5 Hardcore Workouts You Can Do in Under 10 Minutes

Pop Quiz Hot Shot....You have 10 minutes in the gym to get a workout in, what do you do.  WHAT DO YOU DO?!

One thing I love, I mean besides 90's movie references is helping people get a great workout.  One of the myths in the fitness industry is that you have to workout multiple hours a day to get into shape.  Even in CrossFit, which proved you don't need two hours in the gym to get in shape, this myth started to creep its way into the daily mythos.  Back in 2010 when I was first introduced to CrossFit, the goal was get in, get a great workout, and get out.  

Then came the era of where everyone who walked into a CrossFit gym wanted to "go to the games."  The training seemed to take on a 'more is better' approach.  Programs like Outlaw Way and other online templates became very common scene in the gym.  People left the community of the class aspect, and the eyes of a coach, to follow a template that was made for high end athletes.  WHY??  My personal thought is because everyone wants to feel like they do something special.  People felt like if they couldn't post long death marches, or 2 a day workout sessions on social media....they felt they weren't getting what they needed.

I feel at this time there were many more injuries involved with CrossFit and you really began to see the separation of CrossFit the "training program" and CrossFit "the sport."  But, if there is anything that is guaranteed in this industry, it's that times will change.  Now CrossFit has taken a turn back to focusing on the health and wellness aspect and distanced itself from the sport.  And with that a brand new group of people are finding CrossFit.  One thing that is hopefully coming back is the focus on maximizing efficiency over volume.  Getting a great workout, getting in shape, changing body composition while not living within the gym.  So, in that line of thinking, here are 5 fantastic workouts that really push you, and the best part is they can be done with minimal equipment in 10 min or less!!

 1.  Tabata Calories on the Assault Bike:  Tabata is 8 rounds of 20 seconds on (max effort) and 10 seconds rest.  This means 4 minutes of work.  But don't let that fool you, because if a workout says "tababta" in front of it, get ready to push yourself.  If you push yourself this will be a hard 4 minutes.

 2.  CrossFit Games Open Workout 12.1 (7 Min of Burpees): The best thing about this workout is that you could do it without ever leaving a hotel room.  Another way to change this up is to change the style of burpee you do.  You can do burpee kickbacks (if you can't do push-ups). You could also do strict burpees where you emphasize the burpees.  Whichever way you choose to scale your burpees, it is a fantastic workout.

·       3.  The Crazy Eights:  This one I came up with on a cruise ship when i didn't have that much equipment at my disposal.  You can use a kettlebell which is how I program for my classes, or you can use a dumbbell.  I recommend using a 53lb kettlebell for men and 35lb for women. The workout is 8 Min AMRAP (as many reps as possible) 8 Goblet Squats and 8 jumping squats (no weight).  It literally wrecks your legs and makes you second guess how long 8 minutes is.

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·      4.   Half "Cindy":  Cindy is a CrossFit benchmark workout, and is literally my favorite hotel workout for on the road.  Cindy is a 20 minute AMRAP of 5 pull-ups, 10 Push-ups, and 15 Air Squats.  So half Cindy is the same workout just for 10 minutes long.  For those that cannot perform a pull-up you can swap it out with a sit-up and it works just fine.

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·       5.  5 Min AMRAP Kettlebell Clean & Jerk:  This takes a little more skill.  You can use one or two kettlebells, but I prefer a kettlbell in each hand if you have the equipment.  This can also be used with dumbbells, but I like kettlebells better (just a personal preference).  If you try to hang on and go for large sets it can be very demanding.

Give these workouts a try.  You will be surprised at how effective they can be and it will leave you plenty of time in your day for other things.  Which is the original design of CrossFit.

     

More Knowledge Will Not Help You Get Better

For most people who are on some sort of fitness journey, they know a good amount of what they are “supposed” to do.  Most people understand the basics of what constitutes healthy foods, they know daily exercise is necessary, junk food at 8pm isn’t good for you, etc.  Yet the same cycle seems to repeat itself with no end goal in sight.  For most they feel they “just don’t know what to do” and they logically go in search of information and knowledge hoping that once they gain said knowledge the problem will be resolved.  This however is not the case.  In fact, this particular line of thinking tends to give people a what I call “false positive” which is comforting.  And we all want to be comfortable, because comfort does not carry with it certain feelings; fear, anxiety, uncertainty.

