Categoriescoaching Conditioning rant

Why CrossFit Doesn’t Make an Elite Athlete

Note From TG: I apologize in advance for the “click-bait” nature of this article.1 I have to assume that, based off the title, many of you have travelled a long distance across the internet to read what follows.

Welcome.

I hope you stick around. This is a guest post from strength coach, Travis Hansen. Do I agree with every word? No. Do I feel he brings up many valid points? Absolutely.

And on that note, happy reading. 

Without a shadow of a doubt, the question that I get asked more than any other as a coach, goes something like this: “Is your training style like CrossFit?”

Rather than get upset or start verbally bashing CrossFit like many do, I just simply inform the person that our training system is different in that it’s “athletic based” and CrossFit simply is not. But wait, Crossfitters are tremendous athletes right?

Unfortunately, they aren’t and by the end of this article you will know exactly why.

20110925 - crossfit fitness woman push ups pushup exercise and man weight lifting

Copyright: tonobalaguer / 123RF Stock Photo

Now if you have an extreme bias and preconceived notion regarding the CrossFit training philosophy, please try to stay objective and hear me out. I promise to stay completely objective even though it may come off harsh, and I will provide you with the facts for why we can’t and shouldn’t refer to Crossfitters as great athletes.

Athletic = CrossFit?

Lets begin with the actual definition of being athletic. What does it mean, who has it, and who doesn’t? Automatically, it is safe to say that we would associate this term with people like Calvin Johnson, Lebron James, Mike Trout, Yasiel Puig, Michael Jordan, Russell Westbrook, Serena Williams, and many more.

And we definitely should since these individuals undoubtedly epitomize athleticism. The definition of being athletic is the capacity to perform a specific skill set or series of skills at a high level to help improve sport performance. Below is a list of the predominant athletic based skills.  

Athleticism:                              

Power

Strength

Speed

Agility and Quickness

Conditioning

Now if a person can perform each of these at an ultra-high level they are going to be insane on the field, court, or wherever more times than not. Why? Because he or she will be able to express any specific sport skill, and research has shown that sport skill attainment is enhanced with increased athletic ability.

Next, I would like to also include some areas of training that serve as secondary and will help regulate performance in the athletic skill set. I will just call these secondary factors.

Secondary Factors:

Nutrition

Prehab-Rehab

Program Design

Muscle Building

Fat Loss

So taking into account just shear athletic skill, how should we rank CrossFit? I scored the system a 1 out of 5 or 20%. In other words it fails miserably for an actual athlete looking to perform better in a specific sport setting.

14158006 - young woman stretching her back after a heavy kettlebell workout in a gym

Copyright: ammentorp / 123RF Stock Photo

Words and opinion are very cheap, so I will show from a scientific and evidence based standpoint why they receive such a low score. Afterwards, I will elaborate on how crossfit fares with the support areas known as secondary factors, and finish by addressing any other areas of athletic development in which you didn’t see listed and how they fall into the puzzle.

Are You Still Reading?

The first skill on the list that we need to tackle is power. What is power? Power by definition is Force x Velocity. I like Strength x Speed which essentially means the same thing and is a bit easier to understand for most.

So it’s the ability to express as much force as possible as fast as humanly possible. Common displays or formal assessments for power that we use as athletic development or strength and conditioning coaches that you commonly witness in the sport realm is the Vertical Jump, Broad Jump, Running Vertical Jump, Throwing Velocity, Hang Clean/Snatch, etc.

Now how many people in CrossFit do you see perform a standing 40” Vertical Jump? How many do you see perform a 45-50” Running Vertical Jump? How about a 10’+ Broad Jump? Or a PROPERLY performed Hang Clean executed with a load that is 1-1.5 times that person’s bodyweight?

Before I continue, please don’t go out and scour the web desperately in an attempt to locate one individual who attained some of these values and had to have been practicing CrossFit at the time.

There are exceptions to every rule.

What’s important to note is that the system as a whole doesn’t come close to implementing the methods necessary to elicit these types of performances on a regular basis like so many athletic training systems across the country do. Keep in mind that these figures have become commonplace in team sport settings and scale MUCH MUCH higher in the elite population of athletes.

The next skill on the list is Strength. The ability of a muscle or muscle group to produce maximum voluntary force without time being a factor. A population that demonstrates this better than any other on the planet should immediately come to mind, and this is Powerlifters!

[Also, any athlete looking to become more athletic should adopt and perform a modified version of a powerlifting system such as Westside Barbell to maximize their athleticism.]

Lets stay on the topic at hand though. How does CrossFit as a whole score in the strength training department? Unfortunately, not very well at all. Without providing personal observations of this, I would way rather provide you with some valid “Strength Standard Charts” to reference as sound evidence HERE:

Now taking into account this solid reference which has factored in a legion of lifters across various federations at different body-weights, how would CrossFit score?

Not very good.

How many of these individuals do you know that can Bench Press 1.5-2x their bodyweight, or Squat and Deadlift 2.5-3x their bodyweight following a CrossFit training system? Not very many if you are being honest.

Ok this next one should not take too long. Speed! How many people in CrossFit do you know who can record an electronic 2.5-2.6 second 20 yard dash, or a 4-2-4.4 second 40 yard dash, or a sub 6.7 second 60 yard dash? Few and far between.

Agility and Quickness are next on the athleticism list. Also known as “Change of Direction Training” in many sectors, Agility and Quickness is the ability to accelerate and begin rapid motion in one direction, decelerate in that same direction, plant properly and then re-accelerate or “cut” in a new direction fast!

Exercises such as the 5-10-5, Cone Drill, 1-2 Stick Series, etc. are great variations that serve as Agility and Quickness Training Tests.

Note From TG: it kinda-sorta looks like this…..;o)

Moreover, guys like Barry Sanders and Darren Sproles are brilliant examples of this athletic skill at work. If you really watch it’s not very hard to identify that just the shear nature of CrossFit fails to deliver here.

Team sports such as football, basketball, baseball, soccer, hockey, lacrosse, etc. are so athletic and require that a male or female constantly move and react in all 3 planes of motion as fast as possible through the entire muscle contraction spectrum (concentric, eccentric, and isometric). CrossFit on the other hand lives on a tightrope as events are practiced in an exclusive linear fashion, omitting an essential athletic quality.

As I’ve visited different “boxes” just mainly out of curiosity, or heard Crossfitters brag to me about how athletic they were, I’ve never actually seen drills practiced that encourage the development of this athletic function. Have you? Therefore it’s only fair to discount this system as an option for enhancing Agility and Quickness.

Conditioning is obviously going to be the one area of performance where I would have to credit CrossFit absolutely.

Several Crossfitters possess tremendous work capacities and development of the 3 metabolic energy systems (Alactic, Lactic, and Aerobic) much like boxers and MMA fighters. This can be seen at any of the CrossFit Games on ESPN. In regards to strictly conditioning, the feats exhibited by these competitors is quite impressive.

What Next?

So as of right now I believe I’ve proven to you why CrossFit fails in terms of effectively enhancing athleticism. Next I think it’s important to briefly analyze all secondary measures which could impact the primary skills to show what else may or may not be missing for athletes looking to get more athletic and better in a particular sport, who regularly practice CrossFit.

The first element that I would like to discuss is Nutrition. Obviously, “The Paleo Diet” is the foundation for all of the CrossFit population. I must admit that I think there were quite a few positives I took away from both books. The intent of the content is very health-based, the food selection is very nutrient dense, and Dr. Loren Cordain disclosed some interesting scientific points surrounding the topic for sure.

