Ilya demonstrating his mobility

During the weightlifting seminar last week, Ilya Ilyin, one of the world’s best lifters today, answered a question about resting after a major competition like the Olympics or World’s.  He said he takes a break from weightlifting, but he’s never “not an athlete.”  He still makes time to row, swim, run, and play sports.  While he was specifically talking in the context of a professional athlete’s training, I feel this mindset applies to everyone in our gym.

At Intrepid, everyone who comes in and dedicates themselves to the pursuit of health and wellness is an athlete.  Notice I didn’t just say fitness.  To me, wellness encompasses fitness, strength, proper nutrition, recovery, and a balanced lifestyle.  Whether you are at the gym, work, home, or vacation, you should be on the road towards wellness.

Does this mean you need to be eating 100% clean, working out an hour, mobilizing/stretching 30 minutes, and sleeping 9 hours each day?   (Somewhere, Marcus is nodding emphatically)   I think very few people other than professional athletes are able to adopt that lifestyle without burning out.  But you should keep your eye on the finish line and run towards it, even if it’s not a beeline.

Start by consciously doing 3 things daily that will make you a better athlete.  Each thing can be small at first, such as: eat breakfast, roll one body part, omit bread/ pasta/sugar from dinner, or come to the gym.  Then graduate them to larger things: eat clean (all meals), roll 15 minutes after CrossFit class, or going to bed by 10pm.  Even if you find yourself on a more circuitous path towards wellness, still do three things daily.  Live like an athlete and your results both in the gym and outside will reflect it.

REST DAY 12.24.13

Do three things that will better your health and wellness.

Vasily coaching Sean

This week, Sean and I are fortunate enough to attend a weightlifting seminar at Waxman’s Gym taught by Dmitry Klokov, Ilya Ilyin, Vasily Polovnikov, and Zygmunt Smalcerz. If you are new to weightlifting, you may not be familiar with these amazing lifters, but in other countries, their names would be as popular as our most lauded NFL or NBA players. Each of them have won medals on the national and world levels and some have set Olympic records.

Yesterday, they took us through the progression for teaching the snatch and how to customize it for various body compositions. 6 lifters were kind enough to be the guinea pigs. They were coached and corrected, and at times, poked and prodded! Sean was one of these lifters as you can see in the above photo!

They ended the day with corrective exercises for various weaknesses. Often times during the day one of the coaches would comment that the lifter understands what is being asked of them but cannot do it right because they either lacked strength in their back, legs, or shoulders. Luckily, the system they are teaching prescribes specific accessory lifts fix these weaknesses.

Today we’ll be reviewing the Clean and Jerk and tomorrow we’ll finish with a more in depth look at programming.   It’s been amazing hearing these world class lifters teach the lifts.  The technique and ideal form is the same across the board, but there are nuances stemming from their body compositions, training background, and styles.  We’re very excited to bring this type of program to our barbell club as well as our CrossFit classes.

Our 8pm classes will be suspended through the holidays but will return January 6th. Holiday hours will be posted tomorrow.

WOD 12.17.13

Deadlift 1×5

Row 2000m

Rest 1 Minute

Then 3 Rounds:
30 Double Unders
15 Ball Slams

Happy Birthday, Randy!!

If exchanging holiday gifts is a tradition for your family, this time of year can be stressful for you. Lifters are a strange bunch and we all have our tools to help us lift safely, effectively, and efficiently.  These also become a part of our lifting ritual and superstition.  Whether you are an Intrepid lifter (or CrossFitter), or if you were casually sent to this post by one, we have a few gift ideas for you:

Weightlifting Shoes

• In a nutshell, VS Athletics ($65-80) are local, offer a discounted rate, and are a great entry level shoe that will last you years.
• Reebok CrossFit Weightlifting shoes ($150) are light and comfortable.  These are perfect for the average CrossFitter who can use these for lifting as well as many conditioning workouts (metcons).
• Ristos ($130-200+) are handmade, heavy, and traditional looking weightlifting shoes.  Available in custom or ready made colors, these are great for someone who is passionate about weightlifting.