Now the search for knowledge and understanding is a wonderful thing and should be fostered by coaches, spouses, and peers.  The missing piece to this puzzle is that once certain knowledge is obtained, there must be action that follows it.  Action or behavior is what will make the change not just knowledge of the subject matter itself.  We see this in the coaching realm all the time.  There are some coaches that obtain certificate after certificate (which is a good thing let me be clear) but they cannot translate all this deep knowledge to their coaching.  Without the ability to take all they have learned and impart it onto a client, they become a very sub par coach.  They tend to also get frustrated because all their clients can’t follow their instructions.

In the research study “Restructuring Strategy for The Technical Report Writing Course in Engineering Universities of Pakistan” by 1 Samina Hashmi, 2 Tazeen Muzammil, 3 Bushra Fazal Khan , 1 Humanities & Natural Sciences Department, Bahria University,  Karachi, Sindh 75260, Pakistan 2, 3 Computer & Software Engineering Department, Bahria University,  Karachi, Sindh 75260, Pakistan. They give this illustration of the learning pyramid which shows the retention rate per 24hrs and which style of learning yields the best retention.

As the pyramid shows teaching a knowledge to someone else yields 90% retention rate.  This has been shown through many studies.  When teaching someone you must take the knowledge you learn and articulate to someone an idea of which they have no knowledge.  But also look at the learning process by doing yourself.  There is a 75% retention rate in information by doing, and this method works beyond a 24 hour period.  The first time a person uses a meal plan, or meal preps, or learns how to squat they are not very good at it.  However the act of performing a squat teaches you well more than reading volume after volume about squat training.  The first few times are difficult but the more you practice this behavior the better you become.  After a certain period of time you would be able to teach this new habit to a friend which gives you an even deeper understanding.

So how does this translate to the frustrated person who is so sick of not losing weight?  To those who want to perform better and at a higher level? To those who want so desperately to change their lives?  Simple small action steps.  Small action steps become habits which lead to large results.  The large results are what everyone wants and can blind them to the small steps between point A & B.  Here are examples of some small steps everyone can take to further their progress:

1.       Meal prep one meal for the week (ex. Meal prep only lunches…but lunches for the entire week)

2.       Learn how to use that instapot, or crock pot that has been collecting dust in the pantry

3.       Go to the gym on Monday (this will start your week off with a good habit)

4.       Set alarms for meals if you struggle with not eating

5.       Pick a time to be in bed and stick to it so that you get 7-8 hours

6.       Go for a walk after your meal

It is said to know without action is not to know at all.  You must take action because action becomes behaviors.  Behaviors yields results, which elicit a positive response.  What used to be uncomfortable soon becomes comforting.  Comfort in the fact you understand the knowledge you have gained and now you can act of this information subconsciously. 

So my call to action is for you to pick one thing to take action on today.  Not tomorrow but right now.  A plan executed at 50% will yield far bigger results than the perfect plan never acted upon.  Now is the time to take that next step.

The One Thing You Can Do Today That Will Make You Immediately Better

The One Thing You Can Do Today That Will Make You Immediately Better

I know the title of this blog sounds like “click bait” or a slogan you would see next to a thirty minute ab routine that guarantees results with just two days of work.  That was my intention because we have all heard and read things which sound very similar.  However what if I told you that what I’m about to talk about really IS a way to fix many of your issues and as an athlete, and if you put it into practice it can permeate into every aspect of your life.

This subject has been on my mind for a while and if you’ve been coached by me long enough I may have even talked with you about it.  It is something I see everyday and wish I could drive home in every person I coach.  But first let me give you some insight from a coach's perspective.

Everyday I coach between 50 - 70 athletes, give or take depending on what programs are running.  During the day I will see people who have bad positioning, mobility issues, weak muscle groups, gaping holes in their athletic performance, etc.  No this is not uncommon in ANY gym of any type around the country. But in CrossFit gyms around the country the difference is that most of these faults have been addressed by the coach probably multiple times.  Now the hope is the athlete is on some form of journey to correct these issues. And to enter any gym, CrossFit or not, and start judging because there are people with issues like these, is ignorant.  If a gym has 150 members each one comes with; different body types, injuries, genetics, age groups, natural abilities, and all are at different stages in their journey to be a healthier version of themselves.

