Here is another great video from HQ showing progression work to achieve your first MU. We all know that the Open is going to be even more spicy this year. Watch the video and get your MU on point so you are ready when Castro tries to crush us all.
video via YouTube
We have all had that moment in the middle of the WOD where are core gives out and we still have more T2B’s. Learn in this progression how to make sure your lats are engaged, this will save your midline and help you last longer before reaching fatigue. Thanks again to HQ for putting out these helpful videos to help us all improve our fitness.
video via: YouTube
We live in a culture that often times tells us to “stay on course” “just go with the flow” “get a good job with benefits” “don’t take too many risks.” However, I have found that this does not always translate to what I consider success, and often times leads to a mediocre life. I for one do not want to look back and say my life was ok.
I want to look at my life and say I loved every day I was alive. I want my children to be inspired to live their own version of a successful life and I’m willing to bet you want the same. For me success is being the best husband, father, and friend I can. It’s making time to enjoy the small things in life, and living every moment to the fullest. Of course it also entails killing myself on a regular basis through my CrossFit WOD, but that only helps me achieve my success.
Whether you want to be a better spouse, father, mother, son, daughter, athlete, or lover of life; here is a list of 6 things that can help you reach your goal.
1. Don’t Resent Other People’s Success
Watching a co-worker receive a promotion or hearing a friend talk about her achievements can stir up feelings of envy. But resenting other people’s success will only interfere with your ability to reach your own goals. When you’re secure in our own definition of success, you’ll stop envying other people for obtaining their goals and you’ll be committed to reaching your dreams.
2. Don’t Fear Taking Calculated Risks
We make dozens — if not hundreds — of choices every day and with very little time devoted to considering the risks we’re taking. Whether we choose to wear a helmet on a bike ride or we decide to take out a mortgage, we often base our choices on our emotions, not the true level of risk. Making decisions based on your level of fear isn’t an accurate way to calculate risk. Emotions are often irrational and unreliable. You don’t get to be extraordinary without taking risks, and learning how to accurately calculate risk will ensure you’re making the best choices.
3. Don’t Make the Same Mistakes Over and Over
It’d be nice to learn enough from each mistake that we’d be guaranteed to never repeat that same mistake twice. But the reality is that we’re prone to repeat the same mistakes sometimes. Learning from our mistakes requires humility and a willingness to look for new strategies to become better. Mentally strong people don’t hide their mistakes or make excuses for them, instead they use them as opportunities for self-growth.
4. Never Give Up After Failure
It’s normal to feel embarrassed, discouraged, and downright defeated when your first attempts don’t work. From a young age, we’re often taught that failure is bad, but it’s nearly impossible to succeed if you never fail. Mentally strong people view failure as proof that they’re pushing themselves to the limits in their efforts to reach their full potential.
5. The World Does NOT Owe You Anything
It’s easy to get caught up in feeling a sense of entitlement. But waiting for the world — or the people in it — to give you what you think we’re owed isn’t a helpful life strategy. If you’re busy trying to take what you think you deserve, you won’t have any time to focus on all that you have to give. And everyone has gifts that can be shared, regardless of whether they’ve gotten a “fair deal” in life.
6. Never Expect Immediate Results
Wouldn’t it be nice if everything in life could happen at the touch of a button? We often grow so accustomed to our “no lines, no waiting” world, that our brains begin to believe that everything should happen instantaneously. But self-growth develops at more of a snail’s pace, rather than at lightning speed. Whether you’re trying to lose weight or develop a more gracious attitude, slow and steady wins the race and expecting immediate results will only lead to disappointment.
Let today be the day you take control of your life and start to build your own version of success.
Sourced from: huffingtonpost
When faced with challenges in life we can either lay down and die or fight back. “I’m not ready to die yet.”
76 year old Constance Tillett has turned to CrossFit to help her stay Fit. After years of illness, and multiple surgeries, Constance says she looked around at people her age and knew she had to make a change.
She was scared when she first went to CrossFit, but she had the courage to take that first step and hasn’t looked back since.
Thank you Constance for your inspiration to all of us!
video sourced:YouTube
If you haven’t hear the name C.J. Cummings yet, that is all about to change!
I wasn’t born the last time American men won a medal in Olympic weightlifting. A sport that America had all but walked away from.
Thanks in large part to the growing popularity of CrossFit, Olympic lifting is beginning to gain some momentum with the younger generations. Membership for the USA Weightlifting has more than doubled in the past 3 years. Lifts like the clean and jerk and the snatch have been long forgotten is your average globe gym. Lifts which require balance, full-body strength, and particularly powerful legs have been replaced with more muscle group specific lifts.
But a 15-year-old boy in small-town South Carolina is raising hopes for an American weightlifting renaissance. His name is C.J. Cummings, and at the 2015 USA Weightlifting National Championships this month in Dallas, he set a national record. In a sport where athletes typically peak in their mid to late 20s, this teenager lifted more than any American grown-up in his weight class had ever achieved.
“In 37 years of coaching, I’ve never seen anything like this kid,” said Dennis Snethen, coach of the U.S. team at the Beijing Olympics and a former longtime top executive of USA Weightlifting. “He’s the Michael Jordan of weightlifting in America.”
