Alright folks, it’s time to be honest with one another.  How much time do you devote to stretching and improving your flexibility?  No the yawn and stretch before bed or after waking up doesn’t count, and yes we incorporate dynamic stretches into the warmups from time to time, but beyond those times do you take time to stretch?  For me, the answer tends to be no as I usually find some excuse to talk myself out of it or distract myself and conveniently forget to come back and stretch.  Whether I’m too drained from the workout, my muscles are too tight and/or tired right now, I’m rushing out of the gym to somewhere else, or I just don’t have time right now I think I’ve used every excuse there is to avoid stretching.  Sure I roll on the foam roller or use the lacrosse ball to help loosen up my muscles, but what am I really doing to help improve my flexibility beyond the workout I’m preparing for?  Sadly, the answer is not much.

Roger Harrell discussed stretching and flexibility in a 2006 CrossFit Journal article.  In his opinion, gaining flexibility is primarily about discipline (exactly what I didn’t want to hear).  That’s right folks, there’s no quick fixes when it comes to improving flexibility, just like there’s no quick and easy way to get stronger either.  If we want to get stronger, we lift.  Well, if we want to get flexible we have to stretch…at least once a day, at a very minimum, is Roger’s recommendation…but shoot for multiple times per day in order to see quicker improvements.  Also, he recommends that shorter, more frequent stretching is better than longer sessions, less frequently.  That means that 7 ten minute sessions a week is much more beneficial than 1 seventy minute session a week.  He also emphasizes some light, dynamic stretching mixed into a warm-up, but that stretching post WOD is where we’ll get the most bang for our buck because our muscles are warm, more relaxed, and are better able to work through their range of motion.  That means instead of sprinting out the door as soon as you finish your WOD, consider taking 5-10 minutes to cool down by stretching off to the side.

Kelly Starrett of CrossFit San Francisco, PT guru and Recovery extraordinaire, has a wealth of knowledge in this area.  He runs the CrossFit Mobility and Recovery Seminars and films video clips for the CrossFit Journal on the subject of improving flexibility and mobility.  One such clip appeared recently in the Journal and may help many of us incorporate stretching into our workdays.  In the Executive Stretching Series Kelly introduce some stretches that those of us who have desk jobs wouldn’t be embarrassed to do at work.  It’s as simple as sitting up tall in our chair, crossing one leg over so that the ankle is on the opposite knee, and leaning forward to stretch.  You can also stretch your hamstring by propping a leg on something and leaning forward in a similar manner.  Kelly in a big proponent of contract-relax stretching whereby you hold a stretch for 10 seconds or so, actively resist for 5 seconds, relax, then sink a little bit deeper.  We’re all extremely dedicated when it comes to getting stronger and kicking ass in our met-cons, so let’s show we’re disciplined enough to stretch at least once a day.

WOD 06.23.10

Clean Skillwork

“Jackie”
Row 1K
50 Thrusters @ 45#
30 Pullups

(A few of you have mentioned fatigued wrists after front squats, cleans or overhead squats. I ran this post back in November, but I felt it deserved a repeat. -Marcus)

With the emphasis on olympic lifts in CrossFit, your wrists can be subjected to quite a beating from day-to-day. If you’ve ever felt aches after front squats or heavy cleans, you know what I’m talking about.
Kelly Starrett of CrossFit San Francisco recently featured a Q&A about wrist pain which was packed with great info.

Hey Kelly,
I injured my wrist at the bottom of a squat clean, and wonder if that’s something common enough to warrant a blog post…I know a lot of people who’ve had trouble with the same kind of thing. What’s the best bet for building up (or regaining) wrist strength/flexibility, etc.? My wrists are definitely the weak link for me in several exercises.

Thanks again,
-BK

It’s true. The receiving position of full clean can be brutal on your wrists, not to mention front squats and the worst of all, thrusters. It’s not uncommon that athletes end up with some sort of wrist tweak from one of these movements from time to time.
There are a few things that you can do to PREVENT significant wrist hurtage.

