Not even just 'Frenemies?" CrossFit and the NPGL

The teams of the inaugural season of the NPGL. (adapted from NPGL.com)

You ever notice how there are those combinations of things that just ought to be GREAT, but ultimately, just fail to stick together? Vinegar and oil. Mentos and Diet Coke. [Insert some trendy celebutant] and [Insert some other celebutant]?!

Who are these people?! (Just kidding, Ozzy rules!!)

I'd have thought, after 10 years of steady growth, of really enjoying the thrill of kicking pretty much the entire fitness industry in the collective nuts (1), CrossFit TM would enjoy a new bit of friendly competition. It certainly gives another aspect into the dominance they have over the performance fitness universe they ultimately built from the ground up (2). Or, given that seemingly 90+% of their on- and off-Grid talent is coming out of the CrossFit community, the NPGL would be eager (or at least not reluctant) to name what appears, at least for now, to be the very best way to get in shape for their new sport!

Instead, we get this weird radio silence. Which isn't EVEN as good as if there were outright hostilities, so at least we'd all know where we all stood. Nope, this is like when parents are fighting, but the shouting has stopped... and the house is now icily quiet. Every one keeps their heads down, tries not to drop anything, or in any way add to the tension...

I've watched two 2-hour NPGL competitions so far. Wall-to-wall in CrossFitters. I literally JUST watched some of them at the CrossFit Regionals this year. They interviewed them. The C-word never ONCE came up. I can ONLY assume they've been banned (or at least strongly warned) against using it, but why? Marcus Hendren is on the DC Brawlers, who just edged out the NY Rhinos (still not sure about the name, kids). Why do I know who the goober with the iffy hair who exercises really well is? CrossFit. His interview? "I'm here with the team, we're gonna try to work together, communication, Grid, opportunity, Grid, Brawlers.... blah blah blah." Not one mention of "I came in fourth place to some seriously god-like MFers at the Central East Regionals, which means *I'm* pretty much god-like, and I'm gonna rip some shit up and show people what CrossFittians can do!! Hendren SMASH!! "

"Hendren SMASH!!" If he didn't yell that, it was a missed opportunity. (carrotsncake.com)

On the other hand, the NPGL commentators were reduced to having ***NOTHING*** to talk about. Where did all these ridiculously fit young (and slightly older) fitness athletes come from? Apparently vomited forth from the Grid itself, given there was NO background given for anyone. There was much talk about "generalists" vs. "specialists," which *I* know meant "well-rounded CrossFitter" vs. "powerlifter/gymnast specialist." Which again, would be OK if there was enough discussion of that actually means, in other words, who's made what trade-offs in their training. 10 heavy deadlifts coming up? Gimme a cockstrong deadlifter who can lift 10x as much, so can bomb through them! Need someone to knock out 20 bar over burpees? Apparently (according to the DC/NY match) a gymnast is what you need to bomb them out in 20 seconds... but WHY is that the case over a generalist? You know, and *I* know, but to whoever might be discovering the sport on their own... there's just NO background, no discussion....

"So, this guy comes to us from... uh, whatever. You know? Just... whatever, man. You're not my dad." (shutterstock.com)

From the other camp, CrossFit has seen fit to try to hype up EVERY big name convert to the sport.... but to very little effect, so far.  Footballer Discovers CrossFit. Basketballer Discovers CrossFit. Opera Singer Discovers CrossFit. Oddly enough (as awesome as each of those stories was), there's never any follow up. Why? Probably because when someone from an EXTREMELY skill-based sport, which is also EXTREMELY competitive just to make it to the highest levels, who has already completed 99.9% of the work to be at the top, adding in some CrossFit to the mix won't make that much difference.(3)

Granted, the CrossFit influence on the world of Olympic weightlifting have been (and will continue to be) massive, with record-breaking attendance numbers and participation... and some pretty impressive numbers being posted by CrossFitters in their debut meets. And NO ONE shies away from saying what gym a competitor lifts at, CrossFit or not.

