Cross Fitters- act like you've been there before

Where do i start?

First off, before i ruffle too many feathers --- I hate wasting ink on this subject-- its all been written, good , bad , ugly and indifferent ---- but these people continually keep entering my orbit on this planet as well for some reason  -- part of it is because the equipment they use is similar to the equipment an athlete in training needs , --- so they frequently inhabit my space, -- and on occasion, i inhabit theirs -
 i have no qualms about hitting up a cross fit  "box" for a workout if i'm  out of town and the only alternative is some globo gym  --- i pay my fee and as long as there is not an active class in session, i do what i want there


Crossfit has gotten a lot of slack jawed yokels into better shape than they've ever been in -- so not knocking it there

Crossfit has generated renewed interest in the basics - Olympic lifts plus squats and dead-lifting (which really arent basic at all)

          This to me is all outweighed by the moaning and the noisemaking that goes on down there -- followed by clapping
   LAst night i witnessed someone in the squat rack with 135 on his shoulders furiously banging out squats ---- at the same pace one would do an air squat ---  he was banging the bar against the safety catches every single rep

This boy did this perhaps 15 times to wild applause ----  i was thinking - "What are you geeks clapping for? -- the squat should be done in a controlled fashion, even if the weight is light -  there are instances where the push is done briskly with lighter weight to generate greater fast twitch neuro-transmitter firing,  but the recovery is typically done in a slower, controlled fashion, -- not bouncing the weight wildly off the stays -

I cant say he was really hurting the equipment, but its an unnecessary distraction  ---  i mean, if you are 6 reps deep into an 8 rep set with an appropriate quantity of weight and you spazz out and bang the bar against the uprights, - so be it  --- but this celebration of noise making was ridiculous

The problem was --- in someone's mind's eye -- they looked like this 

But the truth was something closer to this

 Or even this (but at least this guy has 295 on there )

When you are seeing this -- and you look at the gym mirror and wink at yourself -

Everybody else sees this  --- 

Another peeve is when Cross Fitters (or anybody really)   hit the Olympic lifts with gusto --- before they can even execute the base movements properly
      Why do i single out the beginning cross fitters? - Its because they are the only beginners silly enough to incorporate these into their system --
 -- the average new years resolution gym duffer usually putts around the gym in a state of confusion for the first month or two trying to figure out what to do ---  plus most "normal" gyms physically dont have the space for the Oly lifts  -- heck i worked out at a gym where the power racks and smith machines and everything else was stacked close enough that even pulling a bar out to do some deadlifts off the floor was a problem


     But the average national or olympic level weightlifting trainee usually has at least  a couple of years of powerlifting and strength building experience as a base before moving into the complex stuff with heavy weights

--- spend some time learning the hang clean, basic power clean and deadlift before trying to master the clean and jerk or snatch   ---

                Why is the deadlift important when it is incorporated into the movement itself? --- because a person who can dead 400 is always going to have a better clean than someone who can dead 250

       The full clean and jerk, likewise is a specialized lift comprised of several different components that can be trained separately to boost  the strength necesary to handle more weight
 --- the squat is another movement that can be done separately to boost strength

If you try to boost your strength doing full clean and jerks all the time -- yes, i'm sure you will get stronger , but results will lag behind someone  separating the complimentary lift training and training for strength first, then power --- as the olympic lifts are all about power  (the rapid application of force)

Am i saying dont do Olympic lifts? --  No -- work on mastering them with some light  bumper plates first, - but  initially focus on the lifts that feed and support these movements  -- deadlift, squat and hang clean    --- it will work out better for you in the end if you ever advance past novice stage in your lifting

     A quick word about novice , intermediate and expert stages of weightlifting

I wont go into beginner status, because that is self explanatory

A novice should have about 6 months experience minimum and should progress to where they can handle decent working loads  executed with acceptable form  ---- lest you consider the "novice" label a knock -- its not .
     A lot of athletes who are training for other sports stay at the novice weightlifting level because they do not lift weights to be weight lifters, they are lifting to improve their sports performance and weightlifting is just one tool in the arsenal to get there ---
 -- and novice has nothing to do with strength -- some guys can walk into a weight room and deadlift 405  or bench press 250 their first day -- the world is full of people like that  -- but just look at what they call a rep at NFL 225 challenge in the combine --- guys literally bouncing the bar off their chest and belly to eke out a few more reps
   -- i'd be more impressed if they had powerlifting judges there to tell them it doesnt count if they start bouncing it, or doing half reps
       