Now that you have a coach's perspective let me tell you one secret that will get you moving better, increase performance, let you lift heavier weights, move faster, jump higher, and be a more bad ass person (all of this done in my most perfect made for TV late night infomercial voice).  YOU HAVE TO CARE ABOUT THE WAY YOU MOVE!!!!!

That is it, that is the big damn secret.  Not what you were wanting to hear I’m sure.  If you truly care about the way you move, you will make progress like never before.  Now this may require a small step backwards before moving forward again.  However most of the people who need to hear this are stuck anyway and cant figure out why they can’t get stronger, faster, or better in certain areas of their training.  So I will give you an example of this and how it ties into many other things.

I am using CrossFit as the example because it has more of a population in its ranks.  CrossFit unlike weightlifting or powerlifting also requires you to be more of a generalist and less of a specialist.  So I have a CrossFit athlete who is trying to perform a front squat.  We are working from the rack and when they squat their toes are turned excessively outwards, their knees then cave in, and they hunch over because they are unable to maintain a good position.  This athlete has been told every time they squat to fix their foot position but alas it falls on deaf ears.  

Now a few disclaimers.  1.  I am focusing on one single fault in this lift and as a coach feel this is the low hanging fruit which once fixed will help solve the other issues.  2.  I’m not saying the athlete doesn’t want to get better…..they just don’t want it bad enough.

Example #2 - An athlete is practicing cleans.  When they perform their cleans, they don’t move their feet at all, they are now forced to use way too much upper body strength to muscle the weight up.  This causes the back to go from a rounded position (which it should never have been in at all to begin with), to a position of hyper extension.  This causes the catch to be low and the elbows cannot be where they need to be.  The coach has worked with this athlete for a long time yet the athlete will always try to work at higher percentages even when it’s not programmed for that day.  This athlete will also try to RX any WOD no matter the cost.

Now if you are reading this and feeling guilty give yourself a break.  This is certainly not about one or two athletes.  As a coach you will see similar faults over and over again and the more you see them the easier they are to pick out.  So how do YOU as an athlete fix this.  Simple with help from a coach and an unwillingness to drop this issue till it’s solved.  You have to want to fix this so bad that before warm-up you are practicing foot drills the coach taught you.  You may be spending time before or after performing mobility or stability drills the coach, PT, or Chiropractor has given you.  And yes that means dropping the “Bro Weight” off the bar and fixing the mechanical issues.  

Now for the good news.  Once you fix the issue I can almost guarantee that you as an athlete will immediately improve on those lifts or movements you have been stuck on for months, maybe even years.  You are also creating a new movement pattern that will transfer to so many different things.  Once you take this simple piece of advice and begin to put it into practice, you will make everything better.  

You have to care.  Your coach cares because why else would he or she tell you literally every damn time to move your feet, keep your elbows up, do this, do that.  If your coach didn’t care they would let you wander through your training like cattle .  Take responsibility for your movement and attempt to master it.  You can’t master everything but you can give a damn about it and do it to the best of your ability.  If you don’t know how to get from point A to point B, just ask a coach.  It’s their job and they would be so happy to hear you take interest in your performance.

Finding & Knowing Your WHY. 

The key to lifelong fitness and goal setting.

 

 

 

 

As a coach I am constantly in contact with all different types of people, each with different goals.  New clients who want to lose weight, CrossFit athletes in search of new ways to get better, parents of students who want their young child to succeed at their chosen sport, men & women over 45 who have decided that a sedentary lifestyle is killing them, you get the point.  One thing all of these individuals must know or find out if they don't is their WHY.

 

Why am I coming to the gym?  Why am I doing this special programming?  Why do I come to the gym twice a day? 

 

These are just some of the questions I hear from people on a consistent basis. Although I don't get to speak with each individual person who walks through my gyms doors, I do get to interact with a lot of them.  When a new client walks into the gym one of the first questions I ask them is "What are you here to accomplish?" or "How can I help you with your goals?"  Usually I get a generic answer that sounds something like this "I'm here to get into shape."  Well duh!!  So I pry a little further and ask what is a specific goal of theirs so that we can help them reach this goal.  More times than not I get a blank open eyed stare, because this new client has no REAL idea what they want.  But they know they want something, and they want our help. Otherwise they could have accomplished this on their own.

