The Russians are coming!

Hello fellow lifters.  Hope it has been a good month for you. Couple of things to talk about.  1st is a program review.  This is a new section that  I will be doing.  Every time I complete a program that is related to weightlifting, I will update how it was over all, how hard it was to complete, how successful was it, etc.

Next we will be talking about mobility and you (or really more about how you suck at it and what you should do about it).

Finally we will be finishing up with a decent program that you should be doing in preparation for your next competition (ahem..., Colorado Open sept 14th, and the Masters in October).

So on to the good stuff.

"I must Break You" or Smolov Jr. for Squats program Review):

The Russians are known for being generally hard people.  Their weightlifters are no exception. There is a program called Smolov and Smolov Jr. that is known for increasing base strength (squat bench deadlift).  It works by doing what is officially known as a "shit ton" of whatever movement you are trying to improve.  I will break it down for you:

Week 1:
Day 1: 6x6 @ 70%, Day 2: 7x5 @ 75%, Day 3: 8x4 @ 80%, day 4: 10x3@ 85%
Week 2: same as week 1 but increase weight 5 to 10 lbs each day.
Week 3: add 5-10 more lbs from week 2.
Week 4: rest

Note, this is Smolov Jr. I wouldn't want to try the big boy version.

So for those of you who like math, lets plug my numbers into the formula above and each week I squatted over 130 reps over 300#.  That means each week I squatted over 50,000 lbs.  That is a lot of squats.

So did it work?

Yes.  My 1rm went form 425 to 440.  Anytime you can add 15lbs to a 1rm in 4 weeks you are doing something right.  The downside however is squatting under heavy load 130 times per week breaks you down in a big way.  I have never had such anxiety about squat day before.  When I realized the cycle was over I felt  like a stress had been lifted from my life.  It was a hard program.   It will be a long time before I attempt something like this again.  My Olympic lifting still has not recovered from the cycle.  I will be taking another week off this week to attempt to let my body recuperate a little more.  Hopefully the stronger "base" will  translate into bigger snatch and clean and jerks.

Would I recommend this program?  It all depends on who you are.  I would say it is definitely for an advanced lifter.  It is a lot of volume and you definitely want the ligaments and tendons well conditioned for high volumes of squats.  It is also a little too specialized for my liking.  For a power lifter trying to peak for a meet, it is a perfect program to boost the numbers.  For the average competitive exerciser? I would say it takes up too many of your precious calories and time.  If you have questions about it or want to know more about squat (or any) cycles let me know and I am happy to talk.

You suck at squats Part Deaux:

Okay.  I have touched on this subject before, but it is always good to have a reminder.  You suck at mobility.  Unless you look like Ilya when squatting, you need to spend some time on mobilitywod.com.

Hint: you don't.

Becoming more flexible is a little painful, but it takes up almost no time during your day, it can be done on rest days, and it requires almost no equipment.  I am going to post a video about a guy who has decided to make mobility a priority.  He has a 14 part series on youtube called "Broken Leopard".   He goes through everything he is doing to become more supple.  You should too.  Mobility isn't something that is going to be fixed over night.  Or even in a week.  For some maybe even a year, but please make this a priority. Your longevity in picking things up and putting them down ( and life in general) will depend on it.

I will say this about mobility.  It is painful.  If it feels good, then you are doing it wrong.  If it only kind of hurts, then you are probably doing it wrong.  You are forcing your body to bend and stretch in ways that it has been trying to not do for the last 20+ years.  You have a lot of work cut out for you.  Go to a yoga workout (they are called YWOD on the mind body site for you CFJ'ers).  You will learn exactly how inflexible you really are.  Protect your back and your knees and learn how to move your body properly.  I am not asking, I am telling.  If you ignore mobility and hurt yourself, it is not crossfits fault, it is not weightlifting's fault, it is not your coaches or the program's fault.  It is your fault. 

This is how you should be reading my blog.

Finally for the competitor in you:

Some of us are trying to be the best at exercise:

But not Kenny Powers

I have been to a few CrossFit  Exercise competitions and the one thing that I have noticed is that the strong people win.  Every single time.  I am not saying that strength is the only thing you need, but it is the most important.  Here is how your program should break down:

Strength > Cardio > skills > med ball cleans

Strength is the basis for everything.  So with that in mind I am gonna lay out a strength biased program for the nest few months to keep in mind any upcoming competitions you might have.  This takes into account that you need a good engine (cardio) in these competitions too, so it doesn't ignore that.

