Power Snatch 3-3-3

Cashout: Gymnastics work, and… stretch your problems!!

Wednesday WOD:

4 Rounds for time…

Row 300 Meters / 20 Wall Ball Shots (20/14) / 15  Burpees

Fish Oil should be here tomorrow..

MMA is sold out. We are taking names for class #2..

____________________________________________

MMA PROGRAM:

Many of you have heard of Jason St. Louis. Jay has been in the ‘MMA’ game for quite some time and like many of us has found himself back where it all began here in Cornwall.

Jay has many different belts in Brazilian Jui Jitsu, Karate, Muay Thai Kickboxing, and of course grappling or ‘ground fighting’..

I’ve wanted to dive into the MMA world for quite some time due to the amazing level these MMA athletes ‘need to be at’ in order to be a champion. I feel that MMA athletes like all other athletes would benefit even more so from what we do at CrossFit. I’ve watched the videos where these guys train. I’ve met MMA coaches from all over. I’ve read articles and visited websites dedicated to MMA. The fact of the matter is: The last man standing is going to be the fittest and most technically gifted. Our approach is relentless at producing what every sport needs… ‘The fittest men and women on the planet’.

Our MMA program:

2 nights a week you will focus on skills and drills with your MMA coach – Jay St. Louis. In this class you will work on flexibility, how to stand, how to move, and of course how to punch, kick, elbow, and knee. You will learn how to use all these elements in combinations as well. In short, after an hour of working on ’skills and drills’ – I’m sure you will be pretty tired.

The strength side of it happens in your regular CrossFit classes. Remember you will be doing alot of ‘cardio’ with Jay. What this means is you want to make sure you’re getting to your strength training wod’s at the gym and not doing cardio 5 times a week. This should already be a focus of yours anyway.

Here’s a typical week:

Monday wod: Front Squat – 6 sets x 2 reps, followed by ‘Fran’, Finish with Ab work and stretching.

Wednesday wod: Shoulder Press – 5 sets x 5 reps, followed by ‘Diane’, finish with some reverse hypers.

Thursday 730 pm class: 1 hour of Muay Thai Kickboxing.

Friday wod: Turkish get ups/Box Jumps

Saturday 11 am: 1 hour of Muay Thai Kickboxing.

Have you ever wrestled a friend for a minute or two – It’s hard work. MMA or Mixed Martial Arts is quite an amazing sport – depending on who and what the MMA club is teaching. The last thing I want is a bunch of brawlers hanging out at my gym!

This is where top quailty coaching comes in…

Martial Arts have been around for thousands of years and are a very disciplined sport that require grace and respect. Our approach will be nothing short of either.

Women, men, kids, police officers, customs agents, firemen, etc – can all benefit from this type of program.

We only have 10 spots for Jay’s first 5 weeks of ‘Muay Thai Kickboxing’.. Make that 9 – I just signed up..

The price is 199. You get 10 sessions with the Master Jay St. Louis and a strength program that coincides with the MMA athlete. You also get brand new gloves, hand wraps, and shin guards that are of course yours to keep.

Let me know,

Front Squat 3-3-3

then:

7 Minute AMRAP:

7 Pullups / 7 KB swings (55/36)

________________________________________________________________________

MMA PROGRAM:

Many of you have heard of Jason St. Louis. Jay has been in the ‘MMA’ game for quite some time and like many of us has found himself back where it all began here in Cornwall.

Jay has many different belts in Brazilian Jui Jitsu, Karate, Muay Thai Kickboxing, and of course grappling or ‘ground fighting’..

I’ve wanted to dive into the MMA world for quite some time due to the amazing level these MMA athletes ‘need to be at’ in order to be a champion. I feel that MMA athletes like all other athletes would benefit even more so from what we do at CrossFit. I’ve watched the videos where these guys train. I’ve met MMA coaches from all over. I’ve read articles and visited websites dedicated to MMA. The fact of the matter is: The last man standing is going to be the fittest and most technically gifted. Our approach is relentless at producing what every sport needs… ‘The fittest men and women on the planet’.

