Category: General

Hello CFD!  It was a nice, rainy Sunday to finally go through everything with the survey I took and put together a blog in response to some of the things brought up.  It’s a lengthy one, so I’ve put it together on Google Docs and will just share the link here rather than publish a novel on the blog.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the survey, as it has provided outstanding feedback on the facility!

The response can be found here:  Post-Evaluation Blog

It’s that time of the season again to dive back into building the foundations of our fitness!  Some of the biggest limiting factors hindering many people’s progress in the sport of CrossFit is lack of absolute strength.  This week has been filled with testing to gather some baselines from our athletes, and it’s important to gather all the data accurately so that we may use percentages of your max lifts in the weeks to come.

 

First off, let me get this out of the way:

**You are responsible for keeping track of your data and doing your own math problems!**

While I will be interested to know your progress, am open to questions, and will certainly want to know what everyone’s numbers are (start and finish), but please don’t ask me or the coaches to calculate your percentages or what your 1RM’s are.

 

Here’s how it’ll work–the next 12 weeks I have written out an entirely independent line of programming that will specifically target our absolute strength–squats, bends, pushes and pulls.  You have some options on how you can go about this separate programming:

 

1.  You may do the regular class programming (WOD) at one end of the day, and the Strength-Gain Challenge (SGC) program at the opposite end of the day.

 

ex:  AM session is SGC, PM session is class WOD.

 

This would be appropriate for athletes who are pretty solid with the basic movements and can handle the extra workload.  An important thing to take into account would be to LISTEN TO YOUR BODY and FUEL APPROPRIATELY (which I will get into on the SGC Facebook page)!  If your goals are to gain strength, and the workload of doing both the regular class programming and the SGC programming is too much, then the next option might be a better choice, which is……

 

2.  Do one line of programming per day, and hit ALL the SGC work every week.

 

ex:  Monday, SGC.  Tuesday, regular class WOD.  Wednesday, SGC.  Thursday, OFF.  Friday, SGC.  Saturday/Sunday, OFF (this would be an example of an athlete who attends 4x/week of classes.

 

This is more appropriate and realistic for the majority of the population who maybe is still relatively new to the amount of volume we do at CFD and doing that much extra work would be ineffective or likely not safe.  After all, the point is to make everyone stronger, which will help you DO WORK and NOT GET HURT, so if doing too much too soon results in an injury, I would argue you are now LESS FIT than when you started!  Don’t get greedy, and learn the (sometimes hard) lesson that the best progress is slow and steady.

 

Here’s something that is NOT an option:

 

3.  Doing the SGC program, then immediately sticking around and doing the class (or Vice-Versa).

 

ex:  “hey Coach, I’m super busy today, so I was wondering if I could just knock out my strength work before class so I can get it in, and then stick around and then do the regular workout…cool?!?!”

I know you guys are all awesome, putting in the kind of work you do while still having everything else life throws at you on your plate.  But here’s the real problem with trying to do both back-to-back:  you’re not allowing yourself the appropriate recovery to get very much at all out of either program.  Before you ask this questions, the answer is NO.  Pick ONE to do per visit, and have AT LEAST 4-5 hours of separation between the two sessions.  Remember, I want what’s in your best interest!  If you’re anxious to get gains in the SGC and you’re crunched for time, then do your strength work!

 

What do I want from this challenge?  I want CFD to be stronger at the end of the cycle–period.  Lift weights, eat food, recover appropriately between sessions, and increase our strength base.  We could all use it!  After all, strong people are harder to kill.

 

What I would consider to be a fail from this challenge would be injury.  If you don’t rest appropriately, don’t properly warm-up and mobilize things you might need attention on, and/or get sloppy with your movements, it could result in an injury.  When in doubt, ask!  When in doubt, rest!  My number 1 priority at CFD is always to keep everyone safe.

 

Please ask to have yourself added to the SGC group on Facebook so that we can have that private line of communication!  Additional information will be posted there, including the programming itself, nutrition/recovery guidance, and probably more–I hope to see the work I’ve put into constructing this challenge pay off in increased strength throughout the community!

 

RLTW <1>

–Coach Phil

What a great 2014 season it’s been at CFD!  I’m so proud of how far we have come as a community within the last year.  Dubuque is still very young in the sport of CrossFit, yet we have started clawing our way up that leaderboard and making our mark.  I’m excited to see what another full year of training and education might bring, which leads me to my next point:

 

Training for the 2015 CrossFit Open starts NOW.  I think it’s safe to say that some lessons were learned these last 5 weeks—weaknesses some may have avoided were certainly put under the microscope at one point in time or another and exposed.  A lot of frustration was expressed this last month, and it’s all part of getting better!  Embrace your struggles and your failures, as they are necessary in order to improve.  Where are you in your training, and do you want to take things to the next level?  Have that conversation with me if those goals are something you’re willing to dedicate more of your time and effort toward.