But NOW, here's an entire sport LITERALLY grown out of the fertile land Coach Glassman tilled and sewed with his free online workouts for crazy people. (OK, can you have a *literal* metaphor? Bah...)  Nearly every single competitor is from a CrossFit gym, and if NOT, *that's* interesting, too. Who ELSE is creating athletes good at this? Don't we want to know? I do!! Are ALL former-college gymnasts bound to be good? Former collegiate football players? Some sub-set? Where do they train? How do they train? Maybe its just me being a coach and all... but to me, the training is as exciting as the final competition. Maybe even more so. That one-second fault for a bad tag doesn't mean as much if I don't have a good feel for which team seems like they *ought* to win, based on training and experience. Which means constant and repeated mentions for various CrossFit (and other) gyms. Which means free advertising for the Mothership. But I guess that's a... bad thing? Also, athletes being paid to be athletes, which is a model CrossFit has never once even dabbled with, so does it still count as competition? Again... is that a bad thing? How many professional "CrossFitters" are there? Rich and Samantha clearly made good cash last year... how many others made enough to live on? Any?

I guess when I started writing this, I was sort of hoping I'd stumble into some sort of epiphany about why things are the way they are between CrossFit HQ and the NPGL. (For the record, every time I use both names in a single sentence, I get a thrill of excitement. I sort of assume I'll get a letter from the Russels or mocked by Drywall. This paragraph is made of pure internet win... and or fail. We'll see.) In the end, I don't know. I just don't know. How is Crossfit not a sponsor of the NPGL? Is Reebok planning on swooping in? Their CrossFittian shoes ought to be just as stellar for Grid workouts, no?

Oh, Flying Spaghetti Monster, my eyes, MY EYES!! Somewhere, Coach (Baby) Mark just started giggling and he doesn't know why. (pfitpfun.com review of the Reebok ATV 19x, and they apparently LOVED them... oof. My eyes.)

In the end, I got nothing. I ought to have two things to really like, without worry that, like bickering parents, there's suddenly going to be an all-out war and eventual divorce... which would suck for everybody involved.

Notes:
(1) Yes, for all the powerlifters and bodybuilders, and basically everyone else who ALREADY had a gym obsession, CrossFit has been and always will be stupid to you, because it doesn't meet your goals. That's perfectly OK. In the same way that doing the same three lifts (and an infinite number of accessory lifts) and wearing 3-ply canvas underwear is stupid to me (it really is), that doesn't mean that what powerlifters do in pursuit of a 1,000# squat is any less valid. Its my opinion. Yours is yours. Opinions are like assholes. Mine smells like roses.

(2) Yes, some other names helped build the foundation and provided competitive support along the way. This isn't about them, and not having TV, I don't have to hear their annoying-as-crap infomercials anymore, so I can't even remember the names. Q-80-Z? Linsanity? Was that a thing?

(3) Now, those kids we're building from the ground up with massively improved General Physical Preparedness and solution sets... gonna be monsters. Go google the Martin kids from CrossFit Brand X. MONSTERS.

10-11-23: Handstand PushUps, Deadlifts, Pull-Ups, Double-Unders

CrossFit WoD for Saturday, November 20th, 2010

Seven five rounds for time of:

• 5 Handstand push-ups
• 185# 135# Deadlift, 10 reps
• 10 Chest to bar pull-ups
• 20 Double-unders

Austin Malleolo 7:51, Kevin Montoya 8:58, Rich Fronning Jr. 9:14, Travis Holley 9:42, Rob Orlando 10:19, Laurie Galassi 10:36 (125lbs), Kristan Clever 10:40 (135lbs), Chris Gosler 12:15, Danielle Edmundson 13:08 (125lbs), Rebecca Voigt 13:29 (135lbs), Elyse Umeda 14:08 (125lbs), Heather Bergeron 14:09 (135lbs).