Knee Sleeves, Wrist Wraps, and Straps

• Marcus did a great post about knee sleeves here.   I wear them all the time when I lift, especially in this colder weather.
• Wrist wraps come in different styles and levels of support.  Rogue wraps ($12-18) are on the heavier end of the support spectrum and are fast and easy to put on.  On the lighter side, PR Wraps ($30), Gym Rat ($20), and Rogue ($25) all make a similar style with different designs to choose from.   I find these take a bit longer to put on, but once they’re on, easy to tighten or loosen as needed.
• Lifting straps are great for weightlifters and power lifters.  They’re simply a tool to allow you to save your grip as well as to focus on a particular portion of the lift without worrying about gripping the bar.  They range from the economical Harbinger ($6), to the Spuds speed lifting straps ($14), to the Werksan speed straps ($15).

Belts

•  Powerlifters often use a thicker belt ($50-150) which is tougher to break in, but incredibly supportive.  Rogue and Elite FTS are good sources.
• SetWear Smart Belt ($50) has the BOA system used in snowboarding boots for quick tightening.
• Harbinger makes a variety of nylon belts with differing thicknesses.  At the gym, we stock the 4″ nylon belt ($20).  They also have a slightly padded version in pink!  You can pick these up at your local Big 5 Sporting Goods.

If you need more ideas, check out our 2012, 2011, and 2010 lists.

WOD 12.10.13

Back Squat 3×5

8 Minutes to obtain a heavy Power Clean

Rest 1 Minute

Then with a partner, AMRAP 15:
5 Hang Power Cleans (70% of heavy PC)
3 Front Squats
1 Shoulder to Overhead

Start with an empty barbell. During AMRAP, one partner works while other rests. Post total rounds. WOD courtesy of CrossFit NOLA

Intrepid Weightlifting Class

Many of you have grown up playing team sports as a kid;  some of you may still be on a hockey, basketball, or soccer team.  But all of you, by virtue of coming to class, is on a team here.   You all know the joys of setting a PR (personal record) and the frustration of failing a lift.  Even though it seems counter-intuitive, taking the time to watch and cheer on someone else’s set will help you succeed in yours.

Catalyst Athletics posted a great article today by Mike Gray about how to be a good teammate when it comes to lifting.   He lists 10 tips and while the article is geared towards a weightlifting club, they pretty much all apply to us here at Intrepid.   Here’s an excerpt, but take the time to read through the rest of them here.

1. BE SUPPORTIVE! This was something that always took me by surprise my first six months or so in weightlifting: When I approached the bar, I would get tons of encouraging words (probably because I needed them) directed towards me. Personally I think it’s important and it’s something you should do with sincerity.

5. Be humble. I trained with National Champions and Olympians early on and they were all humble, so it always shocked me when I would train with somebody that hadn’t done much of anything in the sport who wasn’t.

6. Help out the new guys. They might be too intimidated to ask and will just keep their heads down and plod away. Give them some tips, and always be helpful.

10. The last one, and it’s the most important: If you are having a [bad] day—and let’s be honest, it’s going to happen—don’t make everyone else’s day like yours. Get behind them and be the supportive teammate you would want behind you.

I’d like to add another tip, although it’s really an extension of #10.  We were at a meet years ago and saw a lifter who missed a lift and blamed it on the photographer’s flash in the back of the room.  This was an experienced lifter who was no stranger to being on the platform, yet he chose to blink and gesture angrily at the photographers and storm off the platform.  Needless to say, the flashes “sabotaged” his next lift as well.   So unless someone walks directly in front of you to where you can smack their behind from your start position, or someone physically impedes your bar path (like the photographer did to Avelyne at a Shakedown competition), don’t play that game.  Everyone misses lifts.  Miss with grace and don’t transfer the blame to save face.

The atmosphere is a huge contributor to how you perform.   Think back to a class when the people were energetic, with some friendly banter, and lots of encouragement going on.  And now picture one of those classes where the people don’t really know each other; they avoid eye contact and no one pays attention to each other’s lifts.   Cheer each other on during lifts and WODs.  Bring a positive vibe and others will follow suit.

If you didn’t make it, what do you think went wrong? Did you pick a goal that would take longer to attain or could you have worked harder to make it happen? Be honest. While there is no mandatory ‘punishment’ for not hitting your goal, I would suggest perhaps incentivizing yourself somehow (ie No cheat days/TV/shopping at Lulu until goal is achieved).

