Through the Crossfit program I am in the best shape of my life - and I am 47 years old! Plus I am having fun getting fit. I am stronger, more flexible, and more agile. A year ago I felt "creaky." No... - Dieter Zander Read more
I’m going to have a class at 9am-10:20am by popular demand. Programming will be a surprise. I’m working on getting child care in here. Waiting to hear from Drey if he can make it. I’ll post an update later. Please post here if you’re coming. Also please call someone you think may be interested in coming but hasn’t heard the news. If you want to invite a noob, I’ll have an alternate workout for them. Free noob class!
Update: Drey is catching up on his school-work tomorrow, but Emily is going to be in charge of grommit-care if you want to bring in your kids.
We will be opening a competitive-track (that means that these kids will be coached with the intention of training them for competitive gymnastics) boy’s gymnastics class on Tuesdays & Thursdays ongoing from 4:30-5:45. This class can be taken by approval only and must be signed up for as a monthly or bi-monthly session. There are no drop-ins. Here is a video of what they’ll be working towards:
Here’s what it can turn into eventually if seen through to the elite level:
Contact me or Roger if you wish to have your kid considered for these classes.
By the way, is anyone doing anything interesting or going somewhere unique this labor day weekend? Do you guys want to plan to organize a group from the gym for a fun activity for labor day? Post experiences or thoughts to comments.
When I was a little kid, one of my favorite things to do in the “whole wide world” was to climb trees. Looking back on it, the trees that I climbed were probably not all that tall, maybe 25-35 feet or so, but they sure seemed tall to me at the time. I lived in “Park Merced” in San Francisco. This beautiful little community next to Lake Merced is sprinkled with all kinds of pine, eucalyptus and other trees. The condo-houses also make nice little rings around a common back yard and they’re attaced, making it very convenient if you wanted to get from one roof to another, so for a kid it’s pretty much a natural climbing playground. A few weeks back, Rafe Kelley, founder of ”Parkour Visions” and Seng from BAPK dropped by CFM on a Friday night just after OSTN. We had an interesting conversation on training, the pros and cons of CrossFit, parkour, climbing, and training on trees. I told themabout my injured knee and how lack of consistent rest has been keeping it from getting better. Rafe and Seng seemed genuinely interested and concerned about my health and well-being. I asked them about their recent training and they told me that they had just been in UC Berkley and that the trees there were amazing. I asked about the trees and they told me that they had been doing quite a bit of their training on trees. It’scurious to think of the evolutionary forces and implications of developing competent movement on trees. When we do pull-ups, muscle-ups, pull-overs, kips, swings, etc, on bars we’re really using an artificial imitiation of part of a tree or branch. Pull-up bars and rings don’t occur in the natural environment, but trees do and although our recent evolutionary history has us generally roaming on open grasslands, thus our bi-pedal abilities, supposedly displacement through forest and jungle foliage was part of that history, albeit a little further back. I found this video of a famous traceur doing a little training on some pretty incredible trees. If you go out and find a tree to climb or decide to scout out a bunch for some good parkour and functional movement training, be careful. Remember that tree branches can break, especially rotten ones, and that you’re probably quite a bit heavier than when you were 8 years old. (I know I am.) Also, falling off trees is a great way to convert potential energy into kinetic energy, and as Jeff Jone’s t-shirt says, “It’s not the falling that kills you, it’s the sudden deceleration.”
I’ve had several other posts on the importance of balancing the fitness trinity– nutrition, exercise and sleep– but I think this sums them up pretty well.
Think back to your last CrossFit workout of the day. More specifically, how you felt before the workout. Do you remember any angst, nerves, jitters? If any of these words ring a bell then this post is for you.
You are probably expecting me to provide you with some sports psych “mumbo-jumbo” (at least Martin is). Your expectations are pretty valid, but what might surprise you is the fact that I am not going to suggest that you adopt any zooey techniques to relax yourself before a WOD.Rather, I suggest that you embrace your nervousness and use it to your advantage.
Getting nervous before a competition is 100% normal (yes, CF workouts epitomize competition). General nervousness is a sign that your central nervous system is getting prepared to fight and perform optimally. Think back again to your last CrossFit workout. Did you feel the overwhelming need to make a personal pit stop? Again this is your body’s way of optimizing performance. Your sympathetic nervous system is increasing systematic blood flow and getting rid of everything it doesn’t need. This further prepares you to workout at your pinnacle physical capacity.Emitting all of your bodies dormant waste allows your muscles and brain to function most favorably.
