Category: Uncategorized

After brainstorming some slogans to use for hoodies, the one we kept coming back to was ’STAY THE COURSE.’  It really resonated with me, and I’d like to explain why:

In my opinion, most things that are worth having don’t come easy.  I value hard work and perseverance when it comes to pursuing your goals—qualities that I feel are less and less common with time.

The idea behind STAY THE COURSE transcends your gym ethic.  Whether you’re working towards a degree, sticking to or making changes to your food profile, working your way up a corporate ladder, working on being a better version of yourself, learning a trade or skill, improving your fitness, or raising your kids, there are plenty of opportunities to deviate from your plan and take the ‘easy’ way out.

Your life is a journey—both in mind and body—and you will always be faced with obstacles.  I think every opportunity you allow yourself to take the easy way out whittles down your character.  It cheapens your work and ultimately lessens who you become.

It’s easy to deviate from your plan, and it’s easy to cut corners.  I like being around people who value following through, which is why I ultimately chose ’STAY THE COURSE’ to represent our community here at CFD.  Wear it with pride and let it serve as a reminder to practice what you preach and let your actions reflect and support your priorities, both in the gym and outside of it!

BTW…Today is the last day to get your hoodie orders in, so if you like what you see, shoot me an email and let me know what size you’d like!

RLTW <1>

—Coach Phil

If you haven’t read Parts 1 and 2 of this topic, check it out before getting into this one!

In my last blog, I talked about quality of movement and perfecting motor patterns as much as possible.  With that said, I don’t live in a pipe dream where I think every single mobility-related issue can be fixed by smashing something with a bar, LAX ball, or rolling it out until you reach a full state of functional range of motion (sorry K-Star!).  I think the reality is that some people have structural limitations.  Flexibility/mobility is not an evenly-distributed attribute amongst all of us, and some of us (most of us, actually) will probably never have a perfect overhead squat.  The fact is, there are just some people (a lot of people) who shouldn’t snatch.  There are some people who don’t have the shoulder strength, stability, and/or mobility to do gymnastics kipping pull-ups.  That doesn’t make anyone a lesser person, it just means that the inherent risk with a movement isn’t worth the reward.  Plus, let’s face it, there’s never a real-life instance where you need to move a barbell from ground to overhead in one fluid motion (snatch).  You can absolutely still train athletes without doing movements that unnecessarily jeopardize the individual.  Don’t confuse sport specificity with function—are your goals truly to compete?  If not, re-evaluate why you care so much about doing a particular movement!

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t improve the hand you’re dealt.  If you have tight ankles and you need to improve it as best you can to put you in the safest position possible when you squat, that just means you’ll have to spend more time on that than the average person.  Some people are tighter by nature and need to really pay attention to certain deficiencies.  Some people are gifted with great range of motion and don’t need to work on it.  Some people can eat a birthday cake and still have a 6-pack:  life isn’t fair, and I didn’t make up the rules, but not following them isn’t detrimental to anyone but yourself!

As a coach, my obligation is first and foremost to keep people safe and progressing towards their goals.  If you’re interested in preventing injury, understand that it is exactly my mission to prevent injury (first) while progressing individuals onward (second)—it is a constant balance between risk and reward and your coach is in a position to make a more educated, less emotional decision.

If you are injured and working with a coach on rehabilitating, here are some takeaways that you as the athlete need to understand:

• While rehabilitating from an injury, what you need is a simple, linear, and appropriate program design paired with adequate recovery protocol.  Your body is hurt and trying to repair itself, so this isn’t the time to make your body guess.
• What you DON’T need right now is a lot of volume, high intensity, and to be doing the stuff that caused the injury in the first place.  You can’t out-train your injury.
• Establish and maintain good communication with your coach who is responsible for your program design.  Your feedback is absolutely necessary and will help GUIDE the recovery process based on how you are doing with it.  Not communicating with your coach is expecting them to hit their target while shooting blindfolded.
• However, you are in no position to DICTATE the recovery process; leave that up to the professional who is NOT emotionally invested in ‘getting back at it,’ etc…
• Related to number 4, but I need to spell this out for most:  You don’t get to do whatever you want!  If the goal is to be able to pull and push again at full capacity, there is an order in which I will re-implement those movements back into your program.  Don’t take matters into your own hands and start doing whatever you want because you’re impatient.

To sum these concepts up in just 3 words:  Respect the Process.  Your recovery protocol has a dramatic impact on your recovery and healing rate, but you still have to play by the rules.

