We’d like to wish a special Happy Birthday to {Veteran of the Year} Ray Bertram!
Today Ray turned 50! He has been with us since early 2009, {Ray has been with us so long he predates our MindBody account} faithfully attending the 7:30 am class three times a week. A pretty amazing example of loyalty, consistency, and dedication.
He also is a beast, holding the pull up record in our gym among other feats. This is also the first year we’ve talked him into competing in The Open! Go Ray!
I posted this a couple years ago but to piggyback off of Genevieve’s post re: healthy feet and its own personal fascia, figured this would help attack things on a more global scale.
So, we’ve seen them at one time or another in the gym. You know, the long, circular, white or black foam rollers. We know they must be beneficial, because so many people use them. You might have tried using one, only to be left scratching your head and wondering why you were rolling around the floor.
Foam rolling can be very beneficial to your routine, if you know what you’re doing. I know what you’re thinking…. “If everyone else is doing it must be working?” Although your mama probably warned you about following the crowd, foam rolling is for everyone—Crossfitter or sedentary Joe!
Let’s start with the physiological aspects (nerd alert) of foam rolling. It’s a form of self-myofascial release therapy (SMRT) used to break down scar tissue and adhesions that form on soft tissue after repetitive use. “Myo” is Greek for “muscle” and “fascia” is a web of connective tissue found throughout the body. Myofascial release is stretching of the muscle and fascia.
We all have a pretty good idea as to what a muscle is but sometimes I lose my audience when I say “fascia.” To really understand the importance of foam rolling, we have to understand what fascia is and how it works. Fascia is the connective tissue surrounding our muscles, which as a whole is known as the myofascial unit. Picture a sandwich (the muscle) wrapped in saran wrap (the fascia). The saran wrap holds the sandwich together and they move as a unit. Since these two are interconnected, if we stretch our muscles, we stretch the fascia surrounding them. The same concept applies for injured muscles. If we damage or tear them, we have damaged and torn the fascia. Thus, we can’t “tear” into the sandwich (the muscle) without “tearing” through the saran wrap (the fascia).
So now you know if you tear muscles, you tear fascia. What you don’t know is every time you work out, you are tearing muscle fibers. It’s nothing to be scared of as that’s how you build strength. However, both the muscle fibers and the fascia become tighter and shorter each time. Picture your body as a chain. When there is a kink (shortened muscle fibers and fascia) in the chain, it causes stress in other parts of the chain. Will a kinked chain still be able to perform its function of let’s say holding up a large speaker over a football stadium? Sure! But over time, the added stress on the chain from that kink will cause the chain to break, dropping the speaker onto the stands…ouch!
Our body is durable but it’s not invincible. Breakdown happens when we get out of shape, and develop more “kinks,” making us more prone to injuries.
Foam rolling alleviates these kinks, by breaking down scar tissue and the adhesions that form on the soft tissue after repetitive use. These scar tissues and adhesions are formed from the micro tears we create daily from not only Crossfitting, but also our lifestyles and habits outside of Crossfit. The micro tears eventually build up onto each other and lead to bigger problems. Imagine your torn muscles and fascia (after tightening up) as dough balls and the foam roller as your rolling pin. We smooth out dough balls to form wonderful, light pastries. Similarly, the foam roller stretches and lengthens your distorted myofascial units back into a functional state so that your body works more efficiently. If you can be consistent with it, foam rolling not only prevents these “dough balls” from hindering your fitness or lifestyle goals but also helps:
Moral of the story? Start to incorporate foam rolling into your daily regimen. Come in early and knock it out before a workout. Long day at work? Get on that roller and release the stress your body is carrying. It may not look pretty and it’s definitely not one of the most flattering things to do in public! But if you’re looking to see gains in your 1 RM snatch or kipping pull-ups, you won’t until you work out your kinks, lengthen those dough balls, and finally gain the flexibility needed to realize your body’s full potential.
Remember these rules of foam rolling:
1. It will hurt.
2. Pain is good, it means you’ve found those dough balls (aka trigger points) needed to release the tension.
3. Once you feel pain, roll over that spot until you feel some relief.
4. BE CONSISTENT…see it as corrective, preventative, restorative, and daily maintenance. The more consistent you are with foam rolling, the less pain you will feel in the long run.
5. Make it a part of your life! Embrace it and all of its glory…yes, even the awkward positions you may have to get into in order to roll out tight areas.
6. Foam rolling is FUN. Much more fun than watching others train while you sit out because you injured yourself.
-Coach LeGare
In addition to being a superstar CrossFit athlete and coach at CFA. Leigh is a Certified Recovery Specialist and Practice Development Manager for Airrosti Rehab Centers.