But as a youth, Cummings is becoming a force on the international stage. At the junior worlds this June in Poland, Cummings competed as a 15-year-old against athletes as old as 20 and finished fourth in the clean and jerk and seventh overall. At the nationals this month, his clean and jerk of 175 kilograms (about 386 pounds) broke not only the American national senior record but also exceeded by two kilograms the international youth record in his weight class 69k. That record was unofficial, because it didn’t occur at an international meet. But even on an unofficial basis, it tops anything any American weightlifter has accomplished in decades.
In weight rooms across America, a cultural shift is taking place. For a long time, the weight room has been the province of power lifters, not Olympic-style lifters. For power lifters, the measure of an athlete is how much he can bench press—something not included in Olympic competitions.
It remains to be seen whether Cummings will be on the Olympic team. To make the cut, an athlete must be ranked high internationally in his weight class, and to get there the teenager must continue to execute eye-popping lifts, starting with a meet next month in Mexico.
His coach, Rayford Jones, won’t entertain any talk of Cummings ending America’s weightlifting medal drought in Rio. “This is a 15-year-old boy, and we’re going slow and steady,” Jones said. “But you give this boy four years beyond Rio, you talk about the Tokyo Olympics, well, now that’s a real opportunity.”
sourced from: WSJ
Sometimes we need a little extra motivation to get through a WOD. We find ourselves in that dark place questioning life. Here is a little motivation to help get you through that next rep. Taylor Morris, you sir are a HERO!!!!
#Merica #Hero #Unstoppable
sourced from YouTube
Image Source: www.taylormorris.org
I was first introduce to the kettlebell a few years ago and at first I thought it was kind of lame. I didn’t think I would benefit much from them and I just felt goofy doing the movements. After a couple weeks of implementing them I began to feel a difference. I had more stability in my core as well as my glutes and hips. I had better flexibility and mobility in my shoulders, hips and ankles. I began to use them at home and realize the kettlebell is the perfect piece of equipment for an at home gym. It takes up minimal space and if done properly can produce some amazing results.
I do think it is worth noting that most of the videos or social media posts I have seen are not done with proper form. Like any form of exercise, if performed with bad form you are bound to get hurt. So please if you are going to start using kettlebells in your routine than take the time to learn proper form first.
Exercsie 1: The Swing
I have played around with the overhead swing, which the CrossFit world calls the “American Swing”. I am not going to bad mouth this style or anything but I prefer the Russian-style kettlebell swing where you project the kettlebell to shoulder height only. This is a very effective exercise when executed with proper form. Hip power, hip hinging, and breathing techniques make it incredibly powerful. This exercise has many benefits that combine strength, power, endurance, and work capacity.
The swing provides the powerhouse that will propel all of the other dynamic kettlebell movements. The full-body power that is required during the swing results in extreme fat loss and high levels of conditioning.
The swing is not as easy as it looks. It requires a precise ballistic movement that you must take time to learn. You must learn the swing before you move onto the snatch and the clean. Not doing the swing correctly can get you hurt but it is not the kettlebell’s fault, it is the person or the trainer’s fault. If done correctly, you should never get hurt.
The Take Home: The kettlebell swing is one of the best bang for the buck exercises out there. It is the foundation of kettlebell training. Taking the time to learn how to do it correctly will pay off immensely.
Exercise 2: The Goblet Squat
Unless you are new to exercise, I am sure you have heard of the goblet squat. The legendary coach, Dan John, should be credited with its popularity. The squat is one of the most fundamental movement patterns that we all need to improve and master.
Many people think that squats are only to build the legs and with a bar on your back but they are so much more. The goblet squat is the perfect tool to teach the squat pattern, improve hip mobility, build strength and muscle in the lower-body with heavier loads and improve conditioning with lower loads.
While the barbell squat may be king to build mass and strength, the goblet squat makes a nice addition to anyone’s program. The goblet squat can be used to improve the efficiency for any of the kettlebell exercises that you utilize.
Exercise 3: The Turkish Get-up
Unless you have been under a rock for the past few years, you probably have heard of the Turkish Get-up. Some physique and strength athletes shun them off since they don’t feel that they build muscle and strength. I’ve got news for you… they do! The get-up is best described as kalos sthenos, which is Greek for “beautiful strength”.
They may not be a traditional strength and muscle builder but there is more to an exercise than just building muscle and strength. An exercise like the Turkish get-up can be the perfect addition to your program to keep your core strong, shoulders safe and increase your proprioception.
This highly dynamic movement has a huge carryover to lifting heavy things. It does this with it’s series of movements where you go from lying down to standing up with a kettlebell or dumbbell without breaking form and keeping the bell from falling.
Here’s a short list of everything that we can get from a single get up:
-Single leg hip stability during the initial roll to press and during the bridge.
-Both closed and open chain shoulder stability.
-Shoulder mobility.
-Thoracic extension and rotation.
-Hip and leg mobility and active flexibility.
-Stability in two different leg patterns – lunge stance as well as squat stance.
-Both rotary and linear stability.
-The ability to link movement created in our extremities to the rest of our body.
source: the athletic build
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