 

Now is where we get to the nitty gritty.  Lets say a client says they need to lose 30 pounds.  Most of the time that is not a random number.  But why do you need to lose 30 pounds?  Why not 25, or 35?  Maybe the answer is they have a wedding coming up, or a vacation, or 30 pounds ago they fit into a very special outfit, and this outfit represents a better time for them.  We have all heard it said "its all about how you feel."  Naturally if you look good, and feel good about yourself it will permeate into every aspect of your life.  Now THAT is a why!!

 

Maybe one of my CrossFit athletes wants to compete in their first RX competition.  This may represent to them, all their hard work and skill training has elevated them to the level of athletes they look up to.  To outsiders it may appear the athlete is just competing to look tough, or have an "I'm fitter than you" attitude.  But to the athlete it could mean so much more.  It may represent a feeling of accomplishment they thought would never happen. 

 

Now here is where it can get tricky for some people and coaches can lose clients over this.  What happens when you help someone achieve their WHY?  They have spent 6 months losing the weight, getting ready for the competition, acquiring a certain skill.  Now what? 

 

 

 

The answer is they must find a new WHY? 

 

Lets say an athlete trains for 6 months to hit a personal record on the weightlifting platform, or get their first muscle-up, or compete in their first Spartan Race.  Once they complete this achievement, they may feel lost again.  What do you do when you achieve what you fought so hard for?

 

An important job for coaches and trainers is to always raise the bar for the athlete or client.  If they don't have a new WHY yet, you may help find one for them.  After all you should have built a rapport with them during the last 6 months.  It is up to both the client and the coach to work together to consistently push the WHY.  Maybe after losing those 30 pounds and fitting into that special outfit your client now feels confident to run a half-marathon.

 

What can also happen is the client may lose interest.  They figure they have achieved what drove them to the gym in the first place.  If this person walks out the door they may never come back.  They may fall back into bad habits and gain that weight back and are now too embarrassed to even go back to what helped them the first time.  But by setting a new goal they can push ahead and continue on a lifelong fitness journey.

 

 

Find what drives you to the gym.  Find the reason you will get up so early and sweat so much while others are sleeping.  Find your reason to belong to the fitness community.  Find your WHY.



Strength Above All Else...My Trip to Westside Barbell

As we turn down the street to into the industrial complex my nervous anxiety is on par with a competition.  Since finding CrossFit and strength sports the industrial warehouse is a familiar arena for gyms, and I have many times traveled to one to train.  But this is different...this is Westside Barbell.  The "Mecca" of powerlifting and strength & conditioning.  This is one of the most if not THE most intense training environment on the planet.

When we pull up there are about 10 people both male and female pulling sleds and pushing wheelbarrows.  As we walk into the building it feels like walking into a stadium during a playoff game.  The energy level of this small building literally hits you in the face.  As we wade through the heavy metal music, and the different people doing all different manners of training we see Louis Simmons.  The owner and trainer at Westside Barbell is shorter than I would have expected, but at 67 years old he looks at you with both the wisdom of a real life Guru and the intensity of a man who has fought 100 fights in the ring. 

To myself as a trainer this is the same as meeting both Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson crammed into the same person.  Not only has hit an Elite Total for many years but he is like the Yoda of strength.  We introduce ourselves (we had to phone ahead and let him know we were coming, as this is an invite only gym), and make introductions.  Today is max effort lower at Westside and in the second room of this small gym is what could only be described as a war going on.  Seven of Louis' guys from his powerlifting team are deadlifting and the word intense doesn't describe it.  I have been in sports all my life and not since a freshman walking into a varsity locker room have I felt so out of small.

With so many people there we notice we are the only ones standing around.  This is not a gym where you do a set and sit and talk.  You work, plan and simple.  So we go out to Joe the assistant trainer and ask to jump in on the sled work.  What we jumped into was a training session with 10 other people, 2 were other visitors, 2 were college track stars, and 6 were professional MMA fighters.  Many who have fought for the UFC, and two who apparently traveled from Brazil, as I never heard them say a word in anything but Portuguese.

