Those who have attended our Barbell classes have found that I ask lifters to warm-up on their own. I do that for a few reasons. First, most of you have been CrossFitting for some time now and have participated in countless warm-ups. My hope is that you are actively engaged in the warm-up and not merely wandering from movement to movement at your coach’s whim. Take those drills that you feel help prepare you the best and the ones you feel you need to improve on the most, and incorporate them into your own warm-up routine. The second reason I’ve been having barbell participants warm-up on their own is because everyone needs more time on their own stuff. Some need more mobility and rolling and should make it a major part of their preparation. Focusing on the thoracic spine, quads, and the hips just to name a few. Here is a quick 5-minute routine that should be done everyday according to the presenter in the morning when you wake up and/or as part of your warm-up.

For others more focus should be spent on improving stability and control using activation drills for the lower abdominals, glutes, and lower traps/shoulder stabilizers.  These drills aren’t sexy or even fun, but they’re critical for most of us to perform at our best and stay injury-free.  We perform drills day-in and day-out in our CrossFit class warm-ups so I won’t bore you with the details here, but if you need guidance just ask your coach for suggestions and tips.  For those who are rolling into the Barbell class just after completing the CrossFit WOD, I encourage some rolling and mobility before just jumping right into the lifting workout.

Once you’ve addressed your mobility, activation, and stability it’s time to start getting more specific with your drills. Greg Everett, owner and head coach at Catalyst Athletics in Sunnyvale, CA, recently posted an article entitled “Lift Before You Lift” where he mentions a few of his favorite pre-lift lifts to help prepare for the dynamic movements and demanding positions that the Snatch and Clean & Jerk will require of a lifter. Greg mentions the press from snatch (performed from a squat), the muscle clean & muscle snatch (look familiar?), and the tall jerk or the jump/drop to split. Read more about each drill and why he likes it on his site here.

The pre-lifts performed during a the warm-up are also an excellent way to focus on areas of the lifts that need extra attention. Speaking for myself now, I have found that I have difficulty in my snatch third pull and stabilizing in the receiving position. For that reason I make sure to include snatch balances or drop snatches as well as hang snatches or tall snatches with a lighter bar or empty 20kg barbell into my warm-ups. Especially on days where I’m snatching in the workout, but even on days when I’m not just to get the extra practice in. As we work together more, these drills will become more familiar to each of you and we’ll discuss how you can better tailor your warm-up time to your needs. As always, if you ever need some guidance just ask.

Remember to take advantage of your free Barbell class if you haven’t already. Just email Sean or Ruth to reserve your spot.  Our Intrepid Weightlifting competition is exactly 2 months away, so get some extra work in and be at your best come competition day!

This Saturday, Oct 12th we are hosting a free hand balancing workshop with Harold “H” Gim starting at noon. Spots are going to fill up fast so reserve yours now. Space is limited to 30 participants. Sign up here!

WOD 10.07.13

“Barbara”
5 Rounds, Each For Time:
20 Pull-ups
30 Push-ups
40 Sit-ups
50 Squats
Rest 3 minutes between each round

Thsnks to Michael Brian Photography for the pictures!

Today’s guest post comes to us from Jon A., a team member of the Dirty 30s, who had his first experience competing at the most recent Summer Shakedown.  Read on for Jon’s competition strategies/tips:

So now that I am a seasoned veteran of 1 competition, I feel the duty to impart my overarching wisdom to others that may be competing in the Intrepid Games coming up. The Summer Shakedown was my first actual competition, and for those that didn’t make it out, it was incredible! I grew up playing competitive baseball, and this was the first time in a long time that I was able to experience that spirit of competition again. There were great athletes, awesome music, and a strong family feeling knowing that like minded individuals were coming together to do something they love. Aside from the external excitement surrounding the event, there were quite a few internal epiphanies that are worth sharing:

1. A competition will expose your weaknesses. It’s easy to fly under the radar during the WODS at the gym each week, but a competition will expose your weaknesses, both mental and physical. This is a good thing, and arguably the best thing! Albeit uncomfortable, putting yourself through that discomfort will help you face your weaknesses, and motivate you towards overcoming them. I started Crossfit a little over a year ago, and was (willingly) peer pressured into competing in the Crossfit Open; needless to say, I got crushed by the workouts. BUT, that provided fuel for my fire and signaled that I wasn’t working as hard as I thought I was during the WODs. This helped elevate my training by changing my mindset from just showing up to the workouts, to showing up with purpose and intention to improve. Each day is now a chance to get better and keep pushing the goals higher and higher. Aaaaand, speaking of goals…

2. Have goals and work consistently to accomplish them. You don’t magically learn how to do muscle ups or pistols on competition day, so don’t expect miracles. It is consistent, methodical training that will make you successful.

