November 2010

TITLE AUTHOR(S)

Leading Marines—or Athletes Barnett

Burg’s Eye View No. 1 Burgener

Athletes—Always Berger

The Cogni-Gym: From Whiteboard to Chalkboard? Cooper

Fitness Is … Potential Morrison

Lifting Out of Pain Williams

Conjugate CrossFit Mason

Paradigm Lost Kilgore

Improving the Full Snatch Starr

The Athletic Hip Hollingsworth

Thinking Outside the Box Warkentin

Beyond the Physical Curdt

Fitness Is … Character and Failure Morrison

Leading Marines—or Athletes Jeff Barnett finds similarities between being an officer in the U.S. Marines and being a leader at a CrossFit affiliate.

By Jeff Barnett November 2010 Courtesy of Jeff Barnett/CrossFit Impulse Courtesy of Jeff Barnett/CrossFit

In my life before becoming a co-owner and trainer at CrossFit Impulse, I was an officer in the United States Marine Corps. The role of the junior military officer is that of small-unit leader. The proverbial quarterback in the huddle, he is responsible for devising a plan, communicating its execution and supervising it to completion. Not surprisingly, I have found many similarities between military small-unit leadership and conducting group classes at my affiliate.

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An effective trainer plans the workout, communicates his then sometimes you can wing it and no one will be the intent to his athletes, supervises the conduct of the workout wiser, but if you make a habit of winging it, your lack of and solves unexpected problems. Just like the junior preparation will eventually show. Planning doesn’t have officer, a trainer will lead athletes of immensely varying to be a rigorous 12-step process complete with a detailed levels of skill and experience. A lieutenant or captain must timeline, but you do need to perform the mental exercise effectively utilize and earn the trust of both fresh recruits of planning for every class, even if that process is short and with little training and senior enlisted personnel with sweet. experience far surpassing his own. Similarly, trainers must provide a rewarding and effective experience for both rank novices with little CrossFit experience as well as the quintessential firebreather. I’m not about to suggest you run your classes like a platoon, but I do contend that many leadership techniques are just as applicable to putting 16 athletes through Jackie as they are to constructing a fortified defensive position.

Will you run all athletes of Jeff Barnett/CrossFitCourtesy Impulse through the WOD at once? Should you use multiple heats or start some athletes on a delay? What are your equipment bottlenecks?

Proper class planning will allow you to give each and every athlete a great workout.

Plan Take Charge First, create a plan. Examine the workout, your time limita- Next, be in charge. As the trainer, you are the leader. tions, your equipment limitations, the expected class load Regardless of your level of experience, the experience of and any other factors relevant to your box. Prepare some those attending your class or any feelings of inadequacy scaling and substitution options in advance. The entire you may have—you are the leader. Embrace this idea and planning process to coach a WOD may only require 10-20 start leading. seconds. However, with the right combination of factors Most clients are attracted to CrossFit because they are you could have some difficult options to think through, looking for structure and leadership, so give them that and planning might require several minutes. structure. Don’t be afraid to politely and professionally Will you run all athletes through the WOD at once? Should stand up in front of everyone, use a loud and clear voice you use multiple heats or start some athletes on a delay? to address the group, and explain your plan for the class. What are your equipment bottlenecks? How long is the Additionally, explain things more fully than you think is WOD? Do you risk running into the beginning of the necessary, even at the risk of being redundant. next class’ time slot? If so, do you need to implement a cut-off time? The variables are endless. Ensure you’ve considered all the relevant factors before class starts. If not,

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Copyright © 2010 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscription info at http://journal.crossfit.com CrossFit is a registered trademark ® of CrossFit, Inc. Feedback to [email protected] Visit CrossFit.com Leadership ... (continued) Courtesy of Jeff Barnett/CrossFit Impulse Courtesy of Jeff Barnett/CrossFit

Equipment bottlenecks are sure to arise at some point, but clever coaches can work around them.

You should definitely make judgment calls about the level everyone in the group. Field questions that are only appli- of discussion based upon each class and the athletes who cable to individual athletes but address them separately comprise it. If newcomers are present, make sure you after you’ve released the group. address their common questions, even if the firebreathers have to listen to the definition of a full-depth squat for the 90th time. This isn’t always wasted time for them. You’ll likely be surprised at the new tidbits of information your most experienced clients will pick up. Assist, advise, supervise When preparing your athletes for the WOD, don’t be afraid and correct— to direct them to move around, form groups, stand at their pull-up bar, stand at their barbell, etc. in order to facilitate but don’t babysit. your planning. The time you ask them to spend will be returned when the WOD runs smoothly because you took the time to ask. For example, before the WOD at CrossFit Impulse we often Another related issue is when an individual client needs an ask our class members to go the pull-up station and stand inordinate amount of attention. First, you should be willing in front of the bars they plan to use. This means no bars and eager to help individual athletes. That’s the core of will be “double booked” during the WOD, and everyone what we do as trainers. However, you also shouldn’t ignore determines where to go and what to expect before the your most experienced clients due to spending too much clock starts. time with a single client. If an athlete needs a refresher on Conversely, you also don’t want to spend group time movement points of performance, by all means help them on issues acutely specific to a single athlete. Only spend out and get them moving safely and correctly. However, group time communicating information beneficial to get them to the 80 percent solution and then keep going.

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You also shouldn’t get caught trying to supervise the exact phrases I use often are “Who has questions?” and “What load your clients will use for the workout. Give athletes questions do you have?” These phrases imply that I know some advice and then let them find what they think is questions exist and I am simply trying to discover them. suitable. Check them out again before the WOD begins and ensure they made a sound choice. If not, adjust from there. Assist, advise, supervise and correct—but don’t babysit. Athletes will employ whatever level of self-reliance you expect of them.

The way you open the floor for questions can determine whether clients will speak up.

Ask for Questions the Right Way The way you open the floor for questions can determine whether clients will speak up. This is especially true for of Jeff Barnett/CrossFitCourtesy Impulse new or timid athletes. While we can wish that CrossFit will instantly transform everyone into a confident and outspoken athlete, the reality is that some athletes will not ask questions in a public forum unless prodded the right way. They will either leave their questions unanswered or approach you individually. You have a vested interest in fielding questions in a group setting, because the answers are heard by all athletes in the class, which benefits everyone. During a WOD, trainers should work to spend time The advice from above still applies: you don’t want to with each individual client. spend group time addressing athlete-specific questions. If an athlete hits you with something that doesn’t apply Another subtle but somewhat obvious factor is how to anyone else, ask to field the question after the group quickly you move on after asking for questions. Athletes breaks. But if the question is general in nature, you want to can tell if you are hurried or just asking for questions as a get it on the floor for everyone’s benefit. dogmatic routine. After you ask for questions, give plenty of pause for athletes to speak up. Look slowly around the Unfortunately, what I consider one of the worst ways to room, briefly making eye contact with each athlete. This ask for questions is also the most popular: “Are there any will further entice them to come forward with questions. questions?” This statement subtly implies that a question is All of these techniques are important because, make no an irregularity. It implies that all should be clear, and it may mistake, you will be answering those questions. The only even be construed to mean that any question has arisen variable is how many athletes get to hear the answers and from the athlete not fully listening or comprehending. This how many times you’ll answer the same question privately is sure to drive a timid client to stay silent. A better way to from different athletes. ask for questions is to phrase your request in a way that implies having a question is natural and expected. Two

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Time Management My opinions on time management are largely personal preference, but I wholeheartedly think they are the best way to conduct business: start class on time, every time. By “on time,” I mean “when the big hand crosses the 12.” Not a second sooner. Not a second later. If you’ve set a deadline for people to arrive to class, then you owe them every minute before that deadline, so don’t start early and shortchange them.

A good trainer understands athletic movement and You owe it to yourself can communicate that knowledge clearly. and your clients to start on time. Period.

However, if you allow class to start late in order to wait on stragglers, you are slapping the face of every client who cared enough to show up on time. Furthermore, you are reinforcing the expectation that tardiness is acceptable. If you reinforce that it’s OK for athletes to arrive five minutes late every day because you wait on them to start class, then they have no incentive to arrive on time. You owe it to yourself and your clients to start on time. Period. Even firebreathers can use a refresher, so it never hurts to reiterate the points of performance for any movement. Next, in conducting your class, set timelines and stick to them. This applies to more than just running the WOD— the warm-up, WOD set-up, cool-down or any other regimented time at your box. If athletes are told they have 20 minutes to complete the warm-up or set-up for Fran, they will fill all 20 minutes. If the same athletes are told they have eight minutes, they will finish their tasks in eight minutes. Athletes will fill whatever time budget you give them, so keep them on track. You can also manage class time during untimed WODs by using a running clock. For example, when we do CrossFit Total we take our athletes through the normal pre-WOD discussion and warm-up and then generally start the WOD with about 45 minutes left in the class. I start the clock and tell the class they should spend no more than 15 minutes Courtesy of Jeff Barnett/CrossFit Impulse Courtesy of Jeff Barnett/CrossFit on each of the three movements. Many of them don’t need Speaking loudly and clearly is the mark of a good leader. the full 15 minutes, but those who do can keep themselves

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Copyright © 2010 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscription info at http://journal.crossfit.com CrossFit is a registered trademark ® of CrossFit, Inc. Feedback to [email protected] Visit CrossFit.com Leadership ... (continued) Courtesy of Jeff Barnett/CrossFit Impulse Courtesy of Jeff Barnett/CrossFit

Good leaders are usually creative people who can find new ways to stimulate athletes.

on track. At each 15-minute interval, I announce that When unexpected scenarios require on-the-fly changes, athletes should be transitioning to their second or third be prepared to make a decision and forge ahead. If the movement. Of course, I don’t force them to drop the bar situation doesn’t require an instant decision and you need and immediately move on, but this allows them to work at some time to consider the problem and make the best their own pace while still keeping a schedule. decision, then take that time. Put your athletes to work on something constructive and take a couple of minutes to This is a relatively minor issue, but if left unaddressed you solve the problem. Don’t be afraid to be creative or to scrap will inevitably reach five minutes remaining in class and the original plan entirely. What matters is that you’re doing one or two athletes are just beginning to deadlift. The constantly varied functional movements at high intensity, running clock is also useful in untimed WODs for allowing not that you’re precisely following any prescription to the athletes to more accurately gauge their rest intervals. Just letter. as many athletes are unaware of their body positioning during a squat, many are somewhat unaware of how Ask for input from your athletes if the problem lends itself quickly time passes. A running clock gives them instant to that approach. Asking for input is a great way to foster a and continuous feedback. sense of camaraderie and caring. However, you also have to be willing to politely explain, “I appreciate the input, but Decisiveness I don’t think that’s the best solution.” Glean all the infor- Sometimes the nature of CrossFit requires improvisation. mation possible and then make your own decision. Perhaps you programmed a 5K run and now golf-ball- sized hail is raining from the heavens. Maybe the WOD Once you’ve made a decision, stick to it. Your changes prescribes a back squat as part of an AMRAP but you don’t will undoubtedly be met with at least some conster- have enough racks to put all your athletes through within nation. You’ll most likely be moving the WOD outside your time allotment. Maybe the WOD is Linda and your of someone’s strengths or possibly directly attacking affiliate isn’t located at Rogue’s barbell-production facility. someone’s weaknesses. Some athletes will view this as an

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Copyright © 2010 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscription info at http://journal.crossfit.com CrossFit is a registered trademark ® of CrossFit, Inc. Feedback to [email protected] Visit CrossFit.com Leadership ... (continued) opportunity, while some may complain. Stick to your guns. but decisive approach. I dealt with the odd situation and You may be bombarded with plausible ways to make its effects on my team in the same way I deal with all someone’s desired scenario work out for everyone. Unless extraordinary situations. you discover new information that significantly changes • First, stay calm, collected and objective. Nothing can the decision-making process, don’t reverse course. Only be gained from losing your cool. change your decision if you are presented with facts that show your decision is clearly inferior to an alternate • Assess the urgency of the scenario. Is action decision. If the two courses of action are similar in results or required immediately to avert something negative? only mildly different, then stick with your original decision. How quickly is a response required from you? These answers will determine the timeline of your next steps, which could range from milliseconds to weeks. Don’t be a stubborn • Gather information. This could be watching an event blowhard who refuses to unfold with your own eyes, asking a client how he or she feels, researching city ordinances, or any activity acknowledge a aimed at educating you on the situation you must superior solution, handle. but don’t be a • Evaluate possible courses of action and the most likely outcomes, and consider their second- and third-order pushover either. effects. • Make a decision and implement it. If applicable, deliver your decision with empathy for the affected Leaders aren’t bullied into flippantly changing decisions. parties but not with emotion. If you show that you’re vulnerable to this, you’ll allow • Evaluate repercussions, feedback and actual the same circus every time you have to make a decision. outcomes. Modify the decision if necessary. Furthermore, the decisions you make will be seen as less competent and authoritative. If you’ll change your Keeping calm is important for two reasons: First, you decisions on a whim just because someone disagrees, will make better decisions. Second, clients and other you must not consider your decision-making ability very bystanders will often base their feelings and reactions adept. This could gradually and subconsciously erode your on the reaction of the leader. React calmly and they will clients’ confidence in you. In short, don’t be a stubborn perceive the situation isn’t a big deal. Get angry, frustrated blowhard who refuses to acknowledge a superior solution, or loud and they’ll perceive the situation as the ugly but don’t be a pushover either. scene you’re making it. Perception is reality, and you are in a unique position to control perception with your own Extraordinary Situations actions. All affiliate owners will eventually experience some type of demanding leadership scenario. This could be in the Praise in Public, Reprimand in Private form of a belligerent client, an injured client, a client who Positive reinforcement is one of your most powerful tools is consistently delinquent on payment or even altercations as an affiliate owner and trainer. When an athlete shows with non-clients when the WOD takes you outside your progress or achieves a milestone, give a public pat on box. We’ve been very fortunate at my affiliate and have the back, whether that be literal or figurative. At CrossFit only experienced the most minor altercations. Impulse we use the comments section of our website each day to mention those who made special accomplish- The strangest leadership scenario I ever faced was in Iraq in ments or who just worked their asses off. We also show 2006 when my assistant team leader approached me and our admiration for those accomplishments by sometimes said, “Sir, are you aware an exorcism occurred while you using a picture of that athlete on our WOD page for the were southeast of Fallujah?” The alleged exorcism caused next day. some friction within the team and required a measured

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When the unfortunate scenario arises where you must talk No Favorites to an athlete about an unpleasant topic, do it in private. It’s both unavoidable and healthy that you will eventually You’ll be free to have the conversation you need to have befriend some of your clients. Not everyone’s personality without the threat of eavesdropping, and the client will will mesh with your own, but many will. However, when respect you for respecting his privacy. you’re coaching you must be a professional and avoid any favoritism for individual athletes. I don’t suggest using a watch to control the time you spend with each client, but the bottom line is that when others need your coaching, you shouldn’t keep spending time with the same client just because you are friends. All your clients are paying for Positive reinforcement your attention, and they all deserve it equally. is one of your most Implementing this in my own coaching had an interesting powerful tools as side effect. My wife and the other co-owner of my affiliate often participate in WODs while I am coaching. After a few an affiliate owner months of running classes I realized that during WODs I and trainer. was actually ignoring both of them to a fault in order to not show favoritism. However, they need coaching and encouragement during WODs just like me and all our clients. Courtesy of Jeff Barnett/CrossFit Impulse Courtesy of Jeff Barnett/CrossFit

Jeff Barnett doesn’t lead Marines anymore, but he’s using the skills he learned in the Corps to create better athletes.

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Find Your Own Style Leadership is both science and art. No canned solution will work for every situation. Your personal leadership style also plays a large part in determining which methods you choose to employ. I have no doubt that all the methods I’ve presented do not apply to everyone’s leadership style. I also have no doubt that I could improve on my own leadership methods and learn from other leaders. There are no right or wrong answers, just methods that achieve results and those that don’t. Just like the clock during a WOD, as leaders we are all measured by the same objective measuring stick: results. Leslie-Ann Barr

About the Author Jeff Barnett is a mechanical engineer and co-owner of CrossFit Impulse in Madison, Ala. He served as a United States Marine officer from 2003 to 2007, including combat duty in Fallujah, Iraq. He has been a guest op-ed columnist for the New York

Courtesy of Jeff Barnett/CrossFit Impulse Courtesy of Jeff Barnett/CrossFit Times on their Frontlines and Homefire columns. He place F sixth in the Alabama Sectional and 51st in the Southeast Regional. When he’s not training clients or training himself, you might find him wakeboarding, eating meat off the bone or finishing an MBA at the University of Alabama Huntsville.

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Burg’s Eye View No. 1 Coach Mike Burgener breaks down the key points of Chad Vaughn’s lifts at the CrossFit-USAW Open.

By Mike Burgener November 2010 S.Dy/CrossFit

Chad Vaughn opened the snatch competition at the CrossFit-USAW Open with 132 kg. He made the weight easily, which isn’t that surprising considering Vaughn is an Olympian who was lifting only days after finishing 20th in the 77-kg class at the World Weightlifting Championships in Antalya, Turkey. Vaughn went on to put on a show at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort, making every lift on his way to a 313 total. In the first part of this new series, Coach Mike Burgener explains how Vaughn got the weight where it needed to be.

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Snatch—132 kg beginning to rise, and the knees are extending. He’s getting The position from the ground to just above the knee is the “umpf” on the bar. The one critical point I’ll make with awesome! Take a look at Chad’s feet: he is staying back. him is his face: it’s moving toward the ceiling. I prefer some His knees have cleared out of the way, and the weight is upward tilt but eyes focused straight (see inset, Page 6). The on the full foot but back. The combined center of gravity problem here is that less-experienced lifters who see this will (COG) between bar and body is evident here. attempt to emulate the face and will possibly swing the bar out! Newton: “For every action there is an opposing reaction!” Observe that Chad’s feet are still flat. This is awesome! I teach athletes to keep the feet flat as long as one can.

The bar continues to rise. The feet are still flat, with the weight back. Chad’s knees are beginning to transition to the re-bending stage. Note how tight and focused Chad is here. The finish is awesome! The position of the head and face is not what I like (see above), but note that the bar is close to the body. Chad is beginning his descent under the bar.

I love this picture because of the feet. Note that Chad is now on his way up. He is opening up the hips, the chest is

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The elbows are high and outside while Chad is pulling In this frame, note the drive of the arms upward, which his body down and around the bar. His body is in good in effect pushes the body down under the bar. Chad position in relation to the bar. Note the tension in his tightens up nicely here and is aggressive in his timing forearms while pulling under. Also note that his feet are while receiving the bar. off the ground, which will increase his speed under the bar while pulling under.

Chad is well positioned and very tight while riding this weight down in the bottom. The third pull is about to end here. The bar is turned over and the body is pressed under the bar with great tension, speed and junkyard-dog aggressiveness!

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Note that Chad’s chest chest and feet are all coming up.He’s Clean—167 kg driving through his heels and raising the chest to vertical Outstanding starting position for Chad: hips above the to keep the bar in proper position overhead in his recovery. knees and shoulders ahead of the bar. The feet are flat but the weight is distributed more to the front initially at the start. Also note the nice strong/tight back.

Chad is in control of this lift while waiting for the down signal from the head referee. Chad extends the legs while shifting the weight back toward his heels. The knees get out of the way, and Chad is in a perfect position to explode (triple extension: ankles, knees, hips). I call this my “power position” and really find it’s the one position that must remain identical for each and every lift. At my gym we practice getting the bar from the floor into this position several times during a workout.

Summary: This lift was outstanding! The only problem I can see, as stated above, is the face in the finish and drive up into the finish. I prefer to have the head tilted up slightly.

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Chad is beginning his extension. Note that he is still flat- Chad goes to the bar (meets it) at the level where the bar footed, which allows more drive against the ground. One is during the pull. He does not go to the hole (bottom thing to note is that Chad is beginning an early arm bend. position) as we call it. Note that his elbows are parallel to I always say, “When the arms bend, the power ends!” Of the ground. He is receiving the bar high on the shoulders, course, Chad is an Olympian and has proved himself on where the torso can support the bar while riding it down the platform, so I point this out for the beginners out there. into the full receiving position. This is not what you want during your pull.

Chad continues to ride the bar down into the full position, Because of Chad’s speed, we are missing a few frames staying tight and focused on the receiving position. Note before this picture, but it appears this is where he is how much lower he is in this frame vs. the previous frame. beginning to pull himself down into the receiving position By comparing the two shots, one can discern how he (front squat). Note he is on his toes, which is caused by a meets the bar at the proper level, then rides it down. vicious junkyard-dog pull under.

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Chad drives his chest up coming out of the hole of the Full Extension and Head Position receiving position or front squat. His elbows do not drop but drive up to keep that torso upright as much as he can. The exact finishing position is one of the most difficult to catch on film with good lifters because top athletes are only in the position for a split second. As soon as triple extension is reached, the athlete aggressively reverses direction to move under the bar with great speed.

Finished clean—outstanding lift! Courtesy of Mike BurgenerCourtesy

Not finishing the second (upward) pull is very common in weightlifting, as is a slow third pull under the bar. If full extension is not reached and the pull under the bar is sluggish, it can be very difficult to make the lift. Summary: The only criticism I have is the early arm bend Note Chad Vaughn’s head position vs. that of Sage in Frame 3. Burgener in the bottom picture. Vaughn’s technique clearly works for him, but Coach Burgener recommends athletes only slightly tilt their heads upward while focusing the eyes straight ahead. Picture these shots before your next lift, and imagine Coach B. is encouraging you: “Finish the pull!” —Mike Warkentin

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Chad dips straight down. Note his feet being flat. Very solid position. Courtesy Burgener of Mike

Natalie Burgener demonstrates the elbows-down position before a jerk.

