Crossfit Fairfield County

It's Official!

Rest Day

Hey everybody, it's official my partner, Marc and I, have signed our lease!  We are moving CrossFit Fairfield County into 880 Canal st., (suite 1C), Stamford, CT.  Everything happens so fast, as always with CrossFit!  We are moving in, in a matter of days, which is a good thing.  The space that we now have, was previously owned by CrossFit Stamford.  Which, when I first went to check it out, I had the luxury of getting a tour of the place by my good friend Andy Parker.  Andy owns CrossFit Stamford along with his girlfriend Kristi, and they are one of the Affiliates that I leaned on a lot, when I first became a part of this organization!  So it's a pleasure to be able to follow in their footsteps, and bring my business back to my hometown!  I have been truly blessed!

A few months back, I had the luxury of getting a tour of the place from my good friend, and Affiliate Andy Parker of CrossFit Stamford.  As I mentioned above, CrossFit Stamford is one of the Affiliates that I leaned on the most at the beginning of my CrossFit experience.  I thank Andy for the moral support, of staying the course and guiding me through all the rough spots that Affiliates face with fueling the CrossFit movement!

Here is how Andy and Kristi, had their box outfitted, and we are pretty much going to follow the same structure.  If it's not broken, why try to fix it?

Big thanks to Andy and Kristi for leaving the box semi-outfitted for us as well!  That's right, this box has the pull-up bar, as well as the hooks in several places for our rings!  Now we can really get our muscle-ups on, CrossFit style!

HSPU's (Handstand push-ups)

"Cindy"
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats

OR

"Mary"
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Handstand Push-ups
10 One legged squats, alternating
15 Pull-ups

Post your choice of girls and rounds completed to comments.

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Handstand push-ups are a great way to develop core strength and stabilization, as well as shoulder strength and stabilization.  A lot of athletes dread when these come up in the wods, primarily because they might not have gotten to the level of comfortability with their handstand.  The thing about anything we do in CrossFit, is it pretty much just takes practice.  If there is a particular skill or component of our training that you are not good at, avoiding it is just going to lead to plateaus in your training.  Addressing it will keep you progressing, and continue to make you a well-rounded athlete.  We all have chinks in the armor some where, and it is important to find these chinks, and train to smooth them out.

Here is a couple of throw back videos, with Dee Dee, and Aryeh,  showing how we scale the handstand push-up to practice the movement.  Enjoy!!

Dee Dee modified handstand push-up from Keetron Breece on Vimeo.

Aryeh, working on the band assisted handstand push-up from Keetron Breece on Vimeo.

How long can you last?

Run 5 K

Post time to comments.

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It's funny, I got asked just yesterday, what should a person be able to run?  Well of course my response was, a person should be able to run as much as they have to.  And because we never know what life is going to through at us, therefor we don't know how much we may have to run?  From where, and from what?  We should train to be able to run as much as we can, for as long as we can.  

Well CrossFit has helped us set a benchmark.  For instance todays wod, 5k run.  We train our athletes to be able to run a 5k (3.1 miles), and a 10k (6.2 miles), and then do them in their best times!  Why?  It's the cardiovascular endurance we are after.  Without the gas to last, your training will suffer tremendously!  That is one of the most beautiful assets about CrossFit, is the built in cardiovascular training in the wods.  That's what allow you to get so much results in a short amount of time!  And believe it or not, the short burst of cardio you get from these wods, builds your cardiovascular up to last in long duration efforts!  

Prior to CrossFit, I couldn't run long distance to save my life.  It just was too boring for me, and I didn't quite see the point of it.  Then CrossFit help shed a different light on it, and gave me a different perspective to running.  In conditioning my cardiovascular system, to get more out of my wods!  From just following the wods from the main site, I found I was able to run a 5k, and then a 10k, which I had never done before!!  And then, I was able to run them in some pretty good times as I kept training.  I believe my best on a 5k was 23:30, and on a 10k 51:20.  And I know those are not the best times, and probably far from it.  But I was just happy to be in the condition to be able to complete them.  And I think that most athletes should take this approach.  If your not at a 5k, train to get there.  Maybe start with a mile.  And then try to run that mile in your best time.  And then start to add more distance on, maybe week by week, until you get to a 5k.  

