"All human beings should be able to perform basic maintenance on themselves." This is a great quote from Kelly Starrett, author of the Mobility WOD Blog. This blog is fantastic at demonstrating a variety of mobility exercises that coincide with CrossFit. I know that every CrossFit coach incorporates these mobility exercises into their programs and that they preach to us that mobility is important, but why exactly is it so necessary. (Video from MobilityWod.com)
Every exercise, whether it's a CrossFit exercise or not, is intended to be preformed in a specific manner, with very specific form. The reason that Personal Trainers, CrossFit Coaches, and Sports Coaches harp on form over and over, isn't because they are control freaks (well, not all of them), it is because by maintaining proper form, the move is performed with the upmost level of efficiency. With efficiency comes power, accuracy, less chance of overuse and traumatic injuries, and overall enhanced performance. Maintaining proper form ensures that you are using the targeted muscles and not overcompensating with other muscles groups that could result in injury. Again, this is not just a CrossFit thing. Even improper running form can result in decreased performance or overuse injuries.
There are many aspects to learning and keeping good form. First, you must have a good teacher. In my opinion, a good teacher/coach is someone that can not only demonstrate a skill with proper form, but also be able to break down the skill, down to the little details. They must be able to explain something in multiple ways and use creative means to help get it through to a struggle athlete. Second, you must have full Range of Motion (ROM) for the desired skill. Take a look at the picture above, which btw is adorable. You will notice that in order to perform a squat with good form, you must physically be able to get your hips below parallel. If you have severe tightness in any of the major muscle groups in torso, hip, or legs (low back, hips, glutes, quads, hamstrings, or calves), you will have difficulty performing a proper air squat. If your air squat is deficient, just imagine what happens when you start adding weights? The answer is poor form/overcompensation. I guess that was two answers...
Long story short, proper form should be high on everyone's list, especially when it comes to moves that could severely injure someone who neglects it, such as CrossFit. Said proper form will only be achieved, if you take the time to learn the form from a great teacher and practice it & you physically are able to perform the move (ROM). Do not be afraid to pull a coach aside and ask them to analyze your moves (Hey Miguel, Hows my Moonwalk!). This is what you pay the coaches for, and they love it! They love making their athletes better.
The Coaches at SUBU have raved over MobilityWOD.com for a long while now and once you spend some time there you can easily understand why. For a science dork like me, I love the nerdy biomechanics talk!! But they are also really good at explaining ideas so that everyone can understand. Take some time to find a couple of stretches/mobility exercises that you can add to your CrossFit warm-up, it will only result in better performance which will make it easier for you to meet your goals.
** If you ever get rips from pull-ups, check out the videos at the end of this post :)
Long story short, proper form should be high on everyone's list, especially when it comes to moves that could severely injure someone who neglects it, such as CrossFit. Said proper form will only be achieved, if you take the time to learn the form from a great teacher and practice it & you physically are able to perform the move (ROM). Do not be afraid to pull a coach aside and ask them to analyze your moves (Hey Miguel, Hows my Moonwalk!). This is what you pay the coaches for, and they love it! They love making their athletes better.
The Coaches at SUBU have raved over MobilityWOD.com for a long while now and once you spend some time there you can easily understand why. For a science dork like me, I love the nerdy biomechanics talk!! But they are also really good at explaining ideas so that everyone can understand. Take some time to find a couple of stretches/mobility exercises that you can add to your CrossFit warm-up, it will only result in better performance which will make it easier for you to meet your goals.
** If you ever get rips from pull-ups, check out the videos at the end of this post :)
Grilling Success
Really quick, I wanna break down some food from the last day or so. Last nights dinner was Grilled Flank Steak, Steamed Broccoli, and Mac n Cheese. Flank Steak was seasoned with Olive Oil and Salt and Pepper and thrown on the grill. I sprinkled garlic salt and fresh ground pepper on the broccoli before I steamed it and I am still looking for that easy & healthy mac n cheese.
Last night I also tried to bake! I am not a good baker because you can't just wing it. I was all prepared to whip up some Healthy Blueberry Muffins when I realized that I no longer have a muffin tin. So I decided to experiment. I made the batter (assuming I was pouring it into a muffin tin) and then poured it into a loaf pan. If I had known this I would have doubled the recipe for this pan, but I did not so in the loaf pan it went. I cooked it 20 minutes and it resulted in an interesting granola bar thing. I cut them up, wrapped them in tin foil, and had one for breakfast this morning.
Now I have to admit that these granola-bar-suppose-to-be-muffins, lets call them gruffins, had a weird texture for a muffin and were not sweet at all. It is hard to imagine that the shape of the batter would change the taste but then again, thats why I hate baking. Either way, I am going to try again because they were really easy. Maybe I'll add some apple sauce or a banana next time.? **Update - I have since thrown these away and have taken the recipe off of my Pinterest-Go-To recipe board :(
After I wrapped up the gruffins, I made some tea. I made Sleeptime and a strong batch of Chai Tea. I was reading my fave blog Carrotsncake.com and saw that she had prepared for an Iced Chai Tea Latte and it sounded delicious. I brewed two bags of Chai Tea and refrigerated it over night. I added organic, low fat milk and had it with my gruffin.
After I wrapped up the gruffins, I made some tea. I made Sleeptime and a strong batch of Chai Tea. I was reading my fave blog Carrotsncake.com and saw that she had prepared for an Iced Chai Tea Latte and it sounded delicious. I brewed two bags of Chai Tea and refrigerated it over night. I added organic, low fat milk and had it with my gruffin.
Lunch was made up of randoms from Nana's famous relish tray from over the weekend. Yes, that is Ranch. I am out of my mustard that I love :/
Below are two videos (part 1 & part 2) from MobilityWOD.com. You might figure out how to prevent rips!
Did anyone get my title reference?