Maxmead Fitness will be at RunAway Shoes in Green Bay and Appleton, WI for Mobility Mini-clinics on February 11th, 2012.
Come and Learn:
Learn some New Mobility Drills and Check out the New Shoes for 2012
Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012
Green Bay Store @1:00pm
Appleton Store @3:00pm
Every athlete, be they a runner, a rugby player, or parent of two active children (sometimes a contact sport!) needs to get stronger. Your body needs to build not only muscle, but the tendons and ligaments of joints require strength work to prepare for the stress of your activities!
Strength has lots qualities: Max effort strength, explosive strength, speed strength, strength endurance. All of which need to addressed in your training. Heavy lifts of Back Squats, Presses, and Deadlifts along with conditioning sessions of sandbag work, weighted walking lunges, pullups, sprints, kettlebells, & maybe even handstand pushups (work your way up to those). All are examples of scalable exercises all athletes should be incorporating into their training programs. How often and with what intensity/load depends on the individual and the sport.
The lesson is that now is the time for building strong bodies that will better handle the sports we play. Begin adding new ways to build strength of all kinds into your workout.
Don’t just rely on what you have always done! Remember the SAID principle: Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands. You must challenge yourself. We are recreating life, work, sport, the paleolithic hunt, etc in the gym. Sitting on shiny machines will not build strength for real-world movements. Coach Mike Burgener says: You must use “ground-based, free standing movements…using multiple joints”! Coach Greg Glassman: “Constant Varied High Instensity Functional Movement.” That is how we build strong, functional athletic bodies.
“What do I do, Ryan?”
Never trained at all? Find a good trainer and some dumbbells.
New to barbell strength training? Learn to squat and deadlift correctly.
Are you a more experienced lifter? Try some of Louie Simmons’ Conjugate Method, using speed lifts and box squats.
Need build strength for a contact sport? Sandbags for tackling and grappling strength.
Want to build more speed and explosiveness? Learn the Olympic Lifts.
Every athlete, every person needs to build strength for their activities.
Look at your program and see where you can add new strength exercises to help you prepare for the best year of movement yet. Then, get out and Lift Heavy Things!
Last night I spent some time in an uncomfortable place. A Hero WOD I would not have voluteered to do.
“Blake”
Four rounds for time of:
100 foot Walking lunge with 45lb plate held overhead
30 Box jump, 24 inch box
20 Wallball shots, 20 pound ball
10 Handstand push-ups
Hero-Blake McLendon
U.S. Navy Senior Chief Cryptologic Technician David Blake McLendon, 30, of Thomasville, Georgia, assigned to Naval Special Warfare Group 2 Support Activity in Norfolk, Virginia, was killed September 21, 2010, in a helicopter crash during combat operations in the Zabul province of Afghanistan. McLendon is survived by his wife Kate McLendon, his parents David and Mary-Ann McLendon, his brother Chris McLendon, and his sister Kelly Lockman.
Crossfit Hero workouts are hard challenges meant to honor fallen Crossfitters and take your self to a place of discomfort. Blake succeeded. This WOD took me 21:53. After the first round (which only took me 2:58 to complete, so you can see the workrate dropoff), I was uncomfortable for the rest.
For many of us, there are workouts, time domains, distances, or routines that are enjoyable, even when hard. And there are those where we just suffer. It is those uncomfortable workouts, the ones you would not choose on your own, where you gain the most. Your growth as an athlete comes when challenged in your weaknesses and you must push on. Last night at Crossfit Minnesota, my friend, Matt Franklin, remarked “It’s great to have Ryan working out in class tonight.” I had to. This WOD had several things that make me uncomfortable: A longer time domain, Handstand pushups, and Wallballs.
I have been working more on my strength and power recently. With that has been Olympic Lift sessions and short met-cons. Avoiding anything over 10 minutes. Then, I traveled to Appleton, WI to visit my brother and I got hit with the Lumberjack 20 at Crossfit Appleton. A 32 minute crushing delivered the realization that I needed. Must spend more time working long. Not all the time, but more often. “Get comfortable with uncomfortable”–OPT, some words to live by.
My goals are still in place: 200# Snatch (just achieved my last Oly benchmark, 170# snatch, my bodyweight), 255# Clean & jerk, & a 9:30 Helen. But, I cannot ignore the longer work.
S0, when Blake arrived on our board yesterday, I knew I could not run. A big Thank you to the 6:30pm crew last night for great motivation and camaraderie.
What are the workouts you fear or avoid? How do you tackle them?
Post yours in comments.
Beautiful Fall Day in Minnesota
Every fall I am reminded of yet another reason why the Midwest is a wonderful place to live: Running through fall colors. I know it sounds corny. But so often, dedicated fitness freaks are spending all their workouts this time of year in the dark of the early morn or after work, under fluorescent lights! Even for the Crossfitters, our outside runs usually happen in the industrial park without many trees.
Now am I all for heavy lifting sessions which require hard surfaces and barbells. Everyone must get stronger. However, this time of year, everyone should get outside and head for the woods. Time in beautiful natural surroundings help us feed the soul and prepare us for the winter marooning to come.
Make time in the next few weeks to grab family or friends and check out someplace new to train outside. Go for a trail run or just a walk with the kids. Explore a state park or unfamiliar local trail. If you have not run Lake Harriet in Minneapolis recently, now is your time!
Even if you have a running group who already runs someplace beautiful, like the Minneapolis Chain of Lakes; find someplace with different view or more hills. And you can still plan for a WOD! Remember to use your new-found training ground. 20 Jumps over fallen tree trunk. Race up the next steep slope. Handstand pushups on the small building in the woods! It does not have to be a boring meander. Make it fun!
Are you excited yet? Awesome!
Here are some my favorite spots in the Twin Cities-area:
And other great links for outdoor trails:
What do you plan to do outside before the snow flies? Post your favorite outdoor adventure spot in comments.
@Full Strength 