Andrew getting strong on the p-bars, Nate working on his blue steel!
CROSSFIT VERVE BEST YEAR YET BASH 2013
Join us January 12th at Jake’s Food and Spiritsto celebrate the new year! We will be celebrating goals and achievements completed in 2012, and making goals for 2013. This will also give you a chance to mingle with other Verve athletes that you sweat and endure with through your workouts. We will be providing the food, GAMES, and some drinks. There will also be some door prizes and some raffles with cool gear from some great sponsors. Our bashes have been often duplicated, but never matched. Don’t miss this year!
Who?Current Verve athletes and their significant others
We need your help for part of our party fun….Think of your most exciting adventure you have accomplished in your life. Patrick is in charge of collecting adventure information. If you have an adventure you would like to share, send him a quick email that describes a unique adventure you have gone on. A quick email example: Spelunking under Versailles OR Danced on a box with Claudia Shiffer in Paris. Patrick McGinty
We are looking forward to a great turn out and lots of good times. Please send your adventures to pmcginty1@me.com
**Please note; the Nutrition Coaching Program meeting has been cancelled for Thursday. If you have any questions, please email info@crossfitverve.com.
Vitamin D, Evolution, Cancer – The Link, by Chris Slaughter
Alright so long long ago right, humans evolved, and obvious to us all, we’re not perfect beings. We have self-destructive tendencies, and parts of our bodies start to fail eventually. Cancer is one of those ugly things which really sucks but has really always been there in human history and even is present in our bodies even though we may not clinically be diagnosed with cancer. An interesting observation has been made strongly linking insufficient amounts of Vitamin D and cancers such as forms of leukemia.
Cells or more specifically genes, have a built in system for regulation called cMYC. This is kind of one of the factors that says “hey it’s cool let’s keep transcoding DNA into RNA and make more cells!” or “no thanks bro we shouldn’t make more of those cells lets chill out”. A mutated version of cMYC is found within cancerous areas that allows these cancerous cells to continue to reproduce unregulated.
Some Canadian researchers have been looking at what role Vitamin D plays in this regulation, and it turns out according to their research, quite a bit. Normal levels of Vitamin D help to regulate proper functioning of cMYC regulator gene and effectively can significantly help keep cell proliferation (growth) in check and reduce the chance of cancers such as leukemia.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from everyone at Verve. Have a great day with your family and friends. Reminder there is only 1 class today at 10 AM.
This workout will be done with the “Twelve Days of Christmas” played on repeat during the entire workout. You must sing along, whilst keeping in mind that Christmas is in the near future. If you swear too much, a lump of coal will surely meet your stocking.
We’ve added more classes for Monday, since all you people are so excited to join us! Sign up on MBO, show up, and spread some holiday cheer.
Cheat Day Shenanigans
Cheat day, cheat day, when’s my next cheat day?!? Bah humbug! Cheat days are for athletes that have their diets dialed and locked in place. Cheat days are scheduled events that occur only once a week and vary in duration based on the need to satisfy urges to ensure a successful week. If an athlete has not completed a month in the PaleoZone, free of cheats, you should not be thinking about cheating yet anyway.
With that said, let’s break down a successful week that affords a cheat day. Adhering to a 5 meal per day schedule, you are eating 35 meals a week. To remain 90% PaleoZone, you can afford roughly 3 meals per week that are not PaleoZone. Now do we recommend using all 3 cheat meals – NO! We are using 90% as the lowest percentage that would still allow an athlete to see the benefits of a sound PaleoZone program.
Here’s what we recommend to get the most of your cheat day. First, don’t cheat the whole day – remember, you only have 3 meals to remain 90% PaleoZone. Start your cheat day off as with any other day – a PaleoZone breakfast and lunch, and a PaleoZone post workout snack. This leaves you with dinner and a midnight snack. If you so desire, these are the two meals to cheat on. Make them count – satisfy your urges, so that the rest of the week you aren’t craving anything.
By using this method, cheats are set to a schedule that you can count on and look forward to. You are spending 90% of your week eating perfectly (otherwise it’s cheating, right?). You are also satisfying urges that could possibly spell disaster if ignored. Make a list of craves during the week and prioritizethem before going to the market to shop for cheats. Again – 90% or bust!!!
Well it’s that time again. Time to look at the goals we made for 2012 and time to start making new goals for 2013. As you may have seen we have our Mission 2012 board at the gym. This is where you put the goals you were hoping to accomplish in 2012. We still have a few more days in 2012 to accomplish those goals and put them on the Accomplished 2012 board.
The idea with the Mission board is to set realistic and measurable goals that you can work towards. Think about what you’d like to accomplish in 2013. Maybe you want to get your first muscle up or increase your Crossfit Total. When we change the board over to Mission 2013, we want to see everyone have a measurable goal for 2013 on the board.
