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Power development is essential for everyone, whether your goal is to improve your performance as an athlete or to offset the age-related loss of fast twitch capability. We introduced a new power movement today – the PVC Jump Over. These are a natural progression from the box jump. In both movements the goal of landing softly remains the same however the big differentiator is the effect of gravity. In a box jump we minimise eccentric stress by landing on the box and not allowing the body to come down. In the Jump Over however, the acceleration effect of gravity when landing takes its toll. This descent will greatly increase the eccentric load on your muscles and tendons thus increasing the intensity of the movement. And to quote CrossFit ‘If you want to look better, feel better, work better, sleep better, play better — intensity will get you there.’ 
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Scaling movements is how we get better. We all crawled (or bum shuffled ) before we could walk and we all walked before we could run... The same applies to CrossFit. So let's all get T-Shirts like Marty and remember, the next time you are in a dilemma whether or not to scale a workout, it probably means you should. Scaling is cool.  This yoga squat makes an appearance quite regularly in our warm ups - and there's a few very good reasons for this.
First of all, it's great for opening up the hips whilst simultaneously stretching the groins and glutes. It also helps to build strength and mobility through the feet and ankles. So it makes perfect sense to use it in a gym or training environment to prepare our bodies for certain movements such as the front or back squat. However, there are more benefits. This "stretch" is known for it's head to toe positivity. Whilst it helps to improve the function of your hips, glutes, hamstrings, quads, knees, calves, ankles, feet and lower back. It has been shown to improve digestive function due to the increase of blood circulation in the pelvic area. And obviously, as it's a yoga pose, with some practice, it can actually help you to relax your mind and your muscles. It only takes 1-2 mins in this position on a daily basis to see a positive impact on your body. Give it a go! We all know consistency is key to getting results in nearly everything we turn our hand to. However, consistency can mean different things to different people. For some, it might be consistently attending class at 5.30pm three evenings a week, some might be going to class every morning at 6am and for others, consistency could be getting to a class twice a week, every week, at whatever time works for them. Just because you don't have a set routine, doesn't mean you're not being consistent. If you're going to two, three or four classes per week every week, but rarely at the same time, you're still being consistent with your training. So don't beat yourself up because you don't lead the life that social media portrays with a 4am rise and 9pm bed time - we all know this is border line impossible for most. Here's a few simple ways our services can help keep you that little bit more consistent!
 I believe that when the body is strong, the mind thinks strong thoughts’
~ Henry Rollins Henry Rollins is famous for many things but for me it’s as the former vocalist of the punk rock band Black Flag and author of the essay ’The Iron and the Soul’ from which the above quote is taken. The essay is definitely worth a read, the music may not be everyone’s cup of tea though so be warned…. Rollins has cited many other notable quotes throughout his wide and varied career including: "97% caffeine free is 97% not my kind of thing". So hopefully you get the gist of Henry’s perspective on life. Like Henry we believe that the benefits of exercise are much more than just the physical. Your workout should be that hour of your day where you stick your phone on silent, forget about the outside world and enjoy exercising with like-minded people who genuinely want to see you succeed. We also know that the more you attend, the fitter & healthier you will become, the more you will enjoy it, the more you time you will spend in class and the fitter & healthier you will become. And so spins our virtuous circle. So let's close out with yet another profound Henry Rollins quote: ''What goes best with a cup of coffee? Another cup." One of Tommy Cooper’s most famous jokes goes like this:
I said to the Gym instructor "Can you teach me to do the splits?” He said "How flexible are you?”. I said "I can't make Tuesdays” We could stop this post right there as it’s obviously all downhill, but that joke sums up our two pronged approach to flexibility. Flexibility is the ability to maximise the range of motion at a given joint and is a physical skill that we develop in every class. Besides the well known injury prevention benefits we also know that if a muscle isn't flexible enough to perform a movement through its full range of motion, your strength work won’t be as effective either. But we also embrace flexibility inside our class schedule which is why we offer over 130 CrossFit classes every month. You aren’t locked into the same day and time every week meaning you can attend any of our classes which run from 6am right through to 7.30pm at night. Lack of flexibility definitely won’t stop you getting to class but admittedly it might slow down getting those splits. I was going to finish off with one more joke about flexibility but I decided not to because it was too much of a stretch….. A common question coaches get when encouraging mobility at home is, 'how?'. Sometimes it's easy to say you'll work on your mobility and never actually do it - but knowing what to do, and for how long, is half the battle in getting some mobility work done every day.
