Category: General

Here is the schedule for the upcoming holiday/new year’s season!

 

Dec 24th–5:15, 6:30, and 9:30 classes ONLY

Dec 25th–NO CLASSES

 

Dec 31st–5:15, 6:30, 9:30, and 1pm classes ONLY

Jan 1st–9:30 class ONLY

 

All other regularly schedules class times on other day will be as normal.

 

Have a great holiday season, a wonderful new year, and let’s come back in 2015 ready to go!

CFD athletes, friends and family:

 

A friend in our community could use our support.

 

A good handful of CFD athletes work at HealthCheck 360, a wellness vendor here in Dubuque.  A co-worker and friend of many of those employees, Ashley Stephens, just recently went through a very terrible tragedy.  On Thursday, December 4th, her husband Garrett passed away unexpectedly in his sleep at the young age of 32.

 

I will be starting a collection at CFD where we can offer any monetary donation you can spare to help Ashley out with bills and cost of living.  Every little bit would help her through this time, and, especially in light of this holiday season, I hope you can all find it in your hearts to help out even a little.

 

I have included a link to Garrett’s obituary here.

 

Thank you all in advance for your generosity—it’s times like this where we all need to be able to come together and offer our support as a community.

Let’s talk ring rows.

Now wait…before you say ‘no thanks, I’m pretty much a ninja at doing ring rows.  I can do like 75 in a row unbroken,’ you’re likely in need of having this problem addressed!

I love them because they’re great if you do them right and care about the quality of the movement.  I hate them when they’re not done right and the athlete doesn’t care about the quality of the movement.  This is yet another attempt to get through to more people about approaching this movement appropriately.

Let me begin by explaining WHY I’m writing this:  I use ring rows mostly as a tool to progress people to eventually getting pull-ups.  My priorities when I coach and write the workouts for CFD is as follows:

 

1.  Keep people safe.

2.  Try to elicit the appropriate stimulus that is intended for that day’s program design (i.e.:  give everyone an appropriate workout) without sacrificing priority #1.

3.  Have fun without sacrificing priority #1 or #2. 

That’s right, I care more about safely and effectiveness of my facility than I do about having fun.  That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy your training, but not at the expense of safety or effectiveness.  Sorry-not-sorry, but it’s the way I am.  After all, we spend 2-3% of our life training, so let’s make use of our time!

With that said, in order to offer my athletes a road to balanced fitness, we need to work on a lot of factors, and upper-body pulling strength is high on that priority list for everyone (really, it’s trying to balance your UB pulling and pushing strength, but I digress; that’s a topic that deserves another blog entirely).

So, in order to work on upper-body pulling strength and help people attain the goal of getting a ‘no-shit-everyone-look-at-me-I-just-did-a-pullup!’ (and doing it safely), we have to do a lot of strict pulling work, and we DO.  I’ve already re-posted some great blogs written by other facilities regarding pull-ups, kipping pull-ups, and some great insights to applying those movements appropriately to different athletes.

There are a lot of factors involved regarding getting stronger in any movement, and I’ll briefly list some of them here (off the top of my head):

 

1.  Adequate recovery between sessions (to include sleeping and tissue recovery—ART, massage, myofacial release, etc.)

2.  Adequate fueling/nutrition between sessions.

3.  Getting the appropriate amount of volume with a session (load, sets, reps, time under tension, etc)

4.  Eliciting the appropriate response with a given movement/workout etc.

Let me get back on track about the ring row:  the bottom line is that if you think they’re easy, you’re not doing them right!  The point of a ring row is to EVENTUALLY get to a pull-up, not to be the ring row champion of the world.  Anyone can add volume of ring rows to a workout by simply positioning your body differently or half-assing your pull and/or range of motion of the movement.  The first-place finisher is the LAST-place finisher in my book when it comes to people ripping out 1000 ring rows for time.  The point of the movement should be QUALITY over QUANTITY!