First of all congratulations! After tomorrow we’ll officially be over half way done with The Open. Although our weekly article is called “Logistics for 15.3”, frankly there’s not much to consider logistically this week.
So here are your logistics for 15.3
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about the workout itself. It’s no secret that folks are disappointed about either the muscle-ups in the Rx version, or the singles in scaled version so let’s put those concerns to bed. The scaled version of this workout is not “easy.” For anyone that’s done the workout “Karen,” you should know that 50+ wall balls is a lot of things, but “easy” isn’t one of them. Secondly, I’d encourage you to approach singles as an opportunity to improve on a few things that may not be apparent at first look. Ask yourself these question after you finish:
How well did I actively recover between sets of intense strength endurance efforts?
Could I control or lower my breathing rate while moving at a consistent pace?
Could I adapt to the rhythm of a new movement that I haven’t been practicing?
Could I maintain a challenging pace through a 14:00 workout?
These are just a few interesting things that came to mind for me when I looked at the scaled version of the workout. All of that said, have a good attitude with this version. You can either complain and make excuses or you can get better. You can’t do both.
The second big question is this, “Should I go Rx?” Or, for some the question is “Should I spend 14:00 trying to get my first muscle-up”. Hopefully this quick interview with fake people will help you make that decision.
Q: Should I scale if I have multiple muscle-ups.
A: No go Rx.
Q: Should I scale if I have 1 or 2 muscle-ups.
A: No go Rx.
Q: I’ve been working diligently on muscle-ups but still haven’t gotten my first one.
A: Give Rx a go. Nothing like a little bit of excitement and good pressure to get that first one. If it doesn’t happen you can alway do the scaled version on Monday.
Q: I wish I had a muscle up, but I never practice them. Should I try to get my first one today?
A: No, do scaled and commit to practicing and learning a new skill.
Q: I don’t have a muscle-up, multiple strict pull-ups, multiple ctb pull-ups, or multiple strict ring dips, but I don’t scale workouts no matter what. Should I just flail around on the rings for 14 minutes?
A: No you should check your ego at the door and scale. You should also realize that the number one thing holding you back is your attitude.
Ok so I think I’ve made my point, and to all of you that don’t want your heart to drop into your throat when Dave Castro announces the muscle up workout next year, check out this article I wrote a few years ago:
To quote myself from that article:
“It’s easy to stay comfortable or to pretend that you should be able to magically do something instead of working for it. It’s hard to commit to a long-term or, even better, a lifelong pursuit of being a little tiny bit better everyday.”
Enjoy 15.3 folks!
-Coach Wes
Over three years ago I wrote a blog post for the CFA community chronicling my first-ever 30-day challenge. Though I’d made a shift in my nutrition starting in 2010, I’d hovered around 80/20 forever; I’d honestly never done a 100% compliance. The difference was truly incredible and I was excited to share the support others. With our new website re-design, that post is lost to the internets (whew), but I wanted to revisit a few points now as we reach the end of the Whole Life Challenge.
My post included the usual tips about strategizing food replacements and food prep, but this is old news, all you Challengers are pros by now. But even so, you may hit a speed bump or two, so here are two other valuable strategies I’d like to share…
The first is my favorite; it’s so important, but easy to lose sight of:
“The “WHY” becomes really important when times get tough. A piece of advice I got from a blogger was: Write down why you are doing this. I took this important step before I started and it was paramount to my success. Instead of reaching for that brownie, I re-read over my “WHY.” Sure, one sweet treat is not really the end of the world, but I wasn’t doing this to see if I could follow a list of rules. My “WHY” was much deeper than that.”
Part of my ‘why’ was that I didn’t want to be a slave to sugar; I wanted to break out of that addiction. I also didn’t want my emotions to rule what I ate. So while making (and eating) paleo-friendly brownies might have fit the “rules,” I knew in the back of my mind it wasn’t the best decision, and it wasn’t going to help me reach my goals.
So, when you hit a rough spot, revisit the reasons WHY you decided to participate in this challenge in the first place, it just may get you over that bump.
