Spend a morning improving your technique, power output and how to approach the rowing pieces in CrossFit WODs. Limited to 26 participants.

About Toby Johnson:
Toby is a graduate of Sacramento State University with a degree in Recreation Administration. He has rowed for sixteen years starting with Capital in 1992. He was recruited by Washington State University. After two years rowing with WSU, he decided to come back to Lake Natoma and finish out his collegiate eligibility with the Sacramento State men’s team. Within those two years, the men’s eight went lost only one race in the entire season. After college, he coached for Capital and Sacramento State, as well as, continued to row for himself. In 2003, he moved to Georgia to train with a previous National Team Sculling coach, Igor Grinko, and try out for the 2004 Athens games. An inopportune knee injury three months prior to trials limited his chances. He moved back to California and has continued with his training. He recently received his Certification for Level I Cross fit training and is working on his Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist Certification.

Since doing the wonderful 'Air Force 20' workout, it became very apparent, I haven't hammered this one home enough.  Let me clear this one up right now.

When doing pretty much anything, you need to have midline stability.  We talk about pushing the hips back during the power lifts.  This should not happen at the cost of letting your core go.  It will create a huge lumbar curve.  Back squatting or dead lifts like this will result in you pulling a stripper move, your hips come up faster than your torso.  Basically if your ribs stick out, things are going to go bad.  Same thing applies with the Oly lifts or their derivatives.  If you are trying to get your hips down to your heels (ass to ankles) you have to keep a flexed midline.  Don't know what I'm talking about?  Check out these shots.  This is an example of what NOT to do.  There is not much good going on here.  (Give me a break, it was a rough wod...)  If you start out like this...

...or like this...

You will wind up like this...

I'm on my heels, as much as I can be.  What can go wrong if I'm on my heels?  My hips are way back instead of sitting as close to my heels as possible.  (Specific to Oly lifts.  I won't get into the power lift vs. Oly lifts discussion today.)  I'm not engaging my midline at all, stressing the spine by giving it zero support.  I've got a decent weight overhead and I am basically relying on the density of my spinal cord to hold it up.  There isn't any musculature support going on.  Here's a real world example.  Take your Starbucks cup sleeve and fold it in half.  Push down on the sides and watch it bow.  There is no support other than the cardboard itself.  This is what I'm doing to my spine here. 

How do you fix this?  Stand tall.  Chest up, gut sucked in.  Flex your abs (yes, you all have them) like you are trying to impress someone with your newly aquired six pack.  Hold your breath, down and up.  (Or up and down for the DL.) This is the first step in midline stability.  There are a lot of other things going on, but this is key for most.  If you can't maintain, it's too heavy.  Win the marathon, not the first mile.  Drop the weight and build your strength using the correct form. 

I borrowed this from CF.  Greg Amundson shows an OHS. Notice the abs are sucked in with the flat back. That's all I want to get into, but you can see the difference.

For now, the Thursday sessions will remain 'open gym' style.  We are kicking around a few ideas, but we'll see.

Sorry if this causes any inconvience for anyone, but after looking at the numbers and hearing a couple of the comments, we think this is for the best.  Please let us know if we can help you out.

Remember, Shauna and Ted are available for one-on-one sessions. 

The on-ramp has started.  We see this as a great opportunity for folks to get eased into the process.  This is designed to allow your body to adapt to working out, teach you the forms, and basically get you to be social and meet others who are also starting the process.  This is what it looks like...

Everyone is doing a great job so far.  This is our first attempt at an On-Ramp and we are very happy with the first two days.  It is going to be a lot of fun to watch the transformations over the next few months.  Keep up the good work!

For those of you who don't know, we are followers of Robb Wolf.  He and his wife Nicki, own NorCal Strength and Conditioning.  He is our knowledge base for all things nutritional.  We believe 100% in lean meats, veggies, and a good source of fat.  This is known as The Paleo Diet, the Caveman Diet, the Primal Blueprint, and I'm sure some others.  A while ago Robb wrote a blog on his website called " are we crazy? " Give it a read.  If you want to be ahead of the class, follow the link from that post to 'The Protien Debate'.  Remember, Shauna and I have been down every nutritional path from Atkins to raw food vegan.  I've been a gym rat sucking down a protein shake and creatine every ten minutes.  Both of us have completed to multiple marathons and triathlons including Ironman Coure D'Alene '07, hitting the big 'carb load' pasta dinner prior to the race.  Both of us bought into the vegan lifestyle and saw our performace and health deteriorate. 

Speaking purely from vitamins and minerals, Paleo or Primal, is simply exponentially better than anything else out there.  Especially grains and legumes.  Oh...and for those of you trying to lose weight, you get there for far less calories.  Trust me...if you are 100% compliant, you won't be able to eat enough food to reach your true potential.  I need to eat about eight cups of cooked spinach, 2 pounds of lean meat, and nine avocados a day.  The meat and spinach puts me at about 1200 calories a day.  Far too little for *anyone*, much less a 180 pound male.  I struggle to put down enough fat to get my calories to the *minimum* a day.  I'll explain the why's on the fat later.  

Now...lean meats, veggies, and good fats is the canvas, paint, and brushes only.  Each person is different.  Everyone needs to dial things in and tinker to find their best performance.  There are an endless supply of things we can play with.  However, without having the canvas, paint, and brushes, you aren't going to make a masterpiece.  Until you get to that point, playing with the newest supplement, intermittant fasting, multi-vitamins...well...useless.

I know it's different.  I know everyone else is telling you something else.  The science is there.  The results are there.  Believe in the process.  Look, feel, and perform better.  Get fitter, faster, and stronger.  It will all be worth it.  You didn't get to your current state in a month.  Don't expect to fix it in a month.

