"An athlete diminished by excessive aerobic training is slow and weak. At CrossFit we call that state, 'spun-down.'" - Greg Glassman
"Training for a fight by running twenty minutes everyday makes perfect sense if you plan on running away from your opponent and know you’ll be getting a ten minute headstart." - Greg Glassman
"We have doctors to thank for lots of S.B. The advice to always ask a doctor before you (yes, you) start any exercise program is rather self-serving, considering the fact that they are the ones billing for the office visit, and the silliness of insisting that a healthy 35-year-old get a checkup before he starts to lift weights makes one suspicious of the actual purpose. As mentioned earlier, the medical community is famous for equating exercise with running, walking, cycling, and other such monostructural aerobic-pathway activities that are measured by the time spent engaging in them. The pamphlet rack in the waiting room is typically stuffed completely full of references to “20 minutes of exercise a day, 5 days a week,” as if the only way to quantify a stress that leads to an adaptation is with your Polar RS 800 fancy watch/heart rate monitor." - Mark Rippetoe
CrossFit is a broad based strength and conditioning program. It is designed to enhance an individual’s competency at all physical tasks.
We train functional movements, we don’t teach isolation exercises.
Functional movements are those things that you need to do everyday … bend over, pick stuff up, move it overhead, carry it.
We train for power, which is part strength and part speed.
We don’t specialize, and we don’t train for aesthetics, although people who train our method and eat a good diet have amazingly beautiful bodies.
More specifically, CrossFit is a general physical conditioning program built upon the three pillars of:
1) Constantly varied
2) Functional movements
3) Done at relatively high intensity.
What exactly do you mean by constantly varied, functional movements done at relatively high intensity?
Constantly Varied - We mix things up ... a lot. The body gets used to doing the same exercises, in the same way, over and over again. Mixing up the stimulus keeps the body guessing, and this produces greater physical adaptions.
Functional Movements - These are the things you need to do everyday .. bend down, pick stuff up, move it overhead, etc. For the most part, these movements involve large muscles that can move heavy loads over long distances. Doing tricep kick-backs with 5 lb. dumbells will never produce the same physiological response as doing dips or push-ups.
Relatively High Intensity - Intensity is where the results are. We push our trainees to do as much work as they are able, but a 65 year old retired banker is probably going to have a different capacity for work than a 25 year old competitive mixed martial artist.
The basic underlying philosophy is that virtually all athletic movement is a function of leg and hip drive (hip flexion and hip extension) and that the power generated from this is transmitted to the extremities through a strong and stable core. We train hip extension to death … then we add weight that must be managed by activating the muscles of the torso and upper body. Pretty simple really.
We combine bodyweight exercises, power lifting and Olympic lifting moves, and short-fast efforts of running, biking or rowing. Most people easily learn these moves, or at least their elements. We modify where we need to in a fashion that lets us preserve the stimulus as best as possible while accommodating the capacity of the individual. We stress proper form and full range of motion.
We are huge fans of using high-intensity short-duration exercise. There is no doubt high-intensity training is great for increasing strength, speed, power, cardiovascular endurance, and stamina. But it has also been shown to greatly improve posture, joint health, sleep, flexibility, blood pressure, bone strength, and fat loss.
If it is so beneficial to do high-intensity exercise, why doesn't everyone do it? Because it is hard, uncomfortable, and brings to people the true meaning of suck! The ability to embrace the suck is what sets CrossFit athletes (we're all considered athletes here) apart from the rest!
Embrace the suck! Reap the rewards!
Friday, June 12
CF Ya Ya, the Sequel.
GPP & Sport.
"Optimal physical competency is a compromise, a balancing act; a compromise between not only conflicting but perfectly antagonistic skills. The manner in which you resolve this conflict defines the quality of your fitness and is the art of exercise prescription." - Greg Glassman
"Develop the capacity of a novice 800-meter track athlete, gymnast, and weightlifter and you’ll be fitter than any world-class runner, gymnast, or weightlifter." - From CrossFit Journal
The Bottom Line on GPP
There's often a great deal of confusion surrounding general physical preparedness (GPP) in general, and CrossFit's brand of GPP in particular. This post is an attempt to stimulate conversation over what GPP is, and hopefully in the process, clear up any misunderstandings over what we do and how we train our athletes.
