Self-myofascial release, also known as foam rolling, has transformed from a once mysterious technique used only by professional athletes, coaches, and therapists to a familiar everyday practice for people at all levels of fitness. Recent information, technology, and affordable products have introduced an increasing array of training and recovery methods to the everyday athlete.

WHAT IS FOAM ROLLING AND HOW DOES IT WORK?

For many, deep tissue massage is easy to understand. Ideally, an individual is able to work out the knots in their muscles, and it is commonly known this process may be uncomfortable and at times painful (if you’ve ever tried it before, I’m sure you can testify!). Self-myofascial release provides the user the ability to control the healing and recovery process by applying pressure in precise locations, because only they can feel exactly what is happening.

• Self-myofascial release is a decorative term for self-massage to release muscle tightness or trigger points. This method can be performed with a foam roller, lacrosse ball, Theracane, or your own hands.
• By pressing specific points on your body an athlete is able to aid in the recovery of muscles and assist in recurring them to normal function. Normal function means that your muscles are elastic, healthy, and ready to perform.
• Trigger points are specific “knots” that form in muscles. They are unique and can be identified because they will feel painful when pressed.

UNDERSTANDING FASCIA

Fascia is a specialised system of the body that has an appearance similar to a spider’s web or a sweater. Fascia is very densely woven, covering and interpenetrating every muscle, bone, nerve, artery and vein, as well as all of our internal organs including the heart, lungs, brain and spinal cord.

The most interesting aspect of the fascial system is that it is not just a system of separate coverings. It is actually one continuous structure that exists from head to toe without interruption. In this way you can begin to see that each part of the entire body is connected to every other part by the fascia, like the yarn in a sweater. It is largely responsible for the huge freedom of movement possessed by human beings.

COLLAGEN AND TRIGGER POINTS

Collagen is the primary structural component of fascia. This resilient and ubiquitous protein has many functions as it travels uninterrupted through the body. Collagen protein is designed to primarily resist tensile stress and is the stuff of skin, tendons, and ligaments, as well as the coverings of muscle tissues and their different constituent parts.

This material changes fibre density and arrangement based on structural stress, genetic makeup, and tissue memory.  Fibroblasts are cells that make collagen. They actually exhibit the propensity to remember their function.

This solid tissue is arranged in a way that allows maximum distribution of load with minimal framework. As light as it is, collagen is proportionally stronger than steel cable. This is part of the reason “stretching” and “rolling” do not actually affect it.

In a healthy musculoskeletal system the fascia supports free movement of our muscles and bones through the huge variety of shapes and movement patterns that we see in sport, the performing arts (dance etc), and life in general. When this tissue becomes dysfunctional it is a force to be reckoned with, and can be a great cause of movement restriction and pain.

A common example of a trigger point is felt while foam rolling your iliotibial (IT) band as it causes pain to radiate up to the hip or all the way down the leg to the ankle. When rolling or working on tight/sore muscles you will experience discomfort or pain. Think of it like the pain you get while stretching. It should be uncomfortable, but not unbearable, and when you are done it should feel better.

RELEASING TRIGGER POINTS

Releasing trigger points helps to reestablish proper movement patterns and pain free movement, and ultimately, to enhance performance. Utilizing stretching alone is not always enough to release muscles tightness, which is why foam rollers have thrived on the mass market. Imagine a bungee cord with a knot tied into it and then envision stretching the cord. This creates tension, stretching the unknotted portion of the muscle and the attachment points. The knot, however, has remained unaltered.

“Foam rolling can assist in breaking up these muscular knots, resuming normal blood flow and function. The goal to any corrective or recovery technique is to get you back to the point of normal functioning, as if nothing was ever wrong.”

Deep compression helps to break up or relax tight muscles and adhesions formed between muscle layers and their surroundings. Imagine you are tenderizing your own muscles. They should be soft and supple like a baby’s muscles. However, if our muscles are not taken care of properly we can experience loss of flexibility, adhesions, and painful movement.

The deep compression of self-myofascial release allows normal blood flow to return and the restoration of healthy tissue. The body naturally wants to be healthy and strong, but sometimes an extra boost is needed to achieve optimal muscle and tissue health.

WHAT CAUSES TRIGGER POINTS AND TIGHT MUSCLES?

Both have the same contributing factors including training, flexibility, movement patterns, posture, nutrition, hydration, rest, stress, and other lifestyle factors. Your body learns to compensate for what you throw at it every day, but it’s possible to exceed our ability to recover via too many intense workouts, poor posture, and other lifestyle factors.

This is when you need assistance using recovery techniques or through seeing a professional. If you lived a perfect life with everything in balance, you would theoretically never have either of these conditions. Would. Theoretically…

It is always recommended to consult with your physician or physical therapist and receive approval before starting self-myofascial release. For most people you will be cleared immediately and your doctor will encourage the practice.

A FEW QUICK DOS AND DON’TS

• Never roll a joint or bone.
• Avoid rolling your lower back.
• To target these muscles, it´s recommended to use tennis or lacrosse balls.
• If you are having issues with your neck, refer these issues to an appropriate medical professional, as these areas they can be more sensitive and require more advanced attention.

ENOUGH THEORY, TIME TO PRACTICE FOAM ROLLING

• To foam roll properly, apply moderate pressure to a specific muscle or muscle group using the roller and your bodyweight.
• You should roll slowly, no more than one inch per second. When you find areas that are tight or painful, pause for several seconds and relax as much as possible.
• You should slowly start to feel if an area is too painful to apply direct pressure, shift the roller and apply pressure on the surrounding area and gradually work to loosen the entire area.
• The goal is to restore healthy muscles – it is not a pain tolerance test.

“That’s how I roll” © RX’d Photography

Rolling for recovery © CrossFit Invictus

A section of the fascial system © Pain Science

Sara Sigmundsdottir looking surprisingly relaxed for a foam rolling session © Sklz

start foam rolling! © greatist

The post The Crossfitter’s Guide to Foam Rolling appeared first on BOXROX.

Establish a great mentality, an intelligent training age, avoid the setbacks and be the best athlete you can be. Listen to your coach and LISTEN to your coach! Watch how more experienced athletes train, why would you be special and not have to do the same?

Experience is a wonderful thing, but unfortunately it is usually acquired in hindsight. When you have completed your desired task, with whatever method you chose, then you know if it worked or not. Sometimes you discover that the method was awesome, sometimes you discover you dived in too deep, and most of the time you’ll think that you could have done something better. The more mistakes you make, the better you will be in some respects, but when those mistakes start to cost you your health and mobility, then you HAVE to take a more sensible approach.

For my own sanity, recently I decided to put people’s ignorance and stupidity towards training down to their “training age” which basically means experience with training in any field.

I used to go crazy that someone that has only been training for six months won’t address their shoulder or hip mobility every day if that’s what they need to do to progress. Even though I tell again and again that it’s gonna end up backfiring one day and they ignore the advice! WHY WON’T YOU LISTEN!?!? (As I shake the athlete) but truthfully they don’t care, unless you have been grabbed at a very early age and shown how to move properly, you just will not see the significance of it.

DON’T LET PAIN BECOME YOUR TEACHER

The part that upsets me is that ultimately pain will become the teacher, that silly couple of centimetres that you are lacking in your hamstring flexibility will cause your lower back to compensate for the extra range and it will just say “screw you buddy”. This could take up to 2-4 years to happen, but it WILL happen then all your awesome PR’s will turn into fear of even bending over to put your socks on.

“I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day.” James Joyce

TRAINING AGE: WORKING FOR THE FUTURE

A wise old dude once said to me “train now like you are in your 30’s and when you hit your 30’s train like you’re in your 40’s so that YOU CAN STILL TRAIN WHEN YOU ACTUALLY GET THERE” this wise old dude isn’t actually that old but he is the best back specialist I have ever met. The work he does is not short of miracles.

Competitive fitness is great but you do have to place yourself on the risk and reward line and be honest with yourself if you really need to put more work in than you are. Professional athletes do a lot more than just tick the box of “gym” four times a week.

“If you’re not competing and want to use your training to make you stronger, more confident and become able to do a few cool things then sticking to a progressive loading program with a good focus on YOUR individual mobility (more on this another time) and technique is the best for you.”

If you start off like that then the chances are that if you are consistent then you will actually build a good base so that you can compete AND compete safely.

LISTEN TO YOUR COACH

Your training age and training maturity will take time to develop but if you really do want to accelerate the process just listen to what your coach says. My athletes that perform at the highest level are the ones that say “yes coach”. The ones that get stuck, or never seem to master a technique that they really want, never seem to do as they’re advised. Personally I have gotten to a point (and this is for other coaches too) where I feel that if you have told an athlete multiple times to strip something back or just work on their technique and they don’t listen then they are the bad athlete, there is nothing wrong with your coaching.

If this takes place in a class, then you are not going to waste ten minutes of your time with one person that just wants to get numbers when there are ten other people that could be getting valuable technique cues. If you pay for private coaching then you do exactly what I say and how I say it and if not then you can go elsewhere, I do not waste my time or anyone else’s.

TRAINING AGE AND MATURITY

You’ll not hurt yourself with missing triple extension on your Olympic lifts but your numbers will reflect your sloppy technique. Coaching to me becomes really special when someone does finally break that barrier and say “you know what, I need to go back to the start and relearn everything” and that’s when you hit training maturity.

GETTING BACK TO THE BASICS

Again I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, some people are set in their ways and the thought of being a “beginner” can really decrease your manhood by a few inches, but if you grow some balls and take things seriously you’ll make long term gains that will win any measuring contest.

The most attentive and best athletes I know just want to learn ALL of the time but they are also the athletes that have been through injuries and setbacks and lost motivation more times than you would ever imagine. They have a training age that allows them to progress in a solid and intelligent fashion.

• My plea to new and upcoming athletes is to actually try and take heed of what you are being told to do and get really invested in your development right from the beginning.

• Don’t spend a few years building bad habits before you really start to care.

• Abs and performance are a consequence of good training, knowledge and balance, not from trying solely to get abs and improve performance without learning.

If even one person reads this and decides to just go in and start listening to every piece of advice they are given I’ll be happy, coaches everywhere give the gift of knowledge and experience and in my opinion we as athletes and coaches should take those gifts and give them the attention they deserve.

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence” – Vince Lombardi.

Everyone deserves a feeling out stage to get the hang of things, but when you’re ready for something more, dive all in face first and take it seriously. Why should you do anything less? Think about training age and an early mindset with focus and trust will set you apart from everyone else in your crucial first years of training.

Master the basics, train for the future and perform for the present. © BOXROX

Master movement and technique first, then hit the big numbers © BOXROX

Train hard, train smart and listen to your coach © BOXROX

The post Movement, Mobility & Training Age: Crossfit for Long Term Health appeared first on BOXROX.

A big snatch requires all the elements of flexibility, strength, power and technique, without one of these your snatch will eventually suffer. This article is here to help prevent the frustration that the snatch can inevitably bring.

1. Start Right, End Right

The start position in the snatch is often ignored by many beginners because we only really know we have failed the snatch if it doesn’t make it above your head. If you do not start correctly, the bar path and your power can be severely handicapped. When you set up, check your feet, knees, hips and shoulders.

