Sports Fitness

I have been fortunate in the time since the Olympic games to spend time with seven coaches of Gold medal winners in Athletics (Track & Field) from the London games. In two instances I got to watch workouts and spend significant time with the coach and athlete. These are the commonalities that all shared: Passion – In most cases they wore their passion on their sleeves. Technical Knowledge – They knew the basics and didn’t stray far from them. None of them made what they did overly complicated. Emotional Intelligence – They know their athletes and themselves. They listened to the athlete. Systematic – Nothing by chance, thorough plans, but still built flexibility into the system Humility – Not overly impressed with themselves, willing to credit others and seek help. Did not go it alone. Paid their dues – All except one has been coaching for quite some time; they were not always coaching gold medal winners. Interestingly enough these are the characteristics I see in great coaches at any level. These characteristics are what it takes to be an effective coach.

The process of getting to be the best is not a straightforward linear path, it is a process and it takes time. In my forty-four years of coaching I have seen that many are called to walk the path but few actually choose. Yes you read that correctly. Many are called but few choose. The opportunity is there for many but few will make the choice because it is a difficult path that requires moving out of their Comfort Zone. At each step of development there are clear-cut choices that must be made. Some of the choices are conscious, like doing something different in training and others are subtle almost unconscious like pushing through a pain barrier or finishing a workout that seems too hard. You must be guided by clear SMART goals that help to guide you to your destination. SMART goals are goals that are: S = Specific M = Measurable A = Attainable R = Realistic T = Time The goal is where you want to go, where you want to end up, it is the beacon of light that guides you. Most athletes start in the Comfort Zone and stay there. They are good at their sport and satisfied with where they are. They make easy choices; they never go the extra mile. They do only what is expected, never more. Athletes in this zone take no risks; there are no champions here. If you aspire to be a peak performer then you will quickly have to move out of your comfort zone to the Performance Zone or you will never achieve your goals. Athletes in the Performance Zone have a greater commitment. They take some risks and they will go the extra mile when necessary. They occasionally are uncomfortable. They usually win as much as they lose. From the Performance Zone the next step is the High Performance Zone. As the athlete chooses to do what is necessary to move up from one zone to the next there will be less people in of the higher zones. The athletes in this zone are willing to risk and get very uncomfortable. In fact they are uncomfortable more than they are comfortable and they win more than they lose. They will always go the extra mile. The pinnacle, the Peak Performance Zone is where the champions live, train and play. This is a special place. It is as far from the comfort zone as you could imagine. Athletes here are the best of the best and they are comfortable with being uncomfortable because they know what it takes to be the best. In fact they are uncomfortable all the time and they make others uncomfortable with their intensity and drive. The path is clear you must do the work daily with ICE - Intensity, Concentration and Effort. You must win the workouts if you expect to win the competition. Make the choice to be the best. Set your goals and start acting on those goals now. Be comfortable with being uncomfortable all the time.

CrossFit Kids The 2013 CrossFit Kids Elementary Curriculum is now available in the CrossFit Kids store. Warm-Up/Skill – Varsity, Junior Varsity and Novice: 3x or 5:00 10 jumping jacks => zigzag bear crawl around cones => 2 forward rolls => precision jump => 10 vertical jumps to a target => 2 cartwheels => 50-meter carioca => 50-meter back pedal Elementary and Preschool: 3x or 5:00 10 jumping jacks => zigzag bear crawl around cones => 2 forward rolls => precision jump => 10 vertical jumps to a target => 2 cartwheels => 25-meter carioca => 25-meter back pedal WOD – Varsity: 15:00 AMRAP 9 push press, 95#/65# 18 wall ball shots, 20#/14#, 10’ target 36 double-unders Junior Varsity: 15:00 AMRAP 9 push press, 55#/45# 18 wall ball shots, 14#/10#, 10’ target 36 double-unders Novice: 12:00 AMRAP 7 push press, 35#/25# 14 wall ball shots, 10#/8#, 8’-10’ target 28 double-unders Elementary: 10:00 AMRAP 7 push press, unloaded-10# 14 wall ball shots, dodgeball-6#, 7’-8’ target 21 double-unders or single-unders Preschool: 5:00 AMRAP 5 push press, unloaded 5 wall ball shots, dodgeball, 5’-6’ target 5 side-to-side hops over 6” hurdle Cooldown/Skill – Varsity, Junior Varsity and Novice: 3x Max standing broad jump Elementary and Preschool: 3x Max standing broad jump