In his book “The Paleo Diet for Athletes,” Dr. Cordain does a great job of adjusting the modern Paleo diet recommendations and states the need that athletes following the Paleo Diet could derive half of their total caloric intake for the day from healthy carbohydrate sources:

“For example, an athlete training once a day for 90 minutes may burn 600 calories from carbohydrates during exercise and needs to take in at least that much during stages 1, 2, 3, and 4 of recovery. This athlete may be eating around 3,000 total calories daily. If he gets 50 percent of his daily calories from carbohydrate, he would take in an additional 900 calories in carbs that day in stage 4, above and beyond the carbohydrate consumed in the earlier stages of the day.”1

And if you would like to know exactly why athletes need more carbohydrates than check out this series of articles I recently wrote:

5 Scientific Reasons to Eat Carbs

5 More Scientific Reasons Athletes Should Eat Carbs

Even More Reasons Why Athletes Should Eat Carbs

Prehab and Rehab Techniques are critical for competitive athletes who want to excel indefinitely, and it should be categorized as its own type of training if it officially is not already.

Techniques such as immersion baths, contrast, EMS, massage, tempo work, mobility/bodyweight circuits, meditation-relaxation, cat naps, static stretching, corrective exercises, and much more have been scientifically proven to hasten recovery from all the high intensity work and provide several benefits (Blood flow, nutrient and hormonal delivery, etc. etc.) to ultimately assist in athletic enhancement.

A majority of this should be implemented into a competitive athlete’s program from the get go, however, I’ve never really seen much discussion or emphasis of this type of training from Crossfitters, so I can only assume it’s not very important to this culture even though it’s undoubtedly essential to athletic performance.

Without a properly structured training program it would be very difficult to ensure that athlete’s are staying healthy and improving in all facets of performance over the long-term. Periodization is key and serves as the foundation for everything in the program.

However, I’ve never officially heard of any type of scientifically valid program design model being implemented for athletes who follow CrossFit. Do you guys elect a Linear, Alternating, Undulating, Concurrent, or Conjugate based System?

What I do know is that the works of famous programming researchers such as Tudor Bompa, Charlie Francis, and several others have shown us that having a pre-planned annual training model is a must for an athlete looking to reach his full potential. 2

A simple “WOD” which is arbitrarily designed to satisfy that particular day’s workout in the name of a male or female, will not suffice and the results will show.

Note From TG: here’s where I’ll chime in. The idea that all CrossFit boxes don’t adopt some semblance of programming structure is a bit harsh (not that I think that’s what Travis is implying). I’ve trained at and observed numerous CrossFit gyms and have been very impressed with numerous staff’s and their attention to detail on this topic. 

To say that Ben Bergeron – who coached both winners (male and female) at this year’s CrossFit Games – doesn’t implement a “plan” or pay special attention to detail with regards to how to best set up/periodize his athletes for success is unrealistic.

Just wanted to give some props when props is due.

The last two remaining secondary factors are fat loss and muscle building qualities. 

I must give kudos to CrossFit for creating a lot of fat loss testimony all over the world. I’m sure that thousands of people have lost weight/fat utilizing the CrossFit system. 3

However, what really bugs me is that you rarely if ever hear credit being distributed by CrossFit authorities on where specific training strategies were adopted. Did they just magically guess and innovate methods proven to work better than anything on the training market?

Hell no.

Furthermore, I see many specialized fat loss techniques being regularly implemented by CrossFit such as: HIIT, Metabolic Resistance Training, Timed Sets, Complexes, etc. but where the hell did that come from?

Not Crossfit unfortunately.

Ten years ago a guy by the name of Alwyn Cosgrove was busting out fat loss manuals left and right and disclosing drills and methods I nor anyone had ever seen before. The training concepts were brilliant and revolutionary at the time, but still hadn’t hit the mainstream yet.  He was also sending out newsletters at the time which validated these now popular methods through sound research and tremendous data he was collecting at his training facility in South California with his wife Rachel, who was also a proven expert. I still have them. But how many of you actually know Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove? I guarantee not as many as there should be.

Muscle Building is the final remaining topic that needs to be discussed. It’s no secret now that the CrossFit system involves primarily a moderate intensity/high training volume approach for general fitness, conditioning, and fat loss purposes.

With that being said this form of training environment will lend well to acquiring quality muscle mass pretty fast and it’s also why so many of the guys that practice CrossFit are pretty jacked. If you want to know more in depth info on this topic then definitely checkout the research and works of guys like Jason Ferruggia, Brad Schoenfeld, Bret Contreras, and Lyle McDonald.

Specific muscle mass or cross sectional area is also going to be a very strong indicator of athletic success in many cases, so this is one area where CrossFit has a decent foundation laid out if they can implement all of the training concerns mentioned previously.

Inter and Intramuscular Coordination, balance and stability training, and core training are I’m sure other areas that coaches or anyone reading this would think needs to be a primary concern. Fortunately, the methods employed for the primary skill set I provided you will do a tremendous job of enhancing these qualities indirectly. Here is a piece I wrote for the ISSA awhile back which illustrates my point as it pertains to balance-stabilization training:

Does Balance Training Improve Speed?

Well That’s it Everyone.

I hope you enjoyed this piece and learned the distinction between CrossFit and real athletic training.

They are presently very dissimilar, although they get tied in together many times based on my experience for whatever reason. Too re-iterate I’m really not trying to demean or be destructive towards the CrossFit philosophy at all. Peer review should be overly critical and brutally honest. I’ve written many articles and a couple of books and I can tell you firsthand that this is the case from the experts that analyzed my work, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

If CrossFit is really serious about crossing over into the athletic training realm, then they need to start taking science more seriously, credit the founders, and utilize methods that are actually intended for athletes that truly work.

Lastly, I really think we currently underrate just how great so many high level team sport athletes really are. Genes aside, contemporary team sport athletes are amazing. On a final note, understand that athletic development is a big puzzle, and there is a lot that has to come together for any one athlete to be successful.

SCIENTIFIC REFERENCES:

#1-Cordain, Loren. The Paleo Diet for Athletes. Rodale. Emmaus, PA. 2005.

#2-http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/sports-training/overview-of-periodization-methods-for-resistance-training/

#3-http://www.bjgaddour.com/what-do-you-think-about-crossfit

About the Author

Travis Hansen has been involved in the field of Human Performance Enhancement for nearly a decade. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Fitness and Wellness, and holds 3 different training certifications from the ISSA, NASM, and NCSF. He was the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Reno Bighorns of the NBADL for their 2010 season, and he is currently the Director of The Reno Speed School inside the South Reno Athletic Club. He has worked with hundreds of athletes from almost all sports, ranging from the youth to professional ranks. He is the author of the hot selling “Speed Encyclopedia,” and he is also the leading authority on speed development for the International Sports Sciences Association.

 

Categoriespersonal training Program Design

Tony is Critical of CrossFit, But Should He Be?

Relax. My ego hasn’t ballooned to the point where I now refer to myself (and my posts) in the third person. Although I do kinda like the sound of it:

  • Tony is critical of washing the dishes and putting them away, but should he be?
  • Tony thinks Audi should sponsor this website, preferably by giving him a car.
  • Tony’s birthday is today, and he’s going to deadlift and eat bacon. He feels November 30th should permanently be referred to as National Deadlift and Bacon Day.2

As it happens today’s post is a guest post by personal trainer, Travis Pollen, who used me as his subject matter (hence the title).

Brilliant if you ask me.

Travis has written for this site before, on innovative ways to include bands in your training, and he’s back today with a look into CrossFit and how it’s helped influence the way we program.

FYI: Travis recently released a new e-book, 50 Fit Tips (available for free HERE), in which he advocates for a unique blend of powerlifting, bodybuilding, kettlebells, and CrossFit to help readers look, feel, and move better.

Tony is Critical of CrossFit, But Should He Be?

