CrossFit Sectional

Last weekend I had the opportunity to be a judge at the CrossFit Games PA-MD-DE Sectional. This is the first CrossFit competition I've attended. Typically, I only compete in one 'race' a year and it's usually some sort of outdoor triathlon or mini-adventure race. I'm never in the hunt, but it's usually fun and done with friends, but I'm always thinking in the back of my mind "this is great but what it needs is some deadlifts for time or a 20 minute AMRAP in the transition area."



Anyway, what did I learn?

0 - There are some beasts out there. The fittest people I know from my old CF box placed no higher than 5th and those were the women with a field of around 30. The firebreather guys from that box didn't make the 20-person cut to go to regionals and these guys are seriously bad-ass compared to just about anyone else in any other gym anywhere around. Dedicated, hard-training, hard-thinking, good-eating athletes and they're only top-third at a sectionals competition. Wow. The videos and pics from the last few years of CF games don't do those athletes justice, but go head-to-head and you would be amazed.

1 - I like to suffer. If people are voluntarily suffering, then that's where I want to be. In this case, since I couldn't suffer by competing, I managed to weasel my way out of a nice, warm, cushy, inside judge spot at the 3-minute 185lb-ground-to-overhead-anyway-possible-wod and into the torrential flooding rain and horse-winds of the apocolypse' outside at the kettlebell OHS wod. In shorts. Without a rain jacket. Good times. Bad weather always means good times when you're outside! Floods, blizzards, hurricanes, nor'easters, -20F temps... those are the fondest backpacking and climbing trips in my memories.

2 - There is some horrible form out there. It was hard not to simply keep my mouth shut and judge and not try to coach. Some judges had more success with this, some had less. Some didn't try. Some athletes appreciated the coaching, some didn't. I stuck with simply counting reps and indicating when the athlete missed a rep (or was getting close) because of incomplete ROM (for the k-bell OHS it was constantly "deeper squat" or "fully extend at the top" for the lower-performing athletes). But some folks could have really used some simple cues like "weight on your heels" or "push out with your knees". Bad form is one of the biggest criticisms people levy against CFers pushing hard in time-priority wods. There's probably nothing that can be done in competition, but I hope these folks are getting good instruction on a daily basis from there coaches/trainers/friends/family, and that these coaches/trainers/friends/family have the fortitude to insist on better form.

3 - Appearances are deceiving. There were some big dudes there that were middle-of-the-road in the heavy wods, and there some tiny folks that crushed it. I love that. I mean, I LOVE that. It's like a 100 horsepower Sportster. I love sleepers, whether it's my bike or a friends physical appearance.

4 - The best indicator that I could see on how well a particular athlete was going to do on a particular wod was a combination of: 1) the ease and 2) the form, with which that athlete did any practice reps. Just easily tossing 185 lbs overhead once or twice might make you think that an athlete is going to kill the Clean and Jerk wod, but if they weren't fully extending the hips or they were pulling with the arms early you would see that form only further degrade over the first 10 reps and all that wasted energy would lead to missed reps or long breaks over the next few minutes.

5 - I still hate fashion. CrossFit is developing it's own little fashion culture and it's as silly as any other. Lulu Lemon for the girls. CrossFit T's with crazy graphics and ridiculous tag lines for the guys. Those crazy socks to protect shins during Oly lifts. I could do without any of that. I'm partial to cheap k-mart shorts and A-shirts. But then again, maybe that's why my Fran time sucks.

6 - CF competitions probably need a little mountain biking or kayaking or rapelling to find my sweet spot. Looks like I'm gonna have to start my own competitions. Ones that are perfectly suited to my strengths and address none of my weaknesses!

CREDIT: Obviously that's not my video, it's from the CrossFit Mainsite on March 20th, 2010. It was done by CF Again Faster, who happen to be good people. The guy that started Again Faster (and whose name is escaping me now) was one my Level 1 instructors and a super-friendly and funny guy. Worth checking out if you're looking for CF gear.