We spent the next hour pulling sleds in as many ways as possible.  Running, walking, bear crawls, holding a 40 lb medball, holding a bamboo bar overhead, if you could think of it we did it.  We never touched a barbell that first day and were wiped out.  After it died down a bit, Louis was kind enough to give us close to an hour of his time.  Since we employ the conjugate method of training at our CrossFit gyms he seemed to open up and answer any questions we might have had.   The subject of Olympic Weightlifting came up and after a 20 min barrage of knowledge bombs he told me that on Wednesday he would make me PR my power clean.

When we arrived on Wednesday, it was max effort upper body at Westside.  We hopped in with a coach and PR'd our pin press.  When we arrived Louis was benching so we didn't want to interrupt his lifting session.  Then Louis walked up to me and said "when your done fucking around, lets get those bands out and PR that clean of yours."  I had to smile because Louis would walk around and put his expertise into every athlete in the gym.  It didn't matter how much you lifted, as long as you came to work he treated you like an athlete.

I worked up to about 65% of my power clean max with bands on the bar.  At this point the powerlifting team was watching me and joking with me about my ability to get my elbows high for the front rack position.  Then we pulled the bands off and began working up.  I would hit a lift and we would add weight.  My lifts felt faster than ever before.  Then we were ready to max.  As I set up Louis began to yell at me that I "better make this lift."  The room got quiet and of course, I hit the lift easy.  I then added five more pounds and again hit the lift.  Louis was smiling and I was like a little kid.  But now that I've given a description of my story, here is the important part that you could only see if you were in the gym those days.

As I watched the video of my second PR I noticed something amazing.  As I set up everyone, and I mean everyone in the background stopped and watched.  Powerlifters who were just benching 500-600 lbs, scholarship track athletes who look like the most athletic CrossFit women, MMA fighters, literally everyone within ear shot.  As I hit my lift, they all looked and a few nodded and everyone went back to their work.  When someone attempts a PR at Westside everyone watches, but here is the important part.  When I set up for my max it was as if you hit a pause button.  When I hit it there were a few nods and then the play button was hit and everyone returned to normal.  They KNEW I would hit it, it is expected that you hit a max. 

This is different than in most CrossFit gyms I have been to.  In CrossFit many times we push too hard and too fast. Instead of accepting a 5-10 pound record we want to push the limits and get a 20 pound record.  Of course we are then upset if we don't PR for 3 months on the same lift, and we wonder why.  Not only did the athletes at Westside expect you to hit a max they expect good form with it.  Nothing in there was sloppy or ugly.  It is because they know and trust the system.  They know that they will break world records, but they have a plan and stick to it.  I saw one lifter on Monday deadlift close to 700 pounds, and on Wednesday do incline barbell pushups because he felt weak in his transition during the bench press. 

The other factor of this gym was intensity.  And I don't mean screaming (even though there was plenty of that).  I mean when you touched a barbell, sled, machine, dumbbell you attacked it perfectly and with your whole self.  This is something most gyms including CrossFit gyms lack right now.  We go all out in WODs and we love to lift heavy, but the concentration and meaning of each rep is lost to many athletes.  When I got into CrossFit, it was because I saw an intensity that I hadn't seen or felt since wrestling in school.  At Westside it is an everyday event.  They crush everything they do with the intent to master it, no matter the time needed or cost.  There is a free flow of knowledge in the gym, and everything done there is backed by not only science but the warriors who came before.

This is what I want our gyms to be.  In CrossFit we are a community of athletes who respect hard work and discipline.  With other gyms (and I use that word VERY loosely) like Planet Fitness, Orange Theory, and Bosu Ball Brazilian Butt Works (I made this last one up) we as lifters know the barbell is the way to true fitness.  We know that strength is our expression of fitness.  And we know that "If you don't have strength...you have nothing!!"

The 5 Exercises You Should be Doing to Become a Better Athlete

When you become a coach or a personal trainer you begin to accumulate time on the job.  You begin to find your voice, and get better at your craft.  As a CrossFit coach you get to teach the same movements each day to numerous classes, with a wide variety of people.  These people have a variety of skill levels, bad habit, old injuries, levels of coordination, strengths, etc.  After a while you begin to see patterns that repeat between individuals, even those with vastly different skill levels.  This can be a chance as a coach to not only fix the problem but learn something to help you become a master at your craft.

