If You Give a Mouse a Cookie...He'll Want to Be Lean and Strong!

When I was a youngster, let's say around three years of age, I believed in Santa. I bet most of you did. That Christmas Eve, my parents and I set out cookies and milk. Or as I referred to them, "tooties and murr." There's a VHS tape (If you know what that is, I know you were born before 1990) of me standing by the dining room table and just staring at the tooties. I had already had one, and it was time for bed, but I still wanted another. Behind the camera, my dad asks, "Chris, what is it?" I respond, "Tooties." "What?" "I want tooties." "It's time for bed, Santa's coming." "But I want tooties!" Needless to say, I lost that battle.

People are greedy. Especially CrossFitters. When I ask CrossFitters, whether new or old, what their goals are, they usually respond something like this: "I want to get bigger and stronger. But I also want to lean out. And I want to be a fast runner. And I want 10 muscle ups. And..." 

Wait, what? 

It's not that I don't understand where they're coming from. They realize that to get better at CrossFit, they need to be stronger and that usually includes being bigger with added muscle mass. But at the same time, they don't want to gain weight and instead want that shredded look or to be "toned." Plus, they want to get better at running, gymnastics, etc. They want more than one tootie, and as the phrase goes, if you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to want a glass of milk. 

The problem is that trying multiple strategies usually leads to a net result of zero and frustration. They may start strength training and reducing metcons, but also cut calories thereby cutting protein, fat, and carbs, thereby reducing their recovery and ultimately, their strength gains. Do you see where this is going? 

So here's my advice to you. Figure out what you REALLY want, and go for it. Can you deal with putting on some belly fat because you are upping your calories and possibly drinking dairy to get stronger? Or can you tolerate your deadlift/squat/bench numbers going down because you are in a leaning out phase? Or even worse, NOT fall prey to the sexy metcon because you know it will drive cortisol up and therefore, body fat? With any of these decisions come consequences, for good and bad. You need to decide what you TRULY want and dedicate at least three months to it. Not a week, or two weeks, or even three. Three months. And even then, some people would say it should be longer. That number is ultimately up to you and your goals, but the point is that you can't fiddle around with something short term and expect long term results. Because if you give a mouse a tootie...

always ready to eat

CrossFit for Hope Fundraiser: Greater Philadelphia recap

On June 9, 2012, various affiliates on the Greater Philadelphia region gathered in Manayunk, PA to perform the "Hope" fundraiser workout:

3 rounds of 5 stations, 1 minute of work performed at each station:

burpees

power snatches, 55/75#

box jumps, 24"

thrusters, 55/75#

chest to bar pull ups

Among the affiliates represented were CF 215, CF King of Prussia, CF Manayunk, CF Explode, CF Go Hard, CF Center City, CF Generation, and CF Delaware Valley and many more. It was a fantastic way to celebrate the CrossFit community and raise money for St. Jude's Hospital. Thank you to Micah from 215 for setting this whole thing up. 

Here are some of my favorite pics from the event that I took, plus the whole slideshow of pictures at the end. 

Where did you do the "Hope" workout? How did it feel compared to Fight Gone Bad?

Laura from KoP mid-snatch

Kyle from KoP with a modified db snatch

Kyle and his coaches aka "pit crew"

burpees!

Perrin from 215 on box jumps

Los from 215 keeping it cool

Megs from KoP keeping it close

 

CrossFit and the Need for Strict Pull Ups

Franco Columbo and perfect pull up form

CONFRONTATION
Let me ask you a question. Be honest. Can you do a pull up? I don't mean a kipping pull up. I mean an honest-to-goodness, no kip, strict pull up.  If you're a CrossFitter and are saying something to the effect of "no, but I have kipping pull ups," then we need to have a chat.

