The 4 Horsemen

Get loose!

2010-09-07T11:35:00.001-04:00

http://mobilitywod.blogspot.com/

A great place to work on stretching, joint mobility and coolness.

Do you or a loved one suffer from ELS?

2010-02-24T18:23:00.000-05:00

http://www.fitnessspotlight.com/2009/3/4/gym-guygalplease/

So funny but true.

You have to earn it!

2010-02-23T01:01:00.003-05:00

http://sportatitsbest.com/2010/02/20/jon-montgomery-vs-martins-dukars/

A few great quotes from the article:

In the words of the former Crazy Canuck, Jungle Jim Hunter, “too many athletes want to win by default,” as opposed to earning their results.

Martins Dukurs having had an incredible race markedly increases the value of Jon’s medal – maybe not to the public at large, but to Jon. If he won gold because Martins had an equipment failure, it wouldn’t have meant what it does.

There are far to many people (especially my generation and younger) that think things should just be given to them. Whether it be a better grade, a promotion or even a favor, this sense of entitlement is really starting to piss me off. You can not expect to get anywhere or see any results if you do not put in the time and effort required. Sometimes you might even have to do more than the bare minimum to get ahead!

Get your butt off the couch and start training because if you want it, you'll have to earn it!

Adaptation - why your old program doesn't work as good as it used to!

2010-02-21T15:14:00.008-05:00

Scenerio 1: The Weightlifter

I hear it all the time, "Oh man, my program rocks! I'm getting so big and strong! My bench is up like 20lbs in two weeks". Two months later I'll check back and it is always the same "Yeah, things are going well I'm getting bigger for sure." but when I ask how much they're numbers are increasing it is usually 20-30# above what it used to be, but it hasn't gone up any in the last 2-3 weeks. Usually in about 2-3 months they have plateaued doing there 3 sets of 10 or 15 and the 21's for the guns routines. At best they get a little bit bigger and a tiny bit stronger (on their 1rm). They can bench 135 for 15 but only 185 for 1.

Scenerio 2:

They start doing high intensity workouts that only use light weights - P90x, Jazzercise, bootcamps. Now depending on the degree of couch potatoeness the atheletes will usually dramatic results for the first 2-3 month, good results of the next 3 months , ok results for the next 3 months and then minimal increases after that. eg. 1 Mile time goes from 11min to 8:30min to 7:15 to 6:45 to 6:40 to 6:38.

Now getting off you butt is good and doing something/anything is better than nothing. Now that being sad there is a reason that your current/old programs suck. It all starts off well because you are putting a stress on your body that it is not accustomed to and as a result your body needs to adapt to that change resulting in your increased speed/strength. But if this stress is the same - 3x10's or just body/light weight metcons, your body will adapt to it and you will stop experiencing gains. Now during this early period you will also benefit from increasing your muscle memory - the more you do a movement, the more efficient you learn to do it. Most of the time gains in metcons at 6-9 months in are due to this effect. Your stamina increases dramatically the first few months but during this time you are very exhausted during the workout and your form is crappy, making you inefficient. 6 months later your stamina is better and you are able to keep your form tighter and you start to become efficient in the movements. Doing a burpee 0.2 sec faster each rep over 50 reps is a 10 secs decrease in your overall time. Is your "cardio" better - no! Are you more efficient - yes! Are you therefore fitter - sure! Now efficiency is a topic for a different day but an important concept nonetheless.

Back to Adaptation - A good program is one that requires the body to adapt to new stressers and allows the body enough time and the ability to recover from the stress resulting in the ability to do more. Basically you need to do enough so that the body has to change/adapt but not so much that adaptation is impossible or too little that no adaptation is neccessary. The tricky part is that the amount of stress required for the change to occur and the amount of rest required before you have improved will change constantly during your training career.

For weight lifters - Use "starting strength", then move on to the "Texas method" then to a more advanced protocol. As you plateau you need to change the program accordingly nothing lasts for ever and what works for an advanced athlete will not work for a beginner and vice versa.

For P90Xers - Keep the exercises in your workouts varied and start introducing heavier weights. Switch to scaled Crossfit.com style workouts then try the real thing. For those long time body weight/light weight Crossfiters start getting heavier or increasing the difficulty of the body weight exercises try handstand pushups instead of regular. Do Fran at 115#, you can lower the reps at first to keep the volume similar to what you are used to. Your body will adapt and you will be stronger and faster. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable or risk being content with being scaled.

*Side Note: Doing 1000+ air squats in row is probably the dumbest thing you can do in your training as the stress is so high that there is no way you will see any gains after recovery in fact you will most likely see a lose in your abilities. Excessive/insane feats of strength will result in instant overtraining!

A Successful WinterLift

2010-02-14T14:22:00.002-05:00

On Saturday I competed at Winterlift in Sarnia. Here is a summary of what worked out to be a third placed finish in the 77kg weight class. BWT 76.1kg; Snatch: 1-84kg, 2-89kg(miss), 3-90kg; Clean&Jerk: 1-109, 2-115, 3-119; Total: 209kg. Big thanks to Bryan Marshall and Hani Kanama from Toronto Weightlifting for all their help, tips and great advice. I would also like to thank Larry, Miel, Stella, Jeff, Glenn, Rick, Justin, Robyn, and everyone else for the cheers and support.

The First Pull

2010-01-17T23:45:00.006-05:00

First off, the snatch and the clean are not like the deadlift, technique for one is not the same for the other. The basic principle applies to both the snatch and clean but for simplicity I will only discuss the snatch, for which the setup is obviously different from the clean. To setup for the snatch first walk up to bar so it touches your shins, with feet hip width apart. Grip the bar so that it will pop right out of your hip crease during the second pull (about 2" below the belly button when standing). you can point the toes out and flair your knees out slightly to allow you to get closer to the bar with a more upright back position. Make sure you breathe in deeply and hold it in your belly when you get into this position so your core is tight. The first pull must be initiated with leg drive. From the setup you use only your legs to lift the bar, maintaining your original back angle until the bar reaches the top of your knees (legs will straighten continuously). It is a common mistake to initiate the lift by elevating the butt causing the legs to straighten and the back to become horizontal as the bar reaches the knees. The problem with this alignment is that the butt must drop and tension released in the hamstring (huge power loss) so that "rebend" of the knees may occur to get the bar in the correct position for the second pull.

What not to do-

What to do -

Crossfit Chilliwack

2010-01-14T22:08:00.005-05:00

Over the Christmas Holidays I spent 3 weeks training at the new box in my hometown. I had a great time at Crossfit Chilliwack with a bunch of great people! I can't wait to get back and see how they've grown.

Crossfit Taranis

2010-01-04T20:02:00.003-05:00

Over the holidays I went to Victoria to visit Ben "Famine" Wheeler aka Wheels. We did a lovely 5km row at Crossfit Taranis. This box is huge! Best of luck to Ben and his training endeavors at his new box. I'm sure you'll have a tonne of clients in no time. I look forward to seeing him at the regionals in Calgary.

Happy New Years!

2010-01-01T01:01:00.003-05:00

It's New Year's Eve remember to celebrate in style and get your groove on!

Now is a great time to make your goals for the coming year or at least the next 3 months. Make it attainable and make it real put a number to it. Pick 3 for each catagory - strength, work, skills

My goals for 2010

Strength:

1. Squat 400lbs

2. Deadlift 420#

3. Snatch 100kg

Work:

1. a 6 min Mile

2. 1/2 angie in 6 min

3. 15 rnds of Mary

Skills

1. 100 DUs in a row

2. 3 sec Front lever

3. 10 full HSPU on Parallettes (shoulders to thumbs)

Workouts

2009-12-18T20:05:00.003-05:00

Keep lean and mean over the holidays!

Workouts can now be found at:
www.4horsemenweightlifting.blogspot.com

or alternatively at
www.crossfit.com or www.crossfitfootball.com
www.performancemenu.com
www.optimumperformancetraining.blogspot.com/
www.coachrut.blogspot.com

Check out my SAC!

2009-12-10T16:08:00.002-05:00

http://www.londonlegiontrack.ca/Home_Page.php

Training at Powerplay

2009-12-07T14:51:00.003-05:00

I have become tired of working out at campus rec. as it is too busy, too crowded and lacks proper equipment. I will now be doing Crossfit, O-lifting and strength workouts at Power Play Training Centre (865 Florence street, London, ON N6G 5W5). They have all the equipment I need to do any workout I wish (2 full O-lift sets/platforms/racks, GHD, Back ext, pullup station, kettlebells dumbbells, barbells and weights a plenty, box jumps, a 40 yrd indoor track, treadmills, bikes, med-balls, etc. and I'm bringing a C2 rower, some rings and a few other goodies that I will leave at the gym for general use). I have a deal setup with the manager Ryan for anyone that is interested it's $50/month and you can come by whenever they are open but they do run training sessions throughout the day so it can be a little busy at times especially 6-8:30pm (though the O-lifting platforms are usually free at this time) . I train at lunch time 12:30-1:30pm since that is their slow time (we had the whole place to ourselves today), so if you want to join me and Brad for a workout drop on by or give us a shout and we can car pool from Western.

*Additional Note* - Winterlift is in Sarnia on February 13th, 2010 and Crossfit Sectionals are in Toronto March 20-21st, 2010. It's never too late to start preparing so get out and work hard!

Killin' it For a Cure!

2009-10-31T21:39:00.003-04:00

October is breast cancer awareness month and today I had a chance to participate in the "Killin' it for a Cure" fundraiser at Crossfit Will County. It was a fun event consisting of a team WOD. Teams of two had to complete the following: 3rnds of 20 Clean&Jerk 135#, 40 Kettlebell swings 53#, 30 pullups. My partner Mike (Crossfit Naperville) and I finished the task in 13:25, here's a pic of the two of us post workout.

Crossfit Chicago

2009-10-31T20:49:00.007-04:00

I had a few hours off from doing research at the APS so I dropped in to Crossfit Chicago on Friday. Little did I know I would be in for a little treat called "Linda" aka 3 bars of death! Good bunch of guys/gals and a puppy make up this quaint little box. Coach Rudy Tapalla ran the WOD while Coach Bryce Wood motivated and spotted me through out the workout. I had a great time guys and I look forward to sporting my new crossfit chicago t-shirt.

