All About Position

I'm now juggling two blogs...so in the interest of economy, here is a link to today's post at Flatirons Crossfit Olympic Weightlifting blog.
http://www.flatironscrossfit.com/olympicweightlifting/2010/02/all-about-position.html


Tonight's workout: some light barbell snatching up to 60kg then a 20 minute 1 arm long cycle set with one hand switch. 10 RPMS, 16kg. 100 reps each arm. Wore a belt tonight for the first time in awhile...helped with the hip flexor issue, oddly enough.

Can't workout Saturday due to business travel, so I did "double time" tonight to makeup.

More Grrrl Power

Svetlana Krechyk, a champion kettlebell athlete from eastern Europe now living in the United States, contests the one arm long cycle clean and jerk at a meet in Toledo. She is using the 24kg kettlebell. She gets a 116 reps in 10 minutes with just one hand switch; a feat most American guys who work out seriously with kettlebells couldn't duplicate.

Including this guy: Last night's workout: 24kg one arm long cycle clean and jerk, 90 reps in 10 minutes, but I switched hands at 3 minutes, 6 minutes and 8 minutes.

Tonight I did 20kg clean and presses for 14 minutes...20/20, 10/10, 5/5, 10/10, 15/15 5/5, 5/5 so 70 reps each arm

Why Are You Bored?

Are you bored? I came to the realization many years ago that the world wasn't here to entertain me. If I was bored  it wasn't because the world was boring or my circumstances were boring it was because I was boring. I came to this realization one evening while I was living in Manhattan.

I was going to bed at 10 PM one Friday night when it hit me. For some reason I had come to believe that it was far better to live in some place like Manhattan where the choices for entertainment were near infinite and yet choose to do nothing than it was to live in some podunk little town where there were no such choices but having a desire to do something not readily available. Going to sleep early on a Friday night in the City That Never Sleeps was a kind of metaphysical potlatch, a form of Existential conspicuous consumption. Funny stuff.

Sunday

Keith picked me up and we headed to Ozo's for a java fix before hitting Flatirons for a workout. Large coffee with a double shot of espresso for me. By the time we arrived at Flatirons, Sid and Tim were deep into the Air Force WOD. Brutal.

Played around with a new start position for cleans...a bunch at 80kg. Nothing too promising. Then worked up to some heavy pulls off the high blocks. Pictured above 210kg for a single with no straps, then strapped up and did a set of five. A good deadlift for a high school girl or a good snatch for a 105kg elite weight lifter, but we do what we can.

Finished with some long cycle: double 16kg 10 minutes @ 16 reps, 20 reps, 24 reps, and 10 reps...rest in the hang not putting bells down.

Yesterday was a down day...felt very blah. Basically just held onto a 16kg for 10 minutes, a few slingshots and 1 arm RDLs, figure 8s etc. to say I did 10 minutes.

Friday

I am a cherry picker when it comes to crossfit workouts...so I do not consider myself a "real crossfitter". I pick workouts that have something to do with either weightlifting or kettlebells. Grace, for example, is a workout I've done. It is 30 barbell clean and jerks performed as quickly as possible. The kettlebell Secret Service Snatch Test, as many snatches as possible in 10 minutes, is another.

Tim at Flatirons Crossfit designed a nice barbell snatch workout which I did tonight...in retrospect I went a little lighter than I could have...I might have squeezed out 10kg more. But better safe than sorry.

Later Phil and I did kettlebell swings 50/50, 40/40, 30/30, 20/20, 10/10 with a 2 minute kettlebell carry (rack, overhead, farmer walk etc) after each set. Took about 19 minutes to pull it off. Again, I went light with the 16kg.

Boulder's Best Olympic Weightlifting Club

To be accurate, we are probably the only USAW Olyympic Weightlifting club in Boulder...but of the one or two other places in the area that have bars and bumper plates, we certainly offer the best in the way of instruction and equipment.No one else compares.
If you google Olympic Weightlifting Boulder(or Denver) you will discover that our club at Flatirons Crossfit in Boulder is the top hit. We are one of the very few Olympic lifting clubs in Colorado. We of course have bars and bumpers and platforms and chalk. Most importantly we have great instruction available (myself and International Coach David Miller)and just as importantly we have a great mix of folks and a great atmosphere where we all work hard, have fun and make progress. You don't have to be a Crossfit member to join the club either.

