Work up to a heavy 5
Make sure to keep your upper back engaged. If you start to lose position and droop forward, lower weight and work on that thoracic extension.
Post loads to comments.
Tabata Couplet
6 Rounds Tabata Box Jump
Rest 1 minute
6 Rounds Tabata Pull-Up
Post reps per movement and Rx to comments.
“Deskbound” by Kelly Starrett
This is a 56 minute lecture that Kstar did at Google all about posture, sitting all day and what to do about it. If you have a job that puts you in a chair all day, do yourself a favor and watch this.
Has anyone opted for a standing workstation yet? If so what have your experiences been?
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Ankle Mobility
Christian Fox
When a joint lacks range of motion, whether due to injury or inflexibility, another joint above or below it will attempt to make up for the range of motion deficit. In referring to the ankle we see this commonly in all the squat variants, and particularly in the Front Squat and Overhead Squat, whether as their own movements or as the receiving position for the Clean and the Snatch. Most of you should know that limited hip flexion ROM (tight hamstrings and adductors, perhaps) would cause undesirable movement in another joint(s), your lumbar spine. As you move deeper into the squat and hit the end of your hip flexion ROM, your back begins to flex in an attempt to get lower. This isn’t good, right? Right! Let’s take a look at limited dorsi-flexion (toes toward the shin) ROM at the ankle. It could start to be made up for at the knee, but then the bar starts to travel back too far. Think squatting with perfectly vertical shins and an upright torso. You’d fall backwards, right?. So what happens next is the hip starts to flex (fold forward) in an attempt to keep the bar balanced over mid-foot. What happens here? In a Front Squat you probably lose the bar forward. In an Overhead Squat you’d probably lose the bar forward or compensate even further up at the shoulder and have the bar way back behind you, over the mid to low back instead of over the scapulae. To pull off this circus stunt of a squat would require sick shoulder strength, stability, and ROM at the shoulder. More than likely it’d be a missed lift.
Of course in both of these situations, when you run out of hip flexion ROM due to the increased demand caused by limited ankle ROM, you could still make up for it at the lumbar spine…Still not good.
So, how can you get more ROM at the ankle? Glad you asked. Here’s one way. Get in front of a wall (a wall with a ledge like at SBK or a doorway works well), place your heel close to the edge and the ball of your foot on the wall. You may need to lean back significantly to achieve this position. Use your arms to pull you in, leading your hips into the wall. Attempt to be as tall as possible and not bend over at the hip. Use leverage to create an acute angle at the ankle. You can use PNF for this stretch (contract 5 seconds, relax and pull into stretch 15 seconds) and you can rotate your shin over the ankle to hit different areas. Try this stretch both with a straight knee and with a slightly bent knee. Spend 2-4 minutes each leg. Your squat is worth it. Cheers to good squatting!
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Recovering From Hurrican Sandy, Part 2 CrossFit
BACON BLUNT
Of course I clicked no.
Great write up as always Fox! Sent that on to some friends already, as well as the KStarr bit. Good stuff.
I opted for a stand that converts any regular desk into a standing desk. What's nice about this particular model is that it can be adjusted for both sitting and standing. As with most things, excess in any one modality is often an issue. Eight (8) hours of standing often results in compromised posture, favoring one side over the other, etc.
Have circumnavigated the issue by using my laptop as my primary computer, connecting it to a larger screen during my standing sessions. Then take a respite from standing by disconnecting and using just the laptop (usually for when I write email and the 11 inch screen isn't a compromise). A number software applications remind me to take breaks and also monitor my personal productively (can track how long I spend doing specific work).
My personal interest in improved ergonomics has resulted in influencing the administration to purchase more of these units for my staff and colleagues. As it stands, there are 3 others that just started using this identical setup and I'm looking into something similar for the students who are enrolled.
140×5 on the front squat. I always forget how much harder this is than back squat.
Subbed KB swings for the box jumps as I had a minor procedure done on my foot on Monday and didn't want to aggravate it. 60 swings (perfectly consistent 10/round), 27 pullups with the thin green band.
