Tuesday, June 21, 2016

June 20, 2016

Our first Skulls Throwdown will be Saturday, July 9th from 11am to ~2pm. It will be a bit longer and MORE than many of you traditional Skull enthusiasts remember. I will be posting programming ahead of time, and athletes on the bubble of the requirements can inquire with me about coming/scaling, etc. July 30th will be our second, and I would like to look at some sort of a social gathering afterwards for those who are interested...trying to get to the pool more often, or a movie if the weather is shitty. July 30th - new Star Trek, July 9th - new Independence Day as options. I have done a lot of thinking on this and am excited to have this as more of an event, that we can work together to make something special. Rather than something "obligated" each week that became less special and almost a hassle at times. Getting back to our ROOTS!  

Without further ado - This week's blog post:

  http://johnwelbourn.powerathletehq.com/2013/02/26/42-things-i-learned-leading-up-to-2013/

http://www.oldtimestrongman.com/strength-articles/iron-henry-rollins

Here are a couple of my favorite reads that get after understanding your why, understanding your passion and having a voice in your soul strong enough to understand your own values. When I first went down to the Tomb my head trainer made us sit down and write down values we thought we had. He then read them and said that he was going to test us in these values every day, until he left. This was an exercise that I continued on when I became the head trainer and here are a few things I learned:
1. The people who put too many words or too many values, always failed all of them within the first week. They didn't even understand what "values" meant.
2. Those who put what they wanted the trainers to hear, always failed every test. This exercise wasn't about pleasing us, it was about understanding who you are. 
3. You could tell in 2 seconds who did this 5 minutes before I asked for it and scribbled it on a piece of paper. Slackers, procrastinators and those always looking for the "quick hack" will never succeed.

Each year I read and re-read the same articles, blogs, books & watch my favorite CF videos over again. I think hard about my values and how far I have come with them...and how much work I still have left to do. The reason I speak on this now is that if you don't have a firm list of the things you want to stand for in your life, then you cannot find your purpose in your endeavors...be it work or social. I keep my list prioritized in an order that allows me to keep my focus and I encourage you to write down 3. Only 3, do not add to the list until you feel you can go 3 months, 6 months or a year without any lapses in them. 

Competition is fun for me, it forces me to be the best human I can be - makes me wake up early, go to bed early, eat well and lead a disciplined lifestyle. It is in line with my values (hard work, discipline being two of my first 3) and understanding that I need to be pushing myself to keep my life in line with my values gives me purpose in my training. Because of this, tangible goals inside of CF don't mean much to me...I don't care about PR'ing lifts, setting better times, etc...I care about the process driving me to push my own limits and do what is right in my life. In that it removes the cares of ego, or comparison to others/numbers...it is simply if I felt good about my effort in every part of every day. 

Often times individuals will get into competition because it's what they think the coach, or their social circle in the gym or other competitors want to hear.  Often times they will set goals on lifts or work on nutrition for competition when those might not be in line with their life values. As a coach and gym owner this is one of my driving purposes...to not only help you accomplish your goals in the gym, but provide the purpose and help you see the value behind those goals. In this respect it has always been easier for parents and those with families and firm roots established. The more things they have in their life to keep things in perspective, the more relevant these virtues become in their lives. I was blessed to have that opportunity doing funerals in Arlington and guarding the Tomb, few things will put life into perspective better than being around grieving families of those who lost their life in the line of duty. To this day it has made many of the petty squabbles in the gym community seem so relatively unimportant. If you have nothing in your life providing these perspectives I definitely encourage you to involve yourself with veterans, at children's hospitals or rehabilitation clinics. There are so many things that we can offer our community to help, exercise and nutrition give people the gift of health and happiness. Everyone in the world from sick children to the richest CEO's in the world need health and happiness. We speak the universal language. Get out there and share your gifts, establish your personal values and establish habits that allows you to flourish in a purpose driven lifestyle. 