Check us out if you are in the area.


Wednesday workout: 20kg KB jerks, 6 reps, rest in hang until top of minute, 60 reps total
Today's workout: 16kg swings, 50/50, 40/40, 30/30, 20/20, 15/15 for 310 reps in 10 minutes

Tuesday 2/16

Worked with a new client Tuesday; a former professional bike racer who has been battling non-Hodgkin's lymphoma for the past two years. He's back on the bike recently and training for some big races in the late summer. We will be working together on the Olympic lifts and kettlebells to help rebuild some strength and power. Learned the basics of the barbell power snatch Tuesday. Wednesday we will learn the power clean. Thursday we will start kettlebells.

He's very excited as am I. I used to ride seriously. While I didn't have the right stuff to be a high level competitor, looking back on it if I knew then what I know now about weight training I could have been an even stronger rider. Ever since arriving in Boulder I've been anxious to work with cyclists and I'm glad to finally be getting the chance.

Earlier this winter I had the privilege of working briefly with a young pro rider on the Garmin-Transitions team. They just completed their first race of the year, the Tour Mediterraneen in southern France over the weekend.

My workout: Power snatched up to 65kg off the blocks from below knee for several sets of doubles. Then kettlebell snatched 16kg for 250 reps (125/125) in 10 minutes, one hand switch...a personal best for me with the 16. Took 5:22 to get the 125 reps with the left hand, so I had to hurry up to keep on track with the right.

8 Steps to Success

This is one of the best little talks/slide shows I've seen on the subject of success. As I watched I tried to get a handle on which steps I have down and which steps I'm not doing or I'm not so good at.

Some examples that resonated: Do It for Love Not for Money.

Work...if your work is your love, you may not be workaholic, you may "workafrolic"

You have to Persist through failure and C.R.A.P.. Criticism, Rejection, Assholes and Pressure.

It's only about three minutes long.





Tonight's practice: OALCCJ, 24kg, switch on the minute, 10 minutes 8RPMs.

Sundays

Spent yesterday morning at the gym. Every Sunday at 9 a.m. we have a fairly regular small group that gets together for Olympic Weightlifting. Coffee, reggae on the sound system, slow warm ups and a leisurely pace. We get work done, but it's definitely lower key.

After some power cleans up to 80kg for a few sets of triples, did a 10 minute set of double 16kg long cycle: 3 cleans + 1 jerk. Made it 5 minutes before rest in the hang. About 12 reps per minute so maybe 96 reps total factoring in the rest breaks.

Jamie Oliver: Food is Fundamental

The biggest cause of death in the US is obesity related disease. Every 18 minutes four Americans die as a result of what they have shoveled into their pie holes. Children born today have a life expectancy 10 years less than their parents. Ten percent of the health care costs in the US are a result of obesity and that will double to 20% in the not too distant future.

Jamie Oliver, a Brit, a Chef and a man with his hair on fire wants to change this with education. He has based his efforts from America's obesity epicenter; the fattest and unhealthiest state in the union: West Virginia. For the past seven years he has made it his work to save lives by implementing broad systemic changes to home, school and work so that eventually every man, woman and child is educated about food, what to eat and how to cook it.

Here's a video of Jamie speaking at a recent TED event.



Friday's kettlebell session: 10 min 2 x 20kg long cycle drill: 2 cleans + 1 jerk. 50 cleans 20 jerks total.
Today: BB snatch up to 70kg x 2 singles, pulls to 130kg x 3, and 230 12 kg snatches 10 minutes, 1 hand switch (115/115)

No Man's Land

No-Man's Land: the area between the service line and the baseline, where a player is most vulnerable

Tennis is a great game. It teaches players a lot about temperament and psychological tendencies. Tennis is one of those games where you must play the ball, not the opponent. If you take care of the ball, take care of your shot, you force your opponent to take care of his business also. "Give your opponent one more opportunity to take gas," advised the legendary tennis coach Vic Braden.  Unfortunately, keeping your attention on the ball and not on your emotions is one of the biggest obstacles to a complete game. The biggest opponent most players have is their own heads.