Tomorrow we’ll erase the board and start over. This time we’ll have you all write up a one month goal and one two month goal. They can be related (ie 10 strict pull ups, 20 strict pull ups), or completely different. You have a better idea now of what you can accomplish in a month, so choose wisely and work hard.

12.03.13

Deadlift 1×5

Run 800m
3 Rope Climbs
30 Toes to Bar
60 Kettlebell Snatches (53/35)
90 Double Unders

Samantha learning the split jerk in her first weightlifting class

You may have heard us yelling emphatically, gesture maniacally, or squint disapprovingly from across the gym. The cue is a coach’s tool to remind or prompt an athlete to fix a movement. It’s shorthand language that may only make sense to the athlete being cued.  They can be comical, obscure, and non-sensical. I can yell “Tony Parker” and “Clementine” to a certain Intrepid athlete and she’ll fix her gaze and clean position right away!  Whatever the cue is, it’s only requirement is efficacy.

But, because everyone comes in with different strengths and weaknesses, each person will have a different set of cues that work for them. So outside of listening to coaches break down a movement when instructing/introducing it to the class, you may have to be careful when hearing us cue individual athletes specifically. While “knees out” may apply for someone who collapses their knees in during a squat, it would not apply to someone who already has a good neutral knees-over-toes position. In a particular lift,  I may ask someone to look up while someone else to look down. The end result, though, should be the same.

For example, I’ve found a myriad cues to help athletes start a deadlift properly. Some respond to knees back, while others prefer chest up, or dig your heels. If you find a word or concept helps you make sense of a movement, WRITE THAT STUFF DOWN in your notebooks, preferably on a page titled “Cues” or “STUFF THAT WORKS.”  It’s so exciting to us when light bulbs go off during class and everything comes together. But sometimes it feels like groundhog day here and when we end up having the same light bulb go off every time we revisit that same lift and we get the urge to throw a metal plate at you for not writing it down to remind yourself.

In all seriousness, though, we get that the lifts are hard and technical. Invest in your learning and pay attention to which cues help you and which ones don’t. Give yourself a mantra for every lift. A short sentence or a few words that helps get your mind and body right. And understand that a cue that may help another athlete may sabotage your lift.  Strive to understand the movement instead.

A very happy birthday to Xuan (AKA Doghouse, AKA Prodigal Son). May you do birthday burpees if you don’t come in to the gym soon!!

WOD 11.26.13

Back Squat 3×5 or Wendler

For 12 Minutes
Every Odd Minute:
Complete 3 Cleans (full squat) (225/143)
Every Even Minute:
Max Reps Push Ups

Post total Push Ups

Tom D.’s lovely wife Kelly was kind enough to write up the following heartfelt post for Tom’s birthday:

Happy 47th Birthday Tommy Davoren!  I’m not sure how I missed sending in a birthday post last year for my wonderful husband, but given how much he enjoys reading ones sent in for so many of you (which I lovingly refer to as his “CrossFit Family”), I had to be sure not to miss this year…thank you Ruth!

Tom and I have been happily married for 22 years (yes, I was a child bride !).  I never thought I would marry so young and while it may sound a bit cliche, I truly knew the very first time I met him that he would be my guy always.  We dated for a year, then were engaged for a year, and then our life together truly began on 1/5/91 and we’ve never looked back.  Our life together is filled with many blessings and lots of love and laughter.

Here are some things you might not know about Tom:

• He is number 6 of 8 children (Irish, Catholic…and a Notre Dame fan from birth…his dad watched Notre Dame beat Michigan State while his mom brought him into this world!). He is a “California Native.”

• Tom has a passion for football (too bad he wasn’t born a bit taller!).  He coached high school football for 14 years. One of his years as a head coach for Bishop Amat HS freshman, they not only went undefeated but not even scored against!!!  A few of those players went on to play college ball and one even made it to the NFL!  He patiently awaited many a player interview where one of them might thank him by name!  Just kidding!

