A Word About Your Low Back

This back positioning is sweet. Learn to lift like Rob Orlando.

Admit it, you thought I was going to hammer Rob about his low back as soon as you saw the title of this post and photo. Oh no, young padawan learner. Rob's kung fu is very, very strong. But let's talk about why.

1) Rob is very, very strong. His perfect form does not break down even when he lifts round, gravity dense objects from terrible positions.

2) Perfect form? Yes, note that Rob's low back is FLAT! His low back is loaded and in neutral. Look again at the photo. Rounded? Phsah! Flat, and flat is safe!

3) Rob has stellar hip flexibility and he is sufficiently abducted (leg's turned out) to maximally un-impinge his hips. The hulk tail (legs) is not wagging the hulk (hips). Rob's connective tissues and joint capsules are not passively pulling his low back into a less than ideal flexed position. And this is a huge point. Don't let your hips dictate your spinal positioning! Get those knees out and get some hip flexion flexibility already!

4) Rob's hips are high enough to allow for his low spine to be in a more advantageous position. Butt down is fine for O-lifting to keep the chest upright for the second pull, but Rob's rock is low and he has no second pull here. He has to keep his hips high to teeter-totter into an workable position.

5) Rob's thoracic-spine is how he accommodates the flat low back. Note any good strength lifter and you'll see thick paraspinal muscles along the mid back. Why? Because loading the mid spine in a flexed position is way preferable than loading the crappy low back in a flexed position. McGill ET all demonstrated that lifters and athltes with chronic low back pain loaded the low back first in movement. Rob is loading his legs and upper back first. Well done Rob.

6) That stone is as close to Rob's center of gravity as possible. And, it is as close to his chest as possible. Be one with the stone. Literally.

7) Even if Rob was in a slightly flexed lumbar position (which he is not), he is not violating the "minimize spinal movement under load" principle. He starts in a tight position and lifts. Your spine will handle a ton of silly nonsense if you can keep it in one position during extreme loading. It does NOT handle inter-vertebral movements very well during loading. In fact, this is why squatting and reversing into lumbar flexion is the number one way to destroy your back (or deadlifting and ending up in a flexed lumbar, dog-poo position).

8) Robb practices. A lot.

Way to lift with your legs Rob!

Coach-K-suckered-you-didn't-I?-Star

Chasing Performance Seminar @ SFCF This Saturday

Hey Gang,
Just a reminder that SFCF is hosting it's very own Chasing Performance Seminar with some SFCF coach (this guy) this Saturday from 9am to 4pm. This day of Movement, Mobility, and Maintenance will be a veritable festival of body mechanics and models of recovery.
We still have space for the chosen ones (you). You can sign up through www.sanfranciscocrossfit.com. This seminar is booked out through Summer 2010 in OTHER places. It won't be back in SF for some time. Don't be whining when "like a virgin on prom night. I mean they vanish, swishh..."(Utah, gimme two!)
Seminar Goals:
•Improve understanding of key anatomical elements as they relate to functional movement, and as performance limiters.
•Increase awareness of “best-fit” biomechanical set-up and movement strategies for optimal work outputs.
•Understand movement compromise strategies for specific movement outcomes.
•Develop an understanding of common movement dysfunctions and a systematic model for addressing common problems associated with elite training
•Develop effective abdominal/spine stabilization strategies
•Understand and apply neuro-muscular stretching methods
•Understand methods to improve overhead positioning and efficacy
•Develop methods to address common myo-fascial pain/dysfunction
•Understand how to treat soft tissue injuries
•Develop better movement preparation strategies

For our regulars athletes classes have been shifted forward half an hour.
Level 2--7am
Level 1--8am
Open Gym --Cancelled.

Hope to see you there.


Coach K-doode-you're-jacked-up-star

Team SFCF!

Congratulations to the SFCF Rainbow Fawn Squad for making such a strong showing at this year's Crossfit Games.
The day's competition brought three fierce workouts and strong competition. Ninety-seven teams competed for the Affiliate Cup title and it was pretty much a good old fashioned throw-down.

