Down but not Out!!

I just wanted to write a quick post...sometimes injuries can be prevented and other times they're freak accidents. Mine is probably a combination of the two. As most of you know, last night I went down hard. I first thought someone hit my heel or ankle with a bat. Not the case and I soon realized I sustained some sort of injury. My worst fears were realized this afternoon when I visited an orthopedic surgeon. He quickly assessed that I have a fully ruptured Achilles tendon. Ouch...well, actually, there's not much pain when neutral, just very limited mobility and strength. I'm having surgery Tuesday morning and will take all of next week off. My full recovery time should last around 6 weeks. And in most of that time I hope to continue x-fit w/ modified workouts. I think I'm going to improve on my ring dips, pull ups and sit ups at the very least.

Does anyone out there have experience with this type of injury and recovery?

Get Well Soon

A "get well soon" shout out to one of our fellow Elite crew members will be out for a couple of weeks with an injury. With people starting to go down or tweak joints, it makes me think about how much time MOST of us DONT spend STRETCHING (Actively/Statically) to help with tight muscles. Some manual therapy might be just what the doctor ordered to work out some kinks in the muscles that some of you constantly complain about. Take the time to do some Foam Rolling, or get a massage to knead out those adhesions in the muscles. After all, FLEXIBILITY is the ugly stepsister of FITNESS. GET WELL SOON JASON.

tough or stupid

Figured I take the opportunity while I am sick to bring up what I am sure a lot of us go through when we get sick.  So much of what we do is training ourselves to push through thresholds, and the old school with aerobic excercise is that sometimes it can increase endorphins which...blah, blah, blah.  Any way, Crossfit can make us sick when we feel well, but the idea of missing a training day sucks.  I have usually pushed through it, but now I got a minor lesson about listening to my body.  I did the 7 x 1 thrusters yesterday when I felt just kinda shitty, and now I am mostly out. I am sure that I could have come tonight and pushed through (good excuse for shitty times), but I thought my 100 temp would probably get worse.  But, damn it kept having to tell myself to not go.  I have seen a couple of posts on the subject on the main site discussion board.  I ramble.  Hope practice was good, and I hope that I am right on the rest (although I did my f'ing burpees, 6 at a time.)

"Fringe Athletes"

There is a near universal misconception that long distance athletes are fitter that their short distance counterparts. The triathlete, cyclist, and marathoner are often regarded as among the fittest athletes on earth. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The endurance athlete has trained long past any cardiovascular health benefit and has lost ground in strength, speed, and power, typically does nothing for coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy and possesses little more than average flexibility. This is hardly the stuff of elite athleticism. The CrossFit athlete, remember, has trained and practiced for optimal physical competence in all ten physical skills (cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, flexibility, strength, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy). The excessive aerobic volume of the endurance athlete’s training has cost him in speed, power, and strength to the point where his athletic competency has been compromised. No triathlete is in ideal shape to wrestle, box, pole-vault, sprint, play any ball sport, fight fires, or do police work. Each of these requires a fitness level far beyond the needs of the endurance athlete. None of this suggests that being a marathoner, triathlete or other endurance athlete is a bad thing; just don’t believe that training as a long distance athlete gives you the fitness that is prerequisite to many sports. CrossFit considers the Sumo Wrestler, triathlete, marathoner, and power lifter to be "fringe athletes" in that their fitness demands are so specialized as to be inconsistent with the adaptations that give maximum competency at all physical challenges. Elite strength and conditioning is a compromise between each of the ten physical adaptations. Endurance athletes do not balance that compromise.

What's the point

I really hope these posts are not becoming bullshit, but I was noticing something in class the other day. Someone surprised me in the WOD by not finishing the movements (i.e. when you don't fully squat or stand or come all the way up on a sit up or go all the way down on a push up). I always get the idea to say something, but I rarely do, unless it is someone that I know absolutely wants the feedback. Any way, I was going to say something, and probably should have because I think that we get so hooked on the time we do a WOD in we forget about the two components of power. There is a good blog about it on the CFSF site. Maybe our job as friends should be to become the obnoxious asshole that says down or up farther (or "this is first week, don't even try the clean and press workouts.) Even if it is a trainer because time don't mean shit, if the rest of the work isn't done.

