March 27 2017

I wanted to take the time tonight to provide as much context  on the direction that we are going to be moving as an organization and as a gym. I have done a poor job up to this point at communicating on our objectives for sessions, objectives for cycles, and I have definitely not communicated well on what all services we actually offer. Our goal is to do a better job moving forward at providing a better service to all of you. Lets recap a workout from the open and discuss certain limitations and fixes to the limitations.

While it is fresh on everyones mind….Lets take a look at 17.5

Thrusters and DU’s- Relatively easier movements if you have been participating in the sport for 3+ years.

Thrusters- The athlete must be able to maintain a good front rack and squat below parallel while doing so then push the bar OH and finish with head through the window. Now if you want to talk about the weight, for most of us, it was muscle endurance sets. But what happened over time and even for some of you from the start, was you lost your ability to keep your elbows up (not able to maintain external rotation), some of you lost thoracic extension (which forced your elbows down as well). I even watched some people not squatting below parallel (was this due to tight hips/ hip flexors or just not understanding what the standard is for the movement or even worse not understanding where your body is in space?). Now all of the limitations that are mentioned above require different work and for some people may require more and some it will require less.

It is up to me to set the coaching standard at our facility. It is time for me and our staff to be more objective of our movement quality and standards. If we can get you in better positions you will have less pain, you will move better, and you will most definitely add years to your exercise career. Stanley Soles knows and understands movement better than any other coach that I have coached beside. We will be taking full advantage of his expertise this week. We are going to focus on Front Rack position all week this week. I am looking forward to seeing everyone get into better positions and being in less pain.

As for DU’s……Just pracitice….If you need help please get with a coach.

Fixes to the limitations mentioned above for the Thrusters

-A good bit of you may be missing external rotation which will make it hard for you to keep your wrist in a neutral position and get your elbows parallel to the floor. One way I have been fixing this with all of my new clients that are doing PT is massaging the forearm and the tricep with the barbell while the barbell is in the squat racks

-Some of you had an issue with your upper back rounding while squatting. One of the easiest fixes for this is to lessen the frequency of squatting with a belt. Also adding in accessory KB FR squats and walking lunges with longer times of time under tension.

-I do think one of the biggest issues that we are faced with in our training environment is not being mindful enough of what we are doing (which can lead to poor movement standards and poor movement quality). Please remember that it is completely up to you to get the results that you want. Don’t bring distractions or be a distraction into your training session. How much more fitter would we all be if we just focused on our session and our results.

I hope that some of this helps. If nothing else I hope that you see and understand that we want to provide a fitness service not just provide an environment where people come and sweat. Onward! EB

PS This post took about 60 mins to complete (we apologize for the late post…family obligations). My goal for tomorrows post is to talk in more detail about the different services that we offer.

Fitness:

A. Front Rack Technique work 10-20 min
+
5 sets
3 WW + 10 Shoulder Taps (5 per side) on 3rd WW
45- 60 sec FLR in Rings w/ Feet elevated
20 sec L- Sit in Paralletes (modify as needed)
+
3 sets
5-7 Wall Slides
10 Defranco Cuban Press

Competition:

A. Front Rack Technique Work 10-20 min
+
4 sets
2-3 LL RC
8-10 Strict T2b w/ knees locked out
Double KB OH Walk 150′
+
2-3 sets
Foam roll quads 1 min per side
Foam roll calves 1 min per side
90/90 sit 1 min per side