---

WOD Demo with the women of CrossFit Santa Cruz - video [wmv] [mov]
Kristan Clever and Rebecca Voigt by Again Faster Equipment  on today's WOD- video [wmv] [mov]
Miranda Oldroyd on today's WOD- video [wmv] [mov]
Kevin Montoya on today's WOD - video [wmv] [mov]
Austin Malleolo on today's WOD - video [wmv] [mov]
Rob Orlando on today's WOD - video [wmv] [mov]
Heather Bergeron on today's WOD - video [wmv] [mov]

---

Yes, that does suck as badly as it looks. I can't even kick up correctly, so I end up doing mine facing the wall after scrabbling up backwards like some sort of sweaty, pale crab. Exercise makes you dead sexy. (crossfit.com)

Eva T. in perfect starting position for a deadlift. Note the *utter* lack of back rounding and the completely extended arms. Rounded back and bent arms are both signs of very bad deadlift technique. I fight both every single rep. (crossfit.com)

My kingdom for a pull-up bar with the clearance to allow either a kipping pull-up or a chest-to-bar pull-up. (crossfit.com)

Buddy Lee Coaching the double-under. This form is fantastic, as she doesn't appear to be jumping much higher than she would for a single bounce. I'm still working on this, along with most of the rest of the CrossFit Universe. (crossfit.com)

Decided to try to tackle this little beastie, but hit CrossFit Brand X for a suitable scaling.Went with "the pack" scaling, as above. After warming up and active stretching, I spent a good amount of time (10-15 minutes) trying to figure out how to kick up onto the wall into a good handstand push-up (HSPU) position.  In all that time, I think I managed to actually try to kick up fewer than 10 times, and most of the rest of the time was spent in me hissing 'F'ing Pansy!' at myself. Utter failure. So, I stretched a bit more, and resigned myself to doing my usual embarrassing scramble up the wall so that I face it (I'll need to get it recorded, since it is my goal to NEVER have to do it again sooner rather than later...).

Hit the HSPUs as hard as possible, still nowhere near a full range of motion, but definitely MORE range of motion than I've ever done before, which is a very good thing.  Could I have saved some time just going with a HSPU progression (check the video above in the workout description, they show several variations, included foot-elevated pike push-ups) as a scaling?  Probably. But I know HSPUs ought to be in my reach, so I'd rather loose the time and deal with a more limited range of motion for now, knowing that it should pay off overall. I hope.

Deadlifts were ok. 135# is light for me, even for a set of 10. However, having just done twenty of them at 245# yesterday definitely left me with a few sore spots that revealed themselves a few reps in. I'm still working on my set-up position.  Again, check the video above (or here, you lazy shit), and note that I think, in hindsight, that my back may have been too vertical. I think I definitely need outside coaching on this, as it seems like I have to go vertical to get my back into correct extension. While that may be true for my physiology, I'd like to have someone else ascertain that, or bark out a 'bend the knees more' or 'raise your butt, dummy!' where needed.

Pull-ups.  I just didn't have these today. I did one set on our pull-up monstrosity, and realized that if I kept up with that, I would end up failing in the second round.  I ended up doing the rest of them as jumping pull-ups on the frame of the Smith machine. Admittedly, at first I focused on drawing out the negatives (the downward motion out of the pull-up), but for the final few rounds, I was just trying to get my chin over the bar as fast as possible.

Double-unders. I am your medieval biotch. There, I said it, ok?  Can I *please* string just two together now, please and thank you?  Terrible day with double-unders. I had more luck nailing one from a literally dead stop (I had enough to practice today...), but couldn't manage to get even two to string.  Well, that's not entirely true. At one of the later rounds, I did get 5-6, but I was already so gassed that I could barely keep count.  Coulda been just four reps for all I know.

Total time: @28:30

There was a lot of sucking wind time between rounds, and I lost just a ton of time sucking at double-unders. i seriously feel that, had i been more concerned with a good time and gone with tuck jumps, I could have shaved at least 5, if not 10 minutes off my total time.

