Workout of the Day:
Five sets of:
Single-Arm DB Bench Press x 8-10 reps @ 2011
Rest 45 seconds
Ring Rows x 12-15 reps @ 2111
Rest 45 seconds;
and then,
Eight sets of:
30 seconds of DB Renegade Rows
15 seconds of Rest
30 seconds of Double-Unders
15 seconds of Rest

Always watching . . . always judging.

Rubber Bands are Great . . . But Not for That!
Written by C.J. Martin

Rubber bands are extremely useful tools in the gym.  They can be used for all manner of warm-up movements, like pull-aparts, scap push-ups, band stomps, etc…, and are highly effective at increasing eccentric loading when anchored to the floor and attached to a barbell.  But is that how you are using them?

In my opinion, rubber bands are very poor tools when used to assist pull-ups and ring dips.  Rubber bands will provide you the same amount of assistance for every repetition of your workout.  But we all know that you are stronger early in the workout and more fatigued as you perform more reps.  Accordingly, you should use less assistance early, and more as the workout goes on.  The best way to do this is by using your legs to reduce the load.

For ring dips, set the rings low enough that you can reach full elbow extension with only the tips of your toes still on the ground.  Place as much of your weight as possible into your hands by lifting your toes off the ground, or simply actively pulling them up to reduce the amount of load on your feet.  Begin your descent and only add pressure through your toes as needed.

For pull-ups, use your feet to provide only as much boost as you need to pull your chin over the bar.  If you’re close to unassisted pull-ups, you may only have the very tips of your toes touching the ground when your arms are at full extension, meaning you will get little push off the ground before you have to pull the remainder of the way.  As you fatigue, move to a lower bar – a benefit of having really cool ascending pull-up bars – so you can give yourself a little more boost.

Voila!  Now your workout can be just as difficult for your initial reps as it will be for your last.

Workout of the Day:
Three sets of:
Squat x 4-6 reps
(take a few warm-up sets, and then get heavy for three sets – if you get 6 reps, you MUST go up in weight)
Rest 2 minutes
Dumbbell Overhead Press x 8-10 reps
(strict, no knee-bend, as heavy as you can handle, note any asymmetries in your performance logs)
Rest 2 minutes;
and then,
Three sets for max reps/calories of:
60 second Row for Max Calories
20 second Rest
60 second Burpees
20 second Rest
60 second Push Press (95/65 lbs.)
Rest for 3 minutes and 20 seconds

Quick Tips for a Better Bench Press – Part Two
Written by Mark Riebel

In part 1 of this post, we talked about the concepts of bracing and pulling the shoulder blades back and down to help improve your bench press technique.  This time I’ll discuss two more quick fixes you can use to help bring it up as well.

Engaging your lats and your legs

Say that again?  Yes, it turns out that by incorporating some muscles that you don’t typically think of as being a part of your bench can really improve your ability to do it.  We’ll start with the easier one to explain—the leg drive.  Putting your feet on the ground and driving them into the ground effectively extends your kinetic chain all the way through your body to the floor.  If that’s a term you’re not familiar with, just know that it further adds to your stability in the lift.  Really emphasizing the leg drive on the concentric phase towards lock out can particularly be of help.  If your legs are a bit short, just put some plates on the ground so you can drive your feet into those.

The other neglected muscle in the bench press is your latissimus dorsi.  Admittedly, I’m still figuring this part out myself and it may be one of the strangest feeling tweaks to your lift, but really flexing these throughout the motion can add a little bit to your top end strength in the movement.  It can help to think of spreading the bar apart while you’re gripping it tight if you’re not too great at just keeping them engaged in the lift.

Arching your back

When you’re getting set up for the bench, putting a little arch in your low back may also add a few pounds to your effort.  You don’t need anything excessive (though having the spine of a 14-year old girl might put you in excessive range of motion), but just a little bit of arch will help.  This places your pecs at a more mechanically advantageous position, the lower fibers in particular.  The specifics take more time to go into than this post allows, but suffice it to say that it does based on the properties of a third class lever (we’ll save the rest of the geek talk for the coaches’ office).  Arching your low back will also shave just a hair off the range of motion as well, which may help you to press more weight.

Ask one of the coaches to assist you in demonstrating any of these adjustments if you need some additional help, but I’d highly recommend incorporating all of them to start improving your bench press today.

