Friday 31 October 2008

Thursday

7 power snatches
7 pullups
run 170 metres
7 rounds

This was quite hard on the hands-lots of pulling-was pleased to get this shot of Abi and Emily-nice high shoulders on these-we're seeing some very interesting headgear too!

My apologies to Paul-we believe his time was 16 something-sorry dude :(

Posted by Picasa

Wednesday

21 push press
21 swings
run 300

5 rounds

It turned into a swear fest-frreezing cold for the runs too.
Cool beanie though.
Posted by Picasa

Wednesday 29 October 2008

Emma's birthday

Another birthday and I promised Emma D I wouldnt reveal her age-all I can say is we did 5 of one thing, 15 of another, 5 of something else and finally 10 of something completely different-for 6 rounds-and no she wasn't 6!
Posted by Picasa

Tuesday 28 October 2008

Monday

Yesterday was 400m x4 with two minutes rest between each-no exciting photos of people running-here instead is my niece and nephew wearing dresses-doesn't George make a nice Cinderella?

Posted by Picasa

A spot of light blogging

Whats been going on? Well friday was dead lifts, 7x1 (or maybe an 8th if there was gas left) We saw pretty much pbs all round-including Lou shown here.
In the 2nd shot Emma D is trying out baby box-a new piece of fine carpentry for the less advanced box jumper
Chrissie is working her back squat for high reps in the last shot-nice.

Posted by Picasa

Friday 24 October 2008

Boot camp

Yesterday was very simple
25 pressups then run 400 metres, 5 rounds.
Simon is seen modelling his new Army style t shirt-and what a bargain it was!
Posted by Picasa

Thursday 23 October 2008

Nasty girls+boys

Simon and Holly did "nasty girls" yesterday, 7 muscle ups (we scaled these to jumping) 10 power cleans and 50 squats-three rounds.
I first did this WOD with Karl at Manchester-it is an absolute ass kicker-but strangely one of my favourites-nice work!
Simon got 21.05
Holly got 11.15.

Posted by Picasa

What I want part 3

Helen
Run 400
21 swings
12 pullups
3 rounds

Look at that swing-when I ask for overhead-this is what I expect-this young lady has been a client for a little over three weeks-the results and dedication I've seen so far are just excellent! Proud of you.
Posted by Picasa

What I want part 2

Received this from Stephen-one of the nine people that reads my verging on mid life crisis rambles:

Hi Mate, Just reading your blog about the use of arms in the sit-up and had some comments;

Doesn't it largely depend on the workout though? If you watch some of the videos posted by the main site "firebreathers", many of them throw their arms forward in a sit-ups for time workout and many even kip at the hip to derive more speed. If the goal is metcon then surely using the arms is no different to using kipping pull-ups compared to dead-hang. The power output is far increased due to the speed exhibited and the ROM at the hips is still full. Indeed even on the mainsite FAQ there is a video of Speal doing Annie in which he clearly kips the sit-up (both arms and hips) and it is further discussed on the board (by those who know rather than the chaff) that this is fine because the goal is speed, power and metcon rather than pure form.

You also ask "does it improve athletic performace" and again, it can be argued that yes, it does but depends wholly on how that performance is defined. Is performance defined by how well the exercise is performed when compared to perfect form or is it how quickly the workout/prescribed goals are achieved?

This is one of my bugbears with CrossFit as a whole actually: Coach talks about perfect form in our exercises but more often than not this is the first thing sacrificed in the quest for a faster Fran or Nicole. In many of the lifting elements perfect form is absolutely required because this IS the best way to get the job done, but for the BW exercises it seems to be a case of do whatever works for you so long as you fulfil the reuirements of the exercise (pull-ups with chin/neck above bar, sit-ups with reclined position at start, seated at end).

I guess it all comes back to the definition on what is and isn't valid technique, and for the most part I agree, a correct sit-up should be unassisted by momentum from the arms, but for the CrossFit metcon WODs surely it should be allowed. In the official CFWU on the other hand, strict form should be emphasised in all reps.

Be interested in hearing your thoughts (even if just to call me a moron) ;)

Talk to you soon

Stephen.

Stephen makes some valid points-yes arms can be flung forwards to increase the speed of the sit up-and a hip bump can again be used to speed up this movement-however I feel that one of the reasons we do a stricter form of situp is to increase core strength.