• He initially was on course to be a High School English teacher, but instead followed his father and siblings into law enforcement (5 out of the 8 kids became LA County Sheriff Deputies!).  I didn’t realize it back then, but being a police officer is a true calling for Tom and what he is meant to be doing in the world.  Now for a little bragging… He has worked on three departments (LASD; Overland Park PD in Kansas, and LAPD).  During his time at each department he achieved things most officers don’t achieve in a lifetime of police work at one department.  Of particular note are the three medals of valor he has received, one from each department.  Each for the valorous actions he took to save the lives of others in the line of duty (officers and citizens alike).  Finishing-up his law enforcement career being part of LAPD Bomb K-9 (“some of the best partners I have ever had”…many past partners gave him a hard time for that comment following his CBS News interview!) and now Bomb Squad makes for a pretty amazing journey.  I couldn’t be more proud of him!

• He is a “snappy dancer”, despite not really being able to hear the beat! It might have started with our ballroom dance class in preparation for our wedding (what a good guy, huh?) but it has continued throughout our life together. Tom has won several “Twist” contests!!!

• We love to travel and experience the world together (Ireland, Great Britain, France, Italy, Spain, China, Japan, and most recently Croatia and Slovenia to name a few).  Someday we will complete our Rosetta Stone “Speaking Italian” and really go far!

• We get “remarried” every 5 years in different circumstances and places just to keep that newlywed feel going!  The most adventurous was on our 15th where we said ”I do, again” just before jumping out of a plane over the North Shore of Oahu!

• Tom is a closet Karaoke fanatic…one of his favorites is “I’m too sexy for my…on the cat walk” (can’t recall the exact name, but it is hilarious to watch…he can be quite the showman!)

• He has always worked to stay physically fit for both his personal safety as an officer and overall well-being. His experience at Intrepid, however, seems to have tapped into his commitment to fitness at a level I don’t recall him having before.  I believe that it has to do with the camaraderie and healthy competition you all instill in him.  Thank you for your friendship my husband and for being such an important part of his life!

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!
With all my love,
Kelly

WOD 11.19.13

2 Rounds:
400m Run
35 Ring Push Ups (sub 35 Push Ups)
400m Run
35 Ball Slams

No pain, no gain.

Know pain, know gain.

Pain is weakness leaving your body.

Be patient and tough.  Someday this pain will be useful to you.

All these quotes are fantastic for getting us through tough workouts.  After all, high intensity workouts can put our bodies in a state of fight or flight.  Shortness of breath, aching muscles, and fatigue challenge our intestinal fortitude and make us want to quit.  That is the kind of pain the above adages apply to.  We, as trainers, want you to push through that kind of pain.  We want you to embrace it as the fire that will forge your mind and body into a stronger being.

However, pain is also your body’s barometer for health.  Overtrained muscles, tendonitis, impingements, strains, sprains, and pulls all begin as a nagging pain or ache that we choose to ignore.  Since our goal here is to have you train hard today so that you can come back and train hard tomorrow, pushing through that kind of pain is unproductive and dangerous.

 How do I know if it’s just sore if it’s overtrained?

Most of you remember the first few weeks of CrossFit (or the first few days back after taking a break).  You were sore in areas you may not have known you had muscles.  But after a day or two the soreness eases up and it feels better after you warm up and get the blood flowing to the area.  However, overtrained or strained muscles will have a lingering dull angry ache to them, even when you don’t flex them.  This is the time to ease off these muscles to allow them to recover.  Follow the RICE protocol, come in and use the Marc Pro, and ask your coach to sub out movements for a few days.  Two days of rest for overtrained muscles beats two weeks of rest for a strained one.

 An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure – Ben Franklin

Take charge of your recovery.  We expect you to be responsible in all aspects pertaining to your health and wellness outside of the gym.  Your nutrition, sleep, and recovery is up to you to regulate.  We’re happy to give advice on how to optimize them but it will be up to you to prioritize and make time for it.

So come in to the gym early or stay late.  Buy a trigger point kit, or make a DIY one and use it at home or work.  Get a baseline of how your quads, glutes, etc. feel when they’re healthy so you can tell when they’re junky and tight.

“But I don’t know how to foam roll/stretch/mobilize my [insert body part here]!”

In this information age where the answer is literally at your fingertips, the above question just screams lazy to me.  You have IMDB to help you link Barbara Streisand to Kevin Bacon in a few degrees and Soundhound to identify that catchy tune on the radio.   You also have mWOD and Trigger Point Therapy to help you figure out how to use that lacrosse ball to help your shoulder impingement.  Check out our Mobility corner in the back of the gym complete with trigger point book and mWOD posters.