I’d like to end by demonstrating a case study that was right here in-house:  Hillary Baker.  Over a year ago Hillary sprained her shoulder doing a farmer’s carry.

We spent 3 months (from August 3 to Nov 2 of 2015) focusing on some pretty linear squatting and bending movements as well as some midline stabilization stuff paired with some energy system training.  I decided to take the time not only avoiding the movements she needed to stay off of, but spending some time doing things she needed to improve her athletic profile anyway—building her absolute strength base.  We did no pulling or pushing AT ALL for 2 months, and only slowly incorporated pulling and pushing movements in a controlled setting the third month.  She’ll tell you—it was boring, it was monotonous, very linear and not a ton of variation.  But that’s my argument—it SHOULDN’T be largely varied.  I think that you need to give the body a stimulus it can expect and adapt to; after all, it’s trying to heal itself.

What happened?  Not only did she come back much stronger than before because we got to spend some time on more individualized training (even despite the lack of pulling and pushing movements), but due to the implementation of the pulling and pushing movements as well as scapular stability stuff we did, she is now able to perform multiple strict and weighted pull-ups for the first time in her life only POST shoulder injury!  Now fast-forward an entire year and she’s still continuing to get stronger, continuing to improve her gymnastics abilities in upper body pushing/pulling, and with no recurrence of injury in the shoulder.

In closing and yet again, I’ll repeat myself:  Respect the Process.  I think that many injuries can be prevented if one is simply aware of their quality of movement and adheres to a logical progression of things.  If in the event of an injury, it is important to be patient, not get greedy, and stay the course.  In either scenario, you need to communicate with and ultimately trust your coach.  We as coaches ‘taking a movement away’ aren’t doing it for any reason other than to avoid something worse from happening.  In just about any example I can explain in detail why in fact the stimulus was more closely achieved BECAUSE of a scaling judgement call.  It is more important to master a more basic movement before progressing to something more complicated for every reason from progress to safety to stimulus.  We aren’t taking anything away, we are enabling you to get your ideal training session in!

I hope you all enjoyed this 3-part blog.  It didn’t initially start out as a 3-part blog and I feel in just about every area I had to cut it short due to the fact that it was so lengthy, but I hope it came across the way I intended it to be—helpful, insightful, and useful to apply to yourself.  As always, I’m open to comments and suggestions for future blog topics (I’ve already received a handful of great ones, by the way!).

Respect the Process

RLTW <1>

—Coach Phil

Here are a few quick announcements for you all:

 

Event 1 is announced on the CFD In-House Comp FB page!  Click here to navigate to the page and check it out. If you haven’t registered your team yet, get on it!

 

Do you understand the purpose of glutamine?  Glutamine plays a key role in gut function and your immune system and is a staple in many athlete’s supplementation plan.  Get a container now for only $30–a $5 discount!

 

CFD Wrist Wraps are now marked down to $20/pair!  Show your colors and protect your wrists.

 

Submit your pre-order for our new line of hoodies!  Check out the mock-up below, and email phil@crossfitdubuque with your size between now and November 11th to secure your purchase!  There won’t be extras kept on hand to sell, so act now if you want one!

 

If you missed Part 1 where I address the balance between work and recovery, check it out here!

There is a risk/reward ratio to everything, and injuries can occur whether you are training or not—in fact, in my experience, most injuries occur outside of training while just performing everyday tasks in life.  Some sports and lifestyles are more dangerous than others, and it may surprise many to know that statistically you are much more likely to get hurt on a bicycle or playing football or basketball than you are by exercising and lifting weights.  In fact, gymnastics and weightlifting, the two sports that typically take the brunt of the blame for injuries of people who exercise are statistically both slightly safer than badminton!

However, I didn’t start this blog post to delve into those particular statistics and make an argument about what sport is more or less dangerous.  Instead, I’d like to discuss how and why injuries occur and what to do about them.

How and why do injuries occur?

Sure, sometimes it’s unavoidable—it’s a consequence of living on a planet with gravity.  At some point, something unintended happens and you get injured.  BUT…what I’m most interested in is the subject of preventing things that are preventable.  I think the key to solving the underlying issues as well as avoiding the injury from occurring in the first place is about QUALITY of movement.

Person X has shoulder pain when pressing, especially overhead.  What is a typical prescription given by most health care professionals?  Ice, rest, ibuprofen, maybe a cortisone shot, etc.  Alas, inflammation is reduced and the pain subsides—the problem must be getting better, right?!  They resume a similar sort of activity and, before you know it, the pain is back.  Enter the roller coaster of pain and discomfort followed by short bouts of temporary relief.

