Yes, I have once again abandoned the blog for 2 weeks. Yikes! A lot has been going on that I need to catch up on, so I will busy filling you in this week. :)
For right now, I am looking for your input. I'm programming some WODs for the new gym I'm coaching at, and for them I need to program a warmup as well as a WOD.
So, I'm just curious to hear how warmups go for all of you where you work out. If you're a member of an affiliate, tell me what goes on there. If you are in your garage or a globo gym on your own, tell me what you like to do.
Do you like to do the same warmup every day, or switch it up based on what movements are in your WOD?
Personally, I like to do the same thing every day. And I like to spend a LOOOOONG time warming up.
If you guys leave me comments, I promise to post pictures of me from Deadlifts and Dresses. :-D
Showing posts with label coaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coaching. Show all posts
Monday, October 25, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
WOD free for a few days & adventures in programming
Other than the Blackjack WOD, I haven't done any CrossFit WODs since I the rope climb WOD almost 2 weeks ago.
On one of those rope climbs, I jumped to the ground and landed on a piece of the rope -- we have quite a bit of extra rope that lays on the floor due to the low height of our ceiling beams where they're hung.
The side of my foot felt funny, but it seemed like it was just one of those momentary twinges, and nothing major. I get twinges like that from time to time ever since I switched to less supportive shoes -- I think it's my feet re-learning how to act as shock absorbers, and it's also me learning how to use my feet in that way, and land in the right position.
Anyway, that afternoon my foot started aching, so I put some ice on it, and by dinner time I was really in pain. Damn! Got it X-rayed the next day, and luckily nothing was broken -- the doctor declared that pain to be from soft tissue damage (though oddly my foot never got swollen or looked bruised). Spent the next couple days using crutches, an ice pack and 800mg Motrin a lot. Ditched the crutches, but still icing once a day, usually in the evening, and doing Motrin at least once a day.
So now you know why I haven't been posting about my WODs! :)
The thing about soft tissue damage is that you need to be gentle on it, and let it rest so it can heal. I didn't want this injury to be nagging me for months, so I haven't run or jumped since I hurt myself. This week I'm going to get back into doing WODs, but I might still continue to row instead of run. Just gonna take it day by day.
--
This week is a big week for me -- it's the week my box will be doing the WODs that I programmed! I was so excited to come up with a week-long training program for our athletes, and I'm really excited to see what they think.
My theme for the week is GYMNASTICS! :) All the WODs will involve only body weight movements, with 2 exceptions -- kettlebell swings on Wednesday, and kettlebell sumo deadlift high pulls on Saturday.
The week kicks off on Monday with what I'm calling a "Squat Clinic". Remember when I asked you guys for your input on squat resources? I took your suggestions into account, and I also found a great new resource that gave me the basis for helping my athletes improve their squat.
YOU MUST WATCH THIS!! If only for the first 20 minutes, but watch the whole thing if you have time. It's a video of Dan John sharing his techniques for coaching Olympic lifters, and he basically just talks about squatting for the first half of the video. The guy is obviously a total pro, and just understands how to get people moving properly. Amazing.
So after I teach the squat mobility movements on Monday, we'll be repeating them everyday proir to the WOD for the rest of the week. I'm hoping that by Saturday we'll have been able to reinforce some changes in squat technique and get some muscle memory in place for the long term.
The primary goal of the week is to improve the squat -- the secondary goal is to improve knowledge of scaling other body weight movements. The gymnastic component of CrossFit is the most frustrating to beginners, in my opinion, because it's hard to learn to do a movement when you can't actually DO the movement.
Anybody else out there have a moment of shock when you learned that you could do pullups with a huge rubber band under your foot? I definitely did. I was absolutely thrilled to find a substitution where I could perform the full range of motion of the movement without it involving someone pushing on my fucking foot. Woot!
