is a rest day: A rest day is to equip your body to continue training that week at your maximum potential while still meeting your training goals for that week.  Rich Froning is famous for never taking them.

When should you take a rest day:  Conventionally, most people advocate 2 rest days a week.  When I first started CF I couldn't train more than 1 day in a row.   Granted I was 40 years old, but I still felt too sore to go again the next day.  This lasted for a month or two and finally I was able to go on consecutive days.  You should rest when you are not going to have productive training by going in.  (And don't be a baby about it either....)

Most folks (Outlaw, CompetitorsTraining, Invictus....) advocate 3 days on 1 day off training cycles.  The reason is well established that people tend to have the best output and recovery with no more than 3 days in a row.

*HOWEVER, as an over 40 athlete, I've found that minimizing my consecutive training days has been VERY helpful in allowing me to maintain joint health and training intensity.  So I now train M,W,F,Sat*

Active rest

I'm not much for doing much on a scheduled rest day (Maybe cuz I'm 40+.....)  I prefer to actually really rest.  Or just do mobility or get a massage or something that is very low stress on the body.  Other folks can stay physically and mentally fired up for the week's training even though they are getting out and doing something active (hiking, cardio, sports, low intensity training, etc...).  If this is you, then you're either suffering with anxiety and NEED to do something everyday or you're just genetically lucky to be able to recover in spite of training everyday.  Or you are holding yourself back maybe??

Rest weeks (deload weeks)

The hidden secret: I believe this is a critical key to long term performance.  Having periodic deload or rest weeks.  I used to do it every 4th week.  Now that I don't train consecutive days and only 4 days a week, I seem to only need one every 2-3 months or so.  4 weeks may be about the soonest you want to do it though.  Others prefer taking rest or deload weeks at longer intervals that every 4 weeks.  But I'm surprised at how many folks don't schedule them and just wait until they are fried (or injured).

What is a deload or rest week: This is a week that I catch up big time on my sleep.  I sleep in everyday and if I go to the gym, it's to do low tension stuff (Snatch work is great because it is so fast you are barely exposing your body to load and the movement is over), skill work (DU's, MU's, TTB, HS walking, etc...), or technique work (at no more than 60% max loads).  I also like to focus on things I don't do all the time, muscle snatches, sotts presses behind and in front, crossover symmetry, etc...

Why do you need one: The purpose is to rest your individual muscles, joints, and overall central nervous system.  I can't tell you what my wrists used to feel like after 3 weeks of heavy Olympic lifting and handstand work.  My joints needed a rest.  And my body as a whole was often just on the cusp of feeling "done" after 3 hard weeks.  Of course that all changed when I changed my days per week and really focused on recovering in between sessions.  Mentally the rest week feels so good and if I stay out of the gym, by the following week I am charging the gate to get back at it and my sessions are super intense and productive.  If I go into the gym, I tend to go so light that I'm excited to sling heavy iron again.

Everyday rest

In line with this subject.  You have to make sure you are scheduling your sleep hours each week just like how you schedule your training sessions.  Research just came out recently that I read that said you actually can "catch up" on sleep on the weekends.  So now I try to sleep in on Tue Thurs and  and grab naps on Sat/Sun to ensure I'm recovering adequately.

Good luck and happy resting!

Why it took me 2.5 yrs to get muscle ups

     I started crossfit at 40 back in September 2011.  Before that I was an ultramarathoner for 12 or so years.  Before that I was a weightlifter, wanna be meat head (never quite got HUGE...).

     If you don't know what a muscle up is, here:


     I did my 1st one of these probably about .....9 months into my crossfit.  I was super excited.  Then from that point (about June 2012) until just this April (2014) I struggled to do them at all.  Every few months or so I would maybe get 1.

     Now I have them.  But why?!  I will tell you what I figured out that NO ONE had ever told me.

     I heard for years (literally) that it would come, that I was strong enough, that I was "almost" there.  I drilled every drill I could drill.  Worked with different coaches, concentrated on them, blah blah blah.

     I'm one of those athletes that has a little too much mobility in the spine.  I am super flexible in both extension and flexion.  Part of the kipping movement of the muscle up is to arch

 your back on the back swing and then forcefully contract your abs creating a "hollow"

while pulling your self up to the rings.  Once you are up to the rings, you throw yourself forward and are on top of the rings basically.

     HERE WAS MY PROBLEM......

     There is a neuromuscular reflex called 'reciprocal inhibition' that inhibits opposing muscles during movement. For example, if you contract your elbow flexors (biceps) then your elbow extenors (triceps) are inhibited.  

     I was working so hard on the arch portion of my backswing that my abs were effectively shutting down via the RI principle.  So when it came time to initiate the aggressive abdominal contraction to come out of the backswing, I had to start from zero.  I had arched so aggressively that I'd effectively shut down my abs.  When I went to turn them back on, there was a lag time and I was unable to generate the needed force to get me up to the rings.

     My buddy Alex saw this as me "losing tension".  All I could think was that I was not losing tension, I was forcefully tensing up my spinal extensors very aggressively.  But as soon as I trusted that he might be on to something, I tensed my abs DURING the arching backswing.  It immediately felt counter-intuitive because it felt like it was (and it was) limiting the amount of arch I was able to obtain in the backswing.  

     BUT....I was able to engage my abs immediately and very aggressively.  I immediately popped up over the rings.  Then I did another and another every minute or so.  

     Since then I've been able to do them without any real problem at all.  I have to remember though on every rep to maintain abdominal tension in the backswing or else they shut down and it gets hard to get up to the rings all of the sudden again.

     Hope this helps some of you!!

5 Levels of the athlete and how to coach them all

My coach and I discussed that there are various levels of the crossfit athlete.  Here's a summary:

1. Unable to perform movements
2. Able to perform them poorly
3. Able to perform them better
4. Able to perform them well
5. Able to perform them perfectly

     There is a continuum that you operate on.  Lots of times we can see someone go from "not able to perform" to "able to perform poorly".  This is a major milestone for many and we celebrate this of course.  But the learning curve is literally JUST getting started.  It's important to allow the athlete to succeed in this stage of "getting it" (albeit getting it ugly), before we try to move to better.  But we MUST move to better!

     Kipping pullups are a great example.  Going from "can't do one" to "I can do one" almost always looks like hell.  :)  Then even at the games you see athletes that are far from perfect in their efficiency of movement while others have a beautiful pullup.

     At the CF gym I used to attend, many of us got coaching of how to do things adequately, but never seemed to get the coaching needed to get to the next levels.  I think they were too busy teaching people how to go from "can't do at all" to "can do adequate".  A perfect example: My buddy Cory's deadlift was stuck at around 275 when we switched to Crossfit Anywhere.  All he needed was to get the coaching cues to take him from "performing adequately" to "performing well" and he jumped immediately into the 300's.

     Many times the advanced athlete is doing something good enough to "get by" and never gets that coaching to go from "doing well" to "chasing perfection".  I have SO many examples of my extra learning to do things better and better.  I certainly knew how to do plenty of things just fine and at my old gym.  I was allowed to do things ok or just alright, but rarely coached beyond that into the chasing of perfection.

     That is the basis behind the idea of offering something to EVERY athlete in the class.  From the person just learning "how to at all", to the veteran that needs to learn the virtuosity we care so much about.

     As an athlete, if you are happy being good at something, that's fine.  However, if you want to chase perfection of movement, then you need a coach that is going to coach you regardless of if you are proficient or a beginner.  As a coach you should be constantly offering to bring people up another level!