Key:

 AxB = A sets of B

WOD = Wod posted daily at your gym

RDL= Romanian Deadlift 

AHAP = As heavy as possible

Month 1:

Day 1: Squats 3x8 ahap / WOD

Day 2: WOD

Day 3: Rest

Day 4: Squats 3x8 ahap / WOD

Day 5: WOD

Day 6 : Rest or Front Squats 3x3 and RDL 3x5 AHAP

Day 7: rest

Repeat this cycle the whole month

Month 2:

Day 1:  Squats 3x5 ahap (heavier than 3x8s) / WOD

Day 2: WOD

Day 3: rest

Day 4: Squat 3x5 ahap/ WOD

Day 5: Wod

Day 6: rest or Dead lift (regular) 3x3 and Front Squat 3x3 ahap

Day 7 rest

Repeat for whole month

Same pattern ffor month 3 (if there is one),just replace 3x5 with 3x3.

Two weeks before competition taper off squatting to about 65% of what you were doing the 3x3 sets at.  

1 week out don't do any heavy squatting.

That is about it.  That will increase your general strength faster than you would realize.  Make sure to really increase the protein calories (this is not the time to try and lose weight).  Also mobility before and after the workouts is extremely important.  Adding a lot of volume to your program puts you at increased risk of injury.  If you are feeling crappy, sore joints, high resting heart rate, etc, take a few days off.  No sense in getting an over training injury and not being able to compete.  

Next time I will talk about what to do come game day. Want a little sneak preview?  (spoiler alert)

Have fun

Let's try this again.

Hello my loyal followers.  I am sorry to have left you waiting for so long to hear (read?) my opinions in the world of strength training.  I have no excuse other than laziness, travel, and training pretty intensely for my last weightlifting meet (which went well).  So onto more important things than my excuses for not writing any blog posts.  What other things you might ask.... well, I don't have one specific topic today.  I am gonna talk about a program that you could (should?) follow if you want to be more competitive in weightlifting while keeping your competitive crossfit edge (Have your   cake paleo muffins and eat it too).  And we will see where my ramblings will take us from there.

Singlets and putting weight over your head.
I competed in my 2nd USA weightlifting meet in Boulder last month.  It went better  than I expected it to go (I won the 94s and didn't expect that).  Leading up to the meet I had some sort of terrible cold that included (but not limited too) fever, chills, coughing all night, more phlegm than I ever want to see again, and most importantly NO working out for 10 days.
Now when you have followed a pretty strict regimen of heavy weights for 3 months it is a pretty desperate feeling to not lift any weight for the 2 weeks leading up to the meet.  I was getting pretty bummed about it and resigned myself to a poor showing when I talked to a much more experienced lifter than myself and he told me "it isn't about how hard you work 2 weeks before the meet, it is about the months and years of training you have put into it before those two weeks."  His perspective helped me to realize that I wasn't gonna lose 15 lbs off my prs after not working out for two weeks.  It takes years to put on muscle it also takes years to lose muscle. So I felt better after that conversation. 

Onto the meet itself:
I weighed in 1 kilo under weight at 93 (which is good so I didn't have to cut weight).  During my warm ups I felt awesome.  I planned on opening at 102 kg for the snatch and in the back it went up almost effortlessly.  I am sure it was a combination of nerves, adrenaline, and red bull but I was pretty pumped and ready.  I went out for my first attempt and tried to rip that barbell off the ground faster than a yellow bellied whistle pig (don't ask).  My technique was all jacked up and I left the bar out in front and missed my first attempt.  That is definitely not how you want to start a meet.  I immediately followed myself onto the platform (no one else was attempting 102) so I took my 1 minute rest and went out and easily snatched the 102.  I next attempted 107 and made that fairly easily too.  I feel like I left some weight out on the bar that day, but I was just happy to go 2/3 after failing the 1st attempt. 
Clean and Jerk went better than I could have hoped for.  I went 134, 139, and 144 and was successful in all three attempts.  144 was a 1 kilo all time pr for me.  It was a good way to end the meet.  I went 5/6 with a pr and a pr meet total. 

If any of you reading this have a meet you want to write about you are welcome to send it to me and I will post it.  If you are interested in competing give me a shout and I will happily talk to you about getting into the competition scene.  All ability levels are welcome. 