Good Crossfit - Bad Crossfit

2009-10-31T16:59:00.004-04:00

There are a lot of crossfits out there, some are good and some are bad!

http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ_Handson_DilutingTheBrand.pdf

The truth is that people who offer great Crossfit or other services will do exceptionally well and people who offer mediocre crossfit will still do ok. The reason being is that even poorly executed crossfit programming and functional movements provide a better workout that 90% of the programs / globo gyms / personal trainers out there. The magic is in the movements, even when those movements are not done exactly as they should be. It seems wierd but it is the truth. There are 1000's of people a month becoming new crossfit trainers and opening up their own affliates who know nothing about how to train people. Some of these will do well as coaches and others not so well but hopefully they will be constantly learning how to be better coaches and that makes all the difference. All good coaches and trainers started off as amateurs before they became all-stars it just takes time. New unqualified trainers will unfortunately injure a client or two but this will hopefully remind them to keep improving their knowledge in exercise physiology, biomechanics, olympic lifting, etc. I have trained at a lot of bad crossfits, some get better everytime I go back and some don't. The only good thing is that eventually there will be 5-10 Crossfits in every big city and 2-4 in every small town and the crappy crossfits will all be weeded out.

Alec Hanson from Crossfit Costa Mesa says it best (CFJ article )- "A great trainer is someone who inspires those they train. They create new opportunities for their members. They push them and encourage them and are invested in their lives and their success. If they are bad trainers, their clients will either get hurt, hit plateaus or realize they don’t really know anything and leave."

For all new trainers I think it is important for them to stick with what they know and slowly expand their knowledge. People can get very fit doing 4rnds of 400m run, 50 air squats or 3rnds of 30 pushups, 50 situps. Sometimes less is more (effective and safe)! Use the tools you have and then build from there. As your clients grow so will their needs and your coaching will have to follow suit because if you can't keep up they will leave. If you can't do a clean and jerk or if you don't know the proper way to teach the movement then you can't expect your clients to perform them in the workout. When you have some idea of how the C&J goes you can put it into the programming at low weight for high reps and when you have a solid foundation of the C&J you can start to get your clients lifting heavy singles. (This is the same reason I don't teach people how to do backflips.)

So which is worse, doing crossfit.com by yourself (can't see form) at a Globo Gym or working out at a Crappy Crossfit (doing horrible programming)? The answer is different for everyone for me it's the crappy crossfit but for someone who doesn't know the movements correctly it is the globo gym. Either way both are better than the typical "back and bicept" day followed by 30 min of cardio when trying to get fit.

Keep functional, keep fit!

Trainers - Keep learning you never know enough and keep up to the needs of your clients or lose them!

Athletes - If you are not seeing results or you find yourself getting hurt/injured find a new trainer!

Practise Your Gynmastics!

2009-10-05T20:29:00.003-04:00

Williston working on an iron cross hold on the rings

Bodyweight strength is extremely important. The ability to control your body on a frictionless plane involves tonnes and tonnes of muscles throughout the entire body! Start with holding yourself up on the rings for 10, 20, 30sec up to 1-2 min. You can then start working on being inverted on the rings, "skin the cat", muscle-ups and finally back/front lever progressions. Progressions are the key! Don't just jump into a highly skilled move, go through each step until you can start combining them in the final product. Other progressions like the one seen above allow you to shorten the lever on which the forces act, therefore making it slightly easier to perform. So Practise your gymnastics and you will become a machine!

Take your workouts to go!

2009-09-25T16:22:00.000-04:00

The following is a list of workouts that can be performed on the road, away from the gym. Look for pieces of the environment that can be used as equipment ie. benches (for box jumps), retaining walls (for box jumps), tree branches (for pullups), big stones (for "kettlebell" swings, press or thrusters) etc.

21-15-9 of Squats and Pushups rest 2-3 min and repeat as necessary.

100 burpees

Max rounds in 20 min of: 5 pushups, 10 situps, 15 squats

400m run x 4-6 (rest 2-5 min in between)

1 mile run, rest 5 min, 1 mile run

4 rnds for time of: 50 squats, 400m Run

3 rnds for time of: 20 burpees, 50 situps

100 pushups, 100 situps, 100 squats

5 rnds of: 15 clapping pushups, 25 hollow rock, 35 jumping squats

400m walking lunges

tabata (20s work, 10s rest) pushups, situps, burpees, squats

5 rnds of: 1 min Handstand, 10 pistols

10 rnds of: 100m sprint, 10 burpees, rest 1 min

3 rnds of: 200m run, 30 squats, 20m bear crawl, 10 burpees, 20m bear crawl

50-40-30-20-10 tuck jumps and situps/V-ups

21-15-9 Handstand pushups and pushups

3 rnds of: 20 squats, 15 burpee broad jumps, rest 2min

3 rnds of: 50 supermans, 50 situps

5 rnds of: 10 pushups, 10 jumps for height, 200 m sprint
2min rest
5rnds of: 10 pushups, 10 broad jumps, 200m sprint

Practise your Gymnastics:
Handsprings
Handstands
Elbow levers
Flags
Tumbles/rolls
L-sits
and all the one arm/leg and straddle/tuck variations

Go Hiking!

Go Swimming!

Go Bike riding!

Go Running!

Rings, or a jump rope are small enough to fit in your suitcase and will add even more variety to your workouts.

Calgary Trip

2009-09-25T12:19:00.003-04:00

At the beginning of this month I had a chance to visit two kick ass crossfits - Crossfit Calgary and Crossfit Cowtown both located in Calgary NW and only minutes away from my sisters place. I was able to meet all time Crossfit great James "OPT" FitzGerald and join his morning class for a good butt kick. It is always great to train with great trainers, I always pick up some good tips on training and coaching. I spent most of my time in Calgary at the new Crossfit Cowtown box - owned by my friends Sean and Dani - Sean crushed me with a few killer WODs and we had a good time getting things ready for their grand opening on international bacon day. These new kids on the block are eager, ready and determined to make it big! Trainers with passion like this are hard to come by. I look forward to seeing where they are when I return next summer.

New Blog

2009-09-21T12:17:00.001-04:00

As of now I have moved over to a new blog where I will talk about nutrition and related issues. Check it out! Eat, Sleep, Fast!

FGB IV

2009-09-14T17:08:00.006-04:00

Join the fight now! Fight Gone Bad IV will go down on Saturday, September 26th at around 6pm in the 4Horsemen Garage. Come out, have fun and show your support for prostate cancer research and the Wounded Warrior project. There is still time sign up or to DONATE!

Vegan vs. Carnivore

2009-09-14T11:41:00.002-04:00

Thoughts? Comments?

Get Outdoors

2009-08-30T01:40:00.005-04:00

(Flying sideways off a tree and over a ledge at Lindeman Lake, BC.)

Just do something fun and outdoors! It's summer time get off your butt and go hiking, swimming, running, etc. you can even try some gymnastics (just remember that nature's equipment is not as structurally sound as engineered equipment ie. the structural integrity of cedar bark is not enough to support a flag from a 165# individual - see pic). Getting some fresh air and a little sun it will do you good.

Elbow lever - Place hands facing backwards on object. Stab elbows into stomach on either side of belly button. Lift head and legs slowly until straight. Open elbow angle to bring body horizontal. (Tutorial)

t-shirts

2009-08-23T20:15:00.005-04:00

T-shirts are coming! The crest will be on the back, the front will have Conquest, Death, Famine and War around the collar. Does anyone want a saying on the back as well? Add your sayings to the comments section.

eg.
"the iron never lies"
"FIT AS F*CK!"

Survival of the Fattest

2009-08-15T15:36:00.003-04:00

" All God's creatures get fat and have high cholesterol and high blood pressure and then go to sleep, or at least starve for sugar for a while. That's why only our pets have heart disease, get too fat to walk, and have cancer. They live with us." T.S Wiley, Lights Out

In nature you could not live off sugar for very long, seeing as plants only fruit in one season and flower in the next. With seasons leaving food supply unpredictable we only had one option-obesity. A major killer now was once the key to survival. In order to put on enough fat to live off of during winter months you had to become insulin resistant when the carbohydrate (sugar) supply was available. The goal was to eat so much sugar that your muscle cells would close up shop (become resistant) to the effects of insulin and therefore store all incoming sugar as fat or pumped into cholesterol production. The evolutionary purpose of insulin is insulation.

" The point of being really fat is to keep you from starving and freezing. Insulin stores excess energy as internal fat around your vital organs first, before you ever see it ripple under your skin. The purpose is to insulate your heart, lungs, and digestive system from the cold, just as the fetus in a pregnant women is protected with a layer of fat energy."

This higher than normal insulin would flip the switch on increased cholesterol production to keep your cell membranes from freezing. The greatest evolutionary edge would come with the out of control high blood sugar seen in type 2 diabetics .

" A higher than normal concentration of blood sugar would keep the interior of your cells from freezing because of the effect carbohydrates have on water molecules. All anti-freeze, even what you use in your car, tastes sweet."

Type 2 Diabetes is truly the end-state of the vestigial hibernation instinct. The problem is we don't live in the real world anymore, the food supply (sugar) never runs out and we never turn the lights off!

" As a mammal, you are hardwired to eat sugar, make babies, store fat, and then sleep it off, and then do it again and again."

