5 sets of 8 Supermans
With :30 Flutter Kicks btw sets
21-15-9 of Burpee Box Jumps (24/20)
Deadlifts (225/185lb)
HEATHER SMITH GOING OVER DOUBLE UNDERS
We’ve got a great topic to cover today CFH! I pulled a great post from CrossFit Rockwall to help you understand how to improve your sleep. First of all, if you have time to read “Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival” order it today! It is a must if you are living the Paleo/Zone/CrossFit lifestyle. Read below for some practical ways to improve your sleep. Make it a goal during the month of April to improve your sleeping patterns. You will feel fresh at workouts, energized throughout the day, and recover better too! Athletes who sleep well can train harder. Want to improve your fitness? Start with SLEEP!
From CrossFit Rockwall
Sleep is one of the most important aspects of recovery and is a factor that greatly impacts your health. In fact, it may be runner up only to air and water as one of the most vital things to keep us alive. Trust us when we say that not sleeping enough will mess you up. In ways you can’t even imagine. Lack of sleep is a fast track to crappy workouts, terrible relationships, horrible insulin levels, and a slow miserable death (really, this is not an exaggeration). And, the traditional 8 hours is probably not even enough. Research has shown that 9+ hours of sleep each night, in complete and total darkness, is necessary to reap the maximum benefits sleep provides. There is so much science on the subject, we won’t even try to compete with the info already out there. Instead, read Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival by T.S. Wiley. This book gives a thorough (and when we say thorough, we mean it!) explanation of how sleep affects fat loss, carbohydrate cravings, mood, blood pressure, stress, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and more. It’s easily the most important book you’ll ever read. Go hit up Amazon folks!
Click HERE to read the entire article from CrossFit Rockwall
Check out Coach Billy’s work/rest schedule below…
Have you talked to your coach yet about what training schedule would benefit you best?
Mon: Strength Wod
Tues: 15min Wod
Wed: Rest Day
Thurs: 12min Wod
Fri: 5min Wod
Sat: Rest Day
Sun: Rest Day
Mon: Rest Day
Tues: 6min Wod am/ 13min Wod pm
Wed: 12min Wod
Thurs: Rest Day
Fri: 20min Wod
Sat: Rest Day
4 Sets of:
2 Wall Climbs
10 Weighted Russian Step-ups
10 Burpees
15 Alternating Jumping Lunges
20 Double Unders
25m Shuttle Run
JOHN BAKER
John Baker, who attends the 6am class has earned Athlete of the Month for February. He has only been a member for a couple months, but has seen amazing results already! He has a really cool story. Take a few minutes to read about John and if you are around the 6am crew tell him CONGRATS!
What is your fitness background? How long have you been Crossfitting?
I played football through from pee wee through college, and pretty much got burned out with all of the training that required. After I graduated, I was basically a couch potato for 9 years. I had the occasional gym membership, but nothing seemed to work for me. I’m a newbie; I’ve Crossfitting for 6 weeks.
What are some words to live by?
Something my high school football coach used to tell us has popped into my head several mornings when the alarm clock wakes me up for the 6 am class: “There are no sick days. If you only train hard when you feel like it, you’d never get better.”
What is your occupation?
I’m a software engineer / consultant.
Where are you from?
I was born and raised in Batesville, Arkansas, and I spent most of my summers / winters growing up vacationing in Michigan. I’ve been in the middle Tennessee area for almost 7 years.
How did you hear about Crossfit HVille?
I was looking for a class-based program that I could fit into my schedule. A friend of my wife’s suggested CrossFit. I looked into it and decided to give it a try.
What’s your favorite part of CrossFit?
I love the variety and intensity of the workouts, but most importantly for me is the community. It means a lot to me when my fellow Crossfitters encourage and cheer me on at the end of a tough WOD. It’s a big part of what has helped me get a successful start on my journey to fitness.
How have you seen yourself change – mentally or physically – since being a part of CFH?
After just six weeks Crossfitting, and with the help of February’s nutrition challenge (if you haven’t done a nutrition challenge, I highly recommend it), I’ve dropped over 20 pounds and 11 inches. Even more importantly for me I found out that my blood pressure had improved to the point where I have been able to come off of a couple of long term medications. In addition to the visible changes, I’m more confident, feeling much stronger, sleeping better, and have more energy to play with my kids.
What is your favorite movement?
I like the power moves – cleans, snatches, thrusters. When I played football, I was an offensive lineman, so those moves bring back some memories.
What is your least favorite movement?
Anything involving running. Burppies are a close second.
What has been your favorite WOD so far?
Too early to tell, but I like the WODs where you wake up in the morning sore and say “I didn’t know I had a muscle there.”
What has been your least favorite WOD?
Again, anything involving running.
What are some of your goals that you have for yourself in the next year?
I would really like to be able to do an unassisted pull up. That is something that I never thought would have been possible, but with the gains I’ve made already and as I improve my overall fitness, I’m confident I can get there.
How do you see CrossFit as different from other programs?
The think the one thing that always caused me to fail in previous programs was the monotony. I hated doing that same things over and over again, usually with very little results. There is nothing boring or repetitive about Crossfit. In addition, the community makes me feel like I am part of a team, not just a class.