Long story short, if you’re doing ring rows to get to pull-ups (which includes about everyone doing ring rows in classes), they need to be:

-strict

-full range of motion

-and f***ing HARD!

 

If you’re unfamiliar or need a refresher on how to appropriately do ring rows (or want some additional applications of the movement), here is a short video of Carl Paoli talking about them.

Remember why we’re here, everyone:  it’s to get better at stuff—plain and simple.  Treat your sessions in CFD as your chance to tune up your engine and get better at everything.  If you treat all your training sessions like a race or like you’re just ‘checking the block,’ you can deal with being stagnant until you change your mindset.  Personally, I’m a fan of progress and payoff when it comes to doing hard work!

RLTW <1>

–Coach Phil

Here’s the class schedule for the week of Thanksgiving (11/24-11/29):

 

Wednesday 11/26:  all classes as normal EXCEPT the 6:30pm class.

Thursday 11/27 (Thanksgiving Day):  ALL CLASSES CANCELLED.

Friday 11/28:  9:30am class ONLY.

 

Enjoy your holiday and stay safe, everyone!

With Fall being upon us and the competition season approaching, I thought it would be appropriate to bring up a few points I have been contemplating for a couple of weeks.

Many athletes at CFD are here to simply be better human beings at accomplishing functional tasks—a large majority don’t really care about ever being competitive or have aspirations to be a competitor.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with that mindset!  I want to make perfectly clear from the onset—not caring about being competitive does not put anyone on a ‘lower priority’ than someone who does aspire to be a competitive athlete!

With that said, hours spent training will differ drastically depending on an individual’s goals.  Think about what it takes to be an athlete who simply wants to be healthy and fit:  out of the 168 hours that exist in everyone’s week, a vast majority of us here at CFD spend between 3-5 hours of time actually working out within the walls of CFD.  That’s it!  3-5 hours out of 168.  That’s literally 2-3% of your LIFE.  Granted, the rest of your lifestyle has to support the hard work you’re putting in the rest of the hours of your day by staying hydrated, fueling appropriately, sleeping enough, etc.  That lifestyle support structure has been addressed before in previous blogs.  However, this time I want to address that 2-3% of your life when you’re actually subjecting yourself to a controlled amount of stress in order to create adaptation in your body—your time spent working out.

Now, let me make something clear before I move on:  I am in no way suggesting that 3-5 hours a week isn’t enough!  If your goals are simply to be fit, healthy, and have longevity with your fitness, spending 3-5 hours per week is certainly adequate, assuming you apply yourself appropriately when you are in the moment.  Which leads me to my next point..

How do you approach your workouts every time you come to CFD?  Are you focused and do you have purpose behind what you do?  Are you legitimately trying to create the appropriate stimulus in order to get the desired adaptation that I and the coaching staff at CFD are there to help you achieve?  Or are you a bit scattered in your thoughts, less-than-focused and present in the moment?

We see it day after day, and it’s been said before:  you get what you put into it.  I don’t care if you’re a brand new athlete who simply want to be fitter or an aspiring competitor training 12-15 hours per week.  I encourage each and every one of you to be present in the moment and give your best effort every time to achieve the response that’s intended for you.  Progress isn’t achieved in a short amount of time; it’s accumulated over long periods of time with consistency.  Come with purpose.  Be focused.  The other 97-98% of your life can be spent enjoying life and being a positive part of the community.  However, when you’re in the moment, go after your goals with a vengeance.  Go for that number you thought was impossible yesterday.  Be extra conscious of your range of motion and technique with each and every rep.  That’s the tiny sliver of time during the day you are committing to getting better, so own it.  You have the rest of the day to space out, socialize, and have fun.  Leave it all on the table and have no regrets about your performance today…and tomorrow….and from here out!  I’m not even talking about committing MORE time to your training, I’m only suggesting committing more focus and purpose to the time you already allot in your busy schedules to better yourselves.  You will be amazed at how much faster you can progress with a little extra purpose and focus!

