Dutch Lowy

I got a couple questions from Russ Greene prompted by my article on OPT’s training blog. His questions will benefit everyone so i decided to post my responses here. I’ll do it in an interview style where i put his questions in Bold followed by my response.

Should those pursuing Crossfit and GPP regularly train long workouts (20-30 minutes and up)?
No.
Why? The goal of Crossfit is to increase power output. The ability to produce power decreases as your time increases therefore keeping workouts in a lower time domain allow athletes to produce a higher average power. Is there value in going a little longer occasionally? Of course. If you never experience the longer domain you will be hurting when it is time to go long for real. In my opinion this is not where you develop fitness but rather where you strengthen your mind and prove to yourself that you can do it. I recommend no more than 15-20% of your workouts go over 20 minutes (actually 15 but i know there are endurance junkies that just don’t get it).

If so, you have stated that if you’re pacing yourself, you’re not improving your fitness. How do you square that with the need to pace oneself in longer workouts? You don’t sprint the first 400 of a 10k run or the first round of a 10 round WOD, do you?
Let me ask you a question: What is the point of training? If you are simply trying to get a better time, then by all means please pace the workout, calculate the most efficient way to rest and work and get a world record time. If you are interested in improving your fitness you need to learn how NOT to pace. You need to work as hard as you can for as long as you can then rest just long enough so you can push just as hard. If you do this, your time will probably be worse but since you put more effort into it you will see better improvements in fitness. Its the effort that counts.
Yes you pace a 10k because you aren’t getting more fit doing it, you are working within your capacity. If you didn’t pace it you may get more out of it…Try it. There is a reason nobody does it this way…It fucking sucks!
You can look at crossfit as a numbers game and really geek out on the average power thing and therefore never make it over the hump or you can design workouts that allow you to improve your fitness without having to “game” a workout. I have sent this quote to a couple of my clients because i think it says it all.:

“A wise man once said “sure you can fraction the reps and make it feel a little easier and still get a good time; or you can not be afraid and get uncomfortable”

More broadly, is it possible to improve all aspects of GPP at once?
No.
I’ve said this before and still believe it. The simplist example of this is looking at strength vs endurance. Lets say for example in a day we were to do 5×5 back squat (that means 5 heavy sets not: 135,185,225,275,315) and follow it up with a 5k run or row. By putting the additional 5k on the end there i have essentially taken 2 steps forward and 1 step back with my strength and MAYBE taken half a step forward with regards to endurance because we all know by now that running doesn’t make you a better runner. Ok, so we made a little progress in both domains but what happens to flexibility? Well if we had skipped the run and were going full range on the squats maybe we maintained it but its not likely we improved it. Throw in the run and Bam! all progress to flexibility is gone as well as half the strength we just gained. Why do you think powerlifters and olympic lifters laugh when you ask them to go for a jog or do angie? Its not because they are lazy, in fact they are just the opposite, they just understand the importance of being strong for their sport and know that angie and running will make them weak.
So i stand by my answer. No you can’t improve your GPP all at once. it is a process. Work on weaknesses, when they aren’t weak anymore start on what is next on the list.

Lastly, why should Crossfitters focus on olympic lifting if they are also deficient at gymnastics, running, and all three energy systems? Why focus on one particular mode of Crossfit in one particular time domain and thus energy system?
Simple answer: The Olympic lifts (snatch and Clean and Jerk) are gymnastics with weight. Even better than the real thing.
The olympic lifts are one of those things that give you the most bang for your buck as far as strength, coordination, accuracy, agility, balance, strength (yea i said it twice) and flexibility. Add in more than 5 reps and you have stamina and CR Endurance. The total package in my opinion and Crossfits by definition. If i can get all of that out of 2 movements, why waste time teaching athletes anything else? Well thats an easy answer but you see my point? For those of us who don’t do Crossfit for a living (everyone. until the CF games have a pot of 100,000+) we need to get the most out of our training and what better way to do that than the olympic lifts.
We already know that when we train anaerobically we see benefit in out aerobic capacity so why even waste time there? We also know that during any type of exercise we are using all energy pathways and therefore gaining capacity in each. If you think your body is that segmented you are mistaken. As soon as you start using energy (birth) you are constantly using all 3 pathways. That is why our body’s are such amazing machines.

I want to thank Russ for the questions and the critical thought. Someone truly seeking knowledge will look at everything critically and demand explanation. I commend Russ for being persistent. Let the conversation begin.