That aside, I just want to education my athletes about their options for progressions on handstands, handstand pushups, dips & ring dips, and muscle ups. And for muscle ups, I want our gym to move past the x3 pullups and dips substitution, and start practicing the skills needed to perform a muscle up. You've already heard my rants in that area, so I'll leave it at that. :)
Well, I've just rambled on, but suffice it to say that I'm super excited about next week, and I'm going to try to do every WOD that I've programmed, so you'll see them here. :)
On one of those rope climbs, I jumped to the ground and landed on a piece of the rope -- we have quite a bit of extra rope that lays on the floor due to the low height of our ceiling beams where they're hung.
The side of my foot felt funny, but it seemed like it was just one of those momentary twinges, and nothing major. I get twinges like that from time to time ever since I switched to less supportive shoes -- I think it's my feet re-learning how to act as shock absorbers, and it's also me learning how to use my feet in that way, and land in the right position.
Anyway, that afternoon my foot started aching, so I put some ice on it, and by dinner time I was really in pain. Damn! Got it X-rayed the next day, and luckily nothing was broken -- the doctor declared that pain to be from soft tissue damage (though oddly my foot never got swollen or looked bruised). Spent the next couple days using crutches, an ice pack and 800mg Motrin a lot. Ditched the crutches, but still icing once a day, usually in the evening, and doing Motrin at least once a day.
So now you know why I haven't been posting about my WODs! :)
The thing about soft tissue damage is that you need to be gentle on it, and let it rest so it can heal. I didn't want this injury to be nagging me for months, so I haven't run or jumped since I hurt myself. This week I'm going to get back into doing WODs, but I might still continue to row instead of run. Just gonna take it day by day.
--
This week is a big week for me -- it's the week my box will be doing the WODs that I programmed! I was so excited to come up with a week-long training program for our athletes, and I'm really excited to see what they think.
My theme for the week is GYMNASTICS! :) All the WODs will involve only body weight movements, with 2 exceptions -- kettlebell swings on Wednesday, and kettlebell sumo deadlift high pulls on Saturday.
The week kicks off on Monday with what I'm calling a "Squat Clinic". Remember when I asked you guys for your input on squat resources? I took your suggestions into account, and I also found a great new resource that gave me the basis for helping my athletes improve their squat.
YOU MUST WATCH THIS!! If only for the first 20 minutes, but watch the whole thing if you have time. It's a video of Dan John sharing his techniques for coaching Olympic lifters, and he basically just talks about squatting for the first half of the video. The guy is obviously a total pro, and just understands how to get people moving properly. Amazing.
So after I teach the squat mobility movements on Monday, we'll be repeating them everyday proir to the WOD for the rest of the week. I'm hoping that by Saturday we'll have been able to reinforce some changes in squat technique and get some muscle memory in place for the long term.
The primary goal of the week is to improve the squat -- the secondary goal is to improve knowledge of scaling other body weight movements. The gymnastic component of CrossFit is the most frustrating to beginners, in my opinion, because it's hard to learn to do a movement when you can't actually DO the movement.
Anybody else out there have a moment of shock when you learned that you could do pullups with a huge rubber band under your foot? I definitely did. I was absolutely thrilled to find a substitution where I could perform the full range of motion of the movement without it involving someone pushing on my fucking foot. Woot!
That aside, I just want to education my athletes about their options for progressions on handstands, handstand pushups, dips & ring dips, and muscle ups. And for muscle ups, I want our gym to move past the x3 pullups and dips substitution, and start practicing the skills needed to perform a muscle up. You've already heard my rants in that area, so I'll leave it at that. :)
Well, I've just rambled on, but suffice it to say that I'm super excited about next week, and I'm going to try to do every WOD that I've programmed, so you'll see them here. :)
Monday, August 16, 2010
Cleans with Coach Aimee
Hello from vacation! :) We're relaxing in our hotel after a fun afternoon at the water park. We had dinner at a DINER, which we were both super-stoked about, because good diners do not exist in the south. Yes, we're going back again in the morning for breakfast. :-D
--
Soooooooo, let's talk about Monday, shall we? (Saturday and Sunday were essentially rest days)
In the morning I had an hour-long, 1-on-1 coaching session with Aimee Lyons at CF KoP. I had emailed her a long list of stuff to review, but we spent the entire hour on the clean.