Tennis is also a game of strategy. Much to the diminishment of the game, the new rackets and the power they provide have all but killed the old serve and volley game. But back before oversized graphite/carbon fiber composite cannons, a less speedy but well placed serve would force a weak return which would then be volleyed into the open court by the server who had charged the net. These days, if the ball is returned and stays in play for more than one or two more shots, it is rare to see a singles player take the net. A good net game requires the ability to hit a strong approach shot, which is a shot, Pat McEnroe recently described during Australian Open coverage, that needs to be almost as good as an outright winner. Coming to net behind anything less is risking getting passed. Especially these days, when net skills are not what they used to be.

Court position is a vital part of a player's strategy and ability to execute effective shots. The title of this post "No Man's Land" refers to the area of the tennis court where a player doesn't want to be trading shots: refer to the above illustration. This area is where half volleys land at your feet, shots go into your body and too much open court is exposed for angled passing shots. Good players spend almost no time here. They may return a short ball from NML but will return to the baseline or take the net.  NML is where mediocre players go to die.

NML is not just a tennis issue. Similar to being stuck between a rock and a hard place No Man's Land can be a metaphor for nearly every aspect of a life. NML is any place where you are uncertain, waffling, not clear about where you stand. And guaranteed, you will get chewed up. NML is where mediocre lives go to die.

Lately, I have been having my own NML crisis. It may seem silly to some, but it has to do with how I think about and teach kettlebells. I am certified with two organizations: the RKC, which is a strength and conditioning certification and the AKC which is about the Kettlebell Sport but also has a fitness program. The more I post on their respective message boards about what I am up to, the more I encounter resistance from their respective "fundamentalists". It has become abundantly clear to me that I am neither "RKC enough" nor "AKC enough" to be happy in either camp. Nor are they likely to become any happier with me. Standing in NML,. I am getting ripped from both sides.

My deep approach shot is this: It's time to do my own thing. I don't need either certification to teach and they don't need me teaching what they don't endorse. I'll continue to seek out and learn from the best, teach what I believe in on my own terms and be accountable to no one but my students and my conscience.

I don't think there will be a return on that shot, but I'm at net just in case.


BB power snatch to 60 x 2. 16kg bottoms up presses x 5 rpm, 10 minutes, switch on the minute.

Some Thoughts on Thoughts

One of the curious things about being a human being is we think our thoughts are real. Real in the sense that physical things are real. But do thoughts have mass? Are they measurable? Do they exist over time? In most respects, thoughts aren't real in the same way a bus is real. Yet while thoughts may have no physical substance they can still run you over.

A coach of mine years ago suggested that most of us most of the time aren't thinking thoughts worth thinking about. He called this kind of thinking, "thinking off". There are several names for it: monkey mind, the chatter in your head, the self talk, the inner critic. We generally think of the thinking as ourselves talking to ourselves on inner speaker. This coach also said something else interesting. He said that maybe we aren't doing the thinking. Maybe that isn't me talking to myself on inner speaker. Maybe it's automatic, like breathing and a heartbeat.

Olympic Lifting Workshop Video

When the team from the Boulder newspaper The Daily Camera came to visit last October, besides the print and web article they also shot some video of our clinic. Very short but here it is.




Monday night kettlebell: 10 minutes, one hand switch, 20kg. 2 swings + 1 snatch compound exercise = 50 swings + 25 snatches each arm. Grip murder.

Saturday/Sunday

Did some pulls off the blocks from knee height up to 140kg for a few doubles. One arm cleans, 20kg, 10 minutes one hand switch...somewhere in the neighborhood of 150.

Super Bowl Sunday...really can't care less about pro football anymore. When I lived in Chicago in the 80's was the last time I cared about the outcome of a Super Bowl. Da Bears.

This morning a quick workout at Crossfit with Keith and then I dunno what.

Edit: Workout today..some very sluggish barbell PS...worked with 50kg. No snap, crackle or pop.
Kettlebell was for 20 continuous minutes today. 16kg clean and press. First 10 minutes done at 10 RPM with 1 hand switch = 100 reps. Second 10 minutes was done at 14RPM switching hands on the minute = 140 reps. So 120 reps each arm and 240 reps total of clean and press.

Game On or Game Over?

In order to have a game there has to be something that is more important than something else. The nature of a game is that the "what isn't"  is more important than the "what is" with which you begin.

If life is a game then, it follows that what isn't is more important than what is.

Most of us play games because they make us happy. They offer us a challenge, a chance to compete, an opportunity to have fun.