Jerk—160 kg If I had a VScope on the end of Chad’s bar, I would find that If you look at Chad’s positioning of the bar on his shoulders the dip was straight down and the drive, shown here, is for the jerk, one would find that very little adjustment is back along that same line. Note the position of chad’s face/ made with his grip and position of the bar before the dip. head, getting out of the way of the path of the bar. As a coach, I choose to teach this a bit differently. I like my hand positioning for the jerk to be approximately the same as one would use in a military press. Although Chad’s position works for him, I feel that with the elbows down (as in the picture of Natalie Burgener, above) the drive of the arms is much stronger in moving the body under the bar. However, when one coaches an athlete of Chad’s caliber, a good coach will not make any adjustments with the jerk unless there is a jerking problem.

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I see Chad’s feet here being in a very good position, but I The final step back of the feet to stabilize the body under also feel Chad’s upper body is a bit back at this point. I see the bar is a critical part of the recovery of the feet from the this as causing a bit of a pelvic tilt when he finalizes the split position to the positioning of the feet on the same drive of the body under the bar. line, which will indicate the finish of the lift.

Being a bit forward on the receiving position causes a Strong support of the bar over head; i.e., stacking the recovery that is forward. Observe the back foot pushing bones. forward first in the recovery. This forward push at times and under heavy load can cause the torso to tilt forward, undoing the “stacking of the bones,” as I call it. Chad, being a great athlete and a great weightlifter, makes this weight very nicely.

Summary: A good lift! Well done, Chad!

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About the Author Coach Mike Burgener is the head coach of CrossFit’s Olympic Weightlifting Certifications. Mike’s Gym in Bonsall, Calif., is a USAW Regional Training Center, and Coach Burgener regularly works with top athletes and beginners there in the company of his unflappable dogs. Coach Burgener’s son Casey is a top American lifter and national record holder, and his daughter- in-law Natalie, also a national record holder, competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, finishing 12th. Anyone who’s worked with Coach Burgener will tell you that his enthusiasm and expertise are always worth a few more kilos on any lift.

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Copyright © 2010 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscription info at http://journal.crossfit.com CrossFit is a registered trademark ® of CrossFit, Inc. Feedback to [email protected] Visit CrossFit.com Athletes—Always Russell Berger explains how a company called 9Line works to support wounded warriors in their fight to recover from injury.

By Russell Berger CrossFit Huntsville November 2010 Courtesy of 9Line

In April 2008, an operational detachment of 3rd Special Forces Group was moving by foot through the notorious Shok Valley of Afghanistan, closing in on a high-value insurgent commander. Staff Sgt. Dillon Behr, a communications specialist attached to the commander of the assaulting force, recalls what happened next:

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“We started making our way to the target, moving through the valley, when we were ambushed by an overwhelming force on top of the mountains. There were between 150 to 200 insurgents, dug in deep. Shots were fired, and I was injured right in the beginning … . The firefight lasted around seven hours.” Behr’s recollection of the firefight no doubt went far past what he shared in our short interview, but that’s all he gave me. I didn’t ask anything more of him, but it took little effort to find out the rest of the story. After all, Behr’s selfless account of his experience is exacty what you would expect from the recipient of the Army’s Silver Star for valorous actions in combat. The official citation for his award gives a slightly better picture of Behr’s role in that firefight: Sergeant Behr was serving as the Detachment Commander’s radio operator. While he climbed a 60-foot near vertical cliff with a rucksack weighing more than 60 pounds, Insurgent forces initiated an unprecedented volume of coordinated sniper, machine gun, and Rocket Propelled Grenade fire from the surrounding high ground. Within seconds several Commandos were wounded, and an interpreter was killed.

With total disregard for his own safety, Sergeant Behr With assistance from 9Line, wounded warriors are held his position as bullets impacted within inches of overcoming their injuries and getting back into competition. him, even after sustaining a life-threatening wound to his leg. Sergeant Behr courageously continued to engage multiple Insurgent fighting positions despite being critically wounded a second time. Sergeant Behr’s suppressive fire allowed wounded US and Afghan Soldiers to be evacuated to covered positions. Throughout the duration of the six and a half “I know there is a mental hour battle, Sergeant Behr continued to fight and kill the enemy, until he was physically incapable of holding piece and a luck piece to his weapon. His absolute refusal to quit and poise recovering from an injury, under fire was a testament to his bravery, inspiring the other members of the patrol to fight on. Sergeant but it had to have helped me Behr’s actions allowed US and Afghan Soldiers to move that I was in the best shape to covered positions and undoubtedly saved countless of my life.” lives. What Behr did goes beyond what most of us can even —Staff Sgt. Dillon Behr imagine, and yet his battle had only just begun.

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The Road to Recovery—and Fitness “I know there is a mental piece and a luck piece to recov- “I was shot in the hip,” Behr recalled.“ I had three other guys ering from an injury, but it had to have helped me that I in my team seriously wounded, and two of them are now was in the best shape of my life,” he said. amputees.” By February 2009, nearly nine months after he was The severity of the team’s injuries required all of them to wounded, and now equipped with a new prosthetic hip, be moved to Bagram Airfield, then to Germany, and finally Behr was finally able to walk without assistance. While to intensive care at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center working under the guidance of his physical therapist, he in Washington, D.C., where Behr spent more than a week. began working CrossFit back into his routine. After two months of hospitalization followed by a “I wasn’t really thinking about it being able to help me in six-month period with virtually no physical activity, rehabilitation. I just wanted to do it (CrossFit) again,” he said. Behr remained relatively healthy, strong and stable. He Working for Warriors remembers his doctors showing surprise at his physical Enter Juan Valentin. In 2006, Valentin was badly injured by fortitude and ability to resist infection. Behr attributes this an IED explosion while serving overseas. The process of his to one thing. recovery, not unlike Behr’s, gave him a unique knowledge “Four months before I got injured, I started CrossFit,” he and understanding of just how difficult it could be to go recalled. During that four-month period, Behr had tasted from an elite warrior to having little or no ability to train as the Kool-Aid, and having liked it, he turned to the workout an athlete. of the day for the strength and conditioning his job “I was a very active person,” Juan recalled, “but after I was required. injured, I had no training system that could allow me to Behr is quick to point out the many factors that go into stay active and healthy until I found CrossFit.” recovering from a serious injury, but he can’t shake the idea that CrossFit had something to do with his relatively quick return to health.

The Bionic Warriors are proof that you can overcome just about anything.

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After a medical retirement from the military, Juan brought his own experience and love of the CrossFit program to a company called 9Line LLC. 9Line is a disabled-veteran- owned small business created for one specific purpose: to assist in the advocacy and support of our nation’s wounded Special Operations Forces warriors. By the nature of their jobs, Special Operators are statistically more likely to become injured while serving our country than the members of any other community within the Department of Defense (DOD). Realizing the need for an effective care network within the community, 9Line was created and funded under the guidance of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Care Coalition. Shortly after the creation of the company, the DOD issued 9Line a grant to create something truly unique. In partnership with the United States Olympic Committee After being injured in 2006, Juan Valentin used CrossFit Paralympic Program, Valentin developed the Wounded to get back in shape. Then he decided to bring the program Warrior Athlete Program (WWAP) and called the team of to other wounded warriors. wounded veterans he recruited “The Bionic Warriors.” Soldiering On The program is simple. During his slow return to CrossFit, Behr fell in love with the “Any wounded SOF warrior that shows interest in partici- program all over again. Working through 9Line, Valentin pating in a sport receives instant support and the best offered Behr something he had always wanted to do: training we can give them,” Valentin explained. “It has attend a CrossFit Level 1 Certification. been shown time and time again that the quickest way to progress a wounded soldier’s recovery is through sport.” “When the sports-grants program came up, I was jumping all over it,” Behr explained. The WWAP even provided Behr with funding to train at an affiliate, Potomac CrossFit, and the opportunity to attend a CrossFit Olympic Lifting Certification, giving him invaluable help working through some of the movements he found difficult to accomplish on his own with a prosthetic hip. 9Line is a disabled-veteran- Valentin is quick to attribute the success of his program to owned small business the effectiveness of CrossFit, but he also has a big-picture view of what the Bionic Warriors do for the community as created for one specific a whole. purpose: to assist in the “Having a program like this and getting awareness of these advocacy and support of our guys pushed out to the masses can give others going nation’s wounded Special through their own injuries someone to look up to,” he said. Operations Forces warriors. Valentin may be more right than he knows. For the average CrossFitter, success stories from guys like Behr do more than inspire us to work harder; they put our own problems into perspective. “We gripe about our injuries,” Valentin explains, “but I actually saw a Paralympic competitor do a biathlon with no arms.”

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Hurst and Behr are the kind of men Valentin’s program attracts. These men do more than motivate guys like me, who are prone to mindlessly complain about a tight Achilles or a pulled hamstring. They help mentor and inspire those who need it most—other wounded warriors—and that is what the Bionic Warrior program is truly about. Valentin explained to me that no matter what new program, scholarships or grants they offer their Bionic athletes, each is always hesitant to accept anything, because none feels he or she is the most disadvantaged by injury. “The guy with one arm will always want us to give support first to the guy with no arms, and he first wants us to support the guy with no leg. That’s just the kind of guys they are,” Valentin explained. What Juan’s program has created is more than an oppor- Bionic Warrior Dean Wagner participated in tunity to train his Bionic Warriors. It’s a way to inspire the the Race Across America competition this year. wounded and injured veterans of every branch of the military to view themselves as what they already are: And while Valentin’s program is an athletic dream come athletes. That’s a title that can’t be taken away by loss of true for the wounded SOF warrior, it is also a reality check. limb, sight or ability. The Bionic Warriors serve as a very One of the men from program that I had the chance to important reminder to all of us—especially those who are interview was Senior Master Sgt. Mark Hurst. Hurst was dealing with the emotional and physical pain of debili- injured by a rocket-propelled grenade in an ambush while tating injury—that human potential goes far past the on a mission with 1st Ranger Battalion in Afghanistan. He physical realm. took severe shrapnel wounds to the left side of body, face, neck and back, and he lost his left eye. F The very first words Hurst used to describe his injuries were “not really serious.” He wanted me to be sure I understood that in the grand scheme of things and compared to the other guys who work with 9Line, the loss of his eye was small change. Hurst now spends his time using CrossFit to train for marathons, which he runs in honor of Air Force Capt. Eric Das, who was killed when his F-16 went down in 2003 in Iraq. S.Dy/CrossFit

These men do more than motivate … . They help mentor and inspire those About the Author Raised in Atlanta, Russell Berger spent four years in 1st who need it most—other Ranger Battalion and saw numerous combat deployments. wounded warriors. After leaving the military in 2008, he moved to Alabama and opened CrossFit Huntsville. He currently splits his time between running his gym, training for the CrossFit Games, writing for CrossFit, and spending time with his family.

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Copyright © 2010 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscription info at http://journal.crossfit.com CrossFit is a registered trademark ® of CrossFit, Inc. Feedback to [email protected] Visit CrossFit.com The Cogni-Gym: From Whiteboard to Chalkboard? Can workouts help produce smarter kids? Chris Cooper has a study lined up to answer that question.

By Chris Cooper Catalyst Fitness November 2010 All images S. Dy/CrossFit

Entering our box at 7 a.m., you’re used to hearing the whir of rowers, the whip of skipping ropes. These are the sounds of warm-ups, after all. But today, a new noise: the scratch of chalk. The repetition of numerical tables. An impromptu classroom of kids dripping sweat on their notepads. This could be what you see in your affiliate a year from now.

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Fitter and Smarter? Imagine a drug that would put you 33 percent ahead of your peers, nationwide, on standardized tests, a pill that would give you a full two months’ head start, every year, on every other student. It’s out there: it’s called Learning Readiness P.E. Mostly, kids just call it exercise. There’s a slowing process happening in our schools. While other countries surge ahead, kids in America just aren’t keeping up. In fact, according to the NAEP 2008 Trends in Academic Progress study, high-school students haven’t improved their test scores since they started being tracked—in 1971 (1). If this were any other epidemic, our response would be immediate and dramatic. Swine flu? Buy duct tape and tarps! Avian flu? Wear breathing masks on the subways! Obesity? Uh … eat more grains? Failure to improve at maths and sciences … um. The collective shrug of the health bureaucracies is startling. That’s what prompted Paul Zientarski to try something different: exercise. But what he learned—and what we all learned—was a shock. In Naperville District 203 (Illinois), students can choose from more than a dozen activities each morning to raise their heart rates. The students wear heart-rate monitors and participate in activity for 25 minutes five days per week, elevating their heart rates to between 160 and 190 beats per minute each time. Starting in 2004, students who were tagged as “at-risk” for low test scores in reading and math have participated in early-morning exercise with Mr. Zientarski. These workouts may include a reading or math component or simply games to elevate the heart rate before the start of classes. “There’s sort of no question about it now,” Dr. John J. Ratey, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, said of exercise and education. “The exercise itself doesn’t make you smarter, but it puts the brain of the learners in the optimal position for them to learn” (2).

Increasing evidence is suggesting that exercise puts people in a state that’s very conducive to learning.

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Your brain produces a chemical (brain-derived neuro- Cognitive and academic benefits increase with the trophic factor or BDNF) that assists in the storing of “dosage” of exercise, another study in Augusta, Ga., information. In his book Spark: The Revolutionary New showed (4). More is better. This also shows a causation Science of Education and the Brain, Dr. Ratey frequently effect: exercise actually causes the academic change; refers to BDNF as “Miracle-Gro for the brain.” the changes aren’t just an interesting correlation. Post-exercise, BDNF levels are enhanced, and then they Ten years ago, Phil Lawler and Mr. Zientarski started taper off through the day. Kids who study immediately using heart-rate monitors in Naperville. Their idea was after exercise reap the benefits; kids who study a few to promote a lifelong pursuit of health and fitness instead hours later do not experience the same benefits. And the of a fixation on learning the rules of sport, as is the case benefits are enormous. in the majority of P.E. classes in the U.S. Because these In Naperville in 2004, students in the “exercise” study skills aren’t deemed necessary, and especially after the group increased math test scores by over 20 percent No Child Left Behind program, physical education is while students who took math only increased their now offered five days per week by only six percent of scores by only 3.8 percent. In a remarkable turnaround, U.S. schools. this one small high school in Illinois went from one of the lowest-testing districts in the U.S. to one of the highest. Studying Studying and Exercise The experiment has prompted more rigorous research, CrossFit Kids is, increasingly, offering an extracurricular and the results just keep getting better and better: alternative to gym class. Combining basic gymnastics skills with fundamental movement patterns, including In the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, Darla running, calisthenics and weightlifting, CrossFit Kids Castelli et. al. report that children who scored higher on brings children to an elite level of fitness unequalled in aerobic and BMI tests also scored higher in academic any formal school program. But can we do more? Can tests, regardless of gender or socioeconomic status (3). we use the intense bursts of exercise to trigger BDNF production in kids and then capitalize by teaching when the brain is primed to learn?

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a chemical responsible for aiding in the retention of information. BDNF levels have been shown to be elevated following exercise.

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Mind and Body A brain-based workout session would look like this: 5-minute warm-up using functional movements to increase: 1. The heart rate to allow secretion of BDNF. 2. Coordination of the functional movements. 3. Alertness and focus on the task to be explained next. Next we would engage in a 5- to 10-minute left-brain and right-brain integration movement. This is where we focus on focusing. Goal setting for the lesson is a must as well as noticing any factors that may interfere with learning the new task or skill; i.e., having a bad day, sore muscles, etc. Then we’re ready to learn a new movement Chris Cooper will be studying the effects of physical activity on or skill, and then something academic like learning in a study conducted in Ontario, Canada. reading, writing, listening, math problems, etc. The academic lesson will directly reflect That’s what we intend to find out. This summer, we the goal set during the warm-up. Example: started tracking students from an area high school; in Goal: I want to write a full sentence in September, two others will join us. They’re measured for cursive and stay in the lines. Lesson: Practice adherence (the amount of work done) using the tracking writing each letter in cursive, then words, system developed for our 2006-2008 study on exercise then sentences. This is where a student may adherence. Their grades will be compared against those bring in any homework from school or work of their peers for the same time period. We’ll measure on a subject they would like to improve. We correlation between exercise adherence and academic spend about 20 minutes here. improvement. Next, we would reinforce the learning with The initial workouts focused on familiarization with the a workout using the movement learned CrossFit program and followed the progressions we use combined with the academic goal. Positive in our OnRamp program and our exercise progression reinforcement and constant feedback are template. crucial for the learner during this workout because the experience will be learned on With the new school year starting, two other area high a deep cognitive level. Time: 10-20 minutes. schools will join the study, and we’ll be tracking grades along with adherence. Each school has a class for We would end the session with a stretch students identified as “at risk” for dropping out: low test to improve mobility and flexibility, and we scores, poor attendance, bad behavior. Students from would also reflect on the learning that took these classes will be asked to volunteer for an exercise place for 10-15 minutes. session each morning before first period. Participation —Tyler Belanger | Catalyst Fitness will be limited to 50 percent of the class total enrollment, which provides us with a control group.

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Midway through the semester, and again at the end, References students’ attendance and grades will be compared 1. National Center for Education Statistics. NAEP 2008 Trends in against the statistical median for their class. Workouts Academic Progress: 12, 2008. will be dictated by us at Catalyst and coached by teachers 2. Viadero D. Exercise seen as priming pump for students’ who practice CrossFit on their own (we’re trying to get academic strides. Education Week: 2, 2008. them Level 1 certified). Twice per semester, the whole 3. Castelli DM, Hillman CH, Buck SM, Erwin HE. Physical fitness class will participate at an event at Catalyst for fun and and academic achievement in third- and fifth-grade students. instructional purposes. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 29: 239-252, 2007. At the end of the first semester, we’ll be able to produce 4. Davis CL, Tomporowski PD, Boyle CA, Waller JL, Miller a three-dimensional model of attendance, adherence PH, Naglieri JA, Gregoski M. Effects of aerobic exercise on and improvement in youth: adherence vs. academic overweight children’s cognitive functioning: a randomized controlled trial. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 78(5): progress of the group, adherence vs. personal (historical) 510-519, 2007. academic progress, and personal academic progress vs. academic progress of the group. We’ll use this infor- Additional Reading mation to approach more schools in the district, with Dr. John J. Ratey’s blog: the goal of broadening the study to more than eight local johnratey.typepad.com/blog/2008/04/index.html high schools. We’ll also make the physical curriculum Brain Gym International: available online for other schools to try after the first www.braingym.org/faq. semester. Success will be determined as: 1. Improvement in personal attendance among participants. 2. Improvement in personal test scoring among Courtesy of Chris Cooper/ participants. 3. Improvement in adherence. Note that physical improvements will be tracked (merely tracking a few objective criteria will improve adherence) but not recorded as part of the results for this study. Catalyst Fitness And what if we’re doing it wrong? Instead of spending more time studying, could we use our time better? What if—using the CrossFit model—we could create students with a greater capacity for memory and learning? What if one single kid benefits? About the Author The possible benefit of this style of coached tutoring is Chris Cooper is president of Catalyst Fitness in Sault Ste. the opening of a new paradigm in coaching: the combi- Marie, Ont., Canada. Split between two facilities—a private nation of extracurricular exercise and academia could be personal-training center and a CrossFit box—Catalyst a brand new world for kids, teens, their parents and the Fitness is engaged in research, athletic development and CrossFit affiliate community. the pursuit of all things fitness. Chris has two small kids, a 14-hour workday, a 2:51 Diane and a 520-lb. deadlift We’ll get back to you. PR. He also has an incredible staff of trainers, therapists and coaches, as well as a probable case of mild ADD and F a very patient wife. Reach him at [email protected] or visit catalystgym.com.

Editor’s Note: Special thanks to the high-school students from CrossFit Sacramento/Fourth Power Fitness.

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Fitness Is … Potential Greg Glassman asked the question, “What is fitness?” Blair Morrison offers some of his own thoughts to help you discover what fitness means to you.

By Blair Morrison CrossFit Anywhere November 2010 Courtesy of Blair Morrison

What is fitness? The question is one of the foundations of the CrossFit program, and asking it will make you reconsider just about everything you know about training. In answering it, Greg Glassman created a new way of training and a new way of thinking about health and human performance. He also got people thinking and answering the question for themselves. In the first installment of this multi-part series, two-time CrossFit Games competitor Blair Morrison talks about what fitness is to him.