Firstly, start with your toes under the bar, if the bar starts far away, its stays far away. Pressure should be distributed on the balls of your feet to allow your legs to drive through the floor. Points your feet and knees slightly out, this will help the bar stay close without smashing into your knees.

Keep those hips down! Hips should always be lower than your shoulders, so make sure they are in your start position.

Shoulder must be over the bar to start this will allow you to produce that powerful hip extension when you move into the extension at the top of the lift.

2. Problem? Reverse the Chain

Working backwards from the snatch lift is the ideal problem solver. If you have a problem with your catch position, overhead squats and snatch balance are going to be your friends.  For 90% of beginners it is the second pull (from the knee into the extension). Dip snatch and hang snatch above knee will be your next port of call.

Finally, if there are issues transitioning from below the knee to above, hang snatch below the knee or pause snatch (pausing at the knee) will help your mind and body connect to the two. Don’t just continue to snatch from the floor, experiment with a warm up drill of Hang snatch, Hang snatch below the knee, snatch from the floor until you feel the floor snatch is perfect.

3. Snatch Lift: You are as Weak as your Weakest Point

Making your weaknesses your strengths is essential. After asking Giles Greenwood[1]at a GB Camp whether I should do more snatch balance, he just said to me “you will always be as a weak as your catch position”, and this catch position has haunted me throughout my career. Having a huge pull means nothing if your overhead position cannot receive the weight correctly. Weaknesses may always be there, but if you step into the gym tomorrow and attack them they will improve and help your snatch lift along!

4. Pulls, Pulls, Pulls and do them Correctly!

Essential for technique and strength, without these, you cannot get enough mileage on the correct positions for it to carry over into your snatch! Pulls that emphasise control, with a shrug with the shoulders and up onto the toes. Just snatching to improve your snatch lift is like learning to drive a car under race conditions, you really need some quiet time to work just on control and movement patterns.

Many beginners shy away from pulls often because they do not understand the purpose, nor feel the effect. Pulls do not make you feel like you will snatch the weight because you and the bar are not moving like in a full snatch, but have no fear, they will help your snatch. I recommend five sets of 3 repetitions +10kg more than your best snatch.

5. Technique is Nothing Without Strength

The old Russian weightlifting research show that the snatch on average is about 60% of your maximum back squat. If you only do a few WODs a week and your leg strength is something you struggle with, I recommend that squats are trained in another session (or at the very least, before the WOD) if you want to truly improve your efficiency, leg strength and ultimately your potential in the Olympic lifts.

I leave you with a quote from the 3-time Olympian and ex-GB national Coach, Mike Pearman:

“You must learn to love the snatch lift”.

[1] 180kg Snatch, British Record Holder and Commonwealth Gold Medalist

Training Tipps um deine Snatch Technik zu verbessern

Die Snatch Technik zu lernen ist eine der schwierigsten Fähigkeiten die es zu meistern gilt. Der Unterschied zum Clean & Jerk besteht darin, dass die Athletik bevorzugt zu einem gymnastischen Körpertyp zurückzuführen ist, mehr als zu einem ‚gym-bro‘, der Schwierigkeiten haben könnte den Snatch zu lernen, nachdem er Jahre lang glaubte, dass das Niedrigste was man gehen könnte parallel Squats, und die Überkopf-Squats ein Märchen seien.

Ein erfolgreicher Snatch benötigt alle Elemente von Flexibilität, Stärke, Power und Technik

Fehlt eines von diesen, wird dein Snatch lift eventuell darunter leiden. Dieser Artikel soll helfen, Frustration zu verhindern, die der Snatch zwangsläufig hervorrufen kann.

 1. Starte richtig, ende richtig

Die Startposition beim Snatch wird von vielen Anfängern oft nicht beachtet, weil wir nur wirklich wissen, dass wir den Snatch versagt haben, wenn er es nicht über den Kopf geschafft hat. Wenn du nicht richtig startest, kann der Bewegungsverlauf der Stange und deine Power schwer beeinträchtigt werden. Wenn du dich aufstellst, kontrolliere deine Füße, Knie, Hüfte und Schultern.

 Zu Beginn, starte mit deinen Zehen unter der Stange, falls die Stange anfangs weit weg ist, bleibt sie weit weg. Der Druck sollte gleichmäßig auf die Ballen deiner Füße verteilt sein, um deinen Beinen den Abstoß vom Boden zu ermöglichen. Richte deine Füße und Knie leicht nach außen, es wird dir helfen die Stange dicht bei dir zu halten, ohne sie in deine Knie zu schmettern.

Halte die Hüfte unten! Die Hüfte sollte immer tiefer sein als deine Schultern, also überprüfe, ob sie in der richtigen Startposition sind.

 Zu Beginn müssen die Schultern über der Stange sein, dies ermöglicht die starke Hüftstreckung am Höhepunkt der Übung.

2. Problem? Dreh die Reihenfolge um

Den Snatch rückwärts  zu erarbeiten ist die ideale Problemlösung. Wenn du ein Problem mit deiner Catch Position hast, sind Überkopf-Squats und Snatch Balance geeignete Übungen um daran zu arbeiten. Für 90% der Anfänger ist es der zweite Pull (von den Knien in die Streckung). Dip snatch und hang above knee werden deine Anlaufstationen sein.

Schlussendlich, wenn es Schwierigkeiten gibt bei dem Übergang von unter zu über den Knien, hang snatch under knee oder pause snatch (an dem Knie pausieren) werden deinem Verstand und deinem Körper helfen beide zu verbinden. Versuche nicht weiterhin den Snatch from the floor, experimentiere mit  Aufwärmübungen wie Hang Snatch, Hang Snatch below the knee, Snatch from the floor bis du das Gefühl hast, dass der Floor-snatch perfekt ist.

3. Du bist so schwach, wie dein schwächster Punkt

Deine Schwächen zu deinen Stärken machen ist essenziell. Nachdem ich Giles Greenwood[1] bei einem GB Camp gefragt habe, ob ich mehr Snatch balance üben sollte, sagte er nur zu mir „du wirst immer so schwach sein, wie deine Catch Position“, und diese Position hat mich durch meine Karriere hinweg verfolgt. Einen enormen Pull zu haben bringt nichts, wenn du das Gewicht nicht richitg in die Überkopf-Position übernehmen kannst. Es wird immer Schwächen geben, aber wenn du morgen ins Fitnessstudio gehst und deine Schwächen direkt angehst, werden sie verbessert und du wirst deinen Snatch voran bringen.

4. Pulls, Pulls, Pulls und mach es dann richtig!

Essenziell sind Technik und Stärke, ohne diese erbringst du nicht genug Leistung in der richtigen Position um den Übergang zum Snatch zu schaffen! Pulls betonen Kontrolle, ausgeführt durch das Hochziehen der Schultern und dann auf die Zehen stellen. Nur snatchen um deinen Snatch zu verbessern ist wie Auto fahren zu lernen unter Wettrenn-Bedinungen, du brauchst wirklich etwas Zeit, nur um an der Kontrolle und den Bewegungsmustern zu arbeiten.

Viele Anfänger schrecken vor Pulls zurück, oft weil sie weder den Zweck verstehen noch den Effekt spüren. Pulls geben dir nicht das Gefühl, dass du das Gewicht snatchen wirst, weil du und die Stange sich nicht wie in einem ganzen Snatch bewegen, aber keine Angst, sie werden dir bei deinem Snatch helfen. Ich empfehle 5 Sets von jeweils 3 Wiederholungen +10kg mehr als bei deinem besten Snatch lift.

5. Technik bringt nichts ohne Stärke

Die alte russische Weightlifting Forschung zeigt, dass der Snatch im Durchschnitt durch 60% von deinem maximum back squat ausgemacht wird. Wenn du ein paar WOD’s pro Woche machst und du Schwieirgkeiten mit deiner Beinstärke hast, empfehle ich Squats in einer anderen Session zu trainieren (oder zumindest vor dem WOD) falls du wirklich deine Leistungsfähigkeit verbessern willst, Beinstärke und schließlich dein Potential in den Olympic lifts sind dein Ziel.

Zum Schluss überlasse ich dir ein Zitat von dem 3-maligen Olympiadeteilnehmer und ex-GB national Coach, Mike Pearman:

„Du musst lernen deinen Snatch lift zu lieben.“

[1] 180kg Snatch, Britisher Rekord Halter und Commonwealth Gold Medalliengewinner

The post Snatch Lift: 5 Ways to Improve and Analyse your Technique appeared first on BOXROX.

A lack of endurance based training will leave large gaps in any Crossfitter’s fitness, and a well-developed aerobic capacity is an essential aspect of an athlete’s physiological skill set. Intensity is key, but endurance work that improves VO2 max will also have positive effects on your performance in many other ways.

THE THORAXTRAINER:

1. Improves VO2 Max
2. Core stability
3. Endurance
4. Strength
5. Provides over 50 different exercises
6. Now appearing in Throwdowns and Competitions such as the Oresund Games in Sweden.

HOW A HIGHER VO2 MAX AND ANAEROBIC THRESHOLD WILL BENEFIT CROSSFITTERS

• Improved conditioning across a broader range of different workouts
• Chris Hinshaw, endurance coach to Mat Fraser, Rich Froning and Katrin Davidsdottir noticed how improvements speed up recovery times between sets during strength work. This is also perfect for heavy EMOM workouts, to help you recover and prepare quicker for the next rep.
• A general improvement in endurance based workouts involving running, rowing, swimming and high rep rounds at lower intensities and weights.
• Endurance training is an effective way to develop mental toughness.
• Promotes structural changes to your cardiovascular system that will benefit your heart, lungs and long term health.

WHAT IS VO2 MAX?

VO2 Max is a measurement that refers to the maximum amount of oxygen the body can process at any one time. It is recorded as millilitres of oxygen used in one minute per kilogram of bodyweight. This is used to measure an individual’s aerobic capacity.

V = Volume

O2 = Oxygen

Theoretically, the more oxygen you can use during high-level exercise, the more ATP (energy) you can produce. This is often the case with elite endurance athletes who typically have very high VO2 max values. Nordic Skiing is a great exercise to increase VO2 max and anaerobic threshold (see below).

WHAT IS ANAEROBIC THRESHOLD/LACTATE THRESHOLD?

The anaerobic threshold is the level of exercise intensity at which lactic acid builds up in the body quicker than it can be cleared away.

Anaerobic threshold can be significantly improved through training. By raising the anaerobic threshold, an athlete will be able to sustain higher intensity exercise for longer. A raised threshold has very direct and positive consequences for any Crossfitter’s performance. An increase can help to improve your performance over higher sets of repeated exercises such as Wall Balls (we all know that feeling when the lactic acid kicks in during these!) or Burpees.

REGULARLY PLAY AND LEARN NEW SPORTS: NORDIC SKIING

Nordic Skiing is renowned for being one of the toughest endurance sports in the world. It is a functional, full body exercise that often requires the navigation of difficult terrain through adventurous and snowy conditions. Skiers cover great distances and the top professional athletes boast some of the highest VO2 Max measurements in the world when matched up against other endurance athletes such as triathletes and ultra-marathon runners. Often athletes will ski up hills, over mountain passes, through forests and this requires an enormous amount of technical skill, physical fitness and psychological toughness.

