Genevieve

Its officially holiday time. Thanksgiving has come and gone and we are now 10 days deep into December.  This also marks the time of year when the internet starts to tell you how to “Survive the Holidays.”  Basically there are a few schools of thought on how to manage holiday season.

1. Go ape shit crazy, you deserve it! YOLO!

2. Go against the grain and start your New Year’s Resolution today. Firebomb this holiday season with discipline and self-righteousness.  

3. Find a balance that allows you to enjoy important time with friends and family with out completely undercutting your fitness goals.

As you can a imagine we’re going to make a case for number three. As I’ve stated here before many obstacles in life and fitness can be overcome by creating awareness around the things that are actually holding us back and devising a plan to overcome that obstacle. In my experience there are 3 main obstacles encountered over holidays that can negatively affect our health and fitness goals.

Social outings

While your social life always seems to be competing with you fitness goals, the shear volume of social events increases seemingly exponentially during the month of December.  Office parties, and Christmas parties with friends and/or family all squeeze themselves on to the calendar in December. Generally these parties include free booze and plenty of poor nutritional options.

Travel

If you don’t have to spend significant time in an airport or on the road  in December, consider yourself lucky.  Let me just tell you there are very few “healthy” options in between Wichita Falls and Amarillo and even less in the Amarillo airport. Couple that with the fact that you are away from the gym and normal training routine and we have potential holiday landmines here.

Big Family Meals

Finally, we all love our Mom’s delicious home cooking. Unfortunately that 5 lbs of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, and pie isn’t going to help our six pack, or shave a minute off our mile time.

So what’s the answer? Well first of all I’m of the opinion that you should enjoy and maybe even indulge in all of the “problems” above. Why? Because they are all part of interacting with and participating in the lives of people that are important to us. We as humans are by nature social creatures, and the effects of isolation and loneliness can be just as detrimental to our health as lack of physical activity or poor nutrition.  Establishing and maintaining personal relationships is incredibly important and why the holidays should be enjoyed not stressed over.  So below are some ways to mitigate the damage done by the above obstacles while still enjoying and being thankful for the time we have with our friends and family.

Exercise Consistently

This is priority number one. One thing the holidays do bring is some extra time off from work, so commit to exercise 30-60 minutes 5-6 days a week. Trust me you have time. If you’re on the road go for a run, do one of our travel workouts , drop in to a CrossFit box, or even just help pops shovel snow for an hour. Exercise is the one thing you can have 100% control of during the holidays. Heck, you can even throw in some double days with Zone 1 work when you’re off from work.

Plan Workouts before and after big meals and social events

This is a simple, yet underutilized way to offset damage done by parties and big holiday meals. The post workout state simply put, allows the body to find productive uses for the calories we take in and mitigates the likelihood those calories will just be stored as fat (for a more detailed explanation of this check this article out). You should always train the day after (preferably in the morning) a big social outing or meal. While this doesn’t sound or feel appealing after a late night at the office Christmas party, it helps you mentally deal with “being uncomfortable” and not allowing that state of uncomfort to affect your training schedule. It also ensures that your training consistency is not negatively affected by social outings, and eliminates excuses from your vocabulary.

Reduce Calories outside of  big meals, and parties

Counting calories has a bad a wrap and rightfully so, but it does have some advantages especially this time of the year. The important thing to remember is that calorie counting on a micro level (per meal) is largely inaccurate. So stressing about the exact number of calories you take in per meal is counter productive. However, having an idea of how many calories you’re taking in over the course of the day has benefit to overall fat loss.  So on the days that you know you will take in a good amount of calories, reduce your intake by eating smaller meals earlier in the day or doing some intermittent fasting.

So there you have it! How to enjoy yourself over the holidays and not go completely off the rails! Enjoy yourself and your loved ones this month, and hopefully these tips will help you stay consistent with your training!

-Wes Kimball

    It’s something that you may never achieve, but you should always strive for.  The perfect movement, or close to it, is what all of us as athletes and coaches should always be inching toward.  This goes for all movements that we use in the gym, but what steps we take to achieve these are rarely discussed.