An expert in my opinion would be someone who is actively engaged in weightlifting as a sport, -- has received professional coaching and may be a coach themselves ---- but sadly, not all coaches are "experts" - and neither are all the competitors at an average powerlifting meet
           --- those guys' arent reading my blog (well, a couple of them are actually) -- they have other forums and conversational outlets where they can discuss the idiosyncrasies of different grades of lifting chalk ,  and how much better their old Inzer bench shirt was than the new one and so on

And regarding the Cross Fitters who gallavant around my gym space for an hour or so every other night

Act like you've been there before  --- the moaning and the nosemaking and clapping is irritating to the guys that are there to do some work in a silent, grim and determined fashion





Look at the guys in the background here ----- nobody gives a flip that this guy is kissing the floor with his butt with a sizable load across his back

 Bodybuilders arent very strong either because they are only interested in vanity  ---- LOL

Thats it for this week --- 

Eat clean, keep training and always remember Rome wasn't built in a day  when your goals seem far away 

Shoot me an email if you have any specific questions  (link below)  - and thanks for reading again !

  Just a quick reminder, if you like what you read, forward this email to a friend, or use the little tab at the bottom to link it to your facebook page.  

 Thank you very much in advance for your support and send me an email at   Dougmcbride@fitclaimspro.com   to be added to the hard subscriber list

---- Doug

_______________________________________________________________________________

disclaimer:    The information contained here is not intended to replace the medical advice of your physician and is not intended as medical advice.  This newsletter/blog is a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of the staff of Fitclaimspro.com and professional colleagues unless otherwise noted

The $280 workout ! (and other tales of woe and distress)

Very quick photo tour of the Oklahoma City National High Performance Center

When i dont work out at home, i work out at a very special place  --- the Oklahoma City boathouse

This place is an Olympic and paralympic training center for rowing and kayaking activities --- and hosts many different regattas and events --- 

And i will share a few more pics of this awesome place

There is also an Olympic caliber free weight room on the first floor that shares space with the boat storage area

This place boasts a static rowing tank and an altitude chamber  ---=

Disclaimer ---- I am not a competitive rower, and do not have a helluva lot of interest in competitive rowing --- that said ,  for some reason i have cultivated a love of rowing as exercise ----- 

 -- there is not exactly a surplus of high end facilities in Oklahoma City that cater primarilly to elite athletes   --------   I have a Concept 2 in my personal gym and it is a valuable tool in many different programs  ---- Concept 2 is a training partner here as well  as they furnish all the rowers , oars and other things for this facility 

For me,   --- the free weight center is what makes this place worth the price of admission alone -- it is straight out of a Rippetoe playbook 

I think that if you are planning any time in the Oklahoma city area for work or visits, etc,  -- and if you are a workout guy or gal --- (or if your not - its worth it to tour an Olympic facility) -- a workout here can be a memorable experience

I have spent meaningful time in the Olympic facilities in Colorado Springs and Chula Vista --- and they admittedly have some things OKC does not,  but i am proud to call this place my workout home

But with my vocation as an insurance adjuster and travelling man about town,  i have become a bit of a gym tourist and it is fun to seek out the best and most inspiring places to get in a workout or three when you are on the road  --- places like Bev Francis's Powerhouse Gym in Syossett NY,  as well as the Parisi Speed and Agility Center among a couple 

             Doesnt that sound like a better way to spend your off time than what you would normally be doing ?    (maybe yes, maybe no -- your mileage may vary )

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The $280 workout

                       

            But ............... the tale of woe begins when i went for my workout tonight ---