 

Please know that I always have CFD’s best interest in mind—whether it be your safety, your health, or optimizing your performance, I will do what I think is truly best for you.  If something doesn’t make sense or you feel as if you’re not moving towards your goals, it is your responsibility to talk to me!  Let’s strengthen that coach/athlete relationship; communication is key!  I, and all of the CFD coaches, are regularly faced with judgement calls we need to make for our athletes regarding movement modifications, program design, exercise selection, weights, reps….the list goes on.  How I guide you based on my education and experience is what I believe is best for you, and it’s because I GIVE A SHIT, not because I’m trying to take anything away from you.  Why would I not want my athletes at CFD to be the best they can be so they can represent me and my facility to the best of their potential?  How would that benefit me to stifle my own athlete’s progress?

 

I’m very excited to move forward after this season and spend more time with such a quality community.  I’ll be starting up some new private programming clients which I am very excited about, and will continue to re-assess and develop existing clients.  I plan on having some great direction with our group Fitness and Performance classes, and I will be taking data points on everyone’s numbers and getting some good numbers on what direction we need to move, as well as implementing more services (another Strength Gain Challenge, as well as some competitions).  There’s a lot going on at CFD and I couldn’t be more proud to do everything in my means to keep forging onward and continuing to be the best in the area.

 

Don’t forget, April 5th is our In-House Festivus Team competition!  This is a 1-day, 3-event mad-hatter scaled competition; more details will be posted on the Facebook page and here at CFD.

 

RLTW <1>

–Coach Phil

A new Strength-Gain Challenge starts in April!

 

If you are interested, testing will begin next week to find starting numbers during regular classes.  It is imperative that you get the work in and log some numbers so you have some data to use in the weeks to come!  Each athlete is responsible for keeping track of your numbers, though I will be recording the numbers as well to use in guiding our collective program design.

 

I will be writing another line of programming that can be implemented either in place of the Workout Of the Day, or in conjunction with it (as AM and PM sessions, not back-to-back).  If you are interested in getting on board with it, please keep in mind that the extra sessions will count towards your monthly attendance, so if you are a 3x/week person who wants to do the extra programming, get on an unlimited package so you don’t burn up all your sessions right away!  The movements involved will be the power lifts (i.e.:  squats, bends, presses and pulls), as opposed to the olympic lifts (clean, jerk, snatch).

 

I’m excited to get on with some REAL training post-Open, and see how much progress we can make in the remainder of the year!

 

Keep making me proud, CFD!

RLTW <1>

–Coach Phil

I want to begin by saying how amazing the CFD community has been the first 2 weeks of the 2014 Open!!!  Wow…it’s really been a humbling, awesome experience throwing down with my fellow athletes and seeing such an impressive turnout from the entire community.  I never had any intention of making the workouts such a spectacle, and last night I realized there were a ton of people who came in just to watch our athletes test 14.2.  The energy was awesome and contagious and it was really refreshing.  We have such an incredible community here, and it’s so great to watch people improve.

 

The Open does a lot of things to everyone—it’s stressful, it pushes many athlete’s limits past where they thought they could go, and in many cases, it forces people to learn brand new movements or PR lifts they though impossible merely minutes prior—and we have had plenty of instances of this happening already!  Nothing brings greater joy to me as a coach as seeing someone get their very first movement they didn’t have before.  Breaking through those barriers are always huge milestones in your journey as a CrossFit athlete.

 

Only 2 weeks in, and I’m already seeing a lot of the cliche stuff that happens around this time of the year.  Firstly, there are the very new athletes that registered for their very first Open.  This is to be used as a measuring stick; a way to test yourself against everyone else, apples-to-apples, for 5 different workouts.  Do it once, give it your all, and learn from it.  The Open does a good job of exposing where you may lack as an athlete, and you can do one of two things with that information:  learn from it and take your training more seriously, or you can run and hide from it.  I strongly suggest the former over the latter, but that should go without saying.  Enjoy the experience and learn from it!  You’ll likely see many of these workouts again down the road.  I’m so proud of our new athletes for putting yourselves out there and giving it your all.  It can be very intimidating to do a lot of these workouts on the world’s stage, and you all left that ego at the door.  That’s fucking awesome in my book.

 

Another scenario I’m seeing played and re-played is, unfortunately, the athlete(s) who only within the last 2-3 weeks decided it’s ‘crunch time’ and wanted to take their fitness seriously.  I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but training for the 2014 Open started a long time ago.  Last week was not the week to start REALLY working on your double-unders.  This week wasn’t the week to hammer on your mobility issues to eek out that last few missing inches of your range of motion that was required to make your reps count, or ask for some ‘secret recipe’ on how to get your chest-to-bar pull-ups.  Here’s the cold, hard, facts:  We squat EVERY SINGLE WEEK in the regular Fitness classes.  You should give a shit about your ROM with every rep, whether it’s a warmup, a strength component, or a workout.  Not caring about it until this week gets you exactly what you deserve; a shitty score and plenty of no-reps.