Recognizing Excellence

It's been another rough February.

Just like last year I'm looking at a nagging rehab of a herniated disc that has already seriously limited all the good winter fun and is beginning to threaten the shoulder season that allows me to train hard enough for full enjoyment of Spring. The days are getting longer, and warmer, and although my thoughts should be on the condition of the North Face of Gothics, instead I'm thinking about the importance of recognizing competence -- excellence even -- in the people from whom you take advice.

Case in point: my back.

The doctor: Due to similarity of my pain to previous episodes known (by MRI) to be related to a herniated L5-S1 disc, she recommended the standard conservative treatment along with physical therapy (PT). She spent a few minutes with me, most of it typing in a computer. She gave me painkillers to get me through the day and muscle relaxers to reduce the spasms which -- I was told -- was the actual source of pain.

The first Physical Therapist (PT): After a week or so of just being barely mobile, with debilitating pain that would occasionally cause near blackouts when getting out of the truck I got my first PT appointment. He had me stretch what I could (my calves!) and do what little bracing exercises I could do. I would spend an hour at PT. He would be in the room for about 1/3 of that, just long enough to put some ice under my back, or hook up the e-stim (which I LOVE, the best part of this hack was he gave me the controls to the e-stim and let me just crank it up as high as wanted... I'm a sucker for this shock therapy. I'd crank that up to just a little less than would cause a full back arch that would lift me off the table. I loved that!), or put on the ultrasound thing. I got progressively worse under his care. It got to the point that sometime 10-15 steps is all I could manage. He couldn't place his care in context except to say that actual spinal manipulation would be a very bad idea. After two sessions and a degrading condition, I dropped that facility (which I won't name here, I'm sure they're nice people and effective in other cases).

The second PT: During the first appointment at Penn States Sports Medicine, my PT spent over an hour with me. Watching me carefully. Talking with me. Making me move and describe the pain, it's intensity, it's quality, how it changes in different positions and how it had changed since we started the session. When she put me in what I recognized from my own reading to be a "Mckenzie" posture, she described what we were going to do, what the reasoning behind it was. When I asked about McGill's evidence that limited flexibility in the lumbar spine actually helped prevent lumbar injuries and my concern that the end range of motion required by Mckenzie's methods might not be helpful. She discussed it with me. She got down at my level (since I was facedown on the table) and we talked about it and was able to place different methods in context. When I left, she gave me her copy of Mckenzie's "Treat Your Own Back" for further study. A week later, when I had improved greatly but plateaued in my recovery, she admitted she could try only one other technique (lumbar flexion, after fastidiously avoiding any lumbar flexion for weeks priot) before reaching the limit of what she might have to offer me, but suggested others I might see if I wasn't improving when we next met. The lumbar flexion worked, despite being contraindicated by most of my symptons, and I'm on a generally positive slope of improvement again.

The important point is this: When you're dealing with anything important to you (health, life, family, even your job, maybe), you have to recognize what excellence is. What it looks like and sounds, how it behaves. How it fits into your broader understanding of life... And how it doesn't. Sorting the truth from the bullshit can make all the difference. Start by differentiating between students of truth and bullshitters.

CrossFit Level 1 Cert

After four years of CrossFitting, I finally attended a Level 1 Certification. I shouldn't have waited. It was exactly what I expected from CrossFit: comprehensive, authoritative, and thought-provoking.

The first day covered 9 foundational movements (squat, front squat, overhead squat, (shoulder) press, push press, push jerk, deadlift, sumo deadlift high pull, and clean) in exacting detail. For someone who had studied the pre-read material for weeks prior, had been training with a good trainer for months and had practiced the movements for years, you might think that this could be excruciatingly boring. However, the detail, the explanations, the training cues, and the hands-on practice under the careful eye of incredibly experienced trainers could not have been more interesting. As simple as these movements are, being as efficient as possible can be incredibly nuanced. Equally nuanced can be the simple, effective cues and drills to correct major and minor errors in mechanics. I went with lots of questions, most of which were answered in the lectures, but the ones that weren't were answered thoughtfully by the coaches. Some of these I'll have to mull over a bit and I'll comment on them here.


