Coach Nick or “Quadzilla”

Strategies for Movement Development:
The Olympic Lifts, Part 1

The quick lifts are notorious for their perceived complexity and many athletes struggle developing capacity in the lifts. To the undeveloped lifter, the Olympic lifts look like a blur of movement and often feel even worse. Putting it all together seems overwhelming and often frustration and dismay ensue.  The good news however is that with the right approach steady progress can be made.  Below are three things to consider that I gurantee will make your training more productive.

Mindset
The Olympic Lifts (Snatch & Clean and Jerk) are different than the Power Lifts (Deadlift, Back Squat, Bench Press). While both are barbell exercises, the Olympic lifts are demonstrations of power expressed through a technically sensitive sequence movements and positions. Their inherent speed decreases your margin for error unlike the power lifts (misnomer anyone?) which are performed at slower tempos and are easier for your nervous system to process.  We often harp on gradually increasing the loads on your power lifts to develop strength and many in our gym have been quite successful getting strong through gradual progressive increases of weight on the bar.  We cannot however expect the same linear development of the olympic lifts. Your emphasis when approaching these lifts should be “as heavy as technically proficient today” instead of “a little heavier than last time”.  If you’re feeling good and the positions are clicking, then by all means push a little that day, but if you’re missing positions and starting to deviate from good form, you need to pull back and work on the skill component of the lifts.  This mindset helps produce productive training sessions where you can focus on getting better, not necessarily moving more weight. Instead, each time you train, focus on one to two aspects of the lift you want to develop that day. Even if you moved 10lbs less then the previous week but your rack delivery became a little smoother and quicker, you’ve moved in the right direction.

Positions
The biggest mistake I see athletes make is not taking the time to develop PERFECT starting and rack positions. The beauty of these is that they’re static positions you can take the time to work on and get right every time. There are a lot of things happening quickly in the Olympic lifts, but if you focus on achieving mature start and end positions a lot of the blurry stuff in the middle will naturally begin to work itself out. 

Start position basics
Whether you’re starting from below the knee, the floor or anywhere else take the time to make sure your back is arched, your weight is balanced and the bar is touching your body with your arms hanging straight. On top of that, remember that you’re about to rapidly accelerate a barbell and you need to get TIGHT. This means taking the slack out of the barbell/you system by taking a big breath in and bracing your muscles.  You upper back should feel engaged and your hamstrings should be on tension (like our “gillie” stretch). A simple way to think about this would be to imagine you’re about to jump as high as you possibly can from your start position. Another way to think about it is to imagine you’re going to throw the barbell as high as you can towards the ceiling. These mental cues often help people achieve the positions and tension they need to initiate an efficient pull (does this guy look soft?). Never, ever (ever) rush through your start position. If you’re soft or out of balance, the barbell’s trajectory will deviate from where it needs to be and the lift will be missed or botched.  You simply cannot lift well from a bad start position, so take the time to learn exactly where you need to and get there every-single-time.

Rack Position
I don’t think there’s anything that makes me want to pull my hair out more than people who try and stand up a lift they haven’t properly racked on their shoulders or overhead. It’s understandable that this portion of the lift can be difficult for folks because of mobility restrictions or general apprehension about the movement but once you’ve got that barbell in the rack position, take the time to make it perfect before standing it up. If it’s so heavy that you can’t troubleshoot your position here you’ve jumped the gun and gone too heavy too fast. Developed lifters will need to troubleshoot minor errors and occasionally chase a lift but it’s never because they don’t know how to properly rack the barbell. Think of if this way, every time you do an Olympic lift there are three positions you need to get through.

A. Your Start Position: On tension, in balance and ready to explode
B. Your Rack Position: In the clean, this means the barbell is on your shoulders with your hands open and elbows as high as you can get them. In the Snatch, the barbell is locked out overhead above the middle of your foot. These can be received anywhere from a 1/4 to full squat.
C. Your Finish Position: Fully stood up with the barbell and you in balance and under control.

Often I see people want to go straight from A to C in an effort to simply complete the lift. If there is no distinct rack delivery position in the early stages of your learning progression you will NEVER (ever) move heavier weights well and you’ll never lift anywhere near as much as you’re truly capable of. The “B” should be a quick, distinct and crisp moment where the lift is won or lost.
Have you ever really pressed out a snatch overhead? YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG. Have you ever stood up a clean with your hands still clenched to the barbell and your elbows low? YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG. Stop doing it wrong, it’s really not that hard. Just fucking take the extra time to fix the position every time you get there before standing up.  If you practice this consistently it eventually won’t be a problem because a smooth and complete rack delivery will be so intuitive to you you’ll get as mad as I am right now when you see people rushing through this portion. These concepts also hold true for Olympic lifts in conditioning workouts. Every rep should be executed with intention of hitting A-B-C-A-B-C-A-B-C… as consistently and correctly and quickly as possible. The newer you are, the longer you’re going to need to take at each position before moving to the next. If your WODs look like A-C-A-C-A-B²-C-a-q-C-A-W?-C you need to chill out out and slow down.

