WOD Blog

6/13 Technique Tuesday

6/12/2023

Duane and his kids, Konrad and Alina, workout together in the 9am class.

What is a MetCon, AKA metabolic conditioning?

Our bodies utilize three energy systems when we exercise. These are the Phosphogen-Creatine, Glycolytic, and Oxidative energy systems. We are all probably most familiar with the Oxidative system and we know it by it's common name, aerobic(s) exercise. The other two systems are anaerobic. Meaning they do not require oxygen to "run."
One of the key components of CrossFit is that we utilize all three energy systems. The Phosphogen-creatine system is used primarily when we do something hard and fast for less than 60 seconds. Think of a max effort lift, a box jump, a sledgehammer hit, or swinging a golf club or baseball bat. These are explosive efforts that we can do at maximal intensity.
The glycolytic system is used primality for maximal efforts lasting less than 2 minutes. Think of the workout Grace, a 10, 100, or 200m sprint, a 250 max effort row, or any interval that lasts about 2 mins.
The oxidative pathway dominates efforts lasting longer than 2 min. This is most of our workouts. We are always training our "aerobic" system (except when we are just lifting for load.)
All three of these systems operate at the start of exercise, but one dominates until the next one takes over.
One of the reasons CrossFit it so effective is that we intentionally train all three of these systems. Increased efficiency in all three systems has profound and significant impacts on our hormonal balance and metabolism. That is why we call our workouts, metabolic conditioning. We are not just exercising or doing aerobics. We are actively training our metabolism to balance hormones such as cortisol, insulin, and many others.

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4/18 Technique Tuesday

4/17/2023

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Handstand holds help develop overhead strength.

Concentric, Eccentric, Isometric
Three Ways to Build Muscle Fabric

Power, strength, and speed are enhanced by building muscle. Our metabolism changes by building muscle. Our hormones change by building muscle. Our body composition changes by building muscle. Our bone density increases by building muscle. Building muscle is a key factor in improving health and increasing longevity. There are three basic ways to build muscle and we play with all of them when we train at the gym.
Concentric contraction is when a muscle actively shortens. When we do ring rows our biceps shorten on the pull. When we stand up from a squat the quadriceps concentrically contract to lift us up.
Eccentric contraction is when a muscle actively lengthens. When we lower from a ring row the biceps lengthen. When we squat below parallel the quadriceps lengthen. When we deadlift the hamstrings lengthen.
Isometric contraction is when the muscle is engaged and doesn't move. When we hold a plank our triceps, biceps, pectorals and all the trunk muscles are held in isometric contraction. The top of a flexed arm hang is isometric. An active bar hang is isometric. A wall squat hold is isometric.
Which types of contraction build muscle best? A combination of all three! Want to get better pull-ups? Do ring rows, flexed arm hangs, active bar hangs, and assisted pull-ups. Want to get better at push-ups? Do planks, isometric holds at the bottom, knee to plank push-ups and negatives.
Want to get a bigger deadlift? Stop dropping the bar! When you drop the bar you miss HALF of the muscle contractions that make you stronger. Lower the bar under control to build core strength and take advantage of the concentric loading of your posterior chain.
Want a stronger squat? Squat to your FULL depth! Your muscles get stronger by going through a complete range of concentric and eccentric loading. When you pause at the top or bottom your building strength through isometric loading.
The lesson here? To build muscle sometimes you need to slow down and ensure you're getting the FULL RANGE of motion. This ensures you're maximizing all the muscle contractions.
Share with me in the comments your favorite isometric contraction.

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4/11 Tips for Performance Tuesday

4/10/2023

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Get ready to go over the wall today

Today's Tips for Performance Tuesday post is a bit different. Rather than sharing a movement performance tip, I'm sharing a bit about my programming technique.
As most of you know, I program the daily workouts for the gym. I use workouts created by CrossFit Training, Beyond the Whiteboard, and ones I create myself. I follow the definition of CrossFit which is constantly varied high intensity functional movement.
Every month we track and celebrate your firsts and bests in our strength, endurance and other work capacity workouts. Don't you love getting those PR cards each month? Every quarter I review our programming to ensure that we are achieving a balance and improvement across varied time and domains.
You can also analyze our programming to assess the balance of your training. You can do this by clicking on the 3 horizontal line icon in the upper left corner of the BTWB app.

The three horizontal bars in the upper left corner of the BTWB app open up a bunch of cool options.

Click on Analyze and then select Modalities.

We are going to analyze our training modalities, but you could check out your max lifts and find your rep max percentages. This is a very helpful feature on lifting days.

Within the Programming Analysis menu you can select 1 Year, 6 Months, 3 Months, or 12 Days. Here is my programming analysis for the past 6 months.