The short answer to the question posed in the title of this post is yes. Of course Tony should be critical of CrossFit. Exercises like rebounding box jumps, GHD sit-ups, and overhead kettlebell swings have no place in most people’s training, and Tony deserves a good baseball-slap-on-the-rear for his uncompromising viewpoint.

This is the greatest photoshop picture ever. Gentilcore printed onto an MLB jersey?! 13 year old Tony would have a raging boner right now if he saw this.

But a simple yes doesn’t make for a very compelling blog post, does it? Let’s dig a little deeper.

Oftentimes, fitness professionals adopt a polarizing stance on a topic in an attempt to keep their pupils safe. In general, this is a good thing. Sometimes, they’ll even flip-flop sides later on when new evidence is presented. After all, changing one’s mind is a sign of maturity, right?

Note from TG: Maturity is my middle name. Which is why I wrote THIS article a while back defending CrossFit.

Practices like long distance running, yoga, and, most recently CrossFit have all, at some point, been the subject of fitness floggings. The truth, however, is that there are pros and cons to every flavor of fitness (except the Tracy Anderson method), and program design doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing proposition in terms of their inclusion or exclusion.

None of this.

What I mean is that we don’t have to choose just powerlifting, bodybuilding, CrossFit, strongman, kettlebells, or yogalates (unless we want to). Instead, we can analyze each modality, incorporate the elements we like, and ditch the ones we don’t.

Being critical is beneficial; being absolutist is not.

For instance, although both Tony and I love powerlifting, it doesn’t mean we totally reject things like bodybuilding and kettlebell training, for elements from these domains can help our clients and athletes excel. We would be negligent if we didn’t throw in some curls and KB swings every now and again.

Even better, here’s trainer and Men’s Health fitness expert, BJ Gaddour, doing both curls and kettlebells at the same time!

One of the aspects of CrossFit that I’ve chosen to adopt is its varied set and rep schemes, and I encourage others to do the same.

To appeal to authority3, Tony has already embraced at least one of them, even though he might not know it yet.

Read on to find out more.

It’s important to point out that CrossFit didn’t invent the set and rep schemes I’m about to discuss. However, it has popularized them over the last decade, so it does deserve some credit.

Here are a few of my favorite protocols, their benefits, and examples of how I implement each.

1) Every Minute on the Minute (EMOM)

Description: Set a clock for a specified period of time, and perform a set number of reps at the beginning of each minute. Rest, breath, or do some mobility work for the rest of the minute.

Primary Benefit: Strength and power. This framework is a good alternative to simply timing rest periods since the lifter is penalized (by a reduced amount of rest) for dilly-dallying during the actual set.

Example: 3 dynamic effort deadlifts at the top of each minute with a 10RM load for 10 minutes, resting for the rest of the minute.

2) 21-15-9

Description: Perform 3 sets of two exercises with a descending rep scheme, alternating between exercises. Minimize inter-rep and inter-set rest in order to complete the work in the shortest amount of time possible.

Primary Benefit: Hypertrophy/pump, density (work divided by time).

Example: A couplet of curls and skull crushers with a 15RM load (i.e. 21 curls, 21 skull crushers, 15 curls, 15 skull crushers, 9 curls, 9 skull crushers).

3) As Many Rounds/reps As Possible (AMRAP)

Description: Set a clock for a specified period of time, and perform as many rounds or reps as possible of the given exercise(s). Rest as little as possible.

Primary Benefit: Density, analogous to sports in which work is done for a set period of time, as opposed to a specified number of sets and reps.

Example: As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of 5 reps each of bench press, pull-ups, and squats using 12RM loads.

4) Chipper

Description: Lay out the desired implements in an obstacle course fashion (because who doesn’t love an obstacle course?). Move across the physical space performing the exercises for a specified distance or number of reps, aiming to complete the course as fast as possible.

Primary Benefit: Conditioning and work capacity, plus the feeling of completing a badass obstacle course.

Example: 10-yard tire flip, 50-yard farmer’s carry, 10-yard seated sled pull, 50-yard overhead walking lunge — all while listening to John Mayer.

 

Proceed With Caution

With all these schemes, the most important thing to remember is never to sacrifice form for reps. Watch the best CrossFitters on TV, and you’ll see that the ones who consistently win do so with beautiful technique ­– even under distress.

Of course, the problem of lousy form isn’t unique to these protocols or to CrossFit. (Just visit any globo gym, and you’ll quickly realize it’s an epidemic.) It’s just a little harder to control when the clock is running, as with CrossFit-style training.

Although I am endorsing some of CrossFit’s set and rep schemes, I’m not saying that your next workout should consist of a 30-minute AMRAP of kipping pull-ups and high-rep Olympic lifts (scoliosis for AMRAP, as Tony might say).

Again, be critical. Although I don’t have a problem with those practices for competitive CrossFitters, you must apply the protocols judiciously based on your own level of fitness.

Do this properly, and you’ll reap far greater benefits than if you were to completely ignore them simply because they came to you via CrossFit.

About the Author

Travis Pollen is an NPTI certified personal trainer and American record-holding Paralympic swimmer. He recently completed his master’s degree in Biomechanics and Movement Science at the University of Delaware. He maintains his own blog and is always posting fitness tips and videos of his “feats of strength” on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: CrossFit “Elitism,” 10 Do’s of Mass, and Superhuman Strength

I wanted to start things off today with an interesting conversation I had with a friend/colleague of mine concerning CrossFit.

I can sense the eyes rolling already.

There’s enough CrossFit bashing on the interwebz to feed a small country (<—- that doesn’t make sense but I’m rolling with it), and I’m certainly not immune to my share of criticism. To that same tune, however, I feel like I’ve held a fairly “middle-ground” stance.

I’ve long noted my “qualms” with CrossFit, and I’ve also championed its many merits.  I see the good and bad in just about everything.  Except Justin Bieber.  He’s a douche.

And sushi.  I can’t get into sushi.  Sorry.

I’m not one of those people who talks a bunch of smack, yet has never been to or walked inside an actual CrossFit affiliate. My experience with CrossFit lies outside of watching YouTube videos which make my corneas bleed and playing internet hero on an anonymous fitness forum

As it happens, I train at an affiliate 1-2 times per week – albeit in an “open gym” format – so I feel like I’m able to give my perspective and it has some context.

Does CrossFit “Bullying” or “Elitism” Exist?

Here’s an email I received yesterday from a friend (sadly, not IronMan):

“Hope things are well my friend! I had a question and potential favor to ask from you. For the past 1.5ish years I’ve been battling with how to run our CrossFit gym as well as possible, to the point of even receiving criticism from “elite” CrossFit gyms saying we have too much of a bias towards classic strength training. 

What I have found extremely challenging is trying to establish an effective assessment system that carries over well to the CrossFit movements with which individual correctives can be prescribed.

What I was hoping to do was pay for some of your time in a consult to get some help in this area. I have tremendous respect for what you’ve done in the field, especially related to movement correction and know you would be a huge asset for us.”

My Response:

(And let me preface everything by saying I understand that CrossFit is a BRAND and that certain things are expected of its affiliates).

UPDATE:  To say that I was wrong.  Kinda.  In actuality, as another friend of mine pointed out to me via Facebook, “What many people don’t understand about CrossFit is that it is anything but a franchise that enforces uniform standards. In some ways, it is an anti-franchise. Affiliates are free to set their own fees and programming, buy the equipment they prefer, and even sell T-shirts with their affiliate name on it and keep all the money.

What I have heard is affiliate owners argue passionately for their vision and try to build their business on that basis.”

I’m honestly at a little loss for words that “elite” CrossFit gyms are criticizing anything? Why?

What makes them “elite” anyways? Total number of members? Revenue? Number of members who compete in the Games? They’re somehow more “paleo” than the next affiliate?