I rarely swipe a card or any of that business to workout here, but i do have a security card to use places like the altitude chamber, and some other things.    I do pay some dues to use the facility though - there is nothing free in life   - unless you are one of the resident athletes here , - but their membership isnt free either -----  i may owe the facility a few shekels here and there for access,  but these young men and women training for nationals and world cup level events owe them results  

----- Its easier - much easier - to pay your dues with a credit card than it is with  sweat, effort and results  -   (hmmm - cool saying - i should patent that ) 

           So i go in for an altitude workout and swipe my security badge --   red flashing lights  

   repeat 3 more times with the same results   so i run to the front to have them re-program it

"Doug, -- your dues are in arrears several months --  you didnt know?"

              How would i know? --- i didnt get any notification or a phone call and sadly, i dont look at my credit card statements that close  (the card this went on had expired a while back) 

           So after a short pause where i stood there with a dumb look on my face -- i said     "How much?"

          280 bucks !   -- thats more than just a month or two -- LOL 

It was at that cross roads where i could have either walked off in a huff  grumbling and complaining ------ or decide then and there to take full advantage of my very expensive altitude chamber workout 

-- so thats what i did  ---  10k of LSD rowing followed by a few minutes of 30 sec on / 30 sec off intervals   pretty basic stuff really,  but as my lungs were burning from oxygen deprivation ,  and my puny little glycogen depleted muscles were protesting in agony, i started to feel really good, and really positive

Plus , if your not good with math -- you can look at it as if the rest of the month is free !    (never mind the 4 or 5 months of use you didnt pay for at the right time - LOL)

So -- in retrospect -- it was my pleasure to pay almost 300 bananas for one workout  -  (although i was also paying for 60 or so workouts previously too )

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Discipline 

I write a lot about reinforcing disciplined behavior

Why?

Its because i need the reinforcement too   --- I dont look at working out as disciplined behavior, - because the things i generally do most to work are also fun for me  ---  i mentioned above , mountain biking and  the occasional motocross or cross country oriented dirt bike ride,  plus rowing   --- these are all enjoyable activities 

    That said --- sometimes a weight workout can be drudgery ---  a few sets of squats, high rack pulls, deadlifts and others can get to be real work   --- this aspect requires some disciplined behavior ,  with the payoff being that you should be stronger in your more recreational and sporting pursuits

Even though hitting the weight pile requires discipline ---- its nothing compared to the eating schedule 

weights require some mustered up discipline maybe 3 or 4 times a week  --- but diet requires some focus and discipline every day , several times a day

Weight loss is one aspect , and it is by far the biggest problem a lot of people face,  --- but the folks who take their athletic performance seriously have to deal with this too 

   planning , preparation, and taking the time to eat at appropriate intervals can be a part time job  --- the resident athletes at places like the Olympic Training centers struggle to eat enough during the day , -- because shovelling in pasta and veggies every 3 hours gets old after a while

Its equally tiresome for weight loss clients to eat small portions of Orange Roughy , or bland chicken, and broccoli every 3 hours 

 Like i said -- although i am writing this, it is just as much for me as it is for you   -----  i've had a number of 5 and 600 mile work days lately and it is so easy to forget to eat -----  and as i've written before, if you forget to eat for 9 hours , you have already missed 3 meals and may be ravenous

-----  if you dont have a well stocked cooler , at that point, some not so great roadside haunts can look appealing

But if you pick carefully, you can get decent food at these places 

but if you stumble into a certain bastion of American fast food --- even the Hamburglar will make fun of you

Speaking of the Hamburglar--- what the hell is he doing to the burger here?   

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I heard someone exclaim recently --- "I dont have time to lose weight"  

I can empathize with the time quotient ------ but it doesnt require training 6 hours a day like an Olympic level athlete --- eating is by far the largest quotient for many

IT requires more time than drive ins and beer parties at Applebees, --- but the time you spend on it is an extension of your discipline

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I'll close it out with this cool Jeter commercial if you haven't seen it yet -- its un-related to any of this but Jetes is rounding the bend towards being another footnote in Yankee history 

     Even people who are not baseball fans like the idea of the New York Yankees --- and Jeter, - to his credit, has not been caught in the behaviors that have shed negative light on baseball   ---  

         

Derek Jeter gatorade commercial

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  Just a quick reminder, if you like what you read, forward this email to a friend, or use the little tab at the bottom to link it to your facebook page.  