In conclusion, don’t stress about your numbers every time you train the O-Lifts, learn what a good start position feels like and never stand up a lift you haven’t finished racking. Easy peasy.

Okay, movie time

Califorina Strength on Cleaning and the Rack Position

Watch Cal Strength at Catalyst Athletics. Get used to seeing the A-B-C for each lift.

Perform 5 Rounds For Time of:
400m Row
15 Overhead Squats 95/65

Work with a partner alternating each round until you both complete 5 rounds.

Post total time, Rx and partner to comments.

Laura M feels the power of the Dumbbell

Body Recomposition Templates

We hope what you read below will provide you with jumping off points for weight loss, weight gain and weight maintenance goals during the LF&PB challenge. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and do a little of your own research. Whatever your goals during this challenge, keep in mind that it’s a work in progress. Be a good scientist by keeping your variables to a minimum, and allowing time for change to happen before you begin manipulating.

Good luck!!

Weight Loss

Losing weight can be a hand-wringing process for many, or simply a matter of paying attention for others. Whether you fall into the former or the latter category, we encourage you to keep your strategy simple and consistent. It’s easy to go down the rabbit hole of tweaking this or that, and searching for the “perfect” approach, but if you start out basic and ride that for as long as you can, you’ll likely get pretty darn close to your goal while avoiding all sorts of weird, anti-social behavior.

Here are 6 tips to keep in mind:

1)       Reduce Calorie Intake
You can start tracking your caloric intake via The Daily Plate, FitDay or Nutrition Data, but unless you have a scale, OCD and the ability to refrain from driving yourself batty, there is a simpler way to go.
         Slow Down: take your time when you eat. At lunch and dinner, try taking a full 20 minutes to complete your meal. This gives your body a chance to communicate with your brain about your actual satiety level. You’ll also find you enjoy your food more and require less.
        80% Rule: stop eating when you feel just about full. You should no longer feel hungry, but have called it quits long before feeling stuffed. If you still feel uncomfortably hungry 20 minutes later, drink water first, and then have a snack if need be.
        Eat when you are hungry and limit snacks: Just because it’s 1pm, doesn’t mean you have to eat. Check in with yourself to see if you are actually hungry (stomach growling, mental fogginess, drop in energy), or just accustomed to eating at that time. If you are, great, have lunch. But if it’s not time to eat, wait until you are ready. Try to eat meals large enough to satisfy you until the next one.

2)     Keep Protein High
Protein is satiating and less caloric than other macronutrients. It also prevents muscle loss and promotes muscle growth. In the scenario of weight loss, about 1 gram/lb of bodyweight should work well if you are exercising consistently (3 plus times/week). One ounce of animal protein is equal to 6-8 grams of protein (fattier cuts at 6, leaner cuts at 8). So a 150 lb person eating about 150 grams of protein/day might be taking in about 21 ounces of protein.

4)    Target Your Carbohydrate Intake:  Carbohydrates encompass all veggies, fruits, and starches. Some foods are more carb dense than others, and some are primarily sugar carbs vs starch carbs. All carbs can promote fat accumulation IF you have a significant metabolic issue. Since we are active folks, some carbohydrate intake is helpful to assist with recovery. The best thing to do is target your carb intake around your workouts. If you get yourself good and sweaty at the gym, your post workout meal should have one or more of the following: sweet potato, winter squash, parsnip, beets, yucca, a piece of fruit, coconut water, plantain, etc, as well as lean protein. Don’t add too much fat to the post workout meal, again focusing on a big whack of protein and some carbs.

The rest of your meals should also contain high protein, but now replace those carb calories with fat sources. Feel free to eat as many low starch veggies as you want, whenever you want.

5)     Fat Rounds It Out
As stated above, your fat intake counterbalances your carb intake. Don’t be afraid to eat fat. When you reduce your carb intake, you take a significant source of calories away. While some caloric reduction is good, too much could result in muscle loss as well as fat loss. Not something we are going for. Keep your fat sources high quality, such as from avocado, coconut (oil and meat), macadamia nuts, animal fats, olive oil, etc. A handful of walnuts/almonds/cashews a day is fine, but don’t go overboard on nuts. Avoid vegetable oils from soy, safflower, sunflower, canola.