Who cares if someone chooses to take more of a “classic” strength and conditioning approach with their programming? 

And what does “classic strength and conditioning” even mean? Is it bad or frowned upon in the CrossFit community to help get their members stronger, to move more efficiently, and, god-for-bid, actually progress (and regress) people appropriately?

If so, I think Kelly Starrett just shit a copy of Becoming a Supple Leopard!!!

What concern is it of their’s how someone else runs THEIR facility?????

I would think, if anything, one should be applauded for actually giving a shit and taking the time to properly assess/progress his or her clients!

Are these “elite” affiliates upset that he’s not putting in enough “Kool-Aid” (high-rep OLY lifting, kipping pull-ups, WODs which make no sense) into the juice?

(Yes, that’s a bit of a generalization. But lets not delude ourselves into thinking that that’s NOT what a vast majority of people feel embodies the CrossFit brand).

I don’t get it. There are some things I like about CrossFit, and I’d be remiss not to tip my hat to them for helping to get people excited to move.

But I have to say: this elitist, holier-than-thou attitude doesn’t do it any favors.

This topic led to a ton of great dialogue on my Facebook page, and since the whole impetus behind it was assessment I wanted to share a link someone else posted which I feel points the conversation/debate in the right direction.

Can FMS and CrossFit Coexist? – Gray Cook and Kelly Starrett

If you have fifteen minutes to spare I HIGHLY recommend watching it.  Two brilliant guys talking shop. What’s not to like?

10 Must-Do’s For Mass – Bryan Krahn

Bryan has over 20 years experience in this field – both as a lifter and writer – and it’s uncanny how often I find myself nodding in agreement whenever I read some of his articles.

Guys like to make things more complicated than they have to be.  Adding mass doesn’t entail following some advance algorithm that would confuse a NASA scientist.  It doesn’t require some super secret, Eastern-Bloc periodization protocol you had translated from some Russian textbook. And it certainly doesn’t entail any deer antler powder.  Is that trend over yet by the way?

What it DOES require is some common sense and accountability.

Superhuman Strength – Artemis Scantalides

“You can’t rush strength.”  And in this article, Artemis explains why.

CategoriesProgram Design Strength Training

CrossFit and Baseball: The Two Don’t Mix

Some things are just made to complement one another.

Will & Grace

He-Man and BattleCat

Boston & Red Sox

Peanut butter & jelly, peanut butter & chocolate, peanut butter & well, pretty much anything.

Hint: I really like peanut butter.

It goes without saying we could fill an infinite abyss of “synergistic” pairings that play off one another, of which one component helps to enhance or harmonize the effectiveness of the other.

One pairing that doesn’t belong on that list is CrossFit and baseball.

We work with a crap ton (just a shade under a boat load) of baseball players and one of the more common themes or questions we receive on a weekly (if not daily) basis is our opinion on CrossFit.

It seems you can’t walk more than 20 yards nowadays without crossing paths with a CrossFit gym – or someone bragging about their Paleo lifestyle.  And, for better or worse (mostly better, it’s hard to dismiss anything which gets people excited to grab a barbell), it’s abundantly clear it’s been tattooed into our popular culture.

As such, many people – athletes in particular – are curious about its merits.

CrossFit is a great fit for a small percentage of people, an okay fit for a slightly larger percentage, and an absolute ball of walking fail for an even larger percentage.

Baseball players fall into the latter category and in my latest article for Stack.com I explain why.

Is CrossFit a Good ‘Fit” for Baseball Players? (<—- Spoiler Alert:  No.)

CategoriesMotivational Strength Training

Newsflash: People Lifted Weights Before CrossFit

Two quick stories – both of which serve as the impetus behind this post.

1. I can’t tell you how long I resisted the whole Lululemon phenomenon.  Mind you:  I’ve always been a big fan of their work. All apologies to my gay guy friends, but I have a Y chromosome  – so sue me for appreciating the finer points of yoga pants on a female’s body.

In fact, if I had to make a list of three people who’s hand I’d like to shake it would look something like this (in no particular order).

– Optimus Prime

– Han Solo

– Chip Wilson – the founder of Lululemon.

Half of my girlfriend’s wardrobe is from Lululemon (have a I mentioned I’m a fan?), and while I love it when she wears her yoga pants to go grocery shopping, I’d be lying if I said the Darth Vader theme music didn’t reverberate inside my head every time her and I would be walking around in the city and happen to cross paths with a Lululemon store.

Because inevitably she’d want to walk in and then try to convince me to put on a pair of something. Dudes DO NOT wear Lululemon.  In my head, as far as masculine things to do, it ranged somewhere between peeing while sitting down and watching Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Fast forward to about a year ago when I noticed many of our pro-baseball guys walking into the facility with their Lulu pants on.  When I brought it up to one of our guys – Oliver – and asked what’s up, he just responded with “they’re the most comfortable things, ever!”

When I dug a little deeper and started asking a few more questions, he just put his hands on my shoulders, looked me straight in the eyes, and said, “DO IT.  You won’t be disappointed.”

It took a while, but eventually I relented and tried on a pair of their Kung-Fu pants.   And OMG – ammmmmmaaaaazzzziiiiiinnggg.

In fact, Lisa bought a pair for me this past Christmas and I Tweeted the following picture to Oliver with the caption:  I did it!

So now walking into a Lululemon store isn’t quite the chore it used to be.

But a funny thing happened a few weekends ago.

Lisa and I were doing our Sunday “routine,” you know, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Home Depot, squeezed in a little West Elm, when we happened to see a Lulu store.  Lisa beelined it in and I followed suite.  I wasn’t quite as “beeline(ish),” but I wasn’t tossing my face into a cement wall as I would have in the past.

As she was perusing the sales rack, I was standing near the front of the store adjacent to the men’s section.  I wasn’t necessarily looking at anything, but rather just waiting in the area where all the other boyfriend’s waited.  We’re like a little club.

A salesperson approached me and we started chatting me up. She told me all the sales going on – I don’t remember, I kind of blacked out – and then asked what I like to wear to the gym.  I told her that I own one pair of the Kung-Fu pants, but that I’m a strength coach and that I don’t wear them to work because they’d get torn and beat up.

She then pointed to the right at all their men’s shorts, and said “a lot of our CrossFitters like to wear those.”

Wait………huh?  My inner dialogue was like….“Did she just refer to me as a CrossFitter?“

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Y73sPHKxw

Don’t get me wrong:  I didn’t take offense to it or anything. I mean, she was making a compliment that I actually look like I workout.  But did she not just hear me say that I was a strength coach?

Which leads to story #2.

2.  My internet buddy and intermittent guest blog contributor on this site, Emily Giza Socolinsky, sent me a message the other day.

Long story short:  Emily used to be a Barre instructor and after switching to the dark side – Ie: strength training – and after seeing the results she not only received herself but with her own clients as well, she opened up her own gym.  And she fucking dominates!

Check it out HERE.

She’s long been an advocate of helping to promote people goals – whatever they may be – she doesn’t believe in only ONE way to train, but she’ll be the first to admit that everyone – in particular women – should strength train in some form or another.

And yes, in her own words that does mean “picking up some damn weight.”

Every so often she’ll get a comment on her blog from someone who, *coughs*, is not happy with what she has to say.  Case in point, Emily wrote a fantastic blog HERE a while ago on why she feels Barre classes aren’t the answer for most women.  Mind you:  this was written by a someone who was formerly a very accomplished Barre instructor herself.

Anyways, she ruffled a few feathers when she originally posted that blog post.  And to this day, she still continues to get snarky comments from women.  Like this one:

“Wow, you certainly seem to have a chip on your shoulder toward women who do care about not bulking up!

I’m 42 years old and have been a lifetime runner. For years, I went to the gym and did traditional heavy weight programs (I even leg pressed nearly 3 times my body weight).

