Sweet Dreams

By Jocelyn

Nine good hours. That’s my magic number. Anything less than that in regards to sleep, especially if it's consecutive days, I start to crumble; mentally, physically, emotionally. You know, I’ve actually had people scoff at me about needing that much sleep before as if to imply that it’s a result of laziness. And there were moments when I worried it might be true. After all, I hear about people all the time who claim they are “good to go” with just six hours of sleep, sometimes even less. It turns out, however, that sleep is much more important than those people realize.

It is probably not news to most people that without enough sleep humans cannot properly function. It may behoove you, though, to know that the amount of sleep you get can also affect your chances of living longer. Sleep deprivation, as described by Web MD, can have some serious side effects including high blood pressure, heart attacks, heart failure, stroke, obesity, psychiatric problems including depression and other mood disorders, ADD, mental impairment, fetal and childhood growth retardation, injury from accidents, disruption of bed partners sleep quality, and poor quality of life. 

Sleep loss is also a major contributing factor to obesity. According to the Washington Post, “the nation’s obesity epidemic is being driven, at least in part, by a corresponding decrease in the average number of hours that Americans are sleeping, possibly by disrupting hormones that regulate appetite. The analysis of a nationally representative sample of nearly 10,000 adults found that those between the ages of 32 and 49 who sleep less than seven hours a night are significantly more likely to be obese.”

There is no “magic number” when it comes to the amount of sleep needed. Sleep requirements vary from person to person. However, tons of research out there suggests that anything less than six hours per night can be detrimental to health and that most people need at least 7-8 hours. For an even more specific breakdown check out http://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need.

So if your recovery is suffering or you are having trouble shedding that last bit of extra body fat even though you are Paleo’d out up to your eyeballs, sleep deprivation just might be the culprit. In the meantime, it’s nice to know that I’m not so lazy after all. I’m just a gal trying to recover properly for my next CrossFit WOD.

WOD:

Front Squat

3,3,3,3,3

AMRAP 12 min

3 Jerks (185/130)

6 KB Swings (2 pood/1.5 pood)

50m Sprint

Post load and time to comments.

Obstacles, Hurdles, Pitfalls

The guest writer for this post is CF West Santa Cruz's Golden Brown. Golden recently completed the WOD “King Kong” as rx’d, a long standing goal, only to promptly seriously strain his wrist. Barred from doing most movements requiring the use of both hands, he has attacked his limited movement training with a vengeance, recently squatting a way-below-parallel 390#.

Obstacles, hurdles, pitfalls, call them what you will, but sooner or later things will come up that make working out seem impossible. Whether it is physical, mental, or personal, life always has a way to impede your success. In my opinion, injuries are a part of life. You will get injured whether or not you even leave your house. So getting hurt at the box or in relation to CrossFit in general does not mean you should stop coming. If you were injured in your house would you be afraid to go back in? Some injuries last mere days, such as hand tears, or blisters; others can last days, weeks, even months or years. Does this stop your training? For me it has certainly made me reassess and reevaluate my commitment to training. Why come in if I “cant” do the WOD?

This thought can lead down a path of abandonment. Even the most strong willed can feel hopeless at times. The moral here is that you should still come to the box. Talk with the trainers, hell even talk to Cliff if you have to. Work it out! Crossfit is somewhat unique in that it is constantly varied so there are infinite amounts of movements to work on. If your left foot is hurting you can do right leg pistols. The list goes on endlessly, don’t be discouraged. We can make you better, we have the technology….or lack of technology I guess. Keep coming, talk to the trainers, tell other CrossFitters what’s going on, you never know who knows what or whom. Maybe someone else just got over what you are going through and has a great strategy to help recovery.

My recent injury to my wrist has really gotten me down lately. I started feeling like I basically couldn’t do CrossFit until it recovered. But I’ve been coming in trying to make the best of it. I’ve decided to work on the stuff I can, and especially focus on some stuff I don’t excel at. I also had fun working one arm snatches with the barbell. I found that it was the first time in a while that I felt that CrossFit fun. I wasn’t lifting super heavy weight but I was able to set some goals for an explosive Olympic-ish lift. I’m running, jumping, sprinting, and squatting. Come in, do it, do it now!

Please post thoughts to Comments.

You work long hours, so, due to member demand, starting this Monday, the 24th, there will a 7:30pm class on Mondays and Wednesdays.  I hope to see good turnout for it.

Workout:

Back Squat-find your 1RM, use as many sets as needed.

Then:

7 Rounds

7 Pullups C2B

7 Ring Pushups

Post squat weight and WOD time to Comments.