We are all well aware of how many great Crossfitters come from Iceland and Scandinavia as a region, and incorporating a few of their practices into our own training is a great way to improve as an athlete.

All Crossfitters know that at its roots, the sport promotes principles of constantly learning new skills and using them to apply, test and express your fitness. Challenging your body to perform new movement patterns, or pushing your mobility in different ways requires you to adapt and improve, and forces you to move out of your comfort zone.

BRINGING THE TOUGHNESS OF NORDIC SKIING INDOORS

Not all of us have access to the beautiful and wild Scandinavian countryside to ski, so the ThoraxTrainer brings that experience into Boxes and homes around the world. The movement is exceptionally faithful and authentic to the original, and this replication will push and test your fitness in much the same way.

CROSSFIT® SPECIFIC WORKOUTS INVOLVING THE THORAXTRAINER

These WODs show exactly how the ThoraxTrainer can be contextualised and used within a functional fitness setting.

WOD 1 

20 minute AMRAP

• 2 minutes on ThoraxTrainer with  30 sec doublepoling, 30 sec diagonal, 30 sec double poling on left leg, 30 sec double poling on right leg
• 10 Toes to Bar
• 10 Push Ups
• 10 Air Squats
• 10 Burpees

WOD 2

For time

• 500 m on ThoraxTrainer
• 50 Wall Balls
• 50 GHD Sit Ups
• 50 Thrusters
• 50 Bar Facing Burpees
• 50 Pull Ups
• 500m on ThoraxTrainer

INDIVIDUALISED WORKOUTS USING ONLY THE THORAXTRAINER

To improve your aerobic capacity, you can target separate aspects of your endurance with different styles of workouts. The ThoraxTrainer can be used to improve any of the following areas of your fitness:

• Aerobic Threshold: Steady workouts at a moderate intensity to develop fuel efficiency (burn fat), muscular skeleton system, and aerobic endurance.
• VO2 Max:Lower volume workouts, shorter distance intervals at higher intensities, and more rest between reps and/or sets.
• Speed Endurance: Very low volume workouts with interval distances less than 60sec. Extremely high intensities. Used to recruit fast twitch fibres and force them to develop endurance. Full recovery between reps and/or sets.
• Strength Endurance:Low volume workouts with high intensity intervals that include various explosive movements to recruit and develop your fast twitch muscle fibres.

PERFECT FOR ADAPTIVE ATHLETES OR INDIVIDUALS TRAINING AROUND AN INJURY

The ThoraxTrainer is also perfect if you have a quad or hip flexor strain for example, or any kind of injury such as a rolled ankle that requires you to avoid putting pressure on your joints. The movement is gentle and does dot exert the same kinds of pressurised jolts that your body receives through exercises such as Box Jumps, Bar Facing Burpees or Running.

The machine is designed so that an athlete can use it even from a seated position, making it incredibly versatile for an athlete that is suffering from an injury.

ACTIVE RECOVERY

The importance of active recovery for any Crossfitter should never be underestimated. The ThoraxTrainer can be easily factored into workouts in much the same way as a rower or air bike might be, to provide instantaneous and strenuous exercise, but it is also highly a highly effective tool for carrying out your active recovery on a rest day.

TEST YOUR FITNESS, BUILD A FORMIDABLE VO2 MAX

Never developing your anaerobic threshold and VO2 Max can have disastrous effects on your performances. On the other hand, making improvements will not only expand your capacity for endurance, but can shorten recovery times, raise your resistance to lactic acid build up (lactate threshold) and increase your mental toughness.

A strong VO2 Max is therefore highly important, and the sport of fitness promotes all round health and proficiency, so fortify yours through learning a new exercise.

Improve your aerobic capacity now

Train hard, train smart and constantly test yourself in new ways © Squats and Pixels

The Thoraxtrainer is helping Crossfitters to push their fitness even further. © Squats and Pixels

Expand your horizons © BOXROX

VO2 Max © ThoraxTrainer

The post The Importance of Developing a Strong VO2 Max for Crossfitters appeared first on BOXROX.

Nutrition and vitamins play a huge role in determining the effectiveness of your training, recovery and performance. The following 5 vitamins are essential to all these aspects of your fitness and for your general health. You should integrate them all into your daily meals and lifestyle (as food is not the only place they come from). Understanding why each vitamin is important, as well as knowing where to get it from will help to make this task easier for you, and allow you to easily improve your health, performance, training, recovery and wellbeing

5. VITAMIN C

WHY IT IS ESSENTIAL FOR YOUR BODY

Vitamin C helps to strengthen the immune system, assist the rate at which we can absorb iron and is an important antioxidant that regenerates other antioxidants within the body. The reduction of stress is a side function, but this helps you to stay relaxed and recover from high intensity training.

WHERE YOU CAN FIND IT

You can easily cover your vitamin C demand with foods like:

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Melons
• Oranges
• Strawberries
• Peppers
• Guavas
• Kale
• Kiwi

Supplements are not necessarily required. The daily demand of vitamin C amounts 100 mg (equal to one kiwi). The human body can neither store vitamin C nor produce it, so it is absolutely essential as a part of your diet. Symptoms of a deficiency are easy bruising and bleeding, joint and muscle pain and a weakened immune system.

The post 5 Essential Vitamins all Crossfitters Need to be Eating appeared first on BOXROX.

YOUR TRIBE, YOUR COMMUNITY, YOUR BOX

It is not a new fact that we belong to a fantastic community. This is shown in so many ways, and one of the most classic and iconic is the Box t-shirt.

Ever since the first Box opened, members from many different countries have been representing their tribes using t-shirts with their boxes’ name and logo on. In recent years there has been a huge development of “Boxgear”. Members don’t just wear the t-shirts anymore, but train and chill in hoodies, pants, shorts and so on, all with their boxes name on.

CHANNELING THE VIKING SPIRIT

One company that is at the heart of this is Northern Spirit. They mainly sell their clothing online to crossfitters worldwide, but a significant portion of their turnover now comes from customizing clothing for boxes all around Europe.

A video posted by @armaniussara on Apr 14, 2016 at 3:07am PDT

“We actually didn’t see this opportunity in the market when we first started Northern Spirit but rather quickly got questions from some Swedish boxes if we could provide them with their boxclothes” says CEO Niklas Carlson.

“The Swedish and European boxes were not used to the idea that they could easily get good quality, customized clothes that are actually great to workout in. Now we are providing a lot of boxes with their clothing. Hoodies, Sweatpants, t-shirts and Tanks are the most common stuff that we supply, but now we also offer customized tights and sportsbras.” Says Head of Sales Joakim Loveng.

BE A VIKING, BE A DOTTIR, BE A BADASS

“The cool thing about those products is that the print covers the entire piece of clothing so the box can get the product to look exactly how they want it. Say a box wants a clean pair of tights in one color with just a small logo on it. We fix it. If another box wants a crazy multicolored pair of tights with their logo all over the place, we can fix that too.”

“We really like the fact that we can help members of boxes express their sense of belonging and the pride they have in their box with clothes that makes them look good, and at the same time, are great to train in. We work hard to be a part of this community that we love so much, and our customized clothing is a great way for us to continue to help the community to develop.”

A video posted by Andrea Berggren (@andrea.berggren) on May 8, 2016 at 6:30am PDT

The pair of tights shown here are one of Northern Spirit’s own products, but is a great example that shows how they can produce tights that can basically look any way possible.

ABOUT NORTHERN SPIRIT

The Northern Spirit was not founded in 2013. It is a state of mind that has been synonymous with the whole Nordic region ever since time immemorial. The harsh Nordic climate and dynamic cultural history created the Vikings, known for their strength, endurance, fighting spirit and will to explore new territories.

The brand Northern Spirit was created in Sweden to translate the spirit of the rugged Nordic warrior into a clothing line. With durable materials, perfectly designed for any high intensity work-out. Inspired by the myth of the great north, today’s battles are fought in boxes and arenas around the world. The modern day barbarian uses barbells instead of spears and axes and the viking ships now transport our gear worldwide redefining the definition of true vikings.

FOR THE MODERN VIKINGS AND SHIELD MAIDENS OF THE WORLD!

Today Northern Spirit is a leading brand with products distributed worldwide. The extensive products-line features uniquely designed prints available on everything from t-shirts and hoodies to socks. All products are made using extremely tough and durable materials, perfectly designed for the modern day Viking and badass shield maidens that fight it out in boxes all across the globe!

Train in style now!

Channel your inner warrior! © Northern Spirit

#liftlikeadottir © Northern Spirit

Team Nordic killing it at the Madrid Regionals in Camo Northern Spirit tights © Northern Spirit

Train with everything you’ve got, and have fun in the process © Northern Spirit

The post Embrace the Viking Northern Spirit & Represent your Box in Style appeared first on BOXROX.

Olympic weightlifters use a special grip called hook grip that is relatively unknown and rarely taught to the average lifter. It is used for Olympic lifts and practiced when training with different broken-down elements of these lifts such as the “pull” portions.

There are only two Olympic lifts that meet true Olympic-standards, The Clean and Jerk and the Snatch. In both of these exercises, the hook grip is designed to stop the barbell from turning while gripped in the hands. The nervous system is smart and will sense danger. If the body feels that the grip being used is too weak for the weight being lifted, it will not allow the muscles to “fire” aggressively, in an attempt to protect the body. In other words, the nervous system acts as a built-in safety mechanism. Therefore, if we secure the grip to meet the weight, we rewire this protective mechanism and give the body a sense of security and stability.

DOESN’T IT HURT?

Yes it does, for the first few weeks or sometimes months. But you will get used to it and when you start feeling sorry for yourself, just remember that there are 56 kg (124 lb) guys who Snatch and Clean with the hook grip on the same 28 mm barbell that you do. Check out Long Qingquan Clean and Jerking 160kg.

If an athlete with hands that small can hold onto a weight that big with a hook grip, then you can find a way to manage.

HOOK GRIP TECHNIQUE

Wrap your thumb around the bar, then grab your thumb with your first two fingers and pull it further around the bar.

TAPING YOUR THUMBS

You can try taping your thumbs. Make sure you use elastic tape so your joints can move freely. Sometimes tape will have a bit more friction against the bar and make your grip feel more secure.

HOOK GRIP TIPS

• Be sure that you’re doing it correctly. Don’t just squeeze your thumb between your fingers and the bar. Make sure to wrap your thumb around the bar then lock it in with your fingers.
• When using webbings, with the first setting of your grip, push the webbing between your thumb and index finger into the bar as deep as possible, and then wrap the thumb and fingers. This will help you get more reach with the thumb.
• For most people, there is some stretching that needs to occur before the hook grip feels really secure. The best way to realize this is to simply use the hook grip every time you’re pulling a bar. Your thumbs will stretch out a bit and your hands will become trained to the position, and it will at the end of the day start feeling much more comfortable.
• You can also stretch directly by making a fist with your thumb placed tightly inside and ulnar deviate your hand; that is, tilt your hand away from the thumb side. You should feel a stretch around the base of your thumb and probably a little up into your wrist as well. You can also flex the wrist from this position to get an additional and somewhat different stretch.
• If you really want to torture yourself, do heavy Deadlifts with a hook grip. This will stretch your thumb out and strengthen the grip with less chance of a sudden slip than you would have in a snatch or clean, but it will also be painful. But no pain, no gain.
• Use Fat Grips. They will bring enormous effort , also if they are extremely grip exhausting.