I am sure that there are plenty of times that my weighted squats need to go deeper (and don't get me started on my pull ups), but by all means, let me know my stuff is turning to shit (because I'll change my shoes and that'll fix the problem).

Strength

It's part of the benefit that we get from crossfit, and seeing that Jason got 275# on an OH squat I've been trying to make myself feel better, but strength is a huge key.  However, I was checking out Freddy Camacho's post on his Oneworld site (check out the Jan. 24th post).  He talks about augmenting his X-Fit Wods with what seems like some long, standard weightlifting sessions (10x3 benchpress?).  I know that strength is the key, but is there a point of doing non-x-fit shit to be able to do x-fit???  Don't get me wrong, I would love to put up the numbers of Jason, or V, or Jeromy, or, hell, that little kid that hangs out while his dad does Harj's intro class, but is x-fit the means or the end?  (I'll be interested in hearing what you think as you all have other stuff to do in the day to pay the bills...or if anyone reads this.)

Logsitall

I am sure that you have all heard about this, but Logsitall is a pretty cool site that acts as your log book.  It goes by named workout and .com daily workout.  You can see how you rank against other people, but most importantly, you see how you've improved against yourself.  (After all, this is where the real competition is.)  Any way, the part I like most about is you can track the non-named wods pretty easily.

Also, I am getting on the Jeromy kick with new shoes.  I think the weights break down the cross trainers too quickly, and I am not sure the air soles are helpful.  Any way, has anyone picked  a pair of shoes that they like as all around.  Not ready to go in for lifting shoes.  I saw a couple of post for pumas (with the thin soles).

Passing on the info from V that practice is thurs @ 7 and Sat @ 1:30.

CFSJ/CFSV challenge

Damn, it was a good day for all.  Lots of SJ folks came out.  I think there were more people who probably wished they were doing the WOD.  275# deadlifts are no joke.  Great job to all.  Tim, Dom and Niraj who crashed that WOD (coming in first), and big admiration for Rueben, who did not stop.  Thanks to the SV crew for putting it on.  Check out the pics here 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63761380@NOO/?saved=1

(sorry, Sheila's camera went dead during the first round.)

The Blog Looks Good

Thanks for taking the time to set up the Blog Lance, it looks great!

CFSV challenge

If anyone is checking this, who is going to the challenge at CFSV?  

A couple things on the Zone

So I am sure that after Christina's talk you all went out and got Paleo food, figured out your blocks and ... Anyway, some of the things to think about when switching to this:

1. Any change sucks.  crossfit sucked at the beginning, and now?  Give it a try.  The easiest way is just figuring out the blocks for what you are eating.  Do that for a week, then try bringing what you eat in line with what your recommended blocks are.  This way, if you go over your recommended blocks, you won't be as hard on yourself.  It takes time getting the diet right.

2. Bars and drinks are good but do little to fill you up.  A 16 block diet would be 5 bars.  Try surviving on that crap for 14 hours.  Raw vegetables suck, and I came from being a vegetarian.  A happy medium.  The only way you'll get used to this is if you feel full.  Plus the bars have more sugar than we need.  There are lots of ways to get your blocks.  

3. Unless you have a really tight diet to begin with, or you are a glutton for punishment, don't start with Paleo.  It is way too limiting and very hard to do unless you are able to be around your house all day.  Try getting a Paleo meal when you are at work and forgot your lunch.

All in all, remember, you will feel better.

Hopefully this will be useful

I started this because I thought that it would be easier than texting, posting on our main site, etc.  We can use this to communicate class times, share resources, help out with Zone ideas, whatever.  Share it with whoever.  Like I said, I thought this would be easier that posting comments under the random pics on the CSFJ site.