Next time you’re here take a look at the Mission 2012 board and see what you put for your goal. Did you accomplish it? If not, what can we do to make sure that your 2013 goal is reached? Let us know how we can help. That’s what your coaches are here for, except Luke he’s mainly here to judge you, he loves to judge people.
Speaking of the new year. On New Years Eve we are planning a throw down here at Verve. Details are still being worked out but we wanted to get an idea of who is interested. Leave a comment if you’re planning on coming by or sign up via MBO. We are still working out what time we will start and how long the night will go.
Keep the chest up, weight on the heels, and get under the bar.
Funny Terminologies, Part 2 ~ Luke Palmisano
On Monday we briefly discussed movements that we use to practice getting the bar overhead. Today we identify some movements that are used to practice getting under the bar. I really enjoy teaching these movements, because so many of us have poor flexibility with weight overhead that your bodies get contorted into some pretty wild positions. I kid. Seriously though. Do some stretching. Kidding. For reals though. They’re called hamstrings. Stretch em’. Kidding! You rock.
Pressing Snatch Balance: In this movement, the bar starts on the shoulders. The feet are in our squat, or receiving position. The level of the bar does not move upwards. From a standing position, we press ourselves slowly underneath the bar until we are at the bottom of the squat position. By slowly, I mean about one inch per second. Here is a picture of Nicole Carroll performing the movement, here.
Heaving Snatch Balance: In this movement, the feet are again in the squat, or receiving, position. This is important. The heaving snatch balance helps us teach our bodies to get to the bottom of the overhead squat position, with speed, without moving your feet. This helps you practice and memorize the proper receiving position. With the bar sitting on the shoulder, there is a brief dip-drive with the hips (same as you would use for your push press), after which you forcefully push yourself underneath the bar. Remember, you’re not trying to push the bar up. You’re trying to push yourself down. You can find an example here.
Snatch Balance: With the snatch balance, we now add the feet to the equation. We do the same exact movement we performed with the heaving snatch balance, except that now we are going to move our feet from the jumping position (the foot position you would use for your deadlifts or shoulder/push press) to the receiving/squat position. Remember, in the heaving snatch balance the feet don’t move. In the snatch balance, the feet do move. With the bar on the shoulders, you perform a brief dip-drive (same as you would for your push press), and then press yourself to the bottom of the overhead position, while at the same time jumping your feet from the jumping position to the receiving position. There’s a lot going on. A video demo can be found here.
Scarecrow Snatch Balance: My personal fav. Arms start in the “elbows up,” or “scarecrow” position. We perform a snatch balance, moving our feet from the jumping to the receiving position, while snapping the bar overhead. A fantastic drill for those of us who have a hard time getting under the bar. This movement forces you to do so. A great explanation and tutorial is given here.In the video, the athlete only goes to a “power,” or three-quarter-squat position. It can also be performed to full squat depth.
I hope this helps. Sometimes we trainers talk with “trainer talk” during classes. Meaning, we use technical terms to describe things, instead of just simply describing the movement (just take an Oly class with me, you’ll know what I’m talking about). You don’t need to know what these terms mean. But if a trainer ever does use any of these, this may help clear up confusion. I bid you adieu, and good day.
I live alone and do all my own shopping and cooking. Each week I find myself spending more money on food. It’s difficult and a bit expensive to eat healthy. I try to set a budget as I’m walking into the store, but most times I’m surprised when the scanner is finished adding up my total. Normally I get home, and after putting all the groceries away, I wonder what the hell I bought that cost so much money. I was forwarded a blog that has some tips to spending less and still being able to purchase enough real food to feed a family of 4 for around $125 a week. Although some of the content I don’t agree with, some of the foods recommended and described as healthy, I think the overall fiscal message is pretty good.
Set a weekly budget. It’s easier to stay within your budget if you allocate money weekly versus longer periods of time. If possible set aside the budget in cash. This way you’ll be really accountable because you’ll only have the cash to use.
Stick to the list. Create a shopping list and stick to it. Stop the impulse buys. I’m terrible at this. I end up buying a bunch of items not on my list.
Any advice you’d share?
*Friday night, December 21st, a group will be heading over to the Denver Zoo for Denver Zoo Lights. We will have a sign up sheet at the front of the gym if you’re interested.
Post awesomeness and new tricks to comments and BTWB.
CrossFit Verve is going on a field trip to 5280 Gymnastics for an adult gymnastics WOD. Fun times and back flips will be had by all! A safe place to practice with bouncy floors, foam pits, and soft mats galore. Class starts at 8am, please arrive 5 minutes early to sign appropriate paperwork. Post to comments and let us know what you think.
