It's March! Fist-pump! Above: Kristen hits her 56-mile February running goal! Knock another off the board!
Mondays With Mike #3:
Mike's running groups start next week! Wanna get in there? The 7am group is nearly full!
7am Group - register here!
7pm Group - register here!
One year ago last weekend, I faced my first 5k run.
5k runs had popped up on CrossFit.com before, of course, but I'd always found an excuse to skip. The lizard brain was in full effect: I was still considering more Powerlifting meets, and was scared to drop weight. Realistically, I was just scared to fail, even if failure would be private. I would know.
I had the accoutrements of a runner: Christmas gifts from my sister (a real runner,) or little things I'd picked up along the way, to be ready for the "someday" when I'd finally do a 5k run. I had no idea what to expect, but I tentatively set a goal of 30 minutes to finish. I Google-mapped out different 5k options. I timed my meals all day (on a Sunday!,) checked with my wife a hundred times (are you sure you don't need me to re-hinge the cupboards today? Re-gravel the driveway? Check the shingles?) and finally set out. I told myself to go slow. At the turnaround, I knew I'd finish: I had to get home, after all. I walked a lot of the way back (there's a massive hill, about a mile long, at a grade of 6-12 degrees.) But I finished, just over 30 minutes. I was happy. And sore.
Training for last year's Ontario CrossFit Challenge, I was running 400m and 800m pretty regularly. I wasn't a better runner: I was still very up-and-down, with a long stride and a huge shock to absorb on every step. I'd finish runs exhausted, but just try to gut-out the lifts anyway. But when my quads started seizing during training runs, I started to worry: my legs would go numb, and the VMO (largest quadriceps muscle) would fire uncontrollably, as if it were attached to a car battery. I couldn't get my thighs to shut off. I DNF two workouts that I should have dominated.
Despite my years of training and coaching and study, I had missed something very simple: running is a skill. Like cleans and jerks and deadlifts and pullups. Technique matters.
After the Ontario CrossFit Challenge, I booked some private personal training sessions with Mike. His words: "You run like a hockey player." I was leaning back, with a heel strike way in front of my torso. He videotaped my runs and showed me; I was shocked. We practiced the POSE method three times, on the hot asphalt of the Industrial Park. First, I could hold my position for about four or five strides; then for a hundred metres; and slowly, over an entire 400m sprint. In July, I ran sub-25:00 at midnight, carrying a beer in my gut. I didn't win, not by a long shot (Beharriell shot by me around the 2k mark - he was already on his way back!) but it was a PR, and I knew I was onto something. My 800m times went from 3:45 to 2:55. My 400m times, even in the middle of a tough WOD, still dropped to 1:20s.
How many runners, I wonder, run for 20 years without a coach? How many read about running, follow the sport, watch the Boston Marathon...and never have their stride assessed? How many New Year's Resolutions die on the cold pavement on January 3rd out of pain and frustration?
Beginner's running groups in the Sault have always served a very important function: develop a running habit. Cough up some running germs, and let the running itch slowly kindle. Hope that the passion of the coach is infectious (and usually, at least a few would become runners for life.) But others became immunized: they'd tried it, found it painful, and given up forever. If your only exposure to something is painful and frustrating, after all, why would you continue?
It's now very obvious to us that technique coaching is critical for beginners. If we can make running easier, 'softer,' virtually pain-free......and you can get better, faster......you're more likely to continue forever. Maybe...you'll like running? It's not too much to ask.
We all need coaches. The more elite the athlete, the more it's expected they have a coach. But it's absolutely critical to use a coach when you're a beginner (or a second-time starter.) Let's do this right.
We've been hosting "Mondays With Mike" - part one and part two have already been published - to help folks learn to run better. Now he's making himself even more available to help: we'll be starting a morning group for beginners AND an evening group for beginners on March 9. You can sign up below. It's definitely the best running experience we've ever offered:
On-the-fly running coaching (he's out there with you!)
Whiteboard instruction pre- and post-run
Nutritional advice
Group runs (critical to building a habit)
8-week running program
When you're done, you'll run 5k. You'll love it.
7am Group - readers of this blog: sign up online before March 1 and get 10% off!
7pm Group - readers of this blog: sign up online before March 1 and get 10% off!
Phil Mickelson is one of the greatest golfers of all time. But his collapse in the 2006 Masters Tournament is legendary:
Mickelson started his career 0-for-46 in majors, then changed his approach. He dialed back the aggression and started making much better course management decisions. And it paid off: He entered the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot going for his fourth career major and third in a row.
And he almost got it. But then he reverted to his previous form. His driver deserted him all day (he even hit into a trash can on No. 17), yet he kept hitting it; and his decision-making deserted him on the final hole.
Mickelson had a 1-stroke lead as he stood on the 18th tee. Despite hitting only two fairways all day, he pulled the driver again. And again, he missed - only this time badly, his drive hitting the roof of a hospitality tent and bounding into the spectator area.