Now while I don't consider myself a master, I do however consider myself a smart and driven coach.  I am driven to make people move right to improve their strength, flexibility, and improve their daily quality of life.  So in recognizing certain patterns in many athletes of various levels, you begin the search for why.  Why do these people all have the same faults in their movement?  You begin watching closely to how an athlete reacts to your cues.  You begin asking master coaches about said problems, and how they fixed them in their athletes.  You consume as much  knowledge as possible on your quest to solve this movement puzzle.  As the answers are reveled you begin putting together a virtual "tool kit" to fix these problems and be able to quickly diagnose and fix future problems.

In recognizing these patterns you begin to realize many people neglect the same things and are weak in the same areas, even if the scope is different.  So I have put together a list of five movements/exercises I believe most athletes would benefit from performing.  I find that these movements are neglected in many cases by superior athletes and soccer moms alike.  Here are my "FAB 5" of movements you NEED to be incorporating into your training regiment.

1. Sled Work

Sled work is amazing on numerous levels.  It is great for cardiovascular work as well as muscle endurance training.  It is low skill so you don't have to "train" someone to use the sled.  If they can walk they can pull a sled.  Most look at the sled as simple or boring, but there are many variations of this exercise that can be used.  Why we love the sled drag at Steel mill CrossFit:

1. It helps build the posterior chain and as many quad dominant CrossFitters can attest to, you will feel it attack your hamstrings.
2. If you are injured and cannot squat or have knee pain, the sled allows you to work legs without pain.  There is not an extreme bend in the knee so it feels better, and it will help pump blood to the injured knee to help with recovery.
3. It can be used for upper body work as well with things like chest pulls, walk and row, etc.
4. Helps build work capacity and muscle endurance.  If you can pull a heavy sled 400 meters without stopping, then I know the thruster work of FRAN is a walk in the park.

Here are some of my favorite variations:

Around the Shoulders - 3 sets of 100 meter walks.  50 meters forward and 50 backward.
Around the waist - My personal favorite.  Secure the straps through your weight belt and power walk. For extra credit, do this while holding a medball to your chest.
Bear Crawls - Secured to your waist start bear crawling back and forth across the gym floor.
Lateral Steps -  Secured around waist, side step for a certain length then repeat the same number of steps to the other side.

2. Barbell Hip Thrust

Lets talk about your glutes (butt).  Strong glutes protect you from injury, enhance athletic performance, and give you a nice curvy shape.  Glutes stabilize your pelvis when walking and running. Strong glutes help with hip extension and forward propulsion, as well as help with body alignment.  The gluteus maximus, the largest muscle in the body, can produce an enormous amount of power. Strengthen this muscle to sprint faster, become more agile, jump higher, cycle more powerfully and lift heavier weights during squats and deadlifts.  Strong glutes mean your lower back takes less abuse over the long haul.  That is why my favorite glute exercise is the hip thrust.

There are many ways to do the hip thrust.  From the floor as pictured above, from a bench, with bands, with a barbell, or even one legged.  The point is that a little 5 min effort can go a long way.  Want that extra 50 lbs added to your squat and deadlift....do your hip thrusts.  They will help you lift more, run faster, jump higher, and most importantly keep you safe.

Much like the reverse hyper, these can be performed multiple days a week.  I recommend one heavy day, preferably on your max effort lower day, one mid range for 10-20 reps, and a very light (maybe banded), for 2 sets of 50 reps.

3. Prowler Pushes

These can be the best and worst thing you have ever done.  The prowler is amazing for both fat loss and building muscle.  If used for sprints with light weight and short distance this machine can wreck you in a very short time.  To the newbies, puking is almost inevitable if your not careful.  What is great about the prowler sprints is you can get a devastating workout done in just 10 min.  So if your short on time and don't know what to do, this may be a great option.

For muscle building go heavy.  Load that sucker up and go longer distances.  By doing heavy prowler pushes you get an extreme lower body workout without the pounding.  There is no eccentric load which means it goes easy on your joints.  It will also flood your joints and muscles with blood, which helps with recovery and helps flush lactic acid.

For speed pulling a prowler will make you faster without a coach running you to death.  Coaches like Joe DeFranco and Louis Simmons have bee using heavy prowler and sled drag variations to increase sprinting speed for years.  When you are pulling a heavy sled you must be in a forward lean, which mocks the proper posture of the acceleration portion of a sprint.  So you get to spend time engraining perfect sprinting form without endless sprint drills.  This has works wonders with my student athletes. 

