***Scheduling Note – Invictus will be closing at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 15 for the CrossFit Games in Carson, CA.  We will re-open at 6:00 a.m. on Monday, July 19.***

Workout of the Day:
Take 15-18 minutes to build to a 2-RM Snatch or Power Snatch;
and then,
Five sets for max reps of:
40 seconds of Power Snatch (115/75 lbs.)
20 seconds of Rest
40 seconds of Rowing (for Calories)
20 seconds of Rest
40 seconds of Double-Unders
2 minutes and 20 seconds of Rest

Pain: The Great Limiting Factor
Written by Shane Farmer

The single greatest limiting factor that I’ve found in all of sport is pain. It’s an accepted standard that we all deal with when we move our bodies. It serves important functions physiologically, telling us when to stop so we don’t injure ourselves and helping us understand when we’re healed or still repairing.

It’s this same pain that as a rower we were taught to tame and domesticate. In rowing, your pain is at the mercy of the other seven rowers and one coxswain that surround you. You give your all for 6 minutes, silencing the voice in your head that says you need to stop. You train your body 800 hours a year to develop a working relationship with pain. It’s unthinkable that you would ever succumb to pain because to do so means the failure of all nine. Socialism/teamwork at its best.

That experience was the foundation for making my transition into CrossFit once I graduated from college. Here again, pain seems to find its way into the very thread of our existence. We hurt on a daily basis, we base our workouts on how much pain we feel, and if something isn’t aching from day to day we question whether or not we worked hard enough the day before.

The concept of being in pain though is a different variable for everyone. It can take time to appreciate what pain really means and how to handle it. A good friend who has trained in Jiu Jitsu for most of his life once told me “The hardest thing for people to learn when it comes to fighting is how to take a hit and keep your senses about you.” In the same way, when someone takes up CrossFit one of the most difficult things to learn is that our movements and exercises often invoke pain that you wouldn’t haven’t experienced before. The pain you feel is actually a very calculated threshold your body has built up over a lifetime. It’s what has kept you relatively safe and has told you when to stop. The nature of CrossFit though is not to dance to the edge of pain and shyly back away. It is to find that threshold in each person and begin a very careful and calculated approach of how one breaks through that threshold to come out the other side a stronger and more developed person.

To play this game though takes a certain mental fortitude. It’s a state of mind we all possess but often have never had to tap into, therefore it takes time and practice to learn. As someone who has gone down that very path I want to encourage all of you to believe in yourselves and be confident in your ability to go to that place. It’s a place of discomfort but not despair, pain but not prohibition, and unwavering resolution. Just because something hurts doesn’t mean your body will fail. It’s an amazing machine capable of so much more than we realize, and while there are times when you just flat out exhaust your ability to function, more often than not you can keep going.

So to all of you new to CrossFit, or any other sport for that matter. Learn your boundaries, be stubborn, and push through pain because you’re all stronger than you realize. Remember, pain is not to be feared but welcomed with open arms and accepted as a challenge, for victory is nothing without having given full measure.

Workout of the Day:
Three sets of:
DB Split Squat x 6-8 reps/leg
(elevate your rear foot on a bench, descend slowly and controlled, your goal is to handle 1/3 of your bodyweight in each hand)
Rest 90 seconds
Ring Push-Ups x as many reps as possible
Rest 90 seconds;
and then,
Eight sets of:
30 seconds of Russian Kettlebell Swings
30 seconds of Rest
30 seconds of Dumbbell Push Press
30 seconds of Rest

Are You Playing Hard?
Written by Nuno Costa

I was reading an article in Sports Illustrated on the UConn women’s basketball team, “Making A Run at Perfection,” and a few things resonated with me . . . .

“The magic of Connecticut lies in how hard they play. Everyone wants to talk about how great their players are – and they are – but you don’t beat people by the margin that they beat people unless you are incredibly disciplined to compete on every possession.” This made a lot of sense to me, I treat each day as its own unique possession where I get the opportunity to excel at what I do, regardless of whether it’s training clients or in training to achieve my own fitness goals. It takes discipline to eat healthy everyday; it takes discipline to get enough sleep to allow my body to recover and so that I can be fully present for my clients. It takes discipline to maintain a positive attitude on every interaction with everyone I come in contact with (and I don’t always succeed at this). It takes discipline to take my rest days when I am supposed to, even though sometimes I want to do more. It takes discipline to ice sore muscles, get massages, take fish oil, etc . . . . I play hard. I am incredibly disciplined, and from my experience those are keys to success.