3. You can’t control what others are doing around you, you can only control yourself. This is not an excuse to not try hard, it is a reality. Don’t worry about beating the person next to you, because if they trained better than you, they will beat you. Good for them. Focus instead on performing to the best of your abilities and beating yourself (and your last performance). Try to push through the preconceived mental barriers that you’ve already set for yourself, and you will always surprise yourself!

4. You will get an adrenaline rush. It’s gnarly. There is this phenomenon in competitions that people PR all the time. What I love most about it is that the adrenaline rush doesn’t make you superhuman, it makes you forget to think your usual negative thoughts. It shuts off that part of the brain that keeps telling you “My arms are sore” or “my tummy is a little uncomfortable” or “You’ve never done this many reps before, you should stop now”. You instead focus solely on the task at hand, and get into “Do” mode… “Do 10 pullups” or “It’s only 5 more thrusters” or “Just do 50 double unders”. Can you imagine what it would be like if you operated in this mode? Or, for that matter, have you ever operated this way?

5. Don’t throw form out the window, it will hurt you. I did that. It’s not fun. When you get tired, it will be tempting to just make that anguish face and do whatever it takes to move the weight, but always keep proper form in mind.

6. Celebrate! Woot, you finished a competition! Time to treat yo self! Seriously, make sure you plan something awesome for Saturday night, like a pizza and beer night. I loooooove pizza and beer together. They should get married. I looked forward to Rock and Brews for 2 weeks straight, and even deprived myself of pizza and beer for 2 weeks so that it would be even more rewarding after the competition. Go big Saturday night to celebrate.

Lastly, never forget that these competitions are so much better when shared with family, friends, and loved ones, so make sure to invite others to cheer you on! And if you’re not competing, show up to support others! There is quite a bit of down time in between heats, so spend time getting to know the people that you see for an hour each day but don’t take the time to talk to. Happy training, I will see you soon!

WOD 09.19.2013 

Mobility: Glutes and hips

Skills: Free time for CFI Games skillwork

Come to the Double Under Clinic today at 6pm!  Sign up here!

1. Free up the first rib. In the video, Kstar uses a stick pushed into the wall, but he has since come up with a better video using a racked barbell.

2. Use a lacrosse ball to roll the area around your shoulder blades and your traps.

3. Help the humerus move back into position by using a kettlebell for weight and a band for distraction (a technique which creates space for the joint).

If you have time, I would also add a fourth step:

4. Use a lacrosse ball to roll your pecs, either against the wall, or as seen in this Trigger Point video.

While this list is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to shoulder mobility, it’s often a quick fix that can make a world of difference some days. Come in a few minutes early today and give this a try. Test and retest your shoulders before each step to see if one helps more than the others.

Holley just confirmed that RPM Ropes will be here September 19th at 6pm to put on a 90 minute jump rope clinic for $35. They are giving us til Thursday September 12th to fill the 30 spots before they open it to the public. I believe a few people from the gym have already signed up so hurry and register here before it’s full! They will also bring ropes to sell and help you size it!

WOD 09.10.12

Deadlift 1×5 or Wendler

Standards WOD
AMRAP 7
5 Hang Power Cleans (175/113)
10 Wall Ball Shots (12′ target)
30 Double Unders

Every athlete will get the chance to be a ‘judge’ to enforce proper standards for each movement.

Hang Power Cleans
-must start in the hang position and the bar cannot go past the knees during the dip
-must finish in the rack position with the hips and knees fully open

Wall Ball Shots
-must start with a full squat (hips below knees, unless limited mobility is an issue)
-must hit the wall at or above the 12′ line (or 10′ for scaled)
-if you don’t catch the ball, it has to come off the floor without bouncing.

Double Unders
-rope must pass under twice to count

First, let’s get some anatomy out of the way. If you raise your arms up overhead, you are flexing (opening) your shoulders. It is important to be able to fully flex them when supporting weight overhead. Even if you weren’t a physics major, you would agree that the easiest way to support a weight overhead is to align it over your shoulder, which is over your hip, knee, and ankle. On the flipside, you are extending (closing) your shoulders when you are pulling the bar close to your body during a deadlift or pulling the bar down during a toes to bar.