The highest rated advice in any case is: keep using it as much as possible and as frequently as possible and it will improve.

WHEN NOT TO USE HOOK GRIP

The only exception to not use the hook grip is during a WOD with high reps of Snatch or Clean, as in “Grace” or “Isabel”, calling for 30 reps for time. It may be challenging to maintain your grip with the rapid change of direction on the bar. In this case, it’s all forearm; tap and go. Your lifts will be better with a hook grip but your time may be slower. It’s your choice. The hook grip is most useful on heavy training, maximal effort and intervals of low repetition or where there are a few seconds between reps and you can reset your body for another effort.

Get your Hook Grip right and you will improve your lifts © CrossFit Albuquerque

The post Hook Grip: How, Why and When You Should Use It appeared first on BOXROX.

In the summer of 1990, at the Sports Palace in San Francisco, legendary Romanian weightlifter Nicu Vlad unintentionally revealed to the world one of his strength training secrets. The lift, which was later dubbed the “Romanian Deadlift” had never been witnessed in the USA until that summer when he toured the country for training for the 1990 Goodwill Games.

THE BIRTH OF THE ROMANIAN DEADLIFT

“Part of the clinic was Nicu doing a workout where he cleaned and jerked around 220 kg to 230 kg, and then he proceeded to do this lift, a combination stiff-leg deadlift and regular deadlift, but actually neither. He did several sets, working up to 250 for triples.

Someone watching asked what the exercise was he was doing. Nicu just shrugged his shoulders and said it was to make his back strong for the clean. Dragomir also said the same; it was just a lift that Nicu had developed for his back and clean. Well, then everyone was really interested and asked Nicu to demonstrate it with lighter weights and describe how to do it. Someone taking notes asked what this lift was called. There was a long pause and Nicu and Dragomir didn’t have a name, so I said, “Let’s call it the Romanian deadlift or RDL for short,” and every one agreed and there you have the birth of the RDL.”

ROMANIAN DEADLIFTS

Romanian Deadlifts, or RDL, is an excellent lift for developing strength and muscle mass in the posterior chain. Whether your goal is a great physique, a bigger squat or deadlift, or to run faster and jump higher, when performed correctly, the Romanian deadlift involves a hip hinge movement and uses the muscles that are vital in performing other exercises in lifting, jumping and sprinting.

When it comes to the deadlift, the conventional method is viewed as the be-all, end-all in terms of application and effectiveness. That’s why its Romanian counterpart so often gets passed over.

Standard Deadlifts are typically regarded as the best movement to train the posterior chain. But bending the knees less – as the Romanian deadlift requires – actually encourage more posterior activation.

Unluckily, the RDL is a difficult lift to learn. Whether it’s the concept of neutral spine, loading the hips by pushing them back, or keeping the weight on the heels, there are definitely easier lifts as they are requiring more flexibility in the hamstrings, and more mobility at the hip joint.

MOBILITY EXERCISES FOR ROMANIAN DEADLIFTS

To get the mobility you need, first try this: Take a dowel or broomstick, and hold it behind the back, length-wise, while standing tall. Your head, upper back, and butt should all be touching the dowel, and your lower back and neck should not. Maintaining all of the points of contact, “hinge” your body forward to simulate a deadlift pattern. Make sure the points of contact stay intact. Return to the start position and repeat for 10 reps. If you can’t do this, keep practicing the movement until it’s easy.

Try this to help hip positioning:

ROMANIAN DEADLIFTS: TECHNIQUE

Start with a loaded set on a power rack set at a height that you can clear the bar off the pins in a normal deadlift lockout stance.  The bar can also start off the ground but don’t try to do a Romanian deadlift starting off the ground.  If you’re starting with the bar on the ground, deadlift it up as you normally would and stop at the top of the lift keeping your whole body straight but your knees unlocked.  Use the same overhand or mixed grip that is used in a normal deadlift.  Straps or an overhand hook grip may be used if you find that the weakest part of the lift is holding onto the weight.

What does matter is keeping your lower back tight and absolutely straight the entire time.

As you lower the bar toward the ground, go only as low as you can without rounding your back.  If you have fairly average flexibility, you should be able to touch your fingers to your toes with a rounded back.  You’ll probably only be able to bring the bar just below the knees without rounding your back.  It is at this point that you’ll feel your hamstrings stretched out to their fullest.

Unlike the stiff-legged deadlift, which Romanian deadlifts are often confused with, the legs don’t stay completely straight.  Instead, the glutes and hips are driven back and the knees bend slightly but the knees never move forward.  The barbell glides down along the legs the entire way and never leaves contact with the body.  When the hamstrings can’t stretch any further, pull the bar back up and drive the hips forward. The more repetitions you do, the lower your hamstrings will allow the bar to travel because of increases in hamstring flexibility.

KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER

1. Start the lift at the top.
2. Maintain a straight lower back at all costs.
3. Drive the hips back and chest forward.
4. Lower the bar down the legs, touching the legs the entire time.
5. Unlock to knees and allow them to bend slightly but don’t push them forward.
6. Go as low as your hamstrings can stretch with a straight lower back.
7. Bring the bar back up the legs.
8. Drive the hips forward.

Deadlifting for strength, power and toughness © CrossFit KMSF

Nicu using Romanian Deadlifts to strengthen his back for Cleans © i2

The post Romanian Deadlifts: A New Guide for Crossfitters and Weightlifters appeared first on BOXROX.

A positive mindset is so important for your motivation because it is the driving force behind success. When the going gets tough, thinking positive and not focusing on how hard it is will be the key to your success. Without this, no one will be able to motivate you to keep going. It has to come from yourself. No one but you can know whether you are really working as hard as you can. The following 5 methods and concepts will help you to become your strongest self, both physically and mentally, and achieve those goals that you have silently set yourself in the most ambitious corners of your mind.

1. STAY CONSISTENT

Once any athlete starts seeing results, they get hungry for more. It is basic human nature to want to continue to perform behavioural patterns that yield results, and to see and feel that sense of progress and achievement manifesting itself in real results.

It is here that consistency is such an important part of athletic progress. In order to constantly strive and improve, you must think about the way that you set and understand your goals.

Long and Short Term Goals

Goal-setting works in many different ways, because people are often motivated by different end targets. It is a great thing to dream big and have ambitious aims, but these take time to achieve, so it can be tremendously useful (and important) to have smaller milestones to aim for along the way.

For example, say your goal is to hit 10 unbroken Bar Muscle Ups. This is a clearly defined aim, and should be celebrated when you achieve it. However, it’s important to also reward yourself when you hit your first Bar Muscle Up. Then when you manage 3 in a row, then 5 before you finally manage 10. In this way you can integrate these smaller milestones into the overall process, and link together consistency with psychological rewards.

If you only set your sights on the large end goals, without paying attention to smaller milestones as well, you run the risk of overwhelming yourself, and not noticing your consistent progress in the smaller, daily activities, which will end in a dip in your motivation.

Tracking workout times and PRs is a good way to follow your overall progress. The Freeletics Gym App will do this for you, by recording every workout and every second of progress Each of these highly efficient gym workout is developed by professional athletes and sports scientists to help you achieve long lasting results. For example:

FRIGGA

• 8 rounds for time:
• 10 Thrusters
• 5 Pull Press
• 10 Sumo Pulls

Note: the weight will be calculated by the app according to your ability.

2. KEEP A POSITIVE MINDSET: FIND A NEW GYM EXPERIENCE

The fact that you are already reading this shows that you are not satisfied with any kind of mundane gym routine which neither challenges nor truly pushes you beyond your limits. You strive for more. You want more and you want to become your best self. To achieve this, you simply need a barbell and weights. Nothing more.

Incorporating a constant variety of exercises and workouts into your training will push your strength, endurance, conditioning, technique and mindset to their very limits and force them and yourself to adapt and progress. There is nothing better for improving mental toughness than to push through your limits into new ground, and that is exactly what the Freeletics Gym program does. You will be constantly challenged with exciting and varied workouts as part of your overall program. Take the conditioning workout TYR for example. This will destroy your legs and core, but also test your mental toughness.

TYR

• 5 rounds for time:
• 10 Lunges
• 10 Front Squats

3. USE A PROGRAM TAILORED TO YOUR SPECIFIC GOALS

Whether you are male or female, an experienced athlete or a total beginner that has never used a barbell before, a program that is specially tailored to fit your exact needs will help you to succeed. It will also help you to develop mental strength over time and repeated behaviours will be forged into habits.

With your tailored Freeletics Gym program, you choose your goals:

• Tone your body
• Lose weight
• Increase fitness
• Become an athlete
• Build muscle

With each workout, you will give feedback on how difficult it felt, was the weight doable or did you have to reduce it? Did you manage to complete the rounds without any large breaks between each rep? These answers will go into determining future workouts and gaining an even better understanding of your exact level, as well as how quickly you are progressing.

Mentally, this helps you to keep pushing your limits without setting impossible tasks that would be counterproductive. Progress takes time, and this is especially true with building fitness, strength, power, conditioning and technique.

4. MAKE USE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISMS TO INCREASE YOUR MOTIVATION

Staying motivated can be tough, so you should always remember why you started. In those cold wet mornings, or the moments when you are tired and spent, always keep those motivations in your mind.

Make Excellence a Habit

Changing your habits and behaviour is not easy. It takes time, effort and patience. Making excellence a habit, something that you perform every time, is a great way to start. Integrity is doing the right thing even when no-one else is watching, so bring that into every aspect of your athletic development. Start by never cutting any corners, completing every rep as perfectly as you can, pushing yourself beyond what you think you are capable of.

The Freeletics Gym app has many built-in psychological mechanisms that promote this attitude and mentality of excellence.

• All the weight you lift is tracked so that you can see how much iron you have shifted in tons. Over time, this builds up and can be incredibly motivating to see you have lifted 50,000 kg in the last three weeks for example.
• All your PRs for lifts and workouts are tracked.
• All your training sessions are recorded. This allows you to easily see how much work you have put in.
• Points system: for each workout you complete, you will be rewarded with a points scheme. This is decided in relation to how difficult the workout is, how effectively it is completed and how much total weight is lifted.

5. THE NAVY SEAL 40% RULE

You know that feeling when you hit the wall, when you are completely spent and feel like you can’t go on? Well in those moments, according to the conditioning of the Navy Seals, you are really only about 40% done, so you still have 60% in the tank. This is a psychological rule that is taught to Navy Seals to promote mental toughness. So the next time you think you’ve given everything you possibly can, get up and keep going, because you’re not even halfway finished. This takes time to implement into your mentality and training, but keep it in your thoughts and it will help to make you a mentally stronger athlete.

Freeletics Gym is designed to create the ideal conditions for the progression, physical betterment and psychological hardening of each individual. Workouts get progressively tougher, heavier and more intense as you progress and adapt. Aside from this, the personalised programming will often throw in a workout that you have never tried before, designed to test you and your mental toughness to your very limits and beyond.

Become your strongest self.