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You Can Be More Than You Are Potential. Everybody has it. Few reach it. It’s easy to assume people despise mediocrity because the world is littered with evidence of humanity’s desire to excel—our obsession with talent, our reverence for heroes, even our love of money. It’s easy to assume everyone wants to be his or her physical best because everywhere there are those wishing for a better body or a better lifestyle. They fill our virgin ears with a symphony of sincerity and aspiration—but listen closer. They clamor with empty voices. The truth is that 90 percent of people just want to get by. We pretend our ultimate goal is to be the best version of ourselves, reading the right literature, quoting the right sources, joining the right gyms. But the reality is far less compelling. If we are truly honest, we will admit that the level to which we might possibly rise is rarely our chief concern. More important is reaching the level of mere survival or, at the very least, mock survival. Getting there is much easier. Getting there requires less time, less pain and less effort. Getting there is too often there enough. I was speaking with my father the other day about a friend of ours whose son wanted to be a college football player. He had good size and natural talent, but he was a little slow and lacked the explosive quality most big programs look for in an athlete. One evening while having dinner with this family, my dad suggested the kid hang a bell at the top of the hill abutting their property and ring it every morning before going to school. Not only would sprinting up the hill begin to build the explosive power needed for speed and acceleration, but the sound of the bell would also become a symbol of his dedication to the goal. I wish I could say the kid went out and rang that bell every day or committed himself to some other program in its place, but this isn’t that kind of story. He, like many others, chose instead to remain a card-carrying member of that mediocre 90 percent. Why? Because greatness is hard. Our bodies don’t care about potential. They were built to survive, not to excel, and survival has gotten pretty easy as of late. Our bodies don’t know that by being stronger and faster and leaner the

Courtesy of Blair Morrison likelihood of illness, disease and injury drop dramatically.

Do you have the will to rise above everything around you?

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Fitness is usually associated with the body, but it’s the mind that makes the commitment to improvement.

Our bodies only know that it hurts like hell getting there. struck me as a prevailing irony, not just in this conversation It takes supreme physical and mental fortitude and an but in our culture in general, so I decided to ask him when unflinching, genuine ambition to overcome these hurdles. was the last time he “rang the bell.” Most of us lack these qualities—and it shows. He was lost for a second, then smiled wryly as he got my Now, maybe this kid never would have been great like meaning. Peyton Manning or Jerry Rice or Ray Lewis, just like some “Too long,” he replied. of us will always be at a higher risk for diabetes or arthritis than others, but that really isn’t the point. In this story, his Sadly, it seems that our praise of greatness and our distaste ability was being measured only against his own potential for mediocrity is an appreciation and expectation reserved as an individual. He claimed he wanted to be the best he for others. We expect Jordan or Tiger or Ronaldo to reach could be, to give himself the best chance to be a college his potential every time he competes, and we shake football player. But when faced with the reality of what our heads when he falls short. But we shrug off our love it would take to reach that goal, he balked, exposing his handles and that occasional chocolate cake as acceptable ambitions as half-hearted and insincere and his athletic losses. We cry for the children growing up without physical future to be one ridden along the tired road to the middle. opportunities yet lie on the couch and amicably waste This is an all-too-common tragedy. ours away. We claim we’re too old, too fat, too injured or too tired. The truth is we’re too obsessed with getting by. After hearing this story, I sat for a minute and observed my father. He was visibly disappointed by the kid’s inability to The good news is that physical potential does not expire. commit himself to his goal. Yet I knew for a fact that my It has no shelf life. Whatever state you’re in at whatever dad had wanted to lose weight for years and had failed to moment, you can always be better. commit himself to doing so in much the same way. This So be better.

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Blair Morrison believes athletes need to set lofty goals. In chasing them, they’ll find they can do more than they thought they could.

Too often, people try to do this by setting a number to hit, About the Author: a person to beat or a mirror to impress, implicitly attaching Blair Morrison is 28 years old. He was born and raised in a finite quality to the process. This focus is flawed. As you Sacramento, Calif., where his family still lives. He received his change and improve, so too should your potential grow undergraduate history degree from Princeton University and and your ambition swell. Remember that fitness is a goal his master’s degree at Universiteit Leiden, the Sorbonne and inadvertently attained through the systematic overesti- Oxford. Formerly a personal trainer from Balance Gym in mation of yourself in all fields. It’s a byproduct of setting Washington, D.C., Blair placed seventh in the 2009 CrossFit the bar too high, of striving for perfection and falling just Games and 23rd in 2010, and he now owns and operates short. It’s knowing that you’ll never get there but trying CrossFit Anywhere out of Sacramento. He is dedicated to the your damndest nonetheless. It’s constantly pushing your pursuit of the physical challenges and the mental fortitude limits in every direction regardless of your skill. It’s finding a that comes from the ability to overcome them. way to keep ringing the bell. Do this and we inevitably yield the best version of ourselves.

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Lifting Out of Pain Dan Williams presents a case for complex weightlifting movements as a safe, efficient and effective method for rehabilitation and prevention of lower-back pain: a proposed treatment methodology and review of the literature.

By Dan Williams November 2010 A. Anthony/CrossFit

I propose that the rehabilitation and prevention of non-specific lower-back pain is dependent on the mechanically correct patterning of fundamental human movement. Though not immediately apparent, elements of Olympic weightlifting and powerlifting neatly fulfill this required motor patterning.

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Controversial? Perhaps, but there is no place for contrived and invented movements in creating a buffer from injury. Fundamental movements are natural and are “no more contrived than a sneeze,” to quote Greg Glassman. Let me first outline my empirically based philosophies on the matter, then review the literature supporting these concepts. Activating the Right Muscles Let us not think of exercises in terms of their anatomical recruitments but in terms of their movements. A deadlift becomes a lift to the waist. A clean becomes a lift to shoulder height. A press becomes a lift to overhead. A squat becomes a stand from a chair. To detractors of the squat, the question must be posed as to how a patient is to stand from a chair. Detractors of the deadlift should consider the best method of picking up an object from the floor. The answers, respectively, are squat and deadlift. It is guaranteed that a patient will at some stage perform these movements as part of activities of daily living. Surely it is a professional obligation to teach them how to execute these movements correctly in a clinical setting so they may move safely when these movements inevitably rear themselves in life. The common thread between the proposed movements is the ability to maintain neutral spine with the addition of external perturbations and complex motor patterning. Here lies the immediate red flag. Should neutral spine be lost, the body is prone to damage and deformity. As with any exercise with the potential to elicit any degree of favorable response from the body, risk is present. The key lies in minimizing this risk through gradual and progressive repetition of the basics of movement without load. The role of the prime movers is just that: movement. Similarly, the role of the stabilizers is stability, or the resistance of movement. The loads and body positions experienced during complex movement add perturbations, and the act of resisting these perturbations (deviations from neutral

spine) trains the stabilizers according to their role. R. Lucas/CrossFit With mastery of the mechanics comes a development of healthy motor patterning, paving the way for future increases in intensity. Should musculoskeletal factors prevent the correct development of movement, the movement should not occur in its suboptimal state until Being able to stabilize the spine is important in lifting, these factors are addressed. but it’s also important in daily life.

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For example, it can be observed that movements between Conversely, movements overhead can be observed to the ground and chin have a propensity to reduce have the opposite effect: increasing the level of lordosis lumbar lordosis and create dangerous spinal loading. due to any combination of a tight thoracic spine, impaired Fundamentally, this is a result of a tightness through shoulder flexion, tight hip flexors, weak gluteals and weak musculature causing a posterior pelvic tilt, and a weakness abdominals. (or inhibition) of musculature causing an anterior pelvic tilt. By definition, the conscious effort to maintain lumbar curve with weight both below the chin (by resisting lumbar flexion and a posterior pelvic tilt) and above the chin (by resisting lumbar extension and an anterior pelvic tilt) is correcting the very imbalances causing these With mastery of the problems. Should neutral spine be unattainable, even with mechanics comes a strict technique development, the underlying imbalances development of healthy must first be corrected. motor patterning, paving A common concern regarding the deadlift as a safe exercise (not to mention an effective rehabilitator) is the the way for future increases perceived tendency to utilize superficial prime movers in intensity. (erector spinae, latissimus dorsi) in the role of stabilizers (a role that should be occupied by deeper segmental musculature, including multifidus). Incorrect patterning T. Campitelli/CrossFit T.

Weight held below the chin has a tendency to eliminate the lumbar curve. With proper training, athletes can develop the core strength needed to maintain that curve.

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The need for real movements stems from the concept that activation created in a vacuum (e.g., lying prone) is only useable in a vacuum. Segmented practice leads to segmented capacity. Research has already shown that free weights elicit a greater increase in strength (115 percent versus 57 percent for fixed range-of-motion exercise) and balance (245 percent versus 49 percent for fixed range- of-motion exercise), and that they result in lower overall pain levels (1). If it can be shown in the literature that these complex movements are proficient in creating the desired activation patterns, surely these same movements can be accepted as safe, effective and efficient tools. Nuzzo et. al. compared isometric trunk-muscle activation during stability and free-weight exercises (squats and deadlifts) (2). Activation levels (measured via IEMG) of the multifidus and longissimus muscles were found to be significantly greater during the squats and deadlifts than the isometric contractions. Assuming a link between cross-sectional area and strength, the study questioned the effectiveness of stability exercises and recommended squats and deadlifts to activate and thus strengthen these muscle groups. A similar conclusion was drawn by Hamlyn et. al. in the article “Trunk muscle activation during dynamic weight- training exercises and isometric instability activities,” in which it was stated, “Individuals performing upright, resisted, dynamic exercises can achieve high trunk muscle activation and thus may not need to add instability device exercises to augment core stability training” (3). The movements we are discussing herein are indeed upright, resisted and dynamic. T. Campitelli/CrossFit T.

Carey Kepler addresses the bar before setting her lumbar curve at the 2010 CrossFit Games. If it can be shown that in this respect can increase compression at the facet and sacroiliac joints. This is not to say that the more superficial these complex movements structures of the thoraco-lumbar fascia, hip, back and are proficient in creating abdominal musculature do not have a role. The concern, the desired activation however, is that they occur in isolation, without the antici- patory activation of the deeper musculature. patterns, surely these Review of Literature same movements can be The concept to explore then, is how best to train the deep accepted as safe, effective segmental musculature? In addition, is it possible to train and efficient tools. these stabilizers using “real” movements (read: deadlifts, squats, etc.)?

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The harder an athlete works to maintain core stability, the less chance of injury.

Again regarding levels of core activation, Behm et. al. Maher et. al. explored the effects of Motor Control Exercise stated that Olympic lifts, squats and deadlifts “have been (sometimes called “specific spinal stabilization exercise”) shown to activate the core musculature to a greater extent (7). They indicated, “The key feature of the motor control than callisthenic-type exercises.” (4). exercise approach is the training of the deep trunk muscles in isolation before progressing to demanding tasks that The effect of stabilization training versus dynamic resis- train coordination of the deep and the superficial trunk tance training on the cross-sectional area of the paraver- muscles.” Specific to this review, Olympic lifts and power- tebral muscles was examined in patients with chronic lifts fit the category of “demanding tasks.” The authors lower-back pain by Daneels et. al. (5). Stabilization exercises further define these tasks as “functional tasks and exercises were found to have no effect on the cross-sectional area targeting coordination of trunk and limb movement and of the musculature, leading the authors to conclude that, maintenance of trunk stability.” This fits our requirement “Intensive lumbar resistance training seems to be necessary to maintain neutral spine with the addition of external to restore the size of the paravertebrals in chronic lower perturbations and complex motor patterning. The study back pain patients with atrophied back muscles”. goes on to state, “There is no evidence for the efficacy of Though more specific to the cross-sectional area of the motor control exercise in the treatment of chronic low multifidus, a similar concept was studied by many of back pain.” An argument for complex resistance-based the same researchers (Daneels et. al.), also in 2001 (6). exercises is supported by the lack of a quantifiable benefit Stabilization training on its own was found to elicit “no of motor control or specific spinal stabilization exercise significant differences” in lower-back pain. Multifidus cross- and the difficulty of retraining specific muscles. sectional area was, however, found to have increased when this stabilization training was combined with “intensive lumbar dynamic-static strengthening.”

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Koumantakis et. al. came to a similar conclusion regarding 7. Maher CG, Latimer J, Hodges PW, Refshauge KM, Lorimer Moseley G, Herbert RD, Costa LOP,, McAuley J. The effect of motor control non-specific lower-back pain, stating, “Stabilisation exercise versus placebo in patients with chronic low back pain. BMC

exercises do not appear to provide additional benefit,” and Musculoskeletal Disorders 6:54, 2005.

“Patient engagement in activity through safe exercising 8. Koumantakis GA, Watson PJ, Oldham JO. Trunk muscle stabilization

and not particular types of exercises may be the key training plus general exercise versus general exercise only: randomized component for successful lower back pain management” controlled trial of patients with recurrent low back pain. Physical Therapy (8). 85(3): 209-225, 2005. 9. Macedo LG, Maher CG, Latimer J, McAuley J. Motor control exercise Macedo et. al. (2009) supported the findings of the for persistent, non-specific low back pain: a systematic review. Physical previous two studies, stating that: Therapy 89(1): 9-25, 2009. We did not find convincing evidence that motor control exercise was superior to manual therapy, other forms of F exercise, or surgery. An intriguing finding of this review was that motor control exercise was as effective in reducing pain and increasing quality of life as a less-complex form of exercise therapy that did not incorporate the retraining of specific muscles that often is time consuming to therapists and patients. (9) Complex and Effective? If complex resistance-based exercises are just as effective, easier to teach, easier to complete correctly (without biofeedback) and offer the added benefits of global muscle strengthening, increased strength, increased functional capacity and functional movement pattern training, then surely they have a place in the prevention and treatment of lower-back pain. References 1. Spennewyn KC. Strength outcomes in fixed versus free-form resistance equipment. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 22 (1): 75-81, 2008. 2. Nuzzo JL, McCaulley GO, Cormie P, Cavill MJ, McBride JM. Trunk muscle activity during stability ball and free weight exercises. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 22(1): 95-102, 2008. About the Author 3. Hamlyn N, Behm DG, Young WB. Trunk muscle activation during dynamic weight-training exercises and isometric instability activities. Dan Williams is an accredited exercise physiologist with a Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 21(4): 2007. bachelor of science degree and a bachelor of exercise rehabili- 4. Behm DG, Drinkwater EJ, Willardson JM, Cowley PM. The use of insta- tation science degree. bility to train the core musculature. Appl. Physiol. Nutr. Metab 35: 91–108, 2010. Dan is the director of Range of Motion, an umbrella company 5. Danneels LA, Cools AM, Vanderstraeten GG, Cambier DC, Witvrouw EE, encompassing ventures within the exercise and health Bourgois J, De Cuyper HJ. The effects of three different training modalities industry in Australia. He would gladly sacrifice his VO2 max on the cross-sectional area of the paravertebral muscles. Scandinavian for a faster Fran time and healthy blood pressure for sex on his Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports 11(6): 335-341, 2001. 100th birthday. 6. Danneels LA, Vanderstraeten GG, Cambier DC, Witvrouw EE, Bourgois J, Dankaerts W, De Cuyper HJ. Effects of three different training modalities He can be contacted at [email protected]. on the cross sectional area of the lumbar multifidus muscle in patients with chronic low back pain. Br J Sports Med 35: 186-191, 2001.

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Conjugate CrossFit The conjugate system is a cornerstone of Westside Barbell training. Chris Mason suggests ways for CrossFitters to incorporate the method into a CrossFit program.

By Chris Mason November 2010 All Images Staff/CrossFit Journal All Images Staff/CrossFit

My introduction to CrossFit was at Louie Simmons’ first Powerlifting Certification at Westside Barbell in Columbus, Ohio. In all honesty, the CrossFitters very much surprised me, and they were not what I had expected.

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Copyright © 2010 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscription info at http://journal.crossfit.com CrossFit is a registered trademark of CrossFit, Inc. Feedback to [email protected] ® Visit CrossFit.com Conjugate ... (continued)

My idea of CrossFit prior to getting involved was that It is an immutable fact that an increase in absolute CrossFitters were akin to distance runners; i.e., small strength for any CrossFitter would make him or her a better individuals with great endurance. Suffice it to say that CrossFitter assuming said strength is not accompanied by after the first cert, my opinion was very much changed. a big increase in total body weight (or a detraining effect I discovered the true efficacy of the program and what on endurance or strength endurance). Simmons’ Westside amazing overall athletes it helped to forge. system of strength training is for my money the most effective strength-building system ever developed. The Powerlifting Certifications also served to illustrate to me that most CrossFitters, even those at a high level That said, CrossFit is its own modality with specific goals: competitively, were in my opinion relatively lacking in “Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many absolute strength. No, I did not think them weak; quite sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, to the contrary. They were much stronger than I had punish the specialist.” It is not realistic to expect a CrossFit anticipated, but compared to their development in other practitioner to adopt the Westside system wholly and physical aspects—such as strength endurance, endurance, fully because he or she would, by definition, no longer flexibility and mobility—their absolute strength was be a CrossFitter. So, the question is how to incorporate relatively poor. some of Louie’s principles into a CrossFit-based program, and it is a question I’ve carefully considered since that first certification.

CrossFitters such as Dave Lipson (squatting) are very strong, but Chris Mason believes all CrossFitters could benefit from more strength if it doesn’t decrease performance in any other areas.

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Strength certainly came in handy in the 2009 CrossFit Games, where competitors were faced with a series of heavy deadlifts in the second event.

To be clear, the ideas presented in this article are therefore The conjugate system also creates a chaotic form of not Westside ideas. Westside is a unique system developed periodization. The periodization is one of volume. The use by Louie Simmons, and it is a system he does not believe in of different exercises to work the same body parts forces altering or bastardizing in any way. The training methods a variation in total training volume primarily by virtue of and techniques presented here are therefore snippets of the fact that different exercises dictate different training the total Westside system, from which I am borrowing in loads. What one can back squat is very different from what order to help CrossFit practitioners continue to build their one can front squat, and so on. Therefore, performing both CrossFit abilities while simultaneously increasing their movements for a similar number of sets will result in a absolute strength. The ultimate goal, of course, is improved varied amount of total training volume. CrossFit performance. Another Westside staple is the maximum-effort (ME) day. Conjugate System and Max-Effort Work ME training involves a progressive warm-up to a maximum One of the cornerstones of Westside is the conjugate single attempt (1RM). ME work combined with conjugate system. Those who know of the conjugate system most variety is, in my opinion, what makes the Westside system commonly understand it to be a method that utilizes a unrivaled in its ability to build absolute strength. It allows frequent rotation of exercises or variations of said exercises Westside practitioners to train at a 100 percent intensity (changing the bar, stance, hand placement and range of level virtually year round. No other system allows for this motion; using varying accommodating resistance devices; frequency of heavy training, and if all other factors are and so on) in order to preclude neural overtraining and equal, the individual who trains heavy the most often will work on weaknesses. They are correct, but that is only part develop the most strength. of the story.

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Overtraining expression beyond those benefits. This line of thinking I have seen other articles and posts online where individuals combined with the need for economy of total training have attempted to incorporate the entire Westside volume was the main reason I decided not to incorporate protocol into a CrossFit regimen. This, in my opinion, is a DE days into my hybrid system. mistake. Both training disciplines are extremely physically Additionally, it was, and still is, my feeling that most CrossFit and mentally taxing. An attempt to do both in entirety is a met-cons can serve a very similar function to DE days in surefire recipe for overtraining. the way they support ME strength training with the added Overtraining of the nervous and skeletal muscular systems benefit of building one’s general conditioning. is highly correlated to both training intensity (defined as a percentage of one’s 1RM) and total training volume. Increased training intensity requires decreased volume lest neural overtraining occur. High-volume training, even at a low-to-moderate intensity level, can lead to skeletal- muscular overtraining in relatively short order. Much CrossFit training (met-con) falls into the low- to moderate- intensity range, while a significant percentage of Westside training is of a very high-intensity variety. The combination of both programs in their entirety would therefore quickly lead to stagnation at best, and both neural and muscular overtraining and subsequent regression in development at worst. Exclusion of Dynamic-Effort Work Those familiar with Westside have likely also heard the term “dynamic effort” (DE). This facet of the Westside program is also known as “speed work.” DE days use relatively light loads (typically 50-60 percent intensity) moved for 2-3 repetitions as quickly as possible. The primary goal of DE training is to teach the nervous system how to be more explosive. As per Simmons, the advent of the DE day was due to the inability of most trainees to tolerate two ME days (two upper and two lower) per week. The DE days were thus initially incorporated as a less-intense training session or, to say it another way, as a type of active recovery. While DE days are less intense, Simmons still considers them to directly aid strength training via their ability to build explosive power, which he feels translates directly to 1RM lifts. This point is where my opinion definitely varies from Louie’s (at least with respect to my understanding of his stance on the matter). I feel the primary value of DE days for strength trainees is the aforementioned active recovery that aids both the muscular and nervous systems. I believe the speed work translates very minimally to absolute strength Chris Mason’s system has athletes lifting heavy and forgoing dynamic work in favor of CrossFit met-cons.

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The System your unique anatomy and physiology may be such that OK, so we are finally to the system. How does that principle your triceps are the limiting factor when you attempt a go? Keep it simple, stupid? The basic template of my hybrid 1RM press. Without specific triceps work, you will never system is indeed very simple. Two ME days (one upper realize your true pressing potential. Along similar lines, and one lower) are performed each week. They are to be isolation exercises also allow for a greater overload of the separated by 72 hours. Three additional days per week targeted muscle(s). are set aside for more or less standard CrossFit met-cons. The primary exercise for upper or lower ME sessions will be The only caveat on the met-cons is this: those that involve rotated every fourth week. This is another major variance lower repetitions or heavier loads are avoided during from the standard Westside system. The reasoning the program. behind this change is simply one of adaptation to the The ME days include assistance work. This assistance target audience. No CrossFitter alive has developed his work incorporates isolation exercises. While isolation or her strength to such a level that weekly variation of movements are normally eschewed in the CrossFit ME exercises is required. In fact, weekly rotations would world, they are absolutely necessary for optimizing be excessive in my opinion and would not allow for the maximal strength. This is due to a couple of factors. First, neural adaptations of increased efficiency at recruiting the very nature of compound movements, the physics motor units and optimizing firing sequences. These involved, and the individual’s anatomy and physiology adaptations result in the ability to place greater stress on dictate that for every athlete, certain muscles will be the the skeletal muscular system, thus making a given exercise limiting factor(s) for demonstrable strength. For example, more effective.

