The Importance of Sleep

I’m sure everyone knows that without sleep we really can’t function. That is something that has been hammered into us ever since the day nap time ended. Now that we are all grown up and have busy lives, whether it is school, work, a family, or something that somehow doesn’t fit into the previous three things, sleep is now wanted more than ever, yet we can never seem to get enough of it. On the other hand, some of you may be in denial and think you don’t need as much sleep as others and that you can be fine on 2-4 hours of sleep a night. Well to you people I have but one message, You are so wrong! I have learned firsthand these last two weeks just how important sleep is, both with health but also my fitness, happiness, mental state, and anything else that can be applied to a person.

Last Saturday (May 3rd) was my comedy group’s sketch show and as such, we were having late practices every night as a part of our “hell week”. It also happened to be a week with 2 exams and a paper, so there was not much time to be had for sleep. Due to my class schedule and the extra practices, I had to wake up really early that week, to the point where I really was averaging 2-4 hours of sleep a night. The day before my show I had planned on testing my deadlift in hopes of setting a new 1RM. Due to the lack of sleep I had been getting, I hadn’t been recovering, and as such, while I was working up, weights that I could previously hit fairly easily were feeling incredibly difficult. At that point I knew it would be a waste to even try and that I would definitely not hit a new max, but instead today I was able to hit a PR. Sleep is probably the most important part of gaining results from training because that is when your muscles recover. If you’re not getting enough you won’t recover, but if you are you will see all kinds of progress.  

Not only is sleep incredibly important for making progress in your training, but it is also incredibly important for your health and wellness. This past Wednesday, my lack of sleep finally caught up to me and I felt absolutely terrible. I could barely stand, to point where one of my teachers told me to leave class and go to bed. Not only had I gotten sick to exhaustion, but I was also feeling very agitated and cranky towards everything, and that was frustrating to me because I’m not usually like that. I ended up sleeping 6 hours during the day though, 9 more that night, and then 10 hours Thursday night and woke up feeling phenomenal Friday, like I was a new person.

Sleep is the most important part of training and you should aim to get 8 hours of sleep each night, probably 9 if you trained that day. If you’re not sleeping you won’t make progress, but you’re also going to get sick and feel terrible. Do yourself a favor and go back to cherishing your sleep. Now go get a good night’s sleep everyone.

Training with Injuries

With intense training, you are bound to get some bumps and bruises on the road to increasing your fitness. A little soreness isn’t a bad thing at all and probably means you’re actually working pretty hard. Injuries on the other hand are not a good thing at all because they can really derail your progress, plus they are just incredibly annoying. However, there are certain ways in which you can train through and around your injuries.

First thing you have to do is listen to your doctor (assuming you’ve seen one). If your doctor says not to do something, don’t do it. Making the injury worse is not worth whatever progress you might see, and if you’re pushing through an injury, you’re probably not going to be getting any progress anyway. For example, a month ago I noticed some pain in my foot, went to a doctor, and found out I had a stress fracture in my 2nd metatarsal in my left foot. He told me no jumping and no running. That means I had to stop everything that had that. He then recommended I lay off doing most everything else. Now in general I wouldn’t recommend what I did, but in my mind because he didn’t explicitly say not to do other movements, I went along doing just about everything else as far as pain would allow. In general though, I would listen to your doctor’s orders AND recommendations. I may be fine now, but it is always possible that the things I was doing could have just made things worse.

If you have something that is not an injury like a fracture where you can still do things, but it hurts to do so or you can’t go through the full range of motion, then you can still workout, but modify things to not strain the injury, and then do lots of mobility work to help with the issue. Again, to use myself as an example. After doing my Level 1, I woke up the next day with a pretty bad strain in my left hip flexors. It was most likely a result of doing lots of squats the 5 days prior in various capacities. As such though, I can’t really squat right now and because of that I now have to modify workouts that have squatting or any other large amounts of hip flexion to not include it. On days where there are movements such as thrusters, I would just do push presses. Plus before and after workouts, I do a lot of mashing of my hips, release of my psoas, and trying to create slack in my quads. In general, if you have something that more just gets in the way, but isn’t an extreme injury, you can find things to work around it. I would definitely recommend talking to a coach though because they know more than you do, that’s why they are there.