When a client first starts all they may be able to do is a crunch (bluh) but we aim to progress towards a full situp, if the client is always allowed to fling their arms up -they will never progress and our aim is to increase core strength and allow them to appreciate this as a part of their training-it's not all about speed and finishing fastest-perfect form combined with intensity is what we strive to achieve.

I hope Stephen doesnt mind me publishing this-and if he does-he's a moron!

Tuesday 21 October 2008

What I want

I am, largely a pain-I ask things of people to get the best out of them, the best athletic performance, the best form, the best nutrition, and as I can be a bit of a boring sod I go on about it (as I am now)-but this is is important to me to get the best from my clients.


Our model here-lets call her "Jane" is showing what I'm on about. We use Abmats-I feel they're a useful tool in building core strength-ok they're not an overhead squat-but they support the lumber region -however they are not fool proof.

Jane here is showing the different ways to fling your arms overhead to assist the momentum of the sit up and thus make it easier-and-as we work for time-quicker. This twinned with the "hip bump" increases the turnover of the sit up-but does it improve atheletic performance?-No.

So what do we do? We insist on the correct form-as Jane is demonstrating in the third picture-keeping the arms low and pushing them through the frogged legs-not easy-but-and I quote "

"No, it doesn't ever get any easier. You wouldn't want it to either." - Greg Glassman


Posted by Picasa

Sunday 19 October 2008

Saturday

Filthy fifty-pretty much the same from the main site-we lost the knees to elbows-and ditched the double unders too-We'd have been there all day waiting on those-All did great work throught this-I've never seen group Tourettes before either.

Posted by Picasa

Friday 17 October 2008

Heavy overheads

Holly and I played around with overhead squats this afternoon-saw a couple of bails but got PB's too-well done Hol.
Posted by Picasa

Friday

Quite a simple wod really-no rounds-ascending descending or otherwise-took the basis of Jackie but removed the pullup and replaced it with a swing instead-gone for a black and white look today-one of my pt's is a photographer and he suggested it-mean and moody-it makes the floor look flatter too!
Posted by Picasa

Thursday 16 October 2008

Thursday

Adapted the protocol of Cindy today-well partly-5 pullups, 10 pressups, run 170 yards, and as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes-it was pretty horific actually!
Posted by Picasa

Wednesday 15 October 2008

Henry Rollins

Read this piece a long time ago-I still like it.
It was first published in Details magazine January 1993



"When I was young I had no sense of myself. All I was, was a product of all the fear and humiliation I suffered. Fear of my parents. The humiliation of teachers calling me "garbage can" and telling me I'd be mowing lawns for a living. And the very real terror of my fellow students. I was threatened and beaten up for the color of my skin and my size. I was skinny and clumsy, and when others would tease me I didn't run home crying, wondering why. I knew all too well. I was there to be antagonized. In sports I was laughed at. A spaz. I was pretty good at boxing but only because the rage that filled my every waking moment made me wild and unpredictable. I fought with some strange fury. The other boys thought I was crazy.

I hated myself all the time. As stupid at it seems now, I wanted to talk like them, dress like them, carry myself with the ease of knowing that I wasn't going to get pounded in the hallway between classes.

Years passed and I learned to keep it all inside. I only talked to a few boys in my grade. Other losers. Some of them are to this day the greatest people I have ever known. Hang out with a guy who has had his head flushed down a toilet a few times, treat him with respect, and you'll find a faithful friend forever. But even with friends, school sucked. Teachers gave me hard time. I didn't think much of them either.

Then came Mr. Pepperman, my adviser. He was a powerfully built Vietnam veteran, and he was scary. No one ever talked out of turn in his class. Once one kid did and Mr. P. lifted him off the ground and pinned him to the blackboard.

Mr. P. could see that I was in bad shape, and one Friday in October he asked me if I had ever worked out with weights. I told him no. He told me that I was going to take some of the money that I had saved and buy a hundred-pound set of weights at Sears. As I left his office, I started to think of things I would say to him on Monday when he asked about the weights that I was not going to buy. Still, it made me feel special. My father never really got that close to caring. On Saturday I bought the weights, but I couldn't even drag them to my mom's car. An attendant laughed at me as he put them on a dolly.

