Going Overhead

Here are a few nice photos of the group locking the weight overhead in a workout that included shoulder press, push press and push jerks. Note the shoulder elevation and full extension, extended elbows and locked out trunk.

Soda Pop and Obesity

A study of over 40,000 Californians just released by UCLA Center for Health Policy Research ties soda consumption to obesity, placing soda pop drinkers at a 27% higher likelihood of being overweight or obese. The study cites soda as almost half of the additional 278 calories consumed by Americans while physical activity remains unchanged, and estimates that the average adolescent who consumes over 12 ounces of the drink a day adds about 39 lbs of liquid sugar into his/her diet.

Link to the study is here. (Link is work/family safe).

Tossing Italian Twist

9:25 group, 6AM:

Tweak on the 9/14 MetCon workout: 1/4 mile instead of half at beginning and end at group's request.

Included in this workout is the Tossing Italian Twist. Alot of folks are familiar with the ab exercise called the Russian twist, which involves active rotation at the waist with rigid trunk while seated on the ground with feet up, ankles crossed. We "looked under the skin" to try and ascertain the biomechanics of the movement, and decided the loaded trunk rotation might not be the best approach to the exercise. Enter the Italian style (Carl D's contribution) with a toss instead of a twist. We kept twist in the name to reference the Russian Twist, but the trunk does not rotate, but instead remains rigid, hips and shoulders in midrange with chest facing forward. The weight is tossed from hand to hand and touches the ground. Classic immobile/fixed trunk with active movement of the extremities (upper in this case). Here's a few shots.

Res Firma Mitescere Nescit

American Flyers, the bike movie with Kevin Costner back in the 80's is where I first heard it. The tame interpretation is "A firm resolve is not easily broken." The movie translation was "Once you get it up, keep it up" and it was posted on the wall in a weight room. It fits.

Mick, an orthopedic surgeon, has been training for several months and is getting reacquainted with strength and stamina he hasn't had for years. I can always count on him for a cool T-shirt pic as well. Here's his progression on the clean and push press with the proper shirt on display.

Buck Stops Here

This is Tom, a 53 year old hunting enthusiast who started training several months ago to prepare for a hunt of a lifetime. He decided to prepare his most important piece of equipment for the hunt, his body, by training with the CrossFit Summit cohort.

Tom is back with us this week and yes, he was successful in the hunt: a trophy class deer with an almost 36 inch wide rack. More interesting are a couple of comments his guide made. During the hunt, Tom was asked by his fatiguing 29 year old guide to walk behind so that the guide could slow down the pace. Later, the guide asked him in disbelief if he was really 53 years old. When he confirmed his age, the guide's comment was "You're a bad dude." Nope, he simply trains regular and hard using constantly varied functional movement. Apparently not all hunters approach preparation for the event in the same way........

Intensity

Conventional fitness wisdom prescribes intensity in workouts in moderation - terms like target heart rate, perceived rate of exertion, etc are used with a recommendation for middle range like Goldilocks wandering through the Pappa, Momma and Baby Bear's residence. That workout is "tooooo easy," that workout is "tooooo hard" and this workout is just right - meaning it is in the middle of the intensity range. That low to middle intensity is prescribed to allow higher volumes (longer workout time) to keep things safe and under control.

Workouts within our group move well past the middle ground of low to middle intensity - these workouts are hard. The best way I've heard to describe the intensity engaged in the CrossFit approach is by the CrossFit Founder, Greg Glassman, who refers to intensity in workout as "physical and psychological discomfort." No discomfort, no intensity.

Can it be carried too far? Sure it can, there is a constant need to gauge the effort of the athletes, modify and scale as necessary, but encourage them to engage intensity. Here's a couple of pictures of intensity that these workouts tease out. Good on Holly and Andy for going after it hard.

Staying the Course

Molly came to training about a year ago with a chronic back pain issue and a history of endurance training. She was very reticent about training that she assumed would place her at risk of re-injury. After all, weightlifting would certainly place stress on her back - right?

Here is Molly front squatting 65 KG - 143 lbs - and her back pain is no longer an issue. Proper form, progressive loading, variety of different lifting programs.....this approach seems to add up to health and functional fitness.

Sept 15 - Hamrap

Hamrap is Heavy As Many Rounds as Possible - 20 minutes to complete a full round, then go after it again. The heavy part takes it from a MetCon approach to more of a power development strategy - almost pure anaerobic work with at least one relatively heavy lift, in this case, the 1/2 body weight squats. Good intensity from all involved.

A few pics capturing the physical and psychological discomfort, also known as intensity.

Miracle Mile and a Half - 9/14

Just another MetCon Monday.....butt kicking high energy workout tonight on and off the treadmills - Running alternating with a 25-15-10 diminishing reps 4 way exercise combo.

Note that the second quickest time is posted by Krista D, who just returned from running Imogene Pass this weekend, 17 miles at thin altitude from Ouray to Telluride. So, when most folks are nursing DOMS, she's getting a workout going. Not just any workout, but one with running in it.

Couple more pics of what intensity looks like, courtesy of Krista, Chris and Tom in the 1730 group.

yippee skippee

Nice little metcon on Weds morning with the 6AM and 7AM groups. The "M" after the time denotes modification/scaling and the "AP" following a time denotes performance as prescribed. DNF is "did not finish" cuz Pukie grabbed Chris by the throat and threatened to show him breakfast again

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Bear Variant to 1RM

On Tuesday, we tackled the bear:

Clean (full squat clean), Push press or jerk, Overhead Squat

Starting with 5 triples (3, 3, 3, 3, 3) and progressing to singles to determine a 1RM for this combination.

Results are in the picture!

new website

Welcome to the new Summit Crossfit website - freshly overhauled. Stay tuned for new updates to follow.