Occasionally we need someone to keep us in check and get us back to what we believe in. I had the pleasure of meeting a very interesting and intelligent guy at the Crossfit Exercise Science cert a couple months back. His name is Ben Benson and he is head trainer at Crossfit Decatur. I was impressed by his understanding of power outputs and why this is important. We chatted for a while and then he asked if i could come to Atlanta for a seminar. I was thrilled to be bale to go to the East coast as i have not spent much time out there. I was treated like a king, but that’s not the point of this rant.
When i got to Atlanta Ben and i started chatting about random Crossfit related stuff. He mentioned his frustrations with how his gym was running, mostly how the programming (which he does) was sub par. He felt his hands were tied because of the clientele he had. Obviously i disagreed as i have seen Crossfit programming work across the country. I got the following email a week after i got home and was so impressed with his shift in perspective that i felt the need to share it with everyone with the hopes that if you are going through the same thing that you will be inspired to make a change. It is also meant to kick those of you that have fallen into a rut and get you to refocus on what you feel is important.
Enjoy and Thank you very much to Ben!

Too hard? Probably not as harsh as it should have been. I think what went unspoken had more impact on me than anything else. I extracted a whole bunch of ideas from this experience. All I know is that we have to evolve the program and not compromise. This program has to run on our terms, and can’t be dictated by placating the masses. We can’t expect to prosper with an inferior product. The challenge is overcoming the culture of the gym, but once again, the ball is in our court to change that aspect. It’s only through the success and progress of our clients that we will be rewarded in the knowledge that we are doing the our job right. I see stagnating trends in our data and that is why I needed the prod to change. Once again thanks. You have done much more in terms of help than you will probably give yourself credit for. You have made an impact in my life and in turn I will try to make every effort to impact and impart that knowledge to our clients. Let the growing pains begin.
Ben

Crossfit Football, John Welbourns brainchild, is an awesome program. The way i see sport specific training is in line with how John programs his Football WODs. He openly says that CFFB is not geared towards making you a better Crossfitter. We have had this discussion before, but an athletes performance in the gym should do one thing, and that is to allow them to excel on the field. John gets that. Here is what he has to say.

I am not programming for the games, that is maxie’s realm. If people want to use the cffb programming for the games that is their right, as this shit is free. I am not tapering, focusing on weakness or worrying about building work capacity outside of the demands of football. My goal for the cffb program to make muscular, extremely strong and fast athletes that are not limited by flexibility or change of direction. So to sum up cffb….big, strong, fast people that can bend and change direction. If I can accomplish that the program is a success and I am happy. If I train athletes that mistake work capacity for athleticism I have missed my mark.

Well said.

I really like their approach to Strength training as it is a well thought out strength program for all levels. The difference between a novice and an expert is huge and they will not benefit from working above their current experience level. The beginners are on a more basic linear progression while the more experienced athletes are on a percentage based program. I like the complexity this program has taken on with the in season and off season strength WODs and conditioning. There is some serious consideration going into making this program as effective as possible.
If you miss the point that training is preparation then you have changed your sport to training. If you understand that what you do in the gym is meant to make you better on the field then you will be a more complete athlete in the long run.

In case you didn’t pick this up already, i don’t think this is a very good Crossfit prep program. You will not win the Crossfit games by doing CFFB. Nor is that the goal. I think it could be a fun alternative to .com but you have to realize who the workouts are for and what their intentions are. If these workouts are taking you 10+ minutes, you need to scale back. These should be high on intensity and power output.

Lastly i want to restate John’s purpose with this program. he is committed to making Crossfit the training program for football players across the world. he is constantly checking results and tweaking the program and this is evident with the advent of his in season/ off season programming.
In my opinion, as soon as a program stops evolving it is dead. With a brain like Johns behind CFFB you are in good hands.

First up is OPT. The Optimum Performance Training blog is run by James Fitzgerald, former Crossfit Games Champion, and consistently high performer in the Crossfit community. James takes a different approach to training others than most Crossfit gyms. Each of his clients have met with him individually for both a performance assessment as well as a Biofeedback reading. He also sends them to a local Homeopath for further evaluation. He does this in order to individualize each program he writes. His clients usually train on their own with periodic technique sessions with James and his trainers. These sessions are focused on correcting positions in the lifts and focusing more on the basics than getting an actual workout. He claims that individualizing Crossfit programming is a higher order Crossfit Methodology.