Our SFCF kids posted the second fastest time in the stadium chipper workout and were right in the heart of the action for the other two events.

Also, big shout out to Coach Angel who survived the "sporty-run" and little "ham-string streching" events. (imagine two of the hardest workouts you can, now do them within two hour of each other, and make them a little worse).

Enjoy the photos! (thanks to Huge-gene click here for his rad gallery)

Coach Kstar

Minimize Spinal Movement Under Load

Hi Kelly,
I have a client who is 25 years old and started crossfitting about 8 weeks ago. He has come along way and lost about 25 lbs over that course of time. I follow catalyst athletics and have set up a program of strength wods and met con wods through my workouts. I myself follow crossfit football, as I concentrate on my weakness, which is strength. About a week ago, this client particpated in a strength wod where we did Push Press for 5 x 3 @ 75 of 1 rep max. However, he tweaked his back and has been sore around his middle back down to his lower back. I told him to ice and we did some mobility stretches for his back. What is your recommendation if you have any to ease this soreness.
--KO

At issue here, is that this athlete likely ended up in an over-extended thoracic position while under load. It is likely that as the client ultimately moved toward the end range of his push-press (and ostensibly began to experience decreased bar speed toward the end of the press), he probably leaned back a little to bias his pressing from less straight up and down to more of an "incline-style" standing press.
There are several problems with this of course, the most conspicuous is that it likely lead to some overextended thoracic spinal facet joints (the facets are serious weight bearing joints in the spine on either side of the disc--the spinal nerves pass right by this two joint complex) that are now a little sensitized. There are other important pieces of information to be gleaned here as well.

First, as we approach peak working loads or muscle fatigue, it is important that at the moment we reach close to no velocity or bar movement, that our spinal position remain the same. That is, as we begin to move toward what is ultimately a near isometric contraction (mid-way through a press you get stuck) there should be no deviation what-so-ever in your set up positioning. The set up and pull is the same for deadlifting a hundred pounds or two-thousand pounds. Post-maximal loads can be safely handled in an iso-metric position if there is no deviation from an ideal or best-fit set up. We get into problems when there is movement in the spine under load.

Movements like the kipping pull up have a great deal of thoracic extension true, but the spine is significantly less loaded and in a better distracted position. But people here too will experience "spinal closing pain" as well with wild kipping. The kids that are best at pull ups will demonstrate very little spinal movement through-out the movement range. These athletes tend to adopt a spinal set up and then keep in through-out the movement (think Spealer and his 100 pull-ups).

And this leads us to our main point. The mid-line stabilization concept about which we know so much, is really a fancy way of describing the capacity to maintain a neutral spine under load, task, or intensity. Clearly over extending your upper-back in the middle of a pressing movement is a violation of this principle. So too is reversing or changing your lumbar curve in the bottom of a squat. Get your spine set up, and keep it that way. The best Olympic style weight-lifters know this and are able to receive enormous loads dynamically AND still not experience inter-spinal segment movement (power-lifters too).



The main reason to refrain from loaded spinal movement of course is not because you risk an over-extension injury, or that you may shear one of your "precious" little lumbar discs into an exploding jelly-doughnut, no it's because changing your good spinal position in the middle of a load will lead to decreased force production and power out put! It is difficult enough already to get into a good position un-loaded during the set-up. Do yourself a favor and don't then try to buffer a worse position when is matters most. Pretend instead that your spine is frozen in titanium when you are lifting. Trust me.

As for this kind of extension injury. Ice, rest, gentle mobilization, and let those poor joints cool off. And most importantly, under-stand what went wrong and don't be that guy ever again.

Coach K-star

Thanks.

As most of you know by now, the SFWeekly has published a negative, and factually inaccurate article about San Francisco Crossfit generally, and me specifically.
We have taken up our very serious concerns about the article with the SF Weekly's publisher and editor directly, which is why we have not commented or attempted to defend ourselves publicly.