Programming: I pick things up and put them down.

But how much should I pick up and how many times?  The short answer is a lot. 

Programming is no simple feat.  Especially for all of us goofy crossfitters (It freaking says in its descriptions preparing for the unknowable).  Now most of us can simply show up to the gym and do the met-con wod and we will see strength gains for a good long while.  After all, before you started going to a crossfit gym, how many times did you lift weights.  But then you will realize that you aren't as strong as Rich Froning and can't ever be as good at crossfit unless you can snatch 300# in your Nano 2.0s.  So you start to do Olympic lifting once or twice a week, and you immediately start to see personal bests rolling in.  Rich better watch out because you have added 20# to your snatch in only 2 weeks.  At this rate, the Olympics are still a few years out, you might be competing with them soon enough.  But then the next two weeks come and you only add 10 # to your snatch, then 2 more weeks, and only 2.5#, then two more weeks and holy crap your 1 rep max that day went down. 

OMG! what is HAPPENING. 

You my friend are at the point where you are an intermediate strength athlete.  You will never progress past this stage without today's magic word:

Programming

Now many people have made fortunes selling the best (or worst) programs for gaining strength.  You are in luck because I am gonna drop some knowledge (and I know because of KRS1) on you today about how to be a successful athlete absolutely free (I do take cash donations though). 

1st Pick a goal: 

- Do you want a bigger squat? a stronger press? an awesome clean and jerk? do you want to run a sub 20 minute 5k (wrong blog)?  You have to pick a goal.  Otherwise you are just drifting at sea.  You can have more than one goal, just make sure they are not conflicting.  A bad example is "I want to run a half marathon and deadlift 500 lbs".  Those are "conflicting".  You CAN say I want to increase my snatch and clean and jerk.  Those are "complementing".  Just because Greg Glassman claims crossfit will give you a 700lb deadlift, it doesn't make it true. no matter how many times he says it. At some point you will have to give up a few med ball cleans and wall balls in pursuit of a 700# deadlift.  So pick a clear concise attainable goal.  Next it is time to pick your program to attain said goal.

2nd pick your program:

There are many many programs out there that claim to be the best.  I will give you a run down of some of the programs you are bound to run into on the series of tubes known as the Internet. 

• The Texas Method -Powerlifting (squat, deadlift, bench/strict press)
• Wendler's 5/3/1 - Powerlifting
• Outlaw Crossfit - Competitive Exercise
• Pendlay's Beginner Olympic Lifting guide.
• Starting Strength by Rippetoe

I am not gonna go into detail for all of the programs because you have google don't you? (the answer is yes because you are reading this particular blog from the googlesphere).  Just pick a program that lines up with your goals.  My particular program for this last weigthlifting meet was a hybrid of a true weightlifting program 3 days a week, and competitive crossfit. My week went:

• Monday - Snatch, Jerk, Squat, snatch pull
• Tuesday - Crossfit style met-con
• Wednesday - Clean, push press, squat, clean pull, also a met con
• Thursday - rest
• Friday - Snatch, Clean and Jerk, Front Squat, Romanian Deadlift
• Sat - Met Con
• Sunday - Rest

The lifting percentages went up and down from week to week based on supercompensation cycles (again, google).  The reps started off with high volume, then as the weeks went on, volume went down and intensity went up (more weight).  This program set me up great for weightlifting while maintaining most of my crossfit skills.  I did not become a better crossfitter with this program because my goal was to be a better weightlifter. But I did want to maintain a certain level of competitive crossfitter.  See how that was a trade off?  Now you are getting it. 

Finally when it comes to a program, stick with it

This is the bane of every program. 

 You start by saying I am gonna follow outlaw for two weeks, then you get bored and switch to Texas Method for a week, then you read about this new Juggernaut method and forget to workout since you spent so much time on the reddit weightlifting forum discussing why JT is so much better than those noob starting strength chumps, all while doing the couch to 5k running program.  Consistently doing a bad program is better than consistently talking about doing a great program.

I am gonna say that again so it sinks in.

Consistently doing a bad program is better than talking about doing a great program.

