If At First You Don't Succeed, Do Something Else

The other day I was working with Chris on snatches. I was hoping to have him set another PR, but wasn't too sure. He hadn't maxed since the last time we worked together and he had already done a workout in the morning. So I had him do a few drills with the barbell, a few doubles with lighter weight and then started working with singles.

His first few lifts: 110 / 132 / 154 / 164 / 174

Chris was steadily climbing and each attempt looked solid. I opted to load the bar to 184 (his previous PR), expecting him to hit it without issue.

His next lifts: 184-F3 / 174-F /154-F / 110-F2 /110

After missing 184 three separate times, I decided to drop the weight down and hopefully work back up. Unfortunately, Chris kept missing everything - for God's sake, he missed 110 twice! This was all a byproduct of mentally breaking down. He missed 184 a few times because of some technique errors - not finishing his extension, slow getting under the bar, etc. But then, frustration and over-thinking caused him to miss what should have been routine lifts. Ultimately, Chris's primary technical flaw was not fully committing to getting under the bar, so I moved him to some snatch balances. After slowly building up weight, he did the following:

204lbs

See, I knew anymore snatch attempts would have done more harm than good. So rather than have Chris get more upset and more mentally shaken, I opted to completely switch exercises and have him address the problem at hand. The result left him with a new snatch balance PR. Sure, he was still pissed about failing all those snatches, but he now knows he can receive 200lbs overhead.

The point I'm trying to make is that if something's not working, adjust your strategy accordingly. There's no use in beating yourself up with failed attempts - it's both physically taxing and mentally frustrating. Adapt to thrive.

What's In A Name?

As I'm sure some of you might be wondering what the title of this blog means, I decided to shed a little light on the topic. I realize some of you probably don't care, but oh well, you can call this post "filler" then. The expression "Becoming The Bull" is actually a song by Atreyu. While most of you will immediately dismiss it as angry white guy music, the lyrics are quite poignant and very relatable to training...

Grab the bull by the horns the old adage goes
Nobody tells you where to go from here
It seems like fate's pulling you
Decisions have to be made
The best path is the hardest earned

Back and forth the struggle consumes us all
Trying to keep a level head
In the most unsettling of times
Today I'll become the bull..

There is so much at stake
I stumble I'll lose my place
Pride and arrogance surrounded by sin
Destiny takes its hold
Fight it or let it go
But I choose how the day will end

Back and forth the struggle consumes us all
Trying to keep a level head
In the most unsettling of times
Today I'll become the bull...

This walk can get lonely
I lose myself inside myself
No one can touch you when you're outside staring in
Remove myself from this rat race

Back and forth the struggle consumes us all
Trying to keep a level head
In the most unsettling of times
Today I'll become the bull...

"Yeah, that's me, taking the bull by the horns. It's how I handle my business.
It's a metaphor. But that actually happened, though."

Why Focus On Getting Stronger?

Because Jesus says so...

Mobility Abounds!

It's no secret that I'm a fiend for mobility. Why? Because yours sucks. Don't worry, most everyone's does. Even mine. And I'm awesome. Fitness, or better yet, the general improvement of overall health revolves around more than just the "workout of the day." Exercise, sleep, nutrition, etc - these are all just pieces to the puzzle. Mobility is just another piece, yet one of the most often overlooked.

The human body is amazingly capable of adaptation - varying temperatures, changing foods, elevated stress, and unique movement patterns as well. Depending on where your inefficiencies lay, your body will do whatever it has to in order to help you do whatever crazy nonsense you're doing. Not using your glutes during deadlifts? Your body will call on your lower back and hamstrings to bear more of the load. We can only get away with this for so long until our progress stalls, or worse, we get injured. Improving mobility can have almost immediate implications on strength, speed, power, and movement efficiency.

After class one day, Cram asked if I could help her stretch her hamstrings. Since I'm such a gentleman, I obliged. Nick took some pictures as we did a little test/retest.

Before

I took her through a pretty basic PNF stretch sequence. PNF stands for Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation - see it in action here.

After

That's a pretty significant change for less than two minutes of stretching. This isn't permanent, though, so Cram will have to continue working towards improving her hamstrings.

It should be said that PNF is not a comfortable experience. But to be honest, if something is easy, then it probably doesn't work. "Look, facilitating the muscles...it's like a dogfight. You need to be ready to bite down on a bullet. You need to fight tooth and nail for this. And you need to go after it seriously. It's not pleasant and mobilizing should never be pleasant." -Kelly Starrett

If you find yourself stalling, plateauing, or just feel like you're not getting the most out of your body's potential, it's not always a strength or "lung" issue. A lot of times you're limited by your own crap-ass range-of-motion. So make an effort to resolve this issue. Sign up for one of Lauren Polivka's Functional Movement Screens, foam roll before class, stretch after class, go to one of Michael Hall's yoga classes, peruse K-Starr's awesome mobility blog, or just ask me what you suck at. I'm sure I'll have an answer.

