Nov 28
BrandonUncategorized
I have been doing Crossfit for about 1.5-2 years and still to this day I attend Crossfit classes and I still go on the website to check out what crazy workout they have posted on the main site on a daily basis. In fact I took a three day trip with fellow Crossfiters to drive up to Aromas California to witness the 2009 Crossfit Games. The reasons I enjoy Crossfit are as follows:
1. It is intense! The reason why people do not see results in their training program is because they lack intensity into their workout.
2. Exercises involve compound movements and every movement involves 2 or more joints being moved in full range of motion (ROM)
3. The workouts are like a game. You are trying to beat the clock or you’re trying to get bragging rights over friends and other Crossfiter’s.
4. There is no routine and workouts are very different from one another. One day you might have to run 5k and the next day you might be snatching 75lbs for 75 reps. You really don’t know what to expect.
5. The Crossfit program does make you strong but it also makes you tough…real tough. Not only does it make you physically strong but mentally it turns you into a warrior.
However, I have a lot of issues when it comes to Crossfit training about the functionality, frequency, nutrition, and preservation of the human body. For example:
1. ALL CROSSFIT EXERCISES ARE DONE IN THE SAGITTAL PLANE. Crossfit claims that the movements (exercises) are functional but in reality, they are not. For example, whether you are an athlete or not the body must twist and turn to be functional to sport and or daily movements you experience in everyday life. In addition, most injuries occur in the transverse plane and the #1 rule with training an athlete or non-athlete is to prevent them from injuries!
2. Crossfit recommends that you train hard for 3 days and then take 1 day off. When people ask me how many days of the week they should workout, my response is, “It depends”….It depends because it whatever works for you. However, you must find an optimal ratio between work and rest that is good for you and not what others say. If you work too hard, you will become over-trained and from my experience with Crossfit, the 3:1 is just a little too much for me. It feels good for a week or two and then you start feeling fatigue pysologically and psychologically.
3. Carbs are bad: Crossfit does not like processed carbs at all. They believe in lean protein combined with the standard fruits and veggies are the way to go, and that is not a bad way to go but it is a very difficult road to travel. Once again, it depends on you the individual and how food responds to your body and your schedule. I suggest you eat carbs for breakfast and after you workout. The reason for this is because your body needs to store energy called glycogen in the muscles to be used during activity.
4. Where does foam roll and stretching fit in? IT DOES NOT. The Crossfit cool-down is to re-rack your weights and get out of the gym to eat your gluten free apple or whatever. There is not enough information that is documented to the Crossfit public to educate them on optimal alignment of the muscles.
6. No research: Little to no research has been done on Crossfit. Crossfit has great theories but I need to see that if I do it for the rest of my life, I will not have any arthromakanical issues.
To be continued………….
Nov 22
BrandonBuilding muscle, Cardio health, Losing Fat, Speed and Agility
To really get the most out of your fitness/strength & conditioning program, you are going to have to learn and live by the FITT principle. Applying the FITT principle to your program will allow you to progress through those frustrating plateaus that everyone faces from time to time. The reason why you are not achieving success in your program is because your body is getting used to the same routine day in and day out. ROUTINE IS THE ENEMY! However, implementing the FITT principle into your program will take you to the next level.
Frequency: Is the number of days you are working out in the week. You may have to increase your frequency or decrease your frequency depending on how your body is adapting to the program. Most hardcore athletes need to decrease their frequency due to overtraining because they are not getting enough rest for the body to repair itself. However, people who are trying to lose weight need to increase their frequency so they are achieving an overall calorie expenditure. This does not mean that you have to “workout” more but, you do have to increase your levels of physical activity which means…
- Walk or bike instead of drive
- Wash your own dam car
- Join a sports league
- Learn a new sport
- Just stop sitting on your ass
Intensity: Training intensity is defined as an individual’s level of effort compared with their maximum effort. This means different things for different goals. If you are trying to lose weight you must cut down your rest time to keep your heart rate up to burn the most calories. For example, circuit training, interval training, and Crossfit do a good job at keep you moving with little to no rest in between workout. However, if you are trying to pack on some muscle you must make sure that every set is to failure. Thus, increase weight = increase in intensity! And for athletes who are trying to make it to the next level, intensity means not to take plays off and practice hard day in and day out. Only the strong will survive in the world of sports and if you don’t work hard at your craft 24/7 you will be left in the dust.
Type: This corresponds to the types of exercises that you are performing in your training program. However, you must understand that the human body is a highly adaptable machine that can readily adjusts to the imposed demands of training. Therefore, exercise selection should be functional and specific to the individual’s intended goal. Make sure to implement variations to each exercise but keep the movements functional, move in all planes of motion, and stay away from isolated movements like bicep curls.
Time: is the time frame of a workout or the length of time (number of weeks) spent with a certain program. A general workout including warm-up and cool-down should take 60-90 minutes. A professor once told me, “If you’re in the gym for more than one hour…you are making more friends than muscles.” Furthermore, Workouts that exceed 90 minutes will lead to rapid declines in energy levels which can lead to discrepancies in hormonal and immune responses that can later have negative effects on your training program.
It takes the body approximately 3 weeks to adapt to a fitness program. However, if you apply the FITT principle to your program, you will be able to break through plateaus and reach your goals quicker. Good luck!
Nov 17
BrandonCardio health, Football, Functional Training, Speed and Agility
There is saying that is always used in the game of football and I’m sure it can be used in all sport and it is “SPEED KILLS!” The ability to run faster than other athletes on the field or the court gives you a great advantage to becoming very successful as an athlete. However, training athletes to become faster is somewhat of an enigma to trainers and coaches who inspire to find a cure of making their athletes faster. To train athletes to run faster you must find a way to increase their stride length and stride frequency. Here are some of my thoughts and ideas on training for speed.
- Genetics: Speed comes from the genetically makeup of your muscle fiber type. The more type II/fast twitch muscle you have, the faster and more explosive you will be. However, you CANNOT train to increase type II fibers in your muscles (it’s impossible). You can train the remaining muscles that are not type II (type I/slow twitch) to have similar characteristics as the fast twitch fibers.
- If you don’t use it, you lose it: To play fast/run fast you must train fast. This means you must train the neuromuscular system to be more efficient at firing signals to the muscles so they can contract at a faster rate. You won’t get any faster if you are half assing it in practice or in your training. Every rep/second counts in the world of sports so go 100% every single time!
- Newton’s 3rd law: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Everything in the body is connected which means that speed and power does not just come from the legs themselves. The faster you mover your arms in opposition to your legs…the faster your legs will go. The harder you push off the earth…the more acceleration you will gain and the faster you will become.
- Proper form: Form is the key for everything that you do in sport even with running. Most of the time I see young athletes really tense up when they are trying to run fast and this inhibits the open kinetics chain (proper firing sequences of the neuromuscular system). In addition, these athletes are running with “wasted movement” that won’t allow them to reach their peak speed.
- Ideas on training: Train fast and be functional. Train for the demands of your sport and involve plyometrics, speed training, and power training into your workouts. In addition, you must stretch the tight muscle to allow for full range of motion when you are running.
- Plyometrics: Exercise that enhances muscular power through quick, repetitive eccentric and concentric contractions of the muscles. Example: Box jumps
- Speed training: This involves resisting and assisting running. This will allow you to work on functional speed strength while also focusing on form. Resistant speed training can be as simple as sprinting hills and assistance training can be just the opposite…sprinting down hills
- Power training: Squat, bench, press, pull etc. at 30% of your 1RM and moving the weight as fast as you can. Speed squats are a great way to increase speed because it involves hip flexion and hip extension just like sprinting.
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