I tried the cross fit thing. For me, these programs resulted in injury and chronic pain in my knees and shoulders.

I’m a tiny person and I didn’t really bulk up, but I didn’t look feminine either.

Barre 3 and Bar Method have provided wonderful results for me.

I run faster and I have more endurance because my knees don’t hurt at all anymore! I am still very strong and in fact I can now do 50 push ups with good form. And I’m not embarrassed to admit, I love how how I look. Any women who doesn’t admit they don’t mind having a lean body with feminine muscular toning is lying to themselves and everyone else.”

Emily wrote back a very professional and considerate response – something I would have had a hard time doing – and ended with this:

“Congratulations on how you feel. It is very important for women to love how they look. But my reasoning for the article was to let women know that there are better ways to achieve one’s goal that will actually make them stronger and feel better about themselves. I would be lying to them and to myself if I told them them that barre classes are the way to a stronger body. Thank you for your comment.”

Lets ignore the whole leg press 3x bodyweight comment, or the “50 push-ups with good form” comment. I feel like my eyes have never rolled so hard in my life when I read those.

What I was most interested in was the “I did the CrossFit thing” comment.

Hello??!?!?!?  Since When Is E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G CrossFit??????

Correct me if I’m wrong, but people were lifting weights and doing “strength training” long before CrossFit came into the picture.  No where in Emily’s original post did she mention CrossFit.  In fact, what she was referring to was everything CrossFit isn’t (more or less).

What she was advocating was a well-structured, coherent, planned, approach to strength training based off of one’s needs, goals, and health/injury history.

I don’t want to make this into some CrossFit bashing diatribe – that’s not the point.  And for those reading who feel that’s what I’m doing, take a deep breath, relax, do some handstand push-ups or something, and read THIS.

There’s actually a lot about CrossFit I like and advocate.

But I just find it comical that, in the eyes of the general public, everything involving lifting a weight is now somehow lumped into CrossFit.

Much of that has to do with the marketing genius of CrossFit – there’s no doubting that.  For what it’s worth I applaud it.  A LOT more people are getting their asses off the couch and exercising now.

But what did people from the dawn of man to about ten years ago call weight training?  I’ll tell you what it wasn’t called:  fucking CrossFit.

Just a little rant for the day.  I feel better now.  Carry on.

CategoriesAssessment Strength Training

My Take on the “Knees Out” Debate

In case you’ve been living in a cave for the past few months or engrossed in the latest season of The Walking Dead, you’ve undoubtedly noticed a hot debate in the fitness and weight-training community surrounding the whole “knees out” technique when performing the squat (or deadlift for that matter).

As far as debates in this industry are concerned, it’s a doozy. I’d put it right up there with other debates which make people go bat-shit crazy with rage such as steady state cardio vs. HIIT, eating every 2-3 hours vs. intermittent fasting, ShakeWeight vs. ThighMaster, or which is the superior late 90s-end-of-the-world-asteroid-slams-into-Earth-disaster-flick:  Deep Impact or Armageddon?

The impetus behind the madness is one Dr. Kelly Starrett, owner of CrossFit San Francisco and author of the New York Times best selling book Becoming a Supple Leopard, who, at least recently, is the prime example of someone who’s championed the “knees out” cue.

Just to be clear though:  he’s not the first (nor will be the last) to use this cue, but writing a national bestseller will pretty much guarantee your name is placed in the spotlight, and open the floodgates to the critics.

Addressing the pink elephant standing in the middle of the room, let me preface all of this by saying that I don’t work with elite level olympic lifters – in fact, I rarely work with anyone who does olympic lifting outside of the occasional college athlete or meathead who wants to learn how to perform a hang clean.

But in a non-explosive reverse bicep curl kind of way.

However the book (and the cue) speaks to more than JUST elite level olympic lifters – and I believe the book was intended for a much broader audience, and was written as such.

Sure there’s sections dedicated towards the Olympic lifts – and CrossFit (for better or worse, mostly worse, but that’s another ball of wax I don’t want to get into right now) – encompasses a large olympic lifting component. But the book as a whole and Kelly’s message throughout is to help people move better and to avoid technique faults or errors – with the squat (and by extension, the deadlift) taking the forefront.

Still, due to the whole phenomena, you’d be hard pressed to find more spit-fire and venom directed towards Kelly within various articles, blogs, and forums. It’s like playing the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game, except here the premise is to see how many time you can click your mouse or notebook pad before you come across someone on the internet shitting a kettlebell because Kelly has the audacity to cue people to squat with their knees out.

What an asshole!

And that’s the thing – he doesn’t even subscribe to that “cue” in the first place!  At least not in the literal sense.  He’ll be the first to tell you that squatting with an excessive knees out pattern (or excessive varus, bowing) is a fault and that he would NOT want an athlete or client to do that.  In fact, he uses it as a CUE for when an athlete begins to go into knee valgus when squatting.

But more on that in a second.

Before I continue:  lets take ad hominem jabs out of the picture. I love how a lot (not all) of the arguments against Kelly is that he calls himself a “Dr” (he has a doctorate in Physical Therapy), that just because he treated “x” athlete one time doesn’t mean he trains said athlete, and that CrossFit San Francisco has yet to churn out an elite level CrossFit athlete.

For starters the book is titled Becoming a Supple Leopard: The Ultimate Guide to Resolving Pain, Preventing Injury, and Optimizing Athletic Performance.

It’s NOT called The End-All-Be-All Guide to Winning the CrossFit Games:  Go Fuck Yourself, Everybody.

Secondly, the man has run his own successful gym (for nine years) and clinic (for six) and he and his staff have logged over 100,000 athlete sessions during that time.

100,000!!!!

I’m sorry but as someone who’s been coaching for a while and who co-founded one of the more reputable strength training facilities in the country, that number HAS to be respected.

That is a crap ton of sessions.

So lets just take a chill pill and respect the fact that Kelly probably knows a thing or two about training people, Mmmmkay.

So Back to This While Cueing Thing

As Kelly notes in THIS video series he posted on his MobilityWOD.com website were he defends his stance and tries to clear up any miscalculation on his message regarding the “knees out” debate:

“A cue is a relationship between a coach and an athlete specific to that moment for something that’s going on. Ie: trying to solve a specific problem.”

What other cue (key word: CUE!!!!) is supposed to be used to prevent the knees from collapsing in?

“Hey, hey, hey, HEY!!  Stop doing that thing you’re doing!!!!”

Or, as Kelly and his staff jokingly state:

“Knees not in.”

They coach people to squat with flat feet, cueing an external rotation torque (rotating femurs?) to create more stability in the hips and lower back. During the descent and ascent out of the hole, the knees should track in the same path.

Starrett even notes, “if you push out too far and your knees bow out into excessive varus, and your foot comes off the floor, that’s an error.”

How this has somehow been lost in translation is beyond me.  I don’t know of ANY strength coach – and I know a lot of very smart strength coaches – who would disagree with this assertion.

Knees collapsing into valgus when squatting is unacceptable, and I don’t know of ANY coach who doesn’t use the knees out CUE.

For 99.99% of people out there who aren’t elite level OLY lifters this is a bang on cue and helps to significantly improve technique.

[I recognize that many elite level OLY lifters will go into excessive valgus on the catch to explode out of the hole.  Okay, cool.  They’re ELITE.  They’ve perfected technique to the point where if they do get into a compromising position, when the shit hits the fan, they’re less likely to injure themselves.  This doesn’t mean Dave from accounting, on his first day of training, should be held to the same standard.]

Which then begs the question:  what if someone can’t squat well?  To perform a “deep” squat you need adequate hip internal rotation.  If you don’t have it, the default isn’t quite so much knees caving in (that much), but more so someone leaning forward too much.  Either way it’s a faulty pattern.