Workout of the Day:
Five sets of:
Bench Press x 4-6 reps
Rest 30 seconds
60 seconds of Double-Unders
(use this as skill practice if you are not proficient with double-unders)
Rest three minutes;
and then,
Five rounds for max reps (of Ring Dips):
In 60 seconds, complete 10 Burpees and then as many reps as possible of Ring Dips.
Rest 60 seconds.

Quick Tips for a Better Bench Press – Part One
Written by Mark Riebel

It’s pretty typical to hear among gym-goers the question “How much ya bench?” on an almost daily basis.  It seems that the bench press is viewed as the ultimate test of strength, particularly amongst guys who work out in tank tops.  There’s many reasons why I beg to differ with this notion (and the tank tops), but that is another post entirely.  The bench press is a fantastic way to move a lot of weight with your upper body and just because you don’t see it three times a week at Invictus doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t make some adjustments to maximize your potential in the lift.  This two-part series will take a look at some common failures people have in their technique on the bench press, because unlike many believe, it’s not as simple as lying on the bench and pressing your arms up and down.  Some of these tweaks can add some weight to your bench in one session because they’re simple technique changes that you can make right away to become more efficient in the movement.

Pinch your shoulder blades together

When you get set up on the bench, you want to pull your shoulder blades together on your back as tight as you can.  It may help to think of pinching a dollar bill between them and even trying to tuck the bones into your back pockets to really get them back and down.  What this does is it makes your whole upper back region extremely stiff and gives you a much better foundation for holding that weight up over your chest.  I don’t know about you, but the thought of having a loose upper body whilst holding a few hundred pounds over my sternum with the possibility of it crashing down doesn’t get me too comfortable.  You want to be as stable as you possibly can be, and pulling your scapulae together and down is a great start.  You also get the added benefit of a slightly shorter range of motion on the exercise.  If you want a quick visual, put your arms out in front of you and pull just one of your shoulder blades back towards your spine while you leave the other where it is normally.  It’s easy to see a few extra inches you have to push the weight without tucking your scaps, and that few inches could make the difference for a new PR.

Brace

This should seem like a no-brainer if you’ve been listening to our coaches, but bracing is just as important on the bench as it is in the squat or deadlift.  While the weight is at the top and locked out, take a big breath to fill up your lungs and clench up your midsection like someone’s about to punch you in the stomach.  Keep this tightness throughout the entire movement, and once you’re back at lockout, take a quick breath if you need it, get tight again and do another rep.  Don’t breathe in the middle of the rep!  Again, this is all about staying as tight as you can through the entire movement.  Any inhaling or exhaling you do during the rep is going to affect how stiff the base is from which you’re attempting to press from, and you want that to be as solid as possible.

Next time we’ll take a look at putting some arch in your back as well as how to really engage some other muscles that you probably think have nothing to do with the bench press.

Workout of the Day:
Overhead Squat
3-2-1-1-1
and then,
“Nancy”
Five rounds for time of:
400 Meter Run
15 Overhead Squats, 95/65 lbs.
(Compare performance to September 2, 2009)

A HUGE Congratulations to Justin and Susan! They met at Invictus shortly after we opened and became engaged last week. It's hard to imagine a more perfect couple. Congratulations!

Michele’s Keys to CrossFit (and the Universe)
Written by Michele Vieux

I feel like I say these things over and over while coaching and there is a good reason for it. They are the keys to athletic performance and can make you faster, stronger, better, and mentally tougher in ANYTHING you set out to accomplish.

Bracing is not just for one rep max deadlifts and squats. That big breath in and tightening of the midline before a lift should be used before kicking up into a handstand, hitting a backhand in your tennis match, taking a charge in you pickup basketball game, as well as any other activity in which you want to project maximum power and not crumble on top of yourself into a pile of flesh and bones.

Perfect mechanics go a long way in the long run. Setting up the correct way and continuing to use perfect form throughout the entire movement puts you in the perfect position to execute with the most potential power in the quickest, most efficient, and easiest way possible. If you have been using poor form, you have not reached your potential. Take the time to retrain yourself and adhere to strict form. Slow down until you have achieved it and you will find it will make you faster, stronger, and more efficient in the long run. You might need to recruit the help of one of your coaches for this, but quality of movement should be your focus.