His blog is a more generalized approach to this method. James analyzes the performance of his “Big Dawgs” and adjusts his programming accordingly. His program changes as the user changes. So for those of you that follow James programming and aren’t posting times, you aren’t getting necessarily what you need. By keeping a close eye on the Big Dawgs performance, james can keep each and everyone of them progressing at the same rate. It seems to me that he is focused on the GPP side of crossfit with the realization that workouts don’t have to take 30 minutes to get results (in fact, they don’t even have to take 20…) and it is important to be both strong with weights and be able to move your body under control.

After a little prodding i got some trends that he sees in Crossfitters as a whole (actually more like the people he trains but i think they are global trends), and they are the same that i have seen.
Number one is that they are weak in the olympic lifts, both in technique and in strength. In my opinion that means there needs to be a focus on them.
Number two is the lack of competence in the basic gymnastics movements. James mentioned to me that he is taking his training more towards a strict gymnastic bias. To me that means he is focused on building a strong foundation before he jumps back into super high intensity. He is ok with sacrificing his time to make himself better. I say he is a wise man for doing so.

I like his nutritional info posted daily. It is a bit over my head but he has a reason behind the madness and i think its pretty legit.

Would i do these workouts?
No doubt, but there are some things that i would make sure. I would call or email james and let him know who i was and what i was looking for out of his workouts. Let him know my goals and get some feedback from him on his purpose over the next couple months. I would then make sure that i posted everything i did on his blog so he has his finger on my pulse at all times. I trust his judgment as a trainer so i would have no problem committing to his program.

Part Deux is even better than part 1. Thank you Wes for taking the time to educate us all.
Enjoy!

So now that we’re all in agreement that the Hanesless Hang Clean and Shirtless Snatches are a good thing. Lets delve into the “whom” of the bare chested back squat. Dutch alluded to the way he “sold” CrossFit to me, let me sum it up: He called me a fatass in a bar…. literally (don’t worry guys Dutch will be doing a “how to get new clients” post in the coming days). This little story serves as context for today’s post on two fronts A) My first two examples come from personal experience B) as I said in part one Dutch is asshole. So lets get to the T-Shirt tossin…

3 Bills:

That’s right I said it, going shirtless has no ceiling. I topped out at a lean 309 lbs in college, fueled by Olive Garden Breadsticks and Coors Light, I never waivered in my dedication to the shirtless workout. Now is the time to unlock the secret of the cottonless clean…. Topless WODs are strictly utilitarian ventures. When I’m 3 bills you better believe it’s considerably hotter for me out there than for Johnny Buck 50. In my opinion the bigger all the more reason to toss the T-Shirt, just because we got a spare tire doesn’t exempt us from being move to a “Cal”esque WOD.

Chubby Guy with Big Pecs and Back Hair:

See above “3 Bills”. Just wanted to throw this one in here to show you my current state. As with 3 Bills, the addition of the coat of body hair, adds to the need for threadless thrusters.

Super Ripped Guy:

Hey super ripped guy, newsflash buddy, nobody gives a shit that you have a 12 pack. Nobody’s impressed with your lats, and frankly we could all care less, that you can do 1000 air squats in a row without messing up your hair. Super ripped guy its time to take a look in the mirror (you’ve obviously been here before), am I rocking a shirtless WOD because its a spiritual experience or am I just trying to impress Suzy Sports Bra over there? Is my lack of torso covering due to a 60-day heat wave, or am just trying to show off my 3 oblique muscles? Check yourself super ripped guy, are your intentions pure? If not lets reevaluate, maybe its time for you to did some air squats in a sweatsuit.

Women of all shapes and sizes:

I need to get something off my chest…. It takes allot of cigarettes, cocaine, and vomiting to look like the fine ladies of US Weekly and Cosmo. Whew that felt good, you ladies are bombarded with negative body images on a daily basis, and since its been established in this fine article that topless tabatas are a strictly utilitarian venture. I implore you ladies to join in on the fun. Let go of the preconceived notions of what you “should” look like and embrace what you are DOING. CrossFit workouts are terrible, your heart is pumping something like 56575 BPMs, your lungs are on fire, and you can’t see straight. Why subject your self to the additional pain of lugging around a 15 lb shirt soaked in sweat, this shit is hard enough. Liberate yourself ladies, everyone of you is beautiful, no matter where you are in your fitness journey.

So there you have it consider yourself educated. This is the definitive guide to shirt removal (hey! he stole that from the apple guy), get out there folks and get those shirts off regardless of the names Dutch calls you. It’s been fun, keep on fightin the good fight.