In Mason’s system, two days involve maximum effort on heavy lifts, while three days are set aside for met-con work and more traditional CrossFit workouts.

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Mikko Salo has an impressive combination of strength, power and endurance. Conjugate training might be one way for CrossFitters to move their numbers to Salo’s level.

That said, after three weeks the possibility of overtraining to create a unique program. This will allow you to address from performing the same movement at 100 percent your individual weaknesses. Only then will you reap the full intensity becomes very real, even for less-developed benefits of the template. athletes (in terms of absolute strength), and thus the This article will not discuss the CrossFit met-con days switch on the fourth week. beyond the aforementioned caveat that they do not Assistance exercises will be varied, but not in the same include heavy, low-repetition movements. And a word regimented fashion due to the fact they are performed of caution: keep the total volume reasonable. In other at much lower intensity levels (repetition ranges from words, choose your WODs carefully and train them with 8-20 plus). great intensity of effort, but do not do work above and beyond them. Below you will find a specific nine-week exercise template for the ME days. This is supplied for those who will not Exercises create their own program. There is also a listing of several The exercises listed below are those that can be performed exercises from which to choose for both primary and at most CrossFit boxes (with the possible exception of assistance work, and I encourage everyone reading this those done with dumbbells; kettlebells can be substituted article to take the basic template and use the exercise list in some cases).

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Lower Free squat Box squat Front squat Good morning Deadlift from floor Rack deadlift Deficit deadlift Zercher deadlift All the above exercises have multiple variations via the use of different bars, hand placements, and rack positions (as in performing partials), as well as the addition of bands and/or chains. More variations exist if you can make substi- tutions with dumbbells. The number of variations is really only limited by the imagination of the trainee. Assistance Exercises Assistance work sets should be taken to or very near to concentric failure (perhaps 1-2 reps short). Upper Dumbbell press Weighted dip JM press Tate press Maxing out on a wide variety of squats is one of the keys of conjugate training. Skullcrusher Triceps pressdown (with machine or band) Primary Exercises Dumbbell triceps rollback Upper Bent-over row (elbows held in line with shoulders and Standing strict press barbell pulled very high on chest) Push press Dumbbell row Bench press Barbell T-bar row Incline press Face pulls Floor press Upright row Board press Press from pins

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Lower Template Routine With Exercises Glute-ham raise The sets listed below for assistance work are working sets. These sets may be preceded by 2-3 warm-up sets Glute bridge if required. Hamstring curl (with bands) Upper (Weeks 1-3) Hyperextension Standing strict press (ME exercise) Stiff-legged deadlift Seated dumbbell press: 2 x 15 reps Standing hyper with band over neck JM press: 2 x 10 Sled work Triceps pressdown (you can use a band for these; choke it Reverse hyper up enough to make 10 reps very hard): 2 x 10 I will leave ab exercises to the discretion of the trainee. Barbell row (row to nipple level, keeping elbows perpen- There are a myriad of them. Pick one per ME session. dicular to your body; this will work the upper back very effectively): 2 x 10 Ab work of your choice: 2 x 15-20 reps

By rotating lower-body exercises, you can avoid overtraining. A front squat taxes the nervous system very differently than a back squat.

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Lower (Weeks 1-3) Lower (Weeks 7-10) Squat (ME exercise) Squat (with strong bands) (ME exercise) Glute-ham raise: 2 x as many as possible Olympic squat (narrow stance as deep as possible; be sure to control the movement all the way up and down): 1 x 15 Glute bridge (off bench): 1 x 20 Reverse hyper: 3 x 10 Ab work of your choice: 2 x 15-20 Ab work of your choice: 2 x 15-20 Heavy sled pull: 3 rounds of pulling for roughly 100 feet (allow 1 minute between rounds; be sure the sled weight is heavy but not ridiculously so; try to increase the load 10 lb. per session) Upper (Weeks 4-6) Incline bench press (ME exercise) Flat dumbbell press: 2 x 15 Dumbbell Tate press: 2 x 10 Dumbbell rollback: 2 x 10 Single-arm dumbbell row: 2 x 10 Ab work of your choice: 2 x 15-20 Lower (Weeks 4-6) Box squat (with strong bands) (ME exercise) Deficit deadlifts (off a 4-inch or so box): work up to a heavy set of 5 Ab work of choice: 2 x 15-20 Heavy sled work (same as above) Upper (Weeks 7-10) Bench press (ME exercise) Incline dumbbell press: 2 x 15 Close-grip bench press (hands just outside the smooth portion of the bar): 2 x 10 Triceps pressdown: 2 x 10 Curl-grip barbell row: 2 x 10 Ab work of your choice: 2 x 15-20

The conjugate system is designed to systematically eliminate the weaknesses that are preventing your numbers from increasing.

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Go Heavy, Get Strong This general template and system should be used at least once a year by every CrossFitter wanting to get the most out of his or her training. Absolute strength is a component of fitness that should not be relegated to also-ran status in anyone’s overall fitness regimen. It will aid you now, and with continued work it will help to improve your quality of life even into your later years. Give this program a go—you won’t regret it. If you have any questions please feel free to ask them in the comments sections of the Journal or on the CrossFit Message Board. F

About the Author Chris Mason is the co-owner of AtLarge Nutrition. Chris has been involved with bodybuilding and powerlifting for over two decades. He is an accomplished writer in the genre, having published articles in Athlete, Planet Muscle, Ironman and Powerlifting USA magazines, as well as online. You can view several of his articles on his website WannaBeBig.com. Chris currently resides in Charlottesville, Va., and makes monthly treks to Ohio to train at Westside Barbell with Louie Simmons. He is also a member of Louie’s team for CrossFit Powerlifting Certs.

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Paradigm Lost Dr. Lon Kilgore questions the modern foundations of the study of exercise physiology and suggests a new way forward.

By Dr. Lon Kilgore November 2010 S. Dy/CrossFit

“Into what abyss of fears and horrors hast thou driven me, out of which I find no way, from deep to deeper plunged.” — John Milton, Paradise Lost

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I don’t know why no one has asked this before. I don’t A paradigm can be thought of as a disciplinary road map know why it has come down to me to ask a question representing the intellectual topography of a discipline. central to the existence of an academic discipline. But Every new discovery fits on the map and allows a better someone needs to cowboy up and question the validity understanding of the content and directions within a of a field of study fraught with data that informs but fails discipline. Like a map, a paradigm allows scientists to to illuminate—a discipline spawned of misunderstanding, systematically and individually move en masse in the same misinterpretation, misapplication, misinformation, and direction in the performance of science. misdirection in the path of science and discovery. “Form equals function” is a common observation in I could easily be referring to physical education, coaching, biology. University-level anatomy and physiology classes biomechanics, kinesiology or “exercise science” in general, are the standard prep for many career fields, including but I am specifically questioning the theoretical and practical those related to exercise. But part of this essential equation, basis of the discipline known as exercise physiology. the study of anatomy as it relates to exercise, has become rather ignored in favor of its more widely recognized The Body Under the Barbell cousin—the physiology of exercise—and anatomy is The study of the human body at work is very old. Anatomists, frequently grouped under the heading of “biomechanics.” physiologists, physicians and surgeons throughout the centuries have been fascinated by how the body is built To be clear: anatomy is important to biomechanics, but and how it functions. Each of these disciplines has specific biomechanics is essentially physics applied to living domains in which its interests and experiences lie, but they systems, not the study of anatomy. Since Ono’s 1969 work have in common the need to master the understanding of with mapping barbell movement in weightlifters, there form (anatomy) and function (physiology). have been hundreds of studies on the biomechanics of the sport of weightlifting (and of course the astound- Throughout history there have been individuals who made ingly important bench-press exercise as well) (1). The vast contributions to all of these disciplines, blurring the bound- majority of these studies focus on bar trajectories, veloc- aries between them. They studied the exercising human ities, accelerations, displacements and generic arbitrarily with the purpose of applying the knowledge obtained to defined “segments.” None focus on what the body is doing the betterment of man’s ability to work and live. Yet today, in relation to the barbell. Is that not an important—if not the effort to understand the body in motion, the anatomy the most important—thing to study? and physiology of the exercising human with the desire and willpower to become physically fit and improve his By focusing only on what the barbell is doing, we fail to physical lot in life, has been irreparably diminished—not develop any understanding of what the body is doing. by a lack of interest or manpower working in the field, but The human body is made of flesh, bone and sinew— by the absence of a unifying scientific paradigm. plastic, moldable and dynamic. In failing to consider the body in the system, we also fail to develop a database that will enable us to improve the function of the human component in the barbell-human system. After all, the international standard Olympic barbell is an inanimate object that will behave only in a manner consistent with the physical forces applied to it by the human body A paradigm can be thought lifting it. of as a disciplinary road map The human race is genetically diverse, with a huge range representing the intellectual of shapes and sizes. The failure to investigate the human component of this moving system diminishes the value of topography of a discipline. these studies as they apply to human movement. How can we effectively train a human for improved performance— in this case the lifting of a barbell—if we do not understand the anatomical principles of human movement under load? Furthermore, the “functional” anatomy classes common in exercise-related academic programs use an

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Copyright © 2010 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscription info at http://journal.crossfit.com CrossFit is a registered trademark ® of CrossFit, Inc. Feedback to [email protected] Visit CrossFit.com Paradigm ... (continued) isolation/muscle-group approach that results in a failure to It remains that the physiology of exercise was researched appreciate the integrative nature of human movement. It is very early on, usually because of some personal interest apparent that researchers are asking the wrong questions in the topic or because of a vested interest in enhancing and teachers are giving the wrong answers, the hallmarks human function for work or combat. The fun thing about of either having no operating paradigm or an ignorance of Hill is that he liked sports and enjoyed trying to under- the existing paradigm. stand how his body and those of his research assistants worked during exercise (apparently there was quite a bit of The Study of Physiology experimentation done on himself and the laboratory staff The term, title or job description “exercise physiologist” is on the track outside his lab). There are numerous similar a subject of importance to some and of scorn to others. instances of anatomists, biologists, physiologists, chemists Once upon a time it was enough to be merely a physi- and physicists who investigated exercise responses and ologist who studied the functioning of humans or animals adaptations due to their interests in sports, but none of in motion. Training as a biologist who investigates how the them called themselves exercise (insert discipline). body works was the requirement, and no special disclaimer or qualifier was needed. It was not until the term “exercise physiology” superseded the term “work physiology” in academic literature during Was da Vinci an exercise physiologist? No, he was a genius, the mid- and late 20th century that a distinction between so perhaps not the best example. Was H.E. Huxley, who physiology and exercise physiology was drawn, and the theorized the sliding filament theory of muscle contraction, title “exercise physiologist” was born. I am the bastard an exercise physiologist? Nope. He was just a kid who stepchild: a bachelor’s degree from a traditional biology wanted to be a nuclear physicist but ended up being one program, a master’s degree from a PE-based exercise- of the most influential biologists of modern times. A.V. Hill physiology program, and a doctorate from a medical has been called the “pioneer of exercise physiology,” but his anatomy and physiology program. training and practice were in “physiology,” as was his Nobel Prize in 1922. Historically, any biologist or physiologist who I actually chose not to teach and do research in traditional studied exercising humans or animals was simply called biology programs in order to teach and do research in a biologist or physiologist. For the classical physiologists, exercise physiology because I wanted to fix the problems exercise was a tool, a means of elucidating the workings of I saw within the coaching system during my time as a the human body. halfway-decent athlete and as a moderately productive coach. I was intent on wading into the quagmire of teaching scientific applications to PE students while conducting viable research in a small state university to correct the coaching and performance problems of It was not until the term hearsay, misinformation, lack of information, ignorance of “exercise physiology” application and more. Believe it or not, I was once told in a superseded the term “work job interview that I was scientifically overqualified to teach science to PE students! During that interview I discovered physiology” in academic it was not going to be easy to bring science to PE because literature during the it was not just the students who needed a better appreciation of science as it applies to exercise. mid- and late 20th century It was becoming apparent to me that a drift had occurred that a distinction between in the nature of the science surrounding exercise. physiology and exercise Something was different between the real world of my physiology was drawn, competitive athletic experience and the training of my adopted profession. It took years to understand this, but and the title “exercise I was lucky with respect to my master’s degree in exercise physiologist” was born. physiology; my mentor was a zoologist-turned-exercise- physiologist. In addition, my external thesis advisor worked in a biomedical science department and had penned

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Copyright © 2010 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscription info at http://journal.crossfit.com CrossFit is a registered trademark ® of CrossFit, Inc. Feedback to [email protected] Visit CrossFit.com Paradigm ... (continued) one of the most influential papers on the mechanism of as taught by physical educators), and most relevant to hypertrophy ever written (2). This advisor also taught me the topic at hand, exercise physiology (physiology as animal-surgery techniques. taught by physical educators). Such an undertaking led to fragmentation, dilution and a failure to do one of the As a result of this fortunate early academic exposure, I did most important things the Fischer Act required: develop a not see the boundary between PE-based exercise-physi- guiding set of theoretical principles. ology programs and physiology programs that studied exercise. But now, when examining the research literature The fact is that theoretical principles were developed, from the 1950s as compared to more recent work from enough so that PE programs are still on campuses, but the 1980s forward, it is easy to note that later exercise- these principles are not cohesive. They are not widely physiology research departs from the classical norms in applicable to all aspects of PE or exercise science. Many approach, topic and rigor. It is frequently pointed out by have no scientific basis at all. PE, in its effort to become those in exercise physiology that the shift in “quality” of the authoritative discipline of exercise, had become content noted here is due to the move from an emphasis the jack of all trades and master of none. Newly trained on basic science (science for understanding) in physiology exercise physiologists and other exercise scientists were to an emphasis in applied science (science to solve a primarily being produced in physical-education programs, problem) in exercise physiology. not in biology or physiology programs as had previously been the norm. This provides a degree of disconnection During this time there was another major change affecting from the intended applied nature of exercise-physiology the sciences and the study of exercise. American physical- research, the exploration of improving work capacity. This education academia began developing their own exercise- began changing the approach to science as it was applied science research and training materials in order to produce to exercise, and in my opinion this is due to the absence of data and publishing output, and to secure their positions a valid paradigm framing the science carried out under the on campuses. In the 1960s, PE departments were on the guise of exercise physiology. verge of becoming regarded as “non-academic” by many administrations. The Fischer Bill of 1961 specifically required universities to prepare students in “academic” areas that provided the student with intellectual development, scholarship, research and a set of guiding theoretical principles. At the time of the bill, physical education as it was practiced at universities failed to deliver in any of these areas. James Conant, an organic chemist and president of Harvard University from 1933 to 1953, added to the controversy in 1963 by writing that university PE programs were shallow in content and minimal in academic rigor. Not only did he suggest that undergraduate programs could easily be eliminated, but he also said that PE graduate programs should be eliminated. So began the restructuring of physical education on a Courtesy of LonCourtesy Kilgore scale of magnitude and haste never before seen in any other university discipline. To keep PE on campuses, new courses had to be created, new information had to be put into those courses, and new “exercise science” faculty had to be developed to teach these new courses and to generate the new data. PE programs became subdivided into biomechanics (physics or engineering as taught by It is not enough to study exercise physiology. One must physical educators), exercise psychology (psychology aggressively be a participant. Research conducted, as taught by physical educators), sport history (history or an opinion expressed, in the vacuum of inexperience is frequently wrong or useless.

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Define Your Terms Skill related components of physical fitness includes agility, Most exercise-physiology curricula in colleges of education, balance, coordination, speed, power, and reaction time, and and in some instances colleges of health sciences, were are mostly associated with sport and motor skills perfor- not forged in the fires of classic biological science. Further, mance. Health related physical fitness is associated with given the 1960s contention that exercise academic fields the ability to perform daily activities with vigor, and the were actually non-academic, there was a tremendous possession of traits and capacities that are associated with need to produce a volume of novel information quickly a low risk of premature development of hypokinetic diseases. to retain the place of such programs on campus. So any Health related components of fitness include cardiovascular question about exercise, useful or irrelevant, was just fine endurance, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, and for study. But how can one perform applied research body composition. Physiologic fitness differs from health- into fitness with random questions or do so if there is no related fitness in that it includes nonperformance compo- paradigm to guide the development of useful questions? nents that relate to biological systems influenced by habitual Further, how can one perform research into exercise and activity. Physiologic fitness includes—(a) Metabolic fitness: fitness if there is no measurable and agreeable definition The status of metabolic systems and variables predictive of the of what fitness is? risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. (b) Morphologic fitness: The status of body compositional factors such as body circumference, body fat content, and regional body fat distri- bution. (c) Bone integrity: The status of bone mineral density. When you examine it closely, the “everything and the How can an exercise kitchen sink” approach to a definition fails the litmus test physiologist provide any of useful application. It is not really any more precise or useful insight into his own testable than the many-decades-old previous definition: discipline without knowing “Physical fitness is the ability to carry out daily tasks with vigor and alertness without undue fatigue and how to measure fitness, ample energy to enjoy leisure time pursuits and meet the basic entity he unforeseen emergencies.” is studying? Ambiguous, unquantifiable and not terribly useful. Physics, biology and chemistry all deal with precise quanti- tative parameters measured in newtons, picograms, joules, kilodaltons, watts and a wide spectrum of other defined If you examine the history of the definition of physical units of measure. How can an exercise physiologist provide fitness, you will find virtually nothing meaningful in the any useful insight into his own discipline without knowing exercise-physiological literature or the authoritative profes- how to measure fitness, the basic entity he is studying? sional publications beyond a few vague statements. The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) The application of exercise physiology was, is and should has never included a definition of fitness in the texts it be the improvement of fitness. The term “exercise” means produces. And the widely accepted authority organization the methods by which fitness is improved, so when we use the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) did not the term “exercise physiology,” we mean the study of the produce any substantive definition in its publications until methods by which fitness is improved. Or do we? issuing, in 2006, a quite verbose definition consisting of Perhaps many, if not the vast majority, of exercise physi- a laundry list of scientific, clinical but ultimately arbitrary ologists feel as though their primary field of concern “attributes” of fitness: is merely physical activity as it relates to health. Or does A multidimensional concept that has been defined as a set exercise physiology actually consist of two sub-disciplines: of attributes that people possess or achieve that relates to health physiology and fitness physiology, each named the ability to perform physical activity and is comprised of after their functional end product? If it does, the need skill-related, health related, and physiologic components. for a viable definition of the term “fitness” becomes even more pressing.