How can other people relate to your story?
I was an extremely out of shape, fast food eating couch potato. After a skin infection almost cost me my leg and even my life last year, I realized that I needed to make health a priority. When I was researching fitness programs, I was apprehensive about Crossfit at first. It looked really hard and didn’t think I would be able to keep up the pace. And while it IS hard, it only took a few WODs to realize that it was possible and I could change my lifestyle. I know it’s cliché, but if I can do it, I promise you anyone can.
What is something that others may not know about you?
I am a big geek. The TV show ‘Big Bang Theory’ could be about my life.
Favorite sport or activity?
I love spending time with my family, as long as there isn’t a Michigan football game on TV (Go Blue!)
Recent adventure you’re planning?
My wife and I recently found out we’re re-entering the realm of midnight feedings and dirty diapers later this year.
Leave the fine folks of CrossFit Hendersonville with some parting words…
When I joined CFH, I didn’t know what to expect, but I’ve really bought in to program and have really surprised myself. I just want to say a big thank you to everyone for the encouragement. Keep up the good work!
4 Sets of…
:30 Ring Support
:60 Lac Ball in Pec Pocket with Bully Arm Behind Back
5 Deadlifts (225/185lbs)
7 Ring Dips (use Bar Dips)
250m Row
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS WARM-UP
From CrossFit Roots
“Coach, I can’t take a rest day, I saw we were doing (insert really-sexy-looking-cool-workout-that-just-can’t-be-missed here) and I HAD to come.” OR “Sure, I took a rest day, a rest day from CrossFit that is, and I went for a 3 hour mountain bike ride instead!”
Sound familiar?
Below we’ll discuss the importance of rest days and why, if you don’t take them, you cannot progress.
Rest days allow for physiological and psychological benefits that are vital to athletic progress.
Physiologically, rest allows the body to learn from and adapt to the recent physical stress, repair muscles, rebuild, and be stronger and better adapted for the next physical challenge (in our case, a workout). In CrossFit we believe in relative intensity and work to dial in our athletes’ workouts to an intensity level that hovers in the “hard but doable” realm. The result is an adaptation that continuously tips the athlete toward stronger, more skilled, faster, you get the point. But the CRAZY PART is that this adaptation takes place during the rest and recovery phase, not during the workout! Too much intensity or too little recovery blunts the adaptation creating an athlete that is headed toward plateau rather than continuous improvement.
Psychologically, and when viewed correctly, rest days give us a mental edge in workouts. When an athlete embraces the time off they come back stronger and work harder in workouts. I say “when viewed corretly” as many athletes feel guilty about their rest days and instead waste tons of mental energy worrying about not working our rather than reaping the benefits.
As athletes (and not just CrossFit athletes) we constantly chase performance and for many, appearance too. We’ll do anything for a better run time, a faster Fran, or a heavier deadlift. Change my diet? Sure, tell me what I can and can’t eat. Buy the right shoes? Sure, where do I pay? Take a day off? NO WAY.
Rest and recovery includes true rest days as well as rest in the form of consistent quality sleep (and that means 7+ hours). Think you can perform well on 5 hours of sleep a night? Think again. But that’s for another post!
To recap, take a long range look. Sure, the removal of rest days will progress you quickly for 6 months to a year. But it will catch-up to you. Why not go for the 10 year plan?
Thanks for the insight CrossFit Roots!
Below is an example of Coach Lindsey’s work/rest schedule for a couple weeks…
Sun: Rest Day
Mon: 12 min Wod
Tues: 5 min Wod, rest 5:00, 5 min Wod
Wed: Rest Day (Mobility 20 minutes)
Thurs: 15 min Wod
Fri: 10 min Wod
Sat: Rest Day (hiked for 2 hours)
Sun: Rest Day (Mobility 10 minutes)
Mon: 20 min Wod
Tues: 10 min Wod, rest 5:00, 10 min Wod
Wed: Rest Day (Mobility 15 min)
Thurs: 20 min Wod
Fri: Rest Day
Sat: 15 min Wod
Look forward to learning how the other CFH coaches do it next week!
4 x 10 KB Lunges (Hold KB in front of chest)
Samson Stretch :30 btw sets
20 GHD Sit-ups (20 Ab Mat Sit-ups)
30 KB Sumo Deadlift High Pulls (53/35)
40 Walking Lunges
*Modify with 15 Sit-ups/ 20 KB SDHP/ 25 Walking Lunges
YOU AND THE BARBELL
Get ready to be motivated! And we have to mention before you read his story that we left Coach A out of the rankings when we announced the TOP 3 Rowers for RowAThon. Coach A placed 3rd with over 100,000 meters rowed in January! Check out his journey over the last several months…
My journey to Crossfit is a really long story. Like most of you I played sports in high school. Being an offensive lineman I was told over and over again that I needed to gain weight, to get bigger if I wanted to play. I did. Between my junior and senior season I gained 50 pounds, and I got to play. Like most football players, putting the weight on and playing with it was not an issue, you practice hard and work out hard everyday. The issue is when the playing career is over and you have all this extra weight and you are not practicing and working out everyday.