I hate mornings.
I hogged the 15# plates
45×5/75×5/105×4/135×3/155×5/175×5/185×5
metcon 20" box
44/44
Good timing for a blog post on ankle flexibility, I've been noticing this while stretching at home. A supple leopard, I am not.
I switched to a standing desk at work recently. I stand for an extra hour or two a day now, but to be honest I can't see a huge difference. I definitely spend less time slumped over, which certainly sounds like a good thing.
7am with Josh, worked up to 185 on the front squat. It was heavy, but still limited most by wrist flexibility, and I've got a nice red mark across my collar bones… I've been trying to do more upper body work the last couple weeks but it's not paying off yet: for the WOD, managed 47 24 inch box jumps, then a lot of no-reps doing banded pull ups. Ended up doing bar hangs instead.
I should basically spend my entire life in that ankle stretch. I realized yesterday that the reason I think my bike seat is too far forward is because of my crappy dorsiflexion. Ugh.
I have been at a standing desk for three years. I LOVE it. I sit down sometimes on phone calls but otherwise no. I feel so much more energized and engaged throughout the day, and when I have to leave the comforts of my home office and spend the day sitting I can really, really feel a difference.
I have an adjustable standing work station – the Kangaroo Pro Junior – and stand maybe about half the day. I like it, and I think it helps with my mobility, but I still find that I can't do most of the truly mentally tasking tasks while standing. I try to be up and down as much as possible, so it's usually for hour long stretches to break up the sitting.
Back to the blog after some time off–I've been logging using a Mac and iOS app call DayOne, which I'm liking quite a bit. It syncs over iCloud, allows you to tag posts on your phone (but not on the computer, or I haven't figured that out yet), and lets you add photos (no video, which would be great) to your post, and will remind you to enter something if you want it to.
Monday was partner WOD with Kenji. Attempted this as prescribed but found that towards the end my T2B were a combination of good reps and valiant attempts. Glad I tried, though. Ring dips were in progressively smaller sets, but held up better than I expected. Kept the split on all the rows at 1:38 +/- :02. Finished in 33:00+.
Yesterday was FSQs with Josh. I find these more mentally taxing than anything else–still not a movement I feel confident with.
[45×5, 115×5, 155×3] 185×5, 200x5x2
200 is a 25 lb jump from when we last did sets of five. Thanks to Josh for his cues about depth and driving my knees out.
56/36 on the tabata metcon. 24" box and kipping pull-ups. My hands and lats are not happy with me today.
I'm looking forward to the 2013 challenge but I have some questions about modifying the plan and eating grains. I have started my tri training for races in March/April, this means long runs and bike rides. I think it will be important to keep some grains in my diet and I do need the sugar/carb performance gels on the days I'm running/biking for 1.5hrs or more. Does anyone have any experience or suggestions on how they've balanced the diet challenge and endurance training?
6am with Josh and McDowell. Front squats: 45×5, 135×5, 185×5, 215×5, 215×5. Not close to my 5RM. Concentrated on good form and shoving my knees out. Weight felt heavy. WOD: 54 pull-ups, 56 box jumps (24" box).
I ordered a standing desk a few weeks ago. It should arrive any day now.
Jude, poke around on Peter Attia's site, http://eatingacademy.com/ He does intense endurance training while in ketosis, and says that it's actually much better to do aerobic work with fat rather than carbs as fuel–you just need to adapt to it. He recommends something called Generation UCAN over other sports gels.
Here are good starting posts:
http://eatingacademy.com/how-a-low-carb-diet-affected-my-athletic-performance
http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/the-interplay-of-exercise-and-ketosis-part-i
http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/the-interplay-of-exercise-and-ketosis-part-ii
FOX… Thank you for the ankle mobility write-up. Noted and will make it part of my cooldowns. And, I'm not going to take it personally… even though there was great shock and awe at my lack of passive dorsiflexion a couple weeks ago when I got that foot cramp 😉
Came in for 7PM group class last night with Josh/Melo to do today's workout.