When you set goals for yourself like this, it helps you track your performance and develop a success journal.  All while on the path of getting fitter!!  Remember, we are forging elite fitness, and it doesn't happen overnight!

Sunday November 8, 2009

For time:
50 Box jump, 24 inch box
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press, 45 pounds
50 Back extensions
50 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
50 Burpees
50 Double unders

Post time to comments.

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Fixing Sharon's overhead squat, I just placed her against the wall.  Where she has no choice but to sit back and keep the  weight on her heels, and load on the hips.  

Marc, getting the crinks out of his overhead squat, and showing what a difference the self-myofascial release makes.  All it takes is 5 to 10 minutes using it, before or after your workout.  And it goes a long way to restoring your flexibility!

The crew, started their warm-up with some deadhang, and the both got to witness the power of adaptation.  Primarily because I have my athletes practice the deadhang quite often, at least until they get it up to two or three minutes.  It's the strength and stabilization where after!!

Objective Goals

Rest Day

There should always be objective goals when it comes to training.  Having goals in your training is important, and gives you something to aim for.   Because our fitness is performance based, we find tracking our athletes performance also helps us measure their fitness.  In order to perform better, even better than your last.  It takes developing technique through practice, and conforming to a diet (or way of eating), that supports those goals.  

Prior to finding CrossFit in 2006, I was working as a personal trainer at Freestyle Fitness in Westport, CT.  And I had pretty much gone through a number of training programs, and was practicing a great deal of functional training at the time.  I was using a lot of material from Juan Carlos Santana, Mark Vestergen, Gray Cook, Gary Gray, Mike Boyle, and a number of other fitness experts, and coaches in the field.  

Now I had gotten in pretty good shape appearance wise, and somewhat performance wise as well, using a lot of their material.  However, I wanted more, more performance gains, bring my bodyfat down more, develop better technique!  That's what led me to searching, and evolving my training, which in turn, led me to CrossFit!  

I was intrigued by CrossFit from the very beginning, so simple but yet complex, I guess you can say it's simplex.  But everything just made perfect sense, that I immediately started doing the workouts!  And when I delved in, and started training for the performance gains, everything else came along with it!  My bodyfat dropped to under 10%, around 6 or 7, all the way from 15%!  I went from deadlifting 445, and being stagnated there, to deadlifting 525!  And everything else just pretty much went through the roof!  CrossFit truely is the best fitness program on the planet, the proof is in the put in!

Marc and Sharon, training for the objective goal of a two to three minute plank!

Below, Kris and Gloria, training backsquats, and aiming for the goal of bodyweight!  

Great job to all my athletes, and a big congrats to Marc and Gloria, for both reaching a bodyweight backsquat!!  

Kris and Gloria, backsquat wod: working up to bodyweight from Keetron Breece on Vimeo.

Squat depth...

Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
65 pound Power snatch, 12 reps
10 Push-ups

Post rounds completed to comments.

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The depth in the squat is important for a number of reasons.  Going deep, allows you to load the hips properly, develop the form and technique to handle more load.  Sufficiently, develop strength, speed, power, flexibility, coordination, and a number of other physical components. 

Speaking of flexibility, restoring the flexibility in the lower lumbar, It band (band of muscle outside the quad), adductors, can happen faster the more the trainee practices the movements.  As well as other flexibility training methods.  Below, before Marc got into a backsquat wod, I had him practice some self-myofascial release.  What rolling on these foam rollers do, is release the tension that is built up in the service of your muscles.  Everyone should be practicing self-myofascial release, for the simple fact, that you build up tension in your muscles every time you train.  By not releasing that tension, you develop stiffness, and soreness, and you don't recover from workouts as fast!  

Just a few minutes practicing some self-myo, goes a long way in restoring flexibility!

Kris and Gloria, showing another movement we practice before getting into some backsquats.  This technique, came from Coach Rippetoe, and is a great for preparing your body for load in the backsquat!

Another point that this technique allows us to see.  Is that, if your sitting forward in this squat position without load, the chances are you are going to sit forward with load.  

Below, Marc practicng some heavy backsquats, and working up to a 1-rep max.

Marc, backsquat wod: working up to a 1-rep max from Keetron Breece on Vimeo.

Air squats

With a continuously running clock do one pull-up the first minute, two pull-ups the second minute, three pull-ups the third minute... continuing as long as you are able.