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The definition of fitness should be meaningful and tangible, development of all three metabolic pathways (phospha- something understandable and measurable. To that end, genic, glycolytic and oxidative) to general fitness. Although in 2004 Mark Rippetoe and I began a conversation on the there was much data in the literature about exercise and definition of fitness. After months of discussion, argument, all three pathways, virtually all exercise prescriptions for evaluation and semantic wrangling, we arrived at a simple fitness centered around the oxidative; i.e., let’s go jogging. and straightforward definition meeting the criteria of A field definition of fitness superior to that espoused precision, simplicity and quantifiability: by the world’s major exercise-science academic and professional organization had been articulated. Possession of adequate levels of strength, endurance and mobility to provide for successful participation in occupational effort, recreational pursuits and familial obligations, and that is consistent with a functional phenotypic expression of the human genotype. In 2007, we published the definition in an article titled “Redefining fitness for health and fitness professionals” in the Journal of Exercise Physiology (3). It took more than two years in the review and publication process to get it published in the journal of the most liberal and progressive-thinking of the exercise-science professional organizations. Apparently even exercise scientists who disagree with the conventional wisdom have a hard time

abandoning and replacing it. To the credit of the reviewers, of LonCourtesy Kilgore once they looked past their preconceived notions and their “aerobics = exercise” attitudes, they accepted the paper, in virtually unchanged form, as a valuable contribution and approved publication. (For those who don’t know, scientific papers are “peer reviewed,” meaning, at least theoretically, that one’s Greg Glassman and Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Dr. Kary peers read the paper, offer comment and criticism, and Mullis. Science and exercise must not be estranged from eventually deem it either fit or unfit for publication. It is each other. Effective exercise physiological science and the frequently the case in the exercise sciences that papers practice of teaching exercise depend on the flow of fact-based which do not conform to the conventional wisdom are information between laboratories and the field, and vice not published.) versa. At every level within the exercise professions, academic and practitioner, we must consistently and objectively engage We were not the only ones who were dissatisfied with the in relevant discussions. sad academic definition of fitness. In 1998 Greg Glassman, fully aware of the inadequacies of the ACSM definition, put A Discipline Without Foundations his definition of fitness into operation, and then in 2002 he Why is it that it took until the 21st century to develop a put the definition online. useful academic definition when it was clearly needed The first CrossFit fitness standard elaborates the specific more than 50 years ago? Why did a corporate fitness entity abilities or elements of “physical fitness”: cardiopulmonary feel compelled to create a definition for a concept central endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, to any academic exercise discipline? coordination, agility, balance, accuracy. The second There are several reasons, but one is likely most relevant CrossFit fitness standard referring to the ability to cope here. It is a common practice among graduate PE programs with any external physical challenge provides a much that students are prepared as “generalists,” meaning that clearer presentation of the “unforeseen emergencies” the curriculum is constructed to produce faculty who are clause of the 1970s ACSM definition. CrossFit’s third fitness supposed to be able to teach exercise psychology, biome- standard goes beyond the traditional definition and links chanics, motor control, PE pedagogy, exercise anatomy

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Copyright © 2010 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscription info at http://journal.crossfit.com CrossFit is a registered trademark ® of CrossFit, Inc. Feedback to [email protected] Visit CrossFit.com Paradigm ... (continued) and exercise physiology. Generalists working in small- When examining exercise-physiology research papers college and university PE programs reduce the cost of from the 1970s forward, every paper that “proves” a point operation; because they feel capable of teaching a variety is quite likely balanced by another paper “proving” the of courses, there is no need to hire trained experts in the opposite. This occurs in the traditional sciences too— specialties, and the program remains viable. remember cold fusion?—but in biology, chemistry and physics, conflicts are generally settled over time by the But by the very nature of his preparation, a generalist is accumulation of data supporting a piece of the presently not in a position to be an expert in any field. Someone accepted paradigm. Without that paradigm, how are we prepared in this way cannot create from previous research to settle conflicts? an overarching paradigm for exercise physiology. A generalist may not know what a nephron is and does, may The most contentious issues in exercise physiology are think that knowing only 72 out of 636 muscles is mastery no more settled today than they were before 1970. What of anatomy, or may believe that “research” and mastery drives VO2max improvement? Which is more useful in of a subject can consist of reading a single review article improving strength, 1 set or 5 sets? How much flexibility in a clinical journal. Indeed, a generalist may think that is required to be fit? And as discussed before, what is such limited knowledge is of high academic standard fitness? All are simple questions with no universally recog- and encompasses all that is needed to teach exercise- nized, data-driven answer. There are lots of opinion pieces, physiology courses and prepare students for practice. I though. have heard these things from faculty with my own ears. Similar unanswered questions abound. Will they be This limitation in disciplinary understanding, however, is answered—or even investigated properly? Not in the exactly what has occurred in exercise physiology, setting current environment of exercise-physiological research. the stage for our present dilemma. There must first be a unifying understanding of the facts Can exercise physiologists produced outside the tradi- that encompasses what we know, and this understanding tional science track be good scientists? Yes. There are many must be articulated as a viable paradigm that guides exceptions, and not all the exercise physiologists produced logical thought and subsequent investigation. over the past 50 years have wasted their time and effort. During a series of discussions about science and training But it remains that they have not produced a unified with Russell Hadley, a computer scientist who trains at body of knowledge that can be usefully applied to the CrossFit Eastside, it was suggested that modern exercise production of physically fit individuals, from the very first science was experiencing a paradigm shift, a part of day of training to the peak of physical function and then the normal progression in the development of a new to the end of life. The lack of a guiding premise or even a science into a mature science. Russell had inferred from good idea of what needs to be investigated has yielded a my comments that the exercise sciences were demon- disconnected and conflicting mass of data that perplexes strating characteristics similar to those described by some of us and seems a waste of time to everyone else. Thomas Kuhn in his 1962 masterwork The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. But what is a paradigm? Lots of people use this term to describe a new training method or just a new idea. A Questions abound. Will paradigm is the thinking pattern or model distilled from they be answered—or even the accumulation of prior scientific achievement that serves as the foundation for a discipline’s further practice. It investigated properly? must be simultaneously rigid enough to serve as a logical Not in the current framework and yet open-ended enough to encourage and accommodate the solution of further problems within the environment of exercise- discipline. It is the study of the paradigm that we engage physiological research. in during our time at university. We learn what went before so that we might participate in solutions to present and future problems. Occasionally an extant paradigm turns out to be wrong and must be replaced with a better, more tenable way of thinking.

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Many athletes who asked the question, “What is fitness?” were drawn to the CrossFit program, which is based on defining fitness, measuring it, and improving it over the course of a lifetime.

In Kuhn’s text there are numerous famous examples of Most current research in exercise physiology centers upon paradigm shifts: heliocentric local astronomy replacing this issue. The doctrines espoused by all major sports- the geocentric; the acceptance of Newton’s work as medicine and exercise-professional organizations as well a replacement for earlier physical theory; the later as government health agencies can be summarized by acceptance of special relativity over simple Newtonian that statement. The federal funds devoted to exercise mechanics. A paradigm amounts to an accepted set of research focus on precisely this issue—how physical beliefs about the nature of a discipline—what it is, what is activity, defined as unplanned and spontaneous human known about it, and what needs to be known. movement, affects health, defined as absence of disease. Although the mass of data that has been generated Russell’s observations were astute and wise, as is he. But by the investigation of this idea is considerable, I would I question whether a paradigm shift is occurring. Do the argue that it does not constitute the breadth and depth of exercise sciences and the inhabitants thereof actually have exercise physiology. a developed and unifying paradigm? Read the literature: can you find a major theoretical framework that can serve Where and what is the exercise in this unstated but as an operating paradigm which collectively engages the obvious paradigm? entirety of exercise physiology? If there is a model that can be said to function as the paradigm adopted by the exercise-physiology establishment, it can be summarized like this: there exists a minimum amount of physical activity that is needed to maintain health.

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A New Paradigm Exercise, by definition, is programmed human movement We can create a better paradigm for the existing opera- intended to improve fitness. A paradigm of exercise must tional paradigm—there exists a minimum amount of also address at its core the question of how the body physical activity that is needed to maintain health—by adapts to an escalating physical load intended to improve simply placing physical activity and exercise as inputs and human performance. It must be centered on the quest health as the final output: for more optimal human function. Most importantly, it Physical Activity/Exercise g DNA g RNA g Protein g must be derived from the same paradigm that governs Structure g Health the overarching science of biology. Without such a focus, exercise is just a little side issue of medicine, and fitness is I do not know if the entrenched conventional wisdom merely an interesting permutation of physical therapy. of exercise physiology—an approach that does not work in the real world—can be supplanted to allow for such a If I was to summarize a more valid exercise-physiological large-scale change in scientific thought and approach. A paradigm, it would be that exercise induces changes in “folklore” of ideas about exercise has grown to be accepted DNA expression that lead to changes in RNA translation that as fact. Promulgated by academia, corporate fitness, lead to changes in protein synthesis that lead to changes medicine and the media, it is dug in deep and resists in structure and then to changes in fitness. Assuming this efforts to modify it. The only perturbations allowed deal paradigm, exercise physiology is the physiology of the with the amount and type of activity needed for “health” processes of change and adaptation. Nothing elaborate, (again, used here as simple absence of disease). nothing earth shattering—just a simple framework on which to build a discipline. As I suggested earlier, modern exercise physiology is actually practiced as “health” physiology. This is actually This simple model was derived by following the lead of not a conceptual stretch at all. The Chronicle of Higher Francis Crick, who discussed the “dogma” of biology in a Education lists faculty jobs for exercise physiology and 1970 paper in Nature (4). The context of his use of the term physical education under the heading “Health/Medicine.” parallels Kuhn’s 1962 concept of a paradigm. In that paper Also included under this heading are dentistry, medicine Crick suggests the dogma of biology was: DNA makes and nursing—all disciplines focusing on disease states. RNA makes protein. If we take that central paradigm and extend it to include structure, we have then extended the root paradigm of biology to the biological sub-discipline known as anatomy: DNA g RNA g Protein g Structure If we then take a further step and add a functional stem, we If I were to suggest a fix get an extension of the paradigm descriptive of another for the problems facing biological sub-discipline, physiology: exercise physiology, DNA g RNA g Protein g Structure g Function I would first suggest Hopefully the steps here seem logical, deriving the sub-discipline’s operational paradigm from its parent producing a consensus discipline’s paradigm. And here is where we adapt the disciplinary definition biological paradigm to exercise physiology. Because we for exercise physiology are interested in exercise and how it pertains to fitness, a functional outcome, we need to add “exercise” to the based on a valid front end of the physiological paradigm because exercise paradigm. initiates the events of interest. We also strike the word “function” and replace it with “fitness” because fitness is a major parameter of interest in exercise physiology: Exercise g DNA g RNA g Protein g Structure g Fitness

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If I were to suggest a fix for the problems facing exercise departments. However, the Moody Blues may have been physiology, I would first suggest producing a consensus right when they penned You Can Never Go Home, because disciplinary definition for exercise physiology based on a biology and physiology programs will likely be less than valid paradigm. A starting point for definitions might be: receptive to welcoming back folks they might perceive as less than qualified academically. Because neither of these Exercise physiology is the study of the causative relation- recommendations will ever be heeded by the academy ships between human movement, physical function and at large, it falls upon exercise physiologists to change the disease state. It comprises of two distinct sub-disciplines, discipline themselves. fitness physiology and health physiology. Terminally degreed individuals must make the science Fitness physiology is the study of the effects of exercise of exercise physiology exactly that: a systematic inquiry stress on human physical function or the application of pertaining not specifically to health but to another very exercise stress in order to produce specific fitness adapta- important end product—fitness. If there is indeed a tions and improve performance. causative relationship between fitness and health, would Health physiology is the study of the effects of chemical, not the study of how to become more fit be the essential physical and biological influences (to include exercise element? Our work, our writings and our teachings should and physical activity) on human disease states or their aid exercise practitioners in the execution of their jobs, application to humans specifically to control pathology or not be irrelevant to them, or worse, provide them with restore the absence of pathology. conventional misinformation, as is currently and frequently the case. Exercise is planned movement that is intended to produce an improvement in one or more components of fitness. Physical activity is unplanned and spontaneous movement that has no specific intent other than recreation or as an occupational requirement. I would then suggest immediate separation from colleges or divisions of education. The scholarly philosophies of educational research and teaching, in most instances, are not compatible with the classical biological approach to scholarship, and this places a considerable limitation on the rigor and resources with which science must be pursued. It is hard to make biological inferences from questionnaire research methods. University education departments seem to place an emphasis on pedagogy over content mastery. I hear over and over again, “If you know how to teach, you can teach anything.” This is utter foolishness. Teaching depends on both an understanding of the material and an ability to communicate. If you have not mastered the subject matter you are attempting to teach, it is very difficult to answer even the simplest of questions regarding that subject, no matter how talented a communicator you may be. It’s hard to teach someone how to drive out of an empty garage. D. Re/CrossFit With this in mind, my second recommendation would be to have experts in anatomy teach exercise anatomy and experts in physiology teach exercise physiology. This means that after leaving the college of education, exercise physi- Is there a relationship between fitness and health? ology should go back home to biology and physiology Many CrossFitters think so.

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Forward-thinking CrossFit trainers might help in creating a new paradigm by demanding more from the academics who study health and fitness.

Exercise physiologists should not be teaching and with cleverly titled “bridging the gap” papers and lectures advising the subject of fitness if they are trained in health, that have still failed to solve the problem. They failed medicine or rehabilitation. Terminally degreed individuals because they lacked direction; the organizations, authors ascribing to the principles detailed in the ACSM materials and lecturers did not or could not discern between issues can teach about health and longevity issues nicely, and of health and issues of fitness because of the absence of a this is perfectly OK. Doctors of medicine are equipped disciplinary paradigm and relevant definitions. to make recommendations about disease issues as they Exercise physiologists must assemble their collective relate to exercise and health. And a perfectly good group thoughts about a viable paradigm for exercise physiology. of professionals—doctors of physical therapy—can teach We must publish and adopt better—and measurable— about exercise as it affects rehabilitation issues. But fitness definitions. We must extend the theories of human is outside each group’s expertise unless they receive biological adaptation to all exercising populations and additional training and experience beyond the realms of realize that the way populations adapt varies, and that this health and disease, although many with those degrees will variation itself is worthy of study. We must do research that argue this. is driven by the paradigm of physiological adaptation. We A great deal of criticism has been leveled at exercise must develop new ways, on campus and off, to provide physiologists from the field for being disconnected from factual and useful physiological information to students, the practice of fitness. It is well warranted, and the major trainers, coaches and the general public. professional organizations, recognizing this, have come up

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These tasks may be quixotic, because the tasks are large About the Author and varied, available funds are low, and allies are few. But Lon Kilgore is a professor in the in spite of the resistance from established academia, the Department of Athletic Training health and wellness camps, medicine, popular practice and Exercise Physiology at of LonImage courtesy Kilgore and the fitness industry, in spite of the entrenched dogma, Midwestern State University. and perhaps in the face of the threat to our livelihoods, we There, he teaches fitness must to be certain that we do not lose sight of what may physiology and exercise be the most important but academically ignored aspect anatomy in an undergraduate of exercise physiology: finding better ways of improving pre-physical therapy curriculum human fitness. and a graduate exercise- physiology program. He has F also held faculty appointments at Kansas State University, Warnborough University, and Central Texas College. He graduated from Lincoln University Footnotes with a bachelor of science in biology, earned a master’s in 1. Ono M, Kubota M, Kato K. The analysis of weight- kinesiology, and a Ph.D. in anatomy and physiology from lifting movement at three kinds of events for weight- Kansas State University. He has competed in weightlifting to lifting participants of the Tokyo Olympic Games. the national level since 1972 and coached his first athletes to Journal of Sports Medicine 9(4): 263-281, 1969. national championship event medals in 1974. 2. Gollnick PD, Timson BF, Moore RL, Riedy M. Muscular He has also competed and competes in powerlifting, wrestling, enlargement and number of fibers in skeletal rowing and golf. Thirty-nine years after he started training, he muscles of rats. Journal of Applied Physiology 50(5): still sets lifetime PRs at least once each year. He has worked 936-43, 1981. in the trenches as a coach or sports science consultant, with athletes from rank novices to professionals and the Olympic 3. Kilgore JL, Rippetoe MC. Redefining fitness for elite, and as a head university strength coach. His interest in health and fitness professionals. Journal of Exercise developing better weightlifting coaches, strength coaches Physiology10(2): 34-39, 2007. and fitness professionals has driven much of his academic 4. Crick F. Central dogma of molecular biology. Nature and professional efforts. He spent a decade as a certifying 227(5258): 561-3, 1970. instructor for USA Weightlifting and was a frequent lecturer and researcher at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Editor’s Note Springs. His authorship efforts include books, magazine Dr. Kilgore realizes this article may seem minimally relevant columns and research journal publications. His illustration to the CrossFit community, but there are two purposes here: efforts have appeared in many books and journals and online. (1) to suggest that the established exercise authorities may have less practical experience and a lesser theoretical underpinning for their ideas about fitness than the best-educated and Websites forward-thinking CrossFit trainers, and (2) provoke at least a www.lonkilgore.com discussion amongst exercise academics regarding disciplinary reform. Change in higher education is difficult. However, it is www.killustrated.com becoming consumer responsive. You can and should demand more from your educational institution than an ad hominem education.

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Improving the Full Snatch Bill Starr explains how you can use special drills and movements to fine-tune your snatch and break your PR.

By Bill Starr November 2010 All images Staff/CrossFit Journal unless otherwise noted All images Staff/CrossFit

Performing a full squat snatch precisely is certainly one of the most satisfying experiences in all of strength training. When everything hits just right, the bar seems to have a mind all its own and floats overhead smoothly, allowing plenty of time for the athlete to move under it and lock it out effortlessly as it falls right into the proper slot.

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The full snatch is the ultimate high-skill movement. It Reviewing Basic Technique requires a large dose of several athletic attributes—coordi- This article is based upon the assumption that you followed nation, timing, balance, foot speed and concentration—in the advice I presented in Learning How to Do Full Snatches order to be successful with a maximum attempt. Full in January 2010 and are now able to do full squat snatches snatches are a great exercise for athletes in every sport using at least adequate form. Full snatches can also be imaginable. As the athlete becomes more adept in doing done using the split style, but for the sake of simplicity I full snatches, the skills needed to do the lift correctly and will stick with the squat style in this piece. with demanding poundages are instantly converted to every sport under the sun. Having done full snatches for a few months, you should be ready for some ideas on how to move the lift to a higher An often-overlooked reason for including a high-skill level. But before I get into that, I want to do a brief review exercise into every athlete’s routine is the fact that it on some of the important points of the lift. If you can do requires extreme mental focus and the nervous system is an overhead squat and a power snatch, you can do a stimulated to a greater extent than when a less-dynamic full squat snatch. However, in order to do either of these exercise is done. In addition, breaking through number movements correctly, you must have sufficient flexibility in barriers to achieve a bigger lift requires a high degree of your shoulder girdle. Otherwise you will not be able to fix determination—a trait that is essential to anyone wanting the bar in the proper position overhead to let you go into to excel in any sports endeavor. a deep squat and stay in control of the bar.

The full squat snatch demands technique, power, strength, speed and agility. It is one of the ultimate athletic movements.

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This means you must spend time stretching out your To recap the form points for the squat snatch: the bar has shoulders. If they become tight, form will be adversely to be pulled from the floor with straight arms, and they affected. Stretching your shoulders should be done every should not bend until the traps have been activated. The day, even on days when you’re not planning on snatching. bar must be pulled high with a pop at the top. The elbows More is better than less. Obviously, you should stretch must turn up and out, not up and back. At the finish of the them out well before a session, but further stretching, in pull, you should be high on your toes with the bar tucked between attempts and at night while watching TV, is also in close to your body. When the bar jumps at the top, drive extremely beneficial. One of the keys to becoming profi- under it instantly, and instead of catching the bar think of cient in this lift is maintaining a flexible shoulder girdle. stretching it and exerting pressure up against it. Your feet must hit at exactly the same time and land in the exact Keeping your shoulders loose is best done with a stick. same spot every time. Once the bar is locked firmly in I’ve used broomsticks, handles from mops, and thick place, look up slightly and stand up, still keeping pressure dowels from a hardware or lumber store, but my favorite on the bar. is bamboo. The springiness of the super-strong grass aids in the process very nicely. Chances are, a patch of it is Obviously, this entails a lot of practice, but if you’re serious growing close by where you live. I’ve found it in California, about mastering this lift, drilling on the small form points Texas and Hawaii, and I walk by a tall stand of bamboo on is not a chore. In fact, it’s fun. In order to snatch heavy my daily constitutionals here in Maryland. Most serious weights, you must have the following: a strong pull with Olympic lifters carry a stick with them in their gym bags. a dynamic finish, blinding foot speed to get under the bar, They not only use it to stretch out their shoulders, but they and a solid bottom position in the squat. also do a lot of shadow lifting in the gym and at home. This is an excellent low-energy way to improve technique on the full snatch. When someone is able to do a picture- perfect squat snatch with a stick while his eyes are closed, he’s on his way to mastering the form on the lift.

When someone is able to do a picture-perfect squat snatch with a stick while his eyes are closed, he’s on his way to mastering the form on the lift.

The deep bottom position has to be solid, and this can only be achieved if your hips and shoulders are loose enough for you to assume that posture. Your torso must be perfectly erect, and the bar should be fixed right up over the back of your head. If you’re still not comfortable in that bottom position, lock a light bar or a stick overhead, and sit into a deep squat. Now rock back and forth and side to side while keeping your elbows locked. Do this often The first pull requires straight arms. Early bending throughout the day and the needed flexibility will soon usually results in a missed lift. be achieved.

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According to Bill Starr, doing power cleans can help improve your pull off the floor in a snatch.

Pulling and Shrugging to Beat Weaknesses Snatch-grip high pulls are no more than a deadlift followed by a shrug. Simple enough, yet high pulls are very difficult While learning how to power snatch is a prerequisite to to master. It’s the transition that causes problems. The doing full snatches, power cleans actually help build more bar has to move from the deadlift phase to the shrug in a pulling strength for the lift. The length of pull for a power smooth fashion. With light weights, all goes well, but when clean is the same as how high a snatch is pulled—or the weights get demanding, the bar starts to hitch and jerk should be pulled. And because much more weight can through the middle. When this happens, lower the weight be handled in the power clean than in the power snatch, and practice the move until you’re doing it right. High pulls the power clean serves as an overloading exercise. You can will not benefit you at all if your form is sloppy, so make do power snatches to warm up for the full movements, sure you have the technique down pat before loading up but also do some power cleans in the weekly routine to the bar with a lot of weight. increase your pulling strength. Eventually, you must use heavy weight, because the high The next step up the ladder in terms of pulling strength pull is an overloading exercise. You’re slowly training the is high pulls, done with a snatch grip. Use straps on these, muscles and attachments responsible for pulling a loaded even though you may not need them in the beginning. barbell as high as possible while using a wide grip, the Eventually you will, so get used to them. I’ve mentioned in same one you use for the full snatch. Other than hitching previous articles that I believe the best straps can be made the weight through the middle, the biggest flaw most from seatbelts. Cut them out of a back seat of an old car make is bringing their upper bodies down to meet the and throw them in a washer a dozen cycles or until they’re rising bar. The exercise starts looking more like a bent-over nice and soft. I made a pair of these when I started at Johns row than a high pull. At the conclusion of a high pull, the Hopkins, and they were used by hundreds and hundreds athlete should be in the same position as he is when he of student athletes, plus myself, for 11 years. And they’re finishes a power snatch, power clean, or full snatch or still in good shape. clean: high on his toes with the body very erect, elbows up and out, and bar snug to the body.