In the next few weeks, we will be providing some tips and advice on how to improve your mobility outside of your warm ups and cool downs - tonight's focus is what tools you can use during these sessions to facilitate: 1. The Foam Roller Foam rolling is a form of myofascial release that you can do on your own body. It works by massaging or releasing muscle and fascial tightness. 2. Golf/Tennis Ball or Mobility Ball This acts similar to the foam roller, by helping to release tight fascia and muscles. A ball can be used on areas that the foam roller isn’t as effective on. 3. Voodoo Floss Band. This is a rubber band which can be wrapped around certain muscles. While the band is on, we can move the muscle through its range of motion. Its important to only keep the floss band on for 2-3 minutes and to remove if pins and needles occur! All of the above:
Our CrossFit classes use a magical blend of weightlifting, gymnastics and metabolic conditioning to help develop your fitness.
When we share the contents of our program with a potential new member, the slightest mention of the word ‘gymnastics’ is usually accompanied with a look of horror and a ‘ I couldn’t do that!’. To be fair the fact that the ancient Greeks and Romans used gymnastics training to prepare their military forces for combat would probably scare anyone off. For us in the CrossFit world, we consider bodyweight movements to be gymnastics so the air squat, push up and pull-up would fall into that category as would isometric holds. Can you hold a plank? Then you can practice gymnastics with us. Our use of the term ‘gymnastics’ not only includes taking aspects of the sport you see on tv and applying them to workouts but also including activities like climbing and calisthenics where the focus is body control. We use dip bars, the floor, rings, pull-up bars, climbing ropes and other equipment to implement gymnastics into our training. If gymnastics movements are performed properly they can help develop virtually every component of fitness including producing impressive strength gains without using weights. In fact, nothing beats gymnastics in terms of developing the four neurological components of fitness: coordination, agility, balance and accuracy. Plus these movements are great fun to learn with even the smallest step of progress bringing tremendous satisfaction. PS: Did you hear about the gymnast who walked into a bar? She said ‘Ouch’.... "Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without."
~ Confucius Even when things are going well, it’s human nature to focus on the 'problem areas'. Although I’m talking about your fitness in the gym it’s probably also applicable to the rest of our everyday life. A good example of this was a few weeks ago when one of our members got her first Toes To Bar. The next time I met her, I naturally congratulated her on her achievement, expecting a warm smile but instead I got ’Thanks very much but I can’t seem to link them’. Unfortunately that’s the madness of the CrossFit mind. We are always seeking the next new skill, the next kilo and that one extra rep. The positive side of this is that it keeps us showing up, working hard and gradually improving our overall fitness. The downside is that we rarely take the time to reflect and appreciate how much progress we have made and enjoy the journey towards each breakthrough skill. Everyone who has ever CrossFitted may feel like they occasionally hit a plateau. However when we explore further we realise there is no plateau. Although it may be true that one physical skill or movement may have stalled, we are always able to find progress in another movement, a gymnastic skill, reduced body fat or an improved time in a benchmark workout. So progress is still being made, workout by workout, day by day and inch by inch. To paraphrase Al Pacino in his Inches by Inches speech in ‘Any Given Sunday’: 'You find out that life is just a game of inches. So is CrossFit. The inches we need are everywhere around us. That's CrossFit guys. That's all it is.’ Deep... Our GHDs aren't there for decoration in our classes. Unlike most gyms they aren't there for hanging your jacket on or resting against between sets, though it is pretty comfortable! It’s a real shame that in most gyms it is so underused because the GHD (Glute Ham Developer) is a fantastic tool for developing your trunk and posterior chain. Movements such as Glute Ham Raises and Hip Extensions can be game changers for your explosiveness and longevity. If you really think about it, have you ever seen an explosive athlete without a solid set of wheels? Glute Ham Raises work the hamstrings through both knee flexion and hip extension and as hip extension is so essential to sports performance eg. jumping, throwing and sprinting you can see why GHRs are regularly employed by Olympic weightlifters, professional footballers and sprinters to improve their game and help prevent injuries, particularly hamstring strains and ACL tears. The correct use of the GHD takes a lot of practice and most of us will have to work through a variety of progressions to ensure we are able to use it to its full advantage. Luckily our coaches can help you get the most from this excellent tool.  |
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