Challenge workout: 
Kalsu:
100 Thrusters for time (135/95)
*EMOM 5 Burpees*
**Cap at 20minutes, score is reps at 20mins or time**
I'll leave this up for 10 days since Validus is this weekend. This is commonly regarded as the most difficult CF workout ever written. Amanda is regarded as one of the highest skill requirements to achieve to complete the workout. So we're starting off with a bang on these. Last week's winner was Jesse Ramirez, he has won a free month into a Gymnastics Club or Barbell Club in July!  




Sunday, June 12, 2016

June 13-June 20

I have decided to keep the blog around for my own writings on CrossFit, trends, thoughts, comments, etc. I used to write a lot when the gym first started and always had a passion for it - It is where this blog began. Then I'd post a challenge workout with my post, or the skulls workout ahead of time, etc. and it grew from there. The challenge workouts were fun, and I think I'll bring those back along with my weekly writing. 

Every off-season beginning I find it important to go back and read Greg Glassman's original CrossFit documents on the CFJ. For many of you the CFJ is before your time - but once upon a time, before any of these exhaustive sources of information was available - that was it. I used to be proud to have read every article ever written on it, memorized every video, every workout on it, etc. etc. It fell off after awhile (as did my readership), and writers for the Journal began starting their own websites, progressions, and areas of expertise with more and more information in them. (K-Star being one of the first & most notable). "Foundations" and "What is Fitness?" ( http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ_Trial_04_2012.pdf ) are some of the most important, well-thought out and influential documents ever written in the health and fitness industry. If you plan to compete or if you just plan to be a recreational CrossFitter / athlete, you should read, understand and re-read these documents every year. They will take on more value the more you learn about yourself and the sport. How many of you know the metabolic pathways you hit each week, how many of you have learned or played a new sport in the past year, past 5 years? How many of you know the 10 general physical skills and put work in on each of them every day? How many of you have made dedicated efforts to get out of the gym and involve others in a fitness related adventure (hiking, climbing, shooting, camping, swimming, canoe'ing, etc.)? This is understanding THE why...next week I'll talk about understanding YOUR why. 

All of these are extremely important parts to finding health.  Health isn't defined by your Snatch or Squat max, health isn't defined by your 5k row, or your Fran. True health is having balance, both in the gym and in fitness, but also in your mind, in stress management, sleep, adventure, relationships and quality of life. If you have true health, you will be far more likely to find elite fitness and if you don't (find elite fitness) you have a happy and fulfilling, long-lasting pain free life full of relationships and happiness waiting for you. This week I was able to go to the pool, spend leisure time with friends, enjoy a steak and wine dinner with friends that's been overdue for years, spend time with my family and training my mom to be healthier, build a better relationship and a better business. All of these things suffered when I got too far down the rabbit hole of competing, and I would caution everyone against that. We are not and will not be Rich Fronings...none of us will likely ever make a life or a living off of this sport -- so best to know your why's, get to work, then get to the fun!  Take some time this week, go to http://journal.crossfit.com/2002/04/ and do some reading, educate yourself and if you want to - post to comments what you learned or thought was interesting. 

Challenge workout:
"Amanda"
9-7-5:
Muscle-Up
Squat Snatch (135/95)
*Video this and submit top times/videos to Youtube then link in the comments - I'll pick some winners based on best efforts and give out some prizes*
Get this and read it if you can, its like $7 on Amazon.

Sunday, June 5, 2016

June 6-June 11

Week 10:
As many of you may have heard, the blog is in it's final 2 weeks of existence. After Regionals I knew that I had to do some harsh analytics on the gym & it's priorities, what I needed to switch as Jay/KJ phase out, as well as my time and what I could afford to do and what I could not. This previous week I did nothing in the way of working out, instead I took meetings with every coach, athlete and member of 5+ years that could/would as well as my main advisors. Unfortunately with my programming load taking on 4-5 separate programs at a time, as well as my time coaching being mainly spent on classes, I was left with little time to work with developmental athletes, specialty athletes, or build personal relationships with new members. I find this situation unacceptable.

