Black Box Summit

November 20-22: Austin, Texas

The 2009 Black Box Summit was created by affiliates for affiliates. This event will host 9 experts in the CrossFit Community who will come together to share their expertise in the field. For 3 days you get the opportunity to learn from the top professional coaches and affiliates who are dedicated to the pursuit of excellence. Learn programming, nutrition implementation, affiliate business models, and much more.

The Speakers: Robb Wolf, James Fitzgerald, Nicki Voletti, Aimee Anaya, Greg Everrett, Michael Rutherford, Dutch Lowy, Jeremy Thiel & Carey Kepler

This weekend training is the opportunity of a lifetime and

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Black Box Summit

Check out what's happening at The Black Box Summit!
Video, Pictures, and more @ SICFIT.COM

Recovery By Dutch Lowy

Recovery seems like a bad word in Crossfit these days. I get the feeling that people cherish their fitness and feel like if they take a day off, it will all go away. So when they are injured or sick they refuse to take a day off which only exacerbates the issue. Don’t be stupid. Read More

*Photo courtesy of CrossFit Eastbay

Collected Training from Catalyst Athletics

Catalyst Athletics recently posted a Collected Training Video - Watch this Video

Expereience in the Field

The BBS Speakers have years of experience in the fitness industry and running a CrossFit affiliate business. Among the 8 speakers there is well over 30 years experience in the field. Robb Wolf was the 1st CrossFit affiliate and has over 6 years experience running a successful box. OPT has been involved in the fitness industry for over 16 years and Michael Rutherford AKA Coach Rut has over 30 years experience. Find out More about the Speakers

Picture from Catalyst Athletics Olympic Weightlifting Seminar in Dallas

Dedication to Excellence

Crossfit Central Coaches work on their Olympic Lifts, form, and technique with Dutch Lowy

Going Overhead By CrossFit Norcal

By: CrossFit Norcal

In Crossfit as in life we are often required to go overhead.  The movement should be the same whether we are doing heavy presses or placing an enormous box of old college textbooks on the top shelf in the garage.

We are constantly reminding our athletes to maintain a neutral low back position and stabilize the spine under load, task, or intensity.  This is most commonly cued by telling you to pull your belly button to spine, pull your pelvic floor up, and anchor the bottom of the rib cage.  When doing presses however many of us break at our rib cages and hyper-extend our low back as the bar gets overhead.  This is not only a weaker position, but one that sets us up for potential injury.  In other words if you want to press more weight overhead then you need to keep that neutral low back position and spine stabilized throughout the movement. 

Take a look at the picture below.  Notice anything strange?  Let me help you out – that huge hyper-extension in my lower back and break at my rib cage is not good.  Presses should not look like this. This position is dangerous and weak.  This is also what my press looks like if I don’t mobilize my lats and triceps prior to pressing.  Some of us (myself included) struggle with this positional fault not because we aren’t fighting like crazy to keep our back neutral and midline stable, but because we literally don’t yet have the range of motion required to go overhead. 

The shoulder mobility circuit we go through as part of every class certainly helps open up the shoulders, but some of us need additional TLC to improve our movement.  Our friend Kelly Starrett, physical therapist extraordinaire, from San Francisco CrossFit has provided us with two epic stretches to help us on our mission for better movement.  Check them out at the links below:

http://sanfranciscoCrossFit.blogspot.com/2009/02/your-poor-lats-instructions-for-care.html
http://sanfranciscoCrossFit.blogspot.com/2009/02/ummm-youre-overhead-break-is-on.html

After taking the picture above I did these stretches for a total of 3 minutes.  Now check out my overhead position.  Not yet perfect, but noticeably improved.

How do you know if these are the right stretches for you to be spending your precious time on?  Always test then retest.  Pick a movement and try a few reps.  Do your stretching and retest.  Did you notice any difference?  You should notice a difference if you doing the right stretch to address your limitations and if not we need to try something else.  For me these stretches obviously make an enormous difference and are part of my daily regimen.  Shoot for 90 seconds per stretch.  Each time you stretch.

Generally we don’t recommend folks do static stretches prior to our workouts and during heavy strength work, but if you literally cannot safely get into the correct position then by all means spend some time prior to class opening up these ranges.  If you have serious movement limitations then you need to make these stretches your daily friends and check them out several times a day.  It is not weird to wake up, shower, grab some coffee, and spend a few minutes mobilizing your lats and triceps no matter what my wife says.  Trust me.

The Black Box Summit by Dutch Lowy

Imagine for a moment the opportunity to meet and learn from the most influential people in your field.  Fortunately we have taken the initiative on this and put together an amazing event.

Jeremy had the great idea of getting all the people in the Crossfit Community that shaped the way he trains and runs his business.  He and I have put together a fantastic event including people like, Robb Wolf, James Fitzgerald, Greg Everett, Aimee Anaya, Michael Rutherford and Nicki Violetti.  This event will include each individual presenter presenting info that they think is pertinent to making the Crossfit community better.  Among those topics are both business and training topics as well as some really cool discussions on the mental side of Crossfit.

To be honest with you, I am truly honored and excited to be a part of this.  Looking back at when I started CrossFit it was the people listed above that I idolized.  It is now my pleasure to bring them to the spotlight and help them get their knowledge to YOU!!  This will be the first annual event and can only grow in size and stature as the CrossFit community grows.  I look forward to meeting each and every one of you and can't wait to get all the presenters together and see what topics come up.

Collected Training by Catalyst Athletics

Collected Training by Catalyst Athletics:
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The Warm Up by Dutch Lowy

So I decided to post a video rather than try to explain everything I do for warm up. It is great to have a routine before training just like having a ritual before your golf swing or as a baseball player at bat. It does more than get your body ready to move. The mental part of training is at least 50% of your performance so make sure you can visualize yourself performing at the top of your game.

Statins and Rhabdomyolysis by Robb Wolf

A theory exists for the mechanism of why statins increase rhabdomyolysis. For those of you who have been under a rock or lifting with your Sears 110lb cement barbell set, rhabdomyolysis (rhabdo) is a potentially life threatening condition that can occur in response to too much or too intense of exercise. Large amounts of eccentric loading (everyone know which portion of the DL this is?) and or bringing a muscle to complete exhaustion can induces a calcium sequestering problem in muscle cells with the result being all kinds of hell breaking loose.  The muscle cell looses integrity and myoglobin (a protein inside the cell) is leaked into the surrounding tissue. This myoglobin oxidizes while being circulated to the kidneys where it generally gums up the works. Electrolyte imbalance can occur and in severe cases cardiac arrhythmias resulting in death. This condition is common in new military recruits, football double-days, marathons and triathlon to name a few activities. Unfortunately there is also a laundry list of medications which can increase one’s likelihood of getting a case of exercise induced rhabdo including (but certainly not limited to) ibuprophen, chemo therapeutics, cough syrup and of particular interest for today, statins. Read More