1) Warm up your wrists! These poor boys are the linkage between your 400lb front squat and your hips. Be cool and show them some serious love before you start red-lining…

For more tips, check out the full article here.

WOD – 06.21.10

Back Squat 3×5, 1×15-20
Workout 1 for the 2010 CrossFit Games Online Qualifier
Five rounds for time:

• 10 Deadlift (225/155 lbs)
• 10 Box Jumps (24/20″)
• 10 Toes-to-Bar

Oh how I relish the opportunity to squeeze in an afternoon nap after work or before heading in for an afternoon workout.  Is it just me or does it seem like everyday I hit a wall sometime between 2-4 pm.  Sometimes it’s so bad I feel as though I could close my eyes and zonk out no matter where I find myself.  For most of us this afternoon slump occurs while we’re at work and napping on the job might not make you the #1 employee in your boss’s eyes…but helping expose stereotypes and teach uninformed individuals like your boss are things we take pride in at Intrepid.

Mark’s Daily Apple posted on some ways to approach the whole idea of napping at work with your boss, giving some links to informative studies and articles on the subject.  In general, data supports napping anywhere from 15-45 minutes increases productivity, improves cognitive function and memory retention, and decreases stress and cortisol levels.  Any shorter and it’s not really worth the trouble, and any longer and you’re venturing into the deep sleep states that Ruth posted on not too long ago and your blood pressure and body temperature drop.  It’s unfortunate that people who nap might be considered lazy when napping may very well be a biological need.  If you have the opportunity to grab a 15-45 nap I’d encourage you to try it and see how you feel the rest of the day.  Oh sure you may be a little groggy waking up but it should pass and hopefully you will feel mentally sharper and more energetic.  Oh, and maybe we can convince Ruth to change the nap time rule for the sleep challenge.

WOD 06.16.10

Front Squat 3×3, 1×15-20

10, 9, 8,…1
Pushups
Box Jumps
Wallball Shots

The fact of the matter is that the shoulder, as a mobility joint, needs a proper foundation for it to function properly.

Let’s look at some other movements that require scapular stability:

Bench Press:   Few of us who have grown up in globo-gyms have avoided the inevitable rotator cuff injury from this movement.  The main reason being we were never taught how to properly execute this lift.  We tell you to keep your shoulder blades back (scapular retraction)  so that you create a strong foundation for your shoulders as you press.  A rounded back on the bench will kill both the lift and your shoulders.

Press, OHS (or anything overhead):  “Active shoulders ” and  “shoulders in your ears” are cues we use to elicit scapular elevation.  This prevents the all-too-common shoulder impingement injury when the acromion does not clear the rotator cuff.  Think about Monday’s OHS workout and how difficult it was to do it if you didn’t pull your shoulders back and up to lock in that position (a function of the scapula).

Rowing: Another example of a movement that requires scapular retraction.  Too often we get tired and start rounding the back as we return to the catch, setting us up for trouble.  Mark says that “setting your shoulder blades back and keeping them tight creates a safe, linear path for your primary rowing muscles to travel.”  The sumo deadlift high pull is virtually the rowing movement while standing.  Can you imagine starting the SDHP with a rounded back and shoulders relaxed??

Pull-ups:  The most common perpetrator in shoulder injuries due to the volume of kipping pull ups that can sneak into a WOD (50 in Mondays wod!).  Relaxing the shoulders in any way each time you come down to full extension can wreak havoc on your rotator cuffs.   Keep those scaps back and up (retract & elevate)!!!!

Since knowing is half the battle, I’ll cover the other half on maintenance and rehabilitation in a future post.  In the meantime, get those frozen dixie cups out of the fridge and ice massage after strenuous shoulder activity.

