I have been attending CrossFit workouts with Roger and Andres now for nearly a year. I am impressed with their coaching skill, knowledge and their incredible attitudes of encouragement. I just turne... - Bill Livingston Read more
Yersterday, Thursday March 12th, we did “Heavy Grace” for the workout of the day at CFM. Many of you are familiar with “Grace”, which is 30 clean and jerks, or “Ground to Overhead any way, any how” for time. “Heavy Squat Grace”, or the 2008 day 2 WOD, is similar except you have to do a squat clean for every single rep, or if you power-clean it, you then have to perform a front squat in order to get credit for the clean. Also, the Rx’d weight is 155lbs for the men and 105 lbs for the women. Roger, myself and Blair did 2nd day workout at the 2008 CrossFit Games. It was hard. Especially after the three workouts from day 1. My time that day, if I recall correctly, was 11:32. I even missed a couple of reps. Here are a couple of the most famous performances from that day:
Jason Khalipa, the Lion Hearted, (actually, there is genetic evidence that he is a hybrid of an ox and a silver-back Gorilla) is about a minute behind Spealer, the day 1 leader, and has the hopper dice roll in his favor. Performs the workout in under 3 minutes and not only beats Spealler, but also Josh Everett to take the crown as the “Fittest Man On Earth”.
Notice that Jason did not do clean and jerks. He did touch and go for a couple of reps but decided to thruster the weight after the front squat. Why not? If you have enough power, this is much more efficient. The idea is that you are still performing the “work”, that is, displacing a mass over a vertical distance, so you don’t neccessarily have to clean and jerk it, (which is, by the way, more “work”, since the bar doesn’t travel continuously from the ground to over head, but actually goes back down a bit, not once, but twice on the jerk before it ends up overhead) you can also push-press it, or thruster it, or shoulder press it (if you’re insane).
Here is our buddy, Connor Martin, (the other kid that I hate almost as much as I hate Gabe, because he has the life I want), hitting Heavy Grace when he was 16 years old. You can hear Jeff and Micki Martin giving him encouragement and coaching cuesthroughout the workout. Former Kansas City Chief lineman John Welborn makes it look entirely different in the background.
One of my claim to fames from the 2008 CF games is that I beat the 16 year old. =) But just barely. I also beat the John Welborn, who I had the pleasure to meet and was impressed with what a pleasant and approachable fellow he seems to be. It’s kind of hard to do 45 chest to bar pull-ups and run those Aromas hills when you’re 310 lbs. He made up like 7 minutes on my time on that last workout. It was ridiculous. It’s interesting to note that Connor, myself, and John were really close in the standings and we have drastically different body types. Connor is smaller, I’m medium, and John is BIG, yet the balance in CrossFit workouts makes it such that we can compete effectively against each other in a fitness competition. I’m still waiting for the day when Connor and Gabe go head to head on a workout, prefferably at the Games. Maybe at the Affiliate Cup this year? Gabe is actually a year younger than Connor. I think the later would have the edge. He’s had more CrossFit training. If only Gabe didn’t have so many other activities and could show up to CF practice consistently! Gabe won’t make it to the Nor-Cal Sectionals because he’s at nationals for skiing. Connor is an aspiring mixed martial artist. Make sure not to pick a fight with that kid!
I couldn’t find it on Youtube, but be sure to check out Kallista Pappa’s performance of Heavy Grace from the 2008 Games as well on CrossFit.com.
Optional Skill Training Nights at CrossFit Marin is where the real party is on Friday Nights. You can come in and work on whatever you want, be it CrossFit, Gymnastics, Parkour, Self-Defense, or just goof off and hang out with friends. OSTN is the creative time at CFM. We get traceurs and traceuses from all over the Bay Area, as well as our CrossFit regulars. Come in and practice your skills and try new stuff. Bring some friends. The in house athletes are ususally willing to help you with your form and exchange coaching tips. It isn’t a structured class, so ultimately it is up to you to keep things safe. Carlos Echandy who is on the regular OSTN schedule will help you with your Olympic lifts or your muscle-ups while there is usually at least one gymnastics or parkour coach hanging out on the mats training and giving other people pointers. The cost is currently only $7 for drop-in. We will be raising it to $8 as of April. (Blame inflation, and my desire to be pay at least one of my coaches to staff the thing.) Unlimited members are free. So bring a friend over and make at least the first half of your Friday Night fun and guiltless. That way, if you round up some of the CFM crew to go shoot some pool and grab a beer at “The Deuce” afterwards, you won’t feel quite as guilty. Or maybe you’ll want to go grab some great Puerto Rican food at “Sol Food“ after your workout instead.