Having injuries sucks, but they don’t have to be the end of the world for your training. It is possible to work around them and still see progress, but you want to do it conservatively and intelligently so you don’t make the injury even worse.

Recap of CrossFit Level 1 Seminar

The last weekend in March I attended the CrossFit Level 1 Seminar at CrossFit Federal Hill in Baltimore. Before I get into the seminar, I must say that that is an absolutely magnificent facility. I decided to attend the seminar for a couple reasons, but the main reason was in a way that I had no reason not to. I have probably learned about as much as I can easily find online about CrossFit at this point. Plus, while it may sound cheesy, I really believe in what CrossFit does for people, and since I want to eventually get into coaching, it seemed like the right time.

On Saturday we begin the day pretty early on with just going over, “What is CrossFit?”. This was interesting for me in that I had heard just about everything that was discussed, but never in this perspective and never in a room full of other CrossFitters who were there to learn as much as I was. After going over what CrossFit is, we then went into our first movement series, the squat series that includes the air squat, front squat, and overhead squat. This was a very humbling experience because I knew I didn’t have the greatest squat before, but I was being pushed and moved into positions that I didn’t know were possible, but then I learned how I can help fix my positions in the long term. After the squats, we went over “What is Fitness?” We went over the 4 different models of fitness that all contribute to the definition of “Increased Work Capacity Across Broad Time and Modal Domains”. This was a similar feeling to the first lecture, for I had heard all of that before at one point, but hearing it discussed in this setting made everything resonate with me much more. After lunch we came in to do the press series that is the press, push press and push jerk. Yes! I wasn’t brought into the circle for doing things wrong, but instead was actually complimented on my positions. After that we then went over the thruster and the kipping pull up. We all thought we were going to be doing Fran as our workout that day, but no, it was 3 rounds for time of 15 thrusters and 12 burpees. Being the day after I did 14.5 I was so sick of those movements I just wanted them to be done. After our hard workout, we took our sweaty picture that would go up on crossfit.com and then for those who wanted to, people stayed around, talked, and we even enjoyed in some nice and incredibly refreshing beers. All in all a great first day.

Sunday we started off with nutrition, and it was funny because the presenter admitted that Saturday was their cheat day so they felt guilty giving that presentation. We discussed the hierarchy of movements and how nutrition is the foundation, as well as what types of foods we should be eating, and ended on the zone diet. We then went into the deadlift series, which is the deadlift, sumo deadlift high pull, and medicine ball clean. We spent a lot of time on the deadlift, and that was extremely helpful for everyone in my group because we all had slightly different faults and that helped with identifying them. We didn’t spend a ton of time on the sumo deadlift high pull, people seemed to get it pretty well once they were able to get the right set-up position. It seemed like we spent forever on those cleans. We kept going back and forth on certain faults and then once something was fixed another problem would occur. They were horribly exhausting to go through. Naturally our workout before lunch would include those cleans, in fact it was an 8 min AMRAP of 8 pushups, 10 medicine ball cleans, and 12 sit ups. This wasn’t as hard as the workout on Saturday, but was a nice solid workout where I was able to keep a good pace. For this, we had a partner and coached each other under intensity for the first time. While we were coaching, the seminar staff would come around and then coach our coaching, so it was nice to hear different ways to say the same thing. After lunch we discussed programming. While this was a very interesting lecture for me, and was probably the most beneficial and practical for people, I didn’t agree with everything that was said and I don’t think I would ever program like was went over. They did acknowledge that though, and admit that that is one of the better things about the affiliate process is that each affiliate can be programmed differently and that the lecture is a base of knowledge. After a quick review session, we took the test, and that was the end of the weekend.

It was a very long and tiring weekend for me, but it was an incredible experience. I learned more than I could have imagined, and I had so much fun doing it. For anyone interested in coaching or just wanting to learn more about CrossFit, I highly recommend going to the Level 1 seminar because it will be a worthwhile weekend. It is worth the $1000, I guarantee it. 