Common faults:

1. Lack of shoulder flexion. Here’s where a cue can work against us. We often say “push your head through the window” to finish an overhead lift. That cue is to encourage greater shoulder flexion, and not what we see in the picture above. Ning’s shoulders aren’t fully flexed (open) and she is craning her neck forward to try to compensate. Unfortunately that position just results in a tweaked neck instead of a good lift.

2. Compensating with upper back: Now often times your body will try to overcome shoulder tightness by compensating and trying to align the weight over your center of gravity. This can only happen if you arch your back and sacrifice your midline stability.

Possible Fixes:

1. Roll and stretch your lats: Your latissimus dorsi, which means broadest back in latin, works to extend (close) your shoulders. So if they are tight, they will prevent you from fully getting overhead. Use the large foam roller and cover the back and sides of your lats. Also try this Trigger Point technique and mWOD stretch.

2. Roll your T-Spine: If you’ve done the quadruped rotation stretch (on all fours, hand behind the head and look to ceiling) and found that your upper back is preventing you from looking up at the ceiling, your upper back may be preventing your shoulders from doing their jobs. Try this mWOD video or this Tptheapy exercise.

3. Roll your triceps: This Trigger Point video includes your forearm and chest along with your shoulders, but if you’re short on time, scroll to 9:50 in the video to hone in on the triceps.

So, the goal is to open your shoulders completely while keeping your midline tight (ribcage down), like in the top photo on this post. If you have problems getting to this position, try the above fixes and retest between each. Whichever one is the most helpful, make some time to get it in every day or come into class early.

More resources: Mobility WOD: Shoulder Flexion,

WOD 08.20.13

Clean & Jerk 1-1-1

Legendary Competitor WOD
75 Double Unders
20 Deadlifts (225/135)
50 Double Unders
10 Ground to Shoulder
25 Double Unders
5 Shoulder to Overhead

Rx’d: 1 Wallball for every second over 7 minutes.

Photo courtesy of Evil Cartoons.

In a perfect world, everyone who walks through our gym doors would come in with perfect posture, supple mobility, concrete stability, and without weaknesses, imbalances, or previous injuries. Since that unicorn does not exist (with the exception of our youngest CrossFit Kids), we have to employ Plan B measures such as stretching, myofascial compression therapy, mobilizing, and midline strengthening. The reason being, the movements we perform in here are multi-joint, full-body ones that require the above qualities to prevent injuries.

So, my dear camels, it’s time to identify the straws that are lurking overhead. We will focus on the ankles, hips, knees, back, and shoulders.

Ankles: Tight calves will strain, pull, and bend the achilles tendon. When you squat, if the boney part over your arch bends inwards toward the ground, your toes out beyond 11 o’clock and 1 o’clock, or your heels lift off the ground your body may be trying to compensate for your tight calves. With the amount of repetitive impact (think box jumps, running, and less-than-perfect double unders), you may be headed towards an achilles tendon rupture (there’s a reason they use this term as a metaphor for someone’s weakness).

If this applies to you, spend some extra time rolling and stretching your calves daily, use 5-10 lb plates under your heels when you squat (or more), and have a coach watch your jump mechanics to make sure high repetition box jumps are safe to do. Come in to class early to make sure you do your “homework” or it may never get done. Check out these two videos below for more information and suggested programming.

WOD 06.25.13

Deadlift 1×5
AMRAP 8
Buy in with a 500m row

3 Power Cleans
6 Box Jumps

The Grid Mini, measuring a wee 5″x 5″x 5″, packed easily looped through the strap on Sean’s backpack. The X-Factor Ball is like regular TP Ball but slightly larger and denser. We tried to carve out time to use them upon our arrival, during our stay, and even at the airport. Personally, I found it really useful for psoas, pecs, glute, and calf myofascial work. I wish I had watched the programming video they posted for a more effective way to get into my quads, pecs, and lats (see below).

This isn’t a post to get you all to run out and buy the Mini, but it also means there’s no excuse to keep up your mobility when you’re away. At the end of the day, this is just another tool you can exploit to keep your body supple and functional so you can jump right back into training when you get back. The Grid Mini retails at $25 and when coupled with a handy lacrosse ball or two ($3-$6), you have a fully functional kit for the price of a nice dinner. We ordered 4 Mini’s (along with some other Trigger Point rollers) to sell in the Intrepid Store, but one has been reserved already, so comment below if you want one as well. They should arrive mid-week.

With a bit of creativity, you can work just about everything you need to undo the carnage that traveling wreaks on your body. Check out the video below for some ideas.

WOD 06.18.13

Press 3×5 or Wendler

Partner WOD
4 Rounds
Row 350

AMRAP
4 Handstand Push Ups
8 Pistols

Both athletes must row 4 rounds. While your partner is rowing, complete as many rounds as possible of the hspu/pistol couplet. Post total time and reps.

