Posts from — November 2009

As many of you know I’m not a huge fan of kettlebells. Regardless, Pavel Tsatsouline (guy who brought KBs to the US) knows his stuff:

The key to continued athletic improvement is doing things that are “the same, but different”.

Example: Want to work on your Press? Get really good at handstands. Want to work on your box jumps? Learn how to do double unders.

Westside Barbell. The best.

“Environment beats programming”

-Dave Tate

Great quote. Think about how hard it is to train hard at Gold’s Gym with spin class going on next to you. Now think about how easy it is to train hard when everyone around you is training hard.

Next time you think about “doing some strength work” in your garage on your own, recognize that you are going to be missing a lot.

Normal Monday 5pm WOD

For those that have asked, here is the latest on what I eat everyday:

Breakfast: 5PRO, 2CHO, 9FAT

Lunch: 4PRO, 2 CHO, 9FAT

Snack: 2 PRO, 2CHO, 4 FAT

Dinner: 5PRO, 2CHO, 9 FAT

Post WOD: 40grams of PRO, 25-50grams of CHO depending on WOD

Total: 16PRO, 8CHO, 31 FAT (I don’t count post WOD food into block count)

———–

I think some people might get the impression from reading this, that I enjoy eating this way. Not true at all.

Honestly, I absolutely hate it. If it was my choice, I’d eat waffles for breakfast, an italian sub for lunch, and a 16oz. steak for dinner. I would throw my food scale out the window, light it on fire, and watch it burn while eating a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.

Here’s the truth though. As much as I would love to eat whatever I wanted, I love winning more. I don’t like half assing things. I’ve committed myself to getting as fit as possible and doing well in competition. It is impossible to reach my potential without a high degree of nutritional rigor.

Now you have to decide which do you love more, eating whatever you want or fulfilling your potential?

“If people only knew how hard I work to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.” – Michelangelo Buonarroti

Crossfit’s founding statement is “Constantly varied, functional movement, performed at high intensity”. All three parts are important, but I’m just going to address the first part here, “constantly varied”.  How can you make your training more constantly varied?

- Use dumbbells

-Use kettlebells

-WOD at different times of the day

-WOD more than once in a day

-Use sandbags

- WOD with an empty stomach

-WOD with a full stomach

-Pair of shoes (Olympic, Chucks, sneakers)

- Pull up bar thickness

-Barbell thickness

- Jump rope type

- Running route

-Workout with different people

- Get to your pullup bar from a box instead of jumping

-Don’t use chalk

-Tape your hands and wrists

-etc.

———————-

Why does this matter? For most run of the mill CFers it doesn’t make too much of a difference. However, for those of you with an eye on competition, this is terribly important. I’ve seen lots and lots of people who didn’t do well because “This isn’t my jumprope” or “I didn’t have any chalk”. You aren’t always going to workout in the afternoon, on an empty stomach, with your bar, with your friends, and your rope.

Find the variables. Mix them up.

Great coach gettin it done.

As I slowly gather more and more experience, I think I’ve finally figured out the nicest thing that a coach can do for someone. Be totally honest. Let me explain.

I have contact all the time with people who don’t have an honest assessment of where they stand. Myself included. I’ll delude myself for weeks at a time about where I’m at physically. Case in point, last year before Aromas, I said to myself “Oh I’ll be ready for the hill run”. Bullshit. I should have weighed and measured for an extended period of time to lean out a little more…. then I’d have been more ready for the hill.

Here is the kicker though. The truth hurts.

Do I really want to hear someone say, “You need to weigh and measure for 3 weeks. No more eyeballing.” No. It is a lot easier to just say “I’ve always been a bad runner”.

Do you really want to hear me say you need to gain 30 lbs? No. It is a lot easier to just say “I’ve always had weak legs”.

Do you really want to hear me say you need to lose 20 lbs? No. It is a lot easier to just say “I just can’t get the hang of kipping pullups”.

Do you really want to hear me say you are shooting yourself in the foot every Friday and Saturday night with alcohol? No. It is a lot easier to just say “I eat perfect Monday through Friday”.

———————

So here is my promise. If you give me permission, I’ll be totally honest with you. If you don’t want me to do this, that’s fine. However, if you do give me the green light, I’ll tell you exactly where I think you are at as an athlete.

