Matt is deeply focused during his dumbbell thrusters.
The ability to focus in the midst of physical or mental stress will save your life. Focus is a mental toughness trait that can (and should) be trained. Lucky for us, CrossFit and yoga provide excellent opportunities to help us learn how to focus. CrossFit and yoga force us to be in the present moment. When you're doing your dumbbell thrusters today, you probably won't be thinking about what you're going make for dinner. However, you might be thinking about how hard the workout is. If you're anything like Coach Leslie, you might be thinking, "Crap! I'm only half way through these thrusters and I still have another round of burpees to do." Thinking of your next rep is an unfocused moment. Thinking about this rep, and this rep only, allows you to be fully committed to this rep. By focusing on this rep, you eliminate all of the mental chatter. The mental chatter is a distraction from our present moment. When we're distracted from the present moment, we are unable to learn, listen and live as our authentic self. Living in the present moment provides us with clarity, and enables us to make better decisions. Learning how to focus amidst stress will help us navigate the stress and make decisions that positively serve us. If you're interested in developing your mental toughness, connect with Coach Leslie. She and a few other True Spirit members are interested in creating a mental toughness workgroup. Today's Workout Power to the People Deadlift Day 10 Set 1 = 5 @ 45% Set 2 = 5 @ 55% Set 3 = 5 @ 65% Set 4 = 5 @ 60% + 45lbs Set 5 = 5 @ 90% of Set 4 then, 3 Rounds for time of: 15 Dumbbell or Kettlebell thrusters 45/30# 15 burpees
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Karl gets great height jumping over Pete in the junk yard dog warm-up. This is one of our favorite Olympic Weightlifting warm-ups.
The Fall 2015 Whole Life Challenge has officially ended. We are still compiling the final results and will be announcing our winner in the next few days. Many of us who completed this WLC met up at Norris Hot Springs over the weekend to celebrate and discuss some of the lessons we learned. Nearly all of us (finally) realized how our old habit of "all or nothing thinking" did not serve us as we work to live a healthier life. All or nothing thinking is flawed logic. At its core, all or nothing thinking sets us up for failure. Just because we're not, yet, successful at something, it doesn't mean we should give up all together. Here are two examples of all or nothing thinking that resonate with us:
1. I can't make it to the gym 3 times per week so I'm going to cancel my membership. What if you schedule 3 times into your week, and make your goal at least 2 of those time? Along with that, have a non-gym workout (Tabata squats, burpees, sit-ups for example) that you can do at home. The following week schedule 4 times you can make it to the gym and make your goal 2 times. Keep scheduling your time and allowing yourself to achieve your goal over a few weeks. Eventually you will make it to the gym 3 times per week. We need to be ok with the steps in between all or nothing. 2. I ate a Granny's donut at breakfast so I might as well eat whatever I want the rest of the day. Enjoy the donut! Then, recognize and accept that your humanness. You might have a strong emotional connection to donuts. That's ok. Recommit to yourself, at your next meal, that you will make different choices. Try not to judge yourself, but take note of what was compelling you to eat the donut. Then, recognize eating the donut was one choice in one moment in time. It doesn't define you, just as none of your other choices define you. It's just a choice, and you have the power to make a different choice with your next breath. Letting go of thoughts, emotions and actions that don't serve us is a powerful liberator. Our next Whole Life Challenge starts January 16th. We hope you'll join us. Today's Workout Clean & Jerk Practice - work up to a heavy single then, Buy-In: 1 min max reps double unders then, 3 Rounds for time of: 30/60/100 Double unders 15 Clean & Jerk 135/95# or 50-60% of today’s single Scale double unders according to buy-in reps < 25 scale to 30 DU 25 - 50 reps scale to 60 DU reps > 50 do 100 DU Today's Technique Tuesday video is from our very own Coach Noah. Coach Noah is our resident expert in gymnastics and bodyweight movements. He is offering a special 8 week gymnastics specialty course to help you take your gymnastics skills to the next level. Today he is giving us a sneak peak at his pistol progression. Gymnastics are a key component of our CrossFit training. Gymnastics is the CrossFit term for any movement where the aim is control of your body. Coach Glassman outlined the role of gymnastics in CrossFit as follows: "Our use of the term 'gymnastics' not only includes the traditional competitive sport that we’ve seen on TV but all activities like climbing, yoga, calisthenics, and dance where the aim is body control. It is within this realm of activities that we can