Our MMA program:

2 nights a week you will focus on skills and drills with your MMA coach – Jay St. Louis. In this class you will work on flexibility, how to stand, how to move, and of course how to punch, kick, elbow, and knee. You will learn how to use all these elements in combinations as well. In short, after an hour of working on ’skills and drills’ – I’m sure you will be pretty tired.

The strength side of it happens in your regular CrossFit classes. Remember you will be doing alot of ‘cardio’ with Jay. What this means is you want to make sure you’re getting to your strength training wod’s at the gym and not doing cardio 5 times a week. This should already be a focus of yours anyway.

Here’s a typical week:

Monday wod: Front Squat – 6 sets x 2 reps, followed by ‘Fran’, Finish with Ab work and stretching.

Wednesday wod: Shoulder Press – 5 sets x 5 reps, followed by ‘Diane’, finish with some reverse hypers.

Thursday 730 pm class: 1 hour of Muay Thai Kickboxing.

Friday wod: Turkish get ups/Box Jumps

Saturday 11 am: 1 hour of Muay Thai Kickboxing.

Have you ever wrestled a friend for a minute or two – It’s hard work. MMA or Mixed Martial Arts is quite an amazing sport – depending on who and what the MMA club is teaching. The last thing I want is a bunch of brawlers hanging out at my gym!

This is where top quailty coaching comes in…

Martial Arts have been around for thousands of years and are a very disciplined sport that require grace and respect. Our approach will be nothing short of either.

Women, men, kids, police officers, customs agents, firemen, etc – can all benefit from this type of program.

We only have 10 spots for Jay’s first 5 weeks of ‘Muay Thai Kickboxing’.. Make that 9 – I just signed up..

The price is 199. You get 10 sessions with the Master Jay St. Louis and a strength program that coincides with the MMA athlete. You also get brand new gloves, hand wraps, and shin guards that are of course yours to keep.

Let me know,

Dan’s new Program..

For your friends and family or anybody in between. We all have someone who we want to help. We want them to ‘flip the switch’ and get healthier. Many people are intimidated of starting out at CrossFit. I often hear things like – “I’m going to get in shape first, then I’m joining your gym..” haha – This makes no sense but I do understand the fear of the unknown.

Fear Not!! Dan’s new program is for the person who wants to learn at a slower pace with more personal attention. It’s limited to 10 people per class and we sold out the first 4 week session on Facebook in the first 12 hours!! I beleive this is a great addition to our overall Program.

Good luck Dan!

_________________________________________________________

Announcements!!

1. We are closed Monday at both locations.

2. New hours at Akwesasne. Classes in the afternoon will be 430, 515, and 6pm. This is in effect September 13.

3. New Website. In the very near future the site will simply be up when you wake up to check the wod!! The new site will blow your mind!!

4. Fish Oil, Vitamin D3, and Probiotics: Fish oil will be here on the 8th..

5. T-shirts. We only ordered a limited amount. They go for 25 each and are they’re the  nicest shirts we’ve made to date!

6. Have a great long weekend!!

_____________________________________________________________________

Friday WOD:

Press 5 x 5

Cashout: 5 Rounds for Time of:

10 reps of each of the following:

Ring Rows / Hollow Rocks / Box Jumps

_________________________________________

Saturday WOD:

4 Rounds for time

Row 10 calories

Plate situps x 10 (35/25)

Dumbbell Snatch (5/side) – (50/30)

 ________________

_____________________________

Understanding ‘Movement Training’ vs ‘Muscle Isolation’…

I had a few new clients ask me an interesting question the other day.. “Tyler, would it be possible to train our ‘muffin tops’ more often?”

