One of the most common problems we have to deal with new clients/athletes is poor shoulder mobility.  If you read the previous posts you will know that we can identify this right away and depending on the individual’s motivation we can begin fixing the problem ASAP.

Poor posture on the left and more ideal posture on the right

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One common reason for poor shoulder mobility or chronic shoulder problems doesn’t come from the shoulder itself, but from the poor or less than ideal posture of that individual. Maintaining and fixing shoulders/posture is something that should be done each day.  Simple corrective exercises and movements can be easily incorporated into a warm up, skill practice or movement prep.  Each day we are doing just that with our clients/athletes and we have definitely seen an improvement in shoulder mobility and posture also a reduction in aggravated shoulders.

Different variations of posture problems

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We use a 3 step approach to fixing the posture when we have individuals who have a higher degree of poor posture.

Better posture and shoulders in 3 easy steps

1. Self Myofascial Release (SMR)/ Soft tissue work

• Foam roller, lacrosse ball

2. Stretching

• Pass throughs, band stretches, scapula pushups, shoulder mobility drill

3. Proper corrective movement patterns

• Supine row variations: bar, rings, bands…
• Band variations: Pull Aparts, Figure 8 band pulls, Face Pulls
• ATY Shoulder Drill

This process isn’t a quick fix, but a progressive attempt to undo so many years of poor postural habits.  Like I tell our clients “It”s hard to undo however many years of poor postural habits in just a few weeks/months” this will take some time, but the end state will be better mobility, better posture and happier shoulders.

However, if you don’t make an attempt to fix the source of the problem then you will just be spinning your wheels and may not make any progress (an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure).  So what does this mean?

Perfect posture at the work station/desk

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It means that if you aren’t making an attempt (outside the gym and on a daily basis) to sit up right at your desk or do a few stretches during a break from work or school; the progress will be slowed way down. If I have you for only 3 days (3hrs of training) a week doing this, what are you doing the rest of the time outside the gym to fix it?

If you liked this please forward it.

Want to be a better athlete? Want your kids to be better athletes? Want to perform better in your given sport or athletic event? The bottom line is you need to GET STRONGER!!!

Strength is the foundation of all top athletes, just take a look at any of  the top athletes in your school, on your team or in your league; 9 times out of 10 they will be in at the top for strength, power and/or speed.

If you’re a novice lifter or a young athlete then pay attention to the next statement.

You will see better results and have an increased performance with a solid foundation of strength development.

An important note: The development of strength begins with proper mechanics and a gradual progression to heavier loads.  Bottom line for the novice lifter/athlete, form & mechanics before load, volume and intensity. You need to learn the basics first and the best way to learn is from a competent strength coach.  Did I say learn the correct technique and form first? DO IT!

Some parents and young athletes maybe asking “what about speed and agility camps?”  My opinion is that they are better than nothing and have there place, but would not be my first recommendation.  I believe that a young athletes performance will benefit more with a solid strength training program first and speed/agility second and a combination of the two would be the best.

A combination of strength, power, speed and agility are all components of a solid program and if anyone of these is lacking then it maybe a less than ideal program.  The proper progressions; deceleration before acceleration (Agility Training), running mechanics before speed (Speed Training), proper form before load, volume or intensity (Weight Training).

With the solid strength training program, they will benefit for two reasons (if coached and trained with proper mechanics).  One, they will have better and more efficient movement patterns and two they will be SAFER because they will have increase strength (muscles/tendons/ligaments), mobility (muscles/joints) and stability (core/joints).

So, what constitutes a solid strength program? First off, it depends on the athletes age and ability.  A solid program will have the majority of the movements being compound movements (Squats, Presses and Deadlift variations) and few single joint movements as ancillary and supportive movements for the main lifts.  In my opinion 16 yrs old is the youngest that I believe should even begin to lift with moderately heavy weights; nothing heavier than 6-8 rep max.  Anyone younger and we are talking 10-12 reps for the heaviest set of any given movement or set.  We want them to physically develop first before loading them with heavy loads and then of course they are progressive from there.

Not an ideal place to train for motivated young athletes

I can promise you will not find a solid strength program wondering the sea of machines at the local “Big Box” gym or local health club and certainly not at a week-long “speed camp” (this is one reason why we do not do the week-long “camps”).  Our athletes come back to us week day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after and they constantly are improving their performance in their given sport.

So, how will you be training this Summer?

If you know of a young athlete or parent who may benefit from this post please pass it forward to them.

*REMINDER*

———-Our Summer Sports Conditioning Program Will Start The First Week of June———-

Join us and get the edge over your competition for the next season

If you have any comments or questions please contact us at cfspokane@gmail.com

A Quick Easy Assessment

At CrossFit Spokane we assess the first time you walk in and each time you train with us. An initial and general assessment doesn’t have to too complicated and into the weeds. Any coach or trainer worth a shit should be able to gather at least some relative data just from watching and observing the client/athlete.