**A HUGE Congrats to Nick, Henderson Fire Department’s Newest Firefighter (That’s where Vegas is!)!!  Guess we have some Intrepid road trips in the near future!**

compare to 03.26.10 and 01.05.10

Our recent trip to Greece was excellent, with one exception…the long flights.  A 10-hour flight to London plus a 4-hour flight to Athens was a lot to bear.  In all Los Angeles and Athens are separated by 9 time zones which led to my first real experience with jet lag.  I’ve traveled back and forth from the east and west coasts of the U.S. without too much problem, but a 9-hour difference means that Ruth and I were having to go to bed around mid-afternoon LA time and wake up when we’d usually find ourselves just getting to bed back in LA.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), jet lag is, ”a temporary disorder among air travelers who rapidly travel across three or more time zones. Jet lag results from the slow adjustment of the body clock to the destination time, so that daily rhythms and the internal drive for sleep and wakefulness are out of synchrony with the new environment.”  Also, Mark Sisson of Mark’s Daily Apple writes that jet lag is, “an “unnatural act” and shouldn’t be dismissed as merely a nuisance. The truth is that changing three, four or nine times zones in as little as half a day can wreak havoc on all your delicate internal “wiring” and hormonal systems and can leave you exhausted or sick for much of your trip.”  Ruth can attest to this as she caught a cold that dampered the first part of the trip.

So what causes it and what can we do to combat the ill effects of jet lag?  According to the CDC, our body’s intrinsic clock resides in the suprachiasmatic nuclei at the base of the hypothalamus, which contains melatonin receptors. The body clock receives information about light from the eyes and is also thought to receive input via the intergeniculate leaflet that carries information about physical activities and general excitement. The hormone melatonin is manufactured in the pineal gland from tryptophan, and its synthesis and release are stimulated by darkness and suppressed by light; consequently, the secretion of melatonin is responsible for setting our sleep–wake cycle. The body clock is adjusted to the solar day by rhythmic cues in the environment known as zeitgebers (time-givers). The main zeitgebers are the light–dark cycle and this rhythmic secretion of melatonin.  When these cycles are out of whack we may experience symptoms like:

• Poor sleep, including delayed sleep onset (after eastward flight), early awakening (after westward flight), and fractionated sleep (after flights in either direction).
• Poor performance in both physical and mental tasks during the new daytime.
• Negative subjective changes, such as increased fatigue, frequency of headaches and irritability, and decreased ability to concentrate.
• Gastrointestinal disturbances (indigestion, frequency of defecation, and the altered consistency of stools) and decreased interest in and enjoyment of meals.

Mark Sisson gives some tips on ways he’s learned to minimize the effects:

• The cardinal rule of avoiding jet lag (once you have arrived at your destination) is to go to bed only when it’s the normal bedtime at your arrival destination and to awaken when it’s normally time to get up at your arrival destination. The biggest mistake people make is to take a nap upon arrival to take the “edge” off. Never nap during the day at your travel destination no matter how short a nap you think you can take. Keep yourself busy and do whatever it takes to stay awake until it is bedtime in your destination. Take a shower or go for a walk, and avoid heavy meals or alcohol. If you are just dead tired, then at least try to stay awake until 7:30 or 8 PM.
• The #2 rule is to use the supplement melatonin to help you reset your internal clock and to allow you to fall asleep more easily. Melatonin is a natural hormone produced by the pineal gland to begin the sleep process. It releases every twenty-four hours when you are in your normal routine at home. While I am generally against interfering with natural hormonal systems, the “unnatural act” of crossing time zones requires an equally unnatural act of supplementing the hormone melatonin to reset your internal clock. Take 3-6mg (I use 5mg) of melatonin one hour before you plan to fall asleep. I recommend using it each of the first two nights, then taking a half-dose the third night and taking none the remainder of the stay.
• It’s important to manage your sleep during the flight as well. On flights lasting longer than five hours, try to get some sleep during the trip. When traveling east, I always look for flights that leave late in the day. I treat those long flights as a short night and a short day, since the flight will eliminate several time zones en route. The fact that I might only get a few hours sleep during the flight is mitigated by the other fact that I won’t have much daylight left when I arrive, so I’ll be reasonably tired when nighttime rolls around. I treat long flights going west as a very long day (or a very long night, depending on when I leave). If it’s a long day flight, I take enough of a nap to take the edge off and to be able to stay awake until bedtime at my destination. If it’s a night flight going west, I sleep as much as I can, knowing I will likely have a full day at my destination.
• Don’t use sleeping pills to sleep on the plane. They will not provide quality sleep and can interfere with your adjustment upon arrival. Get one of those neck pillows you see in the airport stores. They help cradle your head while you sleep and prevent sore necks. Drink lots of water on the plane and try to avoid alcohol. Walk around a little when you’re not sleeping or if you can’t sleep and stretch a little in the galley area.