    Many times coaches are on one of two sides, focusing more on technique or strength.  I learned from Olympic Coach Kyle Pierce that they cannot be separated, instead “they are one.”  Does an athlete get pulled forward on the first pull because they have bad technique, or have a weak back?  We must fix the weaknesses as they occur so proper technique can continue to be achieved.  This of course means that once technique breaks down you do not go heavier, even if you are close to a personal record.  Do not inhibit the continuation of gains for one PR. Constantly working on weaknesses will give you the ability to perfect your technique as you get stronger, so you can lift more weight correctly!   There are some simple exercises we can do based on weight that create a problem with your movements.

Let’s say you are getting pulled forward when you pull the bar off the ground, or “bottoming out” in the bottom off the catch.  Both of these are due to Leg/Back weakness.  If the weight was 100 kg (220 lbs), we would work off of that weight and try to work up to a Front Squat with a 3 sec pause in the bottom for 3 sets of 3 at 100% (220 lbs).  Theoretically this should help fix the weakness at that weight in the clean so we can continue to progress.

This is just one of the ways we continue to get our athletes stronger and more technically sound in SouthSide Weightlifting.

-Coach Thomas

    I recently returned from a weightlifting training camp with members of the Russian National Team.  With all of the complex technique approaches, catapult vs. triple extension talk, and self proclaimed weightlifting coaches shamelessly blasting social media, I knew I was in for something good from this training camp.  When the lecture began, there was no extravagant technique approach with “must hit” positions. It was better. It was perfectly simple.

    The interesting approach they take to weightlifting is nothing new. Back in the 1950’s and 1960’s, Tommy Kono was absolutely dominant in the weightlifting world, setting World Records in four separate weight classes, winning two olympic golds, and six consecutive world championships. But, after his career, Kono also did some coaching.  When Yasha Kahn, Coach for Norwood Weightlifting, began lecturing at the training camp about the Russian Training System, someone from the back raised their hand and asked what the American System is.  He sort and laughed a little bit and went into the fact that in the 50’s and 60’s there were two systems to train Olympic weightlifters, the Russian and the American.

After Kono was finished competing he began coaching. First he coached the Mexico National Team, then the West German Team, and back to America.  By that time his style of training was out and the Russians, who were dominated by the Americans, adopted this system of training, which is now the Russian System.  So while we are off trying to find the next big thing by bringing in coaching from Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland, we are getting beat by teams doing what we were doing 60 years ago!  This is a great lesson for any athlete, stop looking for the next best thing!  Find a good coach, and then work. When you start to plateau, work harder!

    I have dedicated much of my career to these movements.  Even before I began to compete, I was studying and analyzing them from a coach’s perspective.  When you get as deep into it as I am, it is refreshing to take a step back, learn from a world champion, and look at the movement as a whole instead of dissecting every inch of the pull.  I believe that we can do this with all movements that we coach and that you as an athlete learn, but it’s not all on the coach.  As an athlete you will have more success, more quickly if you just listen to the cues that the coach is giving verbally and nothing else.  I noticed this at the training camp on multiple occasions.  They would give you two or three things you must do, and the rest took care of itself.  This drove people crazy in the camp!  Many times I would hear “what about the double knee bend,” “where should my shoulders be on the finish,” and the classic “when do I drive my hips into the bar?”  They stuck to their guns, refusing to talk about all that nonsense, giving simple cues to do on your set-up, and then stand up!  The best part about it is it worked!

Here is the bottom line…  These movements, along with other movements including gymnastics, were conventionally taught to kids.  Then, CrossFit came along and we began teaching these skills to knowledgeable adults.  With that came all of the Pose Running and Catapult nonsense, simply because adults are always looking for something new, and more importantly they want to know why it works.  The truth is high quality coaches are not going to give you gimmicks. It’s going to sounds overly simple, but it is suppose to be.  There is no need to over complicate a complicating movement or skill.  Now as an athlete, you must try to clear your thoughts and focus on the the cues the coaches are giving you. It will make the learning curve much shorter so we can get you moving and feeling better.

-Coach Thomas

With Thanksgiving next week and CFA having a limited class schedule, it’s easy to take days off, and blame the innocent Thanksgiving Holiday for a week of not working out! This quick little article is my way of giving you no excuses.  The following circuits were created for Olympic Track and Field athletes that were traveling for competitions, but still needed to get in Fundamental/Mobility work.  They can be done anywhere and anytime.

Morning….

Bedroom….

Hotel Room…

Evening….

Front Yard…

Night…

Bathroom…

20 mins and No Warm up…

Everyday pick one of the following Circuits perform 2 Rounds, 10 each exercise. No excuses!