Be your strongest self ©

Break your limits © Freeletics

Believe in yourself © Freeletics

The post 5 Ways to Build a Steel Body and a Positive Mindset appeared first on BOXROX.

The structure of Crossfit EMOM workouts are pretty straightforward, and can be scaled to suit every fitness level, from beginners right through to elite athletes.

Most EMOM’s generally last between 10 and 30 minutes, but there are many other variations.

THE EMOM METHOD

You set a timer, then on each scheduled minute, perform the exercise(s). You then rest for the remainder of each minute. When the second minute starts you do the exercise(s) again. Repeat this process until the 10 to 30 minutes are over.

This way of structuring a workout is very intense and time efficient. Due to the time pressure you should watch out not to get careless about the form of the exercises! Always complete every repetition correctly and properly, even if it takes longer, and you have less time to rest between each set.

One of the benefits of EMOM is that they can be designed to challenge and develop a wide range of different aspects of your fitness. They can be programmed to train:

• Strength
• Endurance
• Coordination
• Technique under fatigue
• Conditioning
• Mental toughness

EMOM workouts are guided by the clock, which makes them easy to track your progress. You can always see how many seconds you needed for each rep, and determine whether you get faster over time. Make sure that there is always a break between the beginning of each minute. The break is part of the workout so you shouldn’t plan too many reps in your EMOM.

CROSSFIT EMOM WORKOUTS FOR STRENGTH

As a rough guide for strength EMOM workouts, 80% of your 1RM is a good guideline to go on.

This method is very variable. You can involve any exercise you want, especially the ones you are weak at to improve them. But you should change the routine regularly.

10. STARTER EMOM WORKOUT

Let’s start with an easier one first.

• 10 minutes
• 5 Air Squats
• 5 Push-ups
• 5 Crunches

The post 10 Crossfit EMOM Workouts that all Athletes Should Try appeared first on BOXROX.

Powerlifting consists of the “Big 3”. Backsquat, Deadlift and Bench Press. Seems familiar to you? You’ve done them before right?

Well check out the power of these folks and read about how and why Powerlifting Exercises will improve your Crossfit Performances.

1. IMPROVE YOUR PHYSICAL STRENGTH

All the other guys hitting their RX´d WODs, but you have to scale. Again?

You see people smashing heavy back squats and you have no clue how they not break on two by facing that weight?
Add Powerlifting to your training!

Powerlifting has  one pure target, which is to make you stronger. Much stronger.

Often Crossfitters have some problems with building pure strength, as an exhausting WOD demands a lot of recovery time. So it makes sense to add in a Powerlifting program for a limited period of time. This will allow you to focus on these exercises and develop a solid base of strength. Or improve on your current level.

2. POWERLIFTING WILL INCREASE YOUR MENTAL STRENGTH

Working with those heavy loads requires extreme focus. All the movements are highly demanding and can lead to injuries if done incorrectly. So next to strength and power in your body, Powerlifting will significantly improve the strength and power of your mind. This is useful for many aspects of Crossfit as the sport of fitness requires enormous mental fortitude and toughness.

3. IT DEMANDS TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE

As mentioned earlier, Powerlifting movements are highly demanding. Smashing big loads presupposes perfect technique in every of these exercises. So make sure you work on your technique before going heavy. This will always help you also outside of Powerlifting. Most lifters exercise for a long, long time with pvc pipes or empty bars before adding weights. Working in a dedicated way to master the techniques reinforces this practice for everything else you do as well.

BENCH PRESS

DEADLIFT

SQUAT

4. HELP BREAK THROUGH TRAINING PLATEAUS

Have you been stuck with your 1 rep max back-squat for too long time?

Clean and jerks still suck, neither can you free yourself out of the deep Squat Clean position nor get the weight overhead once you’ve made it to your shoulders? The “big 3” will help to fix this.

Building enormous strength in your legs and core are preconditions for every heavy lift. Using Powerlifting, with all the Squats and Deadlifts will do exactly this. And even if Bench pressing is disputed within Crossfitters, it is one of the best exercises around to build your shoulders. Even if it’s the legs that make a successful jerk, it’s the shoulders that finish and hold the move.

5. IMPROVE YOUR EFFICIENCY IN OTHER CROSSFIT EXERCISES

It’s easy to imagine the benefits of a strength and conditioning training plan on your Crossfit workouts. Improving your Squat and Deadlift will help you with nearly every exercise in a WOD. Fly to your Box Jumps, get the next heavier kettlebell, even rowing will start to seem easier.

This is in addition to the awesome feeling of smashing PR´s in your Back Squat, Front Squat, Deadlift, Clean…

And with the help of a strong Bench Press, also your Overhead Squats, Pull Ups and other presses will increase.

Time to give it a try!

The post 5 Reasons why Powerlifting Improves Crossfit Performances appeared first on BOXROX.

Inevitably over the course of our training lives, we will suffer some form of knock, niggle or reoccurring problem. This normally sees us take a step back from certain movements that aggravate the body part in question or, train around them, lunges instead of squats etc. However, occasionally we may get an injury which means the above isn’t an option, training has to completely stop and is no longer a concern, the focus shifts to be much simpler. Focus is purely on trying to recover from the injury and get healthy again to be able to train again further down the line. Whilst sounding negative this doesn’t have to be as bad as it sounds…

NOT JUST IBUPROFEN

The types of injury in question are those that require some form of professional medical treatment, not just a trip to the doctor, something like a bad break or surgery. This may sound quite depressing, however, many of us go through injuries of this nature more often than we realise. It is only when you do so that it becomes apparent they are quite common and things can get quite frustrating when training is a large part of our lifestyle.

Being told that in order to get back to full health again we must have a period of inactivity in order to let our body recover is tough, it can make us feel weak, like any past efforts are wasted and that we will never get back to the point we were at.

This doesn’t have to be the case, research has shown that by having positive perceptions of how we will recover and having less fear of re-injury when eventually returning, we may have a higher rate of success in recovery[1]. Inevitably, being told we will have to take some time away from what we love doing will be difficult, however, we shouldn’t let the diagnosis and recovery period deter our mind-sets. We should aim as much as we can to keep a positive mind-set, only we can control that, no one else.

Doubts about how we are progressing or about how well the treatment is working will creep into our minds. When this happens it is important to remember exactly what the experts who treated us advised! Have confidence that everything will work out okay and look forward to getting back, we should try to imagine recovering well and returning strong no matter how severe the injury.

COPING WITH INJURY: PLAYING THE WAITING GAME

The same research also showed that by setting goals during recovery and through the period of returning to training we can recover better than others. Quite obviously we will have a lot of time on our hands whilst lying in bed to mull things over and plan. It can be easy to lose enthusiasm and focus of what the end goal is. We will be limited in this period to what we can do, but the important point to remember is that over time we heal. Everything improves with time and it is only when looking back we realise how far we progressed.

So, don’t wait until the end of recovery to reflect and set goals, be proactive.

At first this may only be getting some stability in the injured body part or getting up to make food. As time goes on it may be trying to walk around as much as possible, then, some light exercises where our body allows, pull ups, non-impact exercise etc anything that doesn’t put too much stress on the injury or body. Just set small time based goals that at first will seem pathetic but will eventually help us heal and keep us sane!

The goals we set will be far removed from those before the injury and this also goes for the goals upon returning. It is unwise to think that if we squatted 180kg and ran a mile in 6 – 6:30 minutes that we will do so within a few weeks of getting back to training. Often we hear that rest is important when training to allow our bodies to recover, however, the rest we will be doing is for much more than just recovering from training. It is essentially recovering from a trauma well outside the norm so all our bodies energy and efforts have gone into that, our fitness will obviously take a hit. The sooner we accept this and get on with setting smaller, realistic goals the sooner we will be back to our old standards. Remember, goals are all relative.

THINGS HAPPEN, DEAL WITH IT

Whilst this may seem blunt, once we accept the above it will put us in a better position to do exactly what we need to, deal with the situation. No matter how much we wish an injury didn’t happen or how much we wish it will heal faster two points remain.

1. It did
2. We’re not Wolverine

Okay, so the second one is tongue in cheek, but essentially my point is that nothing will change the situation and we will heal when we heal (which is different for each individual) so accept this. The reasons why an injury has happened to us are a mystery, however, we can use the time to reassess if we were training correctly and take a step back to assess how to best move forward.

• Was our training getting the most out of us?
• Did we eat right prior to getting injured?
• Was our recovery after sessions adequate?

Most importantly…

• How can we improve the above when we start training again to get fitter than before?

Taking the time to evaluate and re-design any areas of weakness is invaluable, it provides us with an opportunity we wouldn’t normally get. This is to view ourselves as an outside party, remove ourselves from our day to day training and assess things as if we are someone else, almost independently coach ourselves.

So, if you are in the unfortunate situation of being injured for the longer term I hope this helps, it is a painful situation to be in and can get really frustrating. But take some time, be positive, set some goals and accept you are where you are. Doing this might just help us to come back stronger than before.

[1] Wierike te, S.C.M. et al, Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 2013, 23: 527-540

The post Injury: How to Cope, Recover and Return Even Stronger appeared first on BOXROX.

The acronym AMRAP sounds weird at first, but it’s a simple concept and adds a new dimension to your usual training routine. Besides “as many reps as possible”, it can also mean “as many rounds as possible”.

An AMRAP workout works like this: You have a certain number of reps of each exercises to complete in every set before moving onto the next. Once you have completed all the sets you go back to the start and begin again. That counts as one round.

The aim is to perform either as many reps and rounds in the given time. Between the rounds you can take little breaks but they shouldn’t be too long, since time is limited. The aim is intensity. AMRAPS are scored by the number of reps and / or rounds you completed in the time frame.

PERFECT FOR ATHLETES OF ALL LEVELS

No matter if you are a total beginner or an elite athlete, this format will be challenging. If you need to do band-assisted Pull Ups, or Press Ups on your knees instead, then do that. AMRAPS can be easily scaled to suit all abilities, the right attitude to give it all you have is the most important thing!

Most AMRAPS tend to be between 5 – 30 minutes long, but there are many exceptions.

This kind of workout is very intense and time efficient. It’s individually challenging due to the possibility to create a personal plan for every skill level. You can integrate all kind of exercises and it presents a perfect mixture of strength and endurance training.

AMRAPS ARE A GREAT WAY TO:

• Burn fat
• Test your mental toughness
• Improve your technique under pressure and fatigue
• Build strength and conditioning
• Increase your capacity for working well at a high heart rate
• Testing your physical limits

Due to the high intensity, these workouts are exhausting. They are tough, but that makes them rewarding and useful. If you are new to the AMRAP style of workouts, take the time to think about the following tips.

TECHNIQUE TIPS: PACING

Think about your pacing. For longer AMRAPS, this is especially important. Be smart about how long the workout is, should your pace be the same for a 3 minute AMRAP and a 30 minute one? No, probably not. Work slightly harder than you think you can, and you will be surprised at what you are able to achieve.

BREAKING UP SETS

If you know you have 10 rounds of 30 Wall Balls, but these aren’t a strength of yours, then try breaking the sets down into smaller chunks of 10 or less. This will also help you psychologically to get through the workout at a good pace.