Whatever your reason or method of using the prowler, definitely give them a try.

4.  Reverse Hyperextensions

This one is not only good for but it just may save you from a trip to the hospital.  Lets be honest here, we are athletes.  We have chosen to be athletes, which means you have chosen to do things others won't do.  This also means that although you are saving yourself from things like diabetes, heart disease, and obesity; you also are at more risk of acute injury.  What if I told you I had a magic pill that would not only take away any lower back pain, but make you stronger, have better posture, and drop your risk of injury...I bet you would take it.  Well I don't have a magic pill but this is a damn close second.

You don't need lots of weight or lots of time.  As your belly sits on the pad it supports your spine so it is safer than good mornings, regular hyperextensions, and deadlifts.  This is also a benefit to older athletes or people with previous back injuries.  When your legs swing under you, your lumbar spine is in traction and it creates space between disks.  When you extend your legs that closes and you create a pumping motion with your back, which causes it to fill with blood.  It also is a hell of a workout for your spinal erectors.

I recommend 3-4 days each week with 4 sets of 20.  You want higher reps to achieve the "pump" we talked about earlier.  Each week you add a little weight.  Once you've found a weight that is comfortable spend a few weeks there before moving up again.  Remember this is about the long game, not how much you can put on the machine.

After many years of wrestling and other sports, I can honestly say I have never felt more healthy and stable as I have since I started using this machine.

5.  Farmers Carry

Some of you knew this was coming.  Legendary strength coach Dan John said this about the carry, “The loaded carry does more to expand athletic qualities than any other single thing I’ve attempted in my career as a coach and an athlete.” This method of training has been used forever.  And from someone who grew up in a farm town and wrestled believe me when I say those "corn fed" boys who were sons of the local farmers were no joke when it came to strength.

For me I use this training in two methods, long and light, and short and heavy.  Lets do short and heavy first, you load up the handles with increasing weight and go a short distance (20-60 meters).  I like to have my athletes turn while holding the handles, because if forces them to keep their core tight and fight the momentum.  For these you should work up to bodyweight in each hand.  Then you should aim to make it 1.5x's bodyweight.  This would be considered strong.

Now to the long and light.  One of my favorite things to do is grab my training partner and walk a mile with kettlebells.  Yep I said one mile.  This does numerous things.  It helps build grip strength and endurance, which any CrossFit athlete knows the longer you can stay on the bar the faster your times.  It also is a great core workout because you are forced to keep good posture and stay tight.  And maybe most importantly, its a mental gut check.  If you regularly can put yourself in uncomfortable positions you will begin to mentally become tougher.  Believe me when you are a 1/2 mile away from the gym and you have no choice but to continue, it makes you a stronger athlete.  I bet they don't set the bar down in Fran if they can walk a mile with heavy weight.



These movements will make you into a monster, and send your game to the next level.  Every one of these exercises can be used in the training of ANY athlete in any sport.  They are low skill level and you reap high benefits.  So get out here and get after it.

William Davis
Head Trainer at Steel Mill CrossFit



Training vs Exercising, and how knowing the difference can help you succeed.

As a CrossFit athlete it's easy to get lost in the shuffle of the daily WOD's and the list of skills and movements you need to master.  When you go to box everyday you go to train right?  Are you really training or are you becoming a great exerciser?  I will attempt to explain the difference (as I see it), and maybe this information can help you succeed as an athlete.

One thing I loved about CrossFit and still do is there are measurable skills and tasks.  If you back squatted 200lbs last month for 3 reps, and this month you squat 215lbs for 3 reps, then you have improved.  If your GRACE time went down 30sec then you have improved.  I think CrossFit boxes still do a good job of this today; and with programs like WODIFY it makes it easy for athletes to track and chart progress.  But have you ever asked yourself why you're testing?  The obvious answer is to see if you are getting stronger, faster, etc.  However, maybe we should look past the numbers.