Perhaps the pain in Person X’s shoulder is caused by inflammation which stems from an impinged shoulder as a result of the person’s lifestyle, training history, posture, and/or program design.  Given a proper assessment of the individual in all these areas, a good coach should be able to identify and begin addressing the cause.

I’m not suggesting that health care professionals don’t do their jobs well, but I am suggesting that everyone has a scope of practice, and while a medical doctor may specialize in managing disease, people like me are much better at looking at structure and biomechanics.  Don’t confuse treatment for temporary relief (icing, medicating, and injecting our localized inflammation away) with correcting the underlying issue.

If you start looking at the structure of an individual, repeated motor patterns when done improperly means that it’s only WHEN the injury occurs, not IF.  Rather than being reactive in nature and addressing things only after they present pain, let’s be proactive in recognizing structural issues before they become an injury.

Part 3 is going to conclude this broad topic and address what to do when an injury does occur and my thoughts on ultimately preventing them from occurring (or for some of us, recurring).  Feedback and comments are always welcome!

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you all at the gym

RLTW <1>

—Coach Phil

---

 

Not a member? Sign up for an Intro Class.
RSVP

How long have you been a member at CFD, and what made you want to get started?

I’ve been a part of CFD for little over 4 years. Wow that doesn’t seem right when I really think about it but time flies when you have fun. It was all thanks to my very good friend Mason Tangen. He started about a month before me and I didn’t want anything to do with it. He just asked me, “what do you have to lose?” Probably the only time I will say that Mason had a good idea.

What changes have you seen in yourself since your very first day?

I have noticed a few changes in myself over these 4 years like losing weight to start. I came starting at 225lbs, in shape but not CrossFit shape for my size, and now I’m at 197lbs. That alone feels great but also being more open and not so shy around everyone. For those who know me fairly well, yes I am shy haha. Oh also I can actually hold a front rack position now. (That one is for Mike Thompson)<

What did you do for fitness prior to CFD, and what do you like most about CrossFit?

Before CFD I was working out at a local gym just keeping my strength where it was at after college football. Going from that sport to this one isn’t that all big of a change but I’ll gladly take CrossFit over my football body any day. To be honest about what I like most about CrossFit is that, especially with this gym, it’s a community. It makes me smile everytime I see everyone cheering for an athlete to finish a workout or when it’s PR city in class.

What type(s) of workouts are your favorite?

My favorite workouts are the “smashers” where it’s all or nothing and you’re laying on the floor afterwards flat on your back making a pain angel trying to catch your breath.

What type(s) of workouts do you least like to see come up?

My least favorite, that’s easy, snatches. I’m getting better at my overhead position but the snatches always stress me out to the point I get a storm cloud over my head just like the cartoons. Haha

What are your goals going forward?

My goals have always been the same since day one, get better than I was last week. It takes time but it’s well worth it when you see improvements.

What advice do you have for someone just starting out at CFD?

If I had to give new athletes any advice it would be don’t feel down if you have to start at the bottom. This takes work, hard work, and it’ll get better. Also don’t be afraid to be yourself when your working out. If you wanna dance to the music, you probably won’t be the only one dancing. I love watching new athletes struggle because it reminds me where I was at when I first started. It keeps me focused on the big picture and like I said before, it takes time to get better.

Thank you again for the nomination, there are so many athletes that deserve this but I am humble that I was nominated for this month.

---

 

Not a member? Sign up for an Intro Class.
RSVP

Get signed up for our 3-person In-House Competition on November 19th!

There is no such thing as over-training, only under-recovering.

Read that sentence again.  It may very well be the single most important sentence you read when it comes to success in your fitness journey.

Allow me to narrate a hypothetical scenario:

Person X wakes up from yet again another night of not restful sleep.  He/she needs caffeine to get his/her ass in gear for their day.  Due to being rushed in their everyday timeline, post-workout refueling takes a backseat and instead of a whole food meal filled with everything you need, they simply pound down a quick shake on their way out the door, or maybe even go fasted.  Between their regular work day, going to the gym for their workout, other responsibilities, obligations, or even vices, they need caffeine a few times a day just to stay productive, eat out too often, feel tired when they shouldn’t be/awake when they need to sleep, then when the weekend comes around they stress the body even further with even poorer choices of food, alcohol, staying up late, etc.