Over-training or Under-recovery

2009-08-13T06:34:00.003-04:00

When performance drops the 1st question you need to ask is WHY? Most likely it is due to over-training or under-recovery both terms are basically interchangeable. When you are over-trained it is because you are have not fully recovered, therefore over-training is simply under-recovery. You must be very careful to not train in excess of what you can recover from, it is all about time management - how much rest do you need between workouts to be recovered. Will one day of rest allow you to recover from 1, 2, or 3 days in a row of hard workouts or do you need 2 days of rest for every 3 days of workout. Finding the right work to rest ratio is a tricky task and differs from individual to individual and also varies for each individual based on their current workload, nutrition and sleep habits. Workload or Volume is the sum of the loads you lift multiplied by the repetitions you perform (eg. 300# x 20 reps = a 6000# workload, 150# x 60 reps = 9000# workload), usually it is easiest to disregard the warm-up sets and only calculate this for the work sets. Depending on your program you may want to have a high workload (muscle gaining phase) or a low workload (right before a competition), but either way, the higher the workload the longer it takes to recover. Nutrition has a profound impact on recovery - you need to put the right building blocks into the body so it can repair itself (branched chain amino acids, glutamine, omega-3 fatty acids, zinc, magnesium, calcium etc.) not to mention you have to refuel for the next workout. For proper eating check out Foundations and Post-workout-feeding or check out Crossfit Cowtown's blog, or Robb Wolf's site. I recommend that my athletes eat a fairly "clean" diet (ie. as close to paleo as possible) to reduce inflammation and auto-immune responses caused by grains etc., to increase their rate of recovery. Protein:Carb:Fat ratios will depend on the needs of the athletes but most O-lifters can keep the carb intake very low. The last major aspect of recovery is sleep. As an athlete you need a minimum 8 hrs of sleep in order to recover I recommend 9-10 hrs for anyone wishing to be a highly competitive athlete. Make sure this is quality sleep - Super dark room (with no lights). When you are sleeping your body is performing the majority of the repair work. Workload, Nutrition and Rest are the main factors to recovery but there are also small things you can do to aid recovery. These minor aspects include - post-workout stretching, PNF stretching, foam rolling, contrast showers/baths, Epsom salts. The Most important thing is to listen to your body! If you are overly sore, tired, sleepy, or tight you might be on your way to being over-trained, remember it is better to take more rest than not enough. Use the rest-day to actually rest!

2009-08-10T21:00:00.002-04:00

Come again?

Insufficient sleep may be linked to increased risk of Diabetes..... you don't say?

The Warm-up!

2009-08-04T16:40:00.000-04:00

A good warm up is the key to a successful workout. In general, the shorter the workout the longer the warm-up! The quicker or more explosive you are while doing something under load the higher the potential for disaster/injury. High acceleration = High Force (F=m*a) especially at high mass/weight. So if you are going for a slow jog you probably don't need to warm up the muscles because the jogging is such a low stress/shock on the system that it will essentially be your warm-up. However if you are going to hit 6x50m sprints then you are probably going to want to do some amount of warm-up - like a light jog, then a faster jog, then a slow run, then a fast run and finally a sprint at ~90%. The same goes for heavy lifting do a few reps at 45% (5reps), 65% (3reps), 85% (2reps) before attempting your first lift (100%). The warm-up should not be too hard and essentially just there to get your muscles full of blood and loose, allowing you to move all your joints/limbs through the full ranges of motion needed in the exercises you will be doing. Do the warm-up at a comfortable pace but don't take to long, save some time for the actual workout!

My favourite way to warm-up is as follows:
1.) 2 minutes skipping - singles (so easy to do, very little range of motion, very low effort but get the heart pumping)
2.) dynamic movement (arm and leg circles, toe touches etc. just get those limbs moving in a full range of motion)
3.) basic body movements (air squats, pushups, situps, pullups, back extensions - pretty basic stuff, nothing fancy but it warms up the muscles in a large range of motion)
4.) the sticking points. I only use static stretching on anything that is super tight - hips, and ankles are the big ones here. The preferred method to loosening up the hamstrings, glutes and quads and pretty much everything else is PNF. *Note* most static stretching should be done post-workout as it can have a detrimental effect on performance if done pre-workout (hips are usually only exception to the rule).
5.) If needed foam roller on the sore areas
6.) raise the heart rate a bit (all that stretching can lower the heart rate and you start to get cold, you should have a slight sweat on before you start the workout) I like to do skipping -Double Unders.
7.) Practise - go through any movements which you are unsure of or rusty that are in your workout. If it is a lift do reps with the bar and then 45%, 65%, 85%.
8.) Mentally focus on the task at hand - take a minute or two to rest and think about how you will complete the workout, close your eyes and image yourself doing each exercise to completion until you are finished
9.) Grab some water to rehydrate, and chalk up.
10.) Kick butt on the workout.

Competitive O-lift training.

2009-08-04T15:51:00.005-04:00

The training protocol for O-lifting can be found at 4 Horsemen Weightlifting Club (posted hopefully at 7pm the day before) so for all those interested in competing you can follow along. Each day there is an AM lift and a PM workout, you are expected to complete all the AM lifts and at least 3 out of 5 PM workouts, additionally you must take at least 1 full rest day (the other may be an active rest day). The AM lift classes will be from at 6:45 or 7:30am and the PM classes are the usual 2pm, 6pm and 7pm times. For those interested the Blue Mountain Open is Aug. 22nd in Collingwood - registration ends August 8th!

Thanks!

2009-07-23T16:59:00.003-04:00

Big thanks to everyone that came out to cheer us on at the Crossfit Ontario Challenge this past weekend in Toronto. The atmosphere that day was unbelievable! Everyone screamed their heads off and cheered on fellow competitors until the last timer hit stop! We all had a great time hanging out with friends, family and Crossfitters from all over. Thanks again!

2009 Variety Village Open

2009-07-06T13:32:00.007-04:00

Jeremy - 3rd attempt - 122kg C&J

Saturday, July 4th was the debut of the 4 Horsemen Weightlifting Club at the 2009 Variety Village Open. Jeremy and I trained long and hard for the competition in hopes of placing. We both experimented with cutting weight and weighed in at 83.4kg and 75.5kg respectively. I lifted in the morning and after making 85kg back stage decided to open with it for my 1st attempt in the snatch. I got very nervous and missed my 1st attempt (I caught it, but wasn't focused on anything so I had no balance and lost it forward) but hit the 2nd attempt easily after refocusing. With the 85kg snatch I was already ahead by 10kg so I decided to attempt 92kg for my final attempt hoping the adrenaline would help. I had them brush the bar to get a little more rest but it proved to be too big of a jump in such a short period of time and I missed my 3rd attempt. In the future I will definitely need to train with smaller rest periods because I found it very difficult to follow myself for 3 heavy lifts. For the Clean and Jerk I opened at 110kg and hit it easily as expected. My second attempt was 116kg and I recieved 1 white and 2 red lights (so a failed attempt). Apparently there was a bit too much rebend or press out in my right elbow on the jerk. I decided to attempt 118kg for my final lift and was so focused on the jerk that I missed the clean. I ended up with a 195kg total. This was about 15kg off what I had hoped for, but a good first competition as this proved to be enough for 1st place in the 77kg class. A few hours later Jeremy weighted in and began the rehydration process. For the snatch he opened at 80 kg which went up super easy. He followed himself with 84kg, but missed. In order to get him some more rest he jumped to 86kg for his 3rd attempt (there were a few big boys lifting 85kg). Jeremy threw the 86kg up and pulled it so hard there was just a bit too much swing in the bar path that he lost it backward. For the Clean and Jerk he opened with 110kg, which he dominated. His second attempt was 116kg. He was well rested for this one since I had them change the weight to 114kg then I increased it to 116kg as there was another lifter doing 115kg. J hit 116kg easily with a very nice looking textbook jerk. His final lift was 122kg which looked very heavy but he managed to hit it giving him a total of 202kg which was good enough for 2nd in the 85kg class. All in all a great experience and first showing for the club, with hopefully more medals to come.

Me - 1st attempt - 110kg C&J

Stabilizing the Mid-line

2009-07-02T10:53:00.005-04:00

J-rock holding a sick Flag off the life guard tower at Port Stanley

A strong core means having the ability to stabilize the mid-line (see pic above). You need to be able to recruit muscles in the front (eg. abs, + many others), back (eg. erectors + many others) and even side (eg. obliques + many others) of your body to keep you rigid and solid under load (or tension). Having a strong core is less about how many crunches you can do and more about how much weight you can lift. If you work on all the core muscle groups, and not just the abs, you will see that you can front squat, OHS, deadlift, and press more and you will be able to do more pushups and pullups. This is all because power is generate from the core to the extremities and the stronger the core the more efficient the power transfer. Additionally, the stronger your core is the farther the (center of mass of the) load can be from your mid-line which means you have a greater margin of error to work with when lifting. So the next time you have some free time, bust out an elbow lever or a flag; they are fun to try and a great core exercise.

excuse me while i kiss the sky...

2009-06-18T13:57:00.004-04:00

Big thanks to Jay's dad for hooking us up with some incredible boxes (20", 24", 36"). Tuesday I decided to give my max another go after "Helen". This video was my last attempt at 55 3/4 ". Excuse the "arnold" pose at the end.

The Challenge

2009-06-17T13:18:00.003-04:00

Competition is heating up inside the garage as we inch closer and closer to July 18th. What is going on then? The Crossfit Ontario Challenge! Currently we have five members of 4 horsemen that will be competing. For more information on the event and sign up go here.

Cheaters Guide to Success - Lesson 2: "Watching the Game"

2009-06-05T17:59:00.003-04:00

Now, as I am a proud Canadian I thoroughly enjoy watching hockey with my buddies. With the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs nearing many of us will venture out to our local watering hole to catch the rest of this exciting series. It is important to remember that in our stupid western civilization dieting (or more appropriately eating healthy) among men especially is somewhat shunned and as to not look like a "pussy" one must conform to the norm. The best way for us "manly cheaters" to achieve this is to stick with the classic "wings and beer. Here is the cheaters guide to wings and beer at the pub: Sticking to a 4-5 block zone portion (probably 2-3x fat), you can eat 1pound (10-15 wings) with 2 pints of beer (not cider, which you shouldn't be drinking anyways - man up Nancy!). For the wings try to stay away from the sugar filled saucy ones - BBQ, Honey garlic and go with teriyaki, salt & Pepper or Hot. Mild and Medium sauces are for wussies and they are mainly ketchup based which means full of sugar. This is a solid cheat meal if you stick to the proportions as this is key - PROPORTIONS! Now this doesn't mean you should eat like this everyday but if you are going to cheat, do it wisely.

GO WINGS GO!

Note: If the game goes into OT you can have 5 more wings and another pint, just workout a little extra the next day.

Foolin' around with the big fat pink lady - A visit to Crossfit Saskatoon

2009-06-04T03:29:00.009-04:00

TGU with the big fat pink lady (2.5 pood) & Crossfit Saskatoon

Today I managed to fit in a WOD at Crossfit Saskatoon. It was a 5x5 Thruster rest 3-5min and then work up to a max Turkish Get-up. It was a great experience, I love visiting all the different Crossfit affiliates they are always so welcoming. Crossfit Saskatoon is no exception to the rule, I was welcomed with open arms and got a great workout in. If you are in the area do drop by and check them out, the head trainer is Chad Benko a very knowledgeable and great guy.