Mickelson had a decent lie, but a bad idea. Rather than advancing the ball a short distance but getting it back in the fairway - where he might make par the hard way, or, at worse, bogey to get into a playoff in which he'd be the heavy favorite - Mickelson attempted a huge slice under and around tree branches. It didn't work. The ball hit a branch and stopped 25 yards in front of him.
He hit another big slice, but this one plugged in a back bunker, and not even Mickelson's short-game magic could save him from there. He double-bogeyed and finished one shot out of a playoff.
"I am such an idiot," he succintly said afterward.
“We don’t rise to the level of our expectations – we fall to the level of our training”
-Archilochus, Greek Soldier
What we're talking about here is internalizing a skill until it can happen subconsciously, without conscious thought. Is it coincidence that the "Canadian Sport For Life" website lists a minimum of 10,000 hours of practice before mastery can be reached?
Malcolm Gladwell sure doesn't think so. In his essay, "Outliers," he talks extensively about "prodigies" who simply had more practice than their peers. Mozart was composing symphonies as a child, yes. But his best work started to emerge in his early 20s - still young, but by that point, he likely had 10,000 hours of practice under his belt. Gretzky was the same. Tiger Woods, at age three, below:
Was he already hitting a ball straighter than some adults? Yes. Was this his first time holding a club? Nope.
The process of internalizing motor patterns takes repetitive practice. And skills must be practiced as close to perfectly as possible, not just wobbled through. Practice makes permanent. To become masterful, a child has to stop practicing a new skill when his form degrades, and resume when they can successfully coordinate the movement again.
In the graph at the to the right, we can see that virtuous performance in any sport or motor skill must start from a base of repetitive practice, and then be refined by comparison, competition, and challenge. Practice IS necessary, but so is competition, to evolve a skill. And each skill has to start out at the same level, but several can be learned concurrently; some will even help the development of others.
You simply can't 'skip' a level. Mastery must be achieved at the most very basic set of skills before they can be complemented with greater, better skills. For instance, if a child isn't taught how to fall and get back up on skates, they'll never progress to learning to stop properly. Likewise, if an adult isn't first taught how to squat properly, they'll never progress to a clean..... they'll probably defer to the Smith machine and blame their 'bad knees' on squats in general.
Add stress into the equation - good 'ol Lizard Brain! - and the athlete will start to backslide, dropping levels until they reach the level at which they've developed the most unconscious skill.
That's not a discouragement; rather, it shows that it's NEVER too late to learn brand-new skills. It's also a terrific illustration of the domain mastery trap: once someone is really, really good at a skill, it's tough to make them consider another. They'd have to restart at the bottom, after all. A comfort zone is just another name for quicksand.
Starting a child with a broad base of skills, including running, jumping, tumbling, skipping, calisthenics, ball sports, and weightlifting, ensures that they're starting from a higher level when they learn a sport later in life. Think Whit's grace in the clean and jerk is just something she's born with? That's years of gruelling dance rehearsal, plus two years of hard work and coaching. Think Ty's just one of those 'gifted' kids who are great at everything? Well, he DID everything. He established a solid motor base as a kid, refined it enough to play baseball at a University level, and is now developing parallel skills - but the broad base was there.
Development of the 'broad base' can happen at any age. To become more athletic - fitter, leaner, and able to do more of the good stuff - are you better to do CrossFit, or sit your way through a machine circuit?
Catalyst Crazies Brent Rose, Alecia Hemphill, Carolle Robinson, Allyson Schmidt, Nicole Gignac, and Joe Scott at yesterday's Polar Bear Swim.
IT'S FAMILY DAY! BRING A FAMILY MEMBER WHO'S NEVER DONE CROSSFIT TO ANY OF OUR GROUPS FOR FREE TODAY!
"I am strong. I am beautiful."
This was the mantra given to 17 women in our Barbell Bettys group on October 5. What started as a private instructional group for women on the ways of the barbell has turned into a loud scrum. Every Monday and Thursday night, women do the unthinkable:
They put chalk on their hands.
They lift weights that aren't even pink.
They - on purpose! - sometimes sweat. Right through their t-shirts!
And get this: they don't even wear gloves!
Yes, there are strong ribbons of femininity running through those layers of concrete: headbands, knee socks, lululemon. Stretchy pants and pink shoelaces come crashing up against loud music, yelling, and personal best deadlifts.
If women need anything in life, it's strength. This is true whether we prefer it to be, or not. To further paraphrase Coach Rip: Strong is why we are here.