CONTROL YOUR BREATHING

This is exceptionally important! Concentrate on your breathing and make an effort to control and regulate your breaths. This will ensure that you don’t burn out in the first 2 minutes, and create a rhythm that you can use for the rest of the AMRAP workout. Rich Froning is an excellent example of an athlete that does this well. For more tips on this, check out the article on his breathing techniques.

Pick one of the following 10 Workouts and give it a try. If you spot one you’ve tried before, then re-test yourself to see if your scores have improved.

10. BODYWEIGHT AMRAP

A deceptively simple workout to begin with. These are all bodyweight exercises, so you can try this one anywhere.

• 10 minutes
• 10 Push-ups
• 15 Air-squats
• 20 Crunches

The post 10 Crossfit AMRAP Workouts for Athletes of All Levels appeared first on BOXROX.

The Zone diet states that a food plan with a balanced ratio of carbohydrates (40 percent), protein (30 percent), and fat (30 percent) is the optimal mix for how the human body is genetically programmed, and will allow the body to enter an efficient metabolic state (what is called “The Zone”). Certain foods (including sugar) are excluded, and the method is used to:

• Stabilize insulin levels
• Avoid spikes and dips in hunger levels
• Reduce the risk of inflammation
• Minimize the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure

DEVELOPMENT OF THE ZONE DIET

The Zone diet was developed and introduced by Biochemist Barry Sears P.H.D, a biotechnology research scientist from MIT, In 1995. His debut book “Enter the Zone” launched his ideas, and the Zone diet has since gone on to have a huge worldwide impact for elite athletes, everyday Crossfitters and health conscious individuals.

The diet is actually very logical and healthy. A major goal is to eat regularly, 5 times a day. Don’t starve yourself, eat your food and balance your insulin levels in order to establish lifelong wellness.

Many diets require you to you eat the minimum, lose weight and kind of starve yourself. But in zone diet it’s completely different. Starving yourself is forbidden. And yeah you heard it right. Starving yourself is FORBIDDEN! Eating times are regulated and protein, carbohydrate and fats are eaten with all meals.

BENEFITS OF THE ZONE DIET

When it comes to benefits of this great diet, it’s simply introduced in 5 bullet points:

• Shedding excess body fat at the fastest possible rate
• Maintaining wellness for a longer period of time
• Performing more effectively
• Avoidance of energy dips which result in poor quality thinking and tiredness
• Slowing down the rate of aging

“Controlling diet-induced inflammation is a life-long effort. It is inflammation that disrupts the hormonal communication in our cells that prevents us from reaching peak performance. Making the dietary changes to reach the Zone and stay there may initially appear difficult, but are well worth the effort.” Barry Sears

It’s great to see this idea, it’s life long diet. Not a non-permanent thing. It’s basically eating enough and eating healthy. As a result of treating your stomach and body in right way, in the end you will have a healthy mind and body! That’s great, right? Simple and good. All you need is a little determination for starting this long life habit.

The zone diet is all about BALANCING and COUNTING your meals.

THE ZONE DIET IN PRACTICE: DIVIDING YOUR MEALS INTO BLOCKS

“The first thing we need to do is establish a system to easily measure and create meals that are balanced with this 40:30:30 ratio. We do this through “blocks”:

A block is a unit of measurement that equals 7 grams of protein, 9 grams of carbohydrates and 1.5 grams of fat.” Barry Sears says: “You don’t have to do blocking, if you have a one eye and one hand, you can do it wherever you go. It’s not that hard.”If you don’t have a proper way to calculate or measure your food Sears adds: “Divide your plate into three section. And how much? You can calculate with palm of your hand.”

• Protein – 7 gm of your plate, add some lean protein, about the size and thickness of your palm. This could include egg whites, fish, poultry, lean beef or low-fat dairy.
• Carbohydrates – 9 gm of your plate, add a lot colorful vegetables and a little fruit. Fruits and vegetables to avoid are those that are high in sugar (e.g., bananas, carrots, grapes, raisins) or starchy (e.g., potatoes, corn).
• Fat – 1.5 gm. This could include olive oil, avocado, nuts.

RULES OF THE ZONE DIET

• Water is your best friend
• Sugar is your enemy
• Pasta, bread, rice, potato, banana, grape, carrot, corn and flour are FORBIDDEN!
• If you want to burn fat, you need to take fat from food. (Olive oil and fish oil are good)
• Eat 5 smaller meals a day
• Within an hour of waking up, you need to eat your breakfast.
• Each portion of protein that shouldn’t be bigger than the size of your palm.
• Always measure and calculate what you eat.
• “STARVING IS FORBIDDEN! “
• Balance is everything: No cheating.

“YOUR FOOD IS YOUR MEDICINE”

Barry Sears says: “Food is your medicine and your ticket to that state of ultimate body balance, strength and great health: the Zone.” Dr. Sears has also written extensively on the increasing obesity rates over the last decade. One reasons behind this high number of cases is based on diets that are too high in sugar, which is turn spikes insulin levels and in extreme cases can lead to the onset of type 2 diabetes.

Zone diet promotes the importance of polyunsaturated fats such as the kind found in avacados, nuts, vegetable oil and fish for example. This also encompasses Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.

CROSSFIT AND ZONE DIET FOR PERFORMANCE

The Zone diet is similar to the Paleo diet in many ways in terms of what it recommends you to eat and avoid. You must always count your protein, carbs and fat. And of course, blocking is the most important thing in order to determine the correct ratios.

Many CrossFit athletes prefer to follow a mixture of paleo and zone diets, and will often find a balance between the two that works for them.

“Diet is paramount to optimizing human performance. Our clinical experience proves the Zone Diet, by Dr. Barry Sears is the best nutritional model for optimal performance.” Greg Glassman

The post The Crossfitter’s Guide to the Zone Diet appeared first on BOXROX.

Crossfit exercises can seem like a lot to take in at first. If you are new to the sport of fitness, or have just started, then you probably understand that it can seem a bit intimidating sometimes, especially at the beginning. These 9 exercises will give you a good feel for what to expect and what you will learn. Whatever your current standard, don’t worry, there is no pre-determined level of fitness that you need to have before you begin. All you need is the willpower to take the first step on your new journey.

All in all the Crossfit community is a pretty friendly place. You will be pushed to your limits and get much, much fitter, and it won’t be easy. But you will also meet great people and have fun in the meantime.

Firstly: never forget dynamic stretching to warm up!

Stretching and mobility is an essential part of Crossfit, but firstly, lets focus first on a few of the exercises you will come across.

ARE YOU READY NOW? SO LET’S GET STARTED!

8.AIR SQUATS

A simple and essential movement. Once you learn this you will progress onto many different variations. Once you get the hand of this and begin to add in a barbell as well, then this exercise will start to make you very, very strong!

The post 8 Important Crossfit Exercises for Beginners to Learn appeared first on BOXROX.

AMRAP WODs are common in Crossfit. Because AMRAPs challenge you to push as hard as possible, they are one of the best types of workouts you can do in effort to reach your fitness goals.

AMRAP workouts accommodate all levels of fitness. They are also beginner-friendly. So regardless of your skill level, you can participate and benefit, they allow everyone to do the same workout at their own pace. One individual might finish 5 rounds in a 20-minute AMRAP while someone else finishes 7. It doesn’t mean that one person worked harder than the other. In fact, they probably worked at the same intensity! Usually the person who finished 5 rounds is just as fatigued at the end as the person who finished 7.

Not only do AMRAP WODs force you to work super hard during the entire workout, they also have a time limit on them – which makes them a little mentally easier to get through than time challenge workouts since you know the pain will only last so long.

BENEFITS OF AMRAP WODS

1. Time Efficient. Because AMRAP workouts are done for a specific amount of time, they are usually designed to be under 30 minutes. There aren’t many other ways to get a full body workout done in that amount of time!
2. Stresses the importance of form. AMRAP workouts have a specified number of lifts and exercises for each round. Crossfit coaches start you off slow, ensuring your form is correct. Without getting the proper technique and form perfected first, you run the risk of injury when trying to do the lifts for time. However, once you get the form right, the number of rounds you complete during an AMRAP drastically improves!
3. Good measurement of progress. Because there is a metric you can measure based on the AMRAP, you can test your progress every so often to see how much you have improved! That means, these are good for anyone to start and continue doing, regardless of fitness level.
4. Similar results as endurance training. Doing short, high intensity workouts such as these regularly have similar endurance benefits as running or biking for an hour or more a day. Not only that, but it works your entire body and does not just focus on one area such as your legs, arms or core.
5. Improves strength and conditioning. Most AMRAP workouts include a wide variety of movements and lifts that test your strength, flexibility, and conditioning.
6. They can be done almost anywhere. Whether it is at your favorite local Crossfit box or somewhere outside, if the AMRAP doesn’t require a lot of equipment, the possibilities are endless.

Check this AMRAP generator.

You can do nearly every WOD as an AMRAP but here are…

5 AMRAPS ALL CROSSFITTERS MUST TRY:

1. CINDY

• 20min AMRAP
• 5 Pull-ups
• 10 Push-ups
• 15 Squats

2. MARY   

• 20min AMRAP
• 5 Handstand push-ups
• 10 1-legged squats
• 15 Pull-ups

3. NICOLE

• 20min AMRAP
• Run 400 meters
• Max rep Pull-ups

4. Open Workout  16.4

• 13min AMRAP
• 55 deadlifts
• 55 wall-ball shots
• 55-calorie row
• 55 handstand push-ups

Men deadlift 225 lb. and throw 20-lb. ball to 10-ft. target

Women deadlift 155 lb. and throw 14-lb. ball to 9-ft. target

5. Open Workout 13.5

• 4 minute AMRAP
• 15 Thrusters (100 / 65 lbs)
• 15 Chest to bar Pull-ups
• *4 minute bonus for every 90 reps (3 rounds) completed.

The post 5 AMRAP WODs for Crossfitters that Love a Good Challenge appeared first on BOXROX.

A big plus of CrossFit® (I know, there are many!) lies in its simplicity. A few bars, weights and a creative mindset is enough to get started. No gym machines, no treadmills, no wellness program. Hence it enables many young entrepreneurs to open their own box on a manageable investment. In case you are one of them: Here is what you really need to turn passion into profession!

THE RIG – HEART, ENGINE AND CORE OF ANY BOX!

Undoubtedly the rig is the centre of attention in every box. It provide stations for squats and presses as well as pull ups, dips, toes to bar, muscle ups … a (seemingly) simple steel construction that facilitates thousands and thousands of different WOD variations.

With regards to its importance, the diligence of its purchase must be equally as high! The rig will have to prove 110% stability each and every day. It must withstand a whole group of Crossfitters swinging on it, smashing it with barbells and the like. Therefore high quality steel (with a thickness around 80mm), strong weld seams and solid construction is an absolute necessity. Before you decide to look for a provider, take a look and where possible, try it out for yourself. Also, official EU-wide applicable safety certifications like the ISO 20957-1:2013 are pertinent to ask for as well.

Besides the stability, the grip of the bars is a point of huge importance. There is nothing more frustrating than failing your pull ups during workouts because of a slippery surface. A sand blasted and well coated bar will help to prevent grip fatigue – and will potentially save spending on chalk!

