Workout of the Day:
Split Squats or Bulgarian Split Squats
5-5-5 (each leg)
(Thanks again to our friends at Catalyst Athletics for the great videos demonstrating these movements.)
and then,
Three rounds for time of:
25 Kettlebell Swings (24/16 kg)
20 Wall Ball Shots (20/12 lb.)
15 Burpees

POS is putting up some big numbers on the erg.

Training with Injuries: The Physical Reasons
Written by Mark Riebel

Injuries happen. It’s just an unfortunate fact of life. In our constant battle against entropy, the human body occasionally breaks down and we are forced take a few steps back. It is not because of our methods—often the cause of an injury is as simple as sleeping in an odd position or stepping off of a curb incorrectly. Regardless of the mechanism, an injury can be extremely difficult to deal with, especially if your time at Invictus is the highlight of your day. As someone who happens to be particularly fragile despite my rough-looking exterior (ha!), I’d like to offer some tips on dealing with those injuries and how you can train with them, in a way that will augment your health care provider’s instructions on dealing with your injury.

In this first of two posts, I want to address some of the physical issues that you’ll face and how to tackle them. The point I would most like to drive home with you is that unless you are completely incapable of movement, you’ve got to keep training. Yes, it will be in a modified manner due to your injury, but you need to do what you can. Keep coming to the groups you normally would attend, and our coaches will be more than happy to give you modifications to keep you active. There are numerous reasons why you need to stay active doing what you can to move and train. Exercise is going to promote blood flow to all of your tissues and really make sure those immune cells and nutrients do their jobs to remodel your injured tissue. Studies that examine healing time between sedentary and active subjects show that healing is accelerated in the group that performs physical activity. Also, performing high-intensity multi-joint movements as we do elicits an endocrine response that increases levels of growth hormone, testosterone, and other substances that are Mother Nature’s experts at remodeling injured tissue. Finally, there’s a phenomenon referred to as carry-over. Essentially, when you train a part of the body that has an identical complement, such as your left leg, a small strength gain will be noticed in the complementary part, the right leg in this case. It’s not an incredible amount, but it’s enough to help stave off any large losses in strength and power you may have due to an injury. You can read a bit more about it here.

Keep in mind, though, that there is a fine line between training with an injury and training through an injury. Training ‘with’ is what we’re going for, and that entails modifications and work-arounds that will help to enhance your healing. Training ‘through’ is a mindset of “It hurts like hell when I squat, so I’m just going to grit my teeth and squat anyway.” That’s a quick way to turn some minor ailment into something that could set you back for months. Use your head and learn to distinguish ‘good’ pain from ‘bad’ pain.

And before I forget, don’t be that guy and just pop ibuprofen or some other pain killer so you can work through it. You can potentially derail the healing process (as Calvin mentioned a while back) and make your injury worse by not being aware of your pain.

In the next piece of this post, I’ll address some of the psychological challenges you may face when you’re hurt, and how to turn them into advantages.

Workout of the Day:
Deadlift – Take three to four sets to warm up to a heavy 3-rep set
and then, 
In teams of two, deadlift as much weight as possible in 8 minutes. The weight selected is up to the team, but must not exceed the weight that can be done with perfect mechanics by both team members. Each team member may complete a maximum of 7 deadlifts each time they grab the barbell, and upon dropping the barbell, must complete 7 burpees before lifting again. Post total weight lifted to comments.

Optional finisher – Pinch-Grip Farmer’s Walk
Grab two 25 lb. plates, pinch each between your thumb and four fingers, and find out how far you can walk before having to drop them. Then pick them up and try again, with your goal being to get them all the way back inside the gym on that second trip.

Ms. Madeline - Queen of the Cage

Give It A Rest
Written by Mike Hom 

I recently returned from a 3-week vacation full of sunshine, adventure and relaxation. I didn’t get a chance to train very much, which initially had me over the edge the first week – amazing to think withdrawals from training could really occur in these circumstances. But as the trip neared the end of the second week, I finally got around to doing some bodyweight stuff while my buddies were sleeping off the previous days’ activities. As I was doing some post-WOD mobilization, I was thinking to myself that while it was good to get in some training, I was glad that it had not been sitting in the back of my mind the entire time. In fact, I nearly forgot about working out while I was ziplining, riding elephants, and doing whatever else we tourists were doing.

By the end of the trip, I could count the number of times I trained with one hand and still have some fingers left over. Did I feel any worse? No. Did I lose some of my fitness? Most likely. Did I have an awesome trip with friends and make great memories? Sure did! Even better, I came back feeling refreshed and ready to do work at the gym after being gone from my CF family.