We wanted to take this opportunity to personally thank our San Francisco Crossfit family and the greater Crossfit community for their public support and affirmation of our work at SFCF. While we are always astounded by the athletic achievements of our athletes, we are most proud of the community and camaraderie that we see every day at SFCF.

And for all you SFCF haters, hate this.


Caroline "Bear" Starrett



Thank you,

Coach K-Star

National Champions, AGAIN!

This past weekend, the Junior National Rowing Championships were held in the middle of the country for all high school age teams. We are very proud to announce that the Marin Rowing Association's Varsity Women's 8+, won the National Championship by almost five seconds (open water) for the second straight year in a row. A five second gap is slightly freakish, but so are the work capacities of these talented young women.

This is the third year SFCF has been providing the strength and conditioning for these girls, and many of the seniors on the team have been with us that long.

Balancing a competitive rowing schedule and a couple of weekly Crossfit sessions is no joke. Many of our young Marin Rowers have the potential to be some of the best athletes around. Early last fall, these athletes made a commitment to out work their competition and win back to back national titles with many new athletes in the boat. Clearly they did.

Kudos to Coaches Carl Paoli and Angel Orozco who took over coaching responsibilities this spring. The Marin athletes were greatly relieved to have two additional new coaches to hate.

--Coach K-Star

The Finisher Part 2

Recall the Original...

Now let's talk about application to the individual.

In Powerlifting, it is not uncommon to hear a coach remark to one of his athletes that "you've got a 500lb ass, but 300lb hammies", or something similar. Far from being a tactic to rile the ire of a lifter before smashing some weight, these types of remarks are simply coarse reminders that the lifter's weak spots are holding them back from their potential; they are only as capable as the weakest link in the chain.

The same can be said of your general physical preparation.

Once you've established your weaknesses, the finisher can be an excellent time to continue to work on these areas of difficulty. The ideas you formulate do not have to be exact here. The doing is what's important.


Say, you have a weak upper body? Time to break out the deadhang/weighted pullups or some sort of press. A few bouts of feet-free rope climbs are great too.

Not enough wind in the sails? Rally for one or two short sprints after your workout or one mid-distance sprint (think 500m Row or 400m Run).

Worried you're not as explosive as you'd like to be? A few sprint-starts or max vert/broad jumps oughtta help out.

Pick one or two of the things you need attention on and add an appropriate finisher for a few weeks. When progress starts to falter with your given exercise, change it just enough so you can continue to move forward, but so much that it becomes something completely different. Soon enough you'll have full access to that 500lb ass.

-Adrian "Weaknesses?-I-had-weaknesses..." Bozman

Get Off The Ibuprofen Peoples!

Hey Kelly,

At the seminar you said no more ibuprofen, so I stopped. But what should I take when the DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) is bad? I foam roll, tennis/lacrosse ball roll, etc... But it only goes so far. Crushing the fish oil as well. ASA (an NSAID by the way) or acetaminophen or just suck it up? (all parentheses are mine)

Thanks

WC

----------------------------------

All right, let's set the record straight about this stuff.

The Disclaimer: Medicine is serious busines. Always follow the advice of your doctor.

Sorted?

Ok. Ibuprofen has no place in the life of the athlete obsessed with chasing performance.

Taking an anti-inflammatory drug of any kind makes tendons and ligaments weaker, and stops muscles from getting stronger.

Is this clear enough? Yes, we used to call it Vitamin I. Yes, we used to say that RICE should have a second "I" in it (Rest, Ice, Ibuprofen, Compression, Elevation).
We used to also do "21's" on back and bi's day too. It's not ok.