There are a few simple things that I look at for as general assessment. First observation of the client/athlete without any testing: Shoulders/posture, placement of hands as they stand still, foot placement when standing and walking, when I shake their hand I make note of the grip and firmness (male or female).

Once we get client/athlete moving a whole lot more comes to light: I am looking at shoulder range of motion (ROM), running mechanics (feet and arm swing will tell a lot), overall squatting ability and quality (some are able to squat well and don’t, others just don’t have the ability to squat correctly, make note of which one), with squatting if performed correctly or incorrectly I pay attention to lumbar curve/knees/feet/chest; all have to potential to tell us a lot about flexibility, mobility and stability of the areas  just mentioned.

If desired and needed we can get a little more specific with the FMS to confirm anything we may suspect and it may expose other movement or stability concerns. From there a few specific assessments can be done to identify the cause of any dysfunction or mobility issues.

When it comes to an easy general way to correct any issues I think for most people a quality and consistent mobility and stretching program can do wonders. This means a top to bottom soft tissue (foam roll), passive/active stretching and common corrective exercises.  Doing the various movements as correctly and to the best of your ability will, in its self, be a form of corrective exercise; DO the movements with a full optimal ROM and correctly!

Quick Points

-Posture

-Shoulders (forward) look at the hands

-Feet (in or out) in they are fast out they are slow and clumsy

-Squat ability (able to full squat or half) I think hip mobility is a good indicator of athleticism; w/ other factors as well

-Running (natural or awkward) not full strides, short arm movement, up right posture, cross body arm swing

-Core strength with the quality of the push up and sit up. (Sway back)

I just wanted to give an update to everyone out there with regards to what is going on at CrossFit Spokane over the next 6 weeks.

If you haven’t heard Angela and I are headed to New Jersey for the Amped/Power Seminar with Joe Defranco and Jim Smith.  These two guys are some of the best Strength coaches in the country and we are supper excited to have the opportunity to learn from them.  We will also be working with some of NFL’s top hopefuls as they are preparing for the NFL combine. It’s going to be SICK.

February is going to be a HUGE month for the gym, we have a ton of things going on for the members.

1. We are getting a bunch of new equipment. Bars, Bumpers, Medballs, Pullup System.  Basically the main room will have the Rouge Pullup system from one end to the other and the turf room will have about 24ft of the same system as well as a few squat cages. This is all so you can have a better service and experience when you train.

Similar to this

2. Sometime in February we will begin a 5pm training time as well, so the schedule will be 430pm,5pm,530pm and 6pm. which is partly why we will be putting in the extra equipment.

3. February 4th we are headed to CrossFit Bellevue for the second annual CrossFit Bellevue/Interbay Throw Down. We will have a few individual competitors and one team entering the contest.  Angela and I will also be assisting with the judging as well.  This will be awesome, so if you can make it out to support we would love to have you.  We can arrange for car pool and group hotel if needed, that would keep the cost down for everyone.

4.  February 11th will be our next fundamentals class.  (Because of our Seminar and the contest)

5. February 11th we will also be having a Nutrition Seminar for any of our members.  Nutrition is the foundation af any training program, so YOU NEED THIS! We will be covering the basics of nutrition (fats, protein, carbs and  calories).  We will also talk about the “Zone” diet and it’s proportions and the “Paleo” diet for the food choices.  There will be a few vendors to showcase their services and products as well as samples of “Good” food that can be made quickly and easily.

6. February 11th after the Nutrition Seminar we will be kicking our fist “Paleo Transformation Challenge“. This will be a 90day challenge and it will be the kick in the pants you need to get on track with your nutrition.  We will have prizes for the winners and you will be ready for the Summer Bikini season.  This contest will have an entrance fee (TBD) because there will be prizes for the winners and MORE Importantly we want only people who will take this seriously and follow through (NO HALF ASS EFFORT).  If I’m going to put my time and energy into your success I would expect the same from you.  We will have a body composition category and a performance category.  The week prior we will do the baseline events and we will take the before pictures the day of.  More to info to come SOON.

7. February 25th and 26th we will be offering a Women only sudden violence and restraint seminar.  This is for Women only and Members only.  It will be about a 4-5hrs each day (Sat/Sun) and will be a huge eye opener for the ladies.  Home invasions, carjackings, rape attempts and muggings happen everyday, don’t let yourself, wife, child be unprepared.  This is FREE and could safe your life.  Limited to 25 participants

CT Home invasion

Phoenix Home Invasion

Rape Attempt 

It should be obvious who will have the better outcome.

Subject 2 spent 30min more a week, but has a better chance of desired results.

Just being here is better than 80% of america, but there’s more to it and more that can be done.