In college I steadily gained weight graduating at 286 pounds. That was 51 pounds above my playing weight my senior year. So in just a little over 5 years I had gained 100 pounds, half for football and half for being lazy.
My weight stayed pretty much the same the first four years that I taught and then I had a bad accident in August of 1996 that resulted in a nasty spiral fracture of my right fibula. 3 surgeries, a 9-inch plate, 27 screws, and 6 months later I had gained another 30 pounds.
From then on my weight was a constant struggle. I have worked out regularly for the past 10 or 12 years at school, at the Y, or at Snap Fitness. I lifted weights and did cardio with little success. I even trained for and completed the 2009 Country Music Half-Marathon (walking). I could maintain my current weight for a while but I could never loose any significant weight. I would get discouraged, stop for a while and then restart a few months later and a few pounds heavier. For the most part I hovered around 350 pounds for the last 5 years.
Last April I was working out trying unsuccessfully to get below 350 and then I tore my calf muscle hitting fungo at baseball practice. For 3 months I did nothing but rehab and gained another 22 pounds. That put me last June at a weight of 372.
I can make a lot of excuses about why I gained all the weight over a 20 + year period, but the reality is that I did and no one was responsible except for me. I felt tremendously successful in almost every endeavor of my life except for me weight. With my weight I felt like an utter failure and it created significant issues with my self-confidence.
For almost 10 years I have been a part of a Friday morning Bible Study. We call it the Breakfast Club. It is 6 guys who get together for an hour each week and study books of the Bible verse by verse. 2 of the guys in that study are John Kalada and Jim Eades (Erin Kyle Willis’ father). A couple of years ago they asked to meet with me and challenged me about my physical fitness. It was uncomfortable, but I appreciated the effort. It was an effort on their part to hold a Christian brother that they love accountable for how I were living my life and it was done out of concern for me and my family. My response at the time was my blood pressure and blood sugars are both good and I am working out almost everyday. All of that was true but I was not healthy and I knew it. I went running/walking with John at the park once and nothing else happened or changed as the result of the conversation.
This past fall I showed up for a Friday morning Bible study and only John was there. I don’t know where the other 4 guys were. Perhaps it was a divine appointment or, perhaps John called all of them and asked them not to come. Again John in a loving way challenged me about my weight and strongly encouraged and enabled me to go to Crossfit. He had a response for every excuse I had and essentially this time made it where I could not say no. We agreed that when the football season was over I would begin Crossfit.
My first day in the gym was November 30. I was scared and did not know what to expect. I knew Ryan really well but had never met Lindsey. I knew that many of the Crossfit exercises were exercises that I had swore I would never do again after I finished playing football. Lindsey did my intro and was patient and understanding. The 5am workout group was nothing but encouraging and I never came to the gym scared or intimidated again.
After 2 weeks and 5 workouts we moved to the new box. I was excited and I quickly began to see changes in my body. I set a goal to be under 350 pounds by the time we returned to school for the second semester. During Christmas break I also went from 3 days per week to 5 days per week and had the opportunity to work out with John and the 7am Country Club. The day we went back I was not quite there, but I hit the goal three days later. My next goal would be to be under 330 by the end of February.
I was excited about the challenges. In January we had the rowing challenge and I have a lot of free afternoons in January so I really went after it. I had no expectations to win. My original goal was to row 60,000 meters. By the end of January I had rowed 100,542 meters. I was really excited. I had hoped that the February eating challenge would bring the same kind of success. I had been doing pretty good eating the Zone Diet and using a lot of Paleo foods. February was not what I had hoped. I was on the road at coaching clinics and education conferences for the most part of 3 weeks. While I continued to make better decisions, I was not able to clean my diet up like I wanted as a part of the challenge. Even though I did not get the big boost I wanted, I still cannot help but be encouraged. During the February challenge I lost 15 pounds and over 13 inches. That is something to celebrate.
Today I weigh 325 pounds. I still have to scale some of the workouts. I almost always finish last in the 5am workout crew. I don’t push or lift nearly as much weight as I wish I could. My achievements have been in small increments. Being able to run a 400 without stopping to walk. Being able to compete in the first 2 open workouts. Having to go buy new pants for the first time in a long time with a smaller waist than before. I have lost 47 pounds in 3 months and my only regret is that we did not do pictures and measurements the first day I showed up in the gym.
My next goal is 299 by graduation day, May 26. It would be the first time I would be under 300 since my accident. I then hope to be at 285 on the first day of school in August. That would be the “skinniest” I have ever been and taught school. I don’t just want to compete, but I want to be competitive in the open next year. I want to become a Level 1 athlete. I would love to compete in a sprint triathlon. I have a long way to go to reach those goals, but for the first time in many, many years I believe they are achievable.
I cannot say enough about the Crossfit Hendersonville community. Despite always finishing last and still not being able to do many of the movements correctly, I have never been anything but encouraged. The 5am workout crew has been awesome and I look forward to seeing them everyday. Lindsey and the other coaches have been so helpful and never have I felt out of place or that I did not belong. John Kalada has been the friend that has been bold enough to lovingly confront a friend with the goal of creating a life change. All I can say is that I believe that God has used Crossfit Hendersonville as an instrument of change in my life. My family and I are so grateful for the changes that have happened. I am so excited for the future that lies ahead.