Here's the low down. Ibuprofen is an NSAID (Non-Steroidal-Anti-Inflammatory-Drug) which is believed to work through the inhibition of cyclooxygenase (COX), thus inhibiting prostaglandin synthesis. Prostaglandins, are like hormones in that they act as chemical messengers, but do not move to other sites, but work right within the cells where they are synthesized. Prostaglandins are vital mediators of the inflammatory cascade. The swelling and subsequent prostaglandin production signals all of the important cells circulating in your body to come and fix/reinforce the challenged tissues. That's right, all that soreness you feel after Fran is the resultant swelling from all the micro-damage you've done to your muscles. It's this very inflammatory response that is responsible for making you a BETTER ATHLETE. The Worst thing you can do is to go through a horrible workout like Fran and then not reap the resultant gains from the training stimulus.

No good coach should allow their athletes to take ibuprofen at anytime. Even if they are hung over..

Why?

NSAIDs have been shown to delay and hamper the healing in all the soft tissues, including muscles, ligaments, tendons, and cartilage. Anti-inflammatories can delay healing and delay it significantly, even in muscles with their tremendous blood supply. In one study on muscle strains, Piroxicam (an NSAID) essentially wiped out the entire inflammatory proliferative phase of healing (days 0-4). At day two there were essentially no macrophages (cells that clean up the area) in the area and by day four after the muscle strain, there was very little muscle regeneration compared to the normal healing process. (Greene, J. Cost-conscious prescribing of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for adults with arthritis. Archives of Internal Medicine. 1992; 152:1995-2002.)

Long term NSAID use is hard on your tissues and directly responsible from some pretty gnarly chronic body issues.

So how do we treat acute inflammatory/inflammation pain?

You know the answer.

Ice. (Maybe a little Tylenol if you really, really need it, it's not an NSAID after all)

But remember, Acetaminophen causes three times as many cases of liver failure as all other drugs combined and is the most common cause of acute liver failure in the United States. Even recommended doses especially combined with even small amounts of alcohol (Yes you Crossfitters) have caused irreversible liver failure. Don't be so cavalier about treating your muscle soreness with drugs. Taking pain meds of any kind is serious.

Can you see the difference between treating pain and treating inflammation? Control swelling and Pain with Ice as seen below, it won't short circuit the way your body actually heals itself and becomes stronger. (Hell, the Ice bath might make you a little stronger too.)



Bask in your soreness!Brag about it at work as your friends help you get up off the toliet. And above all, practice all the recovery tricks you know! These include: Proper nutrition, fluid intake, ice bath, fish oil, active recovery, stretching, massage, etc.

Hell, you can even sneak in another quick workout the next day before the 48 hour soreness beat down really kicks in! Quick, let's do Fight Gone Bad before you get too sore from yesterday's double fran! For example.

Seriously. Knock it off. Get off the Vitamin I.


--K-There-is-no-I-in-Star

Quality

Much discussion is given about the best way to 'game' certain workouts. With the rise in popularity of events such as the CrossFit Games (and the popularity of CrossFit in general), many people seem to be equating 'best workout' with 'best strategy for a particular workout', instead of best effort put forth on a particular workout.

Let's look at a very basic example, the CF workout 'Helen', which is done for total time:

400m Run
21 Kettlebell Swings
12 Pullups
Repeat 3x

If competition was important to me and I absolutely had to beat Kelly and Angel (it's an ego thing...), I would be reluctant to go too hard on the running as I am a total hack runner. By dogging it on the run, I'll remain relatively fresh for the things I'm already good at, most likely resulting in a lower overall time. This is great if my goal is to beat Kelly and Angel. This is not so great if my goal includes not being lame at things I'm already lame enough at.

Now, knowing that I am a hack runner, what physical improvements to my running do I receive from being a big baby on the run (Hint: lower total time/better score does not always equal direct physical benefit)? How do I expect to become better at running hard and recovering if I never subject myself to that at the very time I should be...in Training!