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A gimmick I use to help the athlete gain more height with Put the high pulls in behind a full-snatch workout or after the high pulls as well as help him pull through the middle a heavy power-clean workout. Start with 3 sets of 3 and stage more fluidly is holding out a stick. See, sticks come gradually add in more sets when you feel you can handle in handy in lots of ways. Hold the stick a few inches higher the load. Your goal should be to use at least 50 more than where the bar is being pulled. This gives the athlete a pounds in the high pull than you can snatch. Some I have tangible target to shoot for. If he taps the stick, I raise it a bit trained have been able to use 100 more pounds, and this is more. I’ve had lifters who really believed they were pulling good. Always keep in mind, though, that form takes prece- with everything they had in them pull the bar another six dence over numbers. It’s more beneficial to use 50 lb. over inches when I made them chase the stick. your snatch for 3 good high pulls than it is to use 75 or 100 more than you snatch for 3 ugly reps. Have a fellow lifter hold the stick out to encourage you to put a bit more charge in the final move at the top. It’s more beneficial to use High pulls will also help reveal a weak area. When the snatch pull is overloaded, the weakest part of the pull 50 lb. over your snatch for 3 shows up. It may be in your hips, legs and lower back and good high pulls than it is to displays itself by your hips climbing up faster than the bar use 75 or 100 more than you is moving. Or if your middle back is relatively weak, you will not be able to hold the correct position as the bar moves snatch for 3 ugly reps. through that portion of the lift. If your traps are not up to the task, there will be no explosion at the finish. All of this is valuable data. You have to know where the weaker areas are before you can go about correcting any deficiencies.

Doing high pulls will help you really jolt the bar upward when you get on the platform for a competition.

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Once you’re under the bar, it’s important to receive it actively. Push up against it and pull the bar apart.

If it turns out your start is the problem, start doing some In order to really put a jolt into the top end of the pull, deadlifts—but not like they’re normally done. Instead you need strong traps, and the best way to strengthen of using 45-lb. plates or 22-lb. bumper plates, use metal that group is by doing heavy shrugs. Rarely have I come 25-pounders. This lower starting position forces the athlete across a power rack with uprights wide enough to allow to fix his hips much lower and makes a whole new group an athlete to do wide-grip shrugs inside it. This means of muscles and attachments go to work to break the bar you will need to do them outside the rack. These I refer to off the floor. Do 5 sets of 5 on these and concentrate on as “Hawaiian-style shrugs” because for the first two years locking your hips tightly and not allowing them to move when I coached at the University of Hawaii, we didn’t have upward faster than the bar. Just because you’re starting a power rack and the bar had to be taken off two small with 25-pounders doesn’t mean you’re not going to pins on the back of a squat rack when we wanted to do overload, because you are. Keep adding more 25-lb. plates clean or snatch shrugs. and in four jumps you’re suddenly dealing with 295. These are by no means easy, but they definitely get the job done. At the snatch workout following the low deadllfts, the starting position will be a great deal more solid.

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Hawaiian-style shrugs are much more difficult than those done inside the rack because it forces the athlete to supply all the balance and control. However, I believe these are better for Olympic lifters and others who do snatches and cleans. The athlete has to pay much closer attention to his line of pull. Should he pull too far backward or forward, the bar will crash to the floor like a guillotine. So while he’s improving strength in his upper and middle back, he’s also learning how to pull really heavy poundage in the proper line. Straps are essential for shrugging, and it’s important to pull every rep just as high as possible. This holds true for high pulls as well. Beginning with 135, pull for all you’re worth. Which means the first few sets might climb up over your head. That’ s what you want to do. This sets the pattern for the heavier weights. And in order to really sting the traps and make them grow, the sequence of the pull has to be precise. Start the shrug from mid-thigh. Guide the bar upward in a tight line, then punch your hips forward and contract your traps. Only after that is done will you bend your elbows. I realize a number of coaches teach their athletes to shrug with the arms locked. This never made much sense to me. If a lifter bends his elbows while pulling a heavy snatch or clean, doesn’t it seem reasonable to do the same on an exercise designed to make the movement stronger? It does to me, and when the arms get in the mix, the bar travels much higher. Higher means more muscle and attachment involvement, which in turn translates to greater strength. Do 5 sets of 5 on the shrugs and go to absolute limit every time you do them. If your traps aren’t sore the following morning, you didn’t use enough weight. You must brutalize your traps to make them considerably stronger. Teasing is a waste of time for serious strength athletes. If you go balls-to-the-wall, shrugging once a week is sufficient. Alternate between clean and snatch shrugs and move the numbers up every week. Your traps can never be too strong, and once they start to improve, the top end of the snatch will be much more solid.

The traps play an important role in Oly lifting, and training them with shrugs can help put a few more pounds on your lifts.

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More Training Tricks This idea is not so much for making the pull stronger, Here’s another way to make the very top-most part of the but rather to help you get the feel of fully extending. snatch pull stronger, and it’s a killer. This, too, can be done The biggest mistake lifters make in the snatch—and this outside the rack. Place the bar on pins right at a height includes advanced athletes as well as rank beginners—is where your breastbone ends, just under your pecs. Strap they do not completely finish their pulls. They’re usually onto the bar and squeeze it up off the pins and hold it anxious to get moving under the bar and end up cutting off them for an eight to twelve count. Be warned: you’re their pulls, some a great deal, some just a bit. But even not going to be able to use very much weight on these. If it’s just a bit, a short pull can result in a failure on a Typically, 100 lb. will need full-out exertion. You should be max attempt. up on your toes, just as you are at the conclusion of the Another exercise is one I call “throws” because that’s what snatch pull, with the bar tucked in against your body and you’ll be doing with the bar: throwing it just as high as you your elbows up and out. The first thing to go on these will possibly can. Obviously, these can’t be done in every gym. be your shoulders. They are seldom strong enough in the You need a high ceiling and bumper plates. Having an beginning to let you hold the final position for the count. old bar or one that is already bent is a good idea as well. Do 1 set of these after a snatch workout or right in behind However, I have had my athletes do these with standard high pulls or shrugs and I guarantee your traps will report metal plates outside on a lawn or strip of grass, and that in the next day. Sore traps are a good thing, so attack them. works just as well.

Once you put everything together with a beautiful pull, the bar will seem to jump overhead almost effortlessly.

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Understandably, the first few times an athlete tries these, you bring the bar up over your head to a locked-arms he’s a bit wary, and for good reason: he’s hurling a loaded position. Take a moment to get the bar fully under control, barbell straight up over his head. An element of fear is then do 3-5 deep squats. When you finish the set, have involved, and that’s what ends up making him learn how your training mates assist you in bringing the bar back to to pull completely through. Once he gets the idea that the floor. he’s trying to throw the bar upward, he does fine, because Once you do these a few times and figure out what’s going when he does all the mechanics correctly, the bar soars on, run the numbers up. I’ve had some athletes who were way above his head and there’s no risk of it hitting him on able to overhead squat a hundred more pounds for reps the way down. All he has to do is step back or forward. than what they were snatching. This gave them a huge amount of confidence in their deep bottom position. They knew that if they could put the bar in the slot, they would Sore traps are always be able to recover easily. This is a great advantage psychologically, particularly during a competition. a good thing, so attack them.

The first time I ever had someone do these was at the ‘68 Olympics in Mexico City. I was coaching our heavyweight, Ernie Pickett, and he wasn’t completing his snatch pulls. I figured if some bars got dinged it wasn’t going to matter because all the lifters were dumping their snatches, cleans and jerks at the end of a set. Ernie was tentative with 132, but I kept reminding him of the correct pulling sequence and to follow through with his pull all the way till it left his hands up over his head. Well, he did get the idea and started giving some heavier weights a ride. With 220 he was eventually throwing the weight a good 6 feet over his head, and the crash when it landed soon had every foreign lifter and coach stopping what they were doing and watching Ernie put on a show. As we were leaving the training hall, we heard a series of loud crashes and laughed. The foreign lifters were giving throws a try. These don’t need to be done on a regular basis but are useful when an athlete starts cutting his top pull. Building a strong bottom position is also a necessity as the weights start climbing up in the full snatch. Overhead squats get the job done for a while, but when the athlete improves to where he’s handling big numbers he’s often snatching more than he’s using in the overhead squat. This is because he has to power snatch a weight before squatting it. In order to overload this movement, you’re going to need assistance. With one training partner on each side of the bar, grip the bar, give them a signal so Of course, snatching is also mental. Tenacity and aggression they‘re both pulling at the same time, and have them help can take you a long way in Olympic lifting.

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This final exercise, the drop snatch, is another one that will Break Your PR—And Compete build self-assurance in your deep squat in the snatch. Drop Try some of these exercises if you’re having trouble getting snatches also help your foot speed and foot and body your snatch out of a rut. Even if you decide not to do some placement when going into the bottom of the snatch. But of them, keep them in mind. They might come in handy equally as important, drop snatches teach the lifter how to somewhere down the road. stay extremely tight so he can control the descending bar. And once again, I encourage you to enter an Olympic- Pierre St. John, the Canadian light heavyweight, was the weightlifting contest, regardless of whether you believe first person I ever heard of who did these. His father was his you’re ready or not. The competitive atmosphere at a coach and inserted drop snatches into his routine to help meet cannot be duplicated at a training session because make his bottom position more solid. And they certainly there are so many new variables to consider, but once you did just that. I saw him compete at the Eastern States in learn the many facets of competing, your lifts will take off. Schenectady, N.Y., in 1966 and was impressed with his Contests also provide you with the motivation to improve, rock-solid snatch. He made a silky-smooth 295. He was, to so that you can overtake those just ahead of you. That will use a familiar phrase, poetry in motion. make you work much harder to be ready for the next show. He contended that drop snatches were responsible for F his excellent snatching ability and that he had done 352 in training. They became a part of my program for as long as I competed, and I eventually handled 365 in split style. Be forewarned: these take balls once the weights move past what you’re snatching. Fix the bar behind your neck as if you are about to squat it. Your body has to be very erect, with your feet placed no wider than shoulder width. Your elbows need to be tucked in close to your body, and every muscle from your feet to your traps has to be rigidly tight. of Jody ForsterCourtesy Drive the bar upward and instantly dive into the bottom of a snatch. As soon as you hit the platform, extend up into the falling bar and stretch it outward forcefully. With the lighter warm-up weights, you only need to nudge the bar off your back, but when the weights start to get heavy, you have to provide a powerful punch. For these to be successful, your feet have to hit in the exact same place as they did when you do a full snatch, and they About the Author have to move fast. If you move too slowly, the bar will beat Bill Starr coached at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, the 1970 you down and come crashing to the floor. Drop snatches Olympic Weightlifting World Championship in Columbus, are great for helping you learn how to stay extremely Ohio, and the 1975 World Powerlifting Championships in tight from the punch off the back to locking out the bar Birmingham, England. He was selected as head coach of the at the bottom. They also force you to maintain an erect 1969 team that competed in the Tournament of Americas in posture throughout. Should you lean, either backward or Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, where the United States won the team forward, during the driving-off-the-back phase, the bar title, making him the first active lifter to be head coach of an will shoot out of the proper line, and that attempt will be international Olympic weightlifting team. Starr is the author lost. If you’re leaning at all at the bottom, you can kiss that of the book The Strongest Shall Survive: Strength Training attempt goodbye as well. for Football and Defying Gravity, which can be found at The Aasgaard Company Bookstore. These can be done for triples for the warm-up sets, but when the weights move past your best snatch, only do singles. They require a huge amount of concentration and a fair amount of courage, but they bring results right away.

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The Athletic Hip The hip is essential to elite performance. Dan Hollingsworth explains how this complex joint works.

By Dan Hollingsworth November 2010

Body of sternum

Xiphoid process

Costal cartilages T11

T12 12th rib L1 Transverse processes of lumbar vertebrae L2 Internal lip Sacral promontory L3 Iliac tuberosity Intermediate line L4 Iliac crest External lip Iliac crest L5 Tubercle Wing (ala) of ilium Greater sciatic notch Anterior superior iliac spine Arcuate line Anterior inferior iliac spine Sacrum Ischial spine Iliopubic eminence Lesser sciatic notch Superior pubic ramus Coccyx Greater trochanter of femur Obturator foramen Pecten pubis (pectineal line) Pubic tubercle Pubic symphysis Howell Golson Howell Inferior pubic ramus Ischial tuberosity Pubic arch Lesser trochanter of femur Arcuate pubic ligament

An easy case can be made for the hip being the most important anatomic region in all athletic endeavors. Before this argument can be made, we must have a clear picture of the anatomic structure and biomechanics of this complex region.

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A basic understanding of human biomechanics will be Origin of psoas major muscle from helpful in fully comprehending this article. Please refer sides of vertebral bodies, to Dr. Lon Kilgore’s Jan. 29, 2009, CrossFit Journal article intervertebral discs and transverse Movement 101 for a fantastic introduction to human Iliacus muscle processes (T12-L4) movement terminology. Sartorius muscle Piriformis muscle Skeletal Anatomy The true hip joint, otherwise known as the coxofemoral joint, is the articulation between the femur (the long Pectineus bone of the thigh) and the pelvis. Specifically, these two Rectus femoris muscle muscle structures form a union between the head of the femur and the acetabulum of the pelvis, creating a true ball-and- Piriformis Adductor socket joint. The primary skeletal role of the coxofemoral muscle longus joint is to support the weight of the head, arms and trunk. muscle Dynamically, the hip complex is the power-generation and Obturator internus and transfer station that initiates and directs nearly all complex gemellus human movements. muscles Adductor Gluteus brevis minimus muscle muscle Gracilis muscle Dynamically, the hip complex Vastus lateralis muscle is the power-generation and Obturator externus transfer station that initiates Iliopsoas muscle muscle and directs nearly all complex Vastus medialis muscle Adductor magnus human movements. muscle Vastus intermedius muscle Quadratus femoris muscle Articularis genus The femur is the longest bone in the human skeleton. muscle Distally, the femur articulates with the tibia to form the Adductor magnus knee complex. The femoral neck projects off the proximal Iliotibial tract muscle shaft of the femur and angulates approximately 55 degrees Biceps femoris toward the pelvis. In women this angle is a little greater muscle to accommodate the greater width of the female pelvis. The femoral neck tends to be the weakest link in the femur Sartorius and is particularly susceptible to injury. New athletes Quadriceps muscle who complain of hip pain, especially with high-impact femoris muscle activities, should be evaluated to rule out a possible stress (rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, Gracilis muscle fracture. The head of the femur is attached to the proximal vastus intermedius, Howell Golson femoral neck and forms the point of interaction between and vastus medialis the femur and pelvis. The femoral head is circular in shape via patellar ligament) Semitendinosis muscle and covered in smooth articular cartilage.

Figure 1: Hip and thigh muscles—bony attachments (anterior view).

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Superficial dissection Deeper dissection Iliac crest Fascia (gluteal aponeurosis) over Gluteus medius muscle Gluteus minimus muscle Gluteus maximus muscle Piriformis muscle Sciatic nerve Sacrospinous ligament Superior gemellus muscle Sacrotuberous ligament Obturator internus muscle Inferior gemellus muscle Ischial tuberosity Quadratus femoris muscle Greater trochanter Semitendinosus muscle Biceps femoris muscle (long head) Adductor minimus part of Adductor magnus muscle Semimembranosus muscle Iliotibial tract Gracilis muscle Biceps femoris muscle Short head Long head Semimembranosus muscle Semitendinosus muscle Popliteal vessels and tibial nerve Common peroneal nerve Plantaris muscle Popliteus Gastrocnemius muscle muscle Medial head Lateral head Sartorius muscle Soleus muscle Howell Golson Howell

Figure 2: Muscles of the hip, thigh and calves.

The pelvis is the transition area between the spine and The hip joint is supported by a thick and strong capsule the lower extremities. The pelvis comprises three bones: of ligaments. This dense capsule is a major contributor the ilium, the ischium and the pubis. The pelvic ring is to the stability of the hip joint. The capsule extends well completed by the distal end of the spinal column, the beyond the head of the femur and actually encapsulates sacrum. Interaction between the head of the femur and the femoral neck. Several areas of thickening within the pelvis occurs at the cup-like structure known as the capsule add greater strength to areas that are exposed acetabulum. All three bones of the pelvis contribute to to significant stress during weight-bearing activities, with the structure of the acetabulum. Interestingly, it is only the the thickest area being the anterosuperior portion. The upper portion of the acetabulum that is lined with smooth acetabular labrum is a wedge-shaped ring of cartilage that articular cartilage. This is due to the weight-bearing pattern further adds to the stability of the hip joint. The labrum of the joint. encircles the entire acetabulum and not only increases the depth of the acetabulum but also provides a physical barrier that improves stability much the same was as a wheel chock prevents a car from rolling downhill.

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Vena caval foramen Diaphragm Central tendon of diaphragm Esophagus and vagus nerves Right crus of diaphragm Left crus of diaphragm Median arcuate ligament Aorta and thoracic duct Thoracic splachnic nerves and azygos vein Medial arcuate ligament (lateral lumbocostal arch) Lateral arcuate ligament (medial lumbocostal arch) L1 Sympathetic trunk Anterior longitudinal ligament L2 Quadratus lumborum muscle L3 Psoas minor muscle L4 Psoas major muscle Transversus abdominis muscle L5 Internal abdominal oblique muscle External abdominal oblique muscle Iliacus muscle Anterior sacrococcygeal ligament Anterior Anterior superior iliac spine inferior iliac spine Piriformis muscle Coccygeus muscle Ischial spine Inguinal (Poupart’s) ligament Obturator internus muscle Rectococcygeus muscle Obturator membrane Pubic symphysis Tendinous arch of levator ani muscle Opening for femoral vessels Pecten pubis (pectineal line) Superior fascia of urogenital diaphragm Pectineal (Cooper’s) ligament

Howell Golson Howell Pubic tubercle Urethra and rectourethralis muscle Lacunar (Gimbernat’s) ligament Rectum Levator ani muscle Lesser trochanter of femur

Figure 3: Posterior abdominal wall (internal view).

Hip-Joint Kinematics In order to have a discussion of joint motion, it is critical Can you imagine to have a frame of reference. In most discussions of hip- joint motion, including this one, the primary frame of how challenging landing a reference is that of the femur moving on the pelvis at the 1-rep-max snatch would be if acetabulum. During weight-bearing activities, however, the femur remains in a relatively fixed position and it is the you were in constant fear pelvis that moves on the head of the femur. For purposes that you might of this discussion, the moving segment will be the femur, dislocate your hip? unless otherwise stated.

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The coxofemoral joint is an incredibly stable joint when spine). Posterior tilt produces extension of the hip and can compared to other ball-and-socket joints, such as the be visualized as flattening of the normal lumbar lordosis. shoulder. This stability comes at the cost of mobility, Quite often, new athletes will need to be taught anterior however. The hip joint enjoys significantly less freedom of and posterior pelvic tilt before they are able to understand motion than the shoulder does. While this may seem like a cues regarding maintaining a “neutral” spine position during limitation of the joint, it is in actuality what allows the joint complex movements such as the squat or deadlift. Lateral to be as strong and powerful as it is. Can you imagine how pelvic tilt occurs when one hip joint acts as a pivot point challenging landing a 1-rep-max snatch would be if you while the opposite side is raised or lowered within the were in constant fear that you might dislocate your hip? frontal plane. During single-leg-stance activities, such as The primary actions at the hip joint are flexion, extension, pistol squats or during the stance phase of running, signif- abduction, adduction, internal rotation and external icant lateral pelvic tilt is an indicator of lateral hip weakness. rotation. The point of this article is not memorization of Finally, no discussion of hip-joint kinematics is complete somewhat debatable statistical averages for range of without addressing the issue of lumbo-pelvic rhythm. motion, but rather the development of a rudimentary This phenomenon describes the coordinated movement understanding of hip-joint motion and an ability to between the hip joint, sacrum and lumbar spine. This recognize deviations from the norm. allows for a greater range of motion to be accomplished Due to the number of two-joint muscles that cross the than can occur through the movement of one joint in coxofemoral joint, the range of motion available is highly isolation. A prime example of lumbo-pelvic rhythm occurs dependent upon the position of the joints immediately when one tries to touch his or her toes while seated with proximal and distal to the hip. Hamstring tension limits the the knees extended. Through isolated flexion of the hip, hip joint to approximately 90 degrees of flexion when the one can achieve only 90 degrees, which is insufficient for knee is fully extended. Flexion of the knee joint releases touching the toes. Continuing to bend forward and touch tension in the hamstrings, therefore allowing for hip the toes requires additional flexion through the lumbar flexion of approximately 120-135 degrees. spine. Athletes who have significantly limited flexibility will obviously require a greater degree of coordinated Conversely, when the knee is flexed, hip extension is limited movement through these segments in order to reach the by tension in the rectus femoris muscle of the quadriceps end ranges of motion. group on the anterior thigh. The normal range for hip extension is 10-30 degrees. Abduction and adduction Muscles of the Hip move the leg away from and toward the midline of the As is true with the musculature of any joint, the muscles body, respectively, and the hip enjoys approximately 30-50 that direct motion at the hip often have multiple lines of degrees of abduction and 10-30 degrees of adduction. action. In the interest of keeping this discussion simple, we Internal and external rotation of the hip is typically will discuss the primary actions of each muscle group. The measured with the hip and knee flexed to 90 degrees. reader should note, however that hip-joint position will In this position, external rotation occurs when the foot is greatly influence a muscle’s action and in some cases can brought up toward the midline of the body, causing the completely reverse a muscle’s function. femur to roll outward. Internal rotation occurs when the foot is pushed away from the midline, causing the femur to roll Hip Flexion inward. Due to the orientation and tautness of the hip-joint The primary muscles producing flexion of the coxofemoral capsule, internal rotation is typically limited to 30-45 degrees, joint are the iliopsoas, rectus femoris, sartorius and the whereas external rotation reaches 45-60 degrees. tensor fascia lata (TFL). The iliopsoas is recognized as the When the frame of reference is shifted to the pelvis moving prime hip flexor and is actually composed of two separate on the femur, as occurs during weight-bearing activities, muscles: the iliacus, which originates on the ilium of the several additional planes of motion must be considered. pelvis, and the psoas major, which originates on the lower Anterior and posterior pelvic tilt refer to movement of levels of the lumbar spine. These two muscles converge the pelvis in the sagittal plane. Anterior tilt of the pelvis into the common tendon of the iliopsoas, which inserts produces flexion of the hip joint and can be visualized as onto the proximal end of the femur. increasing the arch (lordosis) in the lower back (lumbar

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Anterior superior iliac spine Anterior superior iliac spine Satorius muscle (origin) Iliacus muscle Anterior inferior Psoas major muscle Iliac spine Gluteus medius muscle Ligaments of Inguinal ligament hip joint Iliopsoas muscle Pectineus muscle Tensor fasciae latae muscle Pubic tubercle Tensor fasciae latae muscle (origin) Pectineus muscle Rectus femoris muscle (origin) Greater trochanter Iliopsoas muscle (cut) Adductor longus muscle Gracilis muscle Sartorius muscle Rectus femoris muscle Vastus lateralis muscle Vastus intermedius muscle Vastus medialis muscle Iliotibial tract Rectus femoris tendon Iliotibial tract (cut) Lateral patellar retinaculum Rectus femoris tendon (cut) Patella Patella Medial patellar retinaculum Lateral patellar retinaculum Patellar ligament Medial patellar retinaculum Satorius tendon Patellar ligament Gracilis tendon Pes anserinus Head of fibula Semitendinosus tendon Tibial tuberosity Tibial tuberosity Howell Golson Howell

Satorius tendon

Figure 4: Muscles of the thigh: anterior view.