It’s great to be an animal in the gym and let a good portion of your life revolve around increasing your fitness, living healthy, and sharing your experiences with like-minded individuals, but don’t let it dictate your life. If you want to drink a mango smoothie every once in a while, do it. Don’t know the protein/carb/fat breakdown for this delicious meal you’re having in another city/state/country? Don’t worry about it.

Most of us live the CrossFit lifestyle and subscribe to the CrossFit school of thought so that we can be healthy and still enjoy life the way it’s meant to be enjoyed. For 80-90% of the time, I conduct my life in the manner that would be categorized as strict adherence to CrossFit: Paleo/Zone, train 4-5 times a week, stay active throughout the week and weekend, and so on. But that 10-20% I reserve for myself. I indulge in pasta. I eat toast with butter. I put away carne asada burritos in 6 bites. Now, I don’t plan on being a competitor in the CF Games (anymore, at least) and I don’t intend to break records in any physical activity. I do, however, enjoy staying healthy to give myself protective buffers from the perils of an otherwise unhealthy lifestyle.

When you feel like your body is on the verge of breaking after so many straight days of training (and maybe not listening to your coaches), evaluate your physiological, emotional, and psychological well-being. If one or more of those three things seem off to you, then it may not be worth coming in for a half-assed workout. Sometimes, it’s better to let your “awesome” levels get back to normalcy. Sometimes, you just have to give it a rest.

Workout of the Day:
“Lynne”
Five rounds for max reps of:
Body weight bench press
Pull-ups
 

Rest Schmest
Written by Michele Vieux

I have a couple of CrossFitting friends that just can’t rest. They workout EVERY day, sometimes multiple times per day, and NEVER take a rest day. You might think they are super committed to their training, but I think they are diminishing their returns on their hard work and might be setting themselves up for failure and injury. This is called OVERTRAINING and it is a medically recognized condition. YOUR BODY NEEDS REST. It is necessary to repair worn, tired, and injured muscles; to give time for the central nervous system to unwind; and for the body’s energy sources to be replenished. If you don’t schedule rest days into your routine, your body just might do it for you. Take one or two on your own or be forced into a break of a week or more.

It was just a couple weeks before the CrossFit Games Qualifiers that I injured my knee pretty severely whilst demonstrating an (aggressive) kip for a client. I know it sounds ridiculous to get hurt this way but I could barely walk. I could barely get around my house without pain, and my training was forced to a screeching halt. It was hard for me to deal with since the Quals just were just around the corner, but my body was getting worn and I knew it could only lead to more injury if I didn’t take a break.

I took one week (okay…6 days) completely off of exercise. I had been hitting it pretty hard for the two months leading up to the injury—grueling workouts, heavier loads, and multiple WODs per day—which most likely played a role in its occurrence.

During my week off, I spent time addressing one of the issues that most definitely contributed to my current injury as well as a slew of problems I’ve been dealing with for a couple of years—flexibility. I enlisted Calvin to help me rehab. He showed me a variety of stretches and exercises to help me strengthen the injured area but more importantly, to prevent future injury. 

After my six-day hiatus, I began to hit it every-other-day for the next week and kept up with the stretching routine as I eased back into my workouts. By week three, I was back on the regular 3 on 1 off schedule and I felt great. I could barely walk just a couple weeks ago and now I was hitting PRs on my Oly lifts and my met-con was still right where I left it. I felt strong, confident and invincible.

I have been “back on it” with the strict diet and ramping up the workout regimen since Memorial Day. Last weekend I was in Huntington Beach hitting a WOD with the SoCal Six (the other women who qualified from this region) when “pop!”—my hammie that’s been giving me trouble for a few months finally had enough on the downward motion of a SDHP. It was a partner WOD, there was a crowd, and I didn’t want to quit. I asked for a sub for the SDHP (the judges foolishly picked hang power clean) and I finished the third of four rounds. Just as I’m about to start round four, Julie (one of the owners of CFHB) walks over to me with a bag of ice and tells me to sit down. I was planning on finishing the WOD but, I complied.

Then I got the bigger blow—Coachie Poo (Sage) refused to train me at our regularly scheduled session on Monday! Now I am REALLY annoyed and plan my own workout session for the next day. Thank goodness I had a good night sleep that night so I had a chance to come to my senses and listen to my coach (and others looking out for me).

My body is telling me I need another rest. I don’t really have a choice in the matter—the hamstring plays a pretty major role in a lot of movements we do around here (and in our everyday lives). Maybe if I had listened to my screaming hammie a couple months ago and avoided activities that aggravated it I wouldn’t be sitting on the sidelines now.

My point with all of this is that you have to plan your own rests instead of forcing yourself into rest via overtraining and injury. And, “rest days” don’t have to mean you sit around like a lump. Think active recovery—go for a walk with the family, stretch, do yoga, or shoot some hoop.