Mobilize for OPEN WOD!
LOOKS LIKE COACH A AND BATSON ARE ABOUT TO PUNCH SMILIN’ RYAN IN THE FACE!
Yesterday we posted just a short summary of why rest days are important. As coaches, we want you to understand we get it. We know for some of you rest days are hard to take. The post yesterday describes just how you might feel…won’t have enough energy, will start a trend of not coming to workouts, will gain weight, will lose strength/endurance. These are all FALSE statements put into your head. Stop believing them. You know when you actually get fitter? When you REST! It gives your body time to heal and recover from all the work you put it through.
Speaking from personal experience, my fitness saw a huge jump once I started taking 2 rest days/week. I have been in your boat. 4 years ago when I started CrossFit I was addicted. Doing it 6-7x/week. I get it! It is fun and you see a new WOD you wanna try. But you shouldn’t! That’s the bottom line. To help our athletes understand the importance of a good balanced work out/rest day schedule the coaches have decided to post our schedule over a 2 week course. This will help you see how we manage our workout and rest days. (Just because we are at the gym 5-6 days/week, does not mean we workout all 5-6 days!)
Check out Jessica’s below. It may look like the perfect schedule, but it works for Jess and she manages to get 19 workouts and 11 rest days in a 30 day time frame. Good balance of workout days/ rest days in her 30 day calendar.
jan 2 – 10 min. wod
3 sets of 6-8 Alternating Pistols
:90 OHS Foam Rolling TSpine Mobility Drill
15 Overhead Squats/ 30 Lateral Jumps
12 Overhead Squats/24 Lateral Jumps
9 Overhead Squats/ 18 Lateral Jumps
MICHELE LAMPTON GOING OVERHEAD WITH HER SQUAT!
If you are new to CFH, take a few minutes to read THIS article from the CFJournal about Overhead Squat mechanics and the effect of doing them well!
We know that grains are not the worst thing you could eat and that it is not going to kill you to eat it once or twice a week. However, there are several people ( 1 in 5) now that are being diagnosed with celiac disease. People with celiac disease are not able to digest gluten, which is a protein found in products such as bread, pasta, processed goods, pastries, baked goods, and sauces. They experience symptoms such bloating, indigestion, stomach cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting at its worst.
Now, just because you aren’t diagnosed with celiac, does not mean you can’t be sensitive to it. How do you know if you are sensitive to it? Simply take any sort of grain out of your diet for 2 weeks and then add it back it on the 15th day and see how your body reacts. Personally, I experience stomach cramps, bloating, and extreme fatigue. A blood test can’t tell if you are sensitive to them or not, so make an effort to learn on your own and give yourself a 2 week trial.
Who knows? You may come out realizing you feel more energized by replacing the grains with veggies/fruits and you can start kicking the carb addiction!
Check out the articles from Nicki Violetti below for more information on lectins that cause this inflammation in the body. Gluten is a type of lectin that causes inflammation of the gut.
HERE is Part 1 and HERE is Part 2 explaining why the world is going to more grain free cooking.
4 sets of…
:60 Side Plank (2 ea side)
:60 Lax Ball in Pec Pocket between sets (2x ea side)
9 Burpee Pull-ups
15 GHD Sit-ups
3- 5 Rounds for Time:
6 Burpee Pull-ups
15 Ab Mat Sit-ups
Modifications:
*use a lower set of rings to do burpee pull-ups if you can’t jump to pull-up bar
*do 9 burpees and 9 pull-ups, as individual movements
READY FOR COMPETITION AGAIN? TONIGHT AT 7PM WE WILL HAVE OUR FIRST FEW ATHLETES RUNNING THROUGH THE OPEN WOD!
If you don’t know the OBrien’s…you need to get to know them! I posted Gary’s story earlier in the week and now it is time to hear from Melissa. These two are a special couple and it is a joy to coach them both. I love it when couples work out together. It is a blessing to be able to sit back and watch husbands/wives help each other during a WOD. Melissa wrote her story last year about the same time Gary did, after the Spring Nutrition Challenge. These two jumped into CrossFit Hendersonville head first and have never looked back. Yes, there have been struggles and challenges along the way, but they are a testament to never giving up and striving to be better always.
Thanks Melissa for your story. For our current Nutrition Challengers, may both of the OBrien’s stories inspire you and help you during the last week of the challenge! Keep logging your food so that you can receive as much feedback as you need for success to carry out the challenge past next Wednesday. Enjoy the encouraging words below…
Five years ago, I began a regimen of running and working out with machines. I worked out in a small gym for about six months and then life took over and I quit. I did, however, stay the course with my running, running approximately 5 miles each day. Having never been an athlete or even a runner for that matter, I did what I thought was the impossible. I ran the Country Music Half Marathon! I will never forget the feeling I had finishing that half marathon – it was great! Then over the course of the next four years, “life came at me hard”. Our family endured one struggle after another and ultimately, I quit running and definitely became an emotional eater. Off and on over those years, I would try to start running again, try to get back to lifting weights, and try to “diet”.