Keep up the great work, CFD.  You make me proud to be a part of our strong and healthy community!  It is legitimately my greatest joy about what I do to see everyone, regardless of your current health or fitness level, improve those markers and be proud of their accomplishments.

RLTW <1>

—Coach Phil

Wrist wraps, front rack, and overhead-position mobility.

This blog is directed at anyone who may have some issues with wrists, and/or the front rack/OH positions.  As a caveat to start the blog, I want to ensure you that this is written because I’ve seen a LOT of people have issues with this.  It’s not geared at any one person in particular, and it’s not meant to be belittling or to call anyone out.  In fact, I’m going to be the first to say that I’ve had to work really hard and have learned the hard way about many of the issues I’m about to write about, so I’m not claiming perfection by any means!  Personally, my overhead position still has a ways to go to be better–but it’s improving (although slower than I would like!).  This is purely meant to be a quick reference guide about some main points regarding the topics.  I will do my best to be concise and provide links to additional information if you desire to pursue it.  The links provided are by no means an end-all be-all guide to fixing or addressing any problem, but’s they’re all a place to start (and the result of a quick Google search on my part–you could probably find better references if you spent some more time on it).

1.  The supported position holding a weight overhead in the hand is for the wrist to be at extension.  Many people think that your wrists should be neutral when holding a weight overhead.  Incorrect.  Your wrists NEED to be flexible enough to be in a position of extension under a load, or else you will be putting the carpals in your wrist in jeopardy.  If it hurts to do bear crawls, crab walks, pushups, burpees, etc…that’s a great indicator that your wrists require some work on their flexibility!  Don’t guard your wrist flexibility; exploit it and make it better!  I see a lot of people trying to guard putting their hands flat on the ground during warmups—those same people always have a hard time in a rack position or overhead, and it’s all because of that constant guarding against wrist extension.  Start fixing the root of the problem (or at least part of the root of the problem)!

I must mention, however, that you can certainly extend ANY JOINT too far (hyper-extention), and that wouldn’t be good, but I bring this point up because most people operate under the misconception that your wrists should be neutral while you’re supporting a weight overhead, which is definitely not correct or good for the wrists.

2.  Related to the first point, let’s address the purpose of wrist wraps.  Wrist wraps are meant to apply compression to the carpals as support, but to also ALLOW THE WRIST TO BE IN A POSITION OF EXTENSION.  The capitalized portion of that last sentence is generally the part that most people don’t understand.  Wrist wraps are not meant to be strapped tight in order to PREVENT the wrist from being in a position of extension.  Wrap your wrist wraps snug enough to provide support relative to the weight you’re lifting (i.e.:  if you’re warming up, you probably don’t really need them, whereas if you’re going for that 1RM jerk, you probably going to want them tight) but still allowing the wrist to reach extension.  For example, if you’re hitting a big split jerk and going for that 1RM, your wraps will probably be really tight, because even when they’re really tight, the weight of that bar will force your wrist into extension and be really supported while overhead.  However, if you have 75# on that bar and your wrap it as tight as you can get it, the weight will not be heavy enough to put the wrist in extension while the bar is overhead.    Personally, I tend to wrap tighter as the load increases.

 

3.  Know what movements warrant the use of wrist wraps and what movements do not!  When you’re pushing a lot of weight overhead (push press, jerks), snatching, overhead squatting, or even doing handstands/HSPU’s, I wouldn’t bat an eye at using wrist wraps, because you’re needing to support those carpals while the wrists are at extension under a load.  However, deadlifts, front squats, toes to bar, pull-ups, rowing, double-unders, farmer carries, and drinking coffee do NOT warrant the use of a wrist wrap.  It may even surprise you to know that you probably shouldn’t be wearing wrist wraps when you’re performing cleans–as long as you have an appropriate front rack position and you’re receiving the bar properly, your wrists won’t suffer being forced into an inappropriate position.  I do understand, however, that many people don’t have good front rack positions and have a want (or even simply a need) for some extra wrist support.  Which leads me to my fourth point…