10-09-27: Deadlifts and Pushups, and a Pull-Up Ladder, Too

CrossFit Workout for September 27th, 2010
Ten seven rounds for time of:

• 135 pound Deadlift, 15 reps
• 15 push-ups

Chris Spealler 6:45, Karianne Dickson 9:59 (95lbs). My scaling courtesy of the fine folks over at CrossFit BrandX.

20 minutes later:

CrossFit Workout for September 26th, 2010
With a continuously running clock do one pull-up the first minute, two pull-ups the second minute, three pull-ups the third minute... continuing as long as you are able.
Use as many sets each minute as needed.
Score is number of minutes completed.

The deadlift. Using every single muscle in your body. (crossfit.com)

Perfect push-up form. Again, full body control. (crossfit.com)

 First things first: the deadlift is a terrifying lift.  It seems so simple, and yet so easy to do wrong.  Basically, done right, it makes you hold your lower back in a rigid arch, and the work you do is putting weight on that rigidly held structure. There is no curling, no ballistics.  Just hanging a weight off the end of the spine held in rigid extension.  Done correctly, its probably the safest, most basic movement the human frame is capable of: pick something up.  Do it wrong, with a back NOT held in rigid extension, and you're hanging that weight off of the various soft tissues that your spinal erectors should have been holding, subjecting your spine to terrible shearing forces, and putting you in grave danger of a serious injury. (Well, theoretically. It's a testament to how awesome the human body really is that there are not more injuries from poor technique.  Still, why take the risk, and why accidentally avoid the work the exercise is *supposed* to be creating for you?)

So, with that in mind, the Mark "Coach Rip" Rippetoe video series on proper deadlift form:

• Deadlift Alignment Part 1 [wmv][mov]
  
• Deadlift Alignment Part 2 [wmv][mov]
  
• Deadlift Anatomy [wmv][mov]
  
• Deadlift Arm Position Lecture Clip [mov][wmv]
  
• Deadlift Back Angle [wmv][mov]
  
• Deadlift Setup [wmv][mov]
  
• Deadlift Starting Angles [wmv][mov]
  
• Deadlift Starting Position Intro [wmv][mov]
  
• Deadlift Cues, Pat Sherwood [wmv][mov]
  
• Deadlift Intro Lecture Clip [wmv][mov]
  

Push-ups and pull-ups oughtta be easy enough. We'll revisit pull-ups when we get there.  So, while moderating the weight-room, I was happy to have a single position couplet to perform, since there is NO mobility to move from station to station in a small weight room jam packed with useless machines and 30 stinky high school boys.  Took the barbell, weights, and mat out into the hallway and got myself set-up.  I knew going in that trying to do all 10 rounds as Rxed would be insane, and opted on the full-weight, full-rep version of CrossFit BrandX's scaling.  There was another variation of only doing 10 reps of each exercise each round for ten rounds, but doing it my way gave me five extra reps.  I didn't want to scale the deadlift weight, even though 135# to Chris Spealler would have been more like 85# to me.  Meh. So, cranked through the first 3 rounds at about a minute a round...at that point, Speller was already annihilating me! After that, things started slowing down rapidly.  I tried to keep sets unbroken, but by the 5th round, that was just beyond me. The weight never really got heavy...I just couldn't breath!  At least I was out in the hallway.  In the weight-room it was easily 15 degrees hotter, and 100% humid (and stinky).  Its bad when the mirrors are all opaque with fog...  Fought my way through the last few rounds.  The last two were easily 2-3 minutes each. At this point, I realized I still had another 45 minutes down there with the little beasties.  The weight-room itself was starting to clear out, the mirrors were slowly starting to un-fug.  Remembering that the previous day's workout was "just" a pull-up ladder, I decided to rest up for a few more minutes, probably 15 total, and do that workout, too!  I've been experimenting with really full-extension pull-ups, really dropping all the way down to total rock-bottom, so I tried to do those for this workout.  Being the second of the day, and with my forearms already shot from the first workout, I honestly wasn't too optimistic about going for more than 10 rounds, at best.  And not being the best at pull-ups, it wasn't going to break my heart either way.

