J.T. Kalnay's Blog, page 8
April 17, 2013
Dear CrossFit, Improved Mobility Yields 100 Pound Front Squat PR
Dear CrossFit,
About six months ago, after a train wreck, we agreed that my squat technique needed attention. Thus, my trainers created a program that included, every day, getting into a goblet squat and holding that goblet squat. The program also included getting good/perfect form in an air squat to a 24″ box, then a 20″ box, then an 18″ box, and so on until I can almost get ATG. Once we had decent air squat form, we started working on getting a stronger back squat. I’ve always been pretty strong in the back squat, but for all the wrong reasons. Recently I’ve had some decent back squats (e.g., 315, 325). Anyway…, today front squats showed up in the WOD and we decided it was time to try. My last “front squat” PR (which was so ugly it shouldn’t have been called a front squat) was 145#. During this “front squat” the bar never touched my rack and was pretty much held out in front of me. At the “bottom” I didn’t really have my hip crease below my knee and all the weight was on my toes. That train wreck was what initiated the remedial six month program. Today, I got 245# (and had a spectacular bail at 265#). Yes I’m a little stronger than six months ago, but 99.9% of this 100# PR is attributable to one thing and one thing only, improved mobility (in the squat, in getting the bar on the rack). So, even though it hurts to work on mobility, and even though it takes a long time, please please please identify whichever piece of mobility is holding you back the most, and attack it like a pack of wild animals on fresh meat. One day you too may bust out a 100# PR. (The funny part of this story is that my trainer is in the habit of power cleaning my squat bails back up onto the rack for me. Today, after my epic bail, he approached the bar and grabbed it like he was going to power clean it. It had 265# on it. He started moving the bar then put it down and looked at it with a funny look. “How much is that?” he asked. “265 pounds” I answered. After a moment of dumbfounded awe (that’s how I’m describing it) he bumped knuckles and felt satisfaction that one of his clients had just busted out a 100# PR after a well-designed, thought out, and executed mobility program).
Thanks Carl, KStar, Rudy, EA, Doug C, Tim, Kim, and Jeff for all your help working on this mobility. Next up? Lower back and hips until I can touch my toes. Then watch out T2B!
I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be.
April 14, 2013
Dear CrossFit, Grazing The Goats
Dear CrossFit,
On a recent cross-country trip I read Soft Target by Stephen Hunter. It’s not his best, not in the same league with his Dirty White Boys or I, Sniper. At one point, one of the bad guys was reminiscing about paying goats for his wife. This reminded me that yes, I have goats. Unfortunately, I can’t trade these goats for anything valuable. I can only exercise to try to exorcise them. So today, after a lovely 5k walk in the spring sunshine (yes I too write fiction) it was time to head to the barn, by way of the goat pen. I still don’t have a muscle up, so I worked on ring dips (assisted). I still don’t have a HSPU, so I worked on wall walks, trying to get both “nose and toes” against the wall. I still get gassed really fast, so I did 30 burpees for time (2:55), “rested” on the floor for about ten minutes, then did 30 step ups onto a 24″ box for time (1:55). After another “rest” on the floor of the barn (thank goodness for the rock climbing mats), it was time for kettlebell assisted stretching. Holding a lengthy goblet squat has had big returns for my squats, so now I’ve added a KB assisted stretch for the hammies and lower back. The entire time I tried to visualize the movements I want to acquire, and tried to feel the sense of accomplishment I know is waiting when these movements get got. It’s spring, the daffodils are blooming (just days after the dandelions), and the grass is turning green. So it’s time to visit the goats, and let them graze in the newly awaken pasture. You might not be able to trade them for something valuable, but you might be able to trade them in anyway.
I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be.
April 13, 2013
Dear CrossFit, Toes To Bar
Dear CrossFit,
I got some coaching on toes to bar today. You may recall I got zero T2B in the Open. After getting some good pointers and developing a progression plan, we discovered a fundamental truth about T2B. If you can’t touch your toes with your hands, it’s going to be hard (impossible?) to touch a bar inside your hands with your toes. Thus we came up with a stretching plan to complement the movement progression. Through all this getting strong, and through all this hip mobility (e.g., holding 5 minute goblet squat), somebody (moi) forgot about all the other flexibility and mobility.
Thanks to the colleagues in the Shed ‘o Pain for the extra sets of eyes.