Inspiration!

2009-06-02T08:14:00.002-04:00

Everyday we are inspired. Inspired by the people who train with us, from all over the country. Inspired by the exercises we train with. Inspired by the people who learn from us. Every day people are inspired by us. Inspired by our staff in the gym. Inspired by the art of training and service we provide. We select our programming carefully to inspire you. Come be inspired!

What inspires you to train and train hard? Tell us your inspirations.

Scale-ability

2009-06-01T06:44:00.000-04:00

Monika doing some Overhead squats with a PVC pipe

The scalability of exercises is key when following a program not specifically tailored for one individual. It is exactly as it sounds - the scaling of an exercise to the abilities of that individual. It is a necessary part of any program involving complex movements over a full range of motion

"The question regularly arises as to the applicability of a regimen like CrossFit’s to older and deconditioned or detrained populations. The needs of an Olympic athlete and our grandparents differ by degree not kind. One is looking for functional dominance the other for functional competence. Competence and dominance manifest through identical physiological mechanisms. We’ve used our same routines for elderly individuals with heart disease and cage fighters one month out from televised bouts. We scale load and intensity; we don’t change programs. We get requests from athletes from every sport looking for a strength and conditioning program for their sport. Firemen, soccer players, triathletes, boxers, and surfers all want programs that conform to the specificity of their needs. While admitting that there are surely needs specific to any sport, the bulk of sport specific training has been ridiculously ineffective. The need for specificity is nearly completely met by regular practice and training within the sport not in the strength and conditioning environment. Our terrorist hunters, skiers, mountain bikers and housewives have found their best fitness from the same regimen."
Greg Glass - From the "What is Fitness" article, CFJ.

The general idea is to start with a light load and work on technique, once the technique is sound then and only then start increasing the (intensity) speed and load. Everyone has to master the basic movement patterns before they can increase the difficulty. We modify our workouts to fit the abilities of each individual trainee. Getting the most out of each client is the key to their success and by allowing them to achieve the highest output they are capable of by scaling the weights and exercises is only logical. Anyone can do "Crossfit" or any other strength and conditioning program provided you don't make them do more than they are capable of doing. If they can't run make them jog, if they can jog make them walk etc. If 200lbs is too much let them do 80#, if 80# is still to much scale them down to a PVC pipe or a weight they can handle. I put my mother through a workout with just a broom stick. Getting her to just practice doing deadlifts, press and overhead squats for 5-10 reps was a good start for someone who has not moved that way for years. It wasn't a huge task for her to complete but she felt it the next day and it was a great place to start. Now she has been doing it for a while and has better range of motion and flexibility throughout these movements, soon I will have her try it while holding soup cans. Once the basic movements are sound we can increase the load and eventually the intensity.

Below is a small list of subs. From hardest to easiest
Handstand Pushups - Handstand holds - declined pushups - pushups - inclined pushups - knee pushups.
Strict pullups - kipping pullups - jumping pullups - ring rows
GHD situps - V-ups - situps
Knees to elbows - knees to chest - knees to parallel

By decreasing the range of motion or by creating more favorable levers with our body we can simplify the exercise while still getting the desired muscular stimulus. Just start at a point where you are able to safely complete the movement and go up slowly from there. It's called scalability and it will eventually get you to where you want to be - the ability to do things unscaled.

Rower!!!

2009-05-25T16:25:00.000-04:00

Monzi Pulling on the C2

Recently we were lucky enough to pick up a Concept 2 Rower for an unbelievable price. Whats the first thing you do when you get a rower? Pull a 500!!! I managed a huge PR with a 1:28.8. That was just under a 7 second improvement. Whatever we're doing...is working. The C2 is a great new weapon in the gym and will be a key tool to gear up for July 18th.

It's a Fran off!!!

2009-05-23T20:45:00.006-04:00

The main event of the evening was a battle of two heavy weights - Murph vs. Wheels in an all out Fran off!

After round 1 it was neck and neck, but the second round seemed to be the deciding factor. There is nothing like a bit of competition to bring out the top performances.

Motivation

2009-05-08T08:17:00.004-04:00

Motivation is the key to success. Motivation is the drive that gets us from point A to point B. In “the garage” there are always many sources of motivation. The motivation of competition is extremely high. It is said that “men will die for points” and when your sport is fitness, trying harder only makes you fitter. Nobody likes to lose, but there are no losers in that everyone has improved there life with a high intensity workout using functional movements. Additionally, many of our athletes are motivated to beat their previous score/time/load at a certain workout, a personal competition. Others wish to finish in a certain time behind the top finisher, or finish without scaling down the exercises. These examples are all goal oriented motivators, however there are also social motivators when you come workout in “the garage”. The shouts from the crowd watching, cheering you on. The constant assurance from your coach that “you can do it! Only two more to go! Great, now finish that last rep!” will drive you to get it done. The motivation not to disappoint those around you, who are counting on you to finish is a powerful tool. The fear of failing the group will push many people to new heights. Additionally, many external motivators drive our athletes. The desire for mobility or increased range of motion. The need to lower bad cholesterol, lower body fat, lower blood pressure, lower resting heart rate and increase their metabolism, energy, and enjoyment of life. What are some other motivators that you have experience in your time with us?

I would personally like to thank all those who have recently motivated and cheered me on during my PR's in my last few workouts: Snatch (92 kg), "Elizabeth" (6:15), "Cindy" (22+ rnds), and "Grace" (2:53).

Monzi The Machine!

2009-04-22T21:38:00.002-04:00

Hard work and good eating goes along way. Monika has been training consistently 3 on/1 off in the garage for sometime now and it is showing. Today she hit a new PR on deadlift with 200lbs! That is a 40 pound improvement since the last Crossfit Total in March! Since then she has only deadlifted once during a met-con. She is continually getting better in every aspect and there is only room for improvement in the future! Keep it up Monzi!

Post Workout Feeding!

2009-04-20T21:38:00.006-04:00

Eating post workout is possibly the funnest and most important times to eat. During this time we can get away with certain foods that otherwise may not be the best choices. As we discussed in our article with the 4 hot babes in bikinis, to burn fat your diet must manage insulin. Bottom line.

Usually we try to stay away from carbohydrate sources that rate high on the glycemic index scale, but during the post workout window we actually want to consume these foods. During exercise and shortly after our cells have the ability to absorb glucose from the bloodstream without the need of insulin. This is a state called "non-insulin mediated glucose uptake." This is key for quick recovery and also protects you from messing up your insulin sensitivity. This state rapidly slows down after exercise and is completely shut off after about an hour.

By no means is this a free for all to consume crap like cookies, pasta, ice cream etc. The best carbohydrate sources are starchy vegetables (sweet potatoes being my favourite). A quality protein source is also essential for muscle repair. Go with a lean cut of meat, fish is possibly the best source in this instance. Try to avoid foods that contain fat and fiber as they slow absorption. As I said before you want to digest the food as fast as possible pwo as this "state" is completely shut off after an hour.

A visit to Crossfit Scotland

2009-04-17T13:17:00.004-04:00

At the beginning of March I had the opportunity to visit my cousin Eryn and rest of the McFee clan in my motherland of Scotland. After hitting the big cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, and a whiskey tour/tasting, I was in need for a major ass whooping. Fortunately, only 15 min from the McFee's house in the neighbouring town of Irvine (Ayrshire) is Crossfit Scotland. I called them up the day before, to ask if I could join the noon class for the WOD. I got there about 30 min early excited to hit the workout hard. I had been in Italy for the entire month of February limited to bodyweight only workouts (I was also on a gelato heavy diet and about 10lbs heavier than normal - definitely needed some intense CFit). As soon as I walked in the door I was treated like family, this is truely the best part about the whole Crossfit community, every box/gym I have had the priviledge to workout at has been very welcoming, and friendly but CFit Scotland takes the cake. My cousin Eryn accompanied me and although she wasn't there to workout the head trainer Neil Foley (a CFIT level 2 trainer) made sure she had a good seat to view my butt kicking and a warm cup of coffee. Neil gave me the tour of his box, explained to me their approach to CFit, the ups and downs of doing CFit in Scotland ie. it rains all the time and then he discussed the WOD with me. I told him I wanted a real ass kick so he let me go "super" heavy for the Overhead Squats (OHS). The WOD was 400m row 21 pullups, 15 OHS (135# for me 95# for the others), 9 boxjumps, 800m row, 21 OHS, 15 boxjumps, 9pullups, 400m row, 21 boxjumps, 15 pullups, 9 OHS. I was expecting the OHS to be hard and they were but what got me was the pullups. Now I do kipping pullups pretty well but I have never done them on swinging pullup bars (trapez style), they were so difficult to connect on they almost crushed me on their own. As you can see from the pic I finished (a little of 20min later) absolutely destroyed leaving a nice big sweat angel behind. My trip to Crossfit Scotland was an amazing experience and Neil being such a nice guy wouldn't even let me pay for my workout, now I couldn't leave without contributing so I bought a shirt off them, which is hanging in the garage as a reminder of my great time there.

Real Foods Take On Fake Foods

2009-04-16T15:11:00.002-04:00

Helen-Mess You Up!

Just wanted to share a great post from Scott Kustes at The Life Spotlight on Real Foods vs. Fake Foods . It is actually pretty crazy that some people think that food made in a lab is better for you then natural foods?? How does that even make sense?

Insulin Resistant Hotties!!