Additional Class Announcements:
On another topic, we are adding two new kids gymnastics classes. There will now be a kid’s gymnastics class (6-12y/o) from 6-7pm on Tuesdays & Thursdays starting March 16th, so now you moms and dads can come in to the 6pm CrossFit and drop off some Grommits in the gym class. The Gremilin himself, Russell Bruel, will be the regularly scheduled coach.
After a two year loan to the United States , Michelangelo’ s David is being returned to Italy .
David After Two Years In The US
His Proud Sponsors were:
Unfortunately this isn’t a terribly inaccurate view of what often happens. Living in the US is a constant barrage of stuff that can seriously derail your health and fitness. We’re also gradually infecting the rest of the world. Note that the true David is lean, well muscled but nothing like a bodybuilder. He’s built like a collegiate athlete. This build has epitomized beauty for a very long time. Looking at the female statues of the time you do not see waif thin women either. Why is it that our culture has difficulty with natural healthy beauty? Ah well, we can just wallow and head the route of the US afflicted David.
Here’s something important to remember: these workouts are designed to challenge elite athletes. So, most of us are going to have to scale. This is especially true of the things that we know we’re not good at, our “goats.” Scaling allows us to get through the workout, but we won’t see progress unless we’re honest about how much we scale.
Now, I doubt that people are being dishonest and maliciously lying about the level of scaling they need. But I know that most people can’t tell you what box they stand on when they do jumping pull-ups, or what scaling they use for handstand push-ups. And a lot of people don’t know their one-rep maxes for the major lifts. These are important things to know because they will help you be consistent with your scaling and allow you to track your progress. As you become better at the movement, you need to be honest and start cutting back on the scaling. Remember, it should be hard!
This goes for you monsters, too. If something is too easy for you, put on a weight vest, or use a weight that is heavier than prescribed. Check with your trainer on the level of scaling, but keep in mind that we can’t remember everybody’s lifts or what scaling everybody should use. We can teach you how to move and help motivate you, but you need to be responsible for knowing what you’re honestly capable of. A notebook or a workout journal is a really good idea.
How often do you hear “Early arm bend” in our gym? This is an exceedingly common mistake in the olympic lifts. We are so used to lifting things with our arms that it takes a lot of practice to stop trying to pull the bar up with our arms. In the second pull of an olympic lift we are trying to transfer force application from our hips to the bar. If our arms are bent during this phase we drastically reduce the amount of force we can apply to the bar. Essentially once your arms bend the maximal force you can now apply is whatever load you can hold standing there with bent arms. I can assure you, it is a LOT lower than what you can hold standing there with straight arms.
This concept of force transfer applies to a lot of other movements as well. For our gymnastics movements this is where “keeping tight” comes into play. If you are actively contracting stabilizing muscles throughout your body force will more effectively be transferred from one part of your body to the other. Any piece that wiggles dissipates energy. This results in a skill either being significantly more difficult, or failing the skill altogether.
These flaws in mechanics tend to occur more frequently when we are fatigued. Unfortunately this results in the rapid degradation of power output during a workout. As you fatigue, you allow more inefficiency to enter your movements, making each repetition more difficult, accelerating the fatigue rate, leading to worse and worse mechanics. This is where getting it solidly in your mind that you must perform each repetition of any skill as well as you can every time. This doesn’t mean it is going to be perfect each time, it just means that you will put everything you have into performing the movement as well as you can at that time. It is a mind set and will result in better performance in every workout, as well as faster progress because you are training yourself to execute at a higher degree of competence frequently.
A quick post is the theme of the evening. Got family to be with tonight.
As Andres posted there was a throwdown in the east bay hosted by CrossFit East Bay. Russ and I went out to do the workout and meet some folks. It was pretty last minute. We are going to get more involved in these things in the future, as well as hosting them.