OK, this is a kipping pull-up. But its one of my favorite pull-up pictures of all time! (crossfit.com)

So, I started up the clock, and started banging out pull-ups. Man, the first 4 minutes are so easy.  Even the 5th minute, not too bad.  The 6th was a wake-up call, when I could only complete 4 reps at first.  Switched grip to chin-ups (palms facing me) and did the last 2 reps, also full extension.  Things went downhill very rapidly.  7th minute involved three sets, and the 8th involved 4, with the last one coming at about the :56 second mark for the minute. I could maybe have pulled out one or two more reps in the final minute, but decided that, for an impromptu second workout, I could be happy with 8 minutes! Today's musical inspiration: 2 Many DJs - As Heard on Radio Soulwax, Part 1.

10-09-07: Rowing, Front Squats, GHD Sit-ups, Box Jumps

CrossFit WoD for September 7th, 2010

Five three rounds for time of:

• Row 250 meters
• 135 95# Front squat, 10 reps (having a squat rack would make this much easier...damn)
• 15 GHD Sit-ups
• 20 Box jumps, 24 20" box (LOVE this video)

Scaling inspired by the fine folks at CrossFit BrandX

Jason Khalipa 14:03, Chris Spealler 14:29, Kristan Clever 14:59 (95lbs, 20" box), Rory McKernan 15:27, Peter Egyed 16:24, Elyse Umeda 16:35 (95lbs, 20" box), Kim Malz 22:44 (105lbs, 24" box).

Lotsa rowers. I want one. (crossfit.com) 

Awesome front squat technique and depth. (crossfit.com)

GHD Sit-up demo. Entire anterior (front) chain needs to contract to whip the
upper body all the way up. This does NOT isolate abs or hip flexors,
but uses the whole set of muscles together. (crossfit.com)

Much MORE than 20" box jump! (crossfit.com)

Total Time: 16:40


I forgot the fan I bring down into the airless sweatbox I work out in, and I realized after the second round that I couldn't really slow down my breathing or heart-rate at all. Decided to try plowing through round 3, and really thought I was going to pass out, so capped it there.

Opted to leave the box jumps in, since replacing them with double-unders always seems to leave me in worse shape than if I just risk my knees and go for it.  I tried to be *super* aware of my landings, and my initial post-workout soreness is very minimal, so hopefully that maintains.  If not: ADVIL!!!

I had a fairly rough week, nutrition-wise between my last workout (a week ago! EGADS!) and today, so I wasn't really surprised that I was feeling a bit sluggish. I was also up way too late last night, partially making my zone shake for the morning commute, and partially finishing a great Scientific American article.  Should have just read it on the commute.  Oh well...

I felt strong on the rowing, the front squats were full depth, and I had some mixed success getting the bar to rest on the front of the delts, as shown so amazingly in the picture over there on the left.  The weight should NOT be riding on your hands/wrists/elbows, since those structures will absorb some of the energy out of the squat, rather than directing it straight to the bar as the delts do, especially in active flexion. So that was pretty cool. GHD sit-ups were what they were.  I think every set was broken up into 10 and 5 reps, since at about 9 reps, my hips felt like they were gonna explode. I think in a good way, and I suppose I could have tried to fight through it, but with my lungs about to explode from the rowing and squats, it really wasn't that big a deal.

10-08-02: Squat-clean thrusters and Pull-Ups

CrossFit WoD for August 1st, 2010

Five rounds for time of:

• 135# Squat clean thruster, 5 reps
• 10 Chest to bar pull-ups

James Hobart 3:57, Rob Orlando 3:58, Dave Lipson 3:59, Josh Everett 4:15, Ben Bergeron 4:45, Eric Magee 4:54, Graham Holmberg 5:24, Myles Lewis 5:45, Pat Sherwood 5:50, Stacey Kroon 6:10 (95lbs), Heather Bergeron 6:38 (95lbs), Karianne Dickson 7:33 (95lbs), Kim Malz 8:33 (95lbs).