I am about to embark on a journey through a couple different websites and take a critical look at some Crossfit style programs online. Why do i say style? Well the only true crossfit program is posted daily on Crossfit.com. No matter who you are, you can’t argue this fact. Crossfit will always be what is posted on that site. You may feel there are better ways to become fit but that will never change what crossfit is.

As we are about to see there are many different approaches to to maximizing work capacity across broad time and modal domains. They range from strength based programs (cathletics.com) to individualized programs that are constantly changing in response to the athletes needs.
It will be very interesting for me to dig into why these different programs are structured like they are. I am always open to suggestions so if you want my opinion on anything specific just let me know.

Also if you have any sites that are not listed below that you check regularly please let me know. No, i will not take a look at everyones programming unless you are willing to pay. I want you to learn, i don’t want to do it for you.

Here are the sites i am going to review:
Catalyst Athletics
MaxfitUSA
OPT
Crossfit Invictus
Crossfit Football
MEBB
Crossfit.com

This is Wes, not current day Wes, Old school Wes. He was one of my first clients, and i think this is one of his first Crossfit workouts ever. If you could hear how i got him into the gym you would laugh but that is for another day. He is a good friend of mine and currently owns Crossfit Austin with his partner Boone.
Wes is a funny dude. Last time i was in Austin, Wes was ranting about the topic you are about to read about. Wes is very passionate about this so take his words seriously (well not too seriously). I asked him to write something for me so here it is.

Take your shirt off wave it around you head like a helicopter. (Part 1)

I’m going assume that all of you out there in cyberspace are either CrossFitters or involved in CrossFit somehow (except Dutch, he just wants to lift heavy shit what an asshole). As CrossFitters there are a few things that we all seem to take a great deal of pride in: taking pictures in front of things in a handstand, putting kettlebells on t-shirts, and buying shoes that really accentuate our toes. The list goes on and on. Well, I think its about to time to address an important issue in this community: as a CrossFitter when, why, and where do I remove my shirt? Is there a bigger threat to XFit (don’t call it that) than the unsolicited, unmerited, unAmerican shirt removal? Me thinks not. Dutch urges for consistency in programming, I preach a similar message: Consistency in American Apparel 50/50 extraction.

The When and the Why.

These two things are, must be, and always will be intertwined. The breakdown goes something like this:

“Hey Bro, how’s the surf” guy.

This guy has his shirt on approximately 0% of time he’s in the gym. Fret not though this is only slightly below his “every day activity” shirt wearing percentage. “Hey bro, how’s the surf guy” enters the box sans (that French for without) shirt, and leaves the box without (that’s English for sans) a shirt. Since “hey bro”‘s day is spent in or near a body of water I totally approve of his Tshirtlessness (Q: did he just make up a word? A: Most assuredly). Additionally keep a look out for his cousin the “I workout in my swimming trunks” guy (that can’t be comfortable).

“Is it getting hot in here?” lady.

In attempt to be evenhanded our second study subject will take the female form. “Is it getting hot in here?” lady generally feels compelled to ditch her top during the warm-up, some where in between arm circles and leg swings. Her reasoning usually consists of “the lack of AC in the gym” or she alludes to the fact that the average temperature for the last 60 days has hovered in between 120 and 1000 degrees. Does she have an argument? Absolutely! Why? Because it is f’n hot here, and I hear working out in a sports bra is awesome (did you guys really think I was going to discourage Women from working out in sports bra? Come ONNN!).

“The Cal”

Our last example I’ve named after my good friend Jon Callahan of Windy City CrossFit. A little back ground on Cal from his best friend Dave Regula “Cal is just plain crazy……about crossfit. This is how the guy works. When he is in love, he is in love. He once decided that he liked velour sweat suits. So he bought eight. No joke. Thought he was P.Diddy” so obviously we can see the man is passionate. Cal’s assertion is that the shirt should only be removed if the WOD moves you to do so. As we all know CrossFit workouts are epic battles, so much so that you most definitely gain a distinct advantage from shucking off those cumbersome threads. The most valid point? Certainly. I can not argue with a man, who once did “The Bear” shirtless because he felt it was the only way to show the appropriate “respect”, as Dave put it “the bar was going to clearly tear skin off his back every time he went from overhead to back squat. A true pimp in this”

So what have we learned? Basically topless is preferable in every situation with a slight edge to the spiritual one. Next time I’ll tackle the “who” of 100% cotton removal, and I leave you with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuYD2cwMbpw

Stay tuned for Part Deux.