6)       Occasionally Kick Up Your Heels
Once a week or so, go ahead and have a day of extra calories. This does NOT mean binge on crap. This simply means eat the same food you normally do, just more of it. Having a high calorie day every once in a while helps to keep your metabolism from slowing down too much.

Weight Gain

While lots of people dream of having the “problem” of needing to gain weight, it can actually be very hard work. Especially if you want it to be mostly “good” weight, ie not all fat. But, there are some tried and true ways to gain mass and get stronger. Keep in mind that some fat gain is inevitable and ok. You can always lose that later.

1)        Keep Calories Up
Depending on how aggressive you want to be with your mass gain, you may need to push your caloric intake pretty far. If you are looking to make big gains, you’ll be best served by eating enough that you are rarely hungry. In fact, you may feel uncomfortable by how full you are, but it will be worth it in the end. This kind of heavy eating is usually accompanied by some very heavy lifting (ie, you might want to sign up for a Strength Cycle). If you don’t want to go that hardcore, then just make sure you eat large meals and ample recovery snacks.

2)        Keep Protein High
For mass gain, get your protein up to about 1.5 grams/lb of bodyweight. This may not be achieved through whole foods alone; protein shakes will come in handy.

3)       Dairy is Ok
Recovery protein shakes from whey or egg protein and/or whole milk is an excellent way to promote muscle growth and recovery. If you don’t tolerate dairy, then make sure you always have 3-6 ounces (depending on your size) of protein post workout plus a good bit of carbs.

Make sure your whey protein doesn’t contain a lot of crappy artificial sweeteners and additives. Here are some good brands to consider:

• Bluebonnet, from grassfed cows

• Jay Robb, from grassfed cows

• Tera’s Whey, from small organic dairy farmers in Wisconsin

• NOW Foods (more affordable)

4)       Moderate Carb Intake Helps
Carbs will promote growth. While a fruit or two a day is fine, focus on starchy veg like sweet potato, yucca and plantain. Post workout is best, but if they sneak in other places, that’s ok. Play with this to find enough to keep you recovered and gaining, but not so much that your fat exceeds your muscle.

5)       Consider Supplementing
There are a bajillion suppelments out there, but you really only need to focus on two: creatine and BCAAs. Creatine is formed from amino acids (which come from protein). You will get lots of creatine naturally, but in order to promote growth and recovery, you may want a little extra. It’s quite safe and really the only thing to be aware of is that is causes water retention.
BCAA stands for Branched Chain Amino Acids. Again, these naturally occur in protein, but extra BCAAs can be great for muscle growth/recovery. If you take whey protein, you’ll find plenty of BCAAs in that, but if you don’t and you want to add those in, take them post workout.

6)         Lift Heavy And Bias Strength over conditioning
Focus your workouts on the barbell and slow gymnastics that promote strength  (Chin-Ups, Push-Ups etc). Keep conditioning short and periodic.  This might mean you scale a workout to be a little heavier and shorter when you modify for yourself.  For example:

3 Rounds for time of:
30 Deadlifts, 135/95
30 Box Jumps
30 Kipping Pull-Ups

could become:

3 Rounds NFT of:
10 Deadlifts, 225/155
15 Box Jumps
10 Strict Pull-Ups

Always ask your class coach for help scaling and let them know what you’re goal is and why you’re scaling. Also make sure you can properly handle the heavier loads, you’ll need to gradually ramp up to them.

Weight Maintenance

If you are pretty happy where you’re at, great! Trust that you already know what you’re doing.
Focus on the positive health benefits you’ll and see how much better you can feel. There is one important thing to keep in mind, which is to make sure you eat enough. Most folks doing “paleo/primal/clean” for the first time, or after a long hiatus, tend to lose weight pretty quickly because they don’t take into account the drop in calories. Be mindful of that and of how your energy is during your workouts. Don’t be afraid to eat more, even if you already feel like you’re eating more than you are used to.

There are only 10 days left to get all your registration info in for the challenge and 5 days until it officially begins! To upload your pre challenge goals and “before”(or “Jan 2013”) pictures, click here.
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Dancing With His Daughter CrossFit (recommended viewing)
Wounded Warrior Pose

Take 18 minutes to work up to a heavy 5

Post loads to comments.

Every Minute, On The Minute, For 16 Minutes:
Even – 5 Unbroken Hang Power Cleans 135/95
Odd – 10 Ring Rows

Post Rx and experience to comments.

We are back to our regular schedule today.


