WOD Blog

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

3/13/2023

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.

Learn More About OCR Training

Click Here for The WOD

0 Comments

12/13 Technology Tuesday

12/12/2022

0 Comments

Holly gets good extension at the top of the ski erg

Have you seen the new Ski Erg and Assault Bike Pro at the gym? We are SO excited to have new equipment and you can FOR SURE expect workouts of the day to include the rowing, skiing and biking. Hello, Acid Bath!
Both ergs are made by Concept 2 and have a very cool app associated with them. Er Data is a free app that connects via bluetooth to the PM5 row ergs (the ones with red tape on them) and the ski erg. Once connected Erg Data displays additional training data such as stroke length, heart rate, watts, and many more.
Erg Data also integrates with Apple Health, Whoop, and Garmin. Once you connect Erg Data with your wearable tech you have many more options available such as connecting with Strava. I love how once I start Erg Data it pushes my info to Whoop and Strava simultaneously.
You can also program workouts into Erg Data and push them to the erg of your choice. For example, If you know we're doing a Tabata Row, you can program all 8 intervals in Erg Data, save it and and when you get to the gym connect with a PM5 and you're all set! How nice is that? No more programming the erg via the monitor.
When you set up Erg Data you will create an online Concept 2 account. After each workout Erg Data will log all your meters rowed or skied and you can participate in Concept 2 distance challenges. You can learn more about Erg Data here. Click on the button below to download the appropriate version for your phone.

Erg Data for iOS

Erg Data on Google Play

The new Air Assault Bike Pro also has an associated app, Assault Fitness. Like Erg Data, Assault Fitness connects to the Pro bike via bluetooth. One of the features of Assault Fitness that I'm most excited about is group challenges. Once you create your account you can connect with your gym friends, challenge them to a workout, and have fun talking smack about each other:)
Assault Fitness also allows you to create workouts, track your progress and a whole bunch of other cool things. I have yet to discover if it integrates with other wearable technology, but I'm sure that's in the works. I mean, if you don't track it it doesn't count, right?
Click here to learn more about Assault Fitness app.

Click Here for The WOD

0 Comments

12/6 Tuesday - Podium Week Day 2

12/5/2022

0 Comments

Podium Week Day 1 in the 9am class!

The nooners and their podiums

We continue our fitness testing and #podiumweek with a series of tests created by CrossFit Level 4 Seattle. These tests are used to determine your current fitness level and appropriate scalings and progressions for workouts.
The testing and use of the levels is analogous to belt colors in martial arts. You work in your current level, progressing towards the next. After you've demonstrated competency in your current level, you're allowed to test to the next one. These fitness levels can highlights your weaknesses and give you something to work on. Remember, our goal is to make you as generally fit as possible. The CrossFit Level 4 fitness levels allow us to assess and make recommendations for improving your general physical capacity.

What the Skill Levels Mean

Level 1. You can move like a human. You’re not in particularly good shape, but if your town floods, you can get in a rescue boat without a firefighter pulling you in. If you can’t do three pull-ups, and three dips, you don’t have healthy shoulders. If you can’t squat all the way down comfortably, your hips are not healthy. These are basic health problems in the sense that they affect your quality of life. Fixing these problems generates a lot of self-confidence, and sets the stage for further progress.
Level 2. You’re not a competitive athlete, but you’re an active, fit person who can tackle whatever you want to do. All of your joints have full range of motion and adequate strength. You know how to create stability and power. You are ready to dive into learning any new physical activity that may interest you. Being this capable is so much fun!
Level 3. This is general fitness for a competitive athlete. That’s already pretty rare territory. Most adults don’t need all this, but it can be fun and give you some challenging goals. If you’re not working on Level 3 – for instance, if you can’t do a few strict dead hang muscle ups – you have no business entering the CrossFit Open and expect to get to Regionals or expect to be in the top 25% globally. Stop being delusional about what you can do. Treat the problem.
Level 4. The level 4 goals explore the limits of general fitness. They are attainable only through many years of smart consistent training. None of the individual goals are very advanced when compared to a specialist in that field, but the combination of these qualities is very hard to achieve. For many, if not most people, this level of all around fitness is just not practical. Not practical because achieving all of these skills simultaneously means that you have really become a specialist in general fitness. Many, many people can perform some of the skills listed in Level 4, while at the same time they are unable to perform several level 2 skills. Perhaps the best use of these levels is when you are able to realize that you are already “good enough” in one area, and can then focus on an area that needs work.

Coach's Notes: If you did not do the CrossFit or Powerlifting Total yesterday you will do it today.

Click Here for The WOD

Bring a friend to class this Friday. It's FREE for them and FUN for you!

0 Comments

11/29 Technique Tuesday

11/28/2022

0 Comments

Which kind of muscle contractions is Anne demonstrating?

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.

Click Here for The WOD