 

However, the same lesson is to be had:  LEARN from the experience!  Let your performance speak for you—nobody likes the guy (or girl) who brags up their scores.  If you didn’t do so well, keep your excuses to yourself and admit that it’s most likely because you weren’t as good at those movements as you thought you were!  Take the lesson and learn from it.  I can’t stress that enough—it’s absolutely the only way to improve yourself.  Making up excuses is just covering up the problem.

 

I love seeing the hard work from our athletes pay off!  I encourage everyone to continue to put in the time and make progress.  The road to success is paved with hard work, sweat, and occasionally some blood (and plenty of frustration!).  At any point in the journey, you can always look back over your shoulder and see how far you’ve come and realize that it’s all been worth it.  Every failed rep, every ripped hand, every brutal, terrible workout, every row sprint (I hate them with every fiber of my being); it all improves your systems, little by little, and little gains accumulate into moderate gains, which accumulate to bigger gains, and next thing you know things that used to be a max effort are now a 3- or 5-rep max, and the process continues.  Be honest with yourself about your weaknesses and embrace them.  Confront them.  Show some humility.  Don’t be afraid to LOSE, or log the slowest time.  98% of your time is training, not testing; that is, improving YOUR weaknesses, not throwing standards in the trash for the best score.  Don’t get caught up in the rat-race of having the fastest time every day.  Ask any of my private program people if they get to work on the things they’re good at regularly….they’ll laugh at you!  I know I will!

 

Treat this season’s CrossFit Open as a measuring stick for your fitness.  Enjoy the experience!  I know I am.  With every tester comes opportunity; to embrace and give it your all and see how you measure up, or the chance to run and hide or make excuses about a poor performance.  Appreciate that opportunity and continue to represent the CFD community with honor.  I know I am honored to be among the ranks of Dubuque’s fittest and finest.

 

To 2014 and beyond!

 

Rangers Lead The Way  <1>

 

—Coach Phil

If you’re interested in starting your journey in CrossFit, let us know!  We are starting a new Foundations class next Tuesday (April 1) at 6:30pm.  Head on over to the ‘Free Assessment‘ page to get started!

The CrossFit Open 2014 season is here!  This Thursday evening (the 27th) at 7:00pm, Open workout 14.1 will be announced.  Here’s what you need to know if you are a registered athlete:

 

–Testing will happen on Friday (all classes) and Saturday mornings.  This is your shot to do the best you can do–good luck!  Sign up as usual on WODhopper and expect class times to run over;  since I have no way of knowing what the workouts are or how long they will take (or how many heats we will be able to run based on how many judges we have), just expect things to run over a bit.

 

–Understand the movements standards and appropriate ranges of motion BEFORE you even set foot in the box.  They will be gone over again, but it’s best to have a really solid hold on what’s required for you to achieve the movement standard and get credit for your hard work.  You WILL be judged, and I absolutely WILL NOT allow shit reps at CFD.  If you don’t know what a good range of motion ‘feels’ like, get with a coach ASAP to go over some basic movement standards on some things you feel you may have an issue with.

 

–If you haven’t signed up and want to, GET ON IT!  If you have signed up and aren’t on the CFD team roster, GET ON IT!

 

–If you think you need to get video of your workouts, that is YOUR responsibility.  Make sure you fully understand how to appropriately video your session so that your hard work counts.  If you fail to understand what CFHQ is looking for in your video (clock out of frame, don’t state name and region, etc…) and you submit a crappy video that either doesn’t count or gets points/reps docked, I won’t feel sorry for you!  That would be like working your ass off on a huge paper in college and forgetting to put your name on it–pay attention to detail and get credit for your work!!!

 

And now a quick coaching note:  if you are relatively new to CrossFit, this is your first Open, or you otherwise don’t necessarily have any goals set to become a competitive athlete in the sport of CrossFit, please just stay safe and have fun with it!  The Open can be a fun experience to see how you measure up against the world and have a good time.  Taking it too seriously and getting too worked up over workouts is going to do you more harm than good.  Many of us are still very new to the sport and have a lot of development yet in order to progress as an athlete.  You’ve got to build the foundations of the pyramid before you can hope to get to the peak, and violating that order will result in injury or lack of progress.  Do what you can do and use it all as a benchmark when we inevitably re-test some of these workouts in the future!

Reminder:  This Saturday is a CFD game night/potluck event!  Check the flyers at the box for the address and for more details.  We hope to see a lot of you there!

Attention CFD:  A representative from Stronger, Faster, Healthier will be joining us this Thursday morning for the AM classes.  If you get a few minutes, please take the time to say hello to Rachel and see what she has to offer!