Furthermore, we recommend looking for details such as numerated holes for the J-Cups (so you can avoid slanted bars on the initial set up) and holes also at the bottom part of the uprights (to set up a barbell for floor presses or fixing a band for numerous exercises such as banded planks).

FREE STANDING OR WALL MOUNTED?

Both options come with pros and cons, and the decision should largely depend on the size and shape of the facility. While a long but narrow room benefits from a wall mounted rig (to provide more space in the centre of the room), the free standing variation fits well with a broad or squared arrangement, where it provides a higher number of squat and pull up stations. Additionally, the free standing rig is often eye catching and impressive, while the wall mounted set up feels more stable to some people.

In conclusion: There is no one-size-fits-all solution. HOLD STRONG’s “Build your Gym” provides countless combinations and possibilities to create a rig that matches all the spatial conditions as well as your exact idea of function and design. This includes optional stainless steel for outdoor installation! They also offer a photorealistic 3D planning service to make your ideas and thoughts visible and prevent any bad surprises. Along with delivery, assembly and maintenance, HOLD STRONG is on your side all the way to the first WOD.

FLOORING – THE PROVING GROUND

The right gym floor can be a topic that causes sleepless nights. Nothing fun, nothing fancy, just of essential importance – like the salt in your food. So what should you consider?

The gym floor has to protect the concrete on the ground from dropping three digit weights from a 2m + height. It also has to absorb noise while limiting the weight’s rebound at the same time.

Gummi granulate is a very popular choice that fulfills these requirements perfectly. The material is recycled, reasonable priced and easy to clean. A thickness of at least 10mm ensures protection and sound absorption, also is also suitable for a second level facility.

The floorings are sold in squared or puzzle shaped single pieces so that it can be easily laid without additional glue or tape, and cut into shapes that fits into corners and around objects. Also, single tiles can be used to set up temporary “lifting platform” outdoors – an amazing option for the summer!

Floor from the roll can be laid even faster and is therefore a good solution for huge areas. The gaps between the rolls are minimised which creates an overall smooth surface and is free of any tripping hazards.

BUILD YOUR BOX – BARS AND PLATES

Weightlifting is, and will always be, the main part of CrossFit, so don’t save in the wrong place. Make sure to provide bars that are actually made for the daily, intense usage and can handle chalking, dropping and slamming. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a pure olympic or powerlifting bar –  the hybrid variations, on the contrary, are the perfect variation for WODs that could combine a power clean with a squat and so on … just make sure that you provide both male (20kg weight) and female barbells (15kg, shorter and with a smaller diameter).

Note: 60% of all box member worldwide are female! So don’t make the (common) mistake to order more material for your male athletes, also because man can always use a women barbell while the converse is more of an issue.

Without a question, the choice for plates should fall on bumper plates. They absorb shocks, noise and protect your floor, bars, nerves and neighbourhood’s peace of mind. Gummi granulate is, just like the flooring, an amazing material to soften the dropping of heavy barbells, it looks good and is technically unbreakable. Plates made out of harder rubber are usually lower in price but provides less sound insulation and have a higher risk of splitting due to the lowered shock absorption.

Plates with the IWF standard collar opening of at least 50.40 – 50.80 mm will match all regular Olympic bars.

CARDIO MACHINES – KEEP ROWING!

The indoor rowing machine is not only a nice-to-have thing, but a must in every CrossFit box! So make sure you provide at least one rower for every 2 spots you offer in a class.The Concept 2 is a classic: Smooth with a natural pulling motion, it is robust with a long battery life and various programming options to suit any WOD.

… and all the rest!

The following items would ensure your members could participate in the CrossFit® Open as well as in any other qualification or benchmark WODs. In other words, they allow them access to the amazing variety of physical challenges that this sport has to offer:

• Kettlebells (starting from 4kg up to 32kg)
• Jump Ropes
• Pylo boxes
• Medballs (in 4kg, 6kg and 9kg, optional 10 – 12kg – don’t choose any other brand than Dynamax, since cheap balls can really be a pain!)
• Gymnastic rings and straps
• Ab Mats

Next to these essentials, there is so much fun stuff like dumbbells, matador dips, benches, climbing ropes, slam balls, atlas stones, parallettes, sleds, yokes … not to mention all the mobility tools, chalk bucket and decorations for your changing and shower rooms. It is indeed a broad project so approach it with a plan, carefulness and the right supplier alongside!

Build your Box now!

A top quality rig is the heart of any decent Box © Squats and Pixels

Quality gear: quality performances © Squats and Pixels

Full effort = full victory © Squats and Pixels

The post Build your Box – Stop Wishing, Start Doing! appeared first on BOXROX.

So what should you think about when choosing a barbell? What should you look for and how do you know which one is right for you?

The first step is to understand all the specifications, how they work and how they are measured. From there you can judge what you need by how you train, what your goals are and how much you want to spend. Put simply, a barbell is the foundation of strength training.

BASIC SPECIFICATIONS

Women

• 15 kg (33 lbs)
• 25 mm diameter shaft
• 201 cm (6.5 ft)

Men

• 20 kg (44 lbs)
• 28 – 29 mm diameter shaft
• 220 cm (7.2 ft)

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

SLEEVES

The sleeves are the sections at the ends of the barbell that hold the weights. The sleeves use bearings or bushings in order to allow for rotation. Take a sleeve in your hands and your will be able to spin it on the shaft. This allows for movement of the plates, but with low quality barbells, often the sleeves can completely separate and detach from the shaft altogether. Take a closer look at this Bearing Barbell to learn more.

BUSHING OR BEARINGS? 

• Bushings are a low friction material that are set between the sleeve and the shaft.
• Bearings spin more smoothly, and are actual bearings that rest between the sleeve and shaft.
• Bearings are normally found on the highest quality bars, but unless you are a professional lifter or an elite athlete, bushings also work exceptionally well. This also often comes down to personal preference but if you get the opportunity, it is always interesting to lift with both to identify the subtle differences for yourself.

KNURLING

This is the textured, cross hatching surface of the Barbell. It helps you to grip, and the roughness of the texture varies between different barbells. For beginners, it is important to maximise how easy the bar is to hold for all lifts, but this factor comes into play with much more force when you start to aim for a 1 Rep Max on your Deadlift for example. If you have ever lifted with an old bar that has had all the Knurl worn off, you will understand what a huge difference a top quality Knurl actually makes to your lifts and grip.

Technique Tip: For Snatches, if you favour a wide grip it is a good idea to choose a barbell with knurling that extends all the way to the edge of the sleeve. That way you can be sure to give yourself the best grip possible, in relation to your own lifting style.

If you work out shirtless, or with strappy tops that leave your back exposed, then it’s also good to choose a barbell that has a smooth section in the middle. This will ensure that the knurling doesn’t rip or scratch your skin during exercises such as Back Squats.

KNURL MARKS

These are the bands of smooth metal strips that run around the shaft of the bar. The inner Knurl mark is for Powerlifting and the outer for Olympic Lifting. They help you with your grip placement during lifts.

Many athletes, because of their arm span, height and other factors will find their own personal preferences for using these marks, but they are an essential and important part of every good barbell. An advantage of milled, smooth Knurl Marks is that it makes them easier to find without having to sight them every time.

Think of performing the WOD “Grace”. Here you have 30 Clean and Jerks for time. Some athletes will go unbroken, and maintain a strong grip throughout. However, if you need to pause for even a second to breathe and release your grip without taking your hands off the barbell, then clear, well defined Knurl marks make it incredibly easy for your hands to naturally find the right groove without you having to completely reset before you begin again.

THE FINISH

Barbells come in a wide range of finishes, from steel, chrome, zinc and black to many other colours. Stainless steel has the advantage of being rust free, so if you enjoy training outside, or in wetter conditions, then it is perfect.

As in functional fitness, function comes first, but a barbell is a lifetime investment, so of course you want to choose one that fits your sense of individual style as well. Why not look damn good when you hit that new Overhead Squat or Snatch PR?

BARBELL STRENGTH

There are several measurements that are used to determine the strength of a barbell

1. Tensile Strength: This is the maximum load your bar can support without fracturing or breaking.

2. Yield Strength: How much weight the bar can handle before it becomes deformed.

3. Test Strength: This means that the bar has been loaded and tested with weights, and there was no bending or breaking. A tensile strength rating is usually reported in (PSI) pounds per square inch (or pounds per 2,5 cm2)

Higher = better.

CHOOSING A BARBELL

So now let’s look at how you would apply these features of a barbell in practice, and decide which one is right for you. The following are two different types of Barbells from the Suprfit Warrior range.

1. Suprfit Warrior Eco Bar

The Eco Warrior Bar is perfect for beginners up to experienced athletes that train in Weightlifting, Powerlifting and Functional Fitness. This bar is perfect for your favourite exercises from Deadlifts to all Olympic lifts, and because of the great price this bar is the perfect for your garage gym or box.

• Length: 220cm
• Weight: 20kg
• Grip diameter: 28mm (IWF and IPF knurl marks)
• Sleeve diameter: 50mm
• Sleeve length: 420 mm
• PSI-Vale: 150.000+ (Pounds per 2,5 cm2)
• Maximum load: 450 kg
• Material: Spring Steel
• Color: Black / Chrome
• Finishing: Manganese Phosphate (shaft), Chrome (sleeves)

2. Suprfit Warrior Elite Bar

This is aimed for intense workouts and elite athletes that demand high standards. The Warrior Elite Bar is manufactured according to the IWF standards and is even suitable for elite level competitions (and prep).

• Length: 220cm
• Weight: 20kg
• Grip diameter: 28mm (IWF and IPF knurl marks)
• Sleeve diameter: 50mm
• Sleeve length: 420 mm
• PSI-Value: 180.000+ (Pounds per 2,5 cm2)
• Maximum load: 680 kg
• Material: Spring Steel
• Colour: Black / Chrome
• Finishing: Manganese Phosphate (shaft), Chrome (sleeves)

Both these barbells have dual knurl marks for Powerlifting and Olympic Weightlifting. They are both 20 kg and made to the same regulation measurements.

The Eco Warrior bar is an excellent choice for a first time barbell. It has a solid maximum load, good strength, high quality Knurling and the sleeves are created using drawn-overmandrel (DOM) tubing, a machine process that ensures exact straightness and precision.

You will notice that the Elite bar has a higher PSI value, showing that it is stronger, and can withstand greater weights and punishments without bending, warping or breaking.

Another highlight on the Warrior elite bar are the small grooves on the sleeves which make for a firmer grip of the plates. For more advanced athletes, or those training for competitions, these small details can make big differences. When you are competing at a high level, you already know how important it is to give yourself all the advantages you can.

Both are fixed with snap rings instead of bolts, which is the superior choice. Don’t choose bolts! Always go for snap rings instead as they are much more durable in the long run.

HANDLING THE BARBELLS

It is not advisable to drop or throw down the Eco Warrior Bar, but since when has anyone ever thrown down an EMPTY bar in triumph? Of course when bumper plates are attached then it is totally fine to do so. The Elite Barbell on the other hand should be able to handle anything that you can throw at it.