In the past 6 months I have logged 199 training sessions. I have completed 22 benchmark workouts, repeated 13 workouts, and got 28 new personal records.

While this analysis is of my training sessions, I follow the gym programming Monday. Wednesday and Friday and do a fun and unusual workout every Tuesday, so it's a good representation of the balance of the gym's programming.
BTWB defines a weightlifting workout as anything with a barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell, wallball, sandbag, sledgehammer, slam ball, or anything else that is weighted. A gymnastics workout is one that is solely bodyweight with no weighted apparatus and a monostructural workout is just running, rowing, rucking and/or jumping rope.

The bulk of my workouts are medium in length with the remaining spread across sprint, short and long. Most of my workouts are split between light and medium with enough heavy days to make me strong but not break me down. The majority of my workouts are task priority, meaning I must do a set amount of work for time. I personally prefer this style because it pushes me a bit harder.

Our weekly programming always includes one heavy day, one day sans any overhead movements, 3-4 workouts in the 8-15 minute time domain, 1 workout that is short or untimed and 1 workout that is longer than 18 mins. One workout is a repeat, one workout is a BTWB Fitness Level workout, one is from another CrossFit source and the rest I usually create.
I am not surprised that most of you set new personal records each month. The last 6 months of programming have been constantly varied high intensity functional movement, in other words, for the past 6 months we've all done CrossFit and we've all seen a measurable increase in our fitness. We've increased our strength even though we didn't do a specific strength/barbell cycle, we've increased our endurance without a specific endurance program, we've increased our stamina, power, speed, and our general fitness across broad time and modal domains by doing CrossFit.
It's amazing how well this elegantly simple system of constantly varied high intensity functional movement works to make us stronger, more durable, faster, more powerful, more agile, more coordinated, and increases our endurance, stamina, flexibility, agility, and balance. I hope you've enjoyed the past 6 months of programming and how much your general badassery has increased. You're welcome. It is my pleasure to program for you. I look forward to the next 6 months of constantly varied high intensity functional movement.

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3/14 Tuesday - Train for the Spartan Race with Coach James!

3/13/2023

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Obstacle Course Race (OCR) Training starts in 12 Days!

Why do Spartan Training with Me?
by Coach James
I started doing CrossFit in June 2010 with Saturday workouts in the park. I was used to working out regularly but it was the very classic training method of long slow distances of running, biking, hiking. I was pretty good at those specific activities but also knew that I was not very strong so I was hesitant to do CrossFit. Once I did my first few workouts I knew the program was going to help me become stronger both physically and mentally, and it has.
Leslie and I opened True Spirit CrossFit in 2014 because we remember what it is like to be new at something and wanted to take the fundaments of CrossFit and make it more approachable to more people as a way to build and live a healthier life. This takes a community and the community is what helps motivate me to get up and coach at 6 am or to do a workout with the best effort I can.
Through doing CrossFit and owning the gym, I am stronger physically and mentally. I have more confidence in my daily life. I have an outlet for my intensity. I can channel and harness the memory of a difficult workout or practicing a challenging skill (like double unders that took me a year and a half to finally get) that helps me put life's daily challenges into perspective. Plus I love the variety of what we do and accomplish. This is what helped motivate me to do obstacle course racing like the Spartan and Knuckle Buster.
Showing up is success, being coachable is wise, participating with positive attitude is inspiring, using your brain builds one of the most important muscle in your body, and being a part of the community is the best exercise my heart can have. By learning with and through others, both as a coach and athlete, I am a happier "fitter" person. This is what True Spirit CrossFit means to me and I am transformed through it every day.
Life is the ultimate CrossFit workout, Live It.
To help you live life to the fullest Coach James is leading a 6-week Obstacle Course Race (OCR) prep course starting Sunday, March 26th. We need six people to greenlight this course!
The OCR prep course meets Wednesdays at the gym at 6:30pm and Sundays at 4:30pm at a different outdoor location each week.
This 6-week course will prepare you for the Spartan OCR in Big Fork on May 6-7th and the Knuckle Buster July 15th. It's also a great opportunity to work on skills like rope climb, odd object carries, wall climbing, spear throw, burpees and a bunch of other fun skills.
You will get a great workout every class whilst developing your technique. You will gain confidence in climbing over a 6, 7 and 8 foot wall, traversing over a cargo net, crawling through the sand under barbed wire, jumping over a pile of burning logs, and of course, throwing a spear!
The OCR prep course is a great option if you want a break from our traditional CrossFit classes. Sometimes you need to shake things up, and OCR training can do that for you.
Talk to Coaches James or Leslie after class for more info on our OCR course. Or, you can check it our more by clicking on the link below.
Our first class meets Sunday, March 26th at 4:30pm at the gym.