REST DAY 05.16.10

Only a couple of workouts after jumping full-force back into our hybrid strength-metcon programming, and my hips and back reminded me how long I had neglected them.  It wasn’t long before I remembered many of Kelly Starrett’s tips from the CrossFit Mobility and Recovery Seminar.  He praised using not just the foam roller but also the lacrosse ball to get deep into our soft tissue and work the kinks out…and on a random side-note, he is also the sole reason why we have so many hot pink lacrosse balls in the gym (I digress).  Anyways, we have a number of lacrosse balls just waiting for your tight, sore muscles so there’s no need to be shy.  Grab a ball, grab a trainer if necessary, and get to rolling.  If you’re a newbie to the lacrosse ball, ease into the amount of pressure you put on the ball as you don’t want to press so hard that it causes bruising or so much pain you’ll never go within a 5 foot radius of another lacrosse ball.  Everyone has their own focus areas but try rolling the soft tissue surrounding the hip socket, the shoulder blade and pecs, musculature of the mid and low back, hamstrings and quads, and calves.  Start with whichever area is sorest or those muscles/joints that give you the most trouble.  Just like your car or house, your body also needs regular maintenance.  Come in 5-10 minutes early or stay 5-10 mins after class and get up close and personal with one of the lacrosse balls…it’s the next best thing to an actual massage and your body will appreciate it.

WOD 5.12.10

Power Snatch 5×3

3 rounds:

• 20 Wallball
• 15 KBS
• 10 Burpees

What part of the back would you guess is supposed to be the most mobile? If you guessed lumbar, you’d be wrong. It’s actually the least with about 30° of mobility. The correct answer would be the thoracic, which has up to a whopping 70° range of motion. The problem is our sedentary, often desk-bound jobs. (Seems to be a recurring theme doesn’t it?) Too much time sitting at a desk craning your neck to look at a monitor will leave you looking like a senior citizen far before your time. Observe below the comparison of a healthy spine with one suffering from kyphosis (the abnormal curvature of the thoracic spine):

Notice the slumping shoulders and forward-protruding neck, as these are common signs of kyphosis. The question then is how does this affect your lifts? With a lack of mobility in such a highly flexible part of the spine, you force other less mobile areas — the cervical or lumbar spine — to take up the slack, which opens you up to injury. In addition, if you don’t have a flexible thoracic spine, it makes it even tougher to hold difficult positions such as the overhead squat or the front rack (for cleans and front squats). This is why if you have some stiffness in the upper back you should begin incorporating some thoracic mobility drills to your daily warmup. The site Stronglifts.com has a great article with several Youtube videos of drills you can do.

Further reading: Think of It As Potential Potential by Kelly Starrett of San Francisco CrossFit

WOD 4.15.10

Make Up Day

Mark’s Daily Apple recently featured a Definitive Guide to Sleep, and talked about how sleep is divided into non-REM and REM sleep. Non-REM sleep is divided into three phases: N1, N2 and N3. REM sleep follows, but usually in a N1, N2, N3, N2, REM pattern. The cycle repeats throughout the night.

If you’ve ever woken yourself up by a serious leg twitch or been jolted awake by your bedmate by a rogue elbow (like I have), it’s due to the N1 phase where the brain wave frequency first switches. You are barely conscious and your thoughts are foggy. It’s where your muscle tone relaxes and causes the drooling (ahem, for some of us).