Final thought of the day:

One of my favorite people once said "The iron doesn't lie" (He also said "t.v. party tonight"). It is great to be inspired and read all day long about success stories and then sit down and plan out how we are gonna live our life and lift all the weight in the world, but to truly get stronger (or better at any skill) you have to put in time under the barbell.  Many of us wish and pray for a better press, or a stronger squat, or a better snatch, but the iron will not lie to you.  If you haven't put in the time, the barbell will not come off the floor.  If you have been religiously showing up to the gym and doing your met cons 5 or 6 days a week, but you haven't seen any progress in your clean, it is because you haven't put in the time doing cleans under the barbell.  Stop wishing for more flexibility and get down and stretch (make it hurt).  Stop wanting a better jerk, and get to the jerk blocks in the gym and practice (yes those giant lumber boxes are for jerks, not your drink holder). 

Get under the weight and earn your next pr.

This is "the iron" by Henry Rollins. Definitely worth the read.

And here is "T.V. Party" by Black Flag



The Open is done, back to weightlifting.

For most of us, our Crossfit Games season has come to an end.  For many, it was your first competition.  Good on you for doing that.  For me it was a reminder about what crossfit really is.  Lets talk about my performances and the mistakes I made going into this crossfit games season.

2012:

In 2012 I did my first Crossfit Open.  I performed much better than I expected and finished in 182nd place (SW region).  The biggest difference I saw in most of the guys who were competing in the top 60 spots were that they were much stronger than me.  So I hit the weights hard for most of the year.  I boosted my strength numbers quite a bit.  I did several competitions through out the year and placed well.  (14th at Alpine Legends, 8th at Alpine Warrior, and 10th in the Colorado Open).  Towards the end of 2012 I started lifting more and more and got hooked on this whole Olympic Lifting thing.  From October through February I did almost exclusively Olympic lifting.  And man did my lifting numbers take off.

I had a 235# snatch, a 300# c&j, a 405# squat, almost 500# deadlift.  How could any light weight met-con phase me? I thought I was ready to take on the world.

I made one fatal mistake leading up to the open though.... I forgot to do Crossfit.

2013 Open:

I looked back through my training log and saw that I was sticking to my weightlifting religiously.  Turns out that I had only done about 9 crossfit style met cons in the last 3 months. That isn't very much.  And when trying to compete in a crossfit competition, not doing crossfit is probably gonna hurt you.  So there you have it.  It is not rocket science.  I have lifting numbers that compete with even the Games athletes, but you have to also have the engine to go along with it.  I was like a diesel engine with only 1st gear.  Sure I was strong in the beginning, but not very fuel efficient, and wasn't able to work for long periods of time (like 17 minutes worth of time).

 So where do we go from here:

Well I love weightlifting, and will still continue to have an emphasis on it in my training, but I will definitely make time for more met-cons and dare I say it.... Running. (gasp). I think my programming is going to start looking a lot like Outlaw Crossfit.  A heavy emphasis on weightlifting/Gymnastics, with some short hard metcons at the end of every session.  I will re-evaluate after a few months and see if I am improving or not.

Back to weightlifting you slackers:

So this is a weightlifting blog so lets get back to the sweet science of lifting.  I have USAW weightlifting meet in May.  This week is my last week at 100% until I test my maxes the week before the meet,  I love max out days.  And I love them even more when I get PR's.  Yesterday I got a 245# snatch, and a 315# jerk from the blocks. The jerk took me 3 tries, but I finally got it.  I wasn't staying back on my heels enough in the jerk and it was putting me slightly off balance.  I also was dipping a little too much.  As soon as I fixed those last two problems, the 315# jerk went up with (relative) ease.

 I think my next post will touch on some technique stuff since I think most of you read this to try and dig something useful from it instead of hearing me whine about how I suck at crossfit.  So look for that later in the week.  Until then I will leave you with some homework.  Try to get to an open gym, or weightlifting class on Saturday and dedicate at least 1 work out to squats and either snatch or clean and jerk.  Do lots of squats. Also try to do mobility work every day this week.  I do the 1st 4 episodes of mobility wod every single day.  My squat has improved because of it.  You should do it too.  Every time you sit in front of the tv or computer, you should be improving your flexibility, not sitting idly in a chair.  That is your homework.  Squats and mobility.

I will leave you with an awesome video of Chad Vaughn 

Also here is the same Snatch Critiqued by Chad Vaughn:

Carpe Ferrum my friends.

13.4 Clean and Jerk bonanza!

Alright mi amigos.  Time for 13.4.  It involves lots of cleaning and jerking so I am pretty excited that a workout is finally in my comfort (i will regret use of that word later in the post) domain.