Likewise for those who lack ample ankle dorsiflexion, the typical default pattern will end up being a collapsed arch in the foot with subsequent knee valgus.

And all of this doesn’t take into consideration one’s hip or bony structure.  As Dean Somerset has touched on recently:  genetics do come into play.  Depending on one’s body (hip) structure, this may dictate how well they’re able to handle heavy loads and/or even which squat or deadlift variation is most suitable for them.

As well, you have to take into consideration one’s current (and past) injury history, soft tissue restrictions, posture, experience, and ability level.

In short:  everything’s a little more complicated than nitpicking over semantics, and toy actually should assess your athletes and clients.  And I have to assume that Kelly along with his staff would agree with this.

But I can’t think of one coach who would advocate nor tolerate someone squatting with the knees caving in.  By that token, the cue “knees out” is the universal go to.  All that’s being asked is to create peak torsion to create the system for stability in the hip and back. No one is asking for someone to stand there, perform a squat, and then push the knees out so far that they’re hanging on the end of their joint capsule.

I could be wrong, but I have yet to interpret anything Kelly has said or written to think otherwise. I don’t doubt that there are some coaches or CrossFit affiliates out there who may be coaching their squats in this fashion, and if so, they’re wrong.  Direct your hate towards them.

Or, you could actually go coach someone before you start throwing darts.  Just sayin…..

CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 10/24/13

Sooooo, I heard through the grapevine that Eric Cressey released some sort of product this week?

I jest.

I know everyone and their Little League coach has been promoting it this week on their blogs and various social media outlets, and you know what?  Good!

[For those who may have missed it earlier this week, HERE’s my review of The High Performance Handbook.]

There’s a lot of garbage that gets released all over the internet on a daily basis promising abs in six minutes or the body of your dreams in 20 minutes, three days per week, or, for the more gullible, a program which guarantees immediate results using some kind of magical formula like showering underneath a rainbow every 3rd Friday.  But only if you’re holding hands with a Leprechaun.

Again, I jest. But suffice it to say I’ve seen some doozies out there, and it never ceases to amaze me what people will buy (or believe) in order to be told that they don’t need to work hard (and smart!) to attain the results they want.

The High Performance Handbook

For what mounts to $20 per month (it’s a four month program), you can have one of the best strength coaches in the world in your corner coaching you every step of the way.  Unlike many online programs, The High Performance Handbook can easily be CUSTOMIZED to fit your body-type (there’s actually a thorough video assessment to help you ascertain what your body-type is), training schedule, and equipment availability.

All of it is under the guise to help you kick-ass in the gym, attain results (strength and aesthetic) that you never thought possible, and without sugar coating anything.  You’ll need to work. Probably harder than you’ve ever worked before.  But the if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to train at Cressey Performance, this is your chance.

The Diet Delusion – Jen Comas Keck

I read this post by Jen last week and felt it needed to be read by more people, if for nothing else to help nudge people into a little dose of reality.

Sorry, you can’t crush Pop-Tarts on a daily basis and get shredded.  Even if it “fits your macros.”

Concurrently, because of the recent trend of people writing about long-stemming affects of metabolic damage from long-term dieting (and it DOES exist), many people are now fearful of approaching a caloric deficit.

Hate to break it to you:  but if you want to shed fat, you have to elicit a caloric deficit.

Dieting ain’t easy.  Sometimes you’re going to be hungry, and sometimes you’re going to feel mildly irritated because you haven’t had carbs in two days and want to punch a hole through a wall.

It’s okay.  It’s normal.  Deal with it.

CrossFit: My Swimmers.  My Thoughts – Tad Sayce

Tad’s a former intern/coach at Cressey Performance who now runs his own facility just outside Boston that caters to more of the swimming crowd.

Coincidentally enough, even though Tad writes with swimmers in mind, A LOT of what he talks as it relates to shoulders/elbows, shoulder/elbow care, and yes, CrossFit, parlays very well to other overhead athletes such as baseball, volleyball, as well as the general fitness population.

In addition, Tad’s thoughts on how to properly progress “plyos” and how CrossFit often (not always) misses the mark hits the nail on the head.

CategoriesStuff to Read While You're Pretending to Work Uncategorized

Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work: 10/17/13

Before we get into this week’s stuff to read, if you would be so kind as to allow me to take a few moment to tell you how much I hate Dan Trink that would be lovely.

Now, to clarify:  I don’t mean “hate” hate Dan Trink.  Hate’s a strong word and I generally reserve it for things like Tracy Anderson, seafood, people who don’t turn right on red, or whenever my girlfriend wants to talk about our feelings.

Dan’s actually a good friend and someone whom I’ve collaborated with on several articles on T-Nation as well as the Greatist Workout of the Day – GWODs – back in the day.

In fact Dan and I trained together a few weeks ago when I was down in New York City visiting and I made a cameo appearance at Peak Performance (where he’s the fitness director).  After taking a group of their trainers through a staff in-service on shoulder shenanigans/assessment, Dan pretty much bullied me into putting on a pair of shorts so that he and I could lift some heavy stuff.  Not that he had to pull my arm or anything, but after speaking for close to two hours I wasn’t exactly in the mood to work up to a few sets of heavy triples on front squats.

Then again, are you going to say no to this guy?

Excuse me while I go clean the back of my pants.

It was during our session, however, that I confided in Dan that I was in a bit of a training funk.  A few weeks prior, while training through a fairly aggressive deadlift cycle (in my seemingly never ending quest for a 600 lb pull), I tweaked my back (more on this below), and as a result I admitted I was just going through the motions with my training.  No real goal or purpose, which sucks donkey balls.

As such I asked Dan if he’d  be willing to take over my programming for the next few months, to maybe place a little more focus on a hypertrophy/bodybuilding split and to give my joints a bit of a break – something, admittedly, I haven’t done in years – and he graciously said yes.

He said yes!!!

And it just so happened that this past weekend Dan sent me my first month of programming – and I hate is effin guts!

Yesterday, for example, included 3×12 on deadlifts with timed rest. 3×12.

Like, what the hell!?!?!?

I honestly can’t remember the last time I’ve ever done a set of twelve on deadlifts. Let alone time my rest.  I championed through, though, and on my last set, while still playing the “conservative card,” I performed 365lbs x 12.  And then I counted the black spots and purple unicorns I was seeing before I passed out.

Needless to say, it’s going to be an interesting month.

Breath Better, Move Better – Eric Cressey

Breathing is a topic that is catching the fitness industry by storm in recent years.  And while I realize that for some it’s a topic that’s about as exciting as watching an episode of Downton Abbey, I can tell you from firsthand experience that it’s something that can (and has) had a profound effect on people’s movement quality AND performance in the gym.

With his new resource, The High Performance Handbook, coming out next week, Eric Cressey shares another FREE video on the importance of learning how to breath properly (0r more to the point:  learning to use our diaphragm more efficiently) and some drills we incorporate at Cressey Performance on a regular basis.

I don’t want to spoil anything, but the guy in the video demonstrating the drills is one sexy bastard……;o)

CrossFit and High-Rep Olympic Lifting – Bryan Krahn

One of the more “shared” Tweets I posted not long ago went something like this:

High-rep OLY lifting makes about as much sense as a poop flavored lolly pop.

It wasn’t long ago that I wrote my treatise regarding my thoughts on CrossFit.  For those who missed it (how dare you!), you can check it out HERE.

Nonetheless, I think it goes without saying – as if my Tweet didn’t give it away – what my thoughts are on high-rep OLY lifting.

In fairness, this article gives opinions on BOTH sides of the equation which I felt was pretty cool.