Life seemed to take a turn for the better at the beginning of this year and I knew I had to get in better shape physically. I had been attending a group training class at FBC for approximately five months. It only met twice a week but I really liked the trainer and the other women in my class. I knew however in order to lose this weight that I needed more. I began to work out other days on my own and changed my diet. The middle of March the trainer I had been working with texted me to tell me that she had to cut our class from her schedule, I was devastated. I knew I needed the accountability. Gary, my husband, had started CrossFit the week before and had been begging me to try it. I had sworn I would “never” attempt CrossFit. I told myself and others that if I ever tried CrossFit I knew I wouldn’t stick with it because I would feel so defeated. (I knew I could not do some of the things I had seen when I walked past the box.) When I received that text message, I caved.
Wow! How wrong was I? I didn’t exactly love the first few classes but I did enjoy the company! Everyone was so friendly and no one seemed to mind, care or even notice my inabilities. Lindsey, Monica and Jason were helpful and encouraging too. They have always been so uplifting. I remember the first day that I left CrossFit with that same feeling I had when I finished the half marathon, I had just finished “Helen”. It was a feeling of complete awe and exhilaration. I could not believe that I had been able to do that workout! (Notice I said the “first” day, there have been so many days since then that I have left the box with that same wonderful feeling!)
Just before the “Helen” workout, I signed up for the Nutrition challenge. I had lost approximately 6 lbs. on my own by cutting carbs before the challenge started. The week before the challenge, four of the competitors attended a class that Lindsey taught on nutrition. Hint – Of the four in attendance, we had the men and women’s first place winners, the men’s second place winner and the women’s third place winner. I don’t think that was happenstance. Lindsey has a wealth of knowledge and experience. She is a great source of information! I learned a lot from that class and tweaked my diet. I had been eating plain Greek yogurt for breakfast. Lindsey suggested adding more protein – turkey bacon. I had never had turkey bacon before but it became a real treat! I looked forward every day to my two or three slices of turkey bacon. My lunches and dinners consisted of some type of protein – meat, chicken, or pork, along with lots of veggies. Somewhere along the second or third week, I began to eat my protein with baby spinach. It looks like a salad but I began to think of it as just being part of my main entrée. It is really good and I was getting even more vegetables! The first few weeks, I did continue to eat at least one piece of dark chocolate each day. I just felt like I needed that sweet. I actually craved it. Somewhere about week 3 or 4, Lindsey challenged us to give up sugar, so I did it! I gave up my dark chocolate each day and gave up the strawberries I was eating in the morning with my yogurt and bacon. It was a tough week but I made it. It was somewhere during that time that I made the decision that this was not going to be a diet but was going to be a lifestyle change. (As a side note: I really believe the key to this lifestyle change is planning ahead – planning grocery shopping, planning where you will eat out and what you will have, etc. We also always cooked much more food than we needed so that we had plenty of leftovers for lunch or for nights when we didn’t have time to cook.) I began to see a difference in my workouts. I was stronger and I was able to do the prescribed workouts (not the prescribed weight, etc). I was not concerned about the number on the scale anymore it became more about the way I felt and I felt great! I will admit to a few “cheats” but I have to say I felt physically horrible afterwards. This is definitely a lifestyle change for me and for my family. Will I ever “cheat” again? Sure, but I will be eating “clean” 90-95% of the time. I have never in my life felt so strong physically and I know it’s the combination of the nutrition and CrossFit.
At the mid-way point of the challenge, I set a goal for myself to better my “Helen” time by 3 minutes. I felt stronger and thought that it was possible. I hit a bump in the road the Wednesday before the “Helen” workout, but with Lindsey’s help, I was able to do “Helen” that Friday. I didn’t meet my goal but I came very close. I was able to cut my time by 2:56 – four seconds shy of my goal. I was elated! I never expected or even thought about winning the challenge. Honestly, I truly felt as if I had already won because I am in a better place physically and even emotionally.
With God’s help and the help of family and friends, we were able to survive and endure the past several years. I so wish we had been a part of CrossFit during those years. I can only imagine how much better we would have been able to handle life’s ups and downs!
I cannot thank you ALL enough! Thank you for welcoming and accepting me into this very special community. Thank you Lindsey, Monica and Jason, for your continued support and encouragement but most of all thank you for sharing your passion for a healthier life for all of us. What a life changing three months this has been!
Snatch Complex 4 x 3
Snatch Deadlift- Hang Power Snatch- Power Snatch
3 Ground to Overhead (155/105)
6 Ring Dips
9 Box Jumps
MICHELLE GILMORE CARRYING 70 LBS OF WATER FOR LAPS!
Great article from CrossFit Woodshed
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WHAT’S RIGHT ABOUT CROSSFIT…
POSTED Friday, February 10, 2012 on their siteSo. Another week, another silly little ‘Cult of CrossFit’ article. This one’s actually a reprint of an old Men’s Health joint from a few months back. I suspect as Reebok pumps up its involvement with CrossFit and the number of affiliates increases apace, we’ll see more and more pieces like this one–and, to be fair, some puff pieces as well. But that’s not really our concern. At the end of the day dollars will be exchanged, laughably thin pieces will be written, and we’ll all go to lunch. Life goes on.