If you see them at the gym...ask Tom and Michell Koontz.  Michelle was a hit at her Super Bowl party and lost 20 pounds in a month.  Ask Mark Speelman and Bob Eich.  Bob is in his late 50's and used to ski until about 2pm before being too tired to continue.  He skis as long as he wants now.  Mark has been with us about three weeks.  He used to stop two or three times a run to rest.  Now he goes two or three runs.   Ask Gary and Melody Jones.  They were with a personal trainer for *years*.  Gary sat at 200 pounds, and Mel was a size 6/8.  Gary is down to his high school weight of 180 and pushing more weight than he did during his college football days.  Melody is in a size 2 and pulls a 235 deadlift.   If cholesterol, hig blood pressure, diabetes, etc is your issue(s), ask Harjit Eich about her blood markers.  

This stuff is not rocket science.  It isn't magic.  It's simply logic.  It is the way we are wired to eat.  The more compliant you are, the faster you'll see results.  Take a big deep breath and take the step forward.  You never know what could happen.

Shauna and I are very grateful to everyone who allow us to guide them on their path to a more healthy life.  It is very humbling when we stop and realize the trust you place in us.  The community which you folks have created is something to behold.  This isn't us, this is about you.  The dedication to come into the gym everyday and put in the work, keep a good attitude, and encourage others speaks volumes about each and every one of you.  And of course, to the folks who put in extra hours to help us out, know we appreciate you all and thank you.

On to business...

We would like to apologize to anyone who tried to sign up for the on-ramp class online.  It was working fine for us at the gym, but it appears there were some issues from other places.  Show up for whichever class, we'll figure it out.

Which brings us to the big news...the times...we are going to basically open up the gym for a couple of weeks and see what happens.  The On-Ramp classes will still be at 7:15a, 10a, and 6:30p.  The stadard class will start at 6a, 8a, 9a, 11a, noon, 5p, 6p, and 7p.  We are going to run this for a couple of weeks to see if we can adjust our hours to better fit everyone's schedules.  We will be closed from 1p-5p for lunch and to allow the Sierra Marlins to train in our facility.  No worries if you muck it up.  It's new, we'll adjust.  Just get your rears in here and put in the work.

Current hours for the upcoming On Ramp starting on Feb 22 are...7:15a, 10:00a, 6:30p.

Each class will be limited to 6 people per trainer.  The cost is $150 for the entire 12-sessions and is non-refundable.

On the right side of the screen you will see a link to "Pay monthly membership fees..."  Click on this link and you will be taken to our scheduling and payment mini-site.  In the upper right you will see tabs.  Click on 'Seminars'.  Choose a class.  The site will ask you to create a profile and walk you through the process.  If you have any problems, get a hold of us.

What if I can't make those times or miss a class?
Each class must be done in succession.  A missed class must be made up with a trainer at the one-on-one rate, currently starting at $50 per one-hour session.  This is in addition to the $150 price.  This made up class *must* be done before attending the next class.  If you think there will be a scheduling issue, please contact us.  The $150 cost is non-refundable. 

Why do I need the On-Ramp class?
All of our sessions are done in a group format under the direction of a trainer.  If someone does not have a fundamental knowledge of the different exercises or kinistetic awareness of their own body, a trainer has to spend inordinate amounts of time trying to keep a person safe.  This takes away attention from the rest of the class.  In addition, it will prepare you for a higher level of work output which is required for the normal sessions.  Lastly, you are with people of roughly the same experience.  Everyone in the group is doing something new.  This creates a comfort level where teaching is more effective.

Can I do one-on-one sessions?
Absolutely.  Both our On-Ramp, Strength and Conditioning, and CrossFit can all be done on a one-on-one basis.  You will get a program tailored to your unique strenghts, weaknesses, and goals.  These sessions start at $50 per hour.

The first WOD...

All four athletes had three attempts at a 3 rep max thruster and double unders.  It's a good thing we happened to bring some of the few folks who actually have double unders.

After the first workout, I was actually pretty happy.  How often have we done max rep thrusters?  Well, I looked it up.  And...never.  I generally use it for metcon work as the suck factor is pretty high.  However, we do front squats and push presses, which combined is essentially a thruster.  How did it turn out?  Considering the best team only put up an average of 25 pounds more per person, I'm very proud of our folks.  Three of four have less than 6 months of CrossFit and we are keeping up with folks who have years of experience.

The second wod...

FGB style...45 seconds on, 15 seconds off of GHD, Clean and Jerk (135/83), burpees (102"/96" jump targets), and chest to bar pull ups.  Three total rounds.  Each person started at a station and they rotated through for 12 minutes.  Remember, competition, so strict rules and judging.  Needless to say, we gained some ground after this wod.

Eric also decided to volunteer and got tossed into judging.  Seriously...talk about a motivator.  If he has his voice back by Monday, I'll be surprised.  I'm going to guess he's a little motivated now.  Good luck keeping up.

Overall, it was a great day.  The team of Ted, Melody, Hogan, and Ashley represented CFFL as well as did everyone else who came out to support them.  Shauna and I would like to thank you all for a great job.  

Three times a week the Sierra Marlins rent out our facility.  They have their own CrossFit certified coach in Jeff Pearson.  These kids are beasts.  They come in an do a CF workout, then go to swim practice.  How many of you could head to swim practice after your workout?

Also...If you have a small child, you need to contact these folks.  Do you worry about your child around water?  You wouldn't if you were comfortable with their swimming ability.