When I heard Chad Wesley Smith of Juggernaut Training Systems talk this past January, he said something that stuck with me.  He said you need to build not test.  What he means is; you need to build for a purpose and not test just for the sake of testing.  Is there really a reason you are taking another 1 rep max in the deadlift after testing that lift last month?  Chad is a world class powerlifter, and his seminar is geared towards that sport.  So they follow a cycle to get them to peak at the next meet and beyond, even having yearly plans or multi year plans.

What Powerlifters & Olympic Weightlifters can teach us...If we are willing to listen.

 

 

Powerlifters train to complete the heaviest squat, bench press, and deadlift in one meet.  So they obviously have a very specific goal.  They train the main lifts and accessory movements to help them in the three lifts of their sport.  However, because their training has to be so specific they make large gains in these lifts.  They don't have to worry about 7 minutes of burpees, or muscle-ups. 

 

Olympic Weightlifters train for two lifts; the snatch and the clean and jerk.  So they obviously train those lifts, the variations of those lifts, and accessory movements.  They have to be precise and technical.  They don't have to worry about 30 snatches as fast as possible, or having to climb on the rower after a set of nasty cleans.

 

These athletes have very specific programs that slowly build them up to the next meet.  An Olympic athlete may have a 2-4 year program in place.  They do the work given, and peak when they are supposed too....on the platform.

 

The platform, is where they get to express all their training into the sport they have chosen.  The platform is the culmination of all the hard work, and weeks upon weeks of building.

 

 

So where do CrossFit athletes express their training?  In competition of course.  Local competitions are a great place to show how hard you have worked.  And in the case of regional & games athletes, this is the culmination or peak of their training year.  And if you think a top level CrossFit athlete just does an hour a day, your dead wrong.  They have very specific plans and programs.  They just have to split their efforts into the many movements CrossFit will throw their way.

 

 

Exercising and the regular CrossFit athlete

 

I am now talking to the regular gym member.  I'm talking to the rest of us who are content to do local competitions, and work are butts off daily.  I'm talking to the moms and dads who come 5-6 days a week to better themselves.

 

Once your body adjusts to the rigors of your daily class and you are able to come 5 days a week and still sit on the toilet without making a pain face, you will want to do more.  Maybe its training for a competition.  Maybe its doing a few 2 a days, or train for a weightlifting meet.  This is a great transition from daily survivor to someone who wants more out of training.  This is also where you may make some poor training choices.

 

 

I see this same scenario over and over.  Coach: Hey Suzie, nice to see you at open gym, what are you working on?  Suzie:  I did the 6 am class and now I'm back to do this WOD I found online, then test my FRAN time.  Coach:  Hey, that's great that you want to do more work but I don't think that these 3 WODs are going to be good for you or your CNS (central nervous system).  Suzie: But I want to do a competition next month and I have to get WOD ready.

 

 

Your daily WOD is exercise NOT training.  Your training is done with the warm-up, the strength work, the accessory work, and mobility work.  Your WOD is your chance to express your training.  Completing HERO or Benchmark WOD's everyday is going to do nothing but slowly destroy you and could lead to injury.  Those are meant to be tests of your fitness. 

 

Lets use FRAN as an example...since it's CrossFit's version of "How much ya bench Bro."

 

 

To be better at FRAN you must start with the thruster.  If you have been training your front squat, then the 95/65# weight should not be an issue.  If your front squat is on point then you should have a good front rack position and a very upright torso which makes thrusters much easier.  If you have been steadily working on your overhead pressing...then each rep will end in a strong position on active shoulder and proper head position which will cut down on fatigue.

 

Now the pull-ups.  If you have been working your strict pull-ups then your strength for the pulling motion should be stronger than the last FRAN.  Your grip strength will be stronger to allow you to stay on the bar without dropping off, which saves you time.  By practicing the skill work of the butterfly pull-up, you should be efficient and able to string many together without breaking momentum.

 

So with those movements taken care of, what's left?  GO FASTER.  This is where your daily WODs come in, as well as sprint work.  I can bet that if I take a very strong guy/girl and get their engine built up in a month or so and they will beat the bodyweight "fast guy" every time.  Because he hasn't trained enough to get strong or be efficient in the movements need for the workout.

 

I am not saying you can't do another WOD every so often.  In fact the better you get the more WOD's you will do.  BUT... you have to eat your veggies before you get dessert.  So eat your Veggies "training and skill work," then you can have the dessert "WOD's."