But you…you’ve just joined a CrossFit affiliate. Happily, I’m going to presume, that’s right here at Woodshed. You joined because you saw CrossFit on ESPN, a friend comes here, you drove by, the Reebok commercials during the football game raised up your hackles, you heard us screaming from ten doors down, etc. However you got here, you got here, and now the onus is on us to make sure you really, truly understand that you’ve walked into the right saloon. You’re bound to hear it from both sides now: “you joined a WHAT kind of gym? Those people are fucking lunatics!”OR “oh yeah, let me tell you, I’ve been doing CrossFit for two months; I lost 75 pounds, I can squat five times my bodyweight AND run a 4 minute mile.” What do you need to know? And what’s right about CrossFit?
1. Let’s start here: CrossFit is not a franchise-based program. For better or for worse, this is not Curves, this is not Gold’s Gym, this is not Zumba or Jazzercise. CrossFit is an affiliate-based program: as affiliate owners, while we are ANSI-accredited within a broadly designed strength and conditioning curriculum over the course of a hands-on weekend certification, we are free to program, outfit, and position our gym individually once we’ve decided to affiliate and license the brand name CrossFit. To wit, there are fantastic CrossFit gyms and there are not-so-fantastic CrossFit gyms. Blanket statements regarding the efficacy, safety, and salience of CrossFit gyms or CrossFit methodology as such are therefore effectively inadmissable: there are great Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gyms and there are terrible Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gyms, neither of which brings judgement to bear on the parent philosophy. Like the old Eric Clapton song, it’s in the way that you use it.
What you need to know: This is simple. Are you getting stronger, faster, and fitter at your CrossFit gym? Do you feel cared for? Do your trainers discuss recovery and program periods of lower volume with as much force as they do intensity? Are you able to go about your daily life without wincing every minute on the minute? If so, you’re probably in the right place and you are one thousand percent doing right by CrossFit.
2. Understand: CrossFit is broad training protocol AND sport, and rarely do the twain meet. The women you saw on ESPN…the ones whose upper bodies, quite frankly, frightened you a little bit? These are CrossFit Sport athletes, a gathering number of whom are professionally sponsored. In the main, they are also affiliate owners–the organizing principle of their lives is the workout. Absent that time, job description, incentive, and perhaps some other unmentionables, you aren’t going down that road, sunshine.
For the great majority of us, ‘doing CrossFit’ simply means attending a local CrossFit gym and training according to its programming. There again, the devil’s in the details. Do your daily workouts ceaselessly resemble Gordian spasms of high-intensity clockwork–everything for time, everything for points, rest when you’re dead? You may be training like a CrossFit Sport athlete, and it’s on you to decide whether you’d like that to be your lot in life. And make no mistake–this isn’t to disparage those who’ve chosen that path. We have quite a few here at Woodshed, and we support them completely. They see CrossFit as a sport comprised of movements and modalities, and they strive to master those many domains–the 500 meter row and the gymnastic pullup, the twenty minute conditioner and the heavy deadlift.
To the CrossFit Sport athlete, fitness is sport and calculated risk: the skill that comes out of today’s hopper may be your cup of tea or it may be the movement you’ve been neglecting; similarly, today’s CrossFit Sport event may waft by like a breeze in your wake or it may put you on the shelf for several weeks. In much the same way that a Motocross or Ultimate Fighting competitor lives on the edge, CrossFit Sport athletes engage in a cautious brinksmanship–to paraphrase CrossFit’s co-founder Greg Glassman, the CrossFit Sport is optimized at the margins of our experience. Indicting the whole of CrossFit Training on the basis of how its Sport athletes train and compete misses the forest for the trees: the CrossFit Training Protocol by its very charter is meant to deliver a fitness that is broad, general, and inclusive. That is to say, the quality CrossFit gyms concern themselves with making their general population clients stronger, faster, more mobile, and healthier–almost always at the expense of training those clients as hard and as particularly as they’d train their CrossFit Sport athletes.
What you need to know: Read the first part of that last sentence again, right up until the dash. If you’re checking out this blog post and you’re wondering exactly what this CrossFit thing you’ve gotten yourself into is…well, that’s it. Pretty easy to explain, right? I’m doing CrossFit to get stronger, faster, and fitter. That’s what’s right about the fitness a good CrossFit gym delivers to all of its clients.
3. Make No Mistake: CrossFit Is Revolutionary. But ay, there’s the rub–what revolution are we talking about here? Is CrossFit the movement that’s meant to turn all of strength and conditioning on its head, or is the revolution something far subtler and far more important?
But first, we backtrack a few steps. Here’s the dictionary definition of shooting fish in a barrel: blogger writing a ‘CrossFit story’ navigates to a local CrossFit blog and finds three mentions of ‘intensity’ and ‘variance’ as the sole stipulants to health and wellness. Decades of received wisdom on intelligent, periodized strength and conditioning protocols fly by the wayside, and two clicks later he’s reading that working on the ability to revolve a rope twice underneath one jump will surely increase one’s clean and jerk. Game, set, and match–his story’s already written: “they want you to go until you drop, you’ll probably really hurt yourself, and by the way, they say some stuff that really doesn’t make very much sense at all.” So what are you to understand? Have you given your body over to crackpots and mad scientists?