Set a goal. Never go into anything—workout or daily task—without some sort of goal. It doesn’t always have to be a time goal. It could be to finish the workout with perfect form. It could be not to take a water break until you are done. It could be to finish a certain round or exercise unbroken. It could be to avoid that cookie in the break room. Tell someone what your goal is so they can help remind you and keep you accountable.

Live by the “four quarter rule”. I used this trick when I was a swimmer in my youth (my specialty was the 200M butterfly)—it was verified by my friend, “the Real Nik Hawkes”, a former Navy Seal and a current BUDs instructor who has spent a great many hours studying mental toughness and how to achieve it. This will help keep you moving through any workout or challenge in life. Whatever you are facing, divide it into four quarters.

An easy example of this is a four-round workout. Start the first round at a pace you know you can keep throughout the entire workout. Round two should be used to check yourself. It is easy to drift off or lose momentum in this round. Don’t drop too far behind your round one pace and if you find yourself falling behind, pick back up to that pace you know you can hold. The third round is the most important in terms of making something big happen. This is where you go above and beyond, push yourself to your max, and pull away from the pack. Pick up the pace and get through this round and you know you are onto the home stretch.  Most people wait until the final round to start this move. Start in round three and all you need to do is bring it home—finish strong! You should have just enough left to accomplish this and hopefully a new PR, feat of strength, conquering of a life obstacle, or whatever it was you set out to achieve.

Workout of the Day:
Handstand Push-Ups or Handstand Holds
Perform three sets of max rep handstand push-ups (if you’ve got more than 3) or three sets of max time handstand holds
and then,
Four rounds of:
30 seconds of max rep push-ups
30 seconds of push-up position plank hold
followed immediately by four rounds of:
30 seconds of max rep squats
30 seconds of below-parallel squat hold

Is our super mobile Nichole properly braced?

The Fundamentals – Bracing
Written by Mike Hom

If you had the pleasure of being part of our On-Ramp process, you will know how important the concept of bracing is to us coaches. In fact, if you have not attended an On-Ramp session, I highly encourage you to do so in order to practice some of the fundamentals that you might be taking for granted. If anything, sit in on an On-Ramp session to get a better understanding of what bracing is and why it is important.

This rather simple concept is easily forgotten by many people but holds some astonishing long-term repercussions. Let’s quickly discuss why bracing is important in a nice, simple flowchart:

So how do you do it?

To begin, imagine your entire torso and butt in 360 degrees. You want that entire column of your body to be just that: a strong, immovable column that does not bend, does not shift, does nothing but keep your spine neutral and wedded to your hips. This happy marriage is often overlooked in the chase for extreme lumbar extension. While we initially want people who have problems with lumbar flexion to learn how to obtain a lumbar curve, we also want them to think about their entire body, and in particular their spine and hips, as one happily married piece.

In order to make this happen, do the following:

• Pull your shoulder blades down and back to stand as tall and proud as possible.
• Inhale and pretend like someone is about to deliver a life-threatening punch to your gut and you need to brace yourself for this. What you will do is contract your abs, obliques and a whole slew of muscles that make up your 360 degree torso as hard as possible. You are doing this because you are trying to protect your internal organs and your spine from any irreparable damage caused by this potential trauma. (To tighten your brace, exhale and squeeze even harder, maintain that tension and inhale again.)
• You should still be standing tall and proud – locking down your midline stabilizers should not cause your posture to change.
• Squeeze your glutes (your butt) as hard as possible. This helps to keep your spine and hips wedded together.
• Push your knees out to the sides and “spread the ground” by trying to kick your heels away from you as if you were trying to tear a piece of paper under your feet.

By this time, you should notice your whole body is about as tight as it can possibly get and you should feel like you’re working hard just to do this. This is the most extreme, dare I say ideal, bracing you can do. Aim to go through these steps in order to provide yourself minimum risk and maximum return while training. But beware, mastering the breathing takes some practice – so PRACTICE! Do it while you are warming up, going through basic movements, etc….

Just to provide yourself some individual feedback, try to do one air squat as you normally would. Now perform one air squat with the bracing process described above. You should feel more “integrated,” as if your entire body’s individual body parts are truly working in concert with each other.

Hopefully, everybody who reads this blog will learn to move their body with proper bracing and allow me to take the quotation marks off the word “integrated” in the future.

As always, big thanks to K-Star of San Francisco CrosSFit for the inspiration and knowledge to use the aforementioned verbiage!