Photo by Bob Rosato

 CrossFit is not only reaching the mainstream general public, it is now infiltrating mainstream athletics.  Thanks to Nik B. for sending me this article about the Florida Marlins using CrossFit to train their athletes.

“A general physical preparedness type of program will equip the player for whatever he may in encounter on the field of play, and if a baseball player is adequate in all three of CrossFit’s fitness standards, he will have a better chance to be injury-free and perform to his best ability throughout the long 162-game regular season—plus playoffs, hopefully!”

Read full article here.

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Thursday’s WOD:

As many rounds as possible in 18 minutes:

7 Summo Deadlift High Pull
7 Pushups
7 Box Jumps
*the workout begins with (1) 403m run, and ends with (1) 403m run before the 18 minutes expires

results:

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Wednesday’s WOD:

4 Rounds

3 1/2 minutes to complete:

15 Overhead Squats
200m Run
25 KB Swings
Box Jumps for REPS

REST 30 seconds between rounds

results:

 13 year old Ethan gets ready for his upcoming rugby season by hitting a new PR on his Deadlift, 5 solid reps at 215lbs!  Awesome job, Ethan.

Here is another kid I first saw back in 2007 while he was competing in the first ever CrossFit Games…at the age of 15!  Apparently he has now been doing CrossFit for about 6 years, and is hitting some pretty big numbers.    Here is a video of 18 year old Connor Martin nailing an overhead squat of 250lbs.  Pretty sick!

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Friday’s WOD:

6 Clean & Jerks
250m Row

6 Clean & Jerks
2 Rope Ascents

6 Clean & Jerks
25 KB Swings

6 Clean & Jerks
25 Box Jumps

6 Clean & Jerks
403m Run

results:

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Saturday’s WOD:

A.) Thruster
1-1-1-1-1

B.) 21 Thrusters
15 Knees to Elbow

15 Thrusters
12 Knees to Elbow

9 Thrusters
9 Knees to Elbow

results:

 After doing a strength workout focusing on back squats, the De La Salle Varsity Soccer team does some metabolic conditioning to finish out their workout with CrossFit Sweat Shop this week.

The team’s workouts begin with 10 minutes of active dynamic warm-up.  A dynamic warm-up begins basic, then gets more complex and specific as it progresses.  This type of warm-up increases body temperature, heart rate, and stimulates the neuromuscular system, all of which should be included in a proper warm-up, whether it be for athletes, or the general population prior to their workout.  This has been proven time and time again to me more effective than a warm-up that just consists of static stretching. 

Here’s an excerpt from a study, from the University of North Carolina, that shows an active warm-up reduces the risk of knee injuries in soccer players.

The intervention involved warm-up activities designed to increase players’ flexibility, balance and strength, as well as their foot planting, jumping and cutting skills, since previous research has shown that approximately 70 percent of ACL injuries are the result of such non contact movements. The routine took 10 to 12 minutes before every game and practice, and was used in place of the jogging and stretching warm ups the players had been using previously. 

Read full article here.

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Thursday’s WOD:

4 Rounds

8 Back Squats
300m Row
15 Box Jumps
20 Pushups

results:

Nick and Jake (ages 9), prepare to do battle on the rower.

Whether you are a child or an adult, everyone is able to train quite a bit harder when they train alongside others.  That is just one of the principals that makes training at a CrossFit gym so effective.  A study was just released that proves this theory.

ScienceDaily (Sep. 28, 2009) — A study of Oxford rowers has shown that members of a team who exercised together were able to tolerate twice as much pain as when they trained on their own.

Read the full article here.

Another opportunity to train alongside others, and for a great cause, is a 5K fun run/walk put on by the United Mt. Diablo Ahtletic Foundation.  As many of you likely know, funding was cut for the athletic programs of many Walnut Creek, Concord and Pleasant Hill schools, including:  Clayton Valley, College Park, Mt. Diablo, Concord, Northgate, and Ygnacio Valley high schools.  The 5K, being held at 9am on October 18th at Newhall Community Park will help raise money to fund the programs at these schools.  Flyers for the 5K are available at CrossFit Sweat Shop, or you can download the registration form here.

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Monday’s WOD:

A.) 3 minutes to complete 15 Burpees and 15 Squats, then as many reps as possible of Push Jerks.  REST 2 minutes, REPEAT 3 rounds.

B.) 3 minutes to complete 15 Box Jumps and 15 Pushups, then as many reps as possible of Deadlifts.  REST 2 minutes, REPEAT 3 rounds.

results:

Matt, who does the Sports Performance Training Classes at CrossFit Sweat Shop, just graduated from high school and will be going to college in the fall.  He wanted to upgrade his membership from 2x/week to Unlimited, but didn’t have the funds.  So what did he do?  Manually trimmed the hedges that surround the Sweat Shop…. all 150+ feet of them.