Start here: CrossFit is a movement away from the mean. Movements by their very nature inculcate a certain degree of zealotry. Or perhaps the zealot’s the subject here…whichever the chicken, whichever the egg, we need to understand that for some, CrossFit holds no valence outside of a full upheaval of all existent strength and conditioning protocols. 3 weeks of hard work and a week of rest? Fuck you, I go hard 24-7. Barbell complexes for peripheral heart action? Idiot–we invented that shit and it’s called ‘metcon.’ Training? Every day’s a competition, bro. CrossFit sure isn’t your mother’s program, and thank God for that.
But here’s the thing. To the intelligent affiliate owner, CrossFit isyour mother’s program: it delivers strength, conditioning, mobility, and recovery in equal measure. We typically find that folks who have played or coached competitive sports (particularly contact or quasi-contact) at a relatively high level (think competitive high-school or above) typically get how to train folks intelligently within the broad and inclusive CrossFit training paradigm. Movements which provide the biggest bang for your buck are prioritized and laid out in a manner meant to induce progression, recovery, and progression. More to the point, the truly revolutionary nature of CrossFit training is laid bare at an intelligent affiliate: you are meant to strength train among peers in the manner of power and Olympic lifters, you condition with your classmates in the manner of a collegiate soccer team, and you attend to your technical work and mobility with the precision and humility of a martial artist studying under a tenured sensei–and that’s a combination you’ll be very hard pressed to find formalized elsewhere. This is the magic of CrossFit as a training protocol and a community-based platform.
These marriages do not always tend heavenward, of course; we’ve observed that affiliate owners with a heavily conventional exercise science bias tend to self-consciously overstate and overplay the revolutionary nature of CrossFit–if it’s been done before and done well, it’s probably not worth doing again lest they feed The Man. Similarly, we find that bootcamp and aerobics backgrounds often mitigate against a truly effective general CrossFit application: the athlete’s enervation is ceded primary barometric and a paucity of attention is paid to daily progressions and recovery metrics; under this sort of tent and within a competitive atmosphere, each day’s is training is essentially and unfortunately rendered a zero-sum endeavor.
But in much the same way we don’t malign eating your fruits and vegetables after watching The Crazy Juiceman’s infomercial, we ought not to categorize CrossFit according to the affiliates who fashion their programming along these lines. Unfortunately, these are usually the…loudest affiliates and make for the sexiest pull-quotes and sauciest I almost-lost-my-lunches. But ultimately, that’s lazy journalism. Circling back to that Yahoo piece: how I would have loved for the author to have asked Robb Wolf to talk about what an effective and safe CrossFit affiliate would look like. We’re out there, you know, and we’re getting good and goddamned tired of being judged according to our least common denominators in prose and explication that doesn’t go too far afield of TMZ dot com.
What you need to know: How to ask questions. Ask your CrossFit trainer what pieces of training protocols from the past are worth maintaining today; ask how you ought to judge and catalyze progress once you’ve beached on the shores of your first plateau; above all, take a huge risk–ask your trainer to explain how they’d handle you forty years from now, hobbling in on an arthritic ankle and 95% less cartilage in your knee. The great ones will have a vision and a clear, likely unorthodox means by which you’ll continue to train to get stronger, faster, and more mobile. The lesser ones will stand there scratching their head: “how do I scale down Fran for someone with two bad wheels?” The great ones are out there, and make no mistake, they are what’s right about CrossFit.
3 sets of…
10 Back Extensions
5 Muscle-up Progressions
AMRAP in 20 minutes:
2 Muscle-ups
4 Handstand Push-ups
8 Kettlebell Swings (70/53)
GARY OBRIEN FIERCE WITH THAT TIRE WHILE ALSO GETTING SOAKED IN THE RAIN!
Wanted to repost this story of Gary’s from last Spring. This was after he took 2nd place during the Spring Nutrition Challenge!
My name is Gary O’Brien and I am 48 years old (OUCH!!!!). I have been an athlete my entire life, (God just blessed me with eye/hand coordination and athletic abilities that allowed me to be good at almost anything involving balls, sticks, rackets, hoops, running, jumping, etc.) but the events of the last few years had really taken their toll on me emotionally and physically. I am a civil engineer by degree and a land development consultant by profession. As you may know, there has not been much construction or development over the last few years and I was laid-off in the fall of 2008. I went without permanent, full-time work for over two years!
Needless to say, my self-image, self- confidence and self-worth all went into the toilet! I kept believing and trusting in God’s plan for me and at the beginning of 2011 I started a new job (this is a whole other God-story that I would love to tell you all!) In early February, I looked at myself in the mirror and I knew I had to do something. I weighed 184 pounds (my highest ever) but worst of all, I looked, acted and felt “OLD”! THIS IS NOT WHO I WANTED TO BE!!!!
