CrossFit and Long Term Health

Sign up for the Everything is Everything Challenge HERE or email david@paradisocrossfit.com with your goal and action plan.  Don’t forget we have our Potluck this Thursday at MDR!

We will continue to post videos from our EIE discussion this week.  Today is about what it means to be strong and why we think everyone should focus on strength training.  (Hint:  it has nothing to do with getting big muscles!)

Weekly Programming Links:  Group Class, Gymnastics, Barbell Club

Office Hours with Diso: 10-Noon at Venice and 530-730pm at MDR. Come discuss your goal and develop a plan!

Monday, September 22, 2014

Prehab

PVC dislocates 2×10
Ankle Mobility x 60 seconds each
Cat Stretch x 60 seconds
Groiners x 60 seconds each side

Warmup

2 Rounds:
Jog 100
10 Pause Overhead Squats (pvc or barbell)
10 Wide Grip Lat Activations
15 Tuckups

Cool Down

Pec Stretch, 30 seconds each side
Wall Extension, 2×10
Couch Stretch x 60 seconds each side
Pigeon Stretch, 60 seconds each side

Fitness

Strength

A. Take 20 minutes to learn and practice the Snatch
B. One set of: Strict Pull-Ups or Bar Muscleups x Max Reps

Notes: This will be retested at the PCFWC!  Be sure to score your weight and number of reps achieved.  Standards for the snatch are simply ground to overhead, for the pull-ups arms must be straight at the bottom and chin clearly over the bar at the top, BMU must have straight arms at the bottom and full lock out at the top.  Note which band was used if necessary.

Conditioning

2 minutes of Rowing for max calories
Rest as needed
8 minute amrap
10 Power Cleans
10 Chest-to-Bar Pullups

Notes: Go all out on the row as this will be retested at the PCFWC. Prescribed weight is 155/105. If C2B pullups are challenging, use a band or setup boxed and perform jumping style. For the Power cleans you may sub Dbs and work from the hang if needed.

LG and Kat finish second at the Dynamic Duo competition this weekend!  Awesome!!

Advanced

Strength

A. Take 20 minutes to establish your 1RM Snatch
B. One set of: Strict Pull-Ups or Bar Muscleups x Max Reps

Notes: This will be retested at the PCFWC!  Be sure to score your weight and number of reps achieved.  Standards for the snatch are simply ground to overhead, for the pull-ups arms must be straight at the bottom and chin clearly over the bar at the top, BMU must have straight arms at the bottom and full lock out at the top.  Note which band was used if necessary.

Conditioning

2 minutes of Rowing for max calories
Rest as needed
8 minute Amrap:
6 Squat Snatches (135/95 lbs)
12 Chest-to-Bar Pull-Ups

Notes: Go all out on the row as this will be retested at the PCFWC.  Scale the weight as needed, but if you can perform a power snatch at this weight plus an overhead squat, that is preferable than scaling the weight down.  Use bands if needed to perform the C2B, do not perform regular pull-ups.

Ragnarmerica!  24 hours, 12 athletes, run 200 miles, 2 vans.  More awesomeness!!

A lot has changed over the past 10 years.  I went from an aspiring actor to restaurant manager to gym owner, moved 6 times, and married Martina to name some of the big ones.  My world view has also changed significantly throughout this time frame, but one constant has been my CrossFit training.  It is hard to believe, but October will be 10 years since I began CrossFit.  The reason I am writing this is that I see and hear from a lot of people that struggle with the ups and downs of their training.  I hear crazy things like, “I was out of town last week…I’m so out of shape now!”  I want to let you all know that it is completely normal and that you shouldn’t beat yourself up over having to take a break or not being able to come into the gym regularly.

First of all, a week is nothing.  All strength and conditioning programs have built in de-load weeks every 4-5 weeks to allow for mental and physical recovery.  This is both normal and smart for developing long term gains.  Understanding CrossFit and long term health and fitness can make your training much less stressful.  Most of us are not professional athletes and so our needs are much different.

I am currently on the downside of a training cycle, meaning that I am not as strong and fit as I was 4 months ago.  The truth is, I haven’t done a CrossFit workout in almost 3 months!  Why do you ask?  Well, I have been very busy behind the scenes with the business and when I have free time, I decide to spend it surfing, climbing, biking and playing with gymnastics instead of forcing myself to train.  I am not scared or concerned because I have gone through this many times and I am still fit and healthy….just not as much as 4 months ago.  I know that when I come back to train, my mind and body will be ready to rebuild and become even fitter than before.  This is the nature of things.  Everything moves in cycles.

There is one very important thing to understand about this: my nutrition never takes time off.  If I am not “in training” I want to make sure that I pay attention to what I eat.  This is one of the biggest comments I make to people that are having trouble making it into the gym regularly.  Too often, what we see is the exact opposite; people take time off of the gym and they eat like shit.  That is one very important reason that everyone should learn more about their nutrition and learn to enjoy eating foods that maintain their health and fitness.

My plan for the EIE challenge is to first rebuild the muscle that I have lost through a focused muscle building program.  Once I have done that, I will incorporate more Olympic Lifting into my program, still with limited CrossFit workouts and 2 days per week of sprint intervals to build a baseline for conditioning.  Before you know it, the New Year will be upon us and the CrossFit Games open will be a couple months away.  This is when my CrossFit training will kick into high gear so that I hopefully peak for the Open and I have my best finish yet!  That is of course, if life doesn’t get in the way first:)