Grab the Horns
WINNERS of the SWITCH will be announced on Wednesday!!
21-18-15-12-9 rep rounds of:
115 pound Power snatch
Wallball shots, 20 pound ball
Knees to elbows
Crystal McReynolds 14:01 (75lbs, 14lb ball), Austin Malleolo 14:05 wmv/mov
From the Vault: Lukich does Knees to Elbows, one year ago
From kindergarten through senior year of high school, the only sport I played was soccer. I can’t even say it was a passion of mine, I enjoyed it, but it was more just something I did out of habit. My training off the field was non existent. No skill work, no additional conditioning and certainly no weight training. I was young and had my whole life ahead of me, you know the story. Then it happened. Running down the field in a game, I hit a pothole in the ground. You know the feeling of your leg extending further than you expect, my leg hit the ground fully locked out, sending a massive jolt into my lower back. The results were devastating. The next morning I could barely walk. It seemed to get worse each day. A possible herniated disc or microfracture in the vertebrae was the initial guess. But after many tests and scans, the doctors couldn’t figure out the problem. The answer ended up being fairly simple: When my leg hit the ground, the muscles in my lower back attempted to absorb the impact, but due to a lack of strength the back muscles could not handle the load, causing the facet joints to become inflamed. This is what they told me anyways. Basically, due to piss poor posture and never training my back, I was fucked for a while.
Over the course of the next three years I would attend physical therapy for months at a time when it would become irritated. We would work on back strengthening exercises with swiss balls, electric impulse therapy, stretching, etc. But my back would never be the same. It was there to greet me first thing every morning, and I would always bitch about how no one could understand.
In my coaching I have been known to glibly state how ‘lucky’ I was to have injured my back when I was younger, because it gave me an appreciation for proper form and never rounding my back. Through CrossFit, after dealing with chronic pain in my back for nearly ten years, it finally began to subside. Reading about deadlifts and squats changed my outlook on training. I saw the fault of my ways, and the infamous thought, “If I only knew this when I was younger.”
The ghost of injuries past came for a visit a couple years ago, after I dislocated my hip in a scooter accident. Yet, my recovery was fast, the foundation of strength I had developed was a game changer. My back will never be perfect, and every now and then, I need to be reminded of that fact. The truth is that my back has been bothering since doing that “Thompson” monstrosity last week. I have been in pain, but getting better every day.
I know that I will be recovered soon, and I am once again reminded how this all began. While it hurts to stand up, sit down, put my shoes on, get out of the car, help carry things and every other mundane task, I am reminded that to be physically fit and able is to be alive and I can’t wait to get back on the board. I cannot take back that moment when I injured myself, I can only get stronger and be ready for whatever comes next.
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