My answer: “Number one  – we train our ‘core’ everyday with everything we do, number two – spot reducing is impossible, and number three – fat loss is 100% hormonal and is only triggered by proper eating”.

Think about it. You eat chips, 2 chocalate bars and drink a gallon of orange crush. You then get depressed and feel guilty so you go running for an hour to burn it off. Well guess what – you are storing the fat from the massive dose of sugar you’re bringing in and burning up precious muscle when you go out running. Talk about a BIG FAT WASTE OF TIME!!

The MAGIC is in the MOVEMENT??

This phrase has stuck with me for years now. This phrase continues to this day to be my driving force. Crossfitters train movements not muscles. It’s all about how skilled that ‘Snatch’ is, how good your squat is, and how fluent that muscle up is, etc…

It makes life so much easier to pour your energy into this way of thinking instead of the opposite. Stop thinking about your ‘muffin top’ or how fast your time is. You see when you focus on these things you simply re-enforce them. Think about that muffin top non-stop guess what?, thats right – you get more muffin top!

Think about perfecting your movements and all of a sudden you’re not thinking about useless obstacles that simply ‘roadblock’ all success.

When you focus on performance your performance improves. When your performance improves you get stronger overall. In order to ‘HIT POSITIONS’ you need the right kind of lfexibility and strength to do so. Abs and nice biceps have a funny way of ’showing up’ once you get versed in the exercises you’re doing. Think of an elite gymnast or a college wrestler. They have the body everyone wants.

Focus on perfecting your skills and of course your PALEO diet. This will ensure success always.

Next article:   The Paleo Diet. There’s no escape!

WEDNESDAY WOD:

Sumo Deadlift  5 x 5

Cashout: Rehab..

Reverse Hypers / Wall Squats / Facepulls / Bamboo Bar Rehab

__________________________

Thursday WOD:

‘Cindy’

5 pullups / 10 pushups / 15 air squats

AMRAP in 20 minutes..

  “Humility is the only true wisdom by which we prepare our minds for all the possible changes of life.”

- George Arliss

Being coachable is not easy. Some seriously talented athletes have sacrificed their careers due to this very fact. They can’t seem to allow anyone else other than themselves to make decisions. They have a hard time taking advice and hate being wrong.

All this is, in my opinion is a person who’s lost their focus. Ego or no Ego – if your goals and the progress it requires to get there are not your primary focus.. You’re in trouble.

I’m a big beleiver that ‘talk is cheap’ and that whining, groaning, and excuse making get you nowhere. Actually all they get you is more of the same.

The courses that I go on usually run between 1000 and 2000 dollars. It amazes me how other coaches like myself will actually think they no more on the subject than the guy/gal they are paying to learn from. Makes no sense.

These people just want attention and will jump on any opportunity to draw a little light onto themselves.

“Just because you’ve been doing something for X amount of time doesn’t make it a good thing!”

Be willing to change.  

“If we’re growing, we’re always going to be out of our comfort zone.”  – John Maxwell

You have to be willing to change in order for change to happen. You must be open to learning everything you can instead of trying to defend what you’ve been doing. We are 100% results based. If Zumba makes my Back squat improve by 10% in 5 weeks than sign me up. First show me the proof with actual DATA and then – sign me up!

To sum up,

Being coachable makes everything easy. At the end of the day we all love working out and just want to be the best athletes we can be. Take a big spoon full of humility right before walking into the gym and I guarantee your workouts will improve.

You will learn to focus on what matters. You will learn that focusing on ‘non-essentials’ like what others are doing, or what others are lifting, is an obstacle and nothing more.

The satisfaction you get from acheiving goals, fine tuning your health, and making progress, make your experience nothing short of gratifying.

Finally, If a coach tells you something that he/she beleives you need, you need ‘it’ and ‘it’ needs to become part of your focus. If your house was falling over would you go buy a new couch or would you have your foundation fixed. Priortize, plan, and stay focused on what matters.

