CrossFit Sac News: Scotty The Intern Deadlifts!

CrossFit Sacramento

A big CONGRATS to our beloved intern, “Scotty the Intern” who dead-lifted 358lbs last night, setting a PR and shattering any existing intern gym record.

Considering that he’s 6’0″ and weighs 150lbs soaking wet in canvas clothes, that’s a bad ass dead lift!

W00t! I love to see my students kick butt like that!

Traveling CrossFitter

We love getting traveling CrossFitters in our box. We never charge for a drop in unless you’re going to be in town for a substantial amount of time.

Anyhoo, yesterday evening we had an avid CrossFitter, who is an agent for DHS drop by and train.

He’s one of those people that you read about in Clancy books. The complete badass. Chiseled. Athletic. Methodical (consulted his WOD notes frequently). I wish we could have talked more.

Here’s what he had to say…

Once again, thanks and I love what you are doing with young athletes.

CrossFit Sacramento: Free Saturday Classes!

What: Free Saturday Class!
When: 9AM
Where: CrossFit Sacramento, 2420 Butano Dr. Suite 102
Sacramento, CA 95825
Phone: 916.971.1000
Email: fourthpowerfitness@comcast.net

Here’s how it works:

• Give us a shout. Phone us. Email Us.
• Show up fifteen minutes early.
• When you come in — we’ll do the whole meet and greet thing and get to know each other a little better.
• You’ll sign a waiver
• When class starts:
  • We’ll talk about CrossFit on a high level.
  • Warm up
  • One or Two foundational movements will be taught
  • You’ll get to do a CrossFit WOD (workout of the day) scaled to your ability.
• You get three free classes. After that you have to make a decision and get on a plan.

The Ball Slam

The Ball Slam is a fantastic exercise and shows up in a plethora of workouts. Like most of the exercises we employ, it’s a “core to extremity” one.

1. Hold a bounce resistant D-Ball with both hands overhead. Keep your feet hip-width apart, knees slightly bent and toes facing forwards. Try doing a slow, simulated version of the movement during which you keep your back straight and end up with your hand by your thighs.
2. Slam! In one explosive movement, drop from your hips and slight incline your trunk forward. Keep your back solid and your hands outstretched, and slam the ball against the ground. The inner edge of the ball should contact the ground right in line with your toes. Keeping your back solid with square shoulders, catch the ball as quickly as possible and stand up into the beginning position.
3. Add intensity once you’ve mastered the movement. Start by increasing the weight of the ball you’re using.

Here’s a quick comparison between two ball slams. The first is one of our great high school kids, Steph, going through the slams in “21 the Hard Way”. The second is a “this is the way to do it” ball slam sequence example from CrossFit.com. Lets take a look:

Steph in the middle of 21 Ball Slams during 21 the hard way

CrossFit.com Ball Slam example

Obviously there are a few differences here.

1. Overhead position: For the most part, new athletes tend to be a bit shallow with their extension overhead. More experienced folks get the ball overhead with full extension akin to a decent press. Very experienced CrossFitters will get to the “reverse C” extension shown in the bottom photo sequence above.

   Basic Goal: Strive for active shoulders at the top to start off the proper full range of motion execution of the exercise.

2. Stance / Posture: The proper stance is your air squat stance. The recommended stance is heels at about shoulder width apart, toes pointed out at about 30 degrees. Stance is a very individual thing, and will vary with hip width, hip ligament tightness, femur and tibia length and proportion, adductor and hamstring flexibility, knee joint alignment and ankle flexibility.

   Whew! A LOT comes into play! Who knew?

   In Steph’s sequence, she’s got a bit of a wider stance than the CrossFit.com model, and her toes are pointed out more. Tight hips are the issue here. However – the wider stance allows her to get to a wickedly deep squat. Nice!! This in itself will cause the problem to correct itself and allow her to, in short time, assume a more useful narrower stance like the model has. One minor cue would be for her to shove her knees out a little when she hits the bottom.

3. Bottom: The bottom position is a proper squat position with a straight back and squared shoulders.

   Steph has slammed her med-ball ball a bit in front of her. So she’s reaching for it. And since it’s a mushy med-ball with absolutely no bounce, she has to drop to a deeper squat to get it. It’s Oly Squat clean depth for sure! Huzzah!

   It’s also important to note that she decided to use a 30 lb medicine ball. That’s a lot of weight! Way to challenge yourself, Steph!

4. Final Thought: Naturally, with a larger load in an exercise smack in the middle of a long WOD, one can expect form to falter. In fact, we want it to. Accuracy goes to heck (ball winds up in front a little) and the upper body fatigues (extension at the top gets shallower.

   Steph’s form was solid and admirable throughout the WOD and she attacked it with good intensity. The camera happened to catch a few reps that weren’t 100% perfect, but provided a good “teaching moment”

   Good effort Steph! CrossFit Sacramento says “Keep It Up!”

CrossFit: It Doesn’t Have To Be Fun To Be Fun

Metabolic Conditioning (aka: Met-Con) is the base of the CrossFit exercise program. The only thing that trumps it is nutrition.

BTW – did you know that fifty percent of your athletic performance is based on your nutrition?

Met-Con is hard. Met-Con can suck, especially when you start to explore your limits. At that point you either wade out deeper and deeper and get comfortable with being uncomfortable or you back off and, as Jon Gilson from Again Faster has said, train yourself into mediocrity.

The choice is yours. It’s always there.

This is Chelsea starting the swings in the 3rd round of Helen.

Chelsea getting after Helen - Two Rounds In.

Excellent work! No doubt she’s not training for mediocrity. Performance gains in the gym, in sport and in life are headed her way.

How can I say that? Simple enough — the metabolic duress a typical CF workout can put you through is character building. Every WOD gives you the opportunity to push yourself. You make that choice. You keep making the right one and the hard work translates itself into all other facets of life: work, family, loss, play, sport.

A CrossFit you is a you ready for anything.

A CrossFit you is a you who won’t pack it in when the chips are down.

A CrossFit you is a you that embraces challenges and new experiences.

A CrossFit you is a you that realizes it doesn’t have to be fun to be fun.