So I started working out and running again, but it was sporadic, at best. By mid-March, I knew I had to do something different that would add accountability and structure to what I was doing. That is where CrossFit comes in. When I first decided to give it a try, I wasn’t completely sure of what I was getting into. I have friends who either have been or are CrossFitters and they had all said good things, but I was totally clueless about the way it would transform my (OUR) life (lives)! I did the free intro class and then the free promotional week and I knew this was what I had been looking for! I signed up for the Foundations class and never looked back!
While I still cannot do the workouts as fast as I want to or do as much weight as I once could, I am feeling better every day. At the end of the Nutrition Challenge, I was down around 162 pounds and I am starting to feel like my old self again! A few weeks ago Boyd Johnson and I jumped into the 300 Games and while it was very hard, I loved the feeling of accomplishment and sharing that experience with my brother (not by blood, but by heart). But honestly, the best thing about CrossFit is the community of people that gather in “THE BOX”. I love walking in there each morning and seeing the many smiling faces and the “Good Mornings!” that come as we prepare to kill ourselves. Someone once said, and I am paraphrasing, that there is no bond like the bond that comes out of shared adversity. It is so true!
I am inspired, challenged and renewed each time I am with you all. Lindsey, Jason, Monica and all of you have created a very special place and “family” there in “THE BOX”! I look forward to many more years of CrossFit workouts and getting to know everyone better!
Thanks Gary for your motivating story and encouraging words!
If you are signed up for the OPEN check out what you get to be a part of! The largest fitness competition in the WORLD. Over 15,000 have registered. If you have not, there is still time. Register HERE and make sure to include “CrossFit Hendersonville Team” so we can help our box get to Regionals!
NEED A DATE NIGHT? DO YOUR KIDS NEED A NIGHT AWAY TO PLAY WITH THEIR FRIENDS? WE HAVE THE SOLUTION! DATE: Friday night, April 27th TIME: 6:00-10:00pm PLACE: At the box COST: $15/child, $10/2nd child, $25 max cost AGES: 12 months …
WANT TO HELP WIN SOME MONEY FOR THE PEOPLE IN CHAD, AFRICA WHO DON’T HAVE CLEAN WATER? JOIN US FOR POKER NIGHT AT CFH AND PLAY FOR A GOOD CAUSE. DATE: April 27th TIME: 8:00-10:00pm PLACE: TBA (CrossFitter’s house…any volunteers?) …
CROSSFIT ENDURANCE CERTIFIED COACH, DOUG WARREN IS BACK! THE FIRST RUNNING CLINIC 101 WAS A SELL OUT. YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY THAT IS BACK AGAIN! DATE: Saturday, April 21st TIME: 8am-12:00pm PLACE: CrossFit Hendersonville WHO: Anyone! Beginner level …
info@crossfithendersonville.com
615.545.2271
557 East Main St. Suite B, Hendersonville, TN 37075
RSS Feed
Strength/Skill:
3 sets of…
8-10 Good Mornings
:60 Thoracic Mobility
As Many Calories As Possible…
5 minute Row
Rest 3 minutes
AMRAP…
Overhead Squat (135/95lbs)
SHARI CAMPBELL GETTING AFTER THE THRUSTERS/C2B PULLUP WOD!
FACEBOOK NOTICE…
From Coaches/Staff of CrossFit Hendersonville
It has been brought to my attention by several people lately that the tone of the CFH facebook page is somewhat negative and is recalling more negative occurrences in the box than positive. I have actually had a friend say that is exactly why she will never come to a CF gym, because she doesn’t care to get hurt during her workouts.
For those of us who do CF, we understand the sacrifice that it takes and we see the results of those sacrifices. From awesome changes in our bodies to trying new things that help us to achieve goals that we have set for ourselves, etc., and we all get a little kick out of sharing in each other’s misery. And for those of us who are in CF presently and have been there for some time, we get that. However, for those who are not part of CF who may be researching what it is all about, or even for those who are new and really don’t understand it yet, our comments may be misunderstood and can actually be somewhat of a turnoff. Whether it is a comment about our hands ripping, or soreness, or not being able to walk or a wod that is going to “kill us tomorrow!” These comments could actually be a deterrent to what CF truly is and what the coaches and staff are trying to build at CrossFit Hendersonville. If you have been at the box long enough, you know our atmosphere is more of camaraderie and teambuilding. It is less about ourselves and more about being encouraging and good examples, building those up who are new or trying to figure out what CF is all about. It is about community and most importantly… our faith.
We really need to limit the comments that we are putting out there that could be misunderstood or taken out of context and used negatively toward the gym. When others ask me what has kept me coming back to CF over the past 3 years, I tell them “It’s the community and the amazing support that I receive day in and day out in the box… Both from my coaches AND my fellow athletes!” And I know I have heard that said by many other members as well. But, I don’t know that that is necessarily the vibe that one may be getting if they go on the fb page lately. The CrossFit Hendersonville FB page and website should be one where we are positive and encouraging, sending out “Atta Boys/Girls, Shout Outs, PR’s, etc. and reflecting a Christ-like attitude to each other and to those in the community. Yes, we like to comment and share the results of our workouts and maybe how we feel, but let’s respect the FB page and website, and save those comments for other outlets such as our own personal FB pages or blogs.