All the while, when that person takes a step back and assesses themselves, they find any or all of the following to be true:

• not happy with body comp
• poor quality and quantity of sleep
• depression or otherwise generally not happy
• decreased sex drive
• decreased performance or plateau in gym
• dependent on caffeine/headaches when not caffeinated

 

So, this person concludes like so many others do in his or her same situation that they are simply NOT DOING ENOUGH!

“I need to get to the gym 5 times next week!”
“I must be eating TOO MUCH!”
“DO MORE, EAT LESS!  Come on, have some discipline!”

Now, I’m not suggesting that the answer to everyone’s problems is to simply do less and eat more, I’m simply demonstrating a possible example that I’ve seen more than just a few times.

Think of your body as your bank account.  You have to balance your credits and your debits, right?  Have you considered the possibility that you may be trying to withdraw more than you have?

It’s not just your workouts that ‘withdraw’ from your account.  It’s your everyday stressors in life.  Lack of sleep, stressful job, too many commitments, poor eating choices, alcohol, etc. can all ‘withdraw’ from your account.
Credits to your account would include restful sleep, de-stressing, proper nutrition, and mobility/recovery protocols.

Are you doing too much?  Well, that’s all relative.  The amount of stress you’re putting on your body might not be too much for you if you recover properly, but if you’re not recovering properly, ANY amount of stress might be too much.

What am I as a strength and conditioning coach going to recommend you do if you’re feeling run down, spread thin, low on energy, etc?  I’m very likely going to start by REMOVING stressors from your life, and the stressors I have the most control over are your workouts!

Are you making a conscious effort to recover between your training sessions?

Are you giving your body the things it needs to perform at your full potential the next time you train, or do you find yourself gradually running out of gas as the week goes on?

Do you feel ready to go on Monday mornings (which should be a priority day for most of you since you have a forced rest day on Sundays), or are you actually at your worst on Mondays?

Shouldn’t it bother you that after a day of rest you’re at your worst when it comes to performance?

What does that suggest about the recovery protocol you have on your off days?

Have you heard of that elite level athlete who is capable of high levels of work capacity sustained over a long period of time who runs off 1/2 the sleep and caloric intake of others at his or her level?  ME NEITHER!

Again, I hate just speaking in generalities and blanket prescribing ‘do less, eat and sleep more’ to a general population because that’s not what everyone needs, but it does tend to be a common theme amongst active people.  I’m only asking you, the reader, to take a step back and see if the shoe fits.  If this describes you, I think it’s safe to suggest that you should probably put some thought into what’s happening between your workout sessions rather than trying to cram as many sessions into the limited white space in your calendar as you can.  Focus on the quality of the recovery process as well as the quality (not quantity) of the workout.  More times than not, increasing the training volume is NOT the right answer!

Part 2 will delve into recovery as it pertains to injury rehab and my experiences with that.  If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me at phil@crossfitdubuque.com and give me your thoughts!

RLTW <1>

-Coach Phil

---

 

Not a member? Sign up for an Intro Class.
RSVP

Hello CFD family!  I’d like to take a quick moment to address you all and post a few updates and upcoming events.

We had a great turnout at Barbells for Boobs last Friday!  Thank you all very much for donating, volunteering, and being a part of such a wonderful community.  (If you missed out, there’s still time to donate!)  Thank you all for your kindness, hard work, and for simply being you!

I have tried to keep up with posting blogs and stuff (when there isn’t other events going on I want to put word out of, that is), and I’d like to reach out to all of you and ask what you’d like to hear me discuss?  There are plenty of topics out there, so if you have a question about something, fire me off an email and I’ll cover it within the next couple weeks!  My next blog topic is going to be about recovery—it’s something that has been discussed before, but it’s something that can always be brought up and looked at in a new light!  As far as new material or just the idea of addressing the issues that YOU want to hear, let me know what you want to have talked about so I can better serve you!

Here are some announcements and schedule updates—be sure to mark your calendars!

Friday, 10/28 will be a costume workout—dress up as whatever you want to dress up as and come on out to the 4 or 5:30pm classes for a fun time!

Saturday, 11/19 will be an In-House Team Competition!  More details will be posted shortly including signup and team configurations (as well as some details about the events), but save the date now!  It’ll be a fun day consisting of just a few (3-4) workouts so you can still enjoy the rest of your weekend.  These are always a blast, so come out either to compete or to spectate and enjoy the fun times!