This will be a short post because there really isn't a whole lot of strategy to a 7 minute amrap.

SO lets talk strategy:

For the Clean and Jerk, just like 13.1, you aren't going to fix your form in the next 2 hours.  So do what you can to get that particular weight overhead during the workout.  For those of you who can, I highly recommend doing triples.  I did 3 and 6 unbroken, then did triples the rest of the workout.  I felt like I could have easily done the round of 18 with this pace.  Do three, drop the bar, take a deep breath, then get right back on the bar.

If you cannot do doubles or triples, singles are still pretty fast in the workout, JUST KEEP MOVING.  IF you drop the bar every rep you must get right back on the bar.  Sorry, no rest for you today.

This is the most important suggestion I have for you: USE THE HOOK GRIP. and don't let it go during the jerk so you don't have to reset it every rep.  Tape your thumb and use it.  It will save your grip.  Watch the video.  I guess it shows you how to tape.  I haven't watched it.  Let me know if it is any good.

That is about it for C&J.  Find a set you can do indefinitely.  If it is singles, do it, but use your hook grip because I found out the hard way the t2b is gonna take away your grip strength.

My last set of 15 t2b I had to do singles because I was literally slipping off the bar during each rep.  If I could have gotten through the T2B any faster, I had several c&j left in me.  Grip was my only deciding factor in getting my 90 reps versus what I wanted (100 reps).  So again, on the c&j use your hook grip, and hang on for dear life.  Finally if you are resting, you are wasting too much time.  It is only 7 minutes.

Now if you'll excuse me I am gonna go find out if Christine and I are having a baby girl or a boy.  Any predictions?

Some thoughts on 13.3 and Weightlifting

Hello there weightlifters.  These here are exciting times for those of us under the barbell.  I think that the inaugural "weightlifting/strength" class was pretty successful.  I saw a lot of form improvement, and even some heavy weights get thrown around.  Most important (and this includes my normal crossfit classes through out the week) I have seen a LOT of good squats.  Perhaps it was my slightly soap boxy rant a while back, but the form on squats has improved exponentially over the last few weeks.  You all have made a coach proud.

However, that is no excuse to sit back and be satisfied with your form and or strength.  There is always improvements to be made.

I even had a personal victory messing around after my workout on Wednesday with a pr clean of 143 kg (315#). Here is a video for proof. (facebook).  You might want to skip ahead to 1 minute.  There is a lot of dilly dallying and I didn't have access to a video editor at the fire station.

So for anyone on the fence, come give Saturday strength class a try.  Remember if you aren't getting better, the guys/gals in class are, and will be passing you very soon.

Onto your crossfit WOD 13.3 -

Several of you said you liked my thoughts on 13.1 so I thought I would talk a little more strategy for 13.3.  Much of the information is the same as 13.1 but here you go anyways.

Wall Balls -

Crossfit HQ likes to give you something that will redline your heart right off the bat.  13.1 was burpees, 13.2 was sh*t tons of box jumps, 13.3 is Wall Balls.  For those of you going for muscle ups at the end, pacing is important here.  Most people like to bang out the biggest set of wall balls they can each time they pick up the ball.  I would argue this is a mistake.  That is a great way to get your lactic "pump" on and not be able to use your legs/lungs for the rest of the WOD.  Pick a set that you can do and then rest for a given time, then do that set again, then rest for the given time, rinse and repeat.

For example I plan on doing 7 sets of 20 and one set of 10 with exactly 10 seconds in between sets.  I have timed my wall balls and barring any missed wall ball attempts, this should put me in the 6 minute range to finish Karen.

Whatever pace you plan on, it isn't as important as your FORM.  The reason this workout is genius  is if you are the type to use your quads and arms to do the wall balls, you will be absolutely smoked for double unders (quads/calf) and muscle ups (shoulders/abs).  If you do the wall balls with perfect form, your butt/hamstrings will hurt, but the other muscle chains needed for the DU/MU will be fresh as daisies (well, maybe fresh as dandelions).  Lets review wall ball form:

Metallica: F*ck Yeah

So this guy is committing a few errors on his wall balls.  They aren't blatant.  I wouldn't call them bad, but they are going to really hurt him in this workout.  First off NO REP!  Get low enough.  Come on, is this your first day?  Number two, and this is the big one.  He very slightly shifts his weight forward as he is about to throw.  This is going to fry his quads for his double unders. 