A lot in the way of the gym's mechanics will shift and change, and with that shift the blog & extra work will shift with it. We will finish out the next two weeks and then have a small off-period which will work well with slightly less volume before Validus - then shift into the new style. Since I am taking over Barbell Club I saw this as a major opportunity for me to program strength work for the extra work group that is mainly focused on strength, and get a chance to dedicate an hour of my (already scheduled) time to their improvement. Therefore if you were doing the RS group and would like to continue on that path, you can join Barbell Club starting in July. Along those same lines I have asked Jenny to completely take over the Gymnastics programming, re-start the Gymnastics club and dedicate an hour of her time to the betterment of everyone's gymnastics. Right now our plan is to run Gymnastics at 5:30pm Monday/Wednesday, Barbell Club at 6:30pm Mon/Wed, and both at 9am on Saturday. Class will still be your base and honestly I want everyone to take a step back from their extra work to give class more serious attention. I have not seen the intensity and the push I need to see in class from this group, the warm-ups I wanted to see out of everyone have fallen off, and it seems that the extra work has been the focus - when it is meant to be an accessory to build weaknesses.  We are also looking into a group Endurance program / Aerobic Capacity Tuesdays & maybe Fridays - but this will be down the road a bit. 

On the whole the auxiliary area will have a firm schedule, with the priority being specialty classes, kids, and personal training. Gone are the days of personal training going on and extra work being done, unless you individually get with the coach of that training ahead of time and get an okay for you (not a group). We need to do what is best for the business right now so that you all have a space and a gym to continue to use and call home and with me owning and running it -- all of this is approaching a sustainable build for that, the coaches and everyone involved, unfortunately the path we are on now is not accomplishing those goals. My hope is that the people who are serious and focused on improving take part in the Barbell Club / Gymnastics Club and see greater improvement with the addition of hands on coaching for every piece of extra work. My hope is also that with less days of extra work you will have a more focused intention in your warm-ups and on class workouts. 

Lastly - I hope that you all can use Sunday's or Saturday afternoons as a chance to get out of the gym to hang out, workout, organize hiking outings, paintball, pick up volleyball/football/basketball games, go golfing, frisbee golfing, see movies, go to bars/restaurants, create long-lasting friendships that go beyond our walls & use your fitness in building those relationships. That will be a major focus of mine this year, it is something I walked away from years ago to build myself and my gym's competitors, and something that is sorely missing in my life right now that I want to get back -- But I want it to be organic, not forced or created by me. 
For those of you who have known me for awhile you know that everything uttered in the gym comes back to me. I know there has been clamoring for Skulls / Championship Sunday - a desire to get that Throwdown feel back. And we WILL do those, but they will be special, they will be an occasion, and they will be better because of it. I hope you all can respect my hopes to build a better business and a better life for myself, Maria and Blitz without me at the gym for 22 hours every weekend and will trust that I still have your best interest in mind and will still work my tail off to provide you the tools for you to accomplish what I KNOW WILL make you a better athlete. 

Monday, June 6th - D-Day:
I want you to take tomorrow as an opportunity to refocus your energy, channel your intensity and come in with a purpose. Have an intentioned warm-up, with a goal and a purpose to improve yourself. Attack the squats, and go a true 100% in the workout - WANT the pain that it will provide you - and leave absolutely nothing left. Go home satisfied knowing that you gave everything and got better...see if you can do that. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT3q8tba_lw

Tuesday, June 7th

Class:
1) Pull-up/pulling work
2) Core/Ab work

Extra:
Everyone:
1) Snatch:
EMOM15:
Begin at 50%, build every minute until 1 failure. If you fail once, drop 5lbs and continue the rest of the 15mins at that weight. 

2a) 5x3 Snatch Grip Push-Press (Goal is 80% of best weight from #1)
2b) 5x3 OHS (same weight from a)

Wednesday, June 8th
Class:
1) Clean work
2) Classic Triplet MetCon

Extra:
NOT FOR TIME!
20-15-10:
Strict Ring Dips
False-Grip Ring Rows
*The entire goal of this is to move slowly, methodically, with a perfect hollow body position and full range of motion. For some of you that will mean doing one rep at a time, and this could take 20-30 minutes. That means you need it most, put in the perfect work with perfect reps & get better. 

Friday, June 10th
Class:
1) Squat/Pull-up workout
2) Atlas Stone/Rope Climb accessory work

Extra:
Everyone:
Front Squats:
3x8 @ 75%
1x10 @ 70%