When defining a word or concept, it's often useful and highly instructive to discuss what something is not before jumping into what it is.
GPP is not training for a set of skills germane only to a particular sport or physical activity. We'd no sooner adopt the training program of a marathon runner than we would a sumo wrestler (both have relatively narrow, highly specific needs for their sport of choice), assuming GPP is the goal of the training program. GPP is not about putting your eggs in one basket and focusing on a single aspect of training, or a single general physical skill such as endurance, stamina, or strength.
GPP, and specifically CrossFit's brand of GPP, is about, quite simply, increasing an athlete's work capacity across broad time and modal domains (thanks to Coach Glassman for coining this phrase). This means that one can do well in any endeavor, whether it's of long duration, short duration, high power, or low power (although what's the point of being good at low-powered activities - they're so boring!), and whether it involves one's own body, external objects (e.g., barbells, dumbbells, and throwing implements), or any combination of these two modalities.
Problems occur, though, when athletes and coaches try and fuse GPP with sport practice. What happens is that both aspects of training suffer. This type of fusion usually results in ill-conceived concepts such as practicing the swing of a (tennis) forehand while using the cable pulley machine. Not only is the use of the cable pulley a colossal waste of the athlete's time, adding little if anything to his off-court strength-and-conditioning base, the carryover to actually hitting a forehand on the tennis court is nonexistent, and can even cause the tennis player's forehand skill to erode.
(As an aside, the reason the scenario above doesn't work for the tennis player is because swinging a tennis racket weighing between 12- and 14-ounces and swinging a cable pulley, which offers significantly more resistance than a tennis racket, cause different neuro-muscular firing patterns; thus there's no carryover and it can actually be detrimental to the development of a forehand.)
It's far better to keep GPP and sport practice separate. Use the GPP program to allow the athlete to become supremely conditioned and, at the same time, free the athlete up to devote more time to practicing his or her sport.
That is, if you're so horny for one sport that you are willing to allow your GPP for all other walks of life to suffer. I'm not. Not anymore.
Thursday, May 21
Tuesday, May 19
Crossfit Ya Ya.
World-Class Fitness in 100 Words:
Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.
Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch.
Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds.
Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast.
Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy.
Keep workouts short and intense.
Regularly learn and play new sports.
1. Gymnasts learn new sports faster than other athletes.
2. Olympic lifters can apply more useful power to more activities than other athletes.
3. Powerlifters are stronger than other athletes.
4. Sprinters can match the cardiovascular performance of endurance athletes even at extended efforts.
5. Endurance athletes are woefully lacking in total physical capacity.
6. With high carb diets you either get fat or weak.
7. Bodybuilders can't punch, jump, run, or throw like athletes can.
8. Segmenting training efforts delivers a segmented capacity.
9. Optimizing physical capacity requires training at unsustainable intensities.
10. The world's most successful athletes and coaches rely on exercise science the way deer hunters rely on the accordion.
11. Glycogen depletion for fat burning - 1 hour plus at low intensity.
The bodybuilding model is designed around, requires, steroids for significant hypertrophy.
The neuroendocrine response of bodybuilding protocols is so blunted that without "exogenous hormonal therapy" little happens.
The CrossFit protocol is designed to elicit a substantial neuroendocrine whollop and hence packs an anabolic punch that puts on impressive amounts of muscle though that is not our concern. Strength is.
Natural bodybuilders (the natural ones that are not on steroids) never approach the mass that our ahtletes do. They don't come close.
Those athletes who train for function end up with better form than those who value form over function. This is one of the beautiful ironies of training.
Number one rule:
Don't cheat the movement! Don't cheat to get a faster time, don't cheat to lift a heavier weight!
The key to CrossFit is functional movements, performed on a variable set rep pattern with intensity. If the workout of the day involves 21 front squats do not substitute leg extensions and hamstring curls and say you did CrossFit. You will have missed the point behind functional movement. Do not take a workout and do it every other day for a month. You will have missed the point of Variance.