Strength Goals: Don’t Be Afraid to Abandon Them – Bret Contreras

Outside of bringing back some fond memories of internet legend Diesel Weasel, this article really hit home for me (and not because Bret used me as one of his examples).

As I alluded to above, my on-going quest to hit a 600 lb deadlift has been, well, on-going.  How’s that for wordplay?!

Thing is, I also like to stay lean – year round.  Much like Bret explains, every time I start ramping up my DL training, I’ll hit a certain “threshold” (the 550 lb mark) and inevitably my back then tosses me the middle finger.

Of course if I were to just throw my hands in the air, crush some PopTarts and donuts for months on end, and just tack on 20-40 lbs to my frame I’d probably hit that number in no time flat.

But that’s just not an option.

Kudos to Bret for writing such an honest article, as well as helping me see some light at the end of the tunnel. I’m by no means giving up, but it’s definitely helped to put things into perspective.

CategoriesUncategorized

Cutting CrossFit a Break

There’s certainly been no shortage of scathing articles directed towards CrossFit, its brand, and its oftentimes cultish followers in recent times.

I don’t know if it’s something in the water or because ObamaCare starts in less than a week, but it seems as if there’s been an influx of “CrossFit is the worst thing since Pepsi Clear” themed articles that have hit the media-stream as of late.

This is NOT one of those articles.

Yep, that’s right:  My name is Tony Gentilcore, and I’m growing tired of the incessant CrossFit bashing.

Now to be fair: I’ve written my share of “choice words” towards CrossFit in the past.  And to be perfectly frank, there’s still many things about it that I don’t agree with nor advocate.  Then again, I think Veganism is kinda weird and there are some people out there who think Justin Bieber makes good music – so who am I to judge?

We could make an argument that Veganism has it’s own list of benefits, and well, Beiber does have a few top ten hits so there’s that.

Moreover, there are plenty of things I used to quote-on-quote “hate” that I changed my mind on later in life. Hell, I used to hate Ben Affleck and Brussels sprouts, now I love em both!

Seemingly, however, there’s a growing “line” being drawn in the sand when it comes to CrossFit between those who love it and those who hate it.

It’s almost as if we’re in the midst of a modern day West Side Story where the Sharks and Jets still hate one another, albeit instead of knife fights and dance-offs, in this version the weapons of choice are kipping pull-ups and arguing over whether or not potatoes can be considered Paleo.

Those who love it espouse it as the end-all-be-all of fitness and point to it’s growing (viral?) popularity.  I don’t know about other cities, but here in Boston I can’t walk more than four blocks without walking past a new CrossFit affiliate.

Those who hate it blame CrossFit for everything from global warming to the copious amounts of injuries amongst its members.

To that last point a friend of mine  – who’s an avid CrossFitter herself – linked to an article that’s been making its rounds across the social media spectrum titled CrossFit’s Dirty Little Secret.

To summarize:  it’s basically an article taking a look into how CrossFit “nurtures” a culture of exercising to excess, to the point where the condition rhabdomyolysis – where myoglobin is leached into the bloodstream from muscle cells literally exploding,

which in turn puts many bodily systems (kidneys) at risk of shutting down – is a real concern for some members.

I don’t know the numbers offhand:  but there have been several documented cases of rhabdo in the CrossFit community.

They even have a mascot for it ————————–>

I’d argue not the best choice, but I’m not the head of the marketing department.

My friend asked for my opinion on the article, and here’s what I said (with some other stuff added because I actually had some time to sit down and think about what I wanted to write).

I think it (the article) is a bit sensationalistic – and just a way to take a hot topic, use it to toss some numbers out there, raise some alarms, and to garner some significant web traffic.

It absolutely succeeded in this regard.

This isn’t to say that I don’t agree with some components of the article. We had a client who switched to CrossFit a few years back, and she was someone who’d I have complete confidence in being able to do the WODs with no issues at all.

Except that she was in really good shape and had a killer mentality, and did NOT know when to stop. She was one of those people who would push herself, and unfortunately she ended up in the hospital for a week with a severe case of Rhabdo.

It IS a REAL concern, and something that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

This, among other things is what I don’t like about CrossFit. I don’t like that there’s a low barrier to entry.  All someone has to do is take some weekend course to become “CrossFit Certified,” then pay the franchise fee, and BAM, they’re in.

Baking a homemade apple pie is harder!

It uses a one-size-fits-all programming model which I think is asinine considering you have people from all walks of life walking into CrossFit gyms on a daily basis.  To say that Mrs. Smith who’s never lifted a weight in her life (let alone knows the difference between a squat and deadlift), is 25 lbs overweight, has two herniated discs, and just so happens to be a type 1 diabetic should be doing the same workout as Greg, who’s a 25 year old former college athlete and has been lifting weights for the better part of a decade, is downright absurd.  But it happens.  A lot.

Compounding this last point, and while it varies from affiliate to affiliate, there’s a definite lack of assessment which takes place, as well as a lack of a proper progression and regression system.

As an aside: Last weekend at the CP Seminar I was talking with a fellow strength coach and he mentioned that his wife walked into a CrossFit affiliate, and without any assessment, she was put through a workout that included overhead squats and high-rep cleans and snatches on day one.

I don’t know about everyone else reading – but I’d trust a coach who advocates high-rep OLY lifts about as much as I’d trust a barber with a mullet.

But now I sound like a cynical SOB and am just regurgitating what everyone else says.

To save face there’s also a lot that I like about CrossFit.

There’s no question that it builds an unparalleled sense of camaraderie.  People are EXCITED to train and workout!  How can I hate on that?

In an era where we celebrate gluttony to the point where competitive eating is broadcast on ESPN, it’s hard for me to dismiss anything which gets people fired up to get off their ass and move  – regardless of how much it makes me scratch my head.

CrossFit also emphasizes compound movements (awesome – assuming they’re coached well), and they don’t waste time advocating traditional “aerobic training,” which as many may recall from a few weeks ago, is a topic which caused a shit-storm on my blog when I suggested that there are other ways to elevate your heart-rate other than climbing onto a treadmill.

Offhandedly, I do feel that CrossFit isn’t the right choice for a lot of people who don’t otherwise move well.  There are people who take on a bit more than they can chew, who end up hurt, and worse, end up causing serious harm to their body.

And much of that is on the shoulders of the affiliates who don’t take the time to properly assess their clients and who don’t otherwise implement appropriate exercises progressions and regressions.

I really have a hard time believing people can’t agree on that point.

The affiliates who give a shit, actually assess their clients, and take the time to coach the lifts properly are the ones that generally do very well and are the ones which I applaud.  Unfortunately, it’s the “bad apples” that give CrossFit as a whole its bad reputation.

I “get” the tone of the article, and understand that it’s just trying to raise awareness of an actual issue, but it most certainly doesn’t apply to all affiliates or should serve as the umbrella of the CrossFit mentality.

Many affiliates do what they do very well and they should be applauded for their efforts.

Another article, or rather picture, which has set the interwebs ablaze is that of 35-year old Lea-Ann Ellison who, two-weeks before her due date, was photographed, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT’S HOLY…………..lifting weights.

This is a case where I wish people would just STFU and mind their own business.

To her credit, Ms. Ellison, prior to her pregnancy (which for some reason many people deem a disease that should leave every woman incapable of doing anything past putting dishes away or walking up a flight of stairs), had been participating in CrossFit for two and a half years.

It’s not like she decided two months into her pregnancy that she’d head down to her local affiliate and start tossing barbells over her head and dragging cars across the parking lot.

She had a solid foundation of fitness underneath her belt, and even though she was consistently training throughout her pregnancy, she admitted that the weights she was using were far LOWER than what she’d normally use, and that her workouts were far less CrossFitish in nature.

