By Erika Bucheli

I had the opportunity this weekend to attend the CrossFit Gymnastics Certification taught by Jeff Tucker of GSX Athletics at CrossFit Pleasanton. It was an awesome cert and I came away with a ton of new information, movements, and a better understanding of gymnastics.

One topic that Tucker touched upon most often was that of "prerequisite strength", that is strength in strict movements, RAW strength. He said at his gym (GSX Athletics) people EARN their movements. Women and men alike are able to do strict dead hang pull ups before they ever learn the kipping pull up. A student can effectively do BAR DIPS before they move to the rings. Fitness and strength is a progression. Tucker said, "Get strong. Then get fast."

At the cert, we had to do everything strict. EVERYTHING. Which meant I could not do a lot of the movements without a TON of help from my spotters. Strict knees to elbow? Couldn't do it. I can do ONE deadhang pull up. Strict ring dip without kicking and flailing around like I was having a seizure? Couldn't do it. The idea of developing STRENGTH (in strict movements) before SPEED (kipping!) really became clear to me.

At CrossFit Modesto, slowly but surely we are going to begin to implement the new things I learned. Did you know your "core" starts at your shoulders and is all the way down to your knees? And in any movement, you should be squeezing the heck out of your calves and ankles too. Needless to say, I am sore in muscles I've never felt before.

I won't give it all away in the first post, but I'll let you in on a little secret: the way you workout is going to change. Fitness should be a lifelong pursuit and intermixed with all the sweat and hard workouts, should be sessions where you're not dropping to the floor but meticulously and skillfully working on developing strict strength and virtuosity in movements.


Alan Jakubowski with 314 pounds in a snatch. The Olympic lift class will take place THIS WEDNESDAY at 5:30 PM. Please email us for the requirements to attend

WORKOUT OF THE DAY

Skill
15 Minutes Rope Climb Practice

Metcon

"DT" - The 6th day of CrossFit

5 Rounds:
12 Deadlifts (155/100)
9 Hang Power Cleans (155/100)
6 Push Jerks (155/100)



*PLEASE NOTE: THURSDAY, IS BRING A FRIEND DAY AT 5:30 PM. THIS WILL BE THE ONLY WORKOUT THURSDAY NIGHT*

What gear do you need to excel in in CrossFit? Here is
my advice and opinion.
Lets discuss the kind of gear you'll need for the workout. What
comes to mind first would be shoes, I am not a big shoe guy.
Most of my life I've had no more than two pairs of shoes at any
one time, until CrossFit, that is. I now have weightlifting shoes,
minimal running shoes and a pair of all around do everything
workout shoes. Second, compression gear is the next logical
choice, for many of the reasons we covered in a previous post,
which you can find here on the blog.

Third, gear for recovery is a very important subject. You need
a high quality work out recovery drink or meal. I personally use Stronger Faster Healthier right after every workout. I would also suggest everyone use a high quality liquid fish oil. The two I like best are Stronger Faster Healthier and Original Nutritionals brands. Now how about helping out those sore muscles. Well you will need a good
foam roller. I would recommend The Grid from Triggerpoint
Technologies. A lacrosse ball and The Stick would be a
good addition as well.

Of course everyone needs their own jump rope, athletic
tape and maybe a bottle of new skin.





Strength

Push Press
5@75% - 3@85% - 1 + @95%

MetCon

21-15- 9
Push Press @ 50% of 1RM
Push Ups (to failure)
High Box Steps

The push Jerk and box steps are at 21-15 and 9 reps
the push ups are a max rep set each time. When doing the
box steps go with the highest box you can step up on and
make sure you stand fully before putting the second foot on
the box.

You will be seeing an increase in gymnastics training
in our programming over the coming months. This will
include two days per week of gymnastics strength / skill
sessions on the days that we do not have a separate
strength portion in the workout. It will work like the days
that we do have a lift programed, we will start with about
15 minutes of gymnastics training followed by a MetCon.

We have a lot of proficient lifters and everyone has been
getting stronger on the lifts but gymnastics strength seems
to be lacking a bit, I noticed this over the past six months
so we are sending Erika to get CrossFit Gymnastics Certified
this weekend and then next weekend she is off for a
gymnastics seminar with Carl Paoli. i believe this will be of
great benefit to the students of CrossFit Modesto. As
coaches we continue further our skills and education to
better serve you.



A Nice Back Lever
I guess there is a reason gymnasts are pound for pound
some of the strongest athletes there are

Workout Of The Day

5 rounds of:
10 Wall Ball Shots
10 Med Ball Clean
200 Meter run with 25/10lb plate
10 minutes Foam Rolling

By: Erika Bucheli

If you didn't know, I'm CrossFit Modesto's social media maven. That just means that I'm behind a lot of the posts you see on our Facebook page AND our Twitter account (which I don't frequent quite as often as Facebook).

The past few days, the sense of community that radiates inside our box, has overflown to the Facebook page. It is GREAT to see your comments on the pictures of people you have met or maybe haven't met encouraging and congratulating the form or the weight or the movement.

I love to see during strength sessions when people watch someone else's max attempt and congratulate them on a lift well done. I love when a student leaves and another student is the first to say, "Hey, good job tonight." Be it a high five, a pat on the back, or even a fist bump, seeing you guys encourage each other, is one of the most rewarding things about being a coach at CrossFit Modesto.

Community is what sets CrossFit Modesto apart. It's what the C in CrossFit stands for (besides COFFEE, am I right?).

Thank you for being such a great group of people. I look forward to getting to know our new students and learning more things about our veterans. CrossFit connects us. Thank you!


Meet Lola! She did "Elizabeth" and then the 5:30 Krav class. WELCOME!

Workout Of The Day

Strength

Push Press
3@70% - 80% - 90%

MetCon

10 Min AMRAP
6 Pull Ups
9 Dead Lift @ 75% 1RM
12 Box Jumps

We are Seven weeks into our revised programming method
and we are excited about the results that clients are seeing.
We have had many positive E-mails, FB messages and in
person reports from current members. The majority are
seeing steady increases in the basic lifts as well as their
metabolic conditioning. Everyone seems to be in agreement
that not posting RX weights on all of our workouts has made
it easier to scale to their appropriate weight rather than feel
the need to jump up too quickly trying to reach the RX weight
because that is what was posted on the board.

We certainly had to think long and hard before making these
changes to our programming but with the results that keep
coming in it's clear that we are heading in the right direction
for our client base. Our goal is to program in such a way that
allows clients to train Four to Five days per week without over
training. We will continue to program our strength sessions
using the wendler method Three to Four days per week, it
forced everyone to think a little more but is paying off with PR's.

Keep the feed back coming in. Your feed back combined with
the data we gather from the performance testing WOD's will
help guide us in future programing.




We would like to thank new CFM students Myrah (above), Khanh, and Andrew L.!

Workout Of The Day

Power Clean
3@70% - 3@ 80% - 3+@ 90%

MetCon
Elizabeth
21-15-9
Pwr clean 135/95
Ring Dips