In case you were thinking you would just avoid any roads with bumps, think again. For example, I initially avoided eating out. The idea of being surrounded by temptation and having to make a series of decisions was daunting (Perrier instead of wine, pass on the bread, sub veggies for pasta, and so forth). But here’s how I got over it:
“I read an article about addiction recently that stated the obvious: the more you use a muscle, the stronger it gets. Using a new muscle (to make a new decision) will feel very difficult at first; this is why old (a.k.a “strong”) habits are hard to break. The recommendation was to continue to put yourself in situations where you have to flex a new muscle, i.e., make a different decision. So, instead of avoiding situations (restaurants, parties, the break room), I decided to face them head-on and flex the “muscle,” so that over time it would get stronger. The decisions became easier and I personally felt more awesome each time I made a decision congruent with my goals.”
Whenever I think of that nugget of advice it totally changes my perspective. Don’t shy away from difficulty, embrace it, heck, seek it out! Sure, Fran isn’t the most fun ever, but you still come in and get after it, right? I encourage you to attack nutrition (or any other area of your life you are seeking to change) with the same gusto.
For those participating in the Whole Life Challenge, or for anyone facing any sort of resolution or challenge, I hope reconnecting with your WHY and taking initiative to make a new and better decision is helpful in your journey.
-Coach Walker (Fenz) Palecek
What Drives You?
My CrossFit Austin family, I am beyond happy to write about motivation/goal setting and why we should choose to make ourselves better through physical fitness. I will start with this simple question for you to ask yourself. What drives you to step through the doors at the gym and put yourself through hell for an hour? Take a moment to really look deep within yourself. I would like you to think past the basics: physical aesthetics, feels good to workout, weight loss, improve health status, and camaraderie. Although these few basic reasons are great, I believe that individuals seek self- improvement on a much deeper level even without their conscious recognition of it. Look at the above mentioned reasons and ask yourself (why?) to a few of them. You may begin to understand the deeper connection to what motivates you. Before I go any further towards helping you discover your hidden drive or motivation, I would like to share why I’m driven to push myself every day.
As many of you know, I have been a lifetime athlete and competitor within sports and academia. However, I have never been more motivated or serious about my health/wellness than I am right now. Last January, I stood at the foot of my father’s hospital bed and witnessed him struggle with tremendous amounts of pain as he just endured his 5th, 12+ hour long, operation due to cancer. I could not bear the sight of my father in so much pain and had to leave the room. As my brothers and I were leaving the hospital, I could think of nothing else but the image of my father writhing around in pain. I decided right then and there that I would do everything in my power to NOT put myself, family, or future family through that type experience. I am driven by the image of my father lying in that hospital bed. I am also driven by each and every person I coach, teach, or train. My goal is to be the best role model I can in support of a healthy lifestyle. Whether I am working out at the gym or in a competition, I will represent what CrossFit Austin expects. That’s enough about me, but I hope you can now begin to see that fitness & wellness is much more than what we see on the surface. We all have the iceberg under the water!
So…I’ll ask again, “what drives you?” Let’s take a deeper look at one of the basic answers I mentioned earlier (weight loss?). Yes, I’m sure you want to look and feel better…but why? If you are on medication due to being overweight, I think that is pretty damn good reason to lose weight and get in shape. Who the hell wants to be told they have to take medicine for the rest of their lives in order to combat illness? I sure don’t, and I hope you feel the same. Would you like to play with your children or be active with your friends/family, but feel limited due to your weight, condition, or mobility? Let THAT feeling drive you! Have you ever been told that you’re too big or out-of-shape to do something? Let THAT feeling drive you! These are just a few examples, but I hope the light bulb is starting to turn-on about how serious motivation is.
I have news for everyone; motivation is NOT an action but rather a raw feeling. Motivation is an emotion that tells us to do one more rep as the clock is 2 seconds away from hitting zero. Motivation is a feeling triggered from the bully or wise-ass way back when. Motivation is the emotion we get as we look at our loved ones, and recognize that we will do whatever possible to be there for them. Lastly, motivation is also the feeling of failure. Yes, I said failure. To quote Arnold Schwarzenegger’s keys to life, “Don’t be afraid to fail.”
Look DEEP within yourself and find your MOTIVATION.
– Coach Mark
Tomorrows CrossFit Open Workout will be much simpler logistics wise.
1. Sign up for 9 am or 10 am class if you’d like to do 15.2
2. Show up on time (or better yet early)
3. We will warm-up as a group
4. Get after it!
additional notes:
– We will be open for Open Gym from 11 am – 12:30 pm Sunday, we will have a hard stop at 12:30 pm so make sure you get to the gym and get started no later then 11:30 AM.
– Scores submitted Thursday – Sunday will be validated Monday morning
– Scores submitted on Monday will be validated Tuesday morning
– Test week(s) starts next week and will be spread out over the next two weeks (see schedule below) to keep you guys fresh for the Open.