Oh, and your easy days are too hard, and your hard days are too easy, yah.
Tuesday, May 12
Tuesday, May 5
Big Sur Marathon 2009
Training for Big Sur came at a bad time of year. I took long runs, or tried, while away at shows by running cache-to-cache Georuns. I developed a cough during the final weeks 5 down to 2 that would NOT go away.
So, the training plan is at left, and the actual training is parenthetical at right:
week 16: 188 mins: 8 mi R/108 min Bike (143/5 mi and indoor)
week 15: 190 mins: 9 mi R/90 min Bike (did 198/9 mi)
week 14: 210 mins: 11 mi R/100 min Bike (did zero)
week 13: 210 mins: 12 mi R/90 min Bike (did 78/7 mi Bud Light course)
week 12: 160 mins: 13 mi R/30 min Bike (did 53/5 mi on the zipper course)
week 11: 225 mins: 14 mi R/85 min Bike (did 90 indoors)
week 10: 225 mins: 15 mi R/75 min Bike (did 100/9.5 mi)
week 9: 250 mins: 16 mi R/90 min Bike (did 135 on MTB)
week 8: 250 mins: 17 mi R/80 min Bike (did 230/16 mi)
week 7: 190 mins: 18 mi R/10 min Bike (did 168/14.5 mi georun)
week 6: 275 mins: 19 mi R/85 min Bike (did 55/4 mi georun)
week 5: 275 mins: 20 mi R/75 min Bike (rode 102 MTB)
week 4: 300 mins: 22 mi R/80 min Bike (did zero)
week 3: 225 mins: 12 mi R/105 min Bike (did zero)
week 2: 170 mins: 13 mi R/40 min Bike (did one run/5 mi with hand bottles to loosen up)
week 1: Big Sur Marathon
Training in the early going was pretty strong (and what you're not seeing here was that I was hitting my secondary key days as well). The final 6 weeks was anemic. And so went the race day; strong in the early going with the wheels falling off in the late stages.
Mile splits.
1: 8.45 (First 5 mi are generally downhill, through the trees - wind isn't a factor)
2: 9.03 - 17.49
3: 9.05 - 26.55
4: 9.55 - 36.50
5: 9.49 - 46.39
6: 10.30 - 57.10 (6 to 9, the Point Sur windy corner and long grades)
7: 10.07 - 1.07.18
8: 10.36 - 1.17.55
9: 10.31 - 1.28.27
10: 9.21 - 1.37.48 (Downhill into Hurricane)
11: 13.52 - 1.51.41 (Hurricane Point uphill, mi 1)
12: 12.12 - 2.03.53 (Hurricane Point uphill, mi 2)
13: 9.59 - 2.13.53 (cruising down the backside of Hurricane into Bixby Bridge - the "moment" of the marathon. Blighted only by the snakes writhing about within my calves)
14: 10.31 - 2.24.24
15: 9.54 - 2.34.19
16: 11.52 - 2.46.11 (Walker runs on, Laurie's Relay Leg begins, and my Cramp Legs begin in earnest as you can see by the ensuing times)
17: 12.28 - 2.58.39
18: 14.07 - 3.12.47
19: 13.50 - 3.26.37
20: 14.54 - 3.41.31
21: 16.12 - 3.57.44
22: 15.46 - 4.13.31
23: 12.23 - 4.25.55
24: 13.55 - 4.39.50
25: 12.48 - 4.52.39
26: 16.06 - 5.08.45
Finish: 2.20 - 5.11.06
The cold, the wind, and in the end, the cramping. The hills are what everyone talks about, and they could be a problem for some, but I like hills(!) and had worn a trail into the zipper during training. I was careful not to grind up the hills on the course, and to let the backsides carry me along. I don't understand the theory of maintaining pace up (too fast) and pace down (too slow). I say, don't fight gravity on the way up, and let gravity work for you on the way down - but that's just me. The wind was demoralizing, blowing people's hats and gloves off. The cold got to me too, through tights and two layers and gloves and thick hat.