She listened to her body and knew when to back off when needed (which is advice I’ve given to every female client I’ve trained through their pregnancy as well).

You can read more HERE, if you’d like.

Here’s a woman who had the audacity to take a more proactive approach to her pregnancy and not subside to societal norms, and people are going to go out of their way to judge her for it?

The human body is a lot smarter than we give it credit for.  If putting a barbell on our back and squatting it (or doing anything which requires physical exertion) was so detrimental to the existence of the human race, we would have died out a loooooooooong time ago.

I’m unsure about what actually caused all the hooplah in the first place: whether it was the fact that she was performing CrossFit workouts so close to her due date, or that it was a provocative photograph that was taken?  I guess that’s up for interpretation.

But at the end of the day people are exercising.  And that’s cool.

CategoriesUncategorized

Reviewing the Cressey Performance Fall Seminar – Part One

You know the feeling you get when you demolish an ice-cream sundae so fast that you end up with one of those annoying “brain freezes” which makes you crumble to your knees in agony and forces you to make one of those weird, contorted faces that’s about as unattractive as unattractive can get?

No?

Well, maybe a better analogy would be actor Gary Busey.

Take his face (seen to the left) which is essentially what he looks like 100% of the time, and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.

Okay, now that you have an ample visual:  that was me this past weekend during the Cressey Performance Fall Seminar. Not to suggest, of course, that I was swimming in a cocktail of vodka and bat-shit crazy, which is more than likely a typical breakfast for Mr. Busey.

Oh snap!  No I didn’t! That’s a Busey burn!

But rather just to suggest that 1) my brain hurt so much from all the quality information thrown my way that I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that’s how I looked and 2) that I needed a day away from blogging in order to decompress, digest, and assimilate all the information.

All told we had roughly 150-175 people make the trek out to CP to hang out, network, and listen to several pretty smart dudes discuss everything from CrossFit to corrective exercise to coaching types to twerking.

Maybe not that last one (next year?), but needless to say there was A LOT of stuff that was covered.  In lieu of all the glowing comments and reviews that followed via Facebook and Twitter, there were a number of people who asked if we filmed the seminar.

Sadly we did not.  But I’m going to take the opportunity today to try to highlight a few points and insights from each presentation.

Today I’ll cover what Eric Cressey, Brian St. Pierre, and Mike Reinold discussed.

Cracking the CrossFit Code – Eric Cressey

Starting the morning off with a bang, Eric decided to address one of the more hotly debated topics in the fitness community: CrossFit.

Contrary to popular belief Eric (as well as myself) aren’t adamant CrossFit “hater” protagonists.

We both see a lot or redeeming qualities in it, but we’re also not dowsing ourselves in the Kool-Aid.  Nevertheless, here’s some points Eric hit on.

1. Interestingly, Eric started off his talk discussing how history is loaded with selective retention.

I’m not going to spoil the surprise (as I know Eric DID film his presentation and have to assume he’s going to offer it as product), but lets just say there’s a reference to Adolf Hitler and CrossFit.

HOLD ON:  before people get all Twitter happy and say that Eric Cressey equated CrossFit to Hitler, HE DID NOT DO THIS!!!!!

But he did make a fair point that Hitler was responsible for things like improving highway infrastructure, airplane travel, and a bunch of other things.  CrossFit, too, for as much as it’s poo-pooed on by the masses, does have a lot to offer.

2. Such as:

Insane camaraderie.
Unparalleled social experience.
Brand recognition.
Interval training preferred over aerobic training.
Variety.
Stresses compound exercises.

3.  But there are also a fair number of caveats or “bad” points to consider as well. Such as:

Low barrier to entry.
Lack of assessment (this is affiliate dependent, but it’s fair to say that many DO NOT offer a keen assessment).
One-size fits all programs.
Prioritizes technically advanced exercises (for high reps, no less).

4.  One must (and should) be able to dominate the sagittal plane if he or she is going to be succeed in a traditional CrossFit program.

5.  There’s no bones about it:  untrained individuals (of which are what CrossFit attracts) move like poop, and its imperative that appropriate progressions AND regressions are in place – especially if you’re going to use a “one-size-fits-all” format.

Insulin: The Hormone, The Myth, The Legend – Brian St. Pierre

It’s always a treat when Brian makes it back to his old stomping grounds at CP.  Not many people realize this (or remember), but Brian was actually our very first employee.

But then he had to go get married, buy a house, advance his career with Precision Nutrition, have kids and stuff, and move to Maine.  What a jerk!

It’s been a pleasure to see Brian grow as a professional and he’s undoubtedly one of my “go to” guys when it comes to anything nutrition related. In his presentation he tackled the often quoted, yet often woefully misunderstood hormone insulin.

1. Insulin is ONE of MANY hormones involved in fat storage. It increases the activity of lipoprotein lipase, decreases the activity of hormone-sensitive lipase, which together leads to an increase of fat into fat cells. Insulin enhances this process, but NOT necessarily for it.

Key Concept: Insulin permits fat storage, it does not regulate it.

** For the nerds out there: The hypothalamus does.

You can gain fat with or WITHOUT elevated insulin levels.  So for all the anti-carb aficionados out there who deem them more evil than Mordor:  nah nah nah nahhhhhhhhh.

2. Hypoglycemia is incredibly rare.

3. The amount of insulin from protein rich food is positively correlated with satiety levels from that food.  So, put another way:  insulin CAN be considered a satiety hormone.

How’s this for a mindf@&k: Potatoes, which are generally regarded as one of the highest insulinogenic foods on Earth, are also reported as having one of the best satiety effects.

4. Nutrient partitioning is real phenomenon, and when used to your advantage, can help to increase recovery and adaptation to training load.

5. No news here:  (purposful) exercise creates a physiological environment where carbs are even more beneficial.

Ie:  carbs have their place.

Integrating Corrective Exercise With Performance Enhancement – Mike Reinold

Before I dive into Mike’s talk, let me just say that he’s an absolute Jedi when it comes to PowerPoint.  Some of the graphics and tricks he uses are unreal.  I’m half expecting one day for Mike to pull a rabbit out of his Macbook or go all “Prestige” on us and clone himself.

Plus, you know, he’s a brilliant therapist on the side.

1.  Mike noted that if you Google “corrective exercise”  in almost every picture there’s a physio ball or someone coaching the shit out of something completely innocuous, like this:

Apparently the message is this:  if you’re not incorporating the use of a physio ball, you’re just pretending…..;o)

2.  The term corrective exercise is a garbage term and is something that’s thrown out there in an effort for people to make themselves sound smart.  There’s no shortage of long-winded definitions out there, but Mike gave one that was about as succinct and to-the-point as they come:

“Corrective exercise are exercises designed to enhance how well you move.”

3.  Why corrective exercises sometimes may not work:

You didn’t assess well, or worked beyond your scope.
You picked the wrong correctives.
You are only addressing part of the problem.
You jumped straight to motor control/stability (you still need to get people stronger and emphasize strength).
Person is in pain.

*** If your correctives aren’t working, don’t work harder.

4. Components of Corrective Exercise:

Alignment (if you strengthen in misalignment you’ll create an imbalance, if you stretch in misalignment you’ll create instability).
Mobility
Stability
Postural Balance

5. Integrating correctives:

Pre-Training: work on alignment (PRI breathing drills), mobility, activation, motor control.

Within the Program: A2, B2, C2 (assist the “1” lifts)

As an example:

A1.  Goblet Squat 3×8
A2.  Lying Deadbugs – 3×6/side

Post-Training:  repeat foam rolling, work on breathing drills (up-regulate parasympathetic system), etc.

And that’s going to be all for today. I told you there was a ton of information covered!  Tomorrow I’ll highlight the presentations from Eric Schoenberg, Greg Robins, Chris Howard, and myself.