Why I did the 2014 CrossFit Open

Now that the CrossFit Open is over, I’d like to reflect on why I actually decided to do the Open from a hindsight perspective, so here are my 10 reasons why I did the CrossFit Open.

1. I have been doing CrossFit on and off since the Fall of 2012 and while I have had my issues with consistencies and injuries, I finally feel like I have a solid grasp on a lot of the movements and wanted to see where I am.

2. I finally have the opportunity to. During last year’s Open I paid attention but wasn't able to do it. There Isn’t space or equipment necessary to do it at school, but now that I’m interning at CrossFit DoneRight I’m finally able to do it.

3. I saw incredible achievements. I witnessed people getting their first muscle up, first chest-to-bar pull up (I was really hoping that’d be me, maybe next year), and one person pulled their 1RM deadlift for multiple reps during 14.3. The coolest thing of all was when I was on spring break visiting a gym out in LA, I witnessed a 16 year old do 10 unbroken muscle ups during 14.4. The open just makes people work that much harder to where they can do things they never thought possible.

4. I can compete with everyone. I may not be the fastest/strongest/fittest person but I was able to compete right along with the best athletes in the world. It is a cool thing to know that I’m doing the exact same workout as Rich Froning, Jason Khalipa, Dan Bailey and more.

5. It is a great way to track my progress. While this may be the first year I've done the Open, I know exactly where I placed and next year when I do it, I can see if I have progressed based on my placing. While it is only one way of tracking progress, it is a fun way of doing so in a competition setting that you don’t get everyday.

6. I am one of 209,585 people to sign up for the Open and that is just really awesome. Plus, with all those people, I was able to see where I stood up, and after 5 weeks, turns out I’m the 67,574 fittest person in the world. That’s top ⅓ in the world and I’ll take that any day.

7. You have to push yourself to do something that you may not think possible or that you wouldn't otherwise try. For the average person, they wouldn't have thought they’d be able to do a lot of these workouts as prescribed or they wouldn't for whatever reason. For example, for me if I were doing 14.2 as a regular workout, I wouldn't have programmed it as chest-to-bar pull ups because I don’t have them, I would have done regular pull ups so I could move farther in the workout and get a better metabolic effect from the workout. Instead I had to really push myself to go after those pull ups. Granted, I didn't get any (Jay said he would have given me a couple, but I didn't actually feel them hit my chest) but I still was forced to work as hard as I possibly could.

8. It’s your chance to experience a completely unbiased programming. In some programming, you’re able to hide your weaknesses. In the Open, there is no hiding at all, and once your weaknesses are exposed you are forced to work on them to become fitter.

9. It displays the epitome of the CrossFit community. In a regular workout, people are working hard and cheering for each other. During the Open though, you are going as hard as possible and people are screaming at you to get you to do as much as your body can handle. Regular workouts are a great display of community, but the Open is on a whole different level.

10. While it may seem cheesy, I simply just wanted to. It is fun, and only costs $20. It is the only real chance that I get to do a competition and it is really fun.

I loved doing the Open. If you did the Open, I hope you enjoyed it, and if not, I highly suggest you do it next year because you will not regret it at all.

The Best Training Program is the One You Follow

Working out is hard, there is no denying that, that must be why it is called work. I mean you get sweaty, smell bad, and you hurt. What happens though when you don’t even know what it is you’re doing, you use all that effort and don’t even get much out of it. That is why people will follow a program, whether it is by their design, a blog, a coach, or something they read out of a magazine, people are following a program. Now if you are someone who is following a program that someone else is designing, you have to do one thing...follow and believe in it!

If you are following a program but always questioning what it is you’re doing or you’re picking and choosing what to do then you won’t see as much progress as you should see. That is why if you are offered the greatest, most personalized training program that is perfectly suited to you and written by the best coach, but if you still don’t believe in it and only do parts of it, then you won’t see many benefits. If on the other hand, you follow a program that is written for a general population and isn’t tailored to your needs, but you follow it and believe in it, then those benefits will be great.