Just showing up and going through the motions doesn’t cut it; no matter what program you are doing or whom you train with.

First you have to give crap then you have to do the work and put out the effort.

If any one tells you or promises different they are full of Crap. There are no short cuts.

There are faster ways than others and ways to tip the scale in your favor, but in the end it’s you.

Questions for yourself

What are your health, fitness and performance goals?

What are doing to reach them?

Which subject best describes you?

Some of our folks who put in the extra time and have made tremendous progress.

Christina lost 50lbs in about 5-6 months

Chris doing lacrosse ball pull ups. Great for training the grip.

Just a reminder that we will be closed on Mon. December 26. We will be open again on Tue. December 27 for our regular training times. Our family wishes all of you a Merry Christmas and God Bless.

Why should you train with Strongman movements?

• Life isn’t perfectly balanced (Barbell, DB, KB, medball…)
• Become comfortable moving large loads, long distance, quickly
• It’s “Functional”  

• Improves regular lifts, WOD’s, Performance…
• Builds mental toughness.
• Builds camaraderie and teamwork.
• Builds resilience to injury (joints, bones, ligaments).
• A great foundation of strength for the novice athlete/lifter.
• Movements can be applied to real world right now!!!
• No more, “What muscle does this work”? It works all of them!!!
• Lifting heavy things makes you strong if you’re weak, good looking if you’re ugly, smart if you’re dumb, cool if you’re a nerd, but if you’re an ass; sorry can’t help with that.

Look at Sam walking with 525lbs; He is Strong, Smart and Good looking.

• Lifting heavy things is tough and builds character and work ethic, both lacking today.
• Lifting heavy things doesn’t just make you “look good” It makes you look good and become useful.
• Lifting heavy things is what this country was built upon. Don’t be a PUSS and contribute.
• You’ll have coolest story to talk about at the water cooler tomorrow and you’ll be the most “JACKED”.

• When you walk into a room there will be a greater chance of you being physically the most powerful, strongest, smartest and best looking person.  People respect strength and unfortunately good looks too. (I’ve meet plenty of good looking people whom were WEAK, DUMB and USELESS.)

Matt knows all the above is true for him because he can walk with 600lbs in his hands. 

• How many people do you know that can lift their own body weight over head? How many people do you know that can type their age in words per minute? 50yrs ago things were different. People were stronger healthier, thinner and had fewer diseases. Type fast, but please be STRONG and HEALTHY, don’t pass on weak genes into the pool.
• Lifting heavy objects will fight osteoporosis. (Sunshine, milk, calcium and vitamin D will help as well.)
• Stuck at a weight for Clean and Jerk, Press, Bench Press or Deadlift. Lift Stones in the same movement pattern and blast through your plateaus.
• “Strong people are hard to kill”.
• Did I say It’s just COOL.

Come and join us Friday’s at 530pm for Strongman Training.

Last summer we had a very successful Sports Conditioning Program for middle school highschool and college athletes.  All of our athletes performed very well (which was definitely noticed by their coaches).  Most of the players moved up from JV to varsity or nonstarter to starting positions, but the most important thing was that everyone remained injury free all season. 

I recently had found out about a female soccer player who wanted to come with her friend and train with us this past Summer, but her father did not want to pay for the training for his daughter because he neglected t see the value in quality professional strength coaching.  As a result his daughter was unprepared and she tore her ACL which needed surgery. unfortunately she missed her entire highschool senior season and she lost any hope of a scholarship to play at the college level.  We could have helped her be stronger, faster, more conditioned and most importantly more resilient to injury! What a “Dick”, don’t be that dude.

This could have been a baseball player, football player, basketball player or any other sport for that matter. Don’t start the season unprepared.

The Spring sports season is about here and it’s not too late to get some conditioning and prep work done.  If you’re an athlete get in here and get going. Going to the “Gym” and messing around on the bench or jogging on a  treadmill is not going to prepare you for potentially your best season ever. 

If you’re the parent of an athlete give your young athlete the best possible chance of having a successful season and remaining injury free.  Want your athlete to be a scholarship athlete in college?  What parent wouldn’t, with the tuition rates skyrocketing you should want them to have even a partial scholarship and .  If you think about it every game, every practice, everything they do will potentially increase that athletes chance of becoming a scholarship athlete.

Did you know that women are almost three times more likely to have ACL injuries than men and a few statistics show that female soccer players are eight times more likely to injury their ACL than a male soccer player.

ACL injuries are most common in sports that involve sudden changes of direction, such as football, soccer and basketball.  The majority are non-contact injuries that occur during change of direction, a sudden twisting motion or when landing from a jump.

Fortunately an athlete can prepare themselves to more resilient to this type of injury. Athletes can reduce their risk of ACL injuries by performing various types of drills that require speed (acceleration and deceleration) agility, balance and power. Adding exercises that target these areas will help improve neuromuscular conditioning and muscular reactions as well as speed and quickness.  A well prepared and conditioned athlete will ultimately have reduced risk of ACL injury. 