2009-04-08T12:21:00.007-04:00

Is this seriously the outcome of eating too much and sitting on your ass all day? I mean if all you had to do was eat a little less and walk around a bit more don't you think it would be alot easier to lose weight?? You hear it all the time in the media, " choose the low-fat option" or " 30 min of moderate exercise could burn up to -insert bullshit number here- calories, that's 1 pound of fat loss a week!" Blame it on the fat and laziness all you want but it's just not the case. If fat was making us fat and was the major player in disease how do you explain the traditional Inuit diet consisting of 70% fat with no obesity, diabetes, heart disease or any other diseases associated with the metabolic syndrome?http://discovermagazine.com/2004/oct/inuit-paradox

If energy in/energy out was all that mattered then why would someone like Robb Wolf suggest that without a proper diet you will not see changes in body composition from exercise. You will get fitter, but you will not see any change in body composition. He's not just throwing this out there either, he sees it in clients all the time. http://robbwolf.com/?p=34

Obesity is caused by excessive fat accumulation, agreed? What must be present to promote fat accumulation? Insulin! Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas that lowers blood sugar and promotes fat accumulation in the adipose tissue. Without insulin you will not store fat long term! Carbohydrates are the main culprit in the secretion of insulin. Interesting how the obesity and type 2 diabetes epidemic can be traced back to the increase in sugar consumption?http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0203CAT/020308a.yellowlees/iftl-fig4.jpg

The problem with eating a diet high in carbohydrates (especially refined) is the impact it has on insulin levels, and the impact insulin has on the mobilization/accumulation of fatty acids in and out of the adipose tissue as fuel. When insulin levels are elevated-either chronically or after a meal-we accumulate fat in our fat tissue. When insulin levels fall, we release fat from our fat tissue and use it as fuel.

The real trouble comes when trying to lose weight with insulin levels that are chronically elevated, a condition called hyperinsulinemia. Chronic hyperinsulinemia (elevated insulin in between meals, not just from a meal rich in carbs) causes the body to believe it has been fed. We believe we have just been fed glucose with the presence of insulin in the bloodstream. Insulin constantly primes the cells to burn glucose, and only glucose will satisfy that demand. Because of this "primed" state our cells are in for glucose as fuel, it is glucose we crave. In this state even if we eat protein or fat the hyperinsulinemia will work to store those nutrients as fat, and won't let them out. So have fun burning fat when you don't have access to it.

We eat because we are obese, we aren't obese because we eat. Whether insulin levels are chronically elevated or elevated from a meal high in carbohydrates (pasta, bread, cookies, cereal), promoting accumulation of fat is blocking an available metabolic fuel by storing it instead of using it. In between meals cells should predominantly run off fatty acids but high levels of insulin won't allow this. Blocking of this metabolic fuel from the cells causes us to expend less energy (sedentary behaviour) and increases our appetite to compensate. This is also a critical factor in women who have fertility issues. It's not the obesity causing it, its the lack of metabolic fuels to not only support cells in her body but in reproduction. The first thing they put her on? Glucophage, an insulin regulator.

The solution to all of this would seem to be a diet that regulates insulin in itself (low-carb). Problem is the public health recommendations are the total opposite. Most nutritionists recommend a diet that includes 120 to 130 grams of carbohydrates at minimum, because this is the amount of glucose the brain and central nervous system use to operate. The truth is the brain does not require this. Without carbohydrates in the diet the brain and central nervous system will run on ketone bodies; converted from dietary fat and from fatty acids released from the fat tissue; on glycerol, from the breakdown of triglycerides into free fatty acids; and on glucose, converted from protein in the diet. If carbohydrates were essential for life our existence would have been over along time ago.

The Meat Locker

2009-04-02T17:03:00.002-04:00

Getting a "quality" protein source at every meal is essential for optimal performance. This can be especially troubling if your following paleo guidelines. Without the cheese, milk and protein powder to fall back on your left with...well real food, meat, eggs & more meat!

It is actually not that hard to do if you put your mind to it. A dozen eggs at No Frills goes for $1.97, hard boil those and your set for some snacks. Also you need to keep your eyes out for deals on meat like I do. Whenever you walk into your grocery store grab the flyer and take a look through it, there is always some cut of meat going for cheap. No frills just had chicken breast on for $2.99 a pound! That's crazy! Also remember the more you buy the cheaper you will get it.

I always buy whole chickens from loblaw (usually no more then $11.00, 1.7kg) , cut it up, put it into a Tupperware container and feed off it when I need that quick meal.

Bottom line, don't get stuck with the same cuts of meat everytime you walk into the grocery store, expand your choices for your own sake and your wallets.

Keys to success

look out for deals
shop at more then one grocery store
buy meat in bulk
then cook that meat in bulk
don't be a pussy
stop eating the same boring meat over and over
beans are not protein

*Note: this post was seriously rushed because Sean needed something new to read immediately

Who Is This Guy?

2009-03-17T20:55:00.005-04:00

After putting put up unbelievable numbers on the Crossfit Total there may have been some questions about the "met-con" of a 197lbs man. Today those questioned were answered. Wearing a 20lbs weighted vest this beast we like to call "Death" posted a time of 42:15 on the hero workout honouring Lt. Michael Murphy. His form was impeccable, his intensity was unbelievable and his determination was inspiring. Think you can beat him? I personally doubt it....

Bread Anyone?

2009-03-16T20:30:00.012-04:00

In our article "The Foundation" we outlined the foods that we try to avoid at all costs, one group being grains. Why would we do that? Aren't grains an excellent source of fiber, vitamins and minerals? NO, they are not! They aren't even on the same playing field when compared to fruits & vegetables. But the lack of nutrients is the least of our worries when we think about grains. The real problem with grains is their ability to promote chronic high levels of insulin and insulin resistance (hyperinsulinemia); and their toxic/irritant effects on the body.

What was that about insulin?
Grains for the most part are entirely carbohydrate, usually consumed in large quantities. Starch, the primary carbohydrate in grains,consists of a large number of glucose molecules joined together by glycosidic bonds. These bonds are easy broken upon digestion causing a significant insulin response in the body. Why is this bad? Because chronic spikes in insulin lead to the down-regulation of insulin receptors (found on every cell in the body). As these receptors become more resistance to insulin, the pancreas will need to secrete even more insulin to get the job done (hyperinsulinemia). Hyperinsulinemia has been linked to every disease associated with the Metabolic Syndrome, increasing your risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer etc. It should be noted that the more refined the carbohydrate source the easier they are to digest=greater insulin response. Whole grains are also the problem because of the large quantities in which we consume them, also causing high levels of insulin.

Anti-Nutrients
Anti-nutrients are plant compounds that actually decrease the nutritional value of a plant food. One anti-nutrient in particular, Phytic Acid or "phytates" actually bind to metal ions (calcium, magnesium, zinc)from the plant source and rob your body of them as well!

Gluten, part of the lectin family, is a protein found in wheat and other grains. Gluten plays a significant role in the issues with grains by damaging and destroying the gastrointestinal tract. Microvilli are structures found in the small intestine which are covered with enzymes that aid in the digestive process and transport nutrients from food into the various tissues in the body. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder when all of the microvilli are completely destroyed, making it impossible to absorb fats, minerals and many vitamins into the body.

Of course everyone isn't going to be diagnosed with Celiac but all grain consumption has been shown to cause irritation (digestion, stomach aches, IBS). Lectins are found in many foods including legumes and eggs. But you would have to consume a large number of raw eggs for them to take any effect, as the lectins found in eggs are destroyed during cooking.

There seems to be this false idea that grains should play a major role in our diets, but that is just not the case. You can find more nutrients in fruits & vegetables without the side effects that grains give you. In paleolithic times we couldn't have possibly consumed these foods, you cannot just pick up wheat and eat it and for legumes to be edible they have to be cooked.

Don't believe me? I don't give a shit! Everyone I know who cuts these foods out of their diet feels, looks and performs better! It's up to you to try it out!

A perfect 10(10)

2009-03-11T15:35:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, we threw up some huge weights in the garage. A ton of PRs were set, including a body weight Press (165#) by myself. But, the man of the hour was J-Rock or as we call him DEATH posting an enormous CFT (1RM - Back Squat, Standing Press, Deadlift total) of 1010, going over 400+ in both the Squat and Deadlift which is more than twice his body weight. For all those that came out and crushed it, thanks for the entertaining night. For all those that didn't come out, suck it up and get under the bar!

Progress is a Slow Process

2009-03-03T18:09:00.003-05:00

It has taken us alot longer then we anticipated, but we are happy with the way it is coming along. We should be getting a nice big white board up tomorrow and hopefully we can get the rest of the place matted sometime soon. The pull up bars took a dreaded amount of time, we probably stared at the ceiling for 7 hours before we put one up, only to take it down once we realized there would be enough room to kip (even butterfly) with them mounted off the wall.

This week we are looking to get more organized and actually have a training schedule so people know when they can come in. We will keep you posted.

Rings are up!

2009-02-27T22:13:00.003-05:00

After finally getting the rings up I decided to put them to good use in a WOD. Today called for a Metcon of 10min of less so I did half "Nate".

AMRAP in 10 min of:

2 Muscle Up's
4 HSPU
8 KB Swings (2 pood)

Managing 7 rounds + 2 MU's. Certainly not epic but my progress like everyone else in the gym is certainly coming along.

Props to Dani for the great picture taking!

Get Up!

2009-02-24T22:10:00.003-05:00

I've set alot of goals for myself for 2009, one being a 55 inch box jump. Tonight I made a bit of progress by hitting a 53.5 inch jump. If we could have found anything to make it higher I would have attempted more.

Women and strength training

2009-02-24T15:40:00.002-05:00

(Monika hitting a pulling and Dani locking out a ring dip)

Now it seems to me there is a stupid myth out there that women shouldn't do strength training and if they do, it should be to tone and sculpt and involve a two pound pilates ball, or a 1/2 pound stick and a step-up board. This is total and utter BS! First off, women are not some special group of people, they are more than 1/2 the population and the same training that benefits men will benefit women. They might be XX and we are XY but we still share all the same important anatomy (legs, arms, torso, stomach, liver, pancreas, intestines, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.) and our bodies function and respond to hormonal stimulus in almost identical ways. Although the intensity and volume of stimulus needed for adaption to occur differs between the two genders, both benefit in the same manner from the same stimulus ie. Strength training is good for women. I think this perpetuated fear of strength training comes from a notion that if women lift weights they will develop monstrous muscles. Now unless they start using steroids this probably will not happen (see hotties in pic above). You can press 115#, squat 225# and deadlift 315# and still have a slender girlish figure. It's all about muscle density - by strength training properly you can building strength without "bulking up". Body-builders use lower weights and higher rep schemes (12+ reps) to greatly increase the volume of a muscle cell (sarcoplasmic hypertrophy) where as power/strength athletes use heavier weights and lower rep schemes (3-8reps) to increase the contractile potential (strength) of the muscle cells they already have (myofibrillar hypertrophy). Additionally, having stronger muscles means you burn more calories/day and this more often than not will result in a decrease in body fat. With less fat and slightly more muscle you will essentially be denser/firmer (not bigger) or more "toned" and we all like a nice firm butt. More importantly though women need to be strong, as being strong prevents injury. Women are active and active people can get hurt but if you can support a heavy load in a perfect position, you are less likely to injure yourself with a moderate load in an awkward position. Strength training in particular should be done by all women as this will dramatically increase bone density and decrease chances of osteoporosis later in life. The main point is that women like men should use strength training in addition to cardiovascular exercise and proper nutrition as a means to improve daily life. Now suck it up buttercup and get under the bar!

