We can thank HEL athlete Rob Straughn for the construction of some beautiful new 24" box jumps for the Lab today. We took them for a test during this morning's WOD and they make an awesome addition to our arsenal of torture devices.
Never high enough for Craig B and Kevin - these two monkeys had to stack the new boxes on top of a gym mat, and then balance a weight bench on top of the whole junkshow to create a 40" behemoth...
Monday, May 12, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Friday the 15th saw the return of an old HEL favorite: the painstorm. These intense, multi-tasking met-cons(metabolic conditioners) move us beyond the realm of short power-intensity bursts into much longer workouts lasting up to an hour or more. Testing our physical and mental fortitude, stamina and ability to pace ourselves for the long haul, nothing separates the wheat from the chaff like a painstorm!
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Welcome back...
These last few weeks have been a super busy time for me: climbing on great local projects, adventures in the Cascades and even a quick tour of the Canadian Rockies with Team Harro(thanks Dan & Elisif!). Thank you to Kris, Craig, Nick, Stacy and Greg for helping me cover the WODs and keep the 1200 running smooth in my absence. Alas, the blog has also been somewhat neglected during all of these hijinx. So, here's some of what's been happening...
This last weekend on a trip up to British Columbia I got to briefly visit the local affiliate, Crossfit Vancouver. It was a small, but clean and bright facility tucked away down in the industrial district. Their 'benchmark boards' were packed with some solid times, and that evening they were holding a competition event. One night each month they do multiple WODS(say Fran & Helen back-to-back), work on PRs and challenge each other all in the spirit of everyone reaching a personal best. I was an hour late to my own WOD(can anyone say 'daylight savings time'?), but really look forward to visiting them again in the future.
*****
All hail the Ladies of CrossfitHEL!!! I have seen some real improvment lately from some gals around here and they definitely deserve a shout out. Leslie struggled forever to gain her first complete pull-up. These days I see her crank them out like clockwork: good kip, good form and(when she feels like it) full range of motion. Way to go, Leslie! And Morgan also has started to put in some real effort lately: beginning to apply herself harder in the WODS, moving beyond what's comfortable and toying with what is possible...keep it up! And have you met Jennifer Kellams yet? Straight outta boot camp this newbie has drank the Kool-Aid big time right from the get-go and her effort already shows. Every day she's asking questions, watching the big dogs and stepping up for her own piece of the action.
*****
The Clean and Jerk...learn it, love it, make it your best friend. The complex and challenging Olympic lifts(C&J and snatch) are cornerstones of our whole crossfit philosophy. Utilizing speed, power, coordination and agility simultaneously, these testpiece movements can take years to master and should be a regular part of every serious crossfitter's regular practice. So get started on your introduction or learning them more deeply. With numerous timeslots available for this month's lifting seminars and the clean also being our 'focus lift' this month...what's your excuse? Train your weaknesses, get stronger fast!
Monday, February 4, 2008
Crossfit HEL Goes Global!
Greetings from across the Pacific: Kris Rotan keeps the training up even on vacation in Aklan.
Note: Crossfit HEL will now also offer 12:00 WODs on Tuesdays & Thursdays. Come join Nick T. for another opportunity to get your midday pump on!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Training Log
In seeking out articles or writing material for this blog, I always look to keep the focus on you guys: the athletes of Crossfit HEL. Occasionally I may share something from my own experience that I think may highlight some of the unique challenges we all encounter as crossfitters in a big-box world. Mostly though, I just try to include helpful tips, training tools and some recognition for those athletes that I see around the Lab going above and beyond the call. Each week at my keyboard, slowly pecking away, I remind myself: "Its not about me."
When coaching the 12:00 WOD, I try to see each athlete who comes into HEL as an individual bringing unique skill sets, goals and motivations. And within that framework, I look to scale every WOD, exercise and application to meet each athlete's needs so that they can bring it 100% and be successful: get better, stronger, faster.