First things first, today was an exercise in my occasional complete and total inability to correctly scale a workout.  In this case, though the weight itself wasn't *that* much of an issue, the movement itself was. though I think my form on the squat clean thrusters was pretty good, it was a new movement pattern, especially the squat clean, which meant that instead of just focusing on moving weight, I was more concerned with figuring out the moves.  Not a smart plan under fairly heavy weights.  In a more relaxed scenario (ie, not on my lunch break) I would have hopefully warmed up the movement a lot, first with an empty bar, then slowly adding weight up to the work sets.  Nope.

Even worse, just this weekend i was congratulating myself for not needing to visit the  CrossFit Brand X forums lately to find out the 'official scaling' for the WoDs. I could have probably saved myself a lot of time and effort.  Look again at the posted times above. Firebreathers coming in at sub-4 minute times, up through about 10 minutes.  With some decent scaling, I should have been targeting at least the slower end of that range.  My time?

Total Time: 27 minutes

And it was even a little bit scaled down.  Here's the breakdown of what I *actually* did.  First of all, starting weight was only 125#. Since our bar is 10# shy, instead of just needing two 45# plates on a 45# bar to equal the Rx'ed 135#, I should have had two 5# plates, one per side, to get me up to proper weight.  I was *just* smart enough to know that the final 10# were not going to be the problem.  I gutted it out for the first round, doing pull-ups on the frame of the Smith Machine (still the only known use for that pile of crap.)  Started the second round knowing that I was in trouble at 125#.  I could do the thruster portion ok, at least for 5 reps, but the squat clean to start things off was dicey.  Decided to try to keep the 125# on the bar, and made it through the five reps.  Pull-ups took a LOT longer for the second round.

After spending a good amount of time convincing myself to not quit right then and there, I swapped the 45# plates for 35#s, bringing the total down to 105#.  This was where I should have started, if not even further down at 95#.  The squat cleans started coming together, and my depth heading into the thruster was awesome...with the help of the weight, I was actually getting all the way down into the hole, rather than having my thighs end up just above parallel.  The thrusters coming out of the bottom were therefor full range, which felt pretty good...in between greying out between reps. :D

Even slower pull-ups for the 3rd round.

I decided I was maybe going to shave off the pull-ups from the final two rounds, and just do the weight work.  Did a set of 5, caught my breath, and did the final set of 5 squat clean thrusters. At this point, I could have quit, with a fairly clean conscience.  The time was already 20 minutes, I had already screwed up the point of what should have been a fairly short, VERY intense met-con workout (metabolic conditioning, which more or less equals cardio turned up to 11), and I was freaking exhausted.  However, with the help of our gravitron knock-off, I made up the 4th round's worth of pull-ups with 50# weight assist, and the final round of 10 with 70# of weight assist.

Oh yeah, I don't think my chest hit a bar even once today.  Certainly not on the pull-ups...

So overall, though I'm proud of the amount of work I did, and more or less learning a new movement for throwing weights around, I think I pretty much jumped the shark as far as performing this workout as intended, much less as prescribed.  But, this just makes me more eager to get it right next time, and has taught me a lesson about not being so damn sure that i don't need any help or direction.  Of course I do...we all do, from time to time!

Plus, I had the wrong playlist on.  Yeah, it was cool to hear the occasional cool flashback from the late 90s (Royal Crown Revue, Blind Man's Sun, etc, the random live Ani DiFranco and Sarah McLachlan tracks were NOT what I needed to get my inspiration on. There's a reason my workout playlist is filled with metal, death metal, and viking metal.  And that reason may have something to do with the metal. Who can say?