Chasing the White Dragon - Our addiction to sugar

2009-02-20T18:30:00.004-05:00

Sugar is like crack! Plain and simple, when you're addicted to it you need it to function. As a recovering sugar junkie I know all about the sugar highs and lows. From the need to have a can of coke as soon as I got home to the mid-afternoon crash I experienced after I slammed down my carbo-loaded lunch. Like any good drug, after a hit of sugar (the pancreas releases the hormone insulin into your blood and) the brain releases "feel good" chemicals (increased serotonin levels = euphoria) into your blood stream, making that brownie taste even better. The problem is that eventually we build up a tolerance to this like every other drug as our body was designed to adapt to change to minimize deviations from homeostasis. What this means is that the can of coke you had isn't as sweet anymore and you need two cans to satisfy your sweet tooth. Your body beings to increase it's tolerance to insulin in the blood stream and it takes more and more sugar to hit the "high" and release those feel good chemicals, this high also starts to decrease in length. Before you know it you are just plowing through a bag of skittles and a Fruitopia just so you can make it to lunch. Your cells have actually become increasingly resistant to insulin and your blood sugar levels begin to elevate. This constant state of elevated blood sugar and insulin levels result in hyperinsulinism and is correlated to almost every disease you can think of (diabetes, cancer, heart disease, etc) and obesity. Now all those calories are floating around in your blood stream and the massive amount of insulin that goes along with it is telling your body to "store, store, store" it all as fat! The good news is that this sugar addiction can be cured. With a slow tapering of refined carbohydrate foods (sugars/grains) towards more natural sugar sources (vegetables/fruits/berries) you can start to get the situation under control. This is followed by monitoring not only the quality but more importantly the quantity of sugar you are ingesting everyday. I recommend "the Zone" diet for this sort of portion control but the easiest way is to just start eating natural foods mainly vegetables. The result is that by monitoring the type and amount of sugar (carbohydrates) you put into our body you can start to control the amount of insulin your pancreas releases. You will slowly decrease your cells insulin tolerance and get back to normal levels of function. You will begin to find out what it's like to not have 11pm sugar cravings and to be alert and not feel hungry throughout the day. You will have essentially kicked the sugar habit!

Chin, Chest, Thighs

2009-02-18T18:41:00.017-05:00

(Brad showing us the ROM we like to see)

As discussed earlier, range of motion (ROM) is key. Anything less then full ROM doesn't count in our minds. Only with proper ROM do you elicit maximal power out-put, and in Crossfit, Power is King! Many people do not complete exercises through the full ROM for many reasons. It hurts, it takes more effort, it takes more time and they can't lift as much weight. Some people have flexibility problems and some lack the kinesthetic awareness, not knowing that they are high on their squat or their hip isn't reaching full extension.

"Power is the independent variable most commonly associated with the rate of return on favourable adaptation." -Greg Glassman

If you're not giving us full ROM, you're doing less work, you're producing less power, and we are NOT going to count your reps.

The Cheaters Guide To Success – Lesson 1: “Get the door it’s Domino’s!!!”

2009-02-17T02:36:00.002-05:00

Cheating while doing paleo or zone is almost human nature and is neccessary. Every once and a while we need to indulge and we should, but there are ways to do it wisely. Today’s lesson is all about Pizza, my favourite treat/drunk food. First and most important tip – don’t eat the crust!!! This is by far the easiest way to minimize the carb intake for your cheat meal (remember carbs are the enemy). By not eating the crust (See above Pic) you cut out a good 20-40+ grams of carbs (about 1-2 slices of bread worth depending on how thick the crust is) for a typical 8-10” personal pizza. Remember the crust is just there so you don’t get grease on your fingers. Tip #2 always, always get thin crust! This is another way to keep all the taste and lose upwards of an excess 600 calories (for a 12”) from the meal. Tip #3 say no to dipping sauce – you aren’t eating the crust so you don’t need the dipping sauce (and you don’t even want to know what it’s made of). Tip #4 don’t drink pop with your pizza. This seems to be a big thing, as almost every pizza vendor has a pizza and pop deal it might seem a little economical to grab a can of pop (40g carbs) with your slice but it isn’t worth it. If you absolutely have to drink a soda then at least grab a Diet soda but remember although it doesn’t have any sugar it will still spike your insulin levels and that is what we are trying to minimize. The Last tip is mozzarella is always better than cheddar as it has more protein and less fat, plus everybody likes the stringy cheesy pizza that only mozzarella provides. It makes eating the pizza fun and that’s what cheats are supposed to be all about. As far as toppings go nuts, the more the better! Believe it or not the toppings are the best part of the pizza because that’s where all the good meat and vegetables are. I’m not going to say one is better than another because taste is why we have the cheat if it didn’t taste just the way we wanted it wouldn’t be a satisfying cheat. So on your next cheat day, go grab a slice of heaven!

Eating Primal

2009-02-16T23:04:00.004-05:00

(House warming gift my amazing girl gave me)

When people ask what type of diet I follow (a common question in the Crossfit circles), I usually respond Paleo. But that is not entirely the truth. I actually follow more of a Primal Blueprint way of eating.

At first glance you will most likely think that Primal and Paleo are the exact same, but there are some differences. You can find The Primal Blueprint here, at Mark Sisson's Blog (the author). Mark's blog covers some great topics and is an excellent source for knowledge on overall health and wellness.

"Pick up any book on nutrition, flip to the index, and look up insulin and hyperinsulinism. If there is nothing there the book is pure bull-shit, put it down."- Greg Glassman

Met-con Medicine?

2009-02-15T13:04:00.006-05:00

(What was left of me after my first Met-con in a month)

After a little over a month of no met-cons (only Starting Strength), I gave one a shot. It was not pretty. The workout was: 5 rounds of 5 squat cleans @ 135# and 10 KB swings with the 2 pood. My first round went well, it took me easily under a minute moving the weight in both exercises without a problem . Then it was all down hill from there. The finished product was a time of 10:52. I was gasping for air after the first round and barely could push through the pain and finish all 5 rounds. What was my reasoning for doing this? Why not stick with SS?

I did SS in the beginning because I had lost significant strength in the past few months and wanted to improve in that area. It is common knowledge that a good strength base is essential for reaching a high level of performance in Crossfit. But why was I sacrificing my overall fitness to improve in one area? Crossfit looks to optimize physical competence in each of the 10 recognized fitness domains; cardiovascular and respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, balance and agility. I was optimizing one. I knew what I was doing before I began Starting Strength, but I wanted a change and I was interested in what kind of results I could achieve from it.

One night I was deciding whether or not I should continue with SS or should I start crossfitting again while adding some strength work on top. My question was answered when I opened up the Crossfit Journal and a new article had been posted, "Strong Medicine". The article covered a program called Crossfit Strength Bias. It is exactly as it sounds, Crossfit with a bias around strength. Basically the schedule runs 2 on 1 off, 3 on 1 off. Four out of the five days you are lifting, while also doing met-cons and skill work. This way I am achieving my goal of getting stronger without sacrificing competency in the other 9 fitness domains. My overall goal has always been to become the best Crossfit athlete I can possibly be.

Bottom line, to get better at Crossfit you have to do Crossfit.

The article can be found here: http://journal.crossfit.com/

The journal costs $25/year and is more then worth it.

Its Starting to Come Together

2009-02-13T00:08:00.013-05:00

We are slowly making some progress but for a garage gym it is certainly coming along. Rings should be up tomorrow and hopefully sometime next week we will have mats covering the remaining floor space and two nice stud pull-up bars. Some thanks has to go out to our good friend Corey Jones. Without him we wouldn't have these platforms. Thanks Jones!

Is Light Killing Your Diet?

2009-02-11T08:39:00.010-05:00

After reading our post on nutrition (The Foundation), it is easy to see that we recommend following a low to moderate carbohydrate approach. Why? Because this approach closely resembles that of which we have evolved to feed ourselves. Carbohydrates are not a necessary nutrient for the body, that is why there are NO essential carbohydrates, but essential proteins and fats. They are also not the preferred fuel source (http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/ketones-and-ketosis/metabolism-and-ketosis/#more-719). There are many reasons people fail/cheat with a low-carb approach, sleep and most importantly light is a huge one, let me tell you why.

Light controls everything our body does, light tells you when to get up in the morning, and the disappearance of it tells you when to go to bed at night, or at least it use to. We were only intended to eat carbs and plenty of them (especially fruits) during the long days of summer. During these months fruit was plentiful and winter was coming. When winter hits so does famine. We would consume copious amounts of fruits and vegetables during these months to gain weight (fat) to live off during the winter months. Carbs release insulin, insulin stores fat.

With the invention of artificial light we never get out of summer mode. We have lights on in our homes well past sun-down, television and computer screens dominate most past times and street lamps are shining in our bedroom windows even when our lights are out. This prolonged exposure to light makes your body believe its constantly summer, wanting to eat carbs to store fat for the famine. This is why when you do cheat it is usually late at night, and usually its something sweet (cookie, ice cream, fruit, chocolate).

Getting back into your body's natural cycle is key for optimal health. This means getting to bed earlier during the winter months, and staying up later during the summer. You could potentially sleep up to 14 hours during the winter! I know, not going to happen, but getting to bed as close to sun set as possible will be most beneficial.

The smallest amount of light exposure during sleep has a significant effect of the level of melatonin your body produces during that time....but no worries, its only the most powerful anti-oxidant in your body.