Matt’s work ethic in the gym is even more impressive.  He crushed today’s Sports Performance WOD, using the heavier weights than prescribed, Matt finished in the fastest times of the day.

Sports Performance WOD:

2 Rounds

3 Reps of Bench Press
8 Deadlifts
8 Hang Power Cleans
70 Meter Sprint

REST 2 minutes, REPEAT 3 times

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Wednesday’s WOD:

21 Deadlifts
9 G.I. Janes (burpee into a pullup)
21 Overhead (push jerks or hand stand pushups)
9 Ring Dips

15 Deadlifts
15 G.I. Janes
15 Overhead
15 Ring Dips

9 Deadlifts
21 G.I. Janes
9 Overhead
21 Ring Dips

results:

Reminder:  Sports Performance Classes, Mon.-Thurs. 10:30am beginning Monday June 15th

Check out Kate hitting a PR of 105 lbs. on her squat clean today.  Olympic weightlifting movements, such as the Clean, have been shown to have a dramatic effect on increasing an individuals explosiveness.  No matter the sport, an increase in explosiveness will improve on the field performance by improving acceleration quickness, agility, and vertical jump.

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Wednesday’s WOD: 

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes:

15 KB Swings
12 Walking Lunges w/ KB
5 ea. Single Arm KB Push Press
8 Ring Rows

results:

Ethan, age 13, has been absolutely crushing it in the gym these past few weeks.  In preparation for football this fall, Ethan has been participating in the Sports Performance Program and has seen some huge gains.  In addition to increasing his strength, explosivness and “quickness off the line”, Ethan has also starting linking together up to 8 kipping pullups at a time!  Strong work Ethan, keep it up.

***Sports Performance Classes Begin June 15th***

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Tuesday’s WOD:

300 meter row, then 4 Rounds of:

8 Back Squats
10 Summo Deadlift High Pulls
8 Burpees
12 KB Swings

after completing 4 rounds run (1) 403 meter run

results:

In preparation for her upcoming soccer season, Kate hits a set of overhead squats during a private training session. Good luck on Monday, Kate!

As a reminder, all time slots for private training are currently full, however, the Sports Performance class will be starting in the coming weeks.
 

Today’s WOD

“Tabata Something Else”

Pullups
Pushups
Situps
Squats

-20 seconds of work, followed by 10 seconds of rest
-complete 8 sets of each exercise, before moving to the next exercise
-score total number of reps for the entire workout
 

The Tabata protocol (20 seconds on, 10 seconds off) is one of the most effective and time efficient methods to greatly increase muscular endurance.  Read more about it here.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1608/is_5_20/ai_n6011850/

Above:  James Barber, former VSP coach, demonstrates his explosive power.  Below:  Nabil Langkilde moves explosively to get out of the way of some athletes performing an acceleration drill.

Sports Performance training classes will soon be available at CrossFit Sweat Shop.  These classes are for all aged athletes and are designed to increase their explosivness, thus improving their speed, agility, acceleration and rotational power.  Regardless of what sport an athlete plays, an increase in explosive power will always have a positive effect on their athletic performance. 

Please note:  THIS IS NOT CrossFit for kids.  This is a program I’ve helped to develop over the last 7 years and most recently as the former Sports Performance Director of Velocity Sports Performance in Concord.  There will be some aspects of metabolic conditioning, but the majority of the program is comprised of strength training in the form of olympic lifting, in addition to plyometrics, and advanced agility drills.  Explosive training is not geared towards increasing the size of the muscle.  Granted muscle hypertrophy is likely, the goal and product of this program is making muscles more powerful/explosive/”fast twitch”, at their given size. Lifting weights, as done in most high school weight rooms is not only a poor use of time, it can actually be detrimental to an athlete’s performance due to lack of supervision, and misinformation that results in most athletes performing body building type exercises.  If you or your athlete is not on a program specifically designed to increase their explosivness, there is a large gap in their training regimen.

Click below to watch a video demonstration of explosivness.

jb_jump_low_res

Feel free to read an article I wrote for a local newspaper several years back regarding strength training for youth athletes.   (in the article “crunches” should read “situps”….bad editor! … also my photo in the article clearly demonstrates the effects of a carbohydrate rich diet!)

Below are the links, a link for each page.

http://www.claytonpioneer.com/PDFS/page%2013%2006%2003.pdf

http://www.claytonpioneer.com/PDFS/page%2015%2006%2003.pdf

Tuesday’s WOD:

250m Row, then 2 Rounds of:
15 DB Clean and Jerks
15 KTE’s from rings
10 Burpees
20 Walking lunges

rest 3 minutes then repeat begining w/ 250m row