CrossFit Santa Cruz

Ideal Position

Laurel warming up.

It is important to understand ideal position. Know what you are working for and stop before it goes wrong. Understand the basics and then work towards your best and safest position.

Here in the squat laurel is using the post to help her stay upright. when she steps away from the post her best squat may be a bit more cantilevered but she will still maintain nearly vertical shins, and straight spine and knees with feet.

Know what you are working for and what you are working with and don't allow your movement to go bad.

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Workout:

Five rounds for time of
500 meter row
15 pull-ups

Go Visit

Tom back from vacation.

As the CrossFit affiliate community continues to grow it is becoming easier and easier to find a place to workout while traveling.  CrossFit affiliates span the globe.  Each one with their own style and feel.  On a recent trip to CrossFit Oahu Tom found that our friends Craig and Bryant offer a sweet deal to athletes on vacation.  

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Workout:

Weighted Dip

3-3-3-3-3-3-3

Unknown and Unknowable

Are you prepared?

There are so many CrossFit slogans, but since the 2009 Games, being prepared for the "unknown and unknowable" is at the top of the list.  Are we really prepared for anything?  If someone was breaking into your home what would you do?  

Not sure?  Don't worry.  Tony Blauer can help.  He is one of the best self-defense coaches in the world and he will be at the gym for a special one day seminar.  The seminar is designed to help CrossFit athletes understand the basics of self-defense.  Athletes of all ages are encouraged to participate the lessons learned will be life changing.

Highlights from a Blauer Tactical seminar at CrossFit Brand X [wmv][mov]

Sign Up HERE

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Workout:

Rest Day

Hands On

Coach D doing her thing.

Coaching requires patience and diligence. Verbal cues are sometimes enough to get athletes to move better.  Other times is takes a hands on approach.

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Workout:

7k Run

Tight Belly

Wes Getting tight

Lifting weights is one of the most effective ways to work your mid-line.

Workout:

Four Rounds for time of

100 feet overhead walking lunge

15 push press

Pain Free

Amy working her clean and jerk

My knee pain began during my senior season with the UCSC Women’s Volleyball team. It was painful to squat or put any weight on my right leg. I had x-rays and an MRI and was sent to physical therapy for Patellofemoral pain. My kneecap was being pulled laterally out of its normal track because of muscle imbalance and flat feet. This caused the cartilage to be worn away and my tendon to be stressed. I went to physical therapy for a month, resulting in only a small decrease in pain.

            Lucky for me, one of my best friends had just become a CrossFit trainer and suggested that I come in. I was initially scared that the intensity would hurt my knee even more. On the first day, Gilly explained my situation to Danielle and I remember her looking straight at me and saying, “I know exactly what pain you’re talking about, I’ve had two knee surgeries. Lets see if we can get you to squat without pain, then you can call your physical therapist and tell him you won’t be coming back. I think we can have you playing volleyball again by April.” Who can argue with that? I stopped physical therapy and started CrossFit five days a week in February.

            It took an entire month of squatting to an ab-mat on a box, then just a box, then a smaller box for me to get a proper squat (proper, still not perfect!). By March I was squatting with weight and in April I was doing box jumps. Now I back squat around a hundred and thirty pounds and am playing beach volleyball almost everyday. I’m so thankful to Gilly, Danielle and Hollis for giving me the right tools to continue to be an active athlete, when I had been convinced that I had to give up playing the sport I love. CrossFit served to be an excellent and fun rehab program for my knee and I am so happy with my results.

-Amy Knight

                                               

Workout:

"Nasty Girls"

3 rounds for time of:
50 Squats
7 Muscle-ups
135 pound Hang power cleans, 10 reps

Oh So Close

Close but no PR.

At the CrossFit Level I certifications we say that one of the most common flaws in a jerk is not fully opening the hip. Missing full hip extension will diminish our ability to lift heavy.  Equally problematic is not fully extending the arms.  Either error in the movement may result in missing a new PR.  Next time meet that bar with straight arms.

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Workout:

Not telling

Hip and Leg Extension

Baily with great bottom and top position with the kettle bell.

The Kettle bell swing is an interesting movement. It is one of those medium complexity moves we group with the push press, wall ball, box jumping and sumo deadlift high pull. These movement necessitate good body awareness and are defined by the extension of the hip and leg against a neutral spine transferred to and external object. The  complexity is driven from the coordination the movements requeire and the element of velocity. These types of movement are great at developing the speed and power needed to do more complex movements and are great at building work capacity.

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Workout:

Clean and Jerk

1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Simple Moves

Hannah, Beth, Dawn and Amy.

Saturday's Squat/Pull-up workout and Sunday's kettle bell swing/push-up workout were both deceptively challenging.  Two relatively simple movements paired together.  Nothing too heavy and nothing too long, however the effects are still being felt. We like to keep the workouts simple. Simple and effective. I heard once that if you can't describe the workout in less than 30 seconds it might be too complicated. 

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Workout:

Rest Day

Thank You Kai!

Kai with a kettlebell overhead.

Just over a month ago, several CFSC athletes showed up at the gym early on a Saturday morning to participate in the Human Race.  We were running to support Every Child Outdoors and to raise money to help students in lower income communities afford participation at the residential Santa Cruz County Outdoor Science School.  Thank you to all that came out to participate!  Every dollar that was raised goes directly to providing scholarships for students in the 2010 - 2011 school year.  The importance of spending a week exploring, learning and discovering outside cannot be overstated, now more than ever.  According to R.A. Wetzel, "In January, 2010, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that children ages 8- 18 spend an average of more than 7.5 hours per day using some sort of electronic screen" read more...

Kai gets it.  And for the second year in a row, he has worked to raise money for Every Child Outdoors and outdoor school scholarships.  This year he has raised enough to become the third highest fundraiser for the entire event with 100's of participants.  Click here to check it out! (And you can still donate if you want to).  Thanks to Kai, 90 5th grade students in Santa Cruz County will receive a scholarship towards the outdoor school tuition.  That covers three classrooms and an entire 5th grade class.  We are so, very proud of his efforts.  

Thank you Kai!!

With deepest appreciation,

Heather Mac (and lots of 5th graders)

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Workout:

Handstand practice 45 minutes

Then, 21 rep back squat