KIPPING vs. STRICT

One of the staples of CrossFit is the kipping pull up. While it can be a movement which generates a lot of power and be an efficient way to move your body from point A to point B, it is not a pull up. I repeat, it is NOT a pull up. Yes, it's a way to get your chin over a pull up bar and generates more power, blah blah blah... I even say this stuff as a CrossFit coach, because while it is true, there is STILL a clear difference between a kipping pull up and a pull up. Unfortunately, a lot of CrossFitters have become complacent and are perfectly content with their kips, usually on bands. This doesn't make sense since the kip itself is an assist to the pull up, and/or it's a transition to something else (e.g. bar muscle up) Doing it with bands means you're doing an assisted assisted pull up. It also means you're now head of the Department of Redundancy Department.

Some of you might be angry or defensive right now. This post is not meant to belittle your accomplishment of the kipping pull up, but rather, it is meant to spark a fire in you to get stronger. Because here's the deal, being stronger is better not only for performance, but for safety. With a huge range of motion in the kip, the shoulder girdle better be strong or it's going to suffer from injury at some point. And let's face it, if someone walks in with strict pull ups, I can teach them to kip in 10 minutes. However, I can't get someone with only kipping pull ups to do a strict pull up in the same amount of time.

Kevin B. of CF KoP on a chest to bar pull up

PULL UP vs. CHIN UP
As a side note, I differentiate a pull up from a chin up as the former with a pronated grip (palms facing away) and the latter with a supinated grip (palms facing towards). Since you most likely kip with a pronated grip (unless you're OG firebreather Greg Amundson), it would behoove you to work on the pull up. However, if you would like to work on your biceps, the chin up is an excellent exercise. (what, no bicep curls??)

PULL UP PROGRESSIONS
So what do you do now? For one, you need to see the bands as a good way to assist your strict pull ups. If a workout comes up with pull ups, resign yourself to doing strict pull ups (yes, you will probably need to use a thicker band to get that chin over the bar.) This is where you need to leave your ego out and get on the path towards being a badass. What if the WOD doesn't have pull ups? I tell people to come to class early or stay late and do 3 sets of 5 strict pull ups with bands. The bands you use should make you struggle on that 5th rep to get your chin over the bar.  do 3 sets of 10 reps of ring rows (or body rows) before or after a workout. This is a movement where you setup gymnastic rings (or TRX straps) about chest height and lean back with a flat body, fully extending your elbows and then pulling yourself back towards the rings. You can make this movement progressively harder by starting further and further forward. Once you can do all three sets fairly easily, move your feet forward. In addition to the ring rows, you can also do negative pull ups. Get on a box and jump up to chin-over-bar and slowly lower yourself down. You may simply fall straight down at first, but don't be discouraged. Working negatives is easier than starting at the bottom, however, don't do high reps (more than 3-4 sets of 5). This eccentric movement (lowering of the body) can wreak havoc on your muscles if done at high, intense reps.

[Another thing to consider is weight. Yes, it's harder to do a pull up if you have excess body weight. There are plenty of articles on this blog and other more-qualified sites to discuss losing weight, but this probably plays a big factor with many of you]

anatomy of a pull ups (engage the lats and retract the scap!)

TIPS ON FORM
While you're doing any of these movements, make sure you retract your shoulder blades (like you're trying to pinch an penny between them) and are engaging your lats (muscles under your arm pits). Doing so will make you stronger in the right places and create a stable shoulder girdle. (the whole dang point of doing these!) The ultimate goal is to have more than a few strict pull ups. I'm vague here because some people will eventually have 15+ strict pull ups while others have 4-6. For my goal of getting you not only strong, but also SAFE(r) from shoulder injuries, "more than a few" is something you should interpret for yourself. From there, you can play around with variations such as chest to bar, weighted, L-sits, wide grip, narrow grip, one armed, etc.

me with an L-sit pull up variation

GOING BACK TO WHERE YOU STARTED
As you are working on your strict pull ups, also work on tightening up your kip form. Too many people flail about and have extremely loose midlines and no hollow body. This is usually due to lack of shoulder and lat strength. What SHOULD your kip look like? Just check out the video below from gymnastic guru Carl Paoli and the following vid for progressions.