I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…
Dear CrossFit, Three Months In A Box
Dear CrossFit,
Three months ago one of my friends started coming to the box. This guy was already an athlete who was competing at a high level in his sport. He got a great deal on a promotion and said “what the heck” and “I will commit to three months.” Well…. three months are gone by and I got a chance to work out with my friend today in the Shed ‘o Pain. To quote my nieces, “OMG!”. This 140 pound athlete got a 325# deadlift today. This was a BIG PR. He also got his first two muscle ups today, after doing the CrossFit total. Then he was able to coach me up a little on toes to bar. (I still don’t have them, but he was able to explain how he does them.) During the Open I got to see this friend do his first C&J, and a lot of other firsts, all of which were way out of his comfort zone. And all this from three months in the box. If you’re in doubt, talk to your friends who WOD, find a coach you can work with, and commit to three months in a box. Sure it ain’t cheap, but neither is back-end health care that you need if you pass up this front end exercise. Commit, then get ready to change.
Dear Friend, please remember to return my Kool-Aid pitcher.
I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be.
Tiger Woods NOT Disqualified, Rule 34-1b/1 as applied to rule 20-12
This breach is covered by Rule 34-1b/1, and also falls under 33-7:
http://www.usga.org/Rule-Books/Rules-of-Golf/Decision-34/#34-1b/1
34-1b/1
Omission of Penalty Stroke When Score Returned
Q.In stroke play, a competitor returned an incorrect score for a hole due to failure to include a penalty stroke. After the competition closed the error was discovered. Does Rule 34-1b allow imposition of a disqualification penalty for a breach of Rule 6-6d?
A.As stated in Rule 34-1b, the Committee should impose a penalty of disqualification if the competitor knew, before the competition closed, that he had incurred the penalty but intentionally or unintentionally failed to add the penalty to his score, but not if the competitor did not know he had incurred the penalty.
33.7
A penalty of disqualification may in exceptional individual cases be waived, modified or imposed if the Committee considers such action warranted.
Any penalty less than disqualification must not be waived or modified.
If a Committee considers that a player is guilty of a serious breach of etiquette, it may impose a penalty of disqualification under this Rule.
April 12, 2013
Tianlang Guan One Shot Penalty For Slow Play
I don’t even want to contemplate the fallout if 14 year old Tianlang Guan misses the cut at the Master’s by one stroke, and that one stroke is the penalty for slow play. This could provoke a massive international incident that will have repercussions for Western athletes wherever they play. “Fortunately?” the penalty was assessed by an official from the European tour, but I’m certain that fact will be over-looked in the backlash. I wouldn’t want to try to get a tee-time anywhere in China in the next few years…
Dear CrossFit, Paleo Fish Oil and Diet Coke
Dear CrossFit,
Fish oil supplements are a good idea.
Diet Coke is not a good idea.
Downing fish oil capsules with Diet Coke is a really bad idea, especially when the Diet Coke dissolves the fish oil capsule coating before you are able to swallow the capsule. Usually I only see pukey at the gym, but today he visited during the taste explosion of Diet Coke infused fish oil.
I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…
April 11, 2013
Can You Hack A Plane With Your Smart Phone?
April 9, 2013
Dear CrossFit, It’s Time To Abandon The Games
Once upon a time, in a box far far away, Coach and some athletes decided to see what worked and what didn’t. It was always an experiment that at it’s core was about improving the health of the athletes. The experiment worked and people started getting more fit and more healthy. They learned functional movements and improved their metabolic conditioning. The word spread, and the word was good. But then something else happened. Someone asked “who’s the best?” And that’s where it all started to go down hill. It changed from a co-opetition where everyone helped everyone, to something else. It changed to something where people padded reps, and counted no-reps. It changed to something that had prize money and television and smoke and celebrities. People stopped caring about being fit and started caring about being the best, whatever that meant, and whatever that took.
Coach, you’ve always had the b*lls to speak the truth. Do you still? Do you recognize what the Open and the Games have done to your experiment? Do you have what it takes to call off this horrible charade? To realize that your experiment has run off the rails? I’ve seen the co-opetition and community perverted into just another ego-fest. Call it off. Tweak the experiment. Put down the endorsements and stop looking at your bank account. Put the athletes first again.
I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…
April 7, 2013
Dear CrossFit, The Line Is In The Sand
CrossFitters will understand the next line, others might not:
41,062 out of 46,633 finishers (over 57k registered)
Highest finish in any event: 39,382
Lowest finish in any event: 57,400
So, there’s the sand and there’s the line in the sand. 47 weeks to see how far that line can be moved. Game on.
I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…