Feel free to skip the following section, I need to write about what we did so I won't forget...
We started with the first pull, because as Aimee said, "there's a lot you can fuck up when you pull the bar off the ground."
First, she totally revamped my setup. Feet were moved farther apart -- they were too narrow. Toes and knees were pointed slightly out. Ass was lowered. A LOT.
Then, I tried a hook grip on the ladies bar. I think that was the first time I actually did hook grip properly, with my thumb wrapped around the bar, and my fingers wrapped around my thumb. I so need one of those bars now... Not likely to happen any time soon.
Then, my ass was lowered MORE. Aimee proved to me that my shoulders were still in front of the bar, even with my ass practically on the grass. Craziness -- no wonder I couldn't figure this shit out on my own.
Learning to start the pull slowly took me a minute. Pulling the bar against my shins was more learn-able, since I've been practicing that with deadlifts. Took me another minute to figure out how to move my knees out of the way -- unbend, but don't completely straighten.
Cue: "Pull slowly to your pockets, then explode."
With all the work we did at the start, I was overthinking, and having a hard time with my "explosion". I even forgot to move my feet on a few attempts, WTF? *sigh* I am always such a trainwreck during 1-on-1 sessions. I trainwrecked a good bit at my L1 cert anytime the instructor was focused directly on me. Especially during push jerk, ugh.
Anyway, also related to L1, my squat is still busted. Fuck fuckity fuck. Boo.
I first learned I had a butt wink at my L1, and started trying to fix it after that. But apparently I haven't gone far enough, because it's still there. And it's keeping me from coming up out of the bottom of the squat clean.
Scenario: clean bar, land in squat, lose lumbar at bottom of squat, fight up to regain lumbar, ass jumps up, then (if you're lucky and the load is light) you come up out of the squat. Not a pretty picture.
So, I am to practice deep front squats with good form. "Good form" == no loss of lumbar, no shooting butt up first out of bottom (think about elbows/chest up first). I am going to need to do a lot of video of myself...
I have to learn to release the hook grip. That could be a problem once I get to heavier loads.
I squat cleaned 113, but failed 3-4 attempts at 125. One attempt I cleaned and caught at the bottom, but my lumbar was lost so I couldn't get back out of the bottom.
Game plan:
- Practice squat cleans @ 95# with low ass starting position, hook grip, slow first pull and then explosion, release of hook grip, strong front squat with high elbows out of the bottom; use video to determine if arms are bending early
- Practice slow first pull and POP @ 55# or 65# (also with new setup)
- Squat therapy (need to Google for more advice on fixing butt wink...)
--
While I learned SO MUCH at this session, which was exciting, I have to admit that by the end I felt very frustrated and defeated. Not being able to do 125 for a "finale" was very disheartening, and I could feel some tears coming up. Not being able to get out of the bottom of the squat a few times even at 113# was incredibly frustrating, and surprising. That's not where I expected to fail, because I thought front squats were one of my strengths. Hell, Jason complimented me on my front squat form during my last visit! I guess maybe it doesn't exactly translate to the front squat the end of a clean...
Driving home I admit that I was thinking, "if I'm this fucked up on a lift like the clean, what makes me capable of helping others learn this stuff?"
I know the best I can do for my athletes is continue to learn and better myself, and I *am* doing that... But I guess that perfectionist side of me demands that I be better, know more, before I put myself in front of others and ask them to trust my advice.
At some point you have to be GOOD to be a coach, good intentions just won't make the cut...
So yeah, I think I'll be back in Philly sooner rather than later for more coaching, and I'll be doing a lot more clean videos of myself and really applying what I have learned. That's the only area I will focus on as far as barbell movements, while I continue to focus on improving my gymnastics.