This cert happened to be at my old affiliate, although they've sinced moved into this big new box. It was a chance to see some old friends. People I had sweated and grunted and bled alongside for months. It was also the first time since I moved to State College 6 months earlier that I was working out in a group. A big group. In this case it was 59 other people. It's incredibly hard not to give exactly 100% when everyone around is working so hard. And you don't even have to know these people, but you can see the effort - and typically the pain - in their face and doing less than your best is simply not a possibility.


The weekend really managed to focus and harmonize in my mind how and why CrossFit works. These are things I want to share with State College in several ways. More to come...

Rothrock Gas Line Traverse

The gas line is an 8 mile North-South scar across the heart of Rothrock State Forest. It goes from near Colyer Lake in the North to Big Valley in the area of Barrville in Mifflin County in the South. Anyone who has done much hiking, or even driving, in the area has enjoyed the vistas it provides. And anyone with any interest in human powered adventures instantly sees possibilities in a 30-yard wide trail constructed with complete disregard to topography. The simplest of these would be to simply start at one end, hike to the other, and hike back. That was my plan last Saturday on a beautiful, sunny winter Saturday.

I packed up on Friday. I didn't take much but I brought along my down jacket as a bit of insurance against a night out in the low teens, my gaiters as a hedge against overgrown brush, and extra ibuprofen as a precaution against knee problems. The down jacket required that I use my wife's GoLite Jam rather than my slick little 20L Cilogear leaderpack. I also pulled out my thin, lightweight hooded Marmot Ion windshirt to use as my shell to see how it performs in the cold (very well it turns out, but the real problem is it's just a bit too short to stay tucked in under my harness. I'll have to add a few clips or something). Unfortunately, I debated it, but left my trekking poles at home. I could have used them on the icey descents with creakey knees.

With a few hours of sleep after The Hangover, I was on the road around 5:00 am. Got some good sugary coffee for the ride. I wasn't exactly sure if I would be able to easily access the pipeline at the very edge of the northern state forest border. A few turnarounds in folks' driveways and I decided to bail to the back-up spot: the intersection of the pipeline with Treaster Kettle Road.

It was still totally dark when I got there so I chilled a bit in the Tacoma Lodge but got antsy and split with a bit of lighter sky in the east at 6:45. It was colder than I expected: 14 degrees. It took twenty minutes to go the first 50 yards as the stream through the gas line was just barely too big to jump and just barely to deep to wade with dry feet. So the only option was a heinouse bushwhack stream crossing through thick Mountain Laurel. Every other stream crossing was cake.

As day broke, the first mile or so is an easy grade and it feels odd to have so much space around you in the middle of the mountains of Central PA. No "green tunnel" here. It looks like PA, but feels like Wyoming. I was thinking it would be some nice cross-country skiing and eventually did see some ski tracks further on. I probably need skis.

The view from Thickhead mountain, south across Detwiler Run and the Mid-State Trail to Grass Mountain is one of the best. A deep, steep-sided valley without a road at the bottom. My knees start reminding me of why I hate long, steep, rocky downhills. This does not bode well.

Once I get to the top of Grass Mountain, the view south as the gas line makes a few turns to wind it's way through some convoluted ridges is amazing. I wake up a nice wilderness hobo spending "January" in Rothrock as part of the off-season from his farm job in southern Huntingdon county. Nice guy. Very knowledgeable about the trails in the area and we chat some more on the way back through. Usually when I get this view I'm just crossing the gas line on some trail and it feels good to finally be walking it. Actually, it feels terrible because my knees are definetely in some pain by the bottom. The nice part of this is, the view from the bottom UP the mountain is as nice as the view DOWN. But the next stretch is kinda rolling and I continue on to gain the far ridge of Broad Mountain, seeing 8 turkeys on the way.

