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The New Year - Brings Challenges |
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| Welcome 2010 - the new year is here! To start the year off right, we are going to have a CHALLENGE! We are going to have a Biggest Loser AND Gainer Challenge! Biggest Loser will be for those who are interested in losing weight & inches. Biggest Gainer is for those who are wanting to put on more muscle mass & get stronger. It will be very similar to our July Paleo Challenge. There is a $30 entry fee – with winners in both categories & prizes along the way. If you are interested, please email Ashley at ashley@crossfitstrong.com. Starting 01/11/2010!
Blog will be posted with more information. |
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Everyone who has been doing CrossFit for a while knows
where they would like to be with regards to their personal
fitness. Maybe its doing an unassisted pull-up. Maybe its
hitting that 400 pound dead lift. Maybe its running a 5k in
under 30 minutes. Remember, this is for YOU, It is your
training for whatever it is you like to do in life. We want to
see you succeed and YOU need to focus and do what it takes. We
have seen a lot of people accomplish a lot of great things in
2009. Whatever your goals, we want to help you get there. So
here is where the coaches at CrossFit Strong feel your focus
needs to be:
Athletes - You need to
focus on the
9 fundamental movements of CrossFit. Everyone
needs to learn, practice and OWN these fundamental skills. We
spend a lot of time and energy to teach you how to do things
right, we expect focus and discipline on your part to make it
happen! Everything we do here builds on the basics. You have
heard us say that ‘you crawl before you walk and walk before
you run…’ There is a reason for this progression. You wouldn’t
attempt to snatch 150 pounds without ever having done it
before would you?
Our focus on safety is paramount and that is
why we implemented our ‘check off’ system (found on your
personal profile). So if you haven’t completed all of these
and moved into the intermediate category, then that is your
primary goal in 2010! If you understand and can demonstrate to
one of our coaches that you do indeed OWN this skill, then you
are one step closer to graduating into the intermediate class.
Mark this on your calendar: Saturday, February 6th we will be
holding a skills training class. There will be stations set up
for each of the 9 movements and this is your chance to get
coached on all of them, get checked off, learn the finer
points and progress in your CrossFit training. More info to
follow.
Intermediates - By this time, you should know the difference
between a clean and a power clean, where your feet are
positioned when pulling, pushing or squatting, where your
hands should be when in racked position, etc. This is YOUR
training. You have already come a long way and your future in
CrossFit will only excel from here. Remember, fundamentals are
key. You have a long list of skills to move out of the
intermediate and into the advanced level skills and metrics we
will be posting soon. To check your skills off, you need a
witness that can attest to your completion. You can be called
out on any skill, so again, you must OWN it!
That being said, take a moment and write down out your top 10
CrossFit related goals that you want to accomplish. Email them
to us so we can see what they are and help you get there. Be
specific… ‘Get stronger’ is not a measurable goal. ‘Do 30
thrusters in a row with 95#’s’ is measurable.
2010 is going to be a great year for CrossFit Strong and our
amazing community. One filled with success, support and
friendship.
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It is TIME! No more excuses. We are opening our Power Lunches Class through out the week. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday 12pm. It will be 45 minutes long. You need to be dressed and ready to warm-up at 12pm.
We will do our best to
end class at 12:45 so that you can shower and get back to
work. We will see how January goes and make adjustments to the
schedule. |
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I wanted to touch base on Squatting in this newsletter. I want to cover the myth that squatting your hip crease below your knees is bad. First, it can be bad if we are not using the correct form or technique; but deep squats are the best way to build strength and mimics real life functional movements. Many of you have just started doing squats the proper way, working on building strength. This doesn't include the $10,000 death contraptions at the globo gyms that include the hamstrings/leg extensions and butt blaster machines. These are not functional! As you start developing the new found wonders of how your quads, glutes, and hamstrings work better together; you may start experiencing some popping in the knees or find you have lack of flexibility issues that need to be addressed.
I want to talk about the benefits of our squatting, the correct technique, and soft tissue therapy and touch base on flexibility
1. Using the correct form and technique strengthen your leg
muscles (quads, more importantly hamstrings & glutes)
increasing the stability of your knee joint. The knee is made
for stability and we need to build the stabilizing muscles for
the knee.
2. Squat the correct way: Heels under Shoulders, Toes slightly
pointed out, unlock your hips, weight on the heels, knees
track over the toes toward the end of the squat, press through
the heels coming up keeping knees over toes.
3. Hip and Hamstring Mobility is essential to build our
foundation movement the squat. Without our ability to do this,
we will never be able to move into front and overhead squats.
Work on pole and wall squats to improve this.
This sounds great, you have been working squats this week ;)
and last, but my knees are popping and I am tight! You
need trigger point work and soft tissue therapy. It is easy
and you should do it on your own! We have the equipment, if
you need help just ask. What are
trigger points? How do I
massage/relieve them? We actually use rollers and balls at the box,
but the pictures in the link show you can use just a plain tennis ball.
Doesn't he look like he is in pain?
Just Playing, PM!
It
is tough at first, but the pain subside the more you do it.
The more pain, the more you need it! We have Trigger Point kits for sale cheaper than you will find them elsewhere. |
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