Carl Paoli demonstrating proper Kipping Pull Ups:

Details at GymnasticsWOD

Carl Paoli on Kipping Pull Up Progressions:

Details at GymnasticsWOD

LINKS
Robb Wolf's podcast about Kipping Pull Ups vs. Strict (skip to 24:54)
Pull Up article - Catalyst Athletics
Perfect Pull Up - Ido Portal
The Road to Pull Up Domination - Element CrossFit
Get Strict with your Pull Up - CrossFit Brea
Get Strict - CrossFit Virtuosity 

Why Iceland Women are Ridiculous CrossFitters

In case you haven't done so, go check out my recap of our visit to CrossFit Reykjavik and meeting Iceland Annie. If you have, read on.

from crossfit.com: Davidsdottir, Thorisdottir, and Helgadottir (l to r) all qualified for the CrossFit Games

A few months ago, an article came out about the Icelandic women and how they absolutely DOMINATED the Europe region during the Reebok CrossFit Open. (see "The Icelandic Advantage" by Jane Holgate) The top 3 women out of all of Europe are from Iceland: Annie Thorisdottir, Katrin Davidsdottir, and Thuridur Helgadottir swept the top spots. Hjordis Oskarsdottir followed closely in fifth. 


Guess what. During the European Regional Competition in May (yes, ALL of Europe was a region), the top three repeated: Annie first, Katrin second, and Thuridur third. Hjordis came in eighth. Astounding consistency and showing of fitness for a country the size of Ohio.


The above-mentioned article cites 3 main reasons why these Icelandic women dominate the scene: genes, mental fortitude, and culture. Emma Keen, a non-Icelandic athlete said in the article, "“I think their general attitude to their well-being is much more serious than in the UK where a lot of people's expendable income here is spent on alcohol and socializing and begrudge £30 gym membership,” Keen says. “The Icelandics think nothing of spending a lot of money to benefit their health.”


[Warning: this has absolutely no scientific steeping, but purely speculation and observation. So for you geeky scientists that need proof, you can look elsewhere.] I absolutely think culture has a lot to do with it. I saw evidence of it during our trip to Iceland.  Besides visiting CF Reykjavik and working out with their team going to regionals, here's why.


In one of the hotels we stayed in, we were flipping through channels and came across this Icelandic game show that pitted high schoolers against each other in fitness skills. Even though it was in Icelandic, seeing these young teenagers doing push ups, dips, max holds from a bar, and other movements was unlike anything that you'd see State-side. It was clearly a normal thing for these high schoolers to be involved with physical fitness in more than just a "40-minute-walk-around-the-track" PE class. Anywho, here are some screen shots of the events. 

obstacle course involving monkey bars, cargo nets, and other activities

lifting "stones" - looked like rubber balls filled with sand

this was the biggest difference between Iceland women and American women: max DEFICIT push ups

boys held their own in a max dips contest

max hang = mental fortitude

I did say why the Iceland women are ridiculous CrossFitters. Why not men? My theory is that while the teenage boys were in the competition, they were doing similar things that other males across the world do. In the US, it's socially acceptable for a guy to be doing dips, push ups, and pull ups. If you are a female and you do these things, then good on ya, but let's be clear you are probably above average in terms of strength. 


Do you think the US could ever get to this point? Would this even be something you would like to see? Working in education, I see gym classes being cut left and right to give more classroom time, so I think the attitude of Americans would have to change a great deal for fitness to play a bigger role. 

CrossFit Mid-Atlantic Regionals: WOD 1 and WOD 2 in Pictures

Here are some pictures I took during the Mid-Atlantic Regionals (or KDitty took if I was working out). The first set is WOD 1 (deadlifts/handstand push ups) and the second set is WOD 2 (row/pistols/hang power cleans). Enjoy!