I start down past Rag Hollow Road, but it's clear that my knees will probably sore for weeks and I have my CrossFit Level 1 cert in 6 days, so I turn around sometime before 11:00 and loaf it back to the truck under blue bird skies and warming weather. The snow-covered northern slopes of Grass and Thickhead were incredibly slick with the warmer weather. Just the surface had melted in the shade so it was too hard to edge or plunge step. I could have definetely used my trekking poles... both for my knees and for those descents. I also ran into two other backpackers off the MST on the way back. Good to see people getting out.

After 6588 feet total elevation, 12 miles, 9 hours, 8 turkeys, 4 squirrels, 3 hikers, and 1 itinerant wilderness hobo, I was definetely ready for my truck and a good home-grilled, double cheeseburger with provolone, salami, sauteed onions, and bacon.

Basic Low Back Rehab Routine

I'm recoverying from an L5-S1 herniation with no sciatica, most recently in December.

Following the suggestions in Low Back Disorders, this is the routine I'm doing now. I see alot of suggestions for exercises on the web for low back pain and herniated discs (Mackenzie, bird dogs, etc) but few information on how to incorporate these into long-term recovery. In some ways Low Back Disorders is very specific (how to roll over in bed!) in other ways, it's vague (like what are the rest times between the sequences for the static holds he recommends). This is my best shot.

During rehabilitation, McGill's goal is to improve low back and abdominal endurance (not strength) and groove proper motion and muscle activation patterns. I do this routine twice every day. I focus on form, abdominal bracing (independent of breathing), and glute/hip activation (during squats).

NOTE: "5-4-3" is shorthand for a reverse pyramid of static holds. The long version would look like this:
hold for 7 seconds, rest for 3 seconds --> Do this 5 times
rest 1 minute
hold for 7 seconds, rest for 3 seconds --> Do this 4 times
rest 1 minute
hold for 7 seconds, rest for 3 seconds --> Do this 3 times
move on to next exercise

The beginner's low back routine:
(1) 6 cat/camel motions (not stretches)
(2) 20 "potty" squats (air squats, basically)
(3) 5-4-3 curl-ups (NOT situps)
(4) 5-4-3 L & R side bridges (I do the 5 static holds for left then the 5 static holds for right, then I take a 1 minute rest and move onto the 4 round)
(5) 5-4-3 bird dogs (I do the 5 static hold with left arm out, then the 5 static holds with the right arm out, then I take a 1 minute rest and move onto the 4 round)
(6) 20 more potty squats (air squats)

I've been doing it for about two weeks and I'm increasing the pyramids from 5-4-3 to 6-5-4. I've also started substituting overhead squats (broomstick) for the second set of air squats. Focusing on the glute activation is definetely a help. I'm keeping a log of how my back feels and potential reasons why (four hours sitting in SAR training for instance). Next I'm going to add some stretches for my hamstrings and my hip flexors and see how that feels.

Gadd's Endless Ascent

Will Gadd just climbed more ice in 24 hours than I will in my lifetime (actually, given the limited climbing I do and the extended link-ups he does, this probably isn't the first time). Ended up being 196 laps on on 40-meter (131 feet) Pic of the Vic in Ouray. By my math, that's over 25,700 feet of vertical ice in 24 hours. Eight pitches per hour for 24 hours. Yikes! That's just about an 8000m peak from sea level, all straight up. No placing pro, no belaying, no swinging leads, just climb and lower, climb and lower, climb and lower. Definitely impressive, but even better for the rest of us, it sounds like he's gonna give some careful thought to what worked and what didn't on his blog. The first installment lists the damage. Nothing permanent, just blisters, lost fingernails and overtrained muscles and tendons, but it will be interesting to see what he has to say about nutrition, training and gear.