Here’s the picture of Matt Krebs and I (Ryan Joyce) on the third-place podium at the CF Worcester Throwdown two weeks ago.

The events were:

Samantha Wright: America’s Cutest Weightlifter Pop Hangover
Drunks Trash McDonalds Over Lack Of Healthy Options Daily Mash

As Many Rounds As Possible In 20 minutes of:
12 Push Press 115/75#
25 Russian KB Swings 72/53#
12 Box Jumps 30/24″

Post rounds and Rx to comments.

Happy Holidays!

Today’s Schedule

We’ll be running the Christmas WOD at 9:30am today. Give yourself the gift of fitness and come on down for some merry mayhem.  Today’s class is CrossFit Group only, no other lifting or WODs will be permitted.

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“Invisible Fran” on Deception Island, Antartica CrossFit

Build to a heavy triple on the Deadlift in 15 minutes. Perfect form. Any deviation of neutral spine is a NO REP

Post loads to comments.

5 Rounds For Time:
250m Row
10 Kipping Pull-Ups
30 Double Unders

Alternate rounds with a partner so your rest is about 1:1. Your score is your total working time for the 5 rounds not including rest.

Here is a photo of Ayana – a Native American name that means “Eternal Blossom.” She was born at 0555 hours on 12.23.12. You guys will see her soon! Noor and I (Samir C) are well and ecstatic!

Christmas Schedule

• Christmas Eve, Monday Dec 24: 6am, 7am, 8am, 12pm classes normal. 5-8pm Open Gym
• Christmas Day, Tuesday Dec 25: Special 9:30am CrossFit Group Class WOD only

“Set Your Back!” But What’s My Back?

by Christian Fox

Your spine has 24 vertebrae divided into 3 segments; 7 cervical (your neck), 12 thoracic (mid/upper-back), and 5 lumbar (low-back). Below this is your sacrum, which are actually 5 fused vertebrae, and below that is your coccyx (or tailbone). On the posterior side of your spine, there are facet joints that facilitate movement of the segments. In between the vertebrae you have discs housing a gel-like substance that act as shock absorbers between segments. Now importantly, just behind the discs and just in front of the facet joints lays your spinal canal. The spinal canal is where your spinal cord and all your nerves are housed. Every nerve in your body comes from some point in that spinal canal, ergo, it’s pretty freaking important. Wrapping around the spine are also ligaments, tendons, and muscles that work to both mobilize and protect your spine, and blood vessels that nourish all of this tissue.
 
            Hopefully having this info and picture in your mind can help to clarify a few things about both strengthening your back and preventing injury. Any insult to the tissue around the spine can be painful. Muscle strains are the most common. These guys are well suited to move your spine into a safe position and keep it there under load. However, once the position is compromised, those same muscles are not that good at getting back there. So if you set your back well on a dead lift but then lose it on the way up, your spinal erectors may very well be barking at you for a few days as a reminder. Similarly, if you lack the flexibility to even start in a good position for the dead lift, you are also at risk for strain. If you strain your back, ice can help for the first 24-48 hrs, and ice and heat after that. Most strains are not serious.
          
            The position your spinal cord wants you to maintain while under load follows the natural curve in your spine and provides the most room for the nerves inside. That position is: a strong arch at the lumbar, a slight arch at the thoracic, and a slight natural arch at the cervical. *(While the thoracic can be slightly rounded (or flexed) in standing posture, an arched (or extended) spine up top will have all the spinal erectors working together and result in a better arch down low). The discs of your spine are put at risk of bulging or tearing when the spine is flexed under load (a rounded back on a dead lift), or worse, flexed and rotated. If a disc bulges or ruptures, the gel from inside it can put pressure on the nerves and blood vessels in the spinal column, resulting in sometimes debilitating pain. Once a disc is ruptured it will NEVER be the same. Good posture, in the gym and out, are paramount to minimizing pain in this case.
 
            The flip side of rounding your back can also be problematic. Over arching, or hyper-extending, your back can cause the cartilage in your facet joints to wear away. This can cause or exacerbate spinal arthritis (spondylosis). Worst-case scenario here is that bones spurs occur and either press against the spinal cord or fuse with other vertebrae. Neither sounds good.
 
            Get into and maintain a good position for your lifts. If you can’t, then don’t load weight on the bar until you can. Perform exercises like static back extensions to strengthen your spinal muscles so you can keep that back set. Work on mobility consistently, and limit ROM as needed until you can maintain a set back throughout a full ROM. Remember to always practice good posture in and out of the gym.

 

The bad and the beautiful
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Zombies in NYC! AMC