Vince Lombardi said, “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” I realize that what I do may not be perfect, but while striving to achieve perfection I come pretty dang close to it. When I train my clients, I do my best to give them my full attention. There’s a certain level of training that I want to provide them and I put forth the effort that will produce the results. I want my clients to live in the world of possibility where they can get in the best shape of their lives: look good, feel good and perform better than they ever have before.

“With Connecticut, it’s like what the musician Artur Schnabel said – and I’m paraphrasing – ‘it’s not the notes, its’ the pause between the notes, that’s where the art lies.’ So I am disciplined and strive towards perfection – so what? What does that all mean? It means that I live without regrets, I live in the world where anything is possible, I energize those around me, I carry an infectious positive mindset that is worth spreading, and in this process I have become a force to be reckoned with!

Are you playing hard in your life? Are you in the game, or are you sitting on the bench in your life?

Workout of the Day:
Bench Press
5-5-5
and then,
As many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of:
5 x Dumbbell Renegade Rows
10 x Ring Dips
15 x Toes to Bar

Linz J. of Cynergy CrossFit - on loan from CrossFit Invictus

The Front Door, The Ultimate Milestone
Written by Lindsey Johnson – an East Coast Member of the Invictus Family
(Editor’s Note – Lindsey’s article appeared on the Cynergy CrossFit website on November 24, 2009. It makes a great point that is often overlooked. As we are hosting more and more On-Ramp sessions for new members, remember how intimidating your first day was and please make an effort to walk over and introduce yourself to any new person you haven’t met.)

We all remember our big fitness milestones, first pull up, first muscle up, first triple digit lift, first WOD as RX’d, first WOD period….
In reality I think the most important  milestone, one that goes unnoticed by most, is getting in here in the first place.  It’s much easier to make excuses, stay home, sleep late, make dinner, cart the kids around, take care of the day-to-day which weighs on us so heavily.
The challenge is getting up, getting here, getting through the front door.
After some time that challenge isn’t so much of a challenge, many of us, do it with ease or even look forward to it.  But remember that first time?  You had never been to CrossFit, maybe you had never worked out, maybe you had a been a bootcamper of sorts, but never tried CrossFit, maybe you were a “globo gym hero” but new to this type of fitness.  Whatever it is/was, we all started somewhere.  We all faced that challenge.
I was inspired on Saturday by a new member to our box, coming in to meet Cindy for a foundations class; she walked in and she stood over by the door watching…
Watching: the Saturday morning “hooligans play around” after the WOD, doing muscle up work on both the bars and the rings, climbing the rope, doing handstands and generally having fun.
I remembered what that felt like, for me, being the “new kid”, feeling totally out of shape and out of place and thinking “what the hell am I doing here”.  I remembered my first day, I was at CrossFit San Diego, and I knew no one in the class or at the gym.  I waited by the door like so many of us do, observing those around me, wondering if anyone is going to say hi, wondering just how “in shape these people are” and what they will think of me when I can barely get through the workout that lies ahead.  I remember thinking, these people are going to think I am such a loser I should just leave… NOW.  I remember waiting… It was terrifying.
Then the workout started and it wasn’t so bad, it was harder than anything I had ever done, but the people were super nice, encouraging and positive.

I thought to myself Saturday and remembered that first time; watching this “new girl” standing in the corner, waiting to get her ass handed to her by one of our favorite people, this girl has guts… good for her!

The strength of spirit it takes to get past all of those things that make you want to turn around and walk away, the strength it takes to get  through the front door…
In the spirit of our front door changing in a few days, I’m wondering what got you through the front door?

Whatever it was, we’re glad you’re here and you’re a part of our family.

Workout of the Day:
Bench Press
5-3-3-2-2
and then,
Three rounds for time of:
10 x Hang Power Snatch (115/75 lbs.)
15 x Ring Row

George (and his hamstrings) made quite an impression on Coach Starrett.