_________________________________________________________________________

Monday WOD:

“WORKHORSE”

Prescribed weight is as follows (55/36). Each participant needs 1 kettlebell only.

For Time…

Right arm overhead carry to lights

Left arm overhead carry back

30 Overhead Kettlebell Swings

By the Horns carry to lights and back

30 Kettlebell Pushups

50 Kettlebell Walking Lunges (By the horns)

Right arm overhead carry to lights

Left arm overhead carry back

Note: This Wod will be outdoors.

________________________________________________

Tuesday WOD:

Run the Block

50 Reps of…  Clean and Jerk (from hang) with Dumbbells (40/20) (Upscale 50/25)

Run the Block

hm mm…can you give me an estimate and a plan before this starts? I’ve explained the process to a few people and they have the same questions that I have:
How much is this going to cost?
What do you have to take?
Is this a meal replacement, or just supplements?
What happens when you are done?
When is it going to start?
And it made me think…(a simple scenario, but it works)
If someone wanted to buy a blue car and they found someone who had one for sale obviously they would call them immediately to ask about it. Upon asking questions they find the owner couldn’t tell them the make, model, the size of the engine, if it had two or four doors, how old it was, if it had rust, where it was located, when it was available or how much it cost. The guy would be crazy to agree to buy right then and there just based on the fact that it was blue.

I feel like I just bought a blue car over the phone without the details. I know you are busy Tyler but I need more concrete information about bio signature.

____________________________________________________

Ok, so…

What is Biosignature?

The deeper I dive into the science of  ‘re-arranging hormones’ the more I realize how complicated this method is.  An example would be me taking a 40 year old woman who’s dying to shed 10 pounds that just doesn’t seem to go no matter how strict her paleo and training is. So she says “Sign me up for Biosig!!” – So I in turn order her 600 dollars worth of supplements. She takes her supplements and gets nausea one week in and has to quit. What did I miss?

As a biosig practitioner I’m suppose to know everything about correcting hormones..

It turns out our girl has a very low level of HCL or Hydro Chrloric Acid. This means the 600 dollars worth of supplements she’s paying for is being flushed down the toilet. Without the proper levels of HCL she can’t absorb any of the products. If I were her I would be pretty upset with my purchase.

After speaking with a practioner who’s been around much longer than myself I realized I needed to take a few steps back in order to provide the right kind of service.

I’m not going to simply ‘prescribe’ anything unless I’m 100% sure it’s going to work. When it comes to paleo nutrition, fish oil, probiotics, and CrossFit – no problemo.. However when it comes to a science as complex as Biosig, I’m going to slow down a bit and make sure.

What does this mean for those of you interested in correcting your imbalances?

You have to be patient. The first test I will administer will be an HCL test. The second will be a Zinc test. These 2 tests determine what will be next. Rather than give you 600 dollars of supplements to take, I will start you on basics like HCL or Fiber or something else that addresses your most immediate priority.

I plan on doing exactly this. Starting small and progressing based on positive/negative results. I will make sure my paleo diet is 90/10. I will not miss my fish oil, probiotic, and Vitamin D3. I will work on my stresses through other means such as deep breathing and a little R & R. Once all this is taken care of I will make sure my zinc and HCL levels are adequate. Then I will do a detox or nutritional cleanse.

You see I’m not neccessarily focused on the end result. This is always a recipe for disaster. Instead I will be focused on how I feel RIGHT NOW. Am I getting stronger, am I regular, are my energy levels high, am I working on the stresses of life.

At the end of the day it’s all about knowing yourself and your own body. Stay positive and focused on the good things.

So in a nutshell…

How much is this going to cost?     Starting with one to two products at a time probably between 50 and 150 bucks not including the basics of fish oil / probiotics / and Vitamin D3.