For myself, I am what hardcore CF-ers refer to as a 'sport-specific athlete using a crossftit modality.' This means that the primary purpose of my crossfit training is just simply to become a better athlete within my discipline. To that end, I am always tailoring and modifying my own workouts in an effort to move closer to those sport-specific goals. This week I've decided to begin sharing my training log on this blog in hopes of encouraging each of you to look at your own unique goals and to find the most direct path which will lead you to them. It is located under 'My Training Log' in the links section to the right. It is bare bones, no frills, and easy to ignore if you're not interested. If your eyes are on a prize and crossfit is the vehicle to get you there, then let us know...together we can formulate some fire-breathing WODs customized to get you dialed in!
Monday, January 14, 2008
The Non-Negotiability of Perfection
CrossFit is the pursuit of athletic perfection—performing difficult workouts with technical mastery under conditions of duress. We’re looking for flawless form with a jackhammering heart, bursting lungs, and battery acid-filled veins.
When this is accomplished with unyielding intensity, the result is nothing short of beautiful. When we fall short of the mark, the result is horrifying at best.
Athletes often set up a false dichotomy between perfect form and intensity, assuming that as one increases the other must necessarily fall. This idea is a thinly disguised excuse for athletic complacency. Rather than revisit proper technique through low-intensity, low-excitement skill work, the athlete chooses to pursue personal records with diminished form. The unstated reason for this choice: it’s easy on the ego to put up “good” WOD times. Taking a hit to your “Fran” time in order to perform perfect thrusters is not going to move you up the records board—at least not right away—and the blow to the ego is too much to bear.
In reality, form and intensity are not mutually exclusive, but the non-linearity of their relationship leads novice athletes to the wrong conclusion. For the novice, maintaining form becomes a cruel joke as intensity increases, leading to the erroneous conclusion that the two cannot coexist. Advanced athletes believe the opposite. These athletes recognize that continuous high-intensity work is nearly impossible without strict attention to form. The advanced athlete knows that perfect form is perfect for a reason: it imparts structural advantages that poor form does not.
Take the thruster as an example. Performed poorly, the movement relies on the small muscles of the anterior shoulder to support the weight at lockout. These muscles fatigue extremely quickly, leaving the athlete with reduced capacity in short order. When the thruster is performed well, the weight is supported by the large, hard-to-fatigue muscles of the posterior chain, allowing the form-conscious athlete to continue at peak power long after his sloppy brethren have stopped to rest.
The advantages of good form are not isolated to the thruster. Clear structural advantages can be had in the majority of our movements if one chooses to pursue perfect form. Most of these advantages are based on the physics of power transmission, specifically the fact that it is easier to send power through a rigid structure than through a limp one.
Squatting provides a wonderful illustration. The squat utilizes power from the hip to propel the torso through a complete range of motion. If the spine is rounded and the torso is loose, power is lost and the torso becomes difficult to move. If the spine is kept in a neutral or arched alignment and the torso is rigid, as proper form dictates, power flows freely and the load is easy to move. Nonetheless, we’ll often see novices blasting through flaccid, rounded-back squats, heedless of the power-draining effect of their substandard form.
Condoning bad form for the resulting intensity ignores the big picture. In doing so, we rob our athletes of their long-term potential, artificially capping their progress in the name of immediate gratification. An athlete with poor form and an ugly three-minute “Fran” will always have an ugly three-minute “Fran”, while a similar athlete with good form will soon find himself pushing the limits of possibility, utilizing the structural advantages of the perfect thruster to close in on two minutes.
For the CrossFitter, perfection should be non-negotiable, regardless of the near-term outcome. Progressing to the elite level—heart jackhammering, lungs bursting, and records falling—depends on it.
(written by John Gilson of Againfaster)
When this is accomplished with unyielding intensity, the result is nothing short of beautiful. When we fall short of the mark, the result is horrifying at best.