And there lies a bit of a disconnect in many people's training. The gaming of workouts has become standard practice for many of us despite the fact that we have no desire to be 'Best CFer On Earth'. Instead, the focus should be 'How can I bring my weak points up?'. The answer is to put forth the best effort possible on the things you are not good at, even if it means you blow up later on. That's what practice is for. Does it really matter if you struggle in training? Will your world end if you don't finish first, but you really give it your all on something that is difficult for you? My guess is that you will find the final product to be much more capable and complete if the stopwatch or scorecard is not your only reference while training.

Personally, I find that when I start worrying too much about the number on the timer for too many workouts, I train myself out of the ability to put forth a truly max effort: My body (and mind) has been conditioned to hold back for fear of what's next. The timer hides my quality of effort on the things I am reluctant to push. Lately some 'quality of effort' workouts have been turning this tide around. These workouts all include plenty of rest between efforts and each effort is the best I can put forth in that moment. Things like:

-How far can I carry/drag/push that thing?
-How far up the hill at Buena Vista park can I sprint (not run) before I have to stop?
-How many reps can I get (think back squats etc) before I have to rack the bar?
-How many pushups can I make Angel do with a 100lb Sandbag on his back (answer: a lot)



Now, if competition is your thing and gameday is looming, obviously you do what you need to do inside the rules of competition to maximize your showing. I'm not suggesting that anyone who is gaming or strategizing a workout is not putting forth a good effort, but don't let this mindset invade every aspect of your training. There is a reason that high level athletes of all stripe do not care about winning at every single practice or training camp. They are too busy trying to get better.

The stopwatch is a useful tool, but it is also blind to the quality of the individual effort.



-Adrian 'Faster-Isn't-Always-Better' Bozman

Be Nice, Your Wrists Work Hard

Hey Kelly,
I injured my wrist at the bottom of a squat clean, and wonder if that's something common enough to warrant a blog post...I know a lot of people who've had trouble with the same kind of thing. What's the best bet for building up (or regaining) wrist strength/flexibility, etc.? My wrists are definitely the weak link for me in several exercises.

Thanks again,

-BK


It's true. The receiving position of full clean can be brutal on your wrists, not to mention front squats and the worst of all, thrusters. It's not uncommon that athletes end up with some sort of wrist tweak from one of these movements from time to time.
There are a few things that you can do to PREVENT significant wrist hurtage.

1) Warm up your wrists! These poor boys are the linkage between your 400lb front squat and your hips. Be cool and show them some serious love before you start red-lining. Think of your wrists as conduits for some very high tension wires. Most of the time for wrist neutral activities, you can count on your wrists not needing much care and feeding, but as soon as you even start thinking about some high speed wrist extension some alarms should start sounding.

-Be sure your core temperature is up. If you have a sweat going, chances are you're wrists are warm enough too. Cold tendons, confined tendon boxes (wrists), and at high speed is uncool. Very un-dude.

-Start your wrists slowly (not dynamically) into the position of emphasis. You'll probably notice that just getting into a front squat rack position is a little tough on your wrists. So don't go jamming them into a challenging position with an additional speed insult. Doode, be cool.

-Give your wrists some slack. Make sure your thoracic spine is mobile enough that you don't have challenge your wrist positioning unnecessarily. (see below)



-Be sure to release any hook grip you may employing. That hook grip wonder is really expensive when you use it at the receiving position.

-Make sure your other soft tissues support a more wrist neutral position. So, stretch arm flexion limiting structures like your triceps and lats.

-Move your grip a little wider out. Too many people use too narrow a grip. This narrow grip reduces your shoulder positioning options and makes for a tougher wrist position. Widen your grip and let your elbows come out to at least a 45 degree angle from your body if you are tall or if you are a little wrist compromised.



-Try wrapping your wrists (check for an old post about homemade wraps) or using a more serious wrist wrap from www.prowriststraps.com.

-Do you work on strengthening your grip? It's obvious, but under-untilized. At the end of every work out work on your grip. Ask your coach how or google "grip strength" and "milo".