If you have any questions regarding some ideas and programs you can implement yourself or for information about our Sports Conditioning Program feel free to contact us by phone or email.

cfspokane@gmail.com

509-209-7217

  80 Ideas, thoughts and rules to live by.

For those who want to be strong, healthy, fit and get the most out of life.  

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• Do something memorable with family, kids, wife/husband, parents
• Train 3-5 days a week
• Play with your kids as often and as long as possible

• Enjoy a good wine on a summer day with someone
• Try something new. Snow shoeing, climbing, instrument…
• Don’t procrastinate
• Figure out what you want to do when you grow up and work towards it
• Eat clean. Start looking here for good recipes
• Don’t be an A$$ H#$%

• Bless a stranger with something unexpected
• Do something very hard/challenging (mental/physical)
• Stop doing endless amounts of aerobics and lift weights to lose fat

( ladies don’t worry about getting too bulky or big, you have a better chance of getting eaten by a shark in Spokane)

• Like to run and lose fat and gain muscle, sprinting is the ticket
• Read a book to better yourself; nonfiction
• Get plenty of sleep

• The glass is half FULL
• Stop doing crunches for 6pack
• Make at least one person laugh or a least smile everyday
• Tuck your children in every night and make sure they know how much you love them
• Get JACKED. For the guys who want to have rugged strength

• Eat more protein
• Drink more water
• Enjoy a cold beer with great friends watching a sporting event
• Want strength and size LIFT HEAVY OBJECTS!!!

• Say your prayers; you never know when your time is up
• Visit an old friend
• SLOW DOWN; Life isn’t a race it’s a journey and its short one
• “I want it now” will be the death of America; you earn it and work for it.

 Occupy this

• Be honest
• Live with integrity
• Belly Laugh everyday
• Fail fast and learn from your mistakes
•  Your freedom isn’t free someone sacrificed a lot for it, so don’t take it lightly.

• Do mobility work everyday
• Don’t care about what people think of you
• Push, pull and carry heavy objects often

• Train smart; you can’t train how you did 15, 20, 30yrs ago
• As you change, priorities change also and that is OK
• You are entitled to what your worth and contribute to the world

• Sometimes more is less; take time off/deload, you will be stronger and healthier
• Affliction T-shirts don’t mean you are tough

• Take care of your shoulders; do band work
• Have a lot of tools in your training tool box; CrossFit is one tool (a multi tool, but one tool)
• Eat breakfast every day; 30gm of protein within 30min of waking (no matter what)
• Use your fitness outside; what’s the point if you don’t apply it to life

• Hug and kiss your wife/husband and kids every morning
• Grip and neck need to be worked too
• Have your kids watch: Goonies, Indiana Jones, ET, Farris Bueller’s Day Off.  Maybe it will inspire  them to get outside, be active and use their imaginations

• Foam roll daily
• Carbs in the morning and post workout
• Top 3 supplements to take: Glucosamine/Chondroitin, Fish oil, Multi vitamin
• Top 3 sports Supplements:  quality Whey protein, Glutamine, Creatine

http://crossfitspokane.getprograde.com/

• Don’t stop trying to be better at anything
• Simplify your life; more isn’t always better
• Every movement has a full optimal range of motion; strive to reach it every rep
• “Give Finkle some Dinkle” “Do it, Do it”

• WARM UP.  Not a few arm circles then go bench ; Think General Physical Preparedness
• Test yourself weekly or monthly
• Your kids should see you exercise and being active; make it a part of your life and theirs
• Take Action!
• Fat bar deadlift and towel pullups = strong grip and big forearms

• If you’re a coach/trainer; attend at least one cert/seminar/course per year and one online or ebook every 6 months minimum.
• If you’re at a desk a lot do scapula pushups and pass-throughs a few times a day

• Strong core = strength, Power and Speed; you can’t have any of them with out it
• Use a training journal
• Who gives a crap about what people think of you; be yourself and do what you love (as long as; refer to earlier post)
• I you’re out of shape or over weight, it’s no accident or anyone’s fault but your own; it’s up to you to fix it and you can

• When you get knocked down (you should and you will), you get back up and try again
• Take naps when possible

• Being weak SUCKS
• Strong people are more useful
• Functional fitness isn’t standing on a BOSU ball with 10lb DB’s

• Functional fitness is using you fitness powers for good
• Watch “300” 10 times

• Good Squats are good for the knees
• Bad squats are bad for the knees
• Women can be strong and feminine

• It’s kind of fun to do the impossible – Walt Disney
• Go to church and get right with God
• What will you be remembered for when you’re gone?

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This by no means is the end of the list, but a good place to start.

Please post any questions comments or other USEFUL ideas.