Archive for August, 2012

We are very excited to announce new programming at CFSR to help you reach your fitness goals and progress in your athletic development. Beginning September 9th, 2012, we will be offering CrossFit classes based on athletic development levels, and providing more information on our daily programming so that you can plan your weekly schedule and best utilize CFSR to realize your potential. We’re also adding more Strength and Olympic Lifting classes so more members can access them. Our goal is to serve you, our great membership and community, better.

We invite any of you to make an appointment to talk with a coach individually if you want to figure out which classes you should take and how you might schedule your week. Our advice will be based on you and your individual needs and goals. Just contact Beth in the office and she can make an appointment for you with the coach of your choice.

Ok, here’s an overview of the offerings:

CrossFit Classes: Fitness and Performance Levels
We all arrive at CFSR with differing abilities, differing goals, and therefore differing needs in programming. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays our CrossFit classes will break into “Fitness” level and “Performance” level sessions to address these differences in programming needs. Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays our CrossFit classes will be “All Levels” classes.

“Fitness” classes are designed to increase your general health and fitness. We focus on quality of movement, strength gains, and aerobic and anaerobic capacity. Sound familiar? This is what our classes have always been like. Workouts can be scaled or modified to be harder or easier, depending on your needs. These classes are open to anyone in our membership, and the programming will meet the needs of the majority of our group members. Most of us are here to be healthy, have fun, and stay fit – these classes are for you.

If you are looking for more intensity, specific performance gains, more technically challenging movements, and competition, then the “Performance” level classes are for you. To be in these classes, you’ll have to meet the performance standards we’ve laid out, which include the ability to properly perform specific movements and move specific loads. We’ll post the Performance standards at the gym – look for them – and note that there are multiple levels within that class. The Performance level classes do not have a “go as hard as you can and kill the wod” mentality. They will incorporate planned periods of peaking and then backing off in intensity balanced with more Olympic lifting, skill development and lower intensity work. This kind of programming is what will take you to the next level of your athletic development, and will make you a better CrossFit athlete should you choose to compete in it as a sport.

Strength Class
Strength class will now be offered two days a week, but there’s a catch. The Strength class programming is written in 6 week cycles, and we will now be asking you to commit for the full 6 weeks. You can choose 1 day per week, or 2 days per week. Basically, if you want to get stronger, you need to commit to that goal and do the work for it by coming to that class for at least a full cycle.

Olympic Lifting
We were able to get one evening Oly class slotted, along with two daytime sessions. Check the draft schedule on the board to see when the new class times are offered. Olympic Lifting is one of the most effective ways to increase your speed and power, and the coordination and neuromuscular work involved carries over to so many aspects of life, athletic and otherwise. The more you do it, the more comfortable with it you’ll be. Like the Strength class, Olympic Lifting is programmed in 6 week training cycles, and we ask that you commit for one day a week or two days a week for the whole cycle. That’s how you’ll see great gains.

Thursday is a Low Intensity Training day for Recovery
Thursday’s CrossFit classes are “All Levels” and will be programmed as low intensity days. Wait, did we say “low intensity” in a CrossFit gym? Why yes, we did. You may have noticed these kind of workouts in the past few weeks: the 15 minutes of rowing? The 40 minute AMRAP with rowing, running, and strict pull ups? Yeah, it’s that stuff. Aerobic. Slow and long. Like 80-85% exertion. You might see some mobility flow or skill work in there too. Thursdays will also have a Strength Class and Open Gym time, so there are multiple options for your training on that day. If you are a Performance Level athlete and missed a workout earlier in the week, you have the option to come to Open Gym and make it up then.

Open Gym
Open Gym hours will be opened for Performance level athletes to come in and work on stuff they need or want to do. There will be a coach on the floor during this time, but usually s/he will be teaching a private or another class. This is only for self-motivated athletes that know what they need to be doing and know how to do it. Need to get some back squats in this week? Show up during Open Gym and go for it. You say you want to work on linking your muscle ups and increasing your strength for them? Do you have a plan for that? Oh, ok, come on in.

Track WOD and Swim Camp
We will continue to offer Track class, but it will be offered in the same way we did Swim Camp –as a session for a specific number of weeks with a specific training focus, for a couple sessions a year. We’ll be sure to publicize when the next Track WOD cycle as well as Swim Camp will be held.

This is an overview of our new programming and schedule, and we anticipate you’ll have questions. We will post a draft of the new schedule on the Announcements board in the gym, and you can also click on the image below to get a look. Please note that some changes may still be made to this schedule.

Thank you to all of you for participating in this great community! Each of you makes a difference and plays a role. We appreciate you and look forward to serving you better.

For the last several weeks we’ve had Glute Ham Raises (GHR) programmed at the end of Tuesday’s Olympic Lifting classes. It’s become clear that most of us don’t know what a Glute Ham Raise is, or how to properly use the GHD, so let’s talk about that.

First of all, “GHD” is an acronym for Glute Ham Developer. It’s not called a SUC (Sit Up Contraption) nor a BEM (Back Extension Machine). It’s a Glute Ham Developer. GHD. Remember that. Yes, it seems that GHDs are featured in CrossFit competitions, particularly the CF Games, as a place to do sit ups. But once again, let’s review the name of this thing: Glute Ham Developer. If you want to do sit ups on it, you are welcome to. But we purchased this for the gym specifically so that we could help you all strengthen your posterior chain, see your back squat and deadlift numbers go up, balance out any quad dominance you’ve got going on, and generally make you more powerful athletes. Sit ups are just not going to contribute to those goals the ways GHRs are.

The Glute Ham Raise is a powerful exercise, and hard. Charles Poliquin says it’s one of the “most important exercises for preventing back and knee injuries.” Dave Tate says it’s “one of the best exercises for increasing speed and power in the posterior chain.” Incorporate these into your warm ups or finishers.

So here’s how to do them:

1. Adjust the GHD for your body measurements: With your feet flat on the plates, your upper thighs should rest on the center of the pad with your knees about two inches behind the pad. Remember or record these adjustments on the GHD so you can easily set it up for yourself in the future.

2. Starting position: You can start with your body at horizontal, or with your torso draped over the pad and head towards the floor.

3. Cross your arms over your chest, raise your torso to perpendicular, then powerfully flex your knees and use your hamstrings to bring your torso up so it is VERTICAL to the ground and you are looking straight at the wall in front of you. This is the piece that most people at the gym seem to be missing. You will feel this in your hammies! And calves! And back! It’s not easy for most people.

We have been prescribing 6-9 reps for three sets. If that’s easy for you, grab some weight and hold it across your chest. And if you want to geek out and learn more, which we encourage, check out the many GHR variations Dave Tate offers, as well as Poliquin’s article, “Faster and Stronger with the Glute Ham Raise.”