-In light movements that don't require a perfect rack like the thruster, drop your elbows down a little, just be sure not to drive them into your legs when you are at full compression at the bottom of your squat. Elbow-knee contact will break your wrist so if you are going to be risky, don't be that guy.



-Practice receiving the bar at the shoulder rack position while changing the
position the bar rests in your hands. You may have to fingertip it, but either
way, one centimeter in your palm either way can have a significant effect on your
wrist position. Cleaning is a high skill activity, there are som small details to which you will have to start paying attention.

-If your wrists are manky, clean just the bar at least 30 times before you even dream of putting weight on that thing.

-I know a bunch of people that use a more dangerous open grip in situations like the press and thrusters to unload the wrist. This is more dangerous, but it works. Heck there is recent video of bench pressing beast Dave Tate using the open bench press grip. (And he's no ass-sponge)



Do you have a wrist tweak? Don't talk to me until you've started icing that thing at least a couple of times a day. And, if you do have wrist issues, choose your extreme wrist extensions wisely. Handstands and push-ups might be need to be done in a neutral position on dumbells or paralleletts. Your wrists might only tolerate so much silly bull-shite in one day. If you are having a continued problem,
go see a good physio.

Above all. Be nice. You will miss your wrists when they are gone.

Kstar

Heads Up!

This weekend SFCF is hosting the Affiliate Cup Throwdown. Here's the Skinny:

Where?: SFCF 610 Old Mason Street

What?: A team workout for teams of 4-6.

When?: 11:00am this Saturday.

The workout will be tough. And awesome. And perhaps less conventional than what goes on inside a CrossFit gym.

Spread the word!!



-Boz

Don't Save Anything For the Swim Back

This weekend found some of the SFCF kids hanging it out there at the Nor Cal regional Crossfit Games qualifier. And while the competition was fierce, we are always blown away by how much more untapped capacity our athletes have.

What is it about us as athletes that requires extraordinary circumstances in order to
elicit our best?



How about Mike D (Captain Flabongo) cleaning his PR 10 times during a little short ten
minute piece?

Or,

A little thing called my first 10 muscle ups, ever.
Way more impressive pulling out the last Muscle up in the final 15 seconds than the other two top 5 finishes in the other wods. Nice work Dizzle.



Or, C-Rin jerking about her bodyweight 10 times like it was nothing.



Or, Gravelly-nice laying down the third fastest row-burbpee-jerk wod?



In the great movie Gattica, Ethan Hawke is telling his brother how he was always able to beat him in their private swimming battles. He turns to his big brother and says, "I never saved anything for the swim back".

All you had to do was watch the classy, humble man-beast Coach Angel this weekend to understand what it was that Ethan Hawke meant. Turns out Angel qualified for the Crossfit Games this weekend with performances that were inspiring and brilliant.




So,put yourself in the pressure cooker. See what turns up. Chances are you will.


K-anxiety-increases-performance-star

The Blog Vacation is OVER!

Seriously.
Thanks for your patience. To celebrate, enjoy this photo of Coach Carl.



Now on to some business. In addition to the normal SFCF Boz/Kstar blog ramblings, we are going to start posting some of the daily rehab/performance physio-therapy related emails that we receive, much like Robb Wolf does on his great site www.robbwolf.com.

There is a lot coming down the pipe so bare with us on this first blog back.

SATURDAY, MAY 2ND - OPEN GYM CANCELLED

UPCOMING EVENTS AT SFCF:

MAY 5, 2009: CINCO DE MAYO TACO OLYMPICS AND TACO SOCIAL: SFCF is hosting its second taco social on Cinco de Mayo (or May 5th), 2009. The event will start with the Taco Olympics at 6 p.m. followed by all-you-can-eat tacos at 7 p.m. SFCF will provide beer, margaritas,and water. $10/person. NO 7 p.m. CLASS ON MAY 5TH DURING TACO SOCIAL

JULY 25, 2009: CHASING PERFORMANCE: MOVEMENT, MOBILITY & MAINTENANCE: This one day seminar taught by our own Kelly Starrett is a performance oriented workshop for athletes and coaches wishing to develop effective mobility and flexibility strategies, improve ideal athlete positioning and movement set-up, and implement body maintenance practices.