Keys to Success:

Sleep a minimum of 9.5 hours a night in a completely dark room
Reduce exposure to light as much as possible after 6pm during the winter
Keep Fruit intake low during winter months
STOP EATING SUGAR!

Caution: If you do have trouble sleeping NEVER take over the counter melatonin! Stop your exposure to light and your body will produce the melatonin needed by itself. If you begin to rely on supplementing melatonin your body's natural production will decrease significantly even when you are off it.

The Wanna Be Bench Press

2009-02-11T01:00:00.001-05:00

This is a calling out of all those wanna be bench pressers. You know who you are! You are the ones that spend hours sitting on the bench with at least 2 plates on each side of the bar (225+) talking to your buddies more than actually lifting the damn weight. Now I really don’t have a problem with you having a social life at the gym, what I do have a problem with is that 225# you have on the bar. The problem is not in the weight itself, as 225# is not really that much, but rather the fact that you can’t even use it. Now I say use it as opposed to lift it because I know you can lift it. I see you lift it off the rack, lower it an inch and rack it again. That’s right, I have a problem with your range of motion. You are the bench press equivalent of the 1/4 squat. To be straight up with you, what you are doing is completely useless. I don’t know where you got the idea that you should stop at the point when your arm make a 90 degree angle. Yes it is true that at 90 degrees and above you can lift more weight and when people tell me this my reply is usually “Really! No shit!” it’s all about leverage and common sense. But here is the problem, you are missing the most useful part of the moment! The most useful aspect is to strengthen the muscles at their weakest points (the point of lowest mechanical advantage). The only way to efficiently do this is to work the muscles through their full range of motion. I promise I will hammer this point over and over and over again – FULL RANGE OF MOTION. That means on the bench press the bar comes off the rack, travels down to the point where it just touches the chest and then travels back up to the top and is racked. Now the bar just “kisses” off the chest before it travels up, don’t bounce the weight off the chest as you could break/crack a rib that way. Now why does it matter that you go all the way to your chest? First like with the squat if you don’t go all the way to the bottom it is impossible to compare one workout to the next. You think you are stronger because you lifted 5# more than the last workout, but as it turns out you just didn’t go down an extra 1cm from the time before, this mechanical advantage means you could move the larger weight but didn’t actually get any stronger. Now if you always touch the chest then the distance is fixed (basically your arms aren’t going to change length from week to week) so any increase in weight lifted means a direct increase in strength. Second, say you are walking down the sidewalk on a windy day and a tree falls over and you are trapped underneath it (see picture). It is not a big tree and some of the tree is touching the ground so it’s more like a lever system. Now to lift the tree up at the point it is touching your chest requires say a 205# push. This is great because your bench is a big 225#, but wait, that’s only to 90 degrees. That extra ~6 inches (from chest to 90 degrees) in your range of motion is not 225# strong it is only about 185# strong at best. Meaning you will die trapped under the tree! So much for your “big” bench press. On the other hand if I put myself in a similar situation back when I could only bench 205#, I would be able to lift the tree up and off my chest, take a breather and thrust it out of the way and live. Why? Because I do my bench press right to the chest so my muscles are strong through the entire range in which I might need to use them. Basically all I’m saying in this rather long rant is that I don’t care what you have on the bar just as long as you do it right. You are only as strong as your weakest link. So if you are in the gym to get stronger, why not work at it properly and get stronger. Now, in case I haven’t gotten through to some of you as to you would want to start lifting properly. Well… doing a movement right increases efficiency (through better mechanics etc.) and results in an increase in strength (max weight you can lift) and more reps at a given weight. This increased strength means that you are able to perform more work in the same or less time, so you therefore have increased your power output and thus increased your intensity. This increased intensity will make you fitter, and being fitter makes you a better athlete and it also means you’ll look better naked! Now get fit and have fun!

Attaining High Intensity!

2009-02-10T03:45:00.003-05:00

I’m sitting here in Italy and it’s raining so I have a bit of time on my hands and of course I’m thinking about Crossfit as it is one of my most favourite pastimes. The question on my mind is how to maximize my results or what is the best way to make improvements. I’ve been thinking about this for a few hours throwing ideas out there, thinking about them, and then rejecting them. There are four things that time and time again pop out at me as the way to best improve my fitness. Recovery, Nutrition, Deficiencies (what I suck at ie. situps), and INTENSITY, all of which I’ll try to write a post on. This post will be on the aspect of intensity because in my mind it is the clear leader in maximizing my results. When thinking about intensity and how it relates to my workouts I looked at a few things. First, what is intensity? The answer is Power! (Intensity = Power), and therefore to increase intensity I have to increase power which basically means doing more work in less time (more pushups in 2min, or 50 pushups in less time than the last time I did it). Now this is all a physical definition of intensity there is also a mental definition which is a perception of the level of exertion. But I have come to the conclusion that by maximizing the physical you will definitely maximize the mental. When doing say 100 pullups the question becomes, should I breaking it up into manageable chunks or go for broke ie. balls out! till I max out and die off. It is my thought that you should always go balls out on any task that fits in the anaerobic arena (phosphogenic and glycolytic pathways). The time frame for workouts that take less than ~10min require that you go as hard as possible the whole way through.(author side note: these workouts are composed of components which require only ~30s - 1min to perfom and therefore are at the peak power position of the glycolytic pathway. It’s not 10min on one excercise). Most people take too much rest during the workout. Taking a 15 sec break will not give you enough rest to make up the 5sec that you wasted when 10 sec rest would have been enough. When you go for broke it is better to minimize the rest that is needed and go right back into the exercise. This requires an enormous amount of mental intensity to push your body when it wants nothing more than to just stop doing everything. It is my opinion that when you break the exercise or workout into chunks you spend more time then you actually need resting. When I go balls out I know at the end of the workout I could not have gone any faster, when I break it up I usually finish and go I should have done 15’s instead of 10’s. Mentally it is easier to break things up because it is physically easier to not have to continuously push through the pain. A great quote from the legendary OPT on the subject relating to which is better for improving work capacity:

“…Go as hard as possible, all the time, under perfect form and if you break a little bit on intensity throughout then, that’s fine that can be fixed, but I’d rather see intensity first. When people start strategizing, they immediately get into pacing and when you pace you don’t push and when you don’t push you don’t create power. If you don’t create power you don’t create success, long term. So if you are strategizing I’d suggest drop it and focus on basically just hitting the workout as hard as you can and managing the pain when you do get into it and then getting out of it you’ll feel a whole lot better…”

-James FitzGerald “OPT” on Crossfit Radio - episode 27 (Jan. 30, 2009)

The more intensity you bring to the workout the more “intense” it will be and the fitter you will become. As Coach Glassman says “Intensity is where the good stuff comes from. It is almost always the independent variable most commonly associated with favourable adaptations.” It will maximizing your results and greatly improves your fitness level.

*Note: Intensity is relative to the individual and their abilities, don’t kill yourself! Just go as hard as you reasonably can. I’m an idiot and try to push myself to the extreme, but hey I’ll crush you at almost any workout!

The Rings of Power!!!

2009-02-09T03:04:00.005-05:00

Sean banging out a Muscle-Up

Two rings to rule them all, two rings your weaknesses they will find them. Two rings for unbelievable strength and in your training you won’t mind them. The still rings or gymnastics rings are a great tool for improving overall strength, in particular core strength just from stabilizing yourself on the rings. You can take ordinary movements like the dip and push-up and greatly increase there difficulty by performing them on the rings. The average person that can perform 20 dips on parallel bars will be lucky to get 10 dips on the rings. This is because of the “speed wobbles” you get while trying to stabilize yourself. At first your body is not used to such an intense stimulus and in order to keep holding you up it starts firing all the muscles in your core randomly. Just holding yourself up on the rings is an extraordinary challenge and should be attempted regularly with goals of 30sec, 1min and 2mins. One must always control the rings or they will own you! Close attention to form is a must and the rings must always be kept as close to the body as possible, as the further away from the body they venture the difficulty in terms of strength and stability increases exponentially. Through time and practice your body will become familiar with being on the rings and your training on them can progress. There are a variety of moves that can be done on the rings as evident by anyone who has watched a gymnastics competition but some beginner movements are: pull-ups, push-ups, dips, L-sits, handstands, handstand push-ups, levers and muscle-ups. The muscle-up is a favourite of mine and is the combination of a pull-up and a dip going from hanging under the rings to supporting above the rings. The muscle-up is a great power movement and shares similar beneficial qualities with the clean & jerk (C&J you start above the bar and finish under it, in the MU you start under and finish over top). The muscle-up will allow you to surpass any obstacle you can get your hands on. The rings of power are a great addition to your strength training just give them a try and soon you'll be the Lord of the Rings.

What is Crossfit?

2009-01-28T17:44:00.000-05:00

Crossfit (noun): General fitness program which uses Constantly Varied Functional Movements done at High Intensity!

But what does all that really mean? ... To answer this question I have summarized a lecture by Pat Sherwood given my Level 1 cert. in Toronto.

Basically, Crossfit is a program that is designed to provide an individual with a broad general and inclusive fitness level. At Crossfit their specialty is not specializing, crossfitters are generalists because frankly, life requires the skills of the generalist (good at many tasks) not the specialist (good at only a single/few tasks), specialization is for insects! Crossfit works to extend ones exposure to as many stimuli as possible because most often you fail at the margins of your experience. By continually pushing those margins or boundaries with new experiences or constantly varied stimuli we can better prepare ourselves for whatever life may throw at us. The way to push these boundaries is through the use of the most basic movements such as the squat(standing up with something), deadlift(picking up something) and overhead press(putting away something), which are essential to independent living. These are safe, prehistoric, biomechanically sound movements for which the human body was designed to do. Nobody had to teach you how to stand up out of a chair, you just knew how to do it. These movements use the universal motor recruitment patterns found in almost every movement we do. They are truely unavoidable excercises. They are compound movements working mulitple muscle groups with multiple joints and by their very nature can not be reduced into simpler, more beneficial movements. However, they can be combined and made more complex in order to become increasingly useful and generate more power. Their greatest effect is how the muscles must all work in symphony for the action to occur. Additionally, these are all core to extremity movements in that the midline must remain stable for the power to be transferred from the ground by our legs, through the trunk and into our arms which are holding the object we wish to lift. Thus, all these movements will improve core strength and contribute greatly to overall strength, that is why they are functional movements. With these Functional movements we are capable of moving large loads a long distance in a short amount of time and that means we can generate more power. This is important because Intensity is directly equal to Power (Power = [Force x Distance] / Time). For all intents and purposes all one needs to know is that intensity is almost always the independent variable most commonly associated with favourable adaptations in fitness. Heart rate is only a correlate to intensity, true measureable intensity is all about power - how much you lifted, how far you lifted it and how long it took you to do it. Basically, all the good stuff comes through high intensity. How high? It is relatively high to each individuals abilities, so by maximizing individual intensity we are maximizing our individual results. Therefore, high Intensity is our shortcut to both fitness and results, which we will notice almost immediately in the improvements to our everyday life.