A lot of people forget about the mental component of exercise, and if they think about it, they underestimate its power over your success. That’s why if you believe, you will achieve. Now everyone, go find a program (or if you are already following one, stay on that program) and follow it. If you can find one that represents similar goals to yours, that’s even better. I promise you won’t regret it.

How to Stay in Shape on Vacation

Vacations are some of the happiest times of the year, you get to go somewhere different and relax and have fun. They are much-needed breaks from the real world when you can get them. However, they can also kill your fitness. All that relaxing and the “vacation diet” are not a great combination for keeping fit for when you get back home. I’m going to have to deal with this myself from 3/14-3/23 when I am on spring break and going to Los Angeles. Here are some tips that I have learned from previous experiences as well as from friends and family.

1. Don’t do nothing.

You don’t necessarily have to hit the gym or visit a different box while you’re away, although it makes it a lot easier, but you can do things as simple as some push ups, sit ups, air squats, and burpees in your room. Combine those movements in different ways and I assure you, you’ll be feeling some burn. You can also go out in the landscape and go hiking, swimming, skiing, or whatever is local to that area. That is the key though, don’t do nothing.

If you do plan on visiting another CrossFit gym while you’re away though, plan ahead and email them at least a week in advance to work out any logistics. I’ve already figured out where and when I’ll be going, as well as have planned some cool hikes in the area.

2. Treat yourself to local delicacies and allow 1 big meal a day.

You’re going to want to splurge and eat everything in sight because you may not be able to have that food again; don’t do it! Most of the food you’re going to want to eat is the exact same as what you eat on a regular basis, but is just worse for you. However, if there really is something that is local to that area, go ahead and eat it. It is a vacation and you should allow yourself something fun to eat, so have that fun food. If you like splurging on vacations as well, don’t do it each meal. You’re allowed to one meal/day at the very most, otherwise you’re going to spend too much time eating and not enough time exploring the area.

3. Have fun with good people.

Trying to stay in shape on vacation is nearly impossible, and if you’re all by yourself on that it will be even harder. If you’re with good people who are willing to help you out and be supportive, that helps tremendously. Also, if you’re having fun, then the stress won’t build up and you will do better at keeping in shape.

All in all, it is very tough to stay in shape while on vacation. You’re going to lose something, it is bound to happen when you’re no longer in your normal routine, but if you can stick to these 3 things, you will do a lot better in keeping as much of your fitness as possible, and set yourself up for success when you get back. 

You Should Never Skip Squat Day

There are a lot of people who just don’t like squatting at all. It is hard, tiring, and makes you sore. Why would anyone want to do something that has those affects? They would because squats are the king of all exercises.

Squatting is the king of all exercises for many reasons, but it all stems from the fact that squatting to full depth works your glutes, hamstrings, quads, and your hips, the biggest muscles in your body. By working the biggest muscles in your body, you will see great benefits.

Some of the biggest benefits from squatting are increased muscle mass, which in turn means a faster metabolism, which can lead to increased fat loss. There is also an increase in mobility and flexibility in your hips, hamstrings, quads, and ankles.

Squatting not only has the previous benefits, but also translates to just about everything else. By being stronger, you also are able to exert a greater amount of force, you’re faster, and can jump higher. Squatting not only makes you stronger in your squat, but it makes you better at everything else.

While squats are phenomenal for your body, there is also a great mental affect from squatting, and squatting heavy. Regularly subjecting yourself to heavy squats can build incredible mental toughness by giving you the ability to really fight against something hard. Doing that can also build great confidence; handling heavy weights on your back (or front rack or overhead) makes everything else feel and seem easier because there isn’t anything as hard as having to get out of the hole with big weights. Squats are also very humbling, there is nothing like sitting in the bottom of a squat with a lot of weight and not being able to stand up, but then after some work being able to sit in the bottom of the squat with that weight and somehow get back up. Squatting humbles you and teaches you hard work.

Squatting is not only the king of exercises for its ability to improve everything physically but also teaching mental toughness. Squatting may not always be easy, but if you’re able to still go at it, you will see amazing results. So now go out and when you see that squats are part of the plan for that day, go squat, squat heavy and I promise you won’t regret it.