A huge thanks to all who attended Saturday’s Trigger Point Myofascial Compression Techniques (MCT) Workshop here at Intrepid. We had a good mix of gym members and non-gym members. The morning was spent learning some background about the company Trigger Point Therapy, getting acquainted with the TP Performance Kit tools, learning about fascia, and finally biomechanics and the injury cycle.  After lunch is when the “fun” began.  Starting from the lower leg, we made our way all the way to our chest and upper back rolling and manipulating 12 specific areas.  Our primary focus are what Trigger Point refers to the major ones as the “Ultimate 6″:  Soleus, Quads (Rectus Femoris, and Vastus Lateralis), Piriformis, Psoas, Pectorals, and Thoracic Spine.  The other areas are referred to as the 6+ areas and are meant to help beyond just rolling the Ultimate 6.

My biggest takeaway from the workshop was having a structured program for rolling.  Used properly rolling is a vital part of a warm-up and workout prep, as well as a cool-down and workout recovery.  With self myofascial release rolling, I find athletes often don’t understand how much is enough and are finished rolling before I’ve even had the chance to finish my sentence, or they fail to recognize when to call it quits and end up bruising themselves and making their issue worse.  If nothing else, the Trigger Point programming is a good starting point that puts you into the target window helping you get the most out of each rolling session without going overboard.  Lucky for you four Intrepid coaches attended the workshop:  Ruth, Holley, Alia, and myself; along with Brendan and Nick D. so hit us up for more on how to use the Trigger Point tools beyond freestyling it.  We have three kits now for use at the gym, but if you’d like your own or the GRID roller visit their site here and purchase your own.

WOD 5.06.13

Power Snatch+Overhead Squat 3×2

In Teams of 3, Perform 3 Rounds of:
Row 500m
AMRAP Bench Press in the time it takes your teammate to row 500m (135/95#)
Rest (Spot your teammate bench pressing)

  

Today we celebrate two birthdays, Pat and Portia! Happy Birthday ladies!

Scott B. was nice enough to share some fun facts with us about Pat:

Today is Pat’s birthday. She has been a member of Intrepid for almost a year now and loves working out with all of you. She is a dedicated 6:30 am’er which is completely amazing because she was never a morning person before Crossfit. Most of you know her, but do you know about her Tamale addiction? That every morning she checks the WOD post before committing to coming to class, but then goes anyway? Well, I thought I’d share a few more things about Pat to help you get to know her better:

1. Pat is short for Pathama
2. Pat is Thai, but to many of her friends is an honorary Mexican because she loves Mexican food so much
3. After Crossfit, Pat’s favorite Saturday activity is buying a week’s supply of tamales, huaraches, and quesadillas from the little carts in downtown LA
5. Pat loves organ meats – she even made beef heart for Valentine’s day
6. Pat’s non-gym friends are often startled by her massive traps
7. Pat loves thrusters
8. Pat hates running, but after Crossfit can now run 5k without stopping
9. Pat used to sleep in soooo late, now she is a morning person and love’s the 6:30 am class
10. Pat is a total WOD shopper!!

Happy Birthday, Pat!!!

Also, here’s a mobility WOD “quickie” for helping to improve the overhead position. This quick mobility trick from Diane Fu and KStar may come in handy for Friday’s WOD. Mobility WOD is a great reference for all of your mobility needs, we even keep a link to the blog on the right side of our page.

WOD 04.04.13

Skills Day

Gone are the days where you had to traverse the gym foraging for your mobility and recovery tools.  Lacrosse balls in the front of the gym by the coaches’ office, theracanes in the middle hanging from the I-beam, bands on the rack in the middle near the white board, and the rollers and mats by the back wall.  In an effort to make your mobility and recovery more productive everything is now in the same vicinity.  For those who haven’t had the chance to be back in the gym because of the holidays, the back corner near the notebooks is now the proud home to anything mobility and recovery related.

My other goal for organizing the corner is to add more structure to our sometimes aimless rolling and stretching.  We’ve all the favorites foam rollers, sticks, lacrosse balls, bands, mats, and theracanes.  New additions include stopwatches for timing each drill in your session, Kelly Starrett’s MWOD posters to give you ideas to improve your Goats and keep you supple, and the Trigger Point Therapy Workbook is out on the top shelf to further give you tips on how and where to roll especially if you have pain.