Imagine for a moment a young athlete. This athlete is beginning to work with free weights, specifically performing back squats with a barbell. At first, this athlete is able to back squat his body weight. His vertical jump at this time is about 16 inches. One year later, the athlete has shown improvement. He can now back squat twice his body weight, and his vertical jump has increased to 24 inches. Two years later, training in the same manner, this same athlete is now able to back squat three times his body weight. However, his vertical jump has not improved. Why? Because he trained for maximum muscle strength, as opposed to developing his rate of force.Training both are required to develop strength and power.
Why do you have to train differently to develop maximum muscle strength and maximum velocity from your muscles? Because they are different motor abilities. It requires different neural pathways, forcing your muscles to work differently. If you have ever taken a Hot Dogs and Cupcakes class, you will know what training velocity feels like. When performing a dynamic effort day, what is the focus? Speed and explosion. From the bottom of the squat to full hip extension should take less than one second. We want to be stronger and faster, not just one or the other.
Another example of training force and velocity are the Olympic lifts. At Level 1 seminars, prospective trainers are taught the ten general physical skills of CrossFit. They are cardiorespiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, accuracy, agility, and balance. The Olympic lifts require all ten skills! Additionally though, they are a wonderful blend of power and speed. They require you to move heavy stuff really, really quickly. The most well rounded athletes can be expected to be very proficient at these lifts. If said athlete from above had practiced these lifts along with his back squat, he could have expected his vertical jump to continue increasing.
That’s the difference of between strength and force. You can be really strong, without having the ability to be fast. Conversely, You can be fast without being very strong. Identify your weakness, and develop it.
Recently I was asked how I plan to attack a workout. I’m sure everyone is different when it comes to the strategy they use, but I figured I’d give an example of my thought process before I hear 3,2,1, go!
The workout I’ll use for an example is one we did recently; 2 rounds for time 50 pull-ups, 75 sit- ups, 50 OHS @ 75#, and 75 sit- ups. Looking at this workout I know that I once I get through the 50 pull-ups I’ll have an upper body rest with the sit-ups. I don’t necessarily want to go to failure on the pull-ups but I know that I can push the limits because the next movement isn’t going to tax my upper body immediately I did 2 sets of pull-ups, 30 and 2o. I take into consideration the movement I’m on and the next movement. Will the next movement be taxing on the same muscle groups as the movement I’m currently on? If so, I’ll dial it back a little so I don’t hit muscle fatigue which would cause me to need to rest, which I hate. Sit-ups are relatively easy to a point, at least that’s what I thought going in. My goal with a high rep count like 75 is to set a consistent pace and go unbroken. That was the plan at least, but as the great Mike Tyson says, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” I stayed consistent but did have to stop for a few seconds. That being said, it was only for a few seconds. That’s the thing with movements such as sit ups or air squats, you can always do one more, but sometimes a few seconds of rest is more beneficial than red lining it and having to stop for even longer.
On to the overhead squats. The most difficult movement in the workout for me. I look at weight, 75#, and then I put a number of reps in my head. 26 was my goal. Two sets one of 26 and one of 24 then move on. Once I hit that number, if I feel good I’ll keep going with the goal to get at least 1/2 way + 1 rep through, that way I have less reps to do than I’ve already done. During the OHS I hit 26 and felt good so I was able to do 40 and 10. Again knowing that double unders are next, I was able to push harder. Double unders are a coordination movement for me and knowing the reps are low, 75, I shoot to get them done in one attempt. The 1/2 + 1 rule applies for all the movements though. I try to leave myself less work than I’ve already done.
Round 2 everything goes out the window, it’s all based on how I feel. For example, I did the first round in 7:14 and the second round in 10:15. For the pull ups, I put a rep total, 2o, in my head. I know that if I go for more, I’ll muscle fatigue and require more rest vs. a smaller set that will allow me to recover quicker. The next 30 were 3 sets of 10. The sit ups were a steady battle of suck. Towards the end of the 75 reps I was doing sets of 5 and resting for no more than 3 seconds. That’s the biggest thing, if you need to rest allow yourself to rest, but set a time limit and get right back to it. The second round of OHS, I applied the 1/2 + 1 rule. I made it to 30 before having to put the bar down, rested for a few seconds, and then finished the remaining 20. The double unders were again done in one attempt. That was pure luck, trust me.
In summary, there is strategy that goes into a workout, at least in my opinion. Look at the movements, figure out if the next movement is going to tax the same areas as the movement you’re currently on and base your drive and rest on that. Divide reps up and surprise yourself when you hit your goal and still have some gas in the tank to push harder.
What about you? Do you have a strategy before a workout?
*Tonight we are having a Nutrition Meeting starting at 7:00 PM. The meeting is free so please come and bring any questions you might have.