Seminar Goals: Improve force production, increase work outputs, avoid common and preventable movement dysfunction and injury, understand how to address simple performance related myofascial issues.

You Can: Work Harder, Improve Your Fran Time, Squat More, Improve Your Overhead Capacity, Remain Injury Proof, Increase Your Volume Under the Work Capacity Curve, Solve Your Friends Pain!

TO ENROLL, JUST COPY AND PASTE THIS LINK INTO YOUR WEB BROWSER:
http://clients.mindbodyonline.com/ws.asp?studioid=5386&stype=-8&sTG=23&sVT=11&sTrn=100000001&sDate=7/25/2009 or proceed to the "Workshops" tab in our MindBody system.

$175/Current SFCF Members; $200/General (SFCF Members: email juliet@sanfranciscocrossfit.com to obtain discount code)

AND!!!!

The norcal Crossfit Qualifiers are this weekend.
Need a ride? Post your contact info to comments.

Good luck all our SFCF athletes!

K-it's-good-to-be-back-star

Think of It As Potential Potential

Typically, warming up for the front squat or clean involves the usual lower-body biased movement prep rigmarole (that's abbreviated as LBBMPR). It is rare to see athletes prep for the significant thoracic extension required for success in these movements. We often hear coaches cuing the athlete to have quick elbows in the clean turn-over rack, or to keep the elbows up in the front squat. We do not however often hear coaches go the next step with their athletes and facilitate these trouble positions of emphasis.

You can think about the upper back extension required for a successful rack as increased likely-hood potential of a successful lift. For example, most missed front squats or failed cleans happen as a result of not being able to maintain the upright back during the ascent out of the hole (lots of steps have to happen for that position to even occur in the clean of course...) In an attempt to solve the upright back position/thoracic extension limiting factor, coaches will have their athletes turn out at the set up, pull with a much lower butt position, and coach the athlete to let their knees track out over their feet. These all work. So too does getting the athlete a little more supple in the mid to upper back prior to lifting.

Lost thoracic extension in the hole cannot be reclaimed during the lift. If your elbows drop and your upper back rounds, that will be the position in which you will or will not complete the lift. So starting out with maximal upper-back/thoracic extension is vital. It's potential potential.




Our warm up for the clean/front squat includes the usual LBBMPR AND lots of thoracic extension prep like kipping, cobra press ups, overhead squats, shoulder mobility work, and a little time on the pipes of pain.

It works too. We have to cue elbows up a lot less, and our athletes are able to move weights at the limits of their strength, not the limits of their flexibility.


Kstar

Direction

Orientation is important. Understand we are not talking about the type of orientation that requires a fire-side chat with mom and dad, but rather the simple relationship between you and whatever heavy thing you would like to lift. You need to be clear in this relationship: The basics of What do I want to happen? How can I make this happen? and What Happens to make this happen? should be given a moment every once in a while (but not in the moment, as that will almost assuredly mean that the moment has passed).

Don't get lost in this process and think in terms of concepts, not details. Let's take a look at young Jo in the picture above. What movement is Jo performing? What is he hoping to accomplish with this lift? What direction is his body travelling during this phase of the lift? The bar? Having a clear road map is one strategy to make the path travelled less bumpy. Now remove this idea from your thoughts and lift.

Notorious P below has the right idea: Think, then enjoy. Or don't think, but react. Remember, lifting, training, huffing and puffing are all means to an end, not the end itself.

-Adrian 'West-Coast' Bozman

Up

Ok, so the time has come. The gauntlet is officially being thrown:

Make it to the top rung of the Coffin and you get a free T-shirt. You also get to immortalize yourself in SFCF lore by signing your name on Larry's creation.