You must get your knees and femurs pointed outside the feet, and you must squat using the adductors(groin) and glutes (i like big butts I cannot lie).  This will allow the heel to stay planted and you to minimally use the quads for wall balls.  

Now watch Kahlipa's wall balls.  The lower he squats, the wider his knees get.  I bet his butt is burning (alliteration ftw) at the end, but his calves and quads are ready for work.  There is a reason he is always in the top ten in the world and Metallica kid up there had to disable comments on his video.  It has to do with awesome form (and brutal strength and conditioning).  

So if you take nothing else from this, remember knees out!

Next Double Unders:

Molly M from Jump n Rope had this to say about the double unders.  She is better than both you and me at double unders, so take her advice (thanks Julia Bandel):

"Moving along with 13.3. I am not the expert on wall balls, however I am expert on double unders. So if you want to save your breath AND your shoulders for your MU’s then please keep reading.! 

Relax! Take a deep breath and remember these few small tips before tackling those 90 double unders. In fact, remember these tips for the rest of your life. 

1. Consistency! Ask yourself, “what is my average consecutive double under number?”. The key word is average, not personal best. For this example let’s say it is 5. Set yourself up to get your 5 consistent consecutive double unders in a row, then rest for 3 seconds and go again. 13.3 isn’t a time to get a new PR and risk the chance of frustration and fatigue. This is a time to get to your happy place, then breath, and then get right back on track… next thing you know you will have done 90 double unders!

2. What are you looking at? Seriously, why do we all insist on looking at the ceiling when we do our double unders? Please remember to keep your gaze in one spot, preferably at the horizon (aka sunrise/sunset or just below) That head likes to drift up, causing tension in the shoulders and an opening in the arms. 

3. Let your feet hang! When you are bounding there is no need to raise your knees, kick your toes up and strain in any which way or another. That is just another source of unnecessary added effort. Give yourself some hang time in the air, it isn’t a race. Oh, PS: please try to land in the same spot each time. Don’t be “that” guy or girl jumping all over the gym..and if you do move, move forward, gaze down..

4. You just got done with 150 wall balls, why would you even think about using your arms/shoulders? Ok, seriously, CF-HQ is SMART when it comes to programming, combining 150 grueling wall balls with 90 double unders can only ruin our bounds and fatigue our shoulders making for a miserable time, right? Wrong! You are going to think like a SMART and efficient jumper and follow these 3 simple tips

--Keep your hands near your hips – don’t let them drift away, or let lose sight of them behind your body!

--Keep your elbows bent! The straighter your arms become, the more arms and shoulders we tend to use. DO NOT Pin your elbows to your chest, give them some room to breath, try kicking them back behind allowing those shoulders to open up and breath! 

--Drive your energy and focus into your thumbs and wrists. That is where true jump rope efficiency lives. Your arms/shoulders will be tired anyways, what a great time to give them a break and let your thumbs do the work.

5. Rope Size and Back ups! PLEASE check your rope size and make sure it is the correct length. Any rope that you stand on with 2-feet at a time and the ends of the handles come up past your armpits is probably TOO LONG! Or you love jumping rope inefficiently and burning your arms and shoulders out, fine then use a long rope. Lastly, every jump rope, no matter who made it, is a MOVING part! It does wear and tear, that is the fact of life. Have a back up rope nearby OR double check your rope before you compete in 13.3 to ensure it is in tip-top shape! 

I will be doing 13.3 tomorrow and will keep you posted on my status and any forward thoughts that I can share with you all.
Good Luck, have fun and keep jumping!"

Finally, time for Muscle ups:

Uh......... You are on your own here.  Seriously, if you have good tips for banging out lots of muscle ups after that much work, feel free to comment or email me and let me know.  I will be figuring it out right along side the rest of you guys.  

Good luck everyone and have fun!.

Crossfit 13.1 strategy and tactics

Hey everyone, I am kind of breaking a rule of mine today.  I originally wanted this blog to only be about the barbell and all that goes along with it.  Today I am talking about a crossfit "Wod".  It does have lots (and lots and lots) of barbell work in the Wod, so I guess I am not really breaking any rules.  But this Wod will only make you mentally stronger, not physically, so keep that in mind if you are reading this blog to get super awesome and strong.  Today is not that day.

So, onto the Crossfit Open 13.1:
This WOD as all of you know by now consists of Burpees and Snatches with a descending burpees ladder and an ascending snatch weight ladder. 