develop extraordinary strength (especially upper body and trunk), flexibility, coordination, balance, agility, and accuracy. In fact, the traditional gymnast has no peer in terms of development of these skills. The starting place for gymnastic competency lies with the well-known calisthenic movements: pull-ups, push-ups, dips, and rope climb. These movements need to form the core of your upper body strength work. Set goals for achieving benchmarks like 20, 25, and 30 pull-ups; 50, 75, and 100 push-ups; 20, 30, 40, and 50 dips; 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 consecutive trips up the rope without any use of the feet or legs. At fifteen pull-ups and dips each it is time to start working regularly on a “muscle-up.” The muscle-up is moving from a hanging position below the rings to a supported position, arms extended, above the rings. It is a combination movement containing both a pull-up and a dip. Far from a contrivance the muscle-up is hugely functional. With a muscle-up you’ll be able to surmount any object on which you can get a finger hold – if you can touch it you can get up on it. The value here for survival, police, fire fighter, and military use is impossible to overstate. The key to develop- ing the muscle-up is pull-ups and dips. While developing your upper body strength with the pull-ups, push-ups, dips, and rope climb, a large measure of balance and accuracy can be developed through mastering the handstand. Start with a headstand against the wall if you need to. Once reasonably comfortable with the inverted position of the headstand you can practice kicking up to the handstand again against a wall. Later take the handstand to the short parallel bars or parallettes without the benefit of the wall. Walking on the hands is another fantastic tool for developing both the handstand and balance and accuracy. A football field or sidewalk is an excellent place to practice and measure your progress. You want to be able to walk 100 yards in the handstand without falling. Competency in the handstand readies the athlete for handstand presses. There is a family of presses that range from relatively easy, ones that any beginning gymnast can perform to ones so difficult that only the best gymnasts competing at national levels can perform. It is not unusual to take ten years to get these five presses! The trunk flexion work in gymnastics is beyond anything you’ll see anywhere else, the basic sit-up and “L” hold are the staples. The “L” hold is nothing more than holding your trunk straight, supported by locked arms, hands on bench, floor, or parallel bars, and hips at 90 degrees with legs straight held out in front of you. You want to work towards a three minute hold in benchmark increments of 30 seconds – 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, and 180 seconds. When you can hold an “L” for three minutes all your old ab work will be silly easy. Every workout should contain regular gymnastic/calisthenic movements that you’ve mastered and other elements under development. Much of the rudiments of gymnastics come only with great effort and frustration – that’s O.K. The return is unprecedented and the most frustrating elements are most beneficial long before you’ve developed even a modicum of competency." If you're ready to take your gymnastics skills to the next level, enroll in Coach Noah's 8 week gymnastics skills clinic. Today's Workout Power to the People Deadlift Day 9 or 3 x 6 Turkish Get-Up then, for time: 42 Box jumps 24/20” 800m Run 30 Box jumps 24/20” 500m Run 18 Box jumps 24/20” 200m Run Dress warmly because we're running! Happy Birthday Strong Jake!We hope your birthday is full of love, laughs and perhaps some heavy barbells:-)
Welcome to Mobility Monday. Many of us are back to work today and most of us are back to work at a desk. Your posture at your desk can wreak havoc on your neck and shoulders. In fact, we learned in Coach Jon's mobility seminar that most of our mobility limitations originate with our posture. How you sit and stand affects how you move.
Pay attention to your neck and shoulders today while you're sitting at your desk. Many of us have strong internal rotation of our shoulders and a pronounced head forward position. This head forward position can make your neck and shoulders very, very tight. Today we're asking you to look upright as you do your wall balls. If you don't unglue your tissues, it will be a challenge to go from one end range of motion (forward) to the opposite range (looking upward) during wall balls. Spend some time today BEFORE YOU ATTEND class ungluing the issues in your tissues. Today's Workout Power to the People Deadlift Day 9 Set 1 = 5 reps @ 45% Set 2 = 5 reps @ 55% Set 3 = 5 reps @ 65% Set 4 = 5 reps @ 60% + 40lbs Set 5 = 5 reps @ 90% of Set 4 then, 4 rounds for time of: 40 Double Unders 30 Seated Russian Twists 45/35 lbs 20 Box Jumps 24/20in 10 Wall Balls 30/20 lbs Scale this workout so it takes you less than 16 min to complete. Compare to Oct 29, 2014. |
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