Men are naturally stronger. But you've heard the old joke, right? About Grace Kelly doing everything Fred Astaire could do, but backwards and in high heels? Well, here's the thing, gentlemen: while you're thinking, "Gotta get this PR. Gotta crank. C'mon, grip and rip, baby!" a woman has to also think, "Would my grandma tell me not to lift weights? How does my butt look while I'm deadlifting? Is my hair going to fall in my eyes while that bar's going overhead? Is my boyfriend going to make fun of me again tonight? Are my muscles going to look too prominent? Should I care? What if I get calluses from this? Will I have to do the 'full shower' before returning to work, or can I get away without redoing my hair?"
All this, while lifting stuff that most men wouldn't attempt. In the last month, we've had a 300 deadlift; we've had a 185lbs back squat for 3 reps; we've had bench presses over 130lbs. Soon, the Bettys will be throwing Cleans around; bouncing Snatches off the platforms; locking Jerks overhead. Soon, they'll compete in their first Powerlifting Meet, live and on a world stage.
Further reading: One Woman's Request (CrossFit Watertown, by Lisbeth Darsh)
The Return of Strong Women (Catalyst Gym, Coach Coop)
Primal Strength Training for Women (Mark's Daily Apple)
6 Weeks - Mondays at 7pm - Park location - Starts November 16
$80 - Members; $125 - Non-members (includes membership for the length of the course)
To register: 256-1344
Membership to Catalyst Athletic - our Athletic Training Gym in the Industrial Park"Why are your players so much more fit than anyone else's?""What are you doing that's so different?""How can you get this kind of player without steroids?""Can you get this kid back to the way he was at his best?""This kid was the surprise of the draft. He earned his spot because he was so far ahead of everyone else at fitness testing."These are all questions we've heard from OHL coaches since last fall. Different teams, different players, different coaches. Some during phone calls with Coaching staff, some via email.
The kicker: we're not doing anything that's top secret. Instead, we're constantly reviewing scientific research and applying it to our athletes. We write great programs, and excellent food plans, and make sure our athletes use them. Most of our players don't use any supplements at all; the others use only a basic protein supplement.THE CATALYST DIFFERENCE: Intense application of basic physical movement. First, we make our athletes experts at basic compound movements like squats, deadlifts, presses, and cleans. Then we take them to the next level through creative workouts that combine elements of weight lifting, calisthenics, sprinting, Strongman, gymnastics, kettlebells, and more. Want an example? A typical (non-Catalyst) Trainer will split up an athlete's week into body parts and add a bunch of distance running. In contrast, we'll focus on movements like hip extension, explosive technique, and challenge-based workouts. By training MOVEMENTS, not individual MUSCLES by themselves, we make a better athlete.In fact, athletes who train with us OFTEN KNOW MORE about exercise than any of their peers, and sometimes know more than their coaches! Junior-level coaches will even admit that their offseason program is only a rough guideline to be followed if there's no other option. In 2009, 3 OHL teams have already told their players to follow OUR program instead of their team's offseason handbook!
Parents: you'll be secure in the knowledge that if your son or daughter has to play in another city, they'll know how to take care of their own training safely and effectively. Because we first emphasize mastery of the basics, they'll always know how to exercise without risk of injury AND for maximum benefit in limited time.MAKE THE CUT. DON'T LEAVE YOUR TRAINING UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE!Our camps all include: Full Food PlanCoaching by the best Trainers in OntarioExposure to exercises you'll NEED to know to play NCAA or OHL hockey - but CAN'T find anywhere elseExtra workouts CAT Testing at the beginning and end of the program with detailed reportsOnline tracking Summer Dryland Strength and Conditioning Camp8 Weeks - July 6 Through August 28Monday and Thursday MorningsTwo Groups: Midget-Junior and Bantam-Under$329 (plus gst.)Bantam Group: 9amMidget-Junior: 10:30amTO REGISTER: SHOW UP 10min BEFORE YOUR GROUP STARTS!
"Cardio" is a slang term reserved for aerobic endurance work. "Work Capacity" is the ability to apply force across a distance for a specified time. To get mathematical for a second,
2009 Kettlebell Basics
Seminar
featuring Marnie Holley (IFBB Fitness Pro, AKC level 2 )
When: Saturday,
April 25, 2009 – 10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.
This 90-minute seminar with IFBB Fitness Pro/Agatsu Kettlebell Certified Instructor Marnie Holley, will give you the knowledge necessary to implement safe and effective kettlebell training into your fitness program. Basic exercises (and their variations) such as the swing, clean, snatch, press, windmill, and Turkish get-up will be taught. A variety of bodyweight exercises and sample strength/endurance circuits will also be presented.
This seminar is expected to sell out FAST! It will be capped at 15 attendees, so please register at Catalyst Fitness ASAP to reserve your spot. Entry will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Please note that you will be required to make advance payment and will need to complete a registration form/waiver. Please make cheques payable to Marnie Holley.
Be sure to wear workout clothing, flat-soled shoes, and bring a small towel and water bottle.
For further information please contact Catalyst Fitness at (705) 256-1344 or email catalystfitness@yahoo.ca