– Whole life challenge peeps You’ll have all next week to complete your workout retest, it will be the class workout on
Test Schedule
Monday 3/9: Clean Thruster Complex, WLC Benchmark
Wednesday 3/11: 1RM OHS, 1 RM Press, “Grace”
Monday 3/16: “Jackie”
Thursday 3/19: DL/Step-up/Double Under AMRAP
I have been dancing since I was three years old and as you can imagine, my feet have played a very important role in my career as a dancer. Unfortunately for my career, I have terrible feet, but to be fair I spent a lot of time ignoring them and even more time putting them through hell.
I started to develop bunions at a very young age {If you don’t know what a bunion is click here}. As I began to advance in my dance training {hello pointe shoes}, the bunions got worse and became so painful that some days I could hardly walk. By the time I was 14, the pain was constant {dancing or not} so I saw a podiatrist who in turn sent me to a podiatric surgeon. At age 14 I had my first foot hack job surgery. I’m really not sure what went wrong with the surgery, but a few years later the bunion {and the pain} was back. Lets just say I regret that one.
Now, surgery number 2 came along when I was 16. This surgeon told me “You don’t do this surgery on a dancer unless she’s ready to quit.” You also don’t say something like that to a 16 year old who thinks she’s going to make a living for herself as a dancer. I’d already had one foot done… what was my fate? Well, luckily she knew what the heck she was doing. This surgeon had worked with the dancers of the Houston Ballet for 14 years and surgery number 2 was a success. It still is, but not without care.
{2nd foot – pre-surgery}
In addition to my bunions/surgeries, I’ve suffered multiple broken toes, stress fractures, a tear in my plantar fascia, and I have dreadfully flat feet. My entire “arch” {quotations because I literally don’t have one} lies completely flat if I do not thoughtfully support myself. This causes achy, tired feet very quickly and an inward rotation of my knees. These issues, through the years, have also caused numerous problems with my hips and back. If I am not diligent in taking care of my feet, the rest of my body lets me know.
I’ve spent much of my life working to keep my feet {and the rest of me} in good condition, so that I can continue to do the things I love and I can tell you that there are numerous benefits to giving your feet some love.
“But how can my feet make a difference in the rest of my body?”
Take a look at your feet. Those two foundational structures are responsible for supporting the weight of your entire body. They provide a sturdy base and connect you to the earth. They are the main catalyst for locomotion and the foundation of the kinetic chain. There is a lot of responsibility that lies in those tootsies and by keeping them in good shape, you are doing good things for the rest of you too.
Lets take a look at what makes up our feet. There are 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments in the foot. In addition to the direct anatomy of the foot, all of the body’s fascia comes down and connects in the feet. If there is a misalignment in the foot, it can travel through the fascial meridians and affect the alignment of another structure.
There are 5 lines {meridians} of fascia that run throughout the body.
Each of these lines weave together in an intricate support system throughout the body. Lets do a little experiment to show you what I mean. For this exercise, we’ll be focusing on the Superficial back line.
Standing with your feet parallel {toes pointing forward} and about hip width apart, bend forward and gently reach toward your toes. Take note of how far you are able to reach and how you feel doing so.
Now, take a small ball {tennis, racquet, lacrosse, golf…} or a foot roller and either in a seated or standing position roll it between the floor and the bottom of your foot. Start gently and apply more pressure as you are able. Spend 2-3 minutes per foot rolling all along the bottom.
Once you’ve finished, stand again in parallel, feet shoulder width apart and lets try the stretch again. A little easier this time, yes? You’ll notice you either gained a little depth in the stretch or at the very least felt less tension in your stretch.
This is a great example of how your feet can affect the rest of your body. Tight fascia in the bottom of your feet equates to tight fascia along the superficial back line. By releasing the tension in the feet, you’ve aided in releasing tension elsewhere.
The programming lately has included a lot of foot intensive work {running & double-unders} so this would be a great time to start focusing a little more on your base. You can do this while you have your morning coffee, while you’re at your desk at work, during your favorite tv show, etc… 5-10 minutes a day is all it takes so get a ball and get rolling.
In addition to rolling and stretching your feet, you should also take into consideration, the benefits of strengthening. Strengthening can aid in balance, stability, proper alignment, and injury prevention. We could go on for days about alignment {pronation, supination, gait, etc..} but we’ll save that for another post. Whatever you do, don’t ignore that foot pain. Give your tootsies some love every now and then and the rest of your body will thank you.
A strong body starts with a strong base.
-Coach Gen