"Michael Crabtree underwent surgery to repair his Achilles tendon that he tore yesterday," coach Jim Harbaugh said. "Surgery was successful and we do not anticipate it will be season-ending for Michael." I was called by a consultant a few years ago asking what system of pressure mapping to purchase and I said Tekscan, knowing that their reporting would eventually rise to match the power of their analysis. A simple screening of all of the athletes on a football team can greatly reduce injuries and track the research. It's amazing how simply asking people if they want to be loaned a Fscan they say no, when they are complaining about pricing of equipment or lack of education. My feeling is that nobody wants to be making statements with risk to specific injuries. If you look at jones fractures in sport a pattern of risk does show up in the research, but specific posting are not easy, since orthotics are static and one has to do a few routes and cutting motions to see if high risk actions could amplify the pressure on specific regions of the foot. It's not easy but it's worth it. Teams are not doing enough pressure mapping to screen the athlete. The reason is most are not qualified to analyze it and most don't want to invest time or money, as athletes are not engaged. Simple solution? Broadcast the data on a giant flatscreen. Athletes are not dumb, they know their bodies matter. The problem is trust as well, since most athletes are being constantly hounded by promises of reducing injury and increasing performance. I bet the farm that the organization will make changes regarding data and injury over the next year, because they are not leveraging the bay area innovation. Adding force plates isn't going to help much, as they are needing to keep guys on the field and not pushing the envelope with training being a professional team. This will cost the 49ers the Super Bowl, and the injury bug is beyond Bill's topic about rates and reasons.

"The top clubs have learned these lessons (some the hard way) and don’t put much stock into single comprehensive packages from vendors and have instead built their own internal architectures that they control. This approach allows them to use the ‘best of breed’ tools where they make sense and have the flexibility to make changes when needed." -Sports Data Hub So now we are all drinking from the same Holy Grail? Elite sport is not alone in thinking the latest Dashboard from vendors will solve problems, and we are seeing the loose term algorithm everywhere. As predicted, SaaS is growing and is this a trend or eventual outcome of where we need to be? I am frightened in current sport because the basics and foundational information is so poor with the average coach. I just got an intern this summer, but really it's a 12 week mentorship of deprogramming of all the hype. A few years ago Kevin Goodfellow was ahead of the time by anticipating big data and the need for a solution, but now I see that the reality is we are still not ready for it and when we are the window may be closed with open source options. His concepts are excellent, but the honesty in performance and sports medicine is not there. The truth is that very few people are doing what they need to do because the difference between great and winning the big one is talent and money. While some gaps have closed by sport science, the unpopular issue is that the CBA and other factors make good intentions neutralized. What Kevin envisioned is happening, and I am hopeful we will learn that we need to shop wisely on solutions. A high profile consultant sent me a text reminding me of the Holy Grail from various SaaS providers for teams and organizations and I am doing the 180 and focusing on the human side. At the end of the day, Bob Alejo is right. You are going to eventually need to train, and not much has changed with the human body and training in 30 years. Sure some great advancements are there, but are we doing what works well? For example Marco Cardinale showed how Creatine is loosing popularity in research and now every coach wants the Kool-Aid beet flavored. This is got to stop. I am guilty of promoting technology too much, hence why the next few blog posts before summer vacation is about resetting the direction to the human body. I will go analog while my intern is getting all the best data, such as Tensiomyography and HRV daily. I will be the native warrior and he will be the futurist sent back in time. So what to do? Education- Conferences are good starting places but workshops are needed. To get momentum we need to sit down with people and just do it. If you can follow along then that's a sign to catch up. If you want to play or tinker with things later don't fool yourself. I have seen people year after year and glacier speeds is not a exaggeration with evolution. Go analog and pen and paper and leave the expensive paperless hype to Eliteform and other SaaS vendors. Big data? Please. Big data is real but only 1% of vendors are really dealing with realities. Evidence- Place all of the data for the year into a folder and upload it to the cloud and share a timeline. Show exchanges or chat messages. Prove to everyone that miracles and proprietary algorithms are truly working. Now that the brain is en vogue, this is going to insane with nonsense. We still can't do heart rate properly and we are interpreting things from games? What are the interventions for all of this? Medical data is also the hardest, what are people doing now when they have guys on the table? Using an intern to collect notes? Engagement-If athletes are not engaged it doesn't work period. If the process isn't enriching it doesn't matter if it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. I do suggest hiring sales people for vendors to make their products better for users, not to sell to teams. If your product is good you don't need sexy sales gimm

If you are a coach or therapist who speaks spanish and would like to meet-up at the NYC Grand Prix please know a private seminar on hamstring injuries will be happening the night before this Friday. Each topic is 15 minutes or so and concludes with a round table discussion on integrating topics such as Tensiomyography, streaming physiological monitoring, MSK Ultrasound, and bodywork. What is really exciting is that an actual athlete will be evaluated and bodywork will be done at the hotel for 90 minutes plus. The cost is a bottle of wine from the Nicasia Vineyard and while it's informal, the suggested attire is slacks and a button down as dinner is at 10pm. I also suggest bringing a small video camera and it's first come first serve as the limit is twenty people.

