Core to Extremity

By Leah Hosburgh

CrossFit is a fitness program that is general, inclusive, and broad. We are pretty good at most things, and not experts at anything-no specialization. Whether we are engaging in weightlifting, running, rowing, or gymnastics movements there is one common thread: All movement is best expressed from the core outward. Therefore, CrossFit is core to extremity. CrossFit published an article in 2002 that states “The primacy of core strength and conditioning in this sense is supported by the simple observation that powerful hip extension alone is necessary and nearly sufficient for elite athletic performance.”  In the same article, core to extremity is characterized by body parts moving in “proper sequence,” from the center outward.

1. Define "core": I'm going to define core as the trunk and midline to include your entire spine and primary movers: lats, back, glutes, and hips.

2. Why is it important?

As trainers, we often cue you to set your back, lock your pelvis in, and to think of your arms as ropes. For most movements your levers are simply that: connectors. Movement should come from the core, and as CrossFit would say, the hip extension. The best way to see this go wrong is in an Olympic movement with muted hips. As Coach Burgener says, "when the arms bend the power ends." This could be a neurological issue, where you are just primed to use your arms because you haven't used your hips in a long time-or ever. More likely, your core is weak, not engaged, or not firing fast enough. To get the most out of your own body mechanics, lock and load. This is a habit that needs to be groomed everyday at the gym. Here Kelly Starrett expands a little more on that:

3. How do I develop a strong core? 

Your entire trunk flexion, extension, and stability can be powerfully improved by bodyweight movements. If you are unable to do a proper hollow hold and hollow rock, not only is your stability compromised in kipping and gymnastics movements, but you are probably going to have trouble with any type of added load. Think about it, if you can't control your own body, how will you control a barbell or kettlebell? This is why it's policy not to encourage kipping movements until you are strong enough to control your bodyweight in less dynamic movements, ie, this position: 

Invest some time in planking, hollow holds, and hollow rocking. 

See, it's that simple. Crazy, huh? But the thing is, most people walk into the gym lusting after the workout of the day. Let's be clear, that's what we do: WOD's. But, if the basics are weak, anything above and beyond will be compromised. Athletes will have donkey kick kipping pull ups, rounded backs, poor catching positions in their oly movements, and loss of power in just about everything. 

Saturday we will be doing a handstand clinic. Guess what we will be talking a looooot about: POSITION! To be stable upside down, an athlete needs proper position in shoulder mobility, the correct muscles firing to stabilize from core to extremity, and strong neurological awareness of what that all entails. This reigns true in every movement: clean, snatch, box jump, muscle up, double under, you name it. A lack of position is a lack of control is a lack of core stability. Lock and load, NoCoasters. Whether it's in a 400 pound back squat or a set of 5 kipping pull ups in Cindy, rock that core and the rest will follow.

The Tracks: How We Meet Athletes Where They Are

We have been developing our tracks concept since we opened the gym a year ago. A year has passed and we want to readdress and reintroduce this model to you. We like to use the metaphor of each WOD being a mountain you have to ski/snowboard down. Different levels and abilities will direct each person to the trail they should go down. Same mountain, different ways to get down. We create a workout and the goal is for each member to conquer that wod in the safest way, and also the way that will hold true to the stimulus of the workout. Nobody wants to have a yard sale and spend time gathering their equipment or digging themselves out of powder, or taking their skis off and carrying them down the mountain. Same with workouts. We want you to take the right route for you each day.

LiftOne:
Like the bunny slope, LiftOne is our beginners program that introduces the CrossFit methodology and the NoCoast approach to fitness to our new athletes. This program consists of nine classes, lasting three weeks. We will teach the majority of the movements seen in our regular WOD program, as well as give lectures on nutrition, technique vs. intensity, NoCoast rules and guidelines, and what is CrossFit? 

In order for an athlete to graduate from our LiftOne program, they must attend all nine classes and have an understanding of all the movements and material covered. Once an athlete has completed our LiftOne program, they graduate to our regular WOD program and they’re placed on the Green Track.

Green Track:
Ready to take the big lift, but still in a learning phase? The Green Track is a place for our athletes to gain confidence and experience at NoCoast, while getting comfortable with movements and their individual abilities. We realize that a Green Track athlete is still figuring out the names of some of our movements and working on technique. We post workouts with modifications to most of our movements on the Green Track and never prescribe load or height for our movements in order to give our newer CrossFitters a chance to develop technique and strength. If you are able to scale up on some or all of the movements that is great and its the first sign of being ready for the Blue Track. 

In order for an athlete to graduate from the Green Track, they must show the following three things:

• A clear understanding of all movements and the modification options to each movement.
• A clear understanding of your own abilities. We don’t expect you to have the strength or proficiency to do every movement, but in order to graduate to the Blue Track, you must be able to identify your abilities and know the proper scaling options to complete each workout (ex. ring rows for pull ups or 3x singles for double unders).
• You must know your 1 rep max for the majority of your lifts. Because we base all of our barbell movements off of percentages, you need to know these numbers in order to maximise your growth from our program. The best way to track your lifts is on Beyond the Whiteboard. (The following lifts are important to know - snatch, clean, jerk, deadlift, back squat, front squat, overhead squat, push press, and thruster).

Blue Track:
Know what's up and want to cruise along some fairly challenging terrain? Our Blue Track athletes are considered to be our experienced CrossFitters. Our number one requirement is that you have a technical understanding for the majority of CrossFit movements. We also expect our Blue Track athletes to know their own abilities. We don’t require you to be able to perform every movement, but you should know how to modify movements that you’re unable to perform. As a Blue Track athlete we also expect you to know your 1 rep maxes for the majority of our weight lifting movements. 