But is living your life where what isn't is more important than what is  a recipe for happiness? A strategy for satisfaction? A pathway to enjoyment?

Incidentally, the game is over when what is has become more important than what isn't.

How would your life look if you declared game over?


Tonight's kettlebell set after power cleans from the blocks and power jerks: 10 minutes 2 x 16 long cycle 70 reps.

Feed Me Seymour

Fat is forever
I speak from experience here. Once those fat cells form, they want to be filled. Unless you have them surgically removed they are constantly demanding to be fed. Even if you have devised a successful eating plan that allows you to maintain a good body weight/compostion, those extra fat cells are always waiting to fill back up. For my whole life there has been and always will be a fat guy on the inside constantly screaming to be let out. Feed Me Seymour!


Fat Man in the Bathtub (with the Blues)
It is far easier to maintain a healthy body weight by just not getting fat in the first place. Believe me eternal vigilance over one's weight is not a fun way to live. However a lack of vigilance doesn't work either. We are nation of fatties and it is largely because we either don't pay attention ( although it's hard to believe a diet consisting of  fruit, vegetables, nuts, lean meat, fish and poultry while limiting sweets is revolutionary news. Or that eating less food and moving around more is a headline) or we just don't freaking care. Kids who are given as much of anything they want to eat grow to be adults who believe they can eat as much of anything they want and get or stay thin. Then they repeat the cycle with their kids. It's loony. Or worse.

34% of American adults over 20 years old are clinically obese. Since 1978 the obesity rate among little kids 2-5 years old  has more than doubled, for kids 6-11 and young adults aged 12-19 the rate has tripled. Almost 1 in 5 kids aged 6 -19 is clinically obese. Statistically, those fat kids are 80% more likely to be fat at the age of 25 than their leaner peers. Fat kids grow up to be fat adults. Fat adults are more likely to raise fat kids. Who is responsible for the escalating cycle? Look in the mirror.

Secret Service Snatch Test

Today's WOD at Flatirons Crossfit was the SSST. I haven't worked much with the 24kg of late but gave it a ride. The test is for as many snatches you can perform in 10 minutes. You are allowed to switch hands and set the bell down as often as you like.

I hit what felt like a very conservative pace, switching hands every 10 reps. Managed a 210 score which I am very happy with. I didn't put the bell down for the set. Even achieved the high score for the day, which was a pleasant bonus. Not a PR all time for me (223 reps is) but maybe next time I will feel more confident and push the pace a bit.

Paleo Update

Paleo eating is turning out to be not all that hard. I can't say I miss the grains all that much. I'm still standing by my nightly beer but that doesn't seem to be an issue. I really enjoy my Omega 3 eggs and link sausage (or bacon) and banana (or apple) for breakfast. I'm down almost 4kg in bodyweight and a good 5% less bodyfat. According to my chart, I've gained a kilo of lean mass and lost 4kg of fat. And I feel generally good. Not bad results at all.

I find I'm eating generally less now. Smaller portions. More protein and less carb actually. I have some fruit during the day, but not a lot. An apple and a banana or two. I've also not stuck strictly to the Zone portions. By that I mean I'm not weighing things. But I'm mindful of getting protein and a carb/vegetable and some fat in each meal. The meals may not be exactly Zone balanced, but I err on the side of protein and less carb, which probably works on keeping the insulin levels generally lower. I'll keep at it for sure until the end of the month as strictly as I have been, and then maybe relax a hair in March. Depends on if I hit my goal: heee-yoooj, strong and ripped at 85kg bodyweight.

Barbell snatches and some pulls tonight. Kettlebells: 100 double snatches 2 x 16kg in 10 minutes, "health snatch" style.Not setting the bells down for the entire set, of course.

February 1 Kettlebell 10 minute set

Same drill as last night only used 16kg and switched hands after five minutes. A slightly different order: long cycle clean and jerk, swings, jerks, snatches, long cycle clean and press.

An Appeal

Shana Martin is a world champion lumberjill, fitness competitor and personal trainer. She is also a tireless campaigner and advocate for Huntington's Disease research. Her mother suffers from this cruel and horrific disease.

She has traveled to Africa this week to climb Mt Kilimanjaro to raise funds and awareness for Huntington's research. Please take a moment to send a donation of any size to Shana's Climb and help her achieve her goal of $2,000 raised.

As of this post she is only $215 shy of her goal. Help put her over the top!