Fundamentals – Steps Back, Leaps Forward
Written by Mike Hom

Often times, we become overly involved in forward progress without regard to periodic re-evaluation. This happens with both experienced and inexperienced athletes. As an example, you may be decent enough at the air squat, which then allows you to be decent enough at the front and overhead squats, which results in you being decent enough at the clean or snatch. What invariably follows is decent enough progress until you hit a very tangible ceiling – the plateau, so to speak. The basic thought process is to examine how to create quick forward progress (to maintain momentum, of course) which, for most people, is the ability to move more weight. And, often times, the easiest conclusion to come to is to suck it up and try to increase the weight with your “decent enough” form.

Unfortunately, this is not the best approach to make progress.

Virtuosity is a subject we coaches like to hit on, repeatedly, from every angle. It gives us a base motivation to be better at something. That constant improvement is what keeps us coming back. Let’s go back to the example above: Everything about our overall performance is “decent enough.” It’s alright. It ain’t anything to write home about.

We DO NOT want good enough.

We want to be the best at what we do. We aspire not for a 10 on a scale of 1-10. We want to aim for 11. The question is, how do we get to 11 when we’re at a 3, 5 or 7? How can we make those leaps of progress? Sometimes we have to do what is hardest.

We have to take steps back.

Aside from being a coach, I try to maintain some modicum of athleticism. I have to be very honest with myself about where I stand with regards to my performance overall and with each discrete movement and exercise. I am good at some. I am OK at others. I am terrible at many. I can elect to only chase my strengths. That’s great for my ego. But to become more well-rounded – to become fitter by any standard – I have to buck up and work on the stuff I am simply not good at. It also means that I have to work on all of the constituent exercises that may lead to more complex movements – regardless of whether I am good at them or not.

Going back to the original example in the first paragraph, if I am only decent enough at the clean, I will work on not just my front squat, but my air squat! Why? Because it is principally the fundamental exercise. If I cannot improve my ability to brace as hard as possible, squeeze my glutes, suck my ribs down and keep my spine and hip wedded for integrated movement without load, it would be a good guess (not necessarily a law, though) that having a load across my collarbone and shoulders will not assist in the matter.

If chasing excellence leads to success, then chasing virtuosity leads to progress. Some could say they are the same, but I say they are similar with differences. Excellence is a state of superiority in some given quality – to go above and beyond. Virtuosity is having great skill in the practice of something – anything. You want to chase virtuosity in your movement to continually nurture the seed of progress. You want to use that progress to help you chase excellence in order to go above and beyond what you think you can do, and consequently, experience success.

Be excellent. Be virtuous.

Workout of the Day:
Rounds of 21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6 and 3 reps for time of:
Knees to Elbows
Pull-Ups
Kettlebell Swings (24/16 kg)
 

Bursting Your Comfort Bubble
Written by Nick Hawkes

When I told people that I was taking a six month hiatus from the all-star coaching staff at CrossFit Invictus in favor of spending the summer in Utah being a Wildland Firefighter, the most common responses I received were, “Why would you do that?”, and “That crap looks hard!” Indeed, I must not have all my crap in one sock, a few screws loose or something. I left a great position at Invictus and a sweet apartment, and I had to cram 6 months of Navy reserve duties into one month. Not to mention leaving behind an extremely awesome girlfriend, one who does not mind being referred to as a hay burning pack animal. That is hard to find! (I love Llama.) So, why would I leave all this? To burst my comfort bubble, thats why.

Bursting your comfort bubble is about abandoning your reservations and facing your fears. I do not have any ideals that my new adventure has anything remotely easy associated with it. Its going to be hot, dangerous, and labor intensive. My time will be filled with 2 week tours encompassing 16 hour days, while the nights will be spent in a sleeping bag on the ground, with only a tarp between the ground and the sky. But that is exactly why I am doing it, for the challenge.

Bursting your comfort bubble does not need to be as extreme as moving 3 states away, ready to do battle with Mother Earth armed with only a shovel. It can be as simple as switching your grip during pull ups, or adding 10 pounds to the bar for your next WOD. If you have thought about running a marathon or a triathlon, do it! Maybe you want to write a book or learn to tap dance – do it! Bust out of your comfort bubble: don’t let the fear of failure or the difficulty of your chosen task be your guiding force. Appreciate your struggles, bask in your victories and learn from your defeats.

I do not know if I will enjoy this experience, but, I have always wanted to be a fire fighter, and now, for at least one season, I am.