Speaking of which, I forgot my kip again, or something, but the story of Monday afternoon's 30 minute WOD will have to wait til another day, no more computer for me tonight. Back to vacation. :)
--
Soooooooo, let's talk about Monday, shall we? (Saturday and Sunday were essentially rest days)
In the morning I had an hour-long, 1-on-1 coaching session with Aimee Lyons at CF KoP. I had emailed her a long list of stuff to review, but we spent the entire hour on the clean.
Feel free to skip the following section, I need to write about what we did so I won't forget...
We started with the first pull, because as Aimee said, "there's a lot you can fuck up when you pull the bar off the ground."
First, she totally revamped my setup. Feet were moved farther apart -- they were too narrow. Toes and knees were pointed slightly out. Ass was lowered. A LOT.
Then, I tried a hook grip on the ladies bar. I think that was the first time I actually did hook grip properly, with my thumb wrapped around the bar, and my fingers wrapped around my thumb. I so need one of those bars now... Not likely to happen any time soon.
Then, my ass was lowered MORE. Aimee proved to me that my shoulders were still in front of the bar, even with my ass practically on the grass. Craziness -- no wonder I couldn't figure this shit out on my own.
Learning to start the pull slowly took me a minute. Pulling the bar against my shins was more learn-able, since I've been practicing that with deadlifts. Took me another minute to figure out how to move my knees out of the way -- unbend, but don't completely straighten.
Cue: "Pull slowly to your pockets, then explode."
With all the work we did at the start, I was overthinking, and having a hard time with my "explosion". I even forgot to move my feet on a few attempts, WTF? *sigh* I am always such a trainwreck during 1-on-1 sessions. I trainwrecked a good bit at my L1 cert anytime the instructor was focused directly on me. Especially during push jerk, ugh.
Anyway, also related to L1, my squat is still busted. Fuck fuckity fuck. Boo.
I first learned I had a butt wink at my L1, and started trying to fix it after that. But apparently I haven't gone far enough, because it's still there. And it's keeping me from coming up out of the bottom of the squat clean.
Scenario: clean bar, land in squat, lose lumbar at bottom of squat, fight up to regain lumbar, ass jumps up, then (if you're lucky and the load is light) you come up out of the squat. Not a pretty picture.
So, I am to practice deep front squats with good form. "Good form" == no loss of lumbar, no shooting butt up first out of bottom (think about elbows/chest up first). I am going to need to do a lot of video of myself...
I have to learn to release the hook grip. That could be a problem once I get to heavier loads.
I squat cleaned 113, but failed 3-4 attempts at 125. One attempt I cleaned and caught at the bottom, but my lumbar was lost so I couldn't get back out of the bottom.
Game plan:
- Practice squat cleans @ 95# with low ass starting position, hook grip, slow first pull and then explosion, release of hook grip, strong front squat with high elbows out of the bottom; use video to determine if arms are bending early
- Practice slow first pull and POP @ 55# or 65# (also with new setup)
- Squat therapy (need to Google for more advice on fixing butt wink...)
--
While I learned SO MUCH at this session, which was exciting, I have to admit that by the end I felt very frustrated and defeated. Not being able to do 125 for a "finale" was very disheartening, and I could feel some tears coming up. Not being able to get out of the bottom of the squat a few times even at 113# was incredibly frustrating, and surprising. That's not where I expected to fail, because I thought front squats were one of my strengths. Hell, Jason complimented me on my front squat form during my last visit! I guess maybe it doesn't exactly translate to the front squat the end of a clean...
Driving home I admit that I was thinking, "if I'm this fucked up on a lift like the clean, what makes me capable of helping others learn this stuff?"
I know the best I can do for my athletes is continue to learn and better myself, and I *am* doing that... But I guess that perfectionist side of me demands that I be better, know more, before I put myself in front of others and ask them to trust my advice.
At some point you have to be GOOD to be a coach, good intentions just won't make the cut...