In order for an athlete to graduate from the Green Track, they must show the following three things:

• You must be proficient at the majority of CrossFit movements. 
• You must be able to complete the majority of CrossFit.com workouts as prescribed, including benchmark girl and hero WODs.
• You must have the desire and accountability to train and fuel your body properly, with a consistent training schedule and good nutrition throughout the week.

Black Track:
Experts-expect bumps, ice, trees, steep trails. And we expect you to make it out smoothly. Our Black Track is for a select few athletes who are able to complete our workouts at their highest levels. In order to be a Black Track athlete, you must meet the following standards: 
You must be able to complete the majority of CrossFit.com workouts as prescribed. 
You must be proficient at the majority of CrossFit movements; we have attached a movement list and you must be able to complete 80% of the listed movements (30/37). 
You must have the desire and accountability to train and fuel your body properly on a consistent basis. 

At NoCoast, our goal is to individualize workouts as much as possible in order for each individual to maximize their time and potential with us. Even though we consider our classes to be a competitive environment, it is not a competition. Using the right weight and modifications in a workout is the best way to continue to improve, increase your work capacity, and keep yourself safe. We have four tracks to help us identify your experience level, just because you are on the Green or Blue track does not mean you can’t scale up a movement or workout. If you are capable of doing muscle ups instead of burpee pull ups, we encourage you to modify up. Understand that each track has standards that need to be meet before moving on, but just because you are on a specific track doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t do a version of a workout that is geared more to your skill and fitness level.

Technique vs. Intensity and Risk vs Reward

By Dan Finck

Since the CrossFit Games were introduced in 2007, the popularity of CrossFit has grown exponentially every year. In my opinion, the Games have been both good and bad for the larger CrossFit community. The popularity of the Games has brought CrossFit to the forefront of the fitness community. It’s mainstream popularity has allowed small gyms, such as ours, to open up all over the world and has given good hearted people a place to grow and hangout with other like minded people. Unfortunately, the world is still full of naysayers and it feels like some people have taken it upon themselves to discredit CrossFit and insult anyone who believes in our community along the way. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I believe that the majority of anti CrossFit people don’t get that there’s a difference between the 5% of the community that make up the “Games” athletes and the other 95% of the community that are trying to enhance their quality of life through a CrossFit affiliate and its community.

Training to become a Games level athlete has become a full time job. Like any other sport, these guys and gals are spending a lot of time in the gym perfecting their skills and pushing their bodies to the limit. This high volume, high stress type of training that these Games athletes and, unfortunately, a lot of non Games athletes are doing is unhealthy over a long period of time. I think this is part of the reason why we’ve seen blog articles on the dangers of CrossFit.

The other reason these bloggers are discrediting CrossFit is for our “lack of technique” combined with our high intensity workouts. I get why some people may have this impression. Watch the Dave Lipson vs Josh Everette video above and compare it to the Kendrick Farris video. All three of them are doing the same workout, “Isabel.” Lipson and Everette are CrossFit competitors and Farris is Olympic Weightlifter training for the Olympic Games. The first time I saw the Lipson vs Everette video a few years ago, I thought it was impressive; 30 snatches in a minute, wow that’s fast! A few months ago I saw the Farris video and I was blown away. Even though his time is more than double the time that of Lipson and Everette, Farris’ “Isabel” is way more impressive! Every rep is perfect, every rep looks like a real snatch. Farris’ last rep looks the exact same as his first few. I went back and watched the Lipson vs Everette video again and my heart dropped. Maybe our haters have a point? Why do we cut corners? Why does Lipson’s and Everette’s snatchs look like crap?

How we perform a movement in a workout is up to us. As coaches, we try and do everything we can to make sure everyone’s technique is perfect. We give cues during workouts to help keep your technique good and you safe, but at the end of the day you have decide what’s more important: your safety or your score? Leaving your ego at the door and processing the “risk vs reward” in the middle of a workout can be tough. Go back and watch the videos again. Notice how exhausted Kendrick Farris is at the end of his workout? If you were at NoCoast a few Fridays ago and did 30 Clean & Jerks for Technique (not for time), you know how physically demanding perfect form can be. Just because you slow down a bit to have better form, doesn’t mean you’re getting any less of a workout.

What if, instead of slowing down and resting in the middle of your workout, you take a little more time on your barbell lifts? Most of us need to rest during our conditioning workouts anyway, so why not be smarter about it? Slow down during the more technical movements and bust ass through the burpees and other movements that aren’t as technically demanding. The rewards from CrossFit are glaringly obvious, but for a lot of us the risks are not so evident. Slow down, listen to our coaches, and listen to your body. The only way to increase work capacity is to first stay healthy and allow yourself the opportunity to train tomorrow.

We all need to realize that there’s a difference between Games level programming and programming for fitness. At the end of the day, most of you are looking to increase your fitness, not make a run at the podium in L.A. this summer. 

For anyone who's been through our LiftOne program, you’ve heard our Technique vs Intensity lecture; for those of you who bypassed LiftOne, here’s a brief review. When you are learning a new skill, it is important to learn and develop the technique first. This may take time depending on how complex the skill is. Once you learn the technique, you must practice it until you develop consistency. Consistency means that you are able to repeat a skill correctly multiple times; you know you’ve become consistent when you no longer have to think about every aspect of the skill, your muscle memory takes over. Once you’ve developed consistency, you can add intensity. And, just because we add intensity, doesn’t mean we can forget about technique. In order to add intensity, we can allow technique to side a little from 100% efficiency to maybe 85%-90% efficiency. If our technique slides beyond 85%, we need to slow down refocus on technique. It’s a tug of war and its your job to balance technique and intensity.