4.  If your front rack or overhead position is less than ideal, you’re going to need to take measures to work on it.  Upper back (thoracic spine) mobility, shoulder mobility (external rotation), wrist flexibility, and—believe it or not—even hip and ankle mobility play a part in that (if you can’t squat with an upright torso, you’re going to have to fight that angle at the shoulder even harder to keep a weight in a rack/OH position, right?).  I could write a book about fixing mobility issues, but lucky for me, there are people a lot more intelligent than I who have done so already!  Fixing your structure is a full-time gig.  Think about it:  if you slouch at your desk for 8 hours a day and then lay on the couch with shitty posture to watch TV for a couple hours at home, do you think 2-3 minutes of rolling out on a foam roller before you overhead squat is going to undo all that damage that having no discipline with your posture did?  Of course not.  Actively think about your position and your posture, and take appropriate measures (here, or here, or here, or here…the list goes on) to improve the hangups that are keeping you from performing at a higher level, being healthier, and (most importantly) being injury-free!

 

Ok, that’s all I have for now–I hope many of you find this quick blog about the purpose and use of wrist wraps as well as the importance of front rack and overhead position mobility useful.  Believe me when I say this:  we are all dealt a hand, and I get that.  Some people have different structures than others, different limb lengths, etc…that may make it harder or easier to be in better positions than others.  No matter how easy or difficult some of these positions may be for you, you can ALWAYS improve the hand you were dealt if you don’t like it!  It’s just going to take time, hard work, and some patience and discipline….and you’re going to have to WANT it.  

 

As always, follow up with me if you need more guidance and I would be happy to expand on any of these points for you.  And go easy on me….I knocked this out while eating lunch today, so forgive any typos or other errors!

 

–Coach Phil

How are you fueling PWO?

I can’t help but ask this out loud, because I think it’s so important to have an appropriate post-workout (PWO) protocol.  I am suspicious that maybe a lot of people either have no idea on what is appropriate to be putting in your body PWO, or otherwise aren’t very consistent about it.

Everyone here works hard.  REALLY hard.  It’s tough to get away with slacking at CFD.  Every time you’re pushing yourself, standing up that last squat that you WANT to bail, but you won’t because you’ve got half the class watching you and cheering you on, you’re breaking down muscle and putting yourself through stress.  Great work!  BUT….that’s only 1/2 the battle (arguably, not even 1/2, but I digress…).  Are you putting the things in your body the other 23 hours of the day in order to repair the damage you did and come out the other end of your training day stronger?  You wouldn’t knock out a wall in your home with the hopes of remodeling and then not go to the store to buy new material to rebuild with, would you?  THEN STOP DOING IT TO YOUR BODY!

Truth is, there’s a very important window of opportunity to replenish and refuel your body after giving it a beating.  Too many people work way too hard and then don’t appropriately re-fuel after a session, and it regularly results in slow (or sometimes seemingly stagnant) progress.  Ask yourself: what do you do after a workout?

Do you go on about your day and not think twice about it?

Do you have a shake?

Is it a quality shake, or is it a cherry-berry smoothie and you’re trying to fool yourself?  Do you NEED a shake PWO, or would a good meal be more appropriate for you?

Do you eat a meal?

What exactly is in that shake or meal?

Are you purposefully giving yourself a certain volume and ratio of micro and macro nutrients, or are you just having whatever is in front of you?

Would you cheat your reps, depth, or times in your workout?  Then don’t cheat yourself of the building blocks that make all that hard work pay off!

I’ll be following up on this subject regarding PWO fueling with the upcoming Strength Gain Challenge that will be ready in just a few short weeks.  However, it’s important to know that, if you remember what I had covered last time, that PWO protocol shouldn’t end with your last strength cycle!  Give your body what it needs after you’ve worked so hard.  After all, the hard part is the work—the easy part is eating and sleeping.  Don’t slack there of all places!

 

–Coach Phil