THE CROSSFIT OPEN 2013

                                               THE CROSSFIT OPEN 2013

• Some people have been waiting all year for this week. For some its the first time they are committing to go individual. Others are not even sure if they want to be on a team. Some people's emotions are all over the place and nervous as hell. Others are just doing it to have fun. 

• Some people are dreading the up coming event. Either competitors, or girlfriends/ boyfriends of competitors, even some clients, that don't even care about the Open.

• Some people are ready, they can't wait for the Open because it means the Games are just that much closer. They have sacrificed a lot, and have made CrossFit their life. 

No matter where you are on the above spectrum. You have to enjoy it. This is one of the best seasons for CrossFit, people from all around the world come together for one workout. In what other way is this possible. To me that is amazing. I am excited to be able to participate in the 2013 CrossFit Open. 

Enjoy the Open!!! Cheer People On!!! Have Fun!!!Be apart of something special. A lot goes into the Open. All the way from the top of CrossFit all the way down to the Boxes that host it,  judge it, and  checks everyone's scores online.  


   This year the Open will be a little different for me. I will not be able to play in my home town of Houston at Bayou City CF or Pin Up CF. I will be competing individually under East Coast CrossFit, I can not sign up under their team or Bayou City CrossFit's team. Due to the rules: a owner of a box can not compete for another team and since I am on the East Coast for another year, so I will compete in the Mid Atlantic. Fun Fun. Unfortunately I will not be able to compete at Regionals, I have a scheduled training event. I am disappointed, but there is nothing I can do about it. 
I will be done and back in Houston by next CF season, at that point I will have to evaluate myself and see what is possible for 2014. It might all just be focused for 2015! 

Know What Your Doing

I’m trying to remember how my form was when I first started CrossFit. Truthfully I don’t think it was great. I remember going to my level one and being told to lock out my pull-ups, push ups, and my KB swings.  So from there I took more time to learn the form and study. I remember every night waiting for the WOD to come out on CrossFit.com, then looking up every movement to make sure I did it right.

Now a days I am still studying and still learning so I can excel in my WODs and my over all performance. Anytime I Oly lift or work on barbell movements, I focus on perfect form. I either have some one watch me or I video it to look at and critique myself.

I bring this up now because where I am working out, I see terrible form all around me. I am working out in a gym that was transformed into a CrossFit Box. There are about 30 rowers, 2 pull up racks, 10 platforms, KBs, DBs, box jumps, sleds, climbing rope, and even turf. People can come in and WOD/ workout / oly lift, what ever they want. There is no coaching going on; besides a guy telling his buddy something that he thinks looks better. I am not saying its all bad, I have seen a few that know what they are doing. I have tried to help some people and usually they come back with an excuse like flexibility, or they look at me like I am crazy.  There have been a few that have come up to me and asked for help. I think that's great, I tell them I do not mine helping them before or after my workout, just not during.

What it comes down to is you have to educate yourself. You have to educate yourself so you don’t get hurt, so you can maximize you workouts, so you can be efficient, and so you can become a better athlete. This pertains to everyone. Just because you have been crossfiting for 4 years does not mean you know everything. You still have to study; you have to evolve with CrossFit. No one is happy with staying where they are. I know I am not.

Do what it takes to educate your self and learn why we do these things. Watch videos, read articles, a great thing about CrossFit.com is they give this to you. They even give you tips from the big dogs. Every day there is a video of some one doing the WOD, they talk about how they are going to attack the workout, and then they give feedback and the end. The information is out there. All you have to do is spend a few minutes a day and you will learn a lot.

The HOOK GRIP

I asked a lot of clients and coaches at the box if they use a hook grip. Most of the people said "no".  Most of them have heard about the hook grip but tried it a few times and said the hell with that. I feel like you must use it, I know I do.
So I made a little video to go over it.
For more reading on the hook grip click here.

Jan 24th

So here we are 5 days away from the Houston Marathon, and no long runs. The .com WOD today was 800 M run for time 3 rounds. I did not do it, to wet out side and to much rain.
So instead Charlie Kirk and myself did a special WOD.

400 M run at a 10% incline
10 Pwr Cleans, into a Front Sqt, over head to the back back Sqt(bear complex)(80lb sandbag)
3 get ups right 3 get ups left (100lb bean bag)
10 KB Swings (80lb)
3x not for time

When I told them the WOD, the first thing they said was, "Treadmill". We had one hiding in a deep dark room of the box. Let me tell you running on a Treadmill at an incline at a set pace of 9.0 is DEATH, damn I think the second round we all went down to 8.8 and had to jump off for a few seconds, the last round we went to 8.0 and still had to jump off for a second.
I know what I need to work on.