Rest

Day 4 Bench: 8-10×10/45% BOR: 8-10×10/45% 2 Back Exercise 2 Chest Exercise 2 Tricep Exercise 2 Core Exercise

The fact that childhood obesity is rising is undeniable.  The prevalence of overweight children in the United States has continued to rise since the 1960’s.  “In 2003 to 2004, 33.6% of children and adolescents in the US had a BMI for age at or above the sex-specific 85th percentile, which is considered overweight or obese.” [1] Childhood obesity is rising due to many factors, however if we focus on a few key initiatives this could change.  Nutrition and mostly physical activity (PA) needs to be addressed.  The incidence rate of obesity in youth has continued to grow and 30% of obese kids show types of insulin resistance (IR) and a lot of other metabolic abnormalities.  They found that diets that include “elevated consumption of animal protein, particularly in early life, as well as diets rich in saturated, trans, and n-6 poly unsaturated fatty acids, and diets with a high carbohydrate to fat ratio, besides a high glycemic and low-fiber diet also appear to exacerbate adiposity and IR” [2].  This can be corrected through nutrition and physical activity, but will only be successful with the support of the local community. Giving the local community education on health, wellness, and fitness is ideal for stopping the obesity epidemic worldwide.  We are failing to educate and involve the parents in proper nutrition and PA and should be “encouraging parents to increase physical activity, particularly on weekends, may be a highly effective way to leverage parental involvement in interventions to increase children’s physical activity” [1].  By involving the parents it is less likely the child will develop or maintain obesity.  The Parental Influence on Child Change in Physical Activity During a Family-Based Intervention for Child Weight Gain Prevention showed that “Family-based behavioral interventions are an effective approach for treating pediatric overweight, with positive outcomes demonstrated for time periods up to 10 years following completion of the intervention.” Several reviews of therapy for pediatric obesity have concluded that “family-based behavioral treatments are a successful intervention format for pediatric obesity.” [1] Once we involve the parents and re-educate them and the children, we need to get back to the most important part of keeping obesity away which is old school physical activity (PA) and physical education (PE).  It would be great to go back to the time when kids of all ages participated in PE for sixty minutes a day no matter what; when there was an expectation of health and fitness.  Take the President’s Challenge for example: the expectation of physical fitness test has regressed and the pull ups have regressed to just a standard of hanging from the bar.  If you look at the National Physical Fitness Award Qualifying Standards each year we would want to progress the number or the exercise to show improved fitness in our youth.  We have failed them by not setting the expectation and providing the ability to develop a proper healthy lifestyle.  We need communities to support each other and work together to stop childhood obesity before it’s too late. Reference Holm, Kristen. Wyatt, Holly. Murphy, James. (2012, July). Parental Influence on Child Change in Physical Activity During a Family-Based Intervention for Child Weight Gain Prevention. Journal of Physical Activity and Health. Vol. 9 (5), pp.661-669. Retrieved February 21st, 2013, from http://web.ebscohost.com Can˜ete, Ramo´n. Gil-Campos, Mercedes, Aguilera, M Concepcio´n. (2007, March). Development of insulin resistance and its relation to diet in the obese child. European Journal of Nutrition. Vol. 46 (4), pp. 181-187. Retrieved February 21st, 2013, from http://web.ebscohost.com

We are doing 'Murph' (HERO WOD) Today in support of CrossFit Tri-Cities event "Murph for Miller" All proceeds go to Rob Miller home Midwest shelter for homeless vets in Wheaton. You can make check directly to MSHV. I will be going to the event on Saturday and can bring all donations with me to give directly to them. I hope everyone can participate! "Murph"For time: 1 mile Run100 Pull-ups200 Push-ups300 Squats1 mile RunIn memory of Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., who was killed in Afghanistan June 28th, 2005. This workout was one of Mike's favorites and he'd named it "Body Armor". From here on it will be referred to as "Murph" in honor of the focused warrior and great American who wanted nothing more in life than to serve this great country and the beautiful people who make it what it is. Partition the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats as needed. Start and finish with a mile run. If you've got a twenty pound vest or body armor, wear it. Post time to comments........