–Aaron Davis

BIG HORN

Rocket Jumps www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI-cSBTzd7I

Socrpions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31Ss8uem27Q

Iron Crosses www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZO2u7FLohY

Wrestler Briidge www.youtube.com/watch?v=paI1j4HQvsQ

Pushups www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm1fJ1nj9yA

Side ups www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DAgG_QwDfs

Leg toss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNFhm5wICLE

V-sits www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIY_cQOCYrU

WATERLOO

Prisoner Squats www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojg8TiomrtM

V- Sits www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIY_cQOCYrU

Pushups www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm1fJ1nj9yA

Superman www.youtube.com/watch?v=47v5P5xjg9g

Rocket Jumps www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI-cSBTzd7I

Leg Toss //www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNFhm5wICLE

Clapping Push ups https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GhVTPXZJnM

Wrestler’s Bridge www.youtube.com/watch?v=paI1j4HQvsQ

Iron Crosses www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZO2u7FLohY

Decline Pushups https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2tR2qa1zNU

Prone Flex single Leg Hip Extension https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8sZtFbLQwA

Today, lets talk about some simple ways to get more out of your training. And let me just point out the word “simple”, when most people see the word simple they think easy. However, just because something is simple there is no guarantee that it will be easy. So even though my suggestions are simple in theory, implementation will require some effort and work!

Show up

The number one way to succeed at CrossFit or any training endeavor is to show up, and show up consistently.  The great thing about coming to class every week is that we remove the guess work out of your training. All we need you to do is show up and be ready to work.  We’ve talked recently as coaches how showing up to the gym twice a week or eight times a month is the minimum buy in to see some results.  I’m a big believer that training a good 4 times a week is the sweet spot where a person thrives with they’re training.   So, making it a priority to train at least four times a week (inside or outside the gym) should be a goal for anyone that takes their health and fitness seriously.

Move everyday

Taking the showing up concept a step further, Olympic Gold Medalist Dan Gable famously said, “If it is important, do it every day, if it isn’t, don’t do it at all”.  When it comes to movement and activity, this means that we should be active in some fashion everyday. That doesn’t mean blow yourself up with workouts 24/7/365 but there is allot of value daily non stressful activity.  The best ways to do this is to simply be active for at least 10 minutes a day. You can walk, ride a bike, play with your children, the list goes on and on. This helps us relieve stress, sleep better, and recover from the harder bouts of exercise you do during the week.

So keep it simple silly! Regardless of the busy world around us, we always have the opportunity to improve our health and fitness if you’re willing to show up and do the work!

–Wes Kimball

It’s easy to get caught up in the competition that a CrossFit class can elicit.  It’s what pushes our fitness to a level we couldn’t attain by ourselves. From a coach’s perspective this is both positive and negative. Though competition can bring out the best in an athlete, it can be also be a roadblock in the training process.

The two questions I hear frequently are “How do I get better at _____ skill” and “How do I get stronger?”.  The simplest answer is, practice them often and do as many correct reps as possible; even if it’s one rep at a time.

Our bodies are an electrical highway, making new roads and highways all the time. These highways improve information pathways and feedback to the brain, especially when we are beginning the training process or learning a new skill (yes, even a Heavy Squat is a skill).  Once introduced to a new skill, our bodies are already starting the process of building a road to mastery.  As we practice “correctly” that road is turned into a freeway which allows more traffic and feedback to come back and forth, self-correcting the skill in real time.

Most people have an idea of this, but few apply it to strength. Often, skill is thought of in the realm of double unders, kipping pull-ups, or higher end gymnastics movements.  Just ask Coach Thomas why Olympic lifters are just as strong as Powerlifters (without the help of Suits) in the squat, even though Olympic lifters hardly ever squat at the same intensities as powerlifters. It’s because they squat often and focus on perfecting each rep. They build their electrical highways to a higher degree than their powerlifting counterparts.

So how can we apply this to our everyday CrossFit classes?

Train with intent!  Perfect every rep during this new cycle.  It will be especially hard under fatigue, but the more perfect reps you do the better roads you will build, which will lead to more improvement over time.

Trust me, we will let you know when to compete!  Test weeks are a perfect time.  Right now find your place of Zen, be mindful, put competition aside and focus on technique.

“Nerves that fire together wire together” – Donald Hebb

-Aaron Davis