The Little Things

The role model himself.The fastest, most explosive, most agile athlete at CF Los Gatos never does a WOD, never hits heavy deads, and can’t do a single pullup (although he can drag a 63# kettlebell, that’s bodyweight and a half, a short distance). He doesn’t really train in the strict sense and pretty much eats anything he can. As I am sure you have guessed by now, it is Mowgli. And, strangely enough, he is the inspirational source for this post.

One thing I have noticed about Mowgli is that he gets very excited about the little things. Life is a pretty exciting affair for Mowgli. He’s a dog, you say, of course he gets excited easily. And while that may be true, it is a good and rather enviable attitude to have.

At the box I sometimes see people who are not happy unless they PR by half a minute or a chunk of weight. This is especially true of people that are getting out of the beginner level. One of the great things about CrossFit is its breadth. Think of Mowgli and remember, its the little things that count.

Take joy and pride in all the little accomplishments that happen regularly in the box. If you only measure great journeys, and that is certainly what CrossFit is, by giant strides, then it’s going to be a pretty long and boring trip. At CFLG we like to say “be better, everyday.” Be just a little bit better every single day. Since you can’t PR every day, being better means the little things. Collect enough little things, and you’ve got a giant stride. One of those big leaps that sometimes seem to just come out of nowhere.

So please, take joy in the little things. Try to have a little more of Mowgli’s attitude. It doesn’t take a lot of excitement to go a long way.

Today, yesterday, right now, what little thing did you improve on? Please post answers to Comments.

Workout:

Power Clean

Work up to your 3RM and then do that weight for 3 more sets.

Then:

Jackie

1000m Row

50 Thrusters 45/33#

30 Pullups

Post WOD and time to Comments.

“Last night I almost dislocated my knee executing a block. I went to take a lateral hit and my skate got locked up with someone else’s - I moved and my skate did not. I literally felt my leg rotate in my knee socket and start to push out - It was THE worst pain I have ever felt in my life. I went to see Dr. Roitz this morning and she said it’s a sprain and taped me up. I’m so relieved, I thought for sure that I had really messed myself up. I can honestly say that CrossFit saved me last night - if the same thing would have happened last season it would have been 10 time worse. I felt my body protect itself.”

That is an excerpt from an email I got from one of our CrossFitters today. It got me thinking. I had never really considered the benefits of resistance training in terms of protecting the joints from injury. Funny though, because I first started lifting weights to do exactly that. Smart weight training does a lot more than just increase muscle strength. Muscles are a lot easier to strengthen than bones, tendons, and ligaments. This is why steroid abusers often break bones or hurt their joints when their muscle grow disproportionately stronger than the rest of their body. Systematizedresistance training, just like what happens in CrossFit, is a greatdeterrentto injury, be it percussive–like a car wreck or a fall, or repetitive–like your shoulder hurting from surfing. It takes time to strengthen the tendons and ligaments and it takes consistent training. The benefits, as shown by the letter above, are really worth it.

How has CrossFit protected your body? Please post to Comments.

Workout:

5 Rounds

400m Run

3 rounds of the following complex:

1 Hang Power Clean

1 Front Squat

1 Push Press

1 Back Squat

1 Rack Press

Use 155/105# if your Grace time is sub 4, 135/95 if your Grace time is over 4. Do not set the bar down on each 3 round complex.

Post WOD and time to Comments.

Purposeful Practice

Most CrossFit classes are an hour long. That is plenty of time to warm up, train a heavy lift, and hit a WOD, but it doesn’t leave a lot of room for practice. Deliberate practice.

Going all out on a WOD, Grace for example, is not deliberately practicing the clean. Going all out on Grace is training, not practicing. Practicing is the purposeful repetitive motion of something with the specific intent of perfecting that something. You don’t perfect something with a stopwatch. You perfect it with conscious or willful practice. Using the clean again as an example, deliberate practice would be unhurried, with a light to moderate load, and focus would be on a specific aspect of the clean, the catch at the bottom of the 3rd pull for instance.

After each class there is often time to practice, but the last thing most people want to do after a CrossFit WOD is more anything. Also, gross motor skills, a roundhouse kick for instance, can and should be trained while fatigued, while finer motor skills, a snatch for instance, should be practiced while fresh to avoid the physical inculcation of bad habits.

CF Los Gatos is in effect an open gym. There is ample time to practice. You can work on what you want to. A trainer is often there to help of course, but practice is a solitary thing. Remember the repetitive part of “purposeful repetitive motion of something with the specific intent of perfecting that something”.

See you in the Cage.

Workout:

5 Rounds

3 Snatches
5 Overhead Squats
7 Back Squat/Thrusters (bring the bar down from overhead after the overhead squats and perform a back squat, then when you drive out of the hole on the back squat, push the weight overhead from behind your neck)

Gents, use 135#. Ladies, use 95#. Try not to drop the bar during each round.

Post WOD and time to Comments.