The rectus femoris is the only 2-joint muscle of the quadriceps muscle group. This muscle crosses both the hip Tightness in the hip-flexor and knee joints, thereby influencing the motion of each. As mentioned previously, because the rectus femoris is a muscle group can lead to two-joint muscle, the position of one joint will influence multiple movement faults. this muscle’s force-production potential at the other joint. The rectus femoris’ contribution to hip flexion is greatest when the knee is maintained in slight flexion. Tightness in the hip-flexor muscle group can lead to The iliopsoas is a powerful flexor of the hip. While its multiple movement faults. Many individuals who appear power potential is not as great as that of the hip extensors, to have limited hamstring flexibility may actually be limited sedentary or poorly developed individuals may actually due to poor hip-flexor flexibility. Shortened or tight hip develop hip-flexor-dominant movement patterns. This flexors will cause anterior tilt of the pelvis. Tilting the pelvis can lead to a host of issues that include, knee, hip and forward will place the hamstrings in a lengthened state. lower-back pain.

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When further lengthening of the hamstrings is required, Like the rectus femoris, the three muscles comprising it will appear to be limited due to the pre-loaded state of the hamstrings are two-joint muscles. The muscles of the the muscle group. hamstrings originate on the ischial tuberosities (the “sit bones”) and extend past the knee, inserting on both the The hip extensors may also be inhibited by the anterior medial and lateral sides of the tibia. The hamstring muscle tilt of the pelvis. The powerful gluteus maximus of the group aids the gluteus maximus in hip extension and also hip-extensor group loses force-production potential when flexes the knee. Slight flexion of the knee increases the the hip is flexed. Anterior tilt of the pelvis places the hip force potential of the hamstring muscle group due to the into flexion, thereby blunting the potential of the glutes. improved length-tension relationship. To demonstrate this, stand tall and squeeze your glutes together very tightly. While maintaining this squeeze, bend Hip Abduction forward at the hips. Notice how it is nearly impossible to The prime movers for hip abduction are the gluteus maintain that strong contraction of the glutes? Tightness medius and gluteus minimus. Some fibers of the gluteus of the hip flexors will limit hip extension and could be the maximus will assist this motion under significant resis- reason you are plateauing on your deadlift. tance. In a closed-chain scenario, such as a squat, the Hip Extension muscles of hip abduction are responsible for preventing the knees from collapsing in and violating the “knees in Speaking of hip extension, the extensor group is one of line with toes” principle. Weakness in the gluteus medius the most under-utilized muscle groups in modern civili- and gluteus minimus have been implicated as a primary zation. The advent of the La-Z-Boy and the television have cause of chronic knee pain. In this squat example, it is arguably contributed more to the weakening of modern easy to see why that is the case, as weakness will allow a society than any other inventions of our time. As I sit writing significant shear force to occur at the knee during dynamic this article, I can feel my hip flexors becoming tighter and movements. my hip extensors becoming weaker. Fortunately, the recent surge in the popularity of lifting heavy things is Another important function of the hip abductors is stabili- beginning to reverse this trend, at least in a small segment zation of the pelvis in the open kinetic chain. During single- of our population. limb-stance activities (walking, running, pistol squats), these muscles keep the pelvis level. Weakness in the hip The gluteus maximus and the hamstring muscle group abductors will cause the hip opposite the stance leg to dip are the primary extensors of the hip joint. These two are downward. This instability of the hip/pelvis can lead to a responsible for the violent opening of the hip joint that is host of issues including knee, hip and lower-back pain. required in nearly every explosive movement performed in athletics and conditioning. As was demonstrated Hip Adduction earlier, the gluteus maximus is most active when the hip Interestingly, while there are five muscles that are capable is in a neutral or maximally opened position. Flexion of of producing a hip-adduction force, the contribution of the hips inhibits the gluteus maximus, and at a position hip adduction to hip-joint function is not yet clear. It has of 35 degrees of hip flexion the hamstrings become the been theorized that the adductors of the hip do not have a primary hip extensors. The gluteus maximus also plays a primary mobility role but are more or less reflexive during role in lateral (external) rotation of the femur; therefore, gait. There actually appears to be a good body of evidence weakness in the gluteus maximus may contribute to the that indicates the hip adductors as having a role in hip knees rolling in at the bottom of the squat. internal rotation. This movement of the hip does not have a prime mover.

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Hip External Rotation Lying deep to the gluteus maximus, six muscles produce external rotation of the hip: the obturator internis and externus, the gemellus superior and inferior, the quadratus femoris, and the piriformis muscles. Due to its relative size and proximity to the sciatic nerve, the piriformis muscle often receives the most attention in this group of muscles. The sciatic nerve is the largest and longest nerve in the human body, and its fibers supply the skin of nearly the entire lower extremity and the muscles of the posterior thigh and those of the leg and foot. This nerve passes Hollingsworth of Dan Courtesy directly inferior to the piriformis muscle, and therefore tightness or spasm in this muscle can cause compression of the nerve, resulting in pain radiating from the buttocks and down the lower extremity. In a small percentage of humans, the sciatic nerve will actually pierce through the piriformis instead of passing inferior to it. While tightness in the piriformis can lead to the dreaded and often over-diagnosed piriformis syndrome (a.k.a., About the Author: sciatica), tightness in any of the hip external rotators can Dan Hollingsworth is a board-certified specialist in orthopedic significantly limit athletic performance and function. physical therapy and a certified athletic trainer. After serving Limitations in squat depth, knees buckling in during the 10 years as a physical therapist in the U.S. Navy, he now lives landing position of Olympic lifts, inability to bounce out of in Poulsbo, Wash., with his wife Amy and two daughters. the hole on deep squats and a host of other issues can all They own and operate Kitsap CrossFit. Dan currently works be linked to weakness and/or tightness in the hip external- part-time as an acute-care physical therapist and is a member rotation muscle group. of the CrossFit HQ Level 1 Certification Staff. Summary The athletic hip is clearly a complex interaction of many skeletal and muscular structures that are vital to nearly any and all athletic activities. The purpose of this article is to provide a basic understanding of the structure and function of this powerful region of the body. Armed with this knowledge, we should be able to better understand how to fully engage the hip and begin to look for ineffi- ciencies that may be limiting optimal hip function and performance.

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Copyright © 2010 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscription info at http://journal.crossfit.com CrossFit is a registered trademark ® of CrossFit, Inc. Feedback to [email protected] Visit CrossFit.com Thinking Outside the Box Does a sun salutation have anything to do with Cindy? Mike Warkentin talks to a few CrossFitters who see a link between asanas and Angie.

By Mike Warkentin November 2010 Image courtesy of Lisa Meer-Lewis

One smells of patchouli and incense, the other of sweat and vomit.

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A yoga studio is certainly a very different place from a CrossFit box, but some CrossFitters have found the ancient discipline helps them in the gym.

The delicate flutterings of a bamboo flute usually drift “I’ve experienced gains from (yoga),” Holmberg said. “That’s through a yoga studio, while most CrossFit boxes throb probably the biggest seller for me. I’ve felt my hips opening with punishing rhythms cranked out by tattooed satanists up. I can feel my ankles getting looser, my wrists. Lately I’ve from Southern California. Yoga is about peace and serenity. been racking a barbell and I’m like, ‘Wow, I’m not even that CrossFit is not. If you can find deep relaxation 15 minutes warmed up yet and I can get that barbell racked much into Filthy 50, a small wooden seat atop a very tall mountain better than I feel like I usually can.’” is probably a good place for you. He continued: “If you can find a yoga practice that fits into If yoga is yin, CrossFit is most certainly yang. They’re your schedule or you’re willing to make some adjustments opposites, to be sure, but are they separate? Some in your schedule and get involved with it, I think it can CrossFitters don’t think so, including 2010 CrossFit Games be beneficial.” champ Graham Holmberg, who was recently featured doing yoga in a video titled Om and Holmberg.

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Movement Is Movement Chair pose (utkatasana) requires a squat with the feet close Ask a CrossFitter to tell you a little about himself and you’ll together and the arms raised overhead with shoulders hear something like this: elevated and lumbar curve maintained. It’s basically an overhead squat, though it’s doubtful any Olympic bars “I’ve got a 4:03 Fran and a 22-round Cindy. I deadlift 450, were in use in ancient India. press 175 and squat 400.” Ask a CrossFitting yoga instructor the same question and you might get a very different answer. “Who am I really? Who are you? Why are we here?” The philosophical gap between the two pursuits makes the Grand Canyon look like a shallow ditch. Nevertheless, some CrossFitters are indeed able to find a sort of blissful relaxation during the savage efforts of a workout, and yoga isn’t just about flexibility and chanting. It’s also about breathing, alignment and mental focus.

Perhaps common ground can be found with very simple Staff/CrossFit Journal approach: CrossFit and yoga are both about moving your body. “On a very fundamental level, movement is movement, and being able to teach someone good quality movement is generally the same, whether you’re doing track and field, yoga, CrossFit or Olympic weightlifting,” says Keith Wittenstein of CrossFit Virtuosity, a CrossFit trainer and Keith Wittenstein’s registered yoga teacher. “I don’t think CrossFit invented any Essential Yoga Poses for CrossFitters movements. They’ve taken a lot of the best movements that were already around—lunges, squats, pushes, Extended-hand big-toe pose pull-ups and the weightlifting aspect—but it’s all basic (utthita hasta padangusthasana B) good human movement that people have been doing Half-moon pose for ages. (aardha chandrasana) “There’s all the basic stuff like lunges and squats and Warrior 3 overhead movements and handstands and push-ups. (virabhadrasana 3) All those basic body movements that are found in yoga, they definitely benefit (CrossFit), and there’s definitely a lot Chair pose of crossover.” (utkatasana) Some of the links between CrossFit and yoga aren’t very Downward-facing dog subtle at all. Watch just about any yoga class and you’ll see (ardha mukha svanasana) a multitude of postures that are very similar to movements Upward-facing dog performed every day in CrossFit boxes around the world. (urdvha mukha svanasana) In the yoga squat (malasana), the hips are lower than you Knee-down or knee-up crescent lunge would see them in an air squat or low-bar back squat, but (anjaneyasana) cleaning a big weight often demands a squat that’s well below parallel. Similarly, yoga’s emphasis on avoiding a Pyramid pose rounded back in the pose mirrors the instructions often (parsvottanasana) heard in the CrossFit box.

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Chair pose involves maintaining your lumbar curve with flexed knees and hips. With a barbell overhead, the lumbar curve is similarly essential.

“The basic chair pose, I see it more of a deadlift position,” Crescent lunge (anjaneyasana) finds the yogi with one leg Wittenstein says. “It’s not a full deep squat, but it’s knees forward and the back leg powerfully extended behind bent, hips bent, back arched, and then you have an arms- while the arms are raised overhead, almost as if he’s overhead position that’s a good prep for an overhead squat working on the split jerk after attending an Olympic Lifting to really get those shoulders up and open and active. It’s Certification with Mike Burgener. good to teach people how to really arch their back and Perhaps the position with the most in common with maintain a good solid lumbar curve while flexing at the CrossFit is handstand (adho mukha vrksasana), though its hip joint and the knee joint. I think it’s just a real good precursor, downward facing dog (adho mukha svanasana), preparation for deadlifts, squats and kettlebell swings.” is also helpful in strengthening the shoulders and requires less balance. “You’re really trying to open up that shoulder angle, and it’s Downward dog serves as a a good place for a lot of people to learn how to open up the shoulders and stretch there and get weight on their hands nice jumping-off point for before taking their legs up over their head,” Wittenstein the handstand push-up—a says. “You can spend a lot more time in a downward dog difficult skill that causes than you can in a handstand. It’s a good place to bridge the gap and then take your legs up overhead. Once you’ve got many firebreathers to lose that, it’s tremendously helpful, and you can definitely see their inner peace during applications when you’ve been doing a lot of handstand Diane or Mary. work to overhead pressing.”

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The pose can also serve as a nice jumping-off point for the handstand push-up—a difficult skill that causes many firebreathers to lose their inner peace during Diane or Mary. “One of the problematic things about teaching handstand push-ups is most people don’t spend enough time upside down, and they freak out and you can’t explain anything to anybody when they’re upside down,” Wittenstein explains. “If you can get them being able to hold downward dog for two minutes and rest, and they’re breathing, then get them into a handstand for about 30 seconds and get them acclimated to being upside down and inverted. “After you’ve built up a rapport with them and got them to feel comfortable and safe upside down, then you can really start to get the focus on, ‘OK, now you’re going to stay really tight, bend your elbows, touch your head to the floor and come back up.’”

“One of the problematic things about teaching handstand push-ups is most people don’t spend enough time upside down.” —Keith Wittenstein

Getting Looser Can yoga help you become more proficient in many of the 10 CrossFit fitness domains? Indeed, stamina, strength, balance, coordination and flexibility are all emphasized in yoga, with flexibility being the one most people usually associate with the ancient art. Staff/CrossFit Journal Staff/CrossFit

The handstand involves core stability and strong, active shoulders and is a precursor to the handstand push-up.

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How many times have you read something like this on the CrossFit Discussion Board?

“My flexibility is absolutely horrible. On a zero-to-10 scale, Lisa Meer-Lewis’ I’m a minus one ... . I have to resort to non-parallel cross- CrossFit Yoga Class armed front squats when using weight because I can’t bend my wrists back far enough to do a normal front Hero pose (virasana)—Seated on the heels to squat, nor can I do a back squat because my chest is so open knees and tops of feet. Ujjayi breathing tight I can barely get my arms behind my neck and onto technique is used to learn focus and breath control. the Olympic bar without severe pain. I also can’t do many Interlace fingers and reach arms overhead to stretch Olympic lifts because of problems with my flexibility. That palms, wrists, forearms and shoulders (mountain pose, or parvatasana). kind of limits my ability to do many of the WODs.” Child’s pose (utthita balasana)—While seated on the knees, lower forehead to the mat and extend the arms with toes tucked under to stretch the broad muscles of the back, the shoulders and soles of feet. Downward-facing dog (adho mukha svanasana)—Hands and feet on the floor with hips raised to lengthen spine and open shoulders. Sun salutation (traditional suryanamaskar)— Standing upward stretch followed by forward bend, low lunge, plank, up dog, down dog, forward bend and a return to standing. Repeat on other leg. Warms the large joints and the spine and teaches correct movement with breath. Chair pose (utkatasana)—Bend hips and knees with torso erect and arms overhead. Teaches the necessary structural integrity of the spine in squats, overhead squats and deadlifts. Also opens shoulders and teaches athletes to stay off their toes. Low lunge/high lunge with back and arms lifted (anjaneyasana)—Stretches the quadriceps and the gluteus maximus, strengthens and lengthens the attachments within the knee. Tones and stretches hip abductor stabilizers. Shoulder elevation also involves glenohumeral movement in combination with scapulothoracic movement and thoracic extension, which can help with the shrugging motion in Olympic lifting. Prayer twists and eagle arms also incorporated to open lumbar tissue and stretch the rhomboids, posterior delts and upper traps. Triangle (trikonasana)—Feet apart with legs straight, incline torso to place one hand on the floor. Extend the other skyward to lengthen hamstrings, rotate spine and lengthen lower back and waist. Image courtesy of Amber Karnes

Could you stretch your shoulders more often? CrossFit Yoga continued ...

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CrossFit Yoga continued ...

Wide-legged forward bend (prasarita padottanasana)—A wide-legged forward fold with no rounding of the spine to teach lumbar arch and open adductors and hamstrings, similar to the wide stance of a squat. Warrior two (virabhadrasana two)—Lunging posture with both heels on the ground and arms extended in front and behind you to open hips Warrior three (virabhadrasana three)—Balancing on one leg, the torso, arms and other leg are parallel to the floor with lumbar arch engaged. Strengthens hamstrings and hip abductor stabilizers. Half moon (ardha chandrasana)—From warrior three, rotate the torso and place one hand on the ground. The other reaches to the ceiling. Peacock preps (pincha mayurasana)—A plank or side plank on the forearms, or side plank on one forearm. Encourages Crossfitters to use their shoulders in different ways and increases shoulder stability. Bow pose (dhanurasana)—Lying prone, reach back to grab the feet, raising quads and shoulders off the ground. Strengthens back body and lengthens psoas, hip flexors, quads—tight muscles on many CrossFitters. Half-lord of the fishes twist (ardha matesyan- Image courtesy of Amber Karnes drasana)—While seated with right leg bent or Tight muscles can limit human movement, wherever it occurs. extended, place left foot outside right leg. Place right elbow on outside of left knee and twist to stretch gluteals. Todd Richards of Pennsylvania is not alone. At every single Resting pigeon (eka pada rajakapotasana)— cert people discover they are very challenged by many From lunge position, bring left leg forward until it movements. Large chests and biceps sculpted in the rests against the floor under the shoulders. Lower Globo Gym pull the shoulders forward and arms up into torso forward to rest with arms extended overhead a T-Rex position that makes an overhead squat torture. to release hamstrings and piriformis. Tight hamstrings and hip flexors earned with 40 hours a Lying hand to foot/band pose (supta padan- week behind a desk wreak havoc on the lumbar curve. ghustasana)—Lying supine, extend one straight Rack a bar on the shoulders with elbows high? Out of the leg and raise it as high as possible, grasping foot or assistance strap to stretch hamstring. question if you often find yourself tapping on a laptop in some airplane seat that’s precisely designed to support Corpse pose (savasana)—Supine rest, similar to the natural curves of a bag of laundry. post-Fran position. Lisa Meer-Lewis is a trainer at CrossFit 757 in Norfolk, Va., F and offers yoga-inspired functional flexibility seminars at GSS CrossFit in Virginia Beach. She’s also a yoga teacher and massage therapist at The Space Above Yoga Center in Norfolk.

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The pistol looks remarkably like the yoga pose marichyasana.

In her dual role as yoga teacher and CrossFit trainer, Yin and yang, as it were—but many kinds of yoga aren’t Meer-Lewis has found many CrossFitters limited by just about reclining on a mat, chanting mantras and shoulder and hip tightness, and she believes their work in waiting for flexibility to descend from the heavens on the the box would improve with looser muscles. wings of a dove. Meer-Lewis is right: many CrossFitters, and athletes in “One aspect of yoga that’s misunderstood in its application general, are about as flexible as an iron rod. is the idea that yoga is merely just passive stretching, where you just sort of sit there and you stretch,” Wittenstein says. “One of the issues I see in a lot of CrossFitters is a lack of “There’s more to it than that. There’s a lot of different yoga shoulder flexibility and hip flexibility,” she says. “I’ve been styles that are more active, that involve more movement. working on that with the CrossFitters because handstand There’s a mobility aspect, not just a static, sit-there-and- push-ups are impossible for some people due to a lack of stretch aspect. flexibility. For me personally, I think that yoga gives you a lot more flexibility work, lengthening of the muscle tissue. With CrossFit it’s a little more strengthening. So I think they balance each other out that way.”

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“When you bring these practices into your yoga practices and your CrossFit practice, you can get a lot more flexibility more quickly than just merely doing overhead squats every day with a PVC pipe, which might work but will work over a longer period of time. If you start to put in some more aspects of controlled breathing and controlled contraction and relaxation and different things, you’ll push the ball forward and see greater gains.” Learning to Breathe The average person doesn’t think about breathing, but athletes are more aware of their respiration. Swimmers obviously have to time their breaths appropriately, but other sports such as running, boxing and mixed martial arts incorporate breathing techniques to increase performance. In CrossFit a breathing technique called “gasping” is often found at the end of a nasty WOD, but many powerlifting and Olympic-lifting coaches encourage holding of the breath with Valsalva maneuver. By closing the glottis and trapping air inside the body, athletes increase intra- abdominal pressure and vertebral support, which can help during big lifts. Breathing ladders also exist to train athletes to avoid panic breathing during exertion.