This is actually just one big monomodal WOD: As Many Rounds As Possible in 24 hours - climb 130 feet WI4. I've thought about this type of thing before. Long extended undurance efforts in a CrossFit style for depletion days. Like, instead of AMRAP:20, something like AMRAP:daylight or AMRAP:darkness, or even AMRAP:24 hours.

SOUNDTRACK: Bladder Bladder Bladder's Designated Drinking Driver . I know next to nothing about this band or this song. This song is stuck in my head since I listened to it this afternoon during my "workout." It gave me a powerful thirst for some beer, I do know that.

Low Back Rehab Program: Two Diagnostic Tests

So clearly I'm putting alot of faith in Stuart McGill's expertise. Of course, I'm also putting alot of faith in my ability to understand what he teaches and then use it intelligently to make this the last time I have to "rehab" my back. This is probably simple hubris, though, because the book itself is written to help the working clinical professional and my plan is to simply go it alone. I finished "Low Back Disorders" and I'm ready to get cracking on working out again as long I'm not risking another tweaked back. First though, there are a two simple tests that I think are instructive.

Back Bridge Test
The first can indicate whether a person is correctly activating the glutes for hip opening. This back-bridge test is performed lying flat on your back, legs bent, knees flat on the floor. Tense your entire "core" muscles to maintain a nuetral spine as you open raise your hips off the floor, opening your hip (it's kind of like what they are showing here, but don't extend the one leg at the knee). Use your hands to feel (the fancy word is "palpate", but just start poking and prodding) which of your muscles are most strongly activated. Feel your abs (not just the six pack but all around your abdomen), then check your glutes, check your hamstrings, and check your quads. Which are working the hardest? Can you feel them working? I

Go ahead, do it now. Once you know what it's supposed to feel like you'll never do it the same again.

Your glutes should be most strongly activated. The hamstrings should be only slightly activated However, in people who have had lower back injuries, it's very common to have the hamstrings and the extensors in the lower back take much of the effort rather than glutes. This places much more of a compressive load on the spine. If you pretend to squeeze a coin between your butt and activate your quads slightly, you can feel how the glutes and hips can take the load, and this is how the body is supposed to function. Retraining hip opening to emphasize the glutes will be key.

Abdominal Muscular Enduance (aka my Spinal Fran)
OK, so now to the good measurable stuff, testing muscular endurance. Given that endurance in the 'core' musculature is protective of the spine, defining any defficiencies in this area will help guide the rehabilitation program. It will also provide a useful measuring stick of progress. This will be my "Spinal Fran" benchmark. There are three static hold tests and by comparing the length (in seconds) of static holds in these different positions, one can determine what underlying defficiencies are limiting long-term recovery in low back pain patients. So, I put together a crude test lab in my living room (see picture) and, after a trial run to get everything right, here's what I got on my second tests

Left Side Bridge = 61 seconds
Right Side Bridge = 75 seconds
55 Degree Flexion = 153 seconds
Back Extension = 138 seconds

To interpret the results, he notes that the following ratios are statistically significant in populations with low back pain. I believe these values also have some use as predictors of future back pain.

55 degree flexion/back extension >1.0 -->My value is 1.11
Right Side Bridge/Left Side Bridge outside the range 0.95 to 1.05 --> My value is 1.23
Right Side Bridge/back extension > 0.75 --> My value is 0.54
Left Side Bridge/back extension > 0.75 --> My value is 0.44

So, if I've done these correctly, this indicates that my flexion/extension ratio is aberrant (>1.0), indicating that my back extension endurance is low. I'll be working these with Bird Dogs.

It also shows that the right side lateral abs have statistically higher endurance than my left (RSB/LSB outside the range 0.95 to 1.05). I'll be working both sides with Side Bridges.

Finally, it also shows that the relative endurance of my lateral abs to my extensors is OK (less than 0.75).

Interesting. And it will be interesting to see how these change over the next few months.