So yeah, I think I'll be back in Philly sooner rather than later for more coaching, and I'll be doing a lot more clean videos of myself and really applying what I have learned. That's the only area I will focus on as far as barbell movements, while I continue to focus on improving my gymnastics.
Speaking of which, I forgot my kip again, or something, but the story of Monday afternoon's 30 minute WOD will have to wait til another day, no more computer for me tonight. Back to vacation. :)
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Deserves it's own post
Fat Guys Don't Finish Last
Love that blog, great insights on coaching. Learning to scale appropriately, and communicating the need for that process to my athletes, is probably my number 1 goal right now, possibly number 2 only to getting better at leading great warmups.
Love that blog, great insights on coaching. Learning to scale appropriately, and communicating the need for that process to my athletes, is probably my number 1 goal right now, possibly number 2 only to getting better at leading great warmups.
Swimmy
I coached 0830 class this morning, then had to run off to the pool to help teach lessons at 1000, so no WOD for me. Since it's a gazillion degrees (heat index over 100) here in the Georgia swamp, I decided to do a workout entirely in the pool. Plus I needed to practice my strokes.
2 rounds:
To finish up I did 50 flutter kick, 50 breaststroke kick, 50 dolphin kick and 50 butterfly. My 'fly wasn't too bad today! I need to practice it more often.
--
Question for you guys. If you're doing a workout with multiple runs of the same distance, do you care at all what your times on each run are?
I coached a very "grinder" WOD today, and instead of just standing there making inane comments while people were trying to grind out their burpees, I timed their 400m runs. I missed a couple people heading out and coming in, but got a lot of times for them to see.
Personally, I love any and all metrics, and would've appreciated this. Just curious what you all think -- a worthwhile endeavor, or just something that was distracting me from providing coaching to my athletes?
--
10 ways to be a better CrossFitter -- Lisbeth Darsh
I recommit to practicing #3 approximately once a day, or more.
--
Pistols -- Beastskills
Don't we all want to be better at these (or learn to do them, in my case) after watching the CrossFit Games?
--
Via my friend Stephanie Vincent:
2 rounds:
- 100yd front crawl
- 100yd breaststroke
- 100yd back crawl
- 100yd sidestroke
- 100yd elementary backstroke
To finish up I did 50 flutter kick, 50 breaststroke kick, 50 dolphin kick and 50 butterfly. My 'fly wasn't too bad today! I need to practice it more often.
--
Question for you guys. If you're doing a workout with multiple runs of the same distance, do you care at all what your times on each run are?
I coached a very "grinder" WOD today, and instead of just standing there making inane comments while people were trying to grind out their burpees, I timed their 400m runs. I missed a couple people heading out and coming in, but got a lot of times for them to see.
Personally, I love any and all metrics, and would've appreciated this. Just curious what you all think -- a worthwhile endeavor, or just something that was distracting me from providing coaching to my athletes?
--
10 ways to be a better CrossFitter -- Lisbeth Darsh
I recommit to practicing #3 approximately once a day, or more.
--
Pistols -- Beastskills
Don't we all want to be better at these (or learn to do them, in my case) after watching the CrossFit Games?
--
Via my friend Stephanie Vincent:
This explains the “factual reasons” I choose not to eat grains: Whole grains, Wholesome Goodness?Steph is also a Bas Ass Bitch. :)
This explains the "emotional reasons" why: Radical Hate Loss via Paleo
Why can I not be just satisfied with doing CrossFit 3 times week- scaling everything forever? I could still have fun. I would still maintain health. I could resign myself to the idea that my body was neglected for way to long to be able to improve much more than it has. I’m healthy, I am strong….isn’t that good enough?
Sometimes I wish it could be that way. I see other people happy that
way, but I am a different animal. I am passionate, intense and courageous. Sure new experiences and lofty goals rise fear inside me, but I find I am the kind of person that is willing to stare fear right in the face, grounded in its polar opposite...LOVE.
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