“PNF stretching is something that you can incorporate and that is incorporated a lot of times Staff/CrossFit Journal Staff/CrossFit in a yoga practice where Some yoga poses change little when a barbell is added. you contract and release, “You’ll see the Kelly Starrett video where he talks about contract and release, and PNF stretching. PNF stretching is something that you actively move through can incorporate and that is incorporated a lot of times in a yoga practice where you contract and release, greater ranges of motion.” contract and release, and actively move through greater —Keith Wittenstein ranges of motion and stretch yourself more than just sitting there, not doing anything and hoping that your hamstrings stretch.

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Yoga views the Valsalva maneuver in much the same way your family doctor does, but the principles of breath control might transfer from the studio to the box. In the simplest terms, yoga is about coordinating breath with movement. Once you learn to pay attention to your respiration, you might be able control it and use it to increase performance during heavy lifting or maximum exertion. For example, at Coach Mike Burgener’s Oly Cert you’ll discover that unplanned breathing is unacceptable. While you have a good deal of weight racked on your shoulders, Coach B will ask you to take a quick breath and hold it for Staff/CrossFit Journal the jerk. While it may sound like a simple task, 225 lb. of bumpers gives you something with which to occupy your mind, and breath control is often neglected. That can lead to a loose core, missed lifts and burpees from Burgener. Wittenstein has written about the importance of breathing on CrossFitVirtuousity.com and believes it’s an important part of performance. About the Author Mike Warkentin is the managing editor of the CrossFit “Good yoga can teach you how to breathe,” he wrote in the Journal. He enjoyed doing a little yoga with Keith Wittenstein CrossFit Discussion Board way back in 2006. “That doesn’t at a certification in Oakville, Ont., in 2009. get discussed enough in CrossFit-land, but it is important. Knowing how to breathe can help you lift. It can help you run. It can help you recover ... . There are hundreds of yoga breathing exercises, some of which mirror the power breathing or martial-arts-type breathing that is needed for strength work. But most importantly, learning how to breathe is learning how to focus, which will help you in all facets of your life.” No Chanting No one’s expecting CrossFit boxes to start doubling as yoga studios. The chanting of mantras will not occur before a WOD. Sanskrit will never appear on a whiteboard. But the name “CrossFit” implies the program is a mixture of other disciplines—the best of gymnastics, running, rowing, weightlifting and more. Some might suggest it’s time to add yoga to that list. Others will certainly disagree. At the very least, CrossFitters are always encouraged to try new things to see what works and what does not. If nothing else, yoga has a lot of great relaxation and recovery poses, all of which will come in handy after one of the Hero WODs.

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Copyright © 2010 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscription info at http://journal.crossfit.com CrossFit is a registered trademark ® of CrossFit, Inc. Feedback to [email protected] Visit CrossFit.com Beyond the Physical Tim Curdt believes CrossFit workouts helped him deal with one of the hardest parts of his life: saying goodbye to his father.

By Tim Curdt November 2010 All Images courtesy of Tim Curdt of Tim All Images courtesy

In a Q&A session at FilFest 2010, CrossFit founder Greg Glassman mildly scolded a delegate who said he had found little success persuading people to do CrossFit by reciting the stated goals of “increasing one’s work capacity across broad time and modal domains” or making one more efficient at “moving large loads long distances quickly.”

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“No, no … you’re (screwing) up,” Glassman interrupted My winter plans changed instantly. A father of four young in a video titled Real Science. kids under 10 with a full teaching and coaching load, I had to be more organized and efficient than ever, ready for calls in Even though the formal definition certainly was accurate, the middle of the night to come get my dad if he had fallen a simple claim that CrossFit will make you faster and or couldn’t get out of bed on his own. I depended on my stronger and help you do more with your life would be wife more than ever to take care of our kids so I could spend much more effective. After all, the real persuasive power the night at dad’s, partly to make sure he had someone to of CrossFit is in the doing. Get future clients into your help him but also because I feared missing out on his more box, put them through a WOD or two, and let them start lucid moments—which were rapidly decreasing—when experiencing the boldness and benefits of these claims we could simply talk together. for themselves with each gasping breath. In the past year of my CrossFit life, I’ve been reflecting on another compelling truth of the CrossFit experience that seems to me just as powerful as any ever mentioned on the website, but it resists the pithy Oddly enough, it was wisdom of a T-shirt and cannot be supported with the during this same stressful type of quantifiable evidence that in all other contexts CrossFit so rightly demands. time, with little sleep and Why do CrossFit? constant interruptions to my daily schedule, that my It can teach you how to help your father die. CrossFitting efforts took off.

Oddly enough, it was during this same stressful time, with little sleep and constant interruptions to my daily schedule, that my CrossFitting efforts took off. I couldn’t stop training. I couldn’t miss a day, even if I had to throw the kettlebells in the back of the van so I could jump out at the park on my way to dad’s and throw down a seven-minute triplet of pull-ups, burpees and push-ups before making sure he had someone to walk him to the bathroom in the middle of the night. My dad was wasting away as the cumulative effects of a lifetime of bad choices (smoking, diet, inactivity) took The author (right) with his father. their toll, and I had never been healthier. At 38 years old, I had begun earnestly pushing back the “walls of decrepitude,” to use CrossFit HQ trainer Pat Sherwood’s phrase, and the exhilaration I felt after finally stringing Dad’s Final Days together 10 headstand push-ups momentarily elimi- About a year ago I learned that my father’s lung cancer nated the constant low-level nausea I felt while walking had returned with a vengeance, spreading to his brain my father to his inevitable death. and bones. The doctors said they would try some sort One night I got a frantic call from my dad’s wife begging of maintenance chemo for a while to keep the wolves me to come over because he had gotten up on his own at bay, but we all knew (even if my dad never wanted to in the dark, become disoriented, stripped off his clothes admit it) that we didn’t have long before the end. and was sitting on the floor of his bedroom, unable to get

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Copyright © 2010 CrossFit, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscription info at http://journal.crossfit.com CrossFit is a registered trademark ‰ of CrossFit, Inc. Feedback to [email protected] Visit CrossFit.com Beyond ... (continued) up. As I began deadlifting my dad off the floor, he started so often associated with “ninja” CrossFitters on those to slip under my arms. I quickly had to throw my weight devastatingly funny satiric skits on YouTube. I mean, did underneath him in a full squat and slowly, carefully lift my I really think that in the midst of so many daily reminders dad to full extension and walk him back to his hospital of my father’s mortality I had in CrossFit found a path to bed that hospice care had arranged for him. After I put physical invincibility? him down and got him settled, I couldn’t resist glancing in I could hear Glassman’s voice now speaking to me. No, the mirror and congratulating myself for being prepared no, I was screwing it up. To quote Robert Hayden, whose for the unknown and unknowable physical challenges poem Those Winter Sundays had recently appeared on that were now a stated goal of my training. the main page as a rest-day offering, “What did I know Immediately after that realization, I saw my dad’s face of love’s austere and lonely offices?” still twitching slightly from the latest seizure as he drifted By the grace of God, I was learning. off to sleep, and my self-congratulatory mood quickly gave way to another more powerful emotion: shame. My father passed away a few weeks later, and being with him during his very last breaths was, next to the I listened to my dad’s choppy breathing and tried to pat birth of my children, one of the most beautiful moments down his disheveled hair. I couldn’t forgive myself for of my life. momentarily viewing his lifeless body on the floor not as a human being, my daddy, worthy of simple care, More Than WODs dignity and respect in his neediest time on Earth, but as That spring after dad’s death, I started to get ready for a physical challenge, no more than an awkward, heavy my Level 1 Certification. My school’s professional-devel- sandbag that would be a good way to measure my true opment program had agreed to help fund me to learn fitness level. more about teaching the method to others, so I was Don’t get me wrong, had I not been training with CrossFit able to sign up for the course and a few of the specialty my dad would have spent the night on the floor or had certifications that would most directly apply to my to wait for more help before he could get to bed and work with athletes around the school. When I received ease his pain, and it was truly a blessing I was able to the introductory reading, I thought that my year or so take care of him so efficiently, but what haunted me was of workouts and of studying the CrossFit Journal had the way I had succumbed to the hubris and narcissism prepared me well for the seminar, perhaps too well. I felt comfortable with the nine basic movements. I knew the definition of fitness and the three metabolic pathways. I understood the benefits of high-intensity interval training and the drawbacks to specialization in any one field. Was that it? Would the seminar be worth it?

“Of course, we all end up dead anyway, but how you train can help you prepare for that too.” —Pat Sherwood

Tim Curdt found his fitness increasing just as his father’s health was slipping away.

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It took Pat Sherwood about six minutes in his opening we all face in life has forged that rare type of community lecture on the CrossFit philosophy to eliminate any in our culture today where all of these perspectives doubts I had about the certification’s value, not just for cannot only be welcome but celebrated. Our best my training but for my life. CrossFit trainers get this. “The real world does not give a damn about what you At a recent gymnastics cert, Jeff Tucker gathered us like or don’t like to do in the gym,” Sherwood reminded together at the end of the two days, had us sit down and us. Any fitness program that is concerned with preparing asked us to analyze one final workout he posted on the people for real-world contingencies will constantly board that was particularly brutal. A few of us bit and confront you with challenges that will force you to adapt commented on the excessive strain on the shoulders, and grow. which gave him the opportunity to tell about his past experiences as a firefighter pumping life into a man’s “We fail at the margins of our experience,” he noted. body after his heart had stopped. If your training isn’t constantly challenging you with failure and forcing you to adapt, it’s not doing its job. Pat reminded us that we only train functional movements at high intensity because these are the types of movements essential to elite athletic performance, saving lives in the field of rescue or battle, and keeping us out of the nursing home. But it was what he said next, almost as a casual aside, that became for me the magic bow tying the whole CrossFit package together as a gift that could help me make meaning out of the last difficult year of my life. “Of course, we all end up dead anyway, but how you train can help you prepare for that too.” It struck me as I drove home reflecting on Pat’s comments that what was drawing me deeper and deeper into CrossFit was precisely the opposite of the cocky caricatures on the Internet that my friends were taking great joy forwarding to me. With that sinking feeling in What’s better than taking three generations my stomach every time I counted down 3, 2, 1… on my of a family to a ballgame? stopwatch and started something I wasn’t sure I could finish, my workouts were becoming a necessary spiritual exercise for me, a memento mori, a humbling reminder of my own finitude and my ultimate dependence on God’s grace to get through my day. One of the most important Physical and Spiritual Workouts lessons this last year has Now another beauty of CrossFit’s system is that its taught me is that CrossFit’s principle of scaling applies spiritually as well as physically. For some people the feeling of physical exhilaration lesson of service can be at hitting their first kipping pull-up or setting a new PR on as necessary to our last Fran is as spiritual as it needs to be, and anything beyond that seems like unnecessary superstitious fluff. For some responders as it is to our first. it’s an opportunity to commune with the divine. But the fascinating thing to me is that CrossFit’s unique ability to prepare us for the unknown and unknowable challenges

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About the Author Tim Curdt is an English teacher and wrestling coach at St. Louis University High School, where he has worked for the last 15 years. A husband and proud father of four young children, Tim has been training using the CrossFit method for the last two years and recently The author’s father with a newborn grandchild. completed a year of professional development in which he earned a Level 1 Certification and attended several specialty certifications to help expand the use of CrossFit with his Tucker had to pump for several minutes even after he athletes and fellow faculty members at his school. had lost feeling in his arms, but what still mattered to him after all these years was that somehow he kept His students still can’t quite figure out why he makes them going in his battle to save the man. He ended the squat engaging their posterior chain fully if they look bored seminar with tears in his eyes, choking on his final words while reading Homer or Shakespeare in class, but they wish as he connected CrossFit’s workout challenges with the he would stop. His three-year-old daughter, Gianna, can do challenges he faced every day as a first responder. a mean burpee if you ask nicely. “CrossFit has always been about preparing me to serve others,” he concluded. “I hope I’ve been of service to you.” One of the most important lessons this last year has taught me is that CrossFit’s lesson of service can be as necessary to our last responders as it is to our first. Challenging my weaknesses so intensely physically expanded the margins of my experience spiritually and helped me not fail when I needed to succeed the most, when the large load I was called to help move was my father, and the long distance was his final steps into the arms of the angels. I pray every night that the journey was quick.

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Fitness Is … Character and Failure Greg Glassman asked the question, “What is fitness?” Blair Morrison offers some of his own thoughts to help you discover what fitness means to you.

By Blair Morrison CrossFit Anywhere November 2010 Courtesy of Blair Morrison

What is fitness? The question is one of the foundations of the CrossFit program, and asking it will make you reconsider just about everything you know about training. In answering the question, Greg Glassman created a new way of training and a new way of thinking about health and human performance. He also got people thinking and answering the question for themselves. In this series, two-time CrossFit Games competitor Blair Morrison talks about what fitness is to him.

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Defining Character I may not be able to get my head all the way around it, but Character. I know three things about character for certain: I am overwhelmed by the indiscernability of this idea. I know it when I see it. It’s something I universally respect when I encounter it I’m motivated by the individuals who have it. in a training partner, but I can never quite determine its exact content. It seems to be independent of personality, CrossFit builds it. status or origin. The people I’ve met and been impressed I sat down the other day and tried to make a list of traits by in the last year alone cover so broad a spectrum of (as they pertain to fitness) that might be the basis of personality types and nationalities that I can’t even begin character, and I swear I couldn’t find one that stood alone. to categorize them. Character also seems independent It’s not effort. Effort manifests itself in all kinds of spastic, of the task at hand: I’ve walked away from a low-intensity ill-conceived ways that I 100 percent do not respect. stretch session with more respect for the guy next to me It’s not results. There are plenty of “goal getters” who are than after workouts that put us on the floor in total pain. relatively low-quality individuals. Sure, I may have been able to narrow down a couple of qualities that were more essential than others (confidence, toughness, honesty, humility, purpose, etc.), but the relevant fact remained that none could explain it alone. Character is truly a trait nearly The presence of one person impossible to pin down. in the room who never Perhaps this is because charcter is a non-static value. misses a repetition imposes Think of character like a multi-trait fluid that, like blood in the body, goes where it’s needed and adjusts its shape an implicit expectation accordingly. For example, whether a guy talks a lot during on everyone else a training session says very little about his character— to do the same. maybe he’s good enough to date my sister or maybe he’s ready to steal my wallet. But choosing to speak at the right time—when it serves to motivate someone else or to deflect attention away from himself—this quality speaks volumes. Courtesy of Blair Morrison The way a person deals with the difficulty of a CrossFit workout says a lot about his or her character.

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The same can be said for toughness. Most times it means it, giving her credit for a repetition she did not complete. gritting your teeth and training through pain. But other Now, only a few points separated the first four positions times it means swallowing your pride and taking time off in an event where only three people would qualify for the to lick your wounds. Mastering this flexibility takes a lot CrossFit Games. If there was ever a moment when getting more than a single trait. through a workout fast meant everything, this was it. Further, it was obvious Thorisdottir was capable of doing Having character is the ability to get this fluid equation the work. She just came up half a centimeter short one right in every situation, even when it’s not necessarily time. Annie told the judge that she had missed, got back personally advantageous. on the bar and did another one. Obviously. Seeing this type of thing in an event of such magnitude had an interesting effect. First, it made me respect her tremendously. It wasn’t even that she did the extra rep that impressed me; it was the fact that not re-doing it literally never crossed her mind. That she didn’t hesitate says a lot about what Annie’s made of. Second, it motivated me to perform on a level worthy of the standard she had set. This is the more important point. The presence of one person in the room who never misses a repetition imposes an implicit expectation on everyone else to do the same. If an athlete finishes first and stays to support those finishing last, everyone in between will also feel responsible to do so. In this sense, character has gravity. It becomes much more than a quality subsumed in a single individual and begins to snowball into something far greater. CrossFit is an avalanche. It takes a lot of mettle to throw your hat in the ring and risk failure in front of your peers, but the example of one or two willing to lay it on the line eases that burden considerably. Those are the people I respect most. They don’t apologize for wanting to be the best, and they expect the same from everyone else. No shame. No excuses. In competition, they’re grounded enough to take credit when they win and honest enough to give it when they get beat. This kind of perspective in the fitness community inspires Staff/CrossFit Journal Staff/CrossFit people to be better than they otherwise would be. They Annie Thorisdottir’s determination and character begin to expect from themselves the same level of confi- make her a top CrossFitter. dence, toughness, honesty, humility and purpose they see in the leaders around them. At the European Regional I watched Annie Thorisdottir If there’s one reason I was excited about going back to the absolutely embarrass the pull-up bar during the third CrossFit Games this past July, it was to be surrounded and WOD, butterflying chest-to-bars like they were nothing. inspired by a stadium full of these types of people. At one point she missed a rep and the judge didn’t see

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Fail Your Way to Success The same can be said for more extreme athletes like Failure. Crossfitters, just in a more obvious way. WODs are designed to test limits in a wide range of physical and mental capac- Get comfortable with it. If you’re not failing, you’re not ities. So test them! The people who get the most out of getting better. And if you’re not getting better, you’re workouts are not the ones who complete them easily or getting worse. those who zone out halfway through in an effort to “just The basis of this idea is sometimes referred to as the SAID get through it.” If you ever find this to be the case during a principle: specific adaptation to imposed demand. It workout, you’re missing the point. means your body will only adapt to the exact demands you place upon it, and it will only do so until it can meet those demands comfortably. As soon as the work can be done with ease, your body will stop adapting. Therefore, the only way to keep improving is to continue to fail.

The bottom line is that fitness requires failure.

This idea represents two important things to me. First, intensity is everything. Why? Because that’s where the results are, plain and simple. A properly balanced program will vary its workouts in terms of style, movement pattern and volume—but not in intensity. Whether the focus is strength, endurance or metabolic conditioning, whether Staff/CrossFitJournal you’re working deadlifts, yoga or distance running, the intensity has to be consistent. This is not to say every workout must put you on the floor. Intensity isn’t necessarily about exhaustion. It’s about focus, will and the commitment to a full effort, regardless Failing will teach a good athlete a great many lessons. of the challenge. For example, my grandmother is training to lose weight through a combination of cardiovascular One inarguable beauty of exercise is that, regardless of training, group strength classes and Pilates. Needless to ability, every workout can be met with the same level of say, her ideal post-workout position is not sprawled on the effort and focus and thus can produce the same physical floor next to a trashcan. Her approach to fitness should, and mental adaptations. The biggest beneficiaries are the however, mirror that level of physical intensity in her people who maintain their intensity and fail over and over concentration and dedication to completing her routine and over during the course of a workout, and then get up with maximum effort. This attitude will force her to test to fail some more. her limits on hikes, with weights and on the Pilates mat, ultimately pushing her to the point of failure in many respects. This is a good thing.

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abilities of those around us to will ourselves to take the next step. That’s when the community leans on itself, pushes its collective limits and builds itself stronger than before. The bottom line is that fitness requires failure. Your body adapts to challenges it cannot meet in order to better prepare itself for the future. This process involves levels of intensity and fear that are typically uncomfortable but absolutely necessary. If you’re not outside your comfort zone, you will not improve. And if you’re not trying to improve, what exactly are you doing? Courtesy of Blair Morrison Failure on the path to success should motivate you, F not defeat you. Too often, people claim to seek improvement yet contin- ually pick and choose WODs based on their perceived capacity to succeed. This blatantly illogical decision is the symptom of a very common disease: fear. People are so afraid to fail. This fact, combined with the knowledge that failure is essential to our ultimate success, makes this fear one of the toughest paradoxes for our psyche to overcome. I, for one, know this emotion too well. Before football

games I would get this deep, paralyzing self-doubt of Blair Morrison Courtesy regarding my own ability. Every week, I was certain the defensive back opposite me was stronger than I was, faster than I was and, in general, better than I was. This usually didn’t subside until the first major collision of the game, when the intensity level became so high that I no longer had time to doubt myself, only to act. This happens in gyms and fitness centers all the time. People too embarrassed to bench press next to the guy lifting 300 lb. choose instead to chain themselves to the About the Author: treadmill. People who don’t feel comfortable entering a Blair Morrison is 28 years old. He was born and raised in yoga class with a few advanced participants will hover by Sacramento, Calif., where his family still lives. He received his the window wishing they had the courage to enter. All are undergraduate history degree from Princeton University and terrified of failing in front of their peers when they should his master’s degree at Universiteit Leiden, the Sorbonne and be afraid of what will happen when they never try. Oxford. Formerly a personal trainer from Balance Gym in Washington, D.C., Blair placed seventh in the 2009 Crossfit How to conquer this phenomenon? We have to celebrate Games and 23rd in 2010. He now owns and operates CrossFit failure. We have to know that unless we succeed in finding Anywhere out of Sacramento. He is dedicated to the pursuit of our limit during the course of a workout, we didn’t succeed physical challenges and the mental fortitude that comes from at all. Rather than focusing on the competition with other the ability to overcome them. athletes, we must seek to realize the individual potential for failure in every session, and then, when we really need it, when we’re just about to quit, when we’ve been pressed to the brink of failure and can’t take any more, then we use the

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