A GOOD QUALITY BARBELL IS A LIFETIME INVESTMENT

A good Quality Barbell is a lifetime investment and you should take time and care to select the right one for you. Before you decide, you need to think about how you train and what you are looking to achieve. If you are training for general fitness, pushing yourself week in, week out to get better and improve, then a bar like the Eco Warrior is the perfect choice.

If on the other hand you aim to push towards a higher level and perform at more of an elite level, then the Warrior Elite becomes the sound investment to help you achieve those targets.

Find the right Barbell for you.

The structure of a Barbell © Suprfit

Choose wisely, a barbell is an investment for life © j&j fotografie

The Suprfit Warrior Bearing Bar © Suprfit

The Warrior Elite Bar © Suprfit

Excellence is a habit © Suprfit

Work hard and become the athlete you want to be © j&j fotografie

The post The Crossfitter’s Guide to Choosing a Barbell appeared first on BOXROX.

You squat, you lift, you swing and keep getting rewarded by a sore back? Do you keep having trouble with lower back pain? No matter how much you keep stretching, massaging or foam rolling – it just won’t get better? In most cases it’s actually pretty damn strong. Your butt may just be the bigger problem!

LOWER BACK PAIN THROUGH GLUTEAL AMNESIA

Yes, I said your butt is most likely the problem. Scientists, especially Dr. Stuart McGill, have shown, that the bigger part of our population is not able to control their gluteal muscles correctly. That includes professional athletes! It’s the main reason we keep not using our glutes for their main job: hip extension. See also Michael Boyle’s Strength Coach Blog

Too bad the glutes may just be one of the most important muscle groups in our body. They are the main source for power generation. And are also referred to as the source of eternal youth – if you want to believe world known  strength coach Dan John on this one. I guess he’s on to something here as everyone will agree that a round, sexy and well trained butt is mostly associated with health and youth.

The missing ability to tightly flex your glutes is referred to as „gluteal amnesia“. In easy words: your butt fell asleep and is still sleeping“. The term gluteal amnesia was found by the Canadian back specialist Dr. Stuart McGill since he recognised more and more people suffered from this syndrome.

WHY AREN’T WE ABLE TO SWITCH ON OUR GLUTES?

A very good question. I have to admit there’s no definitive answer. It is rather a mix of different reasons. As always it’s got a lot to do with our sedentary lifestlye. Too much sitting causes a lot of problems. One of it ist that we unlearn some of the most basic human movements. Our fascia tightens, we loose mobility and muscular strength. All of this starts most likely with our very first day at school. Unfortunately this „big day“ for our little ones is also the day they cannot escape from our „sitting society“ anymore.

As our butt keeps getting more and more inactive – it kind of falls asleep – and we keep loosing the ability to use it properly. That sucks. Because our buttocks contain lots of potential, power and strength. If we use it in its original way. It is literally a goldmine regarding power development and health.

Let’s be honest. What in this beautiful world is made without meaning by mother nature? For sure not your booty. Without strong glutes you will note be able to stand upright or to extend your hips properly. This issue will be taken care of by your hamstrings or the erector spinae. These guys have to work extra hours in order to make up for your lazy glutes. As they need to work some extra time they are more likely to burn out early. Usually by cramping. This may also be chronically over time. Which means you now have a big problem, bro.

DO YOU HAVE GLUTEAL AMNESIA?

Really bad forms of gluteal amnesia are usually seen in elderly people or hardcore office guys. To check whether you have some form of gluteal amnesia perform Michael Warren Brown’s Butt Awareness Drill (BAD):

Lie down on your back, slide your hand underneath your cheeks and flex each cheek after the other. Switch constantly between left and right and flex them as tight as you can. Does that work without any cramps in any other parts? Good, there’s hope for you! You do not know how to flex your cheeks? There’s no hope for you, my friend. Switch to chess!
Of course not! Even if this is an impossible task at the moment, there’s nothing you can not (re)learn. Just repeat this drill as often as possible trying to switch on your gluteal muscles as hard as you can. It will finally work and be as easy as breathing.

Only because this drill works good for you does not mean you are done with this topic, though. Gluteal amnesia may as well mean that you are not able to keep your belt line parallel to the floor while standing or moving in an upright position. This is the first sign of gluteal amnesia. This concept was first released by Laurence Morehouse and Leonard Gross in their books „Total Fitness“ and „Maximum Performance“ in 1980. They are describing a woman that effortlessly glides over university campus and keeps her beltline parallel to the floor at all times. Unfortunately this is not the case for most of our population. We are more likely to let our hip kip to the front. We call this anterior pelvic tilt. This will let our beltline look down towards the floor.

The solution is to flex your glutes tightly. As if you want to crack a nut between your cheeks.

Try it. Get up and check your beltline. Is it parallel? Imagine there’s a big bowl of water inside your pelvis. You are trying to not spill any of the water while moving through space. Do you keep pouring water out the front of your bowl? Then squeeze your cheeks tightly. Your bucket should be straight now as you now have a neutral pelvis. The anterior pelvic tilt is a problem we see very often with people. Especially those with a sedentary lifestyle. Most likely the problem lies within weak glutes.

WHY DO I NEED THIS?

Your pelvis should be neutral. Always. No matter if you sit down, stand up or else. This is to relieve your lower back. If you are in a neutral position any force as well as your bodyweight will divide onto several body parts. Therefore you are pain free. Even while training, for example in the kettlebell swing, deadlift or the upper position of a goblet squat, your belt line should be parallel to the floor. Make sure you always pay attention to this.

You are missing out on a huge potential for power development if your glutes are too weak, for you are not able to use them properly. And you will work on your own destruction step by step. Sounds weird, but if your glutes are not doing their job regarding hip extension someone else will do so. Most of the time it’s your hamstrings or lower back. As they will tighten due to the extra work your body will try to make up for this by also tightening its anatagonist: your hip flexors. Because your bodies goal is to stand upright. Period. No matter the cost. That leaves you with weak glutes, tight hamstrings and a sore lower back as well as a stressed out hip flexor. Happy Birthday, mate. It will take quite some time to fix this, but it is possible.

YOUR SOLUTION: STRENGTH AND MOBILITY

The most important point is to use a holistic approach. You need to get stronger in your buttocks. This will be achieved by squats, lunges, hip thrusts, pistols, split squats, sled sprints etc. If you do need a special plan you may want to try Bret Contrera’s 30 Day Glute Challenge. It is suppossed to be good. From my point of view though it is only really good if you use it as add-on. Squats, Deadlifts and Lunges simply give you the best bang for your buck! If you are already familiar with squats I’d rather use squat programs.

You should never forget to work your mobility as well. Not only mobilising your joints but also working on your fascial release is very important. Learn more about how to release your fascia properly on my HEARTCORE Athletics Blog or YT channel.

Finish strong, Art

The post Gluteal Amnesia: Are you Unlocking the Full Potential Power of your Hips? appeared first on BOXROX.

The bar Muscle Up is actually harder than doing a strict Muscle Up on the rings. The bar is a non-moving object, which can make it especially difficult for the athlete to get into the position to press out. Unlike the rings, which can move out of the athlete’s way, the bar requires the athlete move around it.

Before you try to attempt this, you should be proficient with:

• kipping pull-ups,
• kipping chest-to-bar pull-ups and
• dips but overall:
• And especially with strict pull-ups.

If you don’t have a strict pull up yet, then a Bar Muscle Up will be more than difficult to accomplish. Development of the latissimus dorsi, trapezius (upper and lower), supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis are important, not just for strength, but also for protection of the rotator cuff muscles and the back. Working on the above exercises will help to strength these muscles and they are particularly important in allowing you to successfully Bar Muscle Up.

GRIPPING THE BAR

Practice to attempt to grip the bar with the thumbs under the bar and progress to end the movement with a False Grip.

A bar muscle-up is a complicated enough skill without adding the additional task of rotating your hands around the bar as you transition from pull-up to dip.  Using a false grip eliminates the need.  It also feels stronger at the top of the pull-up when using a false grip.

GRIP TECHNIQUE THROUGHOUT THE MOVEMENT

You want your thumb above the bar, and the bar resting on your palm, not in your knuckles.  In doing so your wrist will be bent forward a good bit. To get the benefits of the false grip, it is unnecessary to go to that extreme, at least when working on an explosive muscle-up (the easiest variation).  You really just want to be sure your palm is on top of the bar (or close enough that it will naturally rise during the transition).

HOW TO GENERATE MOMENTUM AND THE IMPORTANCE OF CORE STRENGTH

Practice doing Pull-Ups with an exaggerated range of motion. Instead of stopping when the bar is below your chin, pull that sucker all the way down past your chest. Get as far over the bar as you can

Not only is the strict pull up important to the bar muscle up, but so is core strength. The most important core movements that help with the actual bar muscle up movement are:

• Hollow Body into a Hollow Rocker
• Arches into Archer Rocks
• Hollow to Gymnastics Tuck
• Parallel L-Sit

The momentum you can generate from your hips can make or break your Bar Muscle Up. Maintaining a strong core throughout is key, because if you lose your midline, you’ll lose your momentum. So, practice your kipping.

“Execute your explosive Pull-Up, slightly releasing your grip on the way up to transition you hand position to go on the bar and then, as you get to the highest upward trajectory point you can possibly achieve, flip your elbows forward and push down with your arms, pressing your body up onto and over the bar”

THE STEPS OF THE BAR MUSCLE UP

1. SWING

Start with your arms around shoulder width apart and try and keep a slight bend in your arm, since doing a muscle-up from dead hang is hard work!

2. EXPLOSION

This is the part where you explode into the pull-up, and is the most complex part of the muscle-up to master. To do the pull-up you want to bring your knees up to your stomach, and then instantly pull-up and kick out at the same time to get the upwards momentum. By bringing your knees up to your stomach, you are moving them to the place they want to be at the end of the pull-up movement, therefore the pull-up is only focusing on getting your upper body above the bar. The kick part should also help the explosive part of your pull-up, just remember to keep your feet together.

3. PUSH

The final part is the equivalent of the push part of a dip. When you feel your weight is over the bar, lean your weight on the bar and bring your elbows up and behind you, then push up until you have straight arms.

4. REPEAT

To turn one Muscle Up into multiple Muscle Ups you’ll want to make sure you drop down off the bar in a smooth way, the reverse of how you pulled yourself up. If you just drop down you will lose any momentum, so try and drop off slightly behind the bar so that you return back into the initial swing, ready to then pop back up into your next rep.

HAVING PROBLEMS?

These common problems might be holding you back:

Pulling ‘into’ the bar?

You probably try to pull-up too early. Wait a little longer after you have reached the peak of the swing before pulling, that way your momentum is heading only slightly backwards rather than forwards.

Swinging over the bar wildly?

The best form possible is with minimal swing, however in the beginning most people feel they need more swing to help them over the bar. Start the muscle-up with a smooth and gentle swing; enough to get the motion but not enough to ruin your form.

Getting one elbow up, then following up with the other?

You are doing the “struggle-up”. This makes your muscle-ups look pretty terrible. Some find this is a stepping stone to getting a muscle-up in good form. But concentrating on good, symmetrical form avoids picking up bad habits early.

So good luck with your Bar Muscle Ups! Let us know which tips you find useful, or any other methods that worked for you.

The post Crossfit Beginners: How to get your First Bar Muscle Up! appeared first on BOXROX.