Stay tuned for What is Fitness?

"The Magic is in the Movements, the Art is in the Programming and the Science is in the Explanation." - Pat Sherwood quoting Greg Glassman.

The Foundation

2009-01-27T15:12:00.006-05:00

When looking to maximize performance and most importantly health, you need to make sure what your eating is something that can be classified as food. If it needs to be fortified with vitamins to be "healthy" it is not food. People are so obsessed with fat, calories, and vitamins that they are totally missing the point. If you are eating properly those things should take care of themselves. Do you look at nutrition labels? Well then what your holding in your hand is not food! If you cannot kill or harvest it and have it on your plate in under an hour then you should not be, and were never meant to be eating it.

Human evolution has not kept up with the advances in agriculture and it has left us being the most overweight and unhealthy we have been in existence. We were never meant to eat wheat, nor were we meant to eat refined sugar or any other ingredients you see on the boxed foods that are unpronounceable.

What were we meant to eat?

Whole foods! Meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts & seeds, and leaves. Forget the low-fat, high carb diet unless you want; diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, cancer or any of the western diseases associated with a diet high in refined carbohydrates.

Escaping the western diet

It can certainly be a difficult change for some people, and for others just a bit of tweaking and your there. Here are some easy ways to escape the western diet and all the fun diseases that follow;

Eat a diet of; meats and vegetables, nuts & seeds, some fruit, little starch and NO SUGAR

Shop the peripherals of the grocery store.

Get out of the supermarket whenever possible, you won't find high-fructose corn syrup at the farmer's market.

Buy grass fed meat/eggs; you are what you eat eats!(Note: just because its free range does not mean it is grass fed, make sure it says grass fed).

Buy meat in bulk; cook extra for snacks and freeze what you don't cook. Buying in bulk is also much cheaper.

Be the kind of person that takes supplements; a fish oil capsule and a multivitamin can go along way.

What to stay away from;

All flour/grain products

All dairy; pasteurization destroys the milks genetic make-up, what your left with barely represents what it would look like if it came straight from the cow. Unless your getting your milk from a grass fed cow before it goes through processing, then it is fine. If not, you need to eliminate your milk consumption

No sugar or artificial sweeteners

No beans, lentils or legumes (we will leave the reasoning for another post)

These changes to your diet will drastically improve the way you look, feel and perform in all aspects of life. Proper nutrition is the foundation of human performance, health and longevity. What you doing isn't working, never has worked and never will. Acknowledge, accept and move on.

The Four!!! Part D - O-lifts

2009-01-22T15:20:00.004-05:00

Olympic lifts (O-lifts) or Weightlifting the one word version not weight lifting to two word version describing the recreational activity of a 1/3 of the population in which they move some dumbbells in a futile effort to get in shape. I'm talking about weightlifting which is all about the Snatch and the Clean & Jerk (2 of the original 3 Olympic lifts - they removed the clean and press) and any of the hanging- (prefix - start just below knee) or power- (prefix - catch in 1/4-1/2 squat) versions. There is no better way to develop pure POWER than the O-lifts. They are a true power movement in that they move enormous loads from ground to overhead in a very short amount of time. For all those scientists like myself that can do the math Power = Work/time where Work = Force(load) x distance. So if you move the same load faster you create more power even though you are doing the same amount of work. Basically power is all about speed or explosiveness in an exercise. This speed/explosiveness is generated in the "seat of power" basically from all the muscles that attach to the pelvis mainly the back, quads, hams, glutes and hips. The tremendous power generated by the opening of the hips can transfer directly from weightlifting into other activities of daily life such as running and jumping. Thus O-lift are extremely functional and should be an active part of any program. The down side to the O-lifts is that they are very technical in nature when trying to move the load from the floor to overhead. Although not as beneficial, simpler versions (smaller range of motion) can be employed rather easily so that one may gain from using such a lift. The simplest form of the clean is a standing two feet jump. Instead of the full squat clean which starts with the weight on the floor, one could start with the weight just above the knee on the thighs - then "explode" or "Jump" with the weight while keeping the arms straight, to full hips, legs, back extension, shrugging at the top of the "pull". The lifter should come up onto their toes without actively engaging the calves and the lifter and the bar(load) should feel weightless for a fraction of a second. This sort of bastardized version of the clean simplifies the movement but still allows for someone with no understanding of what they are doing to benefit from the lift. In all honesty, a knowledgeable and certified coach is needed to learn the full versions of the lift. O-lifts are all about the "jump" as this is where the power comes from. So please do not let me see you trying to reverse curl 225lbs in a heaving motion that is all back in a poor attempt at a power clean. I would rather see you doing jumps with two 40# dumbbells in your hands. I love the O-lifts so more detailed rants are on the way!

The Four!!! Part C - Presses

2009-01-20T17:16:00.005-05:00

Presses are another group of great basic movements. They encompass a fairly large range of motion along many degrees of freedom. Basically the presses are a "push" done with the arms usually in concert with other large muscle groups such as the pecs/delts etc. Presses range from decline bench press to bench press to incline bench press up to standing shoulder press. They can even be done in conjunction with the legs and hips for a more dynamic and complex variation such as the push press and jerk. Other more complex versions include the Sotts press and Handstand pushup (an inverted standing press), both of which are very demanding on the core. These are only a few of the many types of presses. When it comes to Presses for strength we are concerned with only two factors 1.) the number of muscle groups involved in which case more is always better and 2.) How much demand/load can we put on these muscles. For example anytime you are standing rather than sitting or lying to do a press you are using more muscles (you need to stabilize yourself) it is therefore of greater benefit to overall strength. This is why standing press is more functional (useful) than bench press. Don't get me wrong I love bench press and it should be in everybodies program because of reason 2 the demand it puts on the muscles as we do bench press with much larger weights. But unless you shove people a lot it is far more useful in every day life to be able to lift heavy boxes etc. over your head. Lastly, stay away from isolation presses like tricept press and french press that just work one muscle group as they are almost useless (They don't use a lot of muscle groups and you can't use a large load). Leave them to the bodybuilders who want to just look good and be weak, we want to look good and be strong!

The Four!!! Part B - Deadlift

2009-01-16T12:59:00.003-05:00

The Deadlift is a monster of a lift, a true monster! Due to the mechanics of this lift insane amounts of weight (like 1000 lbs of crazy) can be lifted and therefore an insane amount of strength can be gained. If your training program does not have the deadlift then you need another training program. Like most lifts the deadlift has many variations such as the romanian, straight-leg, round-back and sumo deadlifts but there are a few commonalities. First the bar should be under the scapula (shoulder blade), you might as well start with it there because that is where gravity will take it. This usually means that the bar starts over the mid foot as the mid foot is the point where your balance should always be. Second, with the exception of the round-back version (full flexion-Like when those strongmen pick up an Atlas stone) the back will always be in extension to give the spine that ideal "S" curve with which it is the strongest support and has the best mechanical advantage. People will usually hurt themselves when their spinal erectors are not strong enough to hold that "S" curve and they end up in a state between full extension or full flexion and will either pull a muscle in their back or slip a disk. You are definitely near your max once your back starts to round. Generally, with little exception the bar should be pulled right up the shins over the knees and across the thigh and back down in the reverse order. Keep your lats tight so that the bar is touching those shins. Some people (especially Quad dominant ones like myself) can lift more with the Sumo-deadlift due to the fact it keeps the back in a more vertical position but the regular version is best for strength training - it's a back excercise so treat it like one. Treat the straight-leg and romanian versions as assistance excercises (too only be done once and a while). The Deadlift uses most of the same muscle groups as the squat but in slightly different ways in that the squat is mainly a leg excercise and the deadlift a back excercise. The deadlift will help strengthen the big muscles (legs, back, hips) for other strength and power excercises which if combined with say cleans will damatically increase your vertical jump or 40 yard dash time. So remember whether you are picking up a bag of groceries or a 300 pound fold-out sofa the deadlift will help you out and strengthen your back in ways you could never imagine.

The Four!!! Part A - Squats

2009-01-13T15:54:00.005-05:00

Whether it's getting off the toilet seat or setting a PR with 500lbs on your back the mechanics of the squat don't change much. It is one of the basic movements our bodies were designed for and therefore it is one of the most important movements to learn to do correctly. There are many variations of the squat (Front, back, overhead) as well as variations involving stance (wide-narrow) and bar positioning (high to low), however, there is only one way to squat in the weightroom and that is to perform a full squat. Not a 1/4, 1/2 squat, 3/4 squat, squat to just above parallel, at parallel, just below parallel, but a full squat - right to the bottom ie. as far down as it is possible to go without altering proper form. For experienced lifters this will be the "ass to ankles" position as some call it but basically the point were the muscle touch so you can't go any lower. For novice lifters it will be the point at which they begin to loose the "S" curve of the spine. The important thing is that the movement is put through the largest range of motion possible so that the individual is strong throughout the entire movement. If you do not use full range of motion it is impossible to definitively compare results from one attempt to another. Anyone that can Full Squat a max of 400 lbs can always "1/4" squat 400 lbs but someone that can "1/4" squat a max of 400 lbs can not Full squat 400 lbs. As the great Mark Rippetoe says "A 500 lbs 1/4 squat is about as impressive as a 1000 lbs leg press." The only reason to perform a 1/4 squat is to stroke your ego in an attempt to feel like a big man! There are many reasons to do the full squat it's better for the knees, strengthens the hamstrings, etc. but the only reason that is neccessary is that it makes you stronger (not just in the quads but increases total body strength) and that's what it's all about.