 Thank you very much in advance for your support and send me an email at   Dougmcbride@fitclaimspro.com   to be added to the hard subscriber list

---- Doug

_______________________________________________________________________________

disclaimer:    The information contained here is not intended to replace the medical advice of your physician and is not intended as medical advice.  This newsletter/blog is a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of the staff of Fitclaimspro.com and professional colleagues unless otherwise noted

Re-set the meter --- then PEG the meter

No cute pics this week ,  just dialog

I am reinforcing a couple of principles i have brought up earlier this week, because its good to do that occasionally
   --- much like the guy who buys a new Honda motocross bike or a new LExus will buy up all the enthusiast magazines with articles about their new aquisitions , ---- then they can smugly slap themselves on the back and say "Nice job" as they look in the mirror and nod their head in approval of themselves ---


--- that is, until one lone writer/tester who does not depend on Honda or Lexus for their advertising dollars actually exposes some flaws in their new toy -------  then that guy must be off his rocker ! -- LOL .  We can be dumb and predictable animals at times



Its September,

And right now in most parts of the country , it is hot still

There is a bright side though, and that is the days are still long - but they are getting shorter

You see, too many times ,  well meaning resolution setters put off till New Years what they should be attending to in the Spring, summer or fall -----

   Lets see ---- Want to quit smoking or drinking too many adult libations? --  When your soul, psyche and spirit are weak, short days and long nights at home or out and about are likely not the best time to do this

Want to take up an exercise program to gain fitness or lose weight?  ---  Again , lots of pro athletes even go into hibernation mode in the deep dark recesses of winter --- its called the off season.  
      A lot of holidays are clustered around this time period -- days are short , --- temptation to drink is strong -- sometimes motivating yourself to bundle up and trudge to the gym can be problematic even

How about we start on those "New YEars Resolutions" before New Years?   ---- slide into the holiday season lean and mean --- with a few months of hard training under your belt, --- you can look at the holiday training table now several ways


  1)  - you've packed in a little more self discipline by this point , and can more easily sidestep the pitfalls of gastrointestinal distress brought on by parties, buffets, and well meaning relatives

2) -- You're not going to be a weirdo standing around the Christmas table  with nothing on your plate but 1 slice of turkey and a couple of asparagus stalks claiming to be God's gift to self discipline.   --- You can have some food --- you have put in enough time under the weight pile or out on the mean streets to know how much effort its going to take to burn this stuff off
   - So you have some mashed potatoes , and maybe a small slice of pie (just not the whole pie)

3) You'll be a little leaner , so your body can better handle a few "cheat meals"


    Right now,  this online blog venture of mine is hovering around 50 entries thus far -- and it has genuinely been a fun ride ---

 I will go out on a limb and say we should have football season resolutions rather than New Year's resolutions ----

 figure out what you want to do,  point  the RPG in the direction and pull  the trigger  -------- there is no sense in putting it off any longer  ---

 what  do I suggest from a nutritional standpoint?     if you've been slacking you think this is a weak point for you, do a full system reboot

this will be a pain in the butt,     so devote 2 to 4 weeks to just cleaning up yourself

 there may be a few people out there who can withstand some heavy training and have the disciplined undertake a serious "program "    while overhauling their diet ,    but not everybody is so solid

.Do I recommend doing absolutely nothing except counting calories?  NO

 but I do recommend light aerobic work  and maybe some light work with the weights at best until your body gets used to a slightly different program

try this please  for a 2 to 3 weeks system reboot

------- 

Purge (throw away – don’t give it to anyone, they don’t need it either!) your cabinets and refrigerator of the following:

• Breads, rolls, pasta, pancakes, cereal, muffins, chips, crackers and rice cakes

• Sweets and products that contain sugar such as ketchup, honey, etc. (read the labels to ensure there is no sugar)