You can take a running start, but you have to land with both feet and stand up (stick it!). Successful attempts have to be witnessed by a coach. So far we have two athletes that have been successful...

The NorCal Regional Qualifiers for the CrossFit Games are just around the corner (May 2nd and 3rd). Being lucky enough to help out with the planning meant a dry-run of the proposed event over the weekend (Mega-Fun!). While I can't shed any light on the event itself, maybe the following pictures can give you a hint or two:


The event will be tough, but will definitely select some fit individuals to represent our area in the CrossFit Games this summer. That being said, the qualifier is open to all levels and I would highly recommend everyone who is even slightly interested to sign up and compete. It should be a good time and a great experience if competition is your thing.

If competition isn't your thing, volunteers are still needed to help out with the logistics of the event as well as judging. If that is something you are interested in, please contact Austin (the dude in the middle with the shovel): austin @ crossfitunlimited.com.

Adrian "Still-Sore" Bozman

Watchmen

We think it is our Coaching staff that makes us different.
And we are clear about using the word "Coach" instead of "Trainer".
Is there a difference?
We think there is.

Often, coming to SFCF is the first time an athlete has any experience with coaching. And, many of our athletes come from extensively coached backgrounds and find a coached experience with us that they recognize and one in which they can excel. Coaching is always the difference.

How well do you know your Coaches?
Did you know both Angel AND Diane are badminton champions?
Did you know that Boz majored in music in college?
Did you know that Carl's "side-gig" is a developing a revolution in coaching independent elite athletes? Naka Athletics
Did you know that Kelly's real passion is for making drift-wood art?

Do they get coaching? You bet, check out the furious five getting better.

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Even coaches need coaches.

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Stretch Your Psoas Peoples

The psoas (soh-as, like the P in pneumonia) is a nasty little critter of a muscle. And as an aside, it is the fillet Mignon of the human body (helpful if you should crash your plane with your Crossfit team in the Andes.) The superior attachments of this thick bastard are along either side of your lumbar spine (with fibers potentially going even higher.) Then, the psoas crosses over the pelvic bowl and inserts on the inside of your femur. You could say the psoas is a two joint muscle but it ends up crossing upwards of at least eight functional anatomical segments. We tend to think of it as the powerful hip flexor it is, but this is a little simplistic. The psoas also acts to flex the trunk at the hips if the legs are planted as in a glute ham sit up. The psoas also acts to position the head of the femur in the acetabulum. All this AND this hard working "hip-flexor" stabilizes the spine (poorly) and helps keep us in a solid extended position (this last piece is a problem sometimes when we deadlift--over extension.).

So, you can imagine that a tight psoas can potentially cause quite a few problems. Imagine the crazy lumbar extension load that goes on in sprinting when a tight psoas gets super stretched when the hip is at full extension behind the athlete (stronger abs anyone?)

We hear about hard working athletes that get an achy low back after sleeping on their backs all night. Psoas anyone?

Needless to say, psoas warming up/stretching has been addressed by a million different people in a million different ways. When you perform the Sampson stretch as advocated by the "better Crossfit warmup" you are hitting the front or anterior hip capsule/structures and a bit of the psoas.

But, we want to advocate for a little bit more psoas focused/biased stretching
movement.

The set up will look the same for any kneeling hip opener, but the difference is the blocking of the upper back by a pole or door way.

So, take an extreme kneeling position in front of a pole or door way while thinking about maximally opening the hip of the trailing leg (that would be going through the doorway behind you.)



Normally we would tell our athletes to imagine tucking their pelvis under to facilitate the hip/psoas stretch.



Instead, think about pushing your upper back into the pole or door-jam as above. This will act to fulcrum your pelvis forward and simultaneously keep your back upright.

Practice your contract relax by imagining that you are driving your back knee forward.
Five seconds peak contraction, ten seconds of moving further into your new range.
Shoot for a long 90 second exposure.

Oh, and that horrible ripping sensation going on in your pelvis?
That's just you becoming better at everything.

Kstar