Coach’s Corner

Always a hot topic amongst coaches across the board, we attempt to develop an applicable template around the kip.

I started playing drums at 5 or 6 years old and went on to be trained in Jazz, classic percussion, rock, Samba, and on and on… I loved Jazz. After 10 years of playing some iteration of Jazz, I sought out the instruction of a Jazz expert. We did some jamming, after which I expected the typical accolades that I’d grown accustomed to receiving once surprised listeners discovered how young I was. Not this time. He tore me apart. Said it was some of the worst Jazz drumming he had heard. “Why?” I asked. He went on to explain that I had great chops, but I was too focused on the notes I was playing. Jazz, he went on, exists in between the notes you play. The pregnant pause of anticipation, being slightly behind or in front of the beat, the in-between notes.

In the world of fitness, we often focus solely on the hour of training we have. There’s not enough cardio. There’s no barbell in this WOD. I need to go heavier/lighter to reach my goals. I need to work in the 20:00+ zone. I need to _____ more. Blah. Blah. Blah. Why are we so focused on that single hour much more than a lifetime of movement and wellness? Simply put: It feels like the only time we’re in control. We want to control everything. Unfortunately, when it comes to our health we feel like the environment and our circumstances are constantly de-railing us from our goals; we’re losing control.

Take this holiday season to relinquish a little control. Enjoy a couple days outside of the gym. I promise you’ll come back renewed and engaged in your training. Now, with a shift in perspective, here are a few practical tips for survival:

1. Pig out…Proportionately.

Since the dawn of humanity, there have been times of feast & famine; times of plenty and times of scarcity. The holidays are a time of plenty. Go into your holiday celebrations knowing you’ll eat more than you need…and be OK with it. But, give preference (stuff yourself) to the best quality items on your plate and, with every trip back to the buffet, make sure you keep those proportions. For example, fill ½ your plate with turkey, ham, duck…the main protein, ¼ of it with a veggie or other fibrous green, and ¼ with all the fun stuff – stuffing, yams, potatoes, gravy…anything you want! This will keep you satisfied but not deprived.

2. PLEASE DON’T SKIP DESSERT!!!

For a lot of you, this will be the only time of the year that you treat yourself to a giant slice of pie. Please enjoy it and don’t beat yourself up! You’ve been training hard all year and I promise that a slice of the good stuff won’t erase a year’s worth of hard work. In fact, many studies show that increased levels of sedentary Cortisol caused by feelings of stress, anxiety, and self-deprecation threaten your gains as much, if not more, than that pie.

3. Don’t lift anything heavier than a lacrosse ball

I know you’ll feel like you need to go jog off some stuffing but, unfortunately, biology operates more like a Roomba than a Magic Eraser. Your consistent efforts in training leading up to and after the holidays will more than account for whatever you eat or your lack of working out. Months of regular strength training will have your metabolism geared up for whatever you throw at it for a couple days of chowing down. So please, enjoy a little recovery time. If you must do something, hop on a lacrosse ball or foam roller and watch some football. My faves can be found here and here.

4. (Re)connect

Chances are you’ll have a little time off work. Use your time off work and out of the gym to hang out with those folks you see in the gym. You probably won’t recognize them without a sweaty t-shirt, but it’ll be worth it. If you’ve yet to hang out with someone or another couple from the gym, this holiday season is your chance. Make plans & stick to them!

Happy Holidays from all your coaches at CrossFit Memorial Hill!

There’s no Carfax for fitness, but you should be just as diligent in seeking out your fitness community. Here’s a basic template for choosing the right fit.

1. The Business

Before you set out on your journey of finding a new fitness home, you must first understand CrossFit’s affiliate model. CrossFit as a training program is guided by broad, generalized training principles defined as: “constantly varied functional movement performed at a high intensity.” From there each affiliate is as similar to each other as one restaurant is to another. All serve food but each varies in quality, service delivery, and price. An experience at one affiliate is just that – one experience. So shop around.

Action step: Email or call (leave a voicemail; most affiliate owners also coach and train) all the affiliates in your area. Don’t be afraid to travel for the right fit.

2. Cost

If you’ve had $11 auto-drafted from your checking account for the last couple years for a gym membership you never use, you will experience some sticker shock. If you’ve paid $60-$70 per hour for personal training, the value you experience will be astounding.

In every corner of the economy we understand value proposition – cars, food, houses, tools, wine, nightlife – that, generally speaking, when we pay a premium we receive a premium product. Unfortunately, our health is the last thing in which we find value since we don’t see the need until it’s too late. As a general rule (see #1), most CrossFit gyms bank on 100% of their membership showing up and working out 3-6 times/week. The gym you go to now is aiming for 8%-9% of their clients showing up — ever. CF gyms spend little money on marketing & air-tight contracts, but rather rely on the results and referrals of their small but engaged membership.

Action step: Add up your total monthly cost of social expenditures (happy hours, nights out, dinners) that are deteriorating your health. Make a choice.

3. Coaching

Credentials are important. At the very least your coach should hold a CF-L1 designation or be involved in an observed internship that culminates in this certificate. Other specialty certificates are also available and great additions to your coach’s resume.

Here’s the BUT – how well does your coach distill down all those letters behind his or her name into a relevant bit of knowledge to you, today? This is what distinguishes good coaches from great coaches – an uncanny ability for pattern recognition and communication. These are things that cannot be taught in a weekend seminar, but learned through a passionate pursuit of excellence.

Action step: Chat with a coach about your particular training goals and how they believe CrossFit will help you achieve those goals.

4. Programming

There was a time in CrossFit’s history when it was not uncommon for programmers to randomly select movements, loads, and rep schemes out of a hat and have their athletes get after it. This is fun every once and awhile, but will not give you great results for the next several decades.

Well that pendulum has swung violently in the other direction. I field hundreds of emails from traveling CF’ers who are convinced with every fiber of their being that they cannot miss a single repetition of an infinitely complicated 24-week Yugoslavian single-leg squat cycle. Here’s the thing: you can find hundreds of good programs online. But what makes a great program?

Great programs are tested by the programmers. Great programs are interested in not only what’s on paper, but how their athletes will interact with – physically, socially, and psychologically – what’s on paper. Great programs can answer why just as well as they can answer what.

Action step: Ask the prospective gym’s programmer why they program what they do. Common elements of great programs will consist of: progressive overload, testing, and de-loading.

5. Systems, not Snowflakes

As a consumer, this will be the toughest pill to swallow. A great CrossFit gym will have a system whereby every new member is on-ramped both physically and (more importantly) to the culture of that particular gym. A great gym will test, re-test, tweak, and constantly evaluate these programs to be applicable to anyone that walks in the door.

You will be tempted, as you shop around, to feel exempt from whatever system the gym has put in place. Maybe you played college football or you’re a powerlifter with a 600-pound deadlift. An exception to the system is indicative of a larger issue, however.

A great system has room to accommodate a really strong powerlifter or a former college athlete. Allowing you to be exempt from their system, a gym is saying a couple things: 1. Your money today is more important than your safety and the rest of my membership. 2. Burnout is coming – a gym full of individuals not invested in the good of the community is exhausting for your coaches and for the owner of the gym. It’s unmanageable.

Action step: Don’t push back on being “on-ramped.” A coach’s insistence on this process means their system is evergreen, manageable, and scalable. 

If you’re ready for some real, lasting results there’s no more efficient training protocol than CrossFit (maybe I’m biased?). I’ve never had a single person (out of the 2000 or so that have tried it out) say that it wasn’t a good workout or they felt unsafe. So try out some classes at a box near you. It may not be for you, but at least you won’t be saying so from the sidelines.