• Fruit juice

• Processed meats that contain sugar

• Fat Free, Skim & 2% Milk, half and half

• Fat Free or Low Fat Yogurt & Ice Cream

• Energy Bars and Energy Drinks that contain fructose

• All soda, including diet

  
I mean, fill the dumpster ---- your fridge, your cabinets, all your wife's goodies -- anything that will tempt you

Clean the system by going 2 weeks  of non starchy veggies and protein sources -- (no, this isn't Atkins, but we are testing your carbohydrate tolerance )

Eat every 2-3 hours , --- at first you may be eating too much but your appetite will go down to where  you will have to start seriously amending your serving size to stay on a 2-3 hour program

         Congratulations! --- You are now  one of the weird ones !  

You know who is normal?   I dont know - i've never really been normal so i cant chime in

Lots of people were  brought up on a 3 meal a day system  ---  ---    Its easy and its not hard to plan around =-Breakfast, lunch, dinner - with snacks in between occasionally

Some take it a step further by getting it down to 2 meals a day , or even 1  ---  the 'ol song and dance  "I'm not hungry in the morning so I just have coffee, or a danish"

------   Then by noon, our subject is ravenous and beating down the door at a luncheteria for a solid helping of fat and grease to satiate him/herself

Well, Congratulations silly ! --- You just wolfed down 1800 calories of burgers and onion rings at a single meal ----- your stomach is in such a state of shock that it naturally doesn't want anything else for a while ----- then if you go to bed, --- your forcing your metabolic system into a fat storage survival mode that wants to hold onto everything like its the last meal for a month

            Repeat the next day -- and again ,  and again -------  someone said the true definition of craziness is repeating abhorrent behavior and thinking its normal (or something like that)

I've said some of this before, but on occasion I pick up new readers who are not familiar with my whole bibliography ---- so we must continually refresh the basics

--------  Take a week (or two) and focus on your eating strategy --- keep up some light workouts and by the time your body has adjusted to eating better, you are ready to rock on the  track, trail or in the gym

And lord willing, if any of my Cat adjuster bretheren are still reading this ---- it will give you more stamina to get through a long day -- then wake up and repeat - again.............and again........and again........and again  --- as it is for you that i originally started this venture,  using lessons i have learned and experienced myself out on the road for weeks at a time

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I cant re-write 9 months of fitness and eating tips , but i'll close by refreshing just one


Thats meal prep.


        You may ask - "How the heck do i get time to prepare 4-5-6 meals a day? much less eat it? "

    Take 2 hours on your designated rest day and make most of your meals ---- chicken sounds boring - but there are a lot of different ways to use it .---  cook up one of those 5 or 6 pound family packs boneless breasts, --- keep 2 or 3 butterflied sections out if you want and chop, dice, shred the rest for use in salads, rolled up in a wrap, sandwiches - who knows
    - you can do the same with skirt steak or almost anything else -- even eggs , - scramble a dozen and partition out into 5 rubbermaid containers.   Scrambled eggs are the only egg prep variation that seems to stand up to this with no ill effects -- you cant do this with a fried egg or a poached egg

            You'll seemingly buy stock in rubbermaid , and you need a good cooler to bring on the road, but thats it  - I like the Yeti products, but you dont need a $200 ice chest just to keep a few drinks and some sandwiches in

---------- It almost sounds easy, but its not --- it can truly be a pain to carve out a couple hours on a Sunday, and then again on a thursday, but as i have quoted before, which pain is worse,  - the pain of discipline, or the pain of regret ?

_________________________________________________________________

Just a quick reminder, if you like what you read, forward this email to a friend, or use the little tab at the bottom to link it to your facebook page.  

 Thank you very much in advance for your support and send me an email at   Dougmcbride@fitclaimspro.com   to be added to the hard subscriber list

---- Doug

_______________________________________________________________________________

disclaimer:    The information contained here is not intended to replace the medical advice of your physician and is not intended as medical advice.  This newsletter/blog is a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of the staff of Fitclaimspro.com and professional colleagues unless otherwise noted