We walked the aid stations, and walked most of the uphills. At 16.5 the cramping really owned me. After 16 I did a lot of full-mile walking - only tried to roll the downhills as much as possible to keep mile times under 15 minutes. The interminable stretch from 17-22 was going to suck while running; walking it into the wind and hills made it an otherworldly draining purgatory. So much so that at 22, I read the sign as 24 and thought there could only possibly be two miles to go. Ugh.
Not at all sure what the cramping is all about. Started in the calves and locked up my Vastus' - with was plenty, but a saving grace was that I was careful with the S caps and stride, so the hamstrings didn't fail. Like to get a handle on this cramping though.
Next up: Frankensteinian Testing to Keep the Corpse from Cramping
Friday, May 1
Thursday, April 30
Cream Ale on Walker's Dime.
Cream Ale was Walker's idea. A lawnmower beer for the guy who never comes over and mows my lawn. Bastard. His only saving grace is that he bought the ingredients.
So, the stuff came from Northern Brewer, who calls this "A light, clean fermenting ale modeled after the "cream lagers" of the northeast United States. Low in gravity, long on flavor, this beer is a pale thirst-quencher, great for brewing and enjoying in the summertime. Dingemans Biscuit Malt gives our Cream Ale a warm, toasty flavor that complements the light hopping." Bring it. We've got some Cream Stout that needs some pairing for Black n' Tannage.
Steeping: .75 lbs. Gambrinus Honey Malt & .25 lbs. Dingemans Biscuit
Extract: 6 lbs. Pilsen Malt Syrup
Bitters: 1 oz. Cluster
Yeast: Safale US-05
Shooting for an OG in the low 1040ies / FG: 1010.
Cooked up everything using a lot less water this go-round. Only making 5 gallons, but put in two to steep up the grains. Everything goes a lot faster this way! Got to 150 degrees in no time, then in goes the extract. A hard boil in a minute, and maybe a protein break at 20 mins. Hopefully a protein break at 20 minutes, because that's all the boil that was boil this batch. Quick with the hops, and used the new outdoor shower to fill with cool water, and aerate in one action. Wort was still hot though!
Left the batch in the new pepsi leaker to ferment while I took a trip to Anaheim - four days of 68 degrees did the trick. OG: 1042, FG: 1010. Love it when it all works out. Chilled and racked a bit, with no filtration, and gave it all an hour and a few shakes at 30 lbs carbonation.
Day 14: Still a bit green, and seems a mite cloudy, for what we're looking for. Or what Walker's looking for - that budmeister grass-cuttings flave. May need some filter.
Wednesday, April 8
No Where Else in The Whol' Worl' Dept.
Tha's the corner of Bourbon and Dumaine, New Orleans.
Yes, you can have a world's best hamburger, watch video projected on the wall from the bar across the street, sidestep the vomiting kid in the doorway (assisted by the two guys in navy shirts), and visit with the cowboy taking his pair of dwarf ponies for a walk.
This area under video surveillance to make sure nothing untoward happens, noice!
Wednesday, February 25
Kare-o Lot About Redesign?
I love examining logo and packaging redesign tweaks. The "new" Pepsi logo's getting a lot of attention just now, but here's a fun one: Karo syrup. New bottle and label. Can you tell which one is the refreshed version? And maybe why?
Wait for it! ...
It's the one on the left - in the easy squeeze bottle. The old one has the straight sides. Guess it looks more grabbable off the shelf? They did a logo redesign a while back and nuked their trademark "Tailed-K" as seen at left in the thumbnail. Since Karo makes pancake syrup and other drippy stuff, appears that they're trying to offset the brand name into its own realm, and set the "light corn syrup" descriptor apart from the brand name. Also, looks like they're trying to play up the fact that they're TRUSTED and use REAL vanilla. And if you can't trust your gooey sugar to use the real vanilla, you're misplacing your trust.
Also, the dead giveaway was the fact that the old bottle has turned a cloudy yellow. Real vanilla or not, new label and bottle or no, the stuff is a urine sample in your cupboard.