40 burpees
30 75# snatch
30 Burpees
30 135# Snatch
20 Burpees
30 165# Snatch
10 Burpees
AMRAP 210# Snatch

If you have done any large amount of burpees, your lungs hurt just reading that rep scheme.  But lets get over our initial fear of the large numbers in front of us and break this work out down into doable chunks.  By the end of this strategy guide we don't want to be afraid of the workout, but look forward to testing our abilities.

Step one: Find your pace

If you have taken a class that I am coaching, you have probably heard me say "find your pace".  One thing competition has taught me is that it is not about how hard you start, but hard consistant you can perform through the workout. 
If you come out the gates and try to bang out 40 burpees in 1:30 to save you time in the snatches, your heart will not forgive you through the rest of the work out.  A good visual for me is to not push yourself into the "redline" right off the bat.  When you hit this physical limit, you will not be able to perform at a good pace for the rest of the wod.  You must find a pace that you can keep for all 40 burpees.  If you can do 1 burpee every 4 seconds and do that for the whole 40, you will be in a FAR better position than if you hit 10 as fast as you can, then rest for 20 seconds, then hit 10 more, then rest, etc....
The same goes for the 75# snatches.  It will be very easy to hit your redline moving this relatively light weight too fast right off the bat. 
So Find you pace and don't be in a hurry through the first part of this wod.  The same advice goes for all the burpees in the wod.  I have actually seen people set metronomes so on different ticks they should be performing different parts of the movement. 

Step two: The snatch (biting off more than you can chew)

The snatch is not something you can get better at by reading this blog today.  It takes practice and practice, and more practice.  So don't worry so much about your form today.  It is too late for that.  What you can worry about is how many snatches you can perform at the different weights at any one time.  Just like finding your pace, you msut know where your physical limit is when "linking" snatches together (touch and go).

You might be able to do 75# unbroken, but will your forearms and back allow to do continue the wod after that?  It might be better to do 10 reps, plan on 5 seconds of rest, 10 more, 5 seconds, 10 more.  Then you will have some left in the tank for 30 more (properly paced) burpees and on to the 135# snatches.  If your plan is to do singles from here on out, do one, drop and get right back on the bar.  No rest.  Only the pace that you can maintain.  If you can link them, keep the same strategy.  Link as many as you can reasonably do, then plan on your rest time too.  I personally hope to link 3 -5 at a time here.  We will see how that plan goes once we are in the thick of it. 

The point is, just because you can, doesn't mean you should.  Unless you are in the last 3-5 minutes of the wod, you should be holding a little something in the tank.  Remember, don't hit your redline.

Step Three: Hit your redline

This is a competitive workout.  You aren't gonna get stronger or better today.  This is a test.  So you want to have nothing left when you are done.  Well for the last 14 minutes you paced yourself beautifully and you are on the home stretch.  It is time to hit the "redline".  For the last 3-5 minutes you should be on the verge of out of control.  If you kept this pace for 6 minutes, you would pass out.... but you timed it for the last 3-5 minutes.  Time to go balls to the wall and go for broke.  When you are done and everyone is cheering your effort, you should be like will ferrell. "What happened, I blacked out?"

Step 4: Relax, or how I learned to stop worrying and love the WOD

For most of you this is your first competition.  If something goes horribly wrong, don't worry about it.  It is just another workout.  Have some fun, and cheer on the heats before and after you.  Then after tonight get back to your barbell work, because you can be good at lifting and not be good at crossfit, but you cannot be good at crossfit if you are not a good lifter. 

Last here is an awesome video of last years snatch workout:

Challenge Accepted.

I am going to challenge you right now.  I might offend you at some point while you read this, but I feel like it needs to be said.  If you are getting offended by this, you are probably the type of person I am trying to get through to.  If you aren't offended by this, you probably don't realize how bad you are at exercise.

Lets start with the basics.  You can't squat:

I can say this with confidence because a solid 90% of the people I work with do not have an acceptable squat.   When you first start at a gym it is okay to not have a good squat.  In fact it is okay to have a horrible squat.  That is why you are going to a new gym, to fix your old bad habits.  You will see someone with good form and want to be able to do that one day.  Over a period of several weeks or even months, you will slowly but surely become more and more flexible.  You will become stronger.  You will do everything it takes to put your body in that full deep squat position.  And eventually your hard work will pay off.  You can sit there with your chest held high, your knees outside of your feet, and your heels firmly planted on the ground.....