The workout
40 minutes to do:
30 Burpees
30 Chest to bar pullups
30 Deadlift (275/185lbs)
6.2km run
As many burpees as you can
The run was awful after the deadlifts. Hamstrings were completely shot. Just completing the run was quite an accomplishment.
Top 5 finishers in the first workout went on to do the second.
AMRAP 10 minutes. All with 135/95 lbs
5 Deadlift
4 Hang clean
3 Thruster
2 Front Squat
1 Push Press/push jerk
By the way, once you start the first deadlift you can not put down the bar until after the push press or the entire round does not count…
The photo is of Nick from Diablo CrossFit. I’ve known Nick for a while. He came by a year ago in the lead up to the CF Games because he needed to get his muscle up. He learned it in about 10 minutes in our gym. This is an excellent segue into the gymnastics seminars next Saturday. Be sure to check them out in the events:
Tomorrow there will be an affiliate throwdown in preparation for the Northern California Sectionals at CrossFit East Bay. They have two locations, both in the East Bay Touchstone climbing gyms. The throwdown will be that the GWPC location at 520 20th Street, Oakland Ca. It will take place from 10am-2pm, and if I understand correctly, there will be a bit of a rock climbing party afterwards. I wouldn’t miss it for the world, unless, of course, I had to work a Birthday Party at CFM during that time, which I do. You guys should try to make it over and participate, or at least cheer on the CFM’ers who are participating and get all amped up for the CF Games. It would be a great experience. Here’s a little video of the CF Games sectionals that already took place in the Mid West:
On another note there will be a women’s parkour mini-jam at OSTN tonight from 7-9pm hosted by Jodie Rodriguez and Marisa Lee. Come in, have fun, and pick up some new moves. Here’s a video of Jodie busting out at some of her favorite parkour digs:
Now, how can life be boring when you’re a member of CrossFit Marin??!
Ok, so this morning after Russ ran the Wed 9am “Gobble-Gobble” class through the ropes of the Filthy Fifty, Debbie approaches me while I’m at my desk doing some computer work with this very strange, slightly disturbing look on her face.
“I have a great idea.” I’m a little bit apprehensive and give her an inquiring look.
“We should do the same workout again tomorrow.” She pauses. ” Or maybe Fight Gone Bad- nah, the same workout again!”
“You mean like an early April Fool’s joke of sorts?”, I reply. “That’s a good idea.”, I say, smiling.
“Nah- for reals. We’ll do it. We’re a bunch of sick puppies, you know.”
I stare at her in disbelief. I think that she has to be joking, but she’s not. The look in her eyes suddenly shoots a sliver of fear through my heart. I suddenly realize, this woman is crazy. This CrossFit Marin mom just finished the Filthy Fifty. That’s 500 reps of Box Jumps, jumping pull-ups, kettle bell swings, lunge walks, knees-2-Elbows, push press, back extensions, wall ball, burpees, and double unders. She finished it in 37:35, and she wants to do it again tomorrow! This is the same lady that, if I recall correctly, I ran through her foundations session last year when she somewhat skeptically decided to give us a try because she was looking for something to mix up her exercise routine and get a little stronger for horse back riding. I told her then that she was going to like our program and that she might even think of her workout here as a highlight in her day. (Might have been an understatement.) According to Roger, the first time she did the F50, she had to stop half way through and wasn’t able to finish the workout. I’m starting to see this collection of what I thought of as these sweet moms turn into firebreathing monsters. Karen almost broke 20minutes for the workout. That’s just ridiculous. Katrina nailed it down in 30:00 even, with excellent form. Emily finished in 34:49. She sliced 18 minutes off her first performance from months ago. That’s an improvement of over 33%. Wow. Even Ellen did the workout in the 42 minutes, albeit scaled, this is a pretty good time. When I first opened the 9am classes, which were really Ellen’s privates, because she was the only one in them, she would have taken at least an hour and a half to finish the same workout, if I could have made her stay through the whole thing.