———————

What prompted this post? I got some great feedback on my coaching style from a coach I admire. No bullshit. No sugarcoating. Just honest appraisal. Trust me…. it helps.

“The palest ink is better than the best of memories.”

- Tommy Kono

Do you keep a training log?

Why not?

A fellow Crossfitter recently asked me examine what value I hold as a coach. We are considering beginning a coaching relationship, and we are discussing what value I can add. Here is my simple explanation:

An expert is someone who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.

What is my narrow field? Transforming mediocre Crossfitters into above average ones. I’ve been doing Crossfit for a long time. I was always a solid athlete growing up, but never the best. Through a ton of experimentation over the last several years, I’m proud of the level of fitness I have achieved and currently maintain.

Case in point: One of my first Crossfit Workouts was 50 clean and jerks for time with 95 lbs. It took me eleven minutes and twenty three seconds. When I was done, I had to physically carry my arms against my chest because I couldn’t lift them. I sat on the floor for about 30 minutes in pain. It was bad situation.

I’ve tried that workout a couple times since to gauge where I’m at. I stopped doing it last year when I started approaching the 60 second mark. Why am I telling you this, besides to stroke my own ego?

I wasn’t in good shape….now I am. I went from bad to medium to good.

Here are a few of the paths I’ve taken, both in my own journey and with those I have helped. From each of these paths, I’ve learned a ton:

-Done too much running

- Avoided running for months

-Not slept enough

-Slept too much

-Not eaten enough

-Eaten too much

-Only worked on weaknesses and got in trouble

-Avoided weaknesses like the plague

-Too much supplemental work

-Not enough supplemental work

————
This list goes on and on. Why does this matter? It matters because I want to help you. Email, phone calls, videos, private sessions, groups sessions. Whatever, we’ll make it work.

I’ve been in your shoes. I know how to get from where you are to Aromas, California.

You’re right, I’m not free. Sorry about that. I value my time…and equally as important, I value  your time. If it doesn’t work, stop doing it. But for the love of everything holy, do something. Anything. Just not the same thing over and over and expect different results.

Final point: You might get to where you want to be without me. No doubt about that. But I’ll guarantee it’ll take longer. Maybe a lot longer- and who wants to make all the same mistakes and waste all the time that I did?

The Saudi air force has bombed strongholds of Houthi fighters in northern Yemen, officials have said. The attack on Thursday came a day after Saudi authorities accused the fighters, who want autonomy from Sana’a, of killing at least one of their soldiers on the countries’ border. The Reuters news agency reported Saudi officials as saying that the air force had attacked fighters who had seized a border area, killing about 40 Houthis.

——-

I think this shows Yemen’s internal problem turning into an even larger international one. Anybody wanna bet that Iran has a hand in supporting these Shi’a rebels to piss off the Saudis?

So let’s do a little mental exercise.

Pretend some Crossfit competition (sectional, regional, or national games) just happened yesterday. You didn’t reach your goal. Either you didn’t qualify, didn’t complete all the WODs, or just fell short in some regard. Tell me why. I’ll start.

———–

I failed to accomplish my goals yesterday. The three WODs that came out of the hopper were 5K Trail Run, Front Squat and Ring Dip AMRAP, and a long bodyweight chipper. I took 12th out if 70 on the chipper, 18th on the Ring Dip Front Squat Couplet, and 33 out of 70 on the 5K. Because I had been doing my own programing, I see now that I hadn’t done anything with light weight or lasting over 15 minutes in almost 4 months. The ring dips smoked me, but was able to make up some ground on the front squats. I thought that I was ready for this. I PR’D on almost every named WOD I attempted in the months leading up to this. I felt a little heavy during all of the body weight movements. Maybe this is because I only really locked in my nutrition 3 weeks before the competion. Oh well there is always next year.

————

There is a funny story about how a rich guy once mistakenly read his obituary in the newspaper. He saw how everyone viewed him, and spent the next 20 years of his life becoming one of the most famous philanthropists in the world. He changed his obituary.

Here is the important part: After you write your “obituary”, sit down and think how you are going to change it.What is the next physical action you are going to take to make sure what you wrote doesn’t happen?