The point of this post is to get you to be proactive in your recovery.  Know yourself as an athlete enough to differentiate between good pain (sucking wind in a WOD) and bad pain (everything else).  If you have a nagging tightness or the beginnings of tendonitis, don’t ignore it.  Figure out what is upstream and downstream of it and roll/mobilize it.  For example, if you have a nagging elbow pain, roll your forearms, biceps, and/or triceps.  If your knee feels achy, roll your calves, quads, and hips.  And if it’s something you need to see a doctor for, by all means make an appointment sooner than later.  We will always be here to answer your questions, but at least take the first steps to search our past posts or look it up in mWOD or tptherapy or you will surely do bear crawls for laziness.

WOD 11.12.13

Power Clean 3×3

A:
4 Rounds:
7 Hang Power Snatches
7 Toes to Bar
100m Run

B.
4 Rounds
3 [Squat] Snatches (155/103) or (135/93)
9 Toes to Bar
100m Run

*must be able to squat snatch B weights with proper form.

Katie’s GORUCK team (photo courtesy of Scott Martin)

The multitude of movements we learn in CrossFit takes time to learn, develop muscle memory, and perfect. Every day we practice lifting; we practice activating the correct muscles for movement; we practice pushing our bodies beyond what we thought was possible. Most importantly, I think, we practice pushing our mental limits.

A couple of days ago, I was doing a workout with 400m runs in it. Running is not my forte to say the least and that hill at the end was surely designed by a sadist (Marcus). As I ran up the parking lot, I thought to myself that it was ok to slow down…just a little bit. It was the first of three rounds, and heck, I had jumping squats to do next. But my inner trainer voice (you guys have all heard it) called me names and said if I slowed down, I would just be reinforcing the habit to quit.  Much like muscle memory, my brain would later recognize this level of exertion and remember putting on the brakes.  I would miss an opportunity to embrace the suck.

I recently read about SEAL FIT’s Kokoro Camp and how CrossFit Games athletes have attended these to improve their mental toughness.  These camps are basically a version of hell week packed into 3 days, or 5o hours of grueling training.   Testimonials from these camps always reveal one of the main takeaways was how powerful the mind was even when the body was ready to quit.   This lesson later carried over to their training and benefitted them during competition.

Our Katie M.  participated in a GORUCK challenge this past weekend which began 10pm Friday night and ended 9am Saturday morning (see above photo).  Not only was it grueling, cold, and exhausting, but it challenged her even more so because she wasn’t a big fan of being underwater.   But she pushed through and after a long night, came out the other side mentally tougher.

Every day, inside the gym or out, you have the opportunity to practice intestinal fortitude–to push the envelope when you otherwise would rather not.   Embrace it as a chance to test your mettle.   Try it today.  When you want to stop don’t practice quitting.   Push a little more and make it a habit to be mentally tough.

If you haven’t already, read Sean’s fantastic article about embracing the suck and Holley’s Mental Game post for more on this topic.

WOD 11.05.13

Press 3×5 or Wendler

A
30 Unbroken Double Unders

5 Rounds:
7 Power Clean and Jerks (155/105)
7 Burpees

30 Unbroken Double Unders

B
6 Rounds:
5 Ground to Overhead
5 Burpees
15 Double Unders

We’ve already had some Intrepids register for the in-house weightlifting meet on Dec 7th and hopefully there will be many more signing up soon!  Although this won’t be a sanctioned meet, we’re going to run it as close to one as we can (except for lifting in pounds instead of kilograms and mandatory singlets).  Since this will be a first for most of you, I’ll go over the ins and outs and what to expect.

In weightlifting, you get three attempts to establish your max snatch and clean & jerk.

• The lifts must start from the floor and must be done in one continuous movement (except the pause between your clean and jerk). So a deadlift to a hang power clean will not be acceptable come meet day.
• The snatch and jerk must be received with your arms locked out.
• Your knees cannot make contact with the floor at any time.
• To finish either lift, you must bring your feet side by side so they are parallel with the bar BUT you can be facing any direction (ie you don’t have to be exactly facing forward).
• You have to finish with both feet on the platform.
• You have to control the bar down (just follow the bar down to at least shoulder level before letting go.  To be safe I keep my hands on until past my waist height).
• You must wait for the head judge to tell you “Down” before you bring the bar down.
  