FSQ with KMo
45×5, 65×4, 85×3, 95×5, 100×5, 110×5 (F on third rep). One more set at 95# to get my position correct.
Combo of dropping a little two deep in the hip on these and, as Fox pointed out, not letting the bar roll all the way back through my fingers. was gripping to tight, which brought me forward on my way up on that third rep.
WOD:
76 on box jumps. wasn't feeling especially springy, but did alright here.
17 on pull-ups (blue band, strict)
PU's were torture, esp. after the grip work of T2B on Monday night. made the choice NOT to kip, as I know I need to work these strict. I think I did 5 in the first round and then after that it was down to 3 or 2… and I think there was a round I just did one and then rested.
if i were training for an endurance event, i would certainly not consider that an appropriate time for this challenge. that's just my personal opinion and i'm sure others will disagree. but i have tried to lay these two things on top of each other (training for something big and a challenge that involves some level of restriction) and it was not successful.
Hit 170 for the front squat which I was happy with… I am still feeling out things after 6 weeks off it felt heavy but not my heaviest front squat.
My shoulder was feeling a little sore and had a few hotspots in places after the toes to bar/pushup/row on Monday so I dialed back the Tabata to ring-rows. I hate that something I felt I was pretty good at is now something I can't even do. However I can still do box-jumps!
One of my strongest things at crossfit. killing 69 on the 24". I felt a little dusty doing them, a combination of the front squat hitting my legs and time off but I was still happy with the number. The 53 ring-rows were good and certainly got difficult for the last 3 sets as my numbers dropped 1 each time.
It's going to be a lot of AR tonight on the shoulder.
I do not have a standing desk at this job. I had one when I was commuting to Texas for some time. It was just a "bar" style little round table I stood at and worked. I have worked places where 4 out of the 5 people who worked there full time were using the standing desks. I think it would be a help to many.
The If Not Vid is hilarious!
I use a "standing desk" (aka my laptop on top of a box and two cookbooks) when I work from home two days a week and I love it. My work-from-home days are usually the day after my gym days and I find I get way less sore and stiff in the legs and hips when I stand the day after a workout. By the the last hour of my work I am usually quite restless and tired of standing but the rest of the day it does energize me.
At the office I sit on a yoga ball instead of a chair. I started using it when I was pregnant and decided I much preferred it to a chair. Our next office is supposedly going to have a standing desk "bar" where you can go and take your laptop to work.
Hi Jude,
I just quit doing marathons recently and did one of them while practicing a semi-Paleo diet (I would say like 70% Paleo). I also trained for NYC this year while eating more like 90% Paleo, and that was fine (of course the actual race was not, but that's Sandy's fault, not my diet's). I don't think you need grains to do endurance, but you do need carbs. While training this year I ate lots of sweet potatoes and white potatoes, plus more fruit than I eat now that I'm not endurance training any more. I continued to fuel with Gu gels during my runs.
Eating little to no grains worked very well for me. I didn't notice a dip in my marathon performance, but I did notice that I got rid of the GI discomfort that used to happen on long runs.
What's key is, if you are going to start Paleo (or any other major change to your diet or training!), do it WELL BEFORE you have any races coming up. It will take your body some time, perhaps several weeks or even more, to fully adapt to the changes you are making, and you want that process to be finished before you start piling on the mileage you need to prepare for a big race.
I've been using a standing desk for 4 years now and I would NOT go back to a sitting desk for any reason whatsoever.
Benefits
– Feel more awake
– Feel less "lazy" and atrophied throughout the day.
– More approachable by co-workers
– Feel healthier
This is my second standing desk setup I've created for under $20
View Image Here
I highly recommend making the switch.
A couple days ago I converted my desk at work into a standing desk. So far the only change I've noticed is that my co-workers laugh at my expense. Also, when they see me sitting they say things like, "Why aren't you standing?" or "Tired of standing, eh?" The standing feels good, but the comments hurt.
I converted to a standing desk a few weeks ago and love it so far. I feel like it's easier for me to warm up at the gym as well – it used to take 5-10 minutes of mobility just to get into a decent squat position and now that's more like 2-3 minutes.