OPT, a “famous” CrossFitter and prominent gym owner, has been quoted as saying, “If I’m not nervous before a workout, I’m not ready to perform.” Jerry Rice relayed a similar sentiment when he said, “The day I stopped being nervous before a game was the day that I retired from the game of football.” These guys are high performing athletes who understand the fact that pre-competition nerves are an essential aspect of performing one’s best on game day.
So next time you get nervous before WOD, acknowledge that it is there and embrace it.
Levi Meeuwenberg is considered to be one of the most amazing and skillful traceurs in the United States if not the world. He was among the athletes that I met down at American Ninja Warrior 2. Of course you all know that I will be writing about my experience down there shortly, and of course I’ve already sacrificed some sleep doing research on American Ninja Warrior 2 & American Ninja Challege videos on YouTube to try to give you guys a better idea of the great bunch of fellows that I met down there. While digging up the videos, I stumbled back upon Levi’s old parkour shoulder roll tutorial. This video is one of my all-time favoirite parkour tutorials. It is incredibly technical yet lucid, fun and light-hearted, kind of like the guy who made it who’s also known as “SkyNative”. Very appropriate alias. (You can check out his website at www.SkyNative.com.) I swore that I had posted it on our blog back in 2009, but when I did a search for it, I couldn’t find it. In any case, even if I did, it would deserve a reappearance especially considering how shoulder rolls are among the most useful movements to master in parkour and how professionally done the piece is. I know that Aero has some issues with this tutorial, but it still remains one of my favorites. (Remember that as Levi says, this is not a begining parkour roll tutorial. It’s about advanced techniques and if you haven’t practiced them considerably, well, there is always the CFM foundations PK-1 private to get you started on our parkour classes.) More on American Ninja Warrior 2 later this week. Enjoy:
Every once in a while when you’re running a CrossFit class, you run into logistical issues. Like when you’re doing a 400M sandbag/ weightvest carry and you suddenly have more people than weight-vests or sandbags. Well, a little improvisation may be neccessary, so here you go:
Conveniently, Sammy Miranda weights slightly over 70lbs while Timmy weighs about 50lbs!
For those of you who are wondering, Jackie Miranda had surgery on Wednesday to repair her torn calf muscle. It went well. She is walking around in crutches in a splint right now and then she’ll be in a cast for a couple of weeks before transfering over to a boot. She is very eager to get back in the gym and start training again. At this point, I’m pretty sure that we will never be able to get rid of her. She’s a keeper.
Ok guys, so how do we bring all this stuff closer to home? The American Ninja Warrior tryouts are August 7th & 8th at Venice Beach, Ca. Here are the videos that got us guaranteed spots for the run:
Here’s Jill’s, my personal favorite:
What a bad-ass. Ok, now for Roger’s. He’s alright.
Tomio was awesome as well:
Roger’s quick and efficient, of course:
And mine. I’m not moving completely comfortably because I was trying to heal up from little injuries, but I had to get the video done.
Those were actually pretty fun to make. Although we didn’t put that much time or effort into it. Here are some of the ANW preliminary videos from last year:
Our personal favorite, Shane:
And here’s Ryoga Vee’s:
DAmn, that guy cracks me up! OMG! LOL!
Here’s Luci Steel’s:
Ok, so here ’s the fastest time at the ANW preliminary tryouts:
Mind you, that the actual Sasuke course has gotten only more gruesome. See for yourself:
And,… umm.. it’s not just guys anymore. There’s a Sasuke for women as well!
And lastly, we’ll throw up Ascent’s actual 2009 Sasuke Run. Here it goes:
Ok, I hope I didn’t waste too much of your time having you watch Sasuke videos. Any predictions for the ANW tryouts next weekend? I’ve been trying to strengthen my knees a bit to get ready. Wish us luck!
Sasuke is a Japanesesports entertainmenttelevision special in which 100 competitors attempt to complete a four stage obstacle course. An edited version, renamed Ninja Warrior, is screened in at least 18 other countries. -wikipedia (Please click on “Sasuke” for the Wiki link for a more comprehensive look.)