Monday came and I was called into Mr. P.'s office after school. He said that he was going to show me how to work out. He was going to put me on a program and start hitting me in the solar plexus in the hallway when I wasn't looking. When I could take the punch we would know that we were getting somewhere. At no time was I to look at myself in the mirror or tell anyone at school what I was doing.

In the gym he showed me ten basic exercises. I paid more attention than I ever did in any of my classes. I didn't want to blow it. I went home that night and started right in. Weeks passed, and every once in a while Mr. P. would give me a shot and drop me in the hallway, sending my books flying. The other students didn't know what to think. More weeks passed, and I was steadily adding new weights to the bar. I could sense the power inside my body growing. I could feel it.

Right before Christmas break I was walking to class, and from out of nowhere Mr. Pepperman appeared and gave me a shot in the chest. I laughed and kept going. He said I could look at myself now. I got home and ran to the bathroom and pulled off my shirt. I saw a body, not just the shell that housed my stomach and my heart. My biceps bulged. My chest had definition. I felt strong. It was the first time I can remember having a sense of myself. I had done something and no one could ever take it away. You couldn't say shit to me.

It took me years to fully appreciate the value of the lessons I have learned from the Iron. I used to think that it was my adversary, that I was trying to lift that which does not want to be lifted. I was wrong. When the Iron doesn't want to come off the mat, it's the kindest thing it can do for you. If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it wouldn't teach you anything. That's the way the Iron talks to you. It tells you that the material you work with is that which you will come to resemble. That which you work against will always work against you.

It wasn't until my late twenties that I learned that by working out I had given myself a great gift. I learned that nothing good comes without work and a ceratin amount of pain. When I finish a set that leaves me shaking, I know more about myself. When something gets bad, I know it can't be as bad as that workout.

I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me: pain is not my enemy; it is my call to greatness. But when dealing with the Iron, one must be careful to interpret the pain correctly. Most injuries involving the Iron come from ego. I once spent a few weeks lifting weight that my body wasn't ready for and spent a few months not picking up anything heavier than a fork. Try to lift what you're not prepared to and the Iron will teach you a little lesson in restraint and self-control.

I have never met a truly strong person who didn't have self-respect. I think a lot of inwardly and outwardly directed contempt passes itself off as self-respect: the idea of raising yourself by stepping on someone's shoulders instead of doing it yourself. When I see guys working out for cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the worst way, as cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and insecurity. Strength reveals itself through character. It is the difference between bouncers who get off strong-arming people and Mr. Pepperman.

Muscle mass does not always equal strength. Strength is kindness and sensitivity. Strength is understanding that your power is both physical and emotional. That it comes from the body and the mind. And the heart.

Yukio Mishima said that he could not entertain the idea of romance if he was not strong. Romance is such a strong and overwhelming passion, a weakened body cannot sustain it for long. I have some of my most romantic thoughts when I am with the Iron. Once I was in love with a woman. I thought about her the most when the pain from a workout was racing through my body. Everything in me wanted her. So much so that sex was only a fraction of my total desire. It was the single most intense love I have ever felt, but she lived far away and I didn't see her very often. Working out was a healthy way of dealing with the loneliness. To this day, when I work out I usually listen to ballads.

I prefer to work out alone. It enables me to concentrate on the lessons that the Iron has for me. Learning about what you're made of is always time well spent, and I have found no better teacher. The Iron had taught me how to live.

Life is capable of driving you out of your mind. The way it all comes down these days, it's some kind of miracle if you're not insane. People have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole. I see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban homes. They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the Iron mind.

Through the years, I have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into a single strength. I believe that when the body is strong, the mind thinks strong thoughts. Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind degenerate. I wallow in a thick depression. My body shuts down my mind. The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it's impossible to turn back.

The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you're a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds."

Wednesday

"I want a rich tea biscuit"
10 deadlits
50 situps
8 deadlifts
40 situps
6 deadlifts
30 situps
4 deadlifts
20 situps
2 deadlifts
10 situps

The ideal weight for this was 90kg for boys and 60kg for girls-we scaled it as necessary-Louise here did a great job with 40kg in only her third week-most excellent.

Posted by Picasa

Birthday boy

Alex was 23 today-special present-23 muscle ups! 11.07 nice work Al.
Posted by Picasa

Tuesday

We did a bit of a mash up yesterday-the basic wod was 21 press and 21 good mornings for 7 rounds, but we scaled it for some and team worked it for others. It worked quite well actually.

Posted by Picasa