Your lifting order all depends on what weight you declare. There’s a whole lot of gaming involved in a meet, so that should come naturally for most of you! We will place you in weight classes but since we have a smaller group participating, the women will lift first and the men will lift after. Here’s a tentative schedule:

09:00am Women weigh in and declare first attempt for each lift
09:05am Warm up as needed
09:30am Snatch (Women)
10:20am 10 min break
10:30am C&J (Women)
11:30-12:00 Lunch
12:00pm Men weigh in and declare first attempt for each lift
12:30pm Snatch (Men)
01:30pm 10 Min Break
01:40pm C&J (Men)
02:50pm Awards

The lifting order goes by lightest lift to the heaviest. So, if Sandy Sandbagger plans on snatching 65#-75#-85#, and Wanda Wodshop plans on 70#-90#-95#, then the order would be:
Sandy 65
Wanda 70
Sandy 75
Sandy 85
Wanda 90
Wanda 95

There’s a continuously running clock and you have one minute from the time your name is called to begin the lift. However, since Wanda has to follow herself from the 90 to 95# lifts, she will get 2 minutes to begin her 95# lift. Now, once you go up, you can’t go back down (ie Sandy 65-80-75), so choose your weights wisely.   You do get to bump your lifts UP a maximum of twice per attempt, so it behooves you to be conservative just in case. Also, when you make a successful first or second lift, you have to go up by at least 2.5 lbs (or 1kg).

The tricky part is how to time your warm ups so that you take your last warm up attempt with enough time before your first lift so you can recover, but not so long that you get cold. That will boil down to having an idea what your fellow competitors are planning to lift.  On competition day, we’ll do our best to help you game your warm ups.

Again, we’re asking for volunteers to help with bar loading, scoring, and judging.  Please email me or comment below to volunteer.  If you plan on lifting, you’re welcome to volunteer and we’ll make sure you only have to “work” when the other group is lifting.

Don’t forget we have our Potluck and Clothing Exchange this Saturday 11/2, at 1pm. RSVP with your dish on the board by the office. The address will be posted this week. (There’s a pool and jacuzzi so bring your floaties!)

WOD 10.29.13

Bench Press 3×5 or Wendler

Five rounds for time of:
5 Deadlifts (275/185#)
10 Burpees

Tomorrow, we’re going to erase the board and we want you to set new goals. This time you’re going to pick one or two things you want to achieve by the end of November. This time the goal board will be set for 1 (ish) month goals only. So if your goal is to get 40 strict pull ups and you can only do 8, perhaps set the 1 month goal for 12 or 16 pull ups instead. Likewise if your goal is more conceptual and vague, such as “improve push ups,” make it more specific.  Perhaps shoot to do 40 pushups with a perfect plank in one minute, etc.

In the future we may open it back up to short AND long term goals, but the purpose of this board is to focus your training and give you something to work on before/after class as well as on your own time.  Putting a realistic deadline on it is just another way to help motivate you.  So as you think of your November goals, I leave you with some great quotes from other coaches:

The goal is to keep the goal the goal.
-Dan John

Discipline is the difference between setting goals and achieving them
-Greg Robbins

Results or excuses; you can’t have both.
-CFI Games 2013 (origin unknown)

We’ll give EVERYONE until Friday to put up your November goals.  One or two at the very most.  Those of you prone to CrossFit ADD limit it to one goal.  Worst case scenario, you achieve that goal too soon (oh no!) and get to put another one up.  When you check off that goal, write the date down next to it.  Keep it realistic and NO sandbagging!   I will expect to see at least one goal for everyone who has a current notebook in the back!

**and try to refrain from leaning on the board so you don’t erase someone else’s goals**

We will have regular class (no skills class) on Thursday, October 31st. Come WOD in costume or pay 50 burpees for being a Stick-In-The-Mud. There will be a prize for the best costume (to be voted on the day after). Be creative, but keep in mind you will be doing a workout (no running or rowing this year) in the costume, so it will get sweaty!

6:30AM class last Halloween (Andrea won for her “Sean” costume!)

WOD 10.22.13
Press 3×5 or Wendler

3 Rounds
5 Power Snatches
7 Pull Ups
400m Run

OR

Amanda
9-7-5
Snatches (135/95) (Must squat)
Muscle Ups