Jan 23, 2012

The bear is one of my favorite conditioning workouts. For those of you who don’t know, the bear consists of 5 movements that bring the bar from the ground, to over your head, to a full squat, over your head again and back to the ground. The movements are a power clean, front squat, push press, back squat, and push press. These are performed without letting go of the bar. The ideal way of completing this complex is to keep the bar moving at all times.

There are two ways that I know this workout can be completed; however there are probably many more ways these movements can be put together. The first way that these movements, what I’ll call the classic bear, can be done is to do 7 of each exercise before going on to the next. I have used this type of complex to gain muscular endurance in a longer time domain. I was definitely well conditioned after doing this complex; however I did not use this rep scheme when I was in a strength gaining phase.

My favorite way to do the bear, let’s call it the heavy bear, is to do each part of the complex once for maximum weight. Instead of using a fixed weight like the classic bear, the heavy bear is done for maximum load for the 5 reps. This complex was very helpful for me when I was training for strength in weightlifting because it provides a good general strength workout with just enough conditioning for someone training to lift a max single.

The heavy bear trains a small amount of conditioning, while staying under the 20s rough time frame for the ATP/CP energy system (more on that in later posts). It helped me to stay conditioned and tolerate longer workouts without ruining my maximal effort strength.

What kinds of weight should you be using on this? If you don’t know, you should ask a coach. I’m not even going to tell you what weights I used because if you don’t know what you can do for these exercises you should ask someone and if do you what weights to use you probably don’t care what I have to say about the issue.

Dec 28, 2011

Here is a great article that describes 1) how scrappy and dedicated weightlifters are to their sport and 2) the general importance of starting early. I’m always happy to see news articles that are able to provide reasonably good descriptions of weightlifting in the context of proper sport training. There has been too much fear mongering about lifting weights (in any way). I hope that with the rise of crossfit, there will be more and more articles like this one that describe the safety and joys of weightlifting for both adults and children/teens.

It’s important to start early for any sport, and weightlifting is no different. Starting with a PVC pipe or broomstick is a great way to get the technique down in a way that is safe for children as well as unskilled adults. I’m not trying to scare anyone out of starting weightlifting later in life, you’ll still find it a thoroughly stimulating (i.e. challenging) experience. Starting at 35 will put in in a good position to become reasonably stronger, more flexible, and one might say more fit; however your chances of winning an olympic medal or even going to an international competition are quite low. Starting children early gives them the potential to perform at the best of their abilities, during peak athletic years.

Friday is Hero WOD day but it is especially poignant on this veterans day. So today I did Bradshaw. It was rough but I really enjoyed it. The WOD was 10 Rounds of, 3 handstand push-ups, 6 deadlifts, 225#, 12 pull-ups, 24 double-unders.

Hero WOD’s are usually heavy, extra hard, and don’t have any optional scaling built in. In the end, it’s a reminder of an individual as well as a group of brave individuals who hav helped in efforts to keep us all safe. in the past and present.

So here’s to all heroes and veterans past and present, thank you for all that you’ve done.

I’m not talking about the animal; I’m talking about the skills we so often encounter in Crossfit that seem impossible to do. The goats I’ve been working on are hand stand push ups, muscle ups, pistols, double-unders, and ring dips. My list is long and each movement varies in skill level and strength required to complete them.

I’ve been chipping away at each one little by little working on one skill before or after class. Starting with a scaled version of each exercise to build needed strength and over time I begin to scaling up to challenge what I’ve been working on. The rep scheme and the level of scaling varies according to individual strength and the movement itself. So ask your coaches about how to scale appropriately for you. With consist practice I find that the skill that once seemed impossible becomes less difficult over time and eventually I attempt them in WODs and see how far I can go.

Try making a list of skills you want to work on and set goals for yourself. Then tackle them one at time. We’re all stronger than we think we just have to prove it to ourselves.

Mobilization is a systematic approach at improving a multitude of movement disfunction in athletes. It can improve your range of motion and as a result help you lift heavier and move faster. The changes that you can make are astonishing and even comical. It doesn’t matter what kind of athlete you are or even if you’re not an athlete it can improve the way you move.

If you aren’t familiar with Kelly Starrett’s Mobility WOD, I highly recommend checking it out. First time viewers should start at the first post because it can get a bit involved.

Check it out and try it for yourself.