As many of you already know, four of us from CFM sent in audition videos so that we could get tryout spots for “American Ninja Warrior”, which is the U.S. version of Sasuke which basically is a run-off to see who are the best in the States and the top, let’s say, ten or so make it to Japan to compete in the Mac-Daddy version over there. To the best of my knowledge there have been about 23 or so Sasuke’s since 1997 in which 100 people have cSo after much arm-twisting from me, we sent in videos for Roger, Jill Sprague, Tomio Mizuroki, and myself. Jill and Tomio were a little incredulous when they actually got an e-mail from G4 (the television station that holds the contest) informing them that they scored a guaranteed audition spot to tryout in the obstacle course despite my repeated reassurance that they had a pretty good chance. Roger’s tryout video is almost comically short, in his classic “let’s get this done as quickly as possible because I don’t have time” manner. Here are a few videos to illustrate what goes on and give you guys an idea of how this all works:
Here are some of the Ninja Warrior “All Stars”, who have competed year after year in Japan:
Here’s Levi Meeuwenburg, one of the State’s best free runners and the best American Ninja Warrior in recent times in Sasuke 22:
Here’s another “good” run by what looks like a professional athlete of sorts. This kind of ending is all too comon in Sasuke:
It’s not always this serious, though. Sasuke is a great challenge, but it’s also for fun, and the Japanese can be very light-hearted and even though they are very passionate about their Sasuke, they have no trouble laughing at themselves and having a good time. Check these out, they’re outrageous:
Ok, this one almost made me cry laughing:
There are many more. Sasuke is really BIG in Japan. While there is prize money for the “Ninja” who completes all four stages, it’s not talked about much because you’re supposed to compete for the honor and glory of it. The competitors just love Sasuke. What prize money? Hmmm…
Here’s a clip of American Ninja Warrior preliminary qualifiers from last year. Notice our former Parkour coach Shane Daniels rocking the obstacles in the first part of the video. Yep. That’s him.
Alright, now that you’re starting to get the picture, you’ll see why lately I’ve been so excited about Sasuke. Not only is there strength, coordination, agility and balance involved, but it’s also FUN. Ok, so right now I’m a little obsessed, but can you blame me?
Here’s one last clip to cap it off. Makoto Nagano is one of the best to compete in Sasuke. The beloved fisherman was one of only 3 people (to my knowledge) to ever achieve “Total Victory” when he completed the final stage in Sasuke #17. (Hope you guys like Spanish comentators. =P )
You know what I’m talking about, that little voice in your head that you hear while you’re deep in the middle of a workout. It can be a blessing or a curse, pushing us to better performance or undermining our best efforts. It can prevent injury or push us into hurting ourselves. Learning to control your inner voice is of vital importance to the success of your training.
The last part of the 8th workout over two days. He wouldn't be there without having mastered his inner voice.
There are two keys to controlling your inner voice: awareness and honesty. You need to be aware of your inner voice and aware of your physical state– fatigue, technique, injuries, etc.– and you need to figure out how to be honest with yourself. It’s the honesty part that is really tricky for people, as most of us either underestimate the workout and push too hard too fast, or underestimate our own abilities and don’t push hard enough.
Both of those cases tend to drive our inner voice into telling us that we suck. I’m not as fast or strong as so-and-so; this workout really hurts; I don’t know if my shoulder/back/knee can take this; I can’t do another four rounds of this; or I’m still sore from yesterday so I shouldn’t push hard today. These statements might have an element of truth, but they don’t do anything increase our performance.
What we need to do is change that inner voice into a force to protect us from injury, develop our skill and motivate us to greater heights. Here are a couple of things to focus that voice on.
Strategy: ”Stick to the plan: 10 push-ups, 5-count rest, 10 push-ups, 5-count rest.”
Technique: “Full hip extension, fast elbows, control the feet.”
Task focus: “One muscle-up at a time.”
Confidence: “6-months ago, I couldn’t even deadlift this.”
Motivational phrases: “Work now, rest later.”
Damage report: “Knee, good. Back, good. Shoulder, aches– switch to mixed grip on pull-ups and mitigate the forward swing.”
Most people underestimate the psychological strength required to complete a workout. We’ve said it time and again, it’s 90% mental. If you can control your inner voice enough to get you into the gym, then you can definitely train it to push you harder and protect you from injury. Master it and it will improve your performance both inside and outside of the gym.
I’ve had several other posts on the importance of balancing the fitness trinity– nutrition, exercise and sleep– but I think this sums them up pretty well.