At least that is how it is supposed to be.  In reality most of you keep showing up for months and months and in some cases years and don't put in the work to actually achieve a good squat position.  People tell me all the time they can't squat correctly because of this or that.  But they actually haven't put in a single minute towards mobility/stretching/squatting.  They haven't tried to even sit in a chair with their spine in a good neutral position.  Go ahead right now and sit up in the chair you are reading this from with good posture.  I'll wait.  It was hard wasn't it?  This should be a natural position and you probably can't even sit like that for more than 1 minute.  This is a problem that needs to be fixed.  So fix it..... today.... start now..... Go to www.Mobilitywod.com a start from episode one and work your way back.  You can't just want to do it.  You have to actually put some work in.  Just because you show up to a CrossFit gym some some regularity and beat the shit out of your body doesn't mean it will make your squat form acceptable. 

The Solution: You have to consciously make an effort to Increase your proper range of motion.  If you can't squat past a certain point without rounding your back, do not go below that point.  Find the muscle that is stopping you from squatting and work on mobilizing it.    It will be uncomfortable.  I don't care.  Do it.  Muscles are much stronger than joints/tendons/ligaments.  If you don't loosen up the muscle, then the joint is having to support loads in awkward ways.  This is where injury comes from.  Crossfit isn't dangerous.  Moving incorrectly is.

I bet this guy complains to his coach that cleans make his wrists hurt.  But is isn't his fault.

Next, The gym warriors:

I know that part of the big draw to crossfit is the competitive nature.  Our ancestors had to fight to pass their genes on and now crossfit offers us an outlet to feel like we are competing.  It satisfies a primal urge.  I know this.  I have felt it.  There isn't a better way to motivate someone than seeing a peer ahead of you in a WOD. 
This motivation however comes with a price.  In that desperate moment when you are about to lose, you start cheating Range of Motion (ROM), or you might fudge one or two reps (after all what is the difference between 29 and 30 reps), or you might push your body past the point where it is safe to continue working out. 
For some reason we think we are all elite athletes. We are not.  You are not.  Let me say that again in case you didn't quite get it.  You are not an elite athlete.  Your job is not to push your body past what is thought to be possible. You joined crossfit because you wanted a better body, a healthy life, and a more capable body and mind.  There is NO advantage to pushing yourself into an injury and far far worse pushing yourself through an injury.  An injury will only set your progress back.  It will discourage you.  It can be a very frustrating experience.  You must do every rep with proper body mechanics.  EVERY SINGLE WORKOUT.  EVERY SINGLE REP.  If you can't complete the workout with proper form, the weight is too heavy.  You must swallow your pride and do the workout with proper form and full ROM.  No exceptions.  I personally have much more respect for the man that squats 95# with perfect form through a work out than someone who half squats 135# for the duration.  Your back has much more respect for you too. 



If only most of you realized this is not an exaggerated picture of how you squat.

 If you want to become a better, stronger, more healthy athlete, you must have proper mechanics, must have full range of motion, you MUST TAKE REST DAYS, and you must eat a lot of quality foods and drink more water than you thought possible.  Many times we forget to take rest days.  These are far more important than we give credit for.  You will not lose any strength or cardio gains if you take 2 or 3 days off in a row.  I promise.  In fact most of the times you will come back stronger. You spent 3 days beating yourself into the ground, please take at least 24 hours to let the muscles build themselves back up.  Please take rest days seriously. 

I had more that I want to talk about but this is getting long and standing on a soap box gets tiring.  I'm not sorry if you took any of this personally.  I don't have any single person in mind.  I have just noticed some trends lately in the gym and this is me trying to kick you back in the right direction.  The points I want you to take home are:
-Spend some time specifically making yourself better at air squats.  If you can't squat you can't do 85% of the crossfit movements properly.

- If you push your body to the point of hurting yourself doing this, you are forgetting why you started this program in the first place (also you have bad form.  Good mechaincs doesn't hurt people).

-Nobody cares what your whiteboard time was, if you have to take an extra 2 minutes on the WOD to get full ROM on every rep, then do it.  It will make you exponentially better in the long run.

-Take rest days seriously.  There is no such thing as "active rest".  Running/swimming/rowing are working out.  They are not to be done on rest days.  You CAN mobilize on rest days.

I think that is all. 

JT