Athletes often set up a false dichotomy between perfect form and intensity, assuming that as one increases the other must necessarily fall. This idea is a thinly disguised excuse for athletic complacency. Rather than revisit proper technique through low-intensity, low-excitement skill work, the athlete chooses to pursue personal records with diminished form. The unstated reason for this choice: it’s easy on the ego to put up “good” WOD times. Taking a hit to your “Fran” time in order to perform perfect thrusters is not going to move you up the records board—at least not right away—and the blow to the ego is too much to bear.
In reality, form and intensity are not mutually exclusive, but the non-linearity of their relationship leads novice athletes to the wrong conclusion. For the novice, maintaining form becomes a cruel joke as intensity increases, leading to the erroneous conclusion that the two cannot coexist. Advanced athletes believe the opposite. These athletes recognize that continuous high-intensity work is nearly impossible without strict attention to form. The advanced athlete knows that perfect form is perfect for a reason: it imparts structural advantages that poor form does not.
Take the thruster as an example. Performed poorly, the movement relies on the small muscles of the anterior shoulder to support the weight at lockout. These muscles fatigue extremely quickly, leaving the athlete with reduced capacity in short order. When the thruster is performed well, the weight is supported by the large, hard-to-fatigue muscles of the posterior chain, allowing the form-conscious athlete to continue at peak power long after his sloppy brethren have stopped to rest.
The advantages of good form are not isolated to the thruster. Clear structural advantages can be had in the majority of our movements if one chooses to pursue perfect form. Most of these advantages are based on the physics of power transmission, specifically the fact that it is easier to send power through a rigid structure than through a limp one.
Squatting provides a wonderful illustration. The squat utilizes power from the hip to propel the torso through a complete range of motion. If the spine is rounded and the torso is loose, power is lost and the torso becomes difficult to move. If the spine is kept in a neutral or arched alignment and the torso is rigid, as proper form dictates, power flows freely and the load is easy to move. Nonetheless, we’ll often see novices blasting through flaccid, rounded-back squats, heedless of the power-draining effect of their substandard form.
Condoning bad form for the resulting intensity ignores the big picture. In doing so, we rob our athletes of their long-term potential, artificially capping their progress in the name of immediate gratification. An athlete with poor form and an ugly three-minute “Fran” will always have an ugly three-minute “Fran”, while a similar athlete with good form will soon find himself pushing the limits of possibility, utilizing the structural advantages of the perfect thruster to close in on two minutes.
For the CrossFitter, perfection should be non-negotiable, regardless of the near-term outcome. Progressing to the elite level—heart jackhammering, lungs bursting, and records falling—depends on it.
(written by John Gilson of Againfaster)
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Homecoming...and a Dose of Reality!
Hey All-
Ruturning to the Lab after a week away, I was very stoked to see the great turnout and high energy going on! Warming up, everyone was motivated, talking smack(the good kind!) and clearly on task for a hard workout. Despite more athletes than equipment, people arranged themselves quickly into two squads and got to work, spurring on comrades with coaching and encouragement until their own turns came. And some rare faces at the Nooner: Finley busting out a stellar time despite a week of telemarking and imbibement...and Laurie Fish - our latest addition to the HEL Climbing Team!
*****
Doing CrossFit WODs at a local climbing gym this week, I was reminded of how lucky we are to have such a great, CF-only dedicated facility. With the stopwatch rolling, I moved through a succession of deadlifts, pull-ups and KTEs, all with my typical grunting and growling. As little kids from a 'climbing birthday party' began to gather around in a too-close circle, I heard a great wailing behind me. Dropping the Oly bar with a clang and dodging tykes to reach the pull-up bar, I looked over to see a couple holding their wide-eyed little boy in tears. Mom was explaining the situation to an obviously concerned parent: "He's just never seen anyone work out like that before. I think it scared him!"
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Rowing Technique
Take a look at the new link in the right-hand column about rowing technique by Flip Luisi. Step-by-step breakdowns of body prep for every phase of the row are analyzed in a quick and easy to understand format. Check it out and improve your times and efficiency!
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