Hey Marco,
My Dad once told me.."He who laughs first, laughs last… laughs first?"
Maybe not that but something like that
So, when I do an ankle stretch like heal-against-wall or calf-marches, I feel the stretch in my calf. But when I do squat stretches, like deep squats or pry squats, I don’t feel any stretch in my calf, even if I crank on my ankle. Why do you think that is? Do other people have a different experience? It’s always made me think that calf stretch won’t help improve my squat positon.
I dont have a desk. I walk around the hospital all day, and stand in the OR for hours at a time. By the end of the day I feel pretty horrendous. My knees and feet hurt, and i have zero spring in my legs (which made todays box jumps fun). When I see a chair, I sit, and im happy. If you sit at a desk, get up and walk around…then go on sitting IMO.
245 on the FS (legs are just shot from the long days)
WOD- 60/44
6PM with Noah and Arturo
A little pre-mobility with the lax ball under the shoulders and some front rack stretching.
Front Squats
45×5 95×4 135×3 165×2 185×5 190×5
Last couple reps at 190 were grinders, happy to stop there for today.
Then the WOD, pull ups first for me:
47 kpu, 73 box jumps @20"
I got a convertible standing desk at work a few months ago and I love it. There was some sniggering at first, but guess what? Now everyone has them! I definitely recommend the convertible style, as you still have the desk space underneath for your crap, and you can sit when you need to throughout the day. I actually end up standing about 80% of the time now, and lay down on the couch behind me for 10 min when I need to rest my legs/eyes/brain. I find it feels better when I wear sneakers to the office rather than dress shoes or boots, but I want to try one of those anti-fatigue mats to see if I can make it a little more comfortable.
Squat: 215×4
WOD: 44/36
Second time front squatting in a while. Don't really know where my numbers are. Failed on the last rep at 215, weight wasn't an issue. More about my wrist position. Just need to get more practice with these and my numbers should respond. WOD was pretty good. Paced myself on the box jumps no need to aggravate my knee. Apparently my kip has left me for parts unknown. Yet another thing to work on. That list is pretty damn long.
Sam and Stella – many thanks for info and good advice about paleo and endurance training. I like the idea of mostly paleo w some modifications for long training sessions and to ensure I'm getting enough protein (since I don't eat meat). I'm not as thrilled with giving up beer as part of the plan. Long run followed by long shower and cold seltzer just doesn't compare.
Front Squat: worked up to 185×5. Heavy but doable. Up 20# from my last set of 5. I'm liking the front squat and glad it will be in the next cycle.
WOD with kipping pull-ups and 24" box: 44 pull-ups and 47 jumps. Would have got more jumps but slammed my shin into the box in the 4th round. ouch. That slowed me down and should be a rather spectacular bruise tomorrow. First two round of pull-ups were unbroken at 10 a piece. that is great. Very satisfying to see improvement here.
I do not have a standing desk, but I want one real bad. There is a place where I can go stand up and read stuff, but it is in a hallway, so not optimal. Some times, if I am doing something at the computer that does not require typing, I stand up, tilt the monitor up, and then stack a couple of books on the desk to place the mouse on. Kind of slapped-together, but it works.
PS to Jude — an unqualified YES to gels from me. Paleo nuts will say you can carry a boiled potato with you, but seriously, that's a pain in the tail (especially if you are running and not riding). I can't even imagine how many potatoes I would have needed for a 20 mile run!
I made myself a standing desk at work (printer papers boxes, boom) take my shoes off, and roll my feet with a lacrosse ball. I stand about 95% of the time, and just kind of sit on the actual desk surface every so often. I love it, and feel way less creaky and bent when I leave work.
That said, I don't work in what anyone would call the world's most enlightened community, and I get endless comments, although not actually made fun of. My cube is on a raised level too, and my head sticks up over the walls, so they call my "The DJ" since it looks like I'm in a booth.
Soon, everyone will be doing it.
you know whats really fucking hard? taking a picture of your own back.