Here are a few scenarios for how to best use the new Mobility and Recovery Corner:

1. I see that we are Back Squatting in the workout today.  I show up 15-20 minutes early.  I refer to the MWOD poster on squatting and pick 2-3 drills from the list that I feel will best help me improve my position before we start to warm-up as a group.
2. I personally have a difficult time with overhead movements.  Eventhough there might not be any overhead movements in the workout today I’m taking the advice of my coaches and CrossFit athlete Jason Khalipa and I’m going work everyday to improve things I suck at.  I show up 15-20 mintues early or plan to stay 15-20 after and hit 2-3 drills from the MWOD Overhead Pressing poster.  I make sure to ask a coach if I need clarification on any of the drills or refer to mobilitywod.com to hear the drill explained straight from the guru’s mouth.
3. I’ve got this nagging pain in my low back.  It comes and goes and although I’ve been stretching more but it has been lingering now for a few days.  I tried foam rolling my back but it doesn’t seem to help much.  I wise up and crack open the Trigger Point Therapy Workbook and look for the back pain chapter.  Once there refer to the list under low back pain.  Each muscle listed under low back pain has been found to refer pain to the low back area, and the more common culprits are listed higher than the more infrequent ones towards the bottom of the list (Read more about referred pain here).  Spend some time working your way down the list, searching for junky trigger points, and massaging the ones you find.  One session may make you feel better, but realistically it will take at least a few sessions.

The “examples” are definitely not an all encompassing list, but just a few ways to incorporate some of the new tools at your disposal.  As 2013 begins, make time to improve your mobility in positions where you feel restriction and work on yourself when you feel banged up.  Happy rolling!

WOD 12.31.12

“Victoria”
5 Rounds for Time :
10 Thrusters
14 Box Jumps
12 Hang Power Cleans
12 Burpees
27 KB Swings

My friend introduced me to the method and tool in the video at the end of the jump; the method we are discussing today. Now before you skip over this and read about this new fancy greatness I want to preface it with asking you to keep an open mind and as with anything new you may be introduced to in life, do your own research. Car buffing for myofascial release. To answer the question of who the heck and how did someone figure this out, we have to look at a method commonly used in muscle and tissue manipulation. Vibration has been used for a very long time in massage practices. Vibrating stimulates blood flow, breaks up scar tissue and helps drain off any waste accumulated by muscles from everyday activity. It can be done with rapid chopping movement of a therapist’s hands, a chair with vibrating motors or seat with rolling “magic fingers”. There are devices sold for hundreds of dollars geared specifically towards vibrating massage. But a more inexpensive, albeit unconventional solution, can be found in your local car parts or home improvement store. $30 and you’re on your way to being a more limber, WOD smashing, life dominating beast!

It won’t rip your skin off and it won’t give your skin that brand new just off the lot shine. Here’s the low down. When the buffer is turned on you will notice it spins. But not to fear. Once the soft pad comes into contact with your body it will stop spinning. It isn’t strong enough to continue spinning but it is strong enough to vibrate at a very high frequency. Voila, vibration equals heaven. I’m kind of a ticklish girl so initially my brain was confused by the tickle/muscle stimulating pain. I laughed, then went into my pain cave and continued that cycle. There are no hard defined rules to approaching buffing yourself, just guidelines and common sense. In the video, Brett Summers strongly advises against using in the abdomen area, it’s a hollow cavity filled with really important organs, heed his words. To begin, pick a large muscle group you feel needs attention, use the flat side of the buffer graduating to using the edges as your tolerance builds up or as your tightness dictates. I wouldn’t spend more than just a few minutes in each area and it’s better as a two person job as a singular person just can’t get all of the angles as demonstrated in the video. Relax and don’t fight the tingle. The nerves in your skin may react and a tingling itchy sensation may arise, acknowledge it and let it pass, this is normal. Continue for a few minutes moving slowly and deliberately up and down the length of the muscle.

I purchased a dual handled 6″ 4500 RPM model from Pep Boys. I saw a Ryobi brand single handle models at Home Depot and they were all around the same price. Before using it, I would suggest doing a test and retest of your mobility applicable to whatever areas of your body need attention. As an example if you are planning to break the junk up in your hamstrings do a squat depth test; for shoulders check your overhead or front squat rack position. I think you will be surprised at what this alternative tool can offer. Having said all this and not being a certified medical professional I would advise use of this method for a once a week treatment. Aim to maintain your mobility utilizing traditional foam rollers, theracanes, stretching, lacrosse balls and treat yourself to a nice deep tissue massage. A few people have experienced this in the gym, don’t be afraid to ask and try it out for yourself.

12.23.12 REST DAY