On Tuesday Martin comes up to me at the onset of the 4:30pm class to tell me that he wants to do the Filthy Fifty because he won’t be able to make it in during the next few days. This was after he had just completed Tuesday’s workout in the 3:30pm class ten minutes prior and Rx’d it in under 3 minutes. Martin performed in 27:31 with Laura and Carlos joined him. Except for scaling the burpees, Laura did the whole thing Rx’d just a few months after knee surgery. Quite honestly, when I dragged Carlos’ fat ass out of 24 hour fitness after a raiding party, I didn’t expect him to be busting out 30 minute F50’s within one year. His time is comparable to mine now. Holy Crap. Melinda went solo for the 5pm and finished with a solid sub 40min, and she’s a noob! Noah, Matt M., Patricia, Johnny & Nick showed up for the 7pm, which ended up in a shoot-out between Nick and Johnny with Nick taking it by about ten seconds with 25:41, both times about a minute off of Ben’s CFM record. Patricia has turned into a little met-con machine, and Matt performed well as expected. Noah did the whole thing Rx’d, no need to scale double-unders. You guys have really gone through quite a transformation. It’s beautiful and it’s kind of freaking me out. I’m nothing short of astounded at the determination and tenacity that I’m seeing from our athletes. It’s really cool to witness, and you all have a lot to be proud of. You sure are a bunch of “sick puppies”, alright.
By the way, CFM members can now give us anonymous feedback. (Gulp) You can go to the following link:
and there is also a link from the Members area. There is no track back so you are welcome to say whatever you wish without worrying that we’re going to know who is saying it. We want to hear your thoughts, compliments, as well as your concerns.
Accountability - the state of being accountable, liable, or answerable.
What this means for us at CrossFit Marin is that we are accountable to each other. As Nick posted yesterday, the community is a major factor in the success of our program. If you go missing someone will call you to check in. We (clients and trainers included) check in on how you are feeling just about every time you are in the gym. We ask if you are doing any assigned special homework. We ask how you are doing with food and rest.
Sometimes we really don’t want to be accountable. It is difficult to follow through with everything you commit to. In the case of our program, at first it can be difficult to be there every day because you know what you are about to experience. There is great discomfort associated with this place. By keeping ourselves accountable to each other, we help each other through the down times. We are able to ride out the times of doubt and questioning if it is worth it. When we make commitments to each other to be there, we have another motivation outside of ourselves to make it in.
A lack of accountability is why most people fail in their commitments. If I set a goal, but there is no accountability built into it, my chances of success are limited. If, instead, I set a goal and tell others about it, and ask them to check in with me on my progress I am far more likely to take the actions necessary to achieve that goal. Accountability helps to ensure we will strive to be better. Accountability can be uncomfortable. It can make us feel guilt when we fail, but it can also help us to succeed.
We are currently keeping food journals in the discussion forum. The primary purpose of this is accountability. If you have to post what you eat, there’s a good chance you will improve what you eat. We can use these journals as examples. We can get ideas for great healthy meals. We can keep each other accountable. Make the commitment. Journal your food. It will help you succeed…
Us humans are social creatures and– while some of us can function quite well on our own– we are at our best when we’re working together. In our gym culture, we stress the importance of the group experience. We feel that it’s important to work out with other people for a couple of reasons.
If you look at a most big gyms, they have mirrors everywhere, but you rarely find them in a CrossFit gym. Why is that? Because in big gyms, most people work out alone and they need some feedback to (1) ensure that they are doing the movements “right” and (2) to see that they are losing weight/ getting ripped.
We don’t have so many mirrors because we have an entirely different feedback system for our clients. First, we have a trainer present for every session. This is of obvious advantage, since the trainers have knowledge of the movements and how to teach others to perform them safely and effectively.
Second, we have a lot of experienced clients who help newer members in the middle of a workout. This benefits both athletes; the newer one gets more attention and hears the cues from a different person, while the more experienced person learns a deeper level of the movement from teaching it.
Our classes also create a level of intensity that is difficult to capture outside of the group environment. We cheer each other on in the middle of workouts and we compete with each other for the best times and heaviest loads.
Finally, there have been a lot of studies done that show that people who are part of a group– be it a church, a club or just a group of friends– tend to live longer, healthier lives. With how fast paced our world has become, and with all the newer ways that we are allowing technology to take other people out of our daily lives, it seems that our gym taking another step in the right direction. So, eat right, exercise hard and make some friends.