Wednesday, 11/23 we will not be hosting any class after 1pm (no 4, 5:30, or 6:30pm).  All classes up to and including the 1pm class will be unaffected.

Thursday, 11/24 there will be no classes at all that day so that we can all spend time with our families during Thanksgiving.

Friday, 11/25 will be a 9:30 and 1pm class ONLY; there will be no 5:15am, 6:30am, 4pm, 5:30pm, or 6:30pm classes that day.

That’s all for now, let me know if you have any questions!

RLTW <1>

—Coach Phil

Check out our Barbells 4 Boobs 2016 Facebook page for more information about our fundraiser that is happening THIS Friday, October 14th @ 5:30pm!

Also, the heats are up, so head over to the RSVP page and register for your heat! We will run them every 15 minutes starting at 6pm with a 10 person/heat cap. If all 5 posted heats are filled, I’ll add more!

Workout: Grace
-30 Clean and Jerks for time

• How long have you been a member of CFD, and what made you want to get started?

We have been members at CFD for just over 3 years.  Our friends Dee and Ryan put an extreme amount of pressure on us to join after they became members.  At that time we were both very tired of going to a local gym in Platteville.  We weren’t seeing any results from our gym routine.  We needed a change and desperately needed help to understand how to become healthy.  We scheduled a meet and greet with Phil.  We quickly realized that we were doing everything wrong.  We signed up for Foundations that same day with Phil.  We are so glad we did!

• What changes have you seen in yourself since your very first day?

Matt: The biggest change I have seen is my physical appearance.  I have gained about 25 pounds since starting CFD.  I am much stronger than I have ever been.  I have gained more confidence in myself and my physical abilities.  I have awakened this competitive drive that I haven’t felt in many years.  I have seen my workout results assist me in my career as a Police Officer.  My strength and endurance have greatly improved since joining CFD.  I am confident that I will be able to handle any situation or obstacle thrown at me.

Angela:  The biggest change I’ve seen has been my mentality.  I was very skeptical about joining CFD.  I had no desire to get stronger and honestly feared being “bulky.” I hated going to the gym before.  Now I can’t wait to get to the gym.  Since joining CFD I have gained a passion for fitness.  The physical changes are outstanding as well.  It is incredible to reflect on the past and think about all the movements I couldn’t do back then.

• What did you do for fitness prior to CFD, and what do you like most about CrossFit?

Prior to CFD we were both going to Snap Fitness in Platteville about 2-3 days a week.  Our workout routine included being on the treadmill/elliptical, bicep curls, and bench pressing.  Our workouts also included putting our ear buds in and closing ourselves off from others.  While working out at this gym we were forced to stare at ourselves in the mirror. This made us both obsess on our physical flaws.  We are so thankful for CFD.  We are no longer alone while working out.  CFD offers a non-judging environment full of encouraging individuals.  And, there are no mirrors!  Without mirrors, you are forced to stop dwelling on your flaws and not be self-conscious.   We love CrossFit for many reasons but the biggest reason is the variance in workouts.  You are never bored.

• What type(s) of workouts are your favorite?

Matt: My favorite types of workouts include squats of any kind, pushups, and wall balls.  Three years ago, I’d say wall balls were my least favorite movement.  After being coached on how to efficiently do wall balls, I have become more comfortable with this movement and have actually started to enjoy them.

Angela: My favorite type of workouts also includes squats, not wall balls, just normal squats.  Squat cleans and front/back squats are in my wheelhouse.  I also enjoy pull-ups.

• What type(s) of workouts do you least like to see come up?

Matt: My least favorite is anything overhead.  Jerks, snatches and handstand pushups are my weaknesses.

Angela: My least favorite workout includes the rower and wall balls.  Seriously, these two movements should be illegal for a 5ft. person.

• What are your goals going forward?

Our goals include continuing to work on our weaknesses and to become more educated in nutrition.

Matt: My individual goal includes becoming more involved in competitions.  A specific personal goal includes ranking in the top 1000 in the Central Region of the CrossFit Open.

Angela: Besides working on my weaknesses and becoming more educated in nutrition, I would like to do an individual competition.  I would like to continue to get comfortable with the uncomfortable.

• What advice do you have for someone just starting out at CFD?

Our advice to anyone interested in joining CFD or a new CFD member is to stick with the program!  Don’t give up that easily.  Also, do not cherry pick the workouts!  Those are the workouts that you truly need to go to.  You will never improve your weaknesses if you are avoiding them.

 

---

 

Not a member? Sign up for an Intro Class.
SIGN UP