Then N2 brings you to the point where you have no more awareness of your surroundings and N3 is where the deep, slow wave sleep begins. Mark says, “Those of you who walk or talk in your sleep tend to begin performing now.”

REM sleep is where we dream (good, bad, and just wacky). Where muscle tone was just relaxing in N2, REM sleep is devoid of any.  N2 dominates our nights and makes up half of our sleep.  REM takes up a quarter, and the last quarter is split between N1 and N3’s deep sleep.

Now here’s the kicker–you can die of sleep deprivation before you die of starvation.  The rest of the article is just as fascinating, so take a gander at it when you get a chance. So, I’m closing out the post so I can go catch some quality Z’s.

That means you do the same (yes you, Michelle).

WOD 03.30.31

Press 3×5
Jeremy
21-15-9
OHS
Burpees

The Original Cast

Dan John, one of the godfathers of strength and conditioning, wrote this article about the importance of recovery. Most athletes (this gym is no exception) focus on the other pillars of fitness (WOD and diet) and completely ignore the necessity of RECOVERY.

1. Sleep!!  I know, between work, wod, packing Paleo meals, American Idol, and reading our blog, there’s no more time in the day to catch that obligatory 9+ hours, but the effects are as astronomical as the ‘juice’ without the shrinkage and back acne.
2. The Body is One Piece:  Dan says it so well I can’t even paraphrase it: “Don’t think you have an upper body and a lower body. Stick a fork in someone’s thigh while they are benching and it will stop the lift, even though some think that bench presses are for the upper body. If you play three hours of pickup basketball games, it will hurt your training. If you slam tequila shooters with the cute girl just back from the Mexico trip, it will hurt your training. Staying up all night with sick children will hurt your training. An infected toe will hurt your training. You are one magnificent piece, keep that in mind. The first line of defense against injury and over-training is monitoring your life as well as your training.”
3. Program and Plan:  As coaches, we can carry the burden on this one.  But, you have to do your part by planning your rest days, prioritizing your sleep, and taking it easy on your injuries.    You also have to have short and long term goals in your horizon, pick your goats, and spend some time attacking them.
4. Eat your protein. Eat your fats.   You need protein and fat to recover, grow and improve.   Meat, Leaves and Berries Diet.
5. Minerals and Fish Oil: Fish Oil, Magnesium, Vitamin D, Zinc.
6. Hot tubs and cold showers: Mark’s Daily Apple posted about this as well.
7. Mid-line Stability: Chinese O-lifters consider the abs a “second” backbone: stronger abs=stronger torso=bigger lifts.
8. Splurge: Allocate some of that bar fund toward a hot tub, sports massage, chiropractor (Dr. Silva), or just a foam roller & lacrosse ball.  Splurging can involve money or just time invested in your recovery process.
9. Don’t Over-train:  Our fitness journey is a lifetime one. It’s not a race that ends when you reach the end of your linear progression, or when you hit a body weight snatch.   Taking a rest day is GOOD and necessary.  You also need to let the mind heal and recover.   Active rest is good.  Just don’t spend your rest day snowboarding, hauling rocks or playing six hours of basketball.
10. Choose wisely: Once you decide on a route to take in training, be careful of listening to every “whisper in the wind.”   Magazines in the muscle field are one step from porn and cater to the fears and insecurities of adolescent boys.   Vet every source-even us!!

Big announcement:  Check out 70sBig.com to see our friend Al Viquez’s shirt that was chosen for the next official 70sbig design!

Who's famous now, Al??!!

WOD 03.26.10

Back Squat 3×5

3rds:
10 Power Snatch
50 Double Unders

c/o: 3 sets of: 3-5 Ring Dips + 3 sec Support Hold

Foam Rolling: Part I from Patrick Cummings on Vimeo.

Foam Rolling Part II from Jon Gilson on Vimeo.

WOD 2.9.10

TBD – Depending on rain