All kidding aside, this stuff is important. Because...

Mobility is serious business.

Quick Shout-out

Right off the bat, I have to admit that I have no idea how to punctuate the term "shout-out." Is there a hyphen? No hyphen? Should I capitalize the "O" or is it all one word? Whatever.

I just wanted to direct everyone to Dave Lipson's blog 365 Days of Squatting. I've never had the pleasure of meeting Dave personally, but he's a strength-heathen regularly featured on CrossFit.com obliterating weights. He has overhead squatted 345x3, split jerked 340, back squatted 500x3, and deadlifted 651. So... he's kinda strong.

Anyways, Dave's blog documents his training in which he squats at least 450lbs every day. For 365 days. He also mixes other strength work and metcons into it as well, but he pretty much must squat at least 450lbs every freaking day. Aside from this being a brutally awesome challenge, the best part is that he is dedicating this effort to Amanda Miller and skin cancer awareness. Kudos to Dave for this thoughtful and badass endeavor. I am hoping to plan a fundraising event at CrossFit Balance next year in memory of Amanda. Details will be coming in the future.



You can read more about Amanda here.

The Hits Keep On Coming...

Chris set another huge PR this past Sunday. We started off with some foam rolling, mobility drills, and then basic positioning work with an empty barbell. Once I felt everything was in order, I let him clean & jerk from the floor, slowly adding weight. His previous PR was 220lbs.

248lbs

Quick critique:
1) You'll notice Chris's hips rise a little early. Ideally, during the first pull, one's hips and chest will rise at the same rate. Like this.
2) You'll notice Chris's shoulders go a little soft on the jerk (at roughly ~17 seconds). Receiving the jerk with one's shoulders and elbows completely locked is crucial to a successful lift.
3) On his recovery from the split jerk position, he struggles. A lot. One reason is because... well, it's a lot of damn weight that he's never put overhead before. The main reason, though, is that he extends his back leg early rather than keeping it partially bent. This shifts the weight towards the front foot and forces him to inch backwards instead of taking the necessary half-step backwards. The ball of the rear foot should actually be bearing slightly more of the load
4) You can hear Christy Phillips and I arguing towards the end of the video. It gets cut off, but I assure you, I won.

My goal was to have Chris hit 250, but unfortunately I put him through too many attempts prior in order for it to happen. He actually cleaned 252 three different times but kept missing the jerk. I'm quite certain that with bigger jumps early on, he can hit 250 with relative ease.

And finally, Chris also did "Fran" in 2:58 last Friday. So basically, I hate him.

Footwear

Believe it or not, what you put on your feet makes a big impact on your life, health, and performance. I’m not talking about toe rings here; I’m referring to the shoes you wear. Unfortunately, the advent of modern shoe technology has actually been very detrimental overall. Running-related injuries have only increased with the further advancement of cushioned heels, Shox springs, and a whole bunch of other useless crap.

The only redeeming quality of the K-Swiss Tubes is that Kenny Powers endorses them.

The problem with these super-cushioned, shock-absorbing, space-age sneakers is that they alter running technique to encourage heel striking, which the rest of your lower body absolutely hates. If you take someone's shoes off and tell them to go for a run, they might start with a few heel strikes, but it won't be long before they adjust and start using the balls of their feet. That's how your feet and body were originally designed to move. Not convinced? Try this: Take off your shoes, jump as high as you can, and land on your heels. Let me know how that works out. Simply put, the balls of your feet are natural shock absorbers, designed to withstand that type of activity.

Asafa Powell doesn't heel strike; Kanye West probably does.

We live in a world of collapsed arches, shin splints, ankle injuries, plantar fasciitis, and knee pain. Modern shoes have altered our running patterns and made our feet weak and deconditioned. Luckily, we're finally getting back to our roots. The advent of Vibram Five Fingers and the Nike Free line has encouraged people to get their feet strong again. So what am I getting at with all of this? Well...

1) Stop buying $120 shoes that suck.
2) Go barefoot more often.
3) Purchase some Vibrams or Chuck Taylors or Nike Free's.
4) Don't be a douche. Wear your Vibrams when you workout, but not with a suit. James Bond would hate Al Roker.
5) Ease into it. Don't go for a 5k run in a new pair of cushion-less kicks. Your feet need to be slowly conditioned and strengthened before that kind of stress.
6) Understand that I will make fun of you if you wear Vibrams. Again, they're a quality product and great for your feet - I just think they look ridiculous. I'm talking to you, Josh Courage!

For more information from people smarter than me, check out the following articles:

EatMoveImprove: Shoes, Sitting, and Lower Body Dysfunctions

Mark's Daily Apple: Flat Feet Treatment

Mark's Daily Apple: Even If The Shoe Fits, Forget It