What do you have to take?    HCL testing will be first along with a ZINC test. From there I determine which protocol to put you on.
Is this a meal replacement, or just supplements?    Meal replacements are for the birds..
What happens when you are done?    The journey of great health ends when you die. If you lack magnesium your whole lofe than you need to take it your whole life. If you live in Canada you need Vitamin D3 your whole life. Etc…
When is it going to start? I’ve been working on this method for months in order to make sure I know what I am doing. When I’m ready I will get you started. Like I said – I haven’t even started my own. A rushed job is always a bad job. Keep in mind I run a Blog, over 200 clients, and 2 gyms.

Finally, if I got anyone’s hopes up I apologize. I definitely didn’t plan on ‘dangling the carrot in front of you just to pull it away’.. Be patient and happy with where your ‘at’ right now. Be confident that you’re only going to get healthier each day..

Note: HCL/Zinc tests are on the way. This is the starting point.

_________________________

Friday WOD:

AMRAP in 3 minutes of:

Burpees x 5

Kettlebell Swing x 15

rest 1 minute, repeat for a total of 4 rounds.

_________________________

Saturday WOD:

17-12-8

Overhead Squat (95/65)

Ring Dips

I’m sure many of you have heard me say this to you from time to time. It’s right before a PR attempt in a lift like the Deadlift, or better yet the Olympic lifts – Snatch, Clean and Jerk.  As you approach the platform to rip some serious weight up all of a sudden that ‘dragon’ appears.. He tells you “You suck!” , “You’re weak!”, “Your tired today..” – In a nut shell all the ‘mental dragon’ wants to do is keep you filled up with a boat load of fear. The fear of failure.

It seems many of us don’t actually realize that our thoughts influence our actions 100%. Many of us simply think that complaining about our issues will somehow… solve them. Maybe we don’t complain but instead get down on ourselves and use ‘depression’ as the reason for not getting anywhere. Again the fear of failure HARD at work.

If you think you suck, you suck. If you think you’re fat, you’re fat. I know this seems harsh but it’s really not. I hope it allows you to see how you can sometimes get tricked or even trapped by…’the mental dragon’.

I firmly beleive that if you can ‘FLIP THE SWITCH’ and only allow positive thoughts and situations you will thus only receive what you are looking for.

Think you’re getting stronger, you are. Think you’re improving your health, you are.

Thought: I’m getting healthier each and every day.     Action: You shop smarter and workout more often.

Thought: My life sucks.   Action: Poor choices that… well… make your life suck.

You see you start with a positive thought, you beleive it will happen, you make plans for it, you ACT towards it. Let’s face it, we all have stress – stress is relative. The difference between one person’s stress and another is how they deal with it. 

I consider health to be 100% holistic. Holistic refers to all areas of one’s health as in – physical, mental, and social (I know there are others..)

What we tend to forget is how much each area represents the whole.

What YOU need to do right now is own up. You need to see that dragon straight up and tell him to ‘Take a Hike”.. Realize that each time you VOICE a negative thought you are paving the way for it to happen.

This is a skill that I think anyone can develop. You have to try and you have to focus on how insane it is to do anything but. You have to practice all the time. Any chance you have to overcome that fear of failing you have to see it as an opportunity to ‘get ahead’.

Lastly, be as ‘COACHABLE’ as possible.

My next post will explain what being Coachable is all about..

PS: I wanted to get into the chemical reasons of why we think negative/ get down on ourselves but I’ll save that for another post as well.  Long story short, what is your weakest link? What needs to de-stress first. Focus on the priority and be prepared to fail and embrace it - It’s the only way you will know if you’ve reached success.

___________________________________________________________________

Wednesday WOD:

3 Rounds…

75 Air Squats / 50 situps / 35 Pushups / 20 Hollow Rocks /

___________________________________________________________________

Thursday WOD:

Split Jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Wod:

AMRAP in 15 Minutes:

Run to the lights and back  / 15 Chest to Bar Pullups

WOD:

Squat Clean 1-1-1-1-1-1-1