Use as many sets each minute as needed.

Post number of minutes completed to comments.

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The Air squat is the next level we progress our athletes to, after they've learned proper depth, and keeping the load on the heels, in the squat movement.  Through the repetitive practice, athletes should look to correct any flaws in their form and technique.  Some common errors are, heels lifting up, knees buckling in, losing the curve in the lower lumbar, shoulders rounding.  Here in this video from CrossFit.com, some of the CrossFit superstars, and those who I aspire to be like someday:-)  Show the proper, and improper form and technique of the air squat.  Enjoy!!

Here is another throw back video, and in this video Dee Dee is showing how we practice Air squats, Tabata style!  And she is  doing bottom to bottom tabata squats at that!

Joe, Dave, Tatiana (Tabata squats), Dee Dee BTB Tabata squats from Keetron Breece on Vimeo.

Fixing the flaws

"CrossFit Total"

Back squat, 1 rep
Shoulder Press, 1 rep
Deadlift, 1 rep

Post total to comments.

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Fixing the flaws in technique with the movements, is essential to continue to progress in load, as well as other advanced movements.  One of the common flaws we see in squats, is the the knees drifting forward, or the torso folding forward.

Here in the warm-up, Sharon was facing some of those technique flaws.  This is where using a wall or a pole or something, to force the trainee to keep the upper body in an upright position, as they squat down, is extremely handy!

 

Marc and Sharon, learning the difference between overhead squats for CrossFit, and overhead squats for Olympic lifting.  Overhead squats for oly-lifting require you to sit deeper in the pocket.  Bringing the fold of the hips as close as you can to the ankles.

After some practice with the pvc pipes, Marc and Sharon were ready to handle some load in the wod!  Check out the video below:

Marc and Sharon, CF.com wod (modified) 3 rds of: 3 hang snatches/7 OVHS 200m run from Keetron Breece on Vimeo.

The portable pull-up bar...

Rest Day

I have had the luxury, to have in my possession, since the beginning of my CrossFit experience.  An Again Faster, portable pull-up bar!  This bar is a tremendous asset to our various different CrossFit toys!  The Again Faster bar you can pretty much take anywhere, and strap it to just about anything.  I take this bar out when training at the park, in-home, beach, etc...  And you can strap the bar to a tree, basketball post, or pretty much anything that is suspended high enough, and sturdy enough!

Here Jane is working on developing her pull-up strength with the Again Faster bar.  It is a great tool for in-home training, to help clients get the most out of the pull-up  movement.  Even from the comfort of their home!!

Jane training with, The Again Faster, portable pull-up bar from Keetron Breece on Vimeo.

Here is a wod Jane did, mixing it up with some kettlebell swings!

wod: 10-9-8-7-....-1 reps of kettlebell swings and pull-ups for time: from Keetron Breece on Vimeo.

The Good witch...

This Halloween, Bubblegum got to experience the holiday in it's entirety, by enjoying the best part of it all.  Trick or treating!!  Bubblegum got to be a witch, a good witch of course.  Even though we are not big on Halloween, we do realize that it is a time for the kids to enjoy!  So it's fun to see them dressed up, and happy collecting lots of sweets!  And no, I didn't fill the bags up with apples and oranges, as most would think.  Or did I fill up the bags with paleo candy, because I couldn't find any, just kidding!

Bubblegum, in her Halloween outfit, ready for some fun!  Of course I passed on my favorite line from trick or treating days.  "Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!  Please?"

And even though it's Halloween, the learning does not stop, so neither does school!!

Kip swings and things...

Five rounds for time of:
95 pound Snatch, 3 reps
95 pound Overhead squat, 15 reps
Run 400 meters

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Marc, showing one of the ways we fine tune our squats.  Simply by using a wall, or a pole to force the trainee to keep the load on the hips.  A lot of times with squats, and deadlifts, trainees will allow the knees to drift forward, thus shifting the load forward.  With squats and deadlifts, and movements that involve them, you want minimize forward knee travel as best as you can.  

During the warm-up, Marc here, using the pole to fine tune his overhead squat, and no he's not kissing the pole!!

In the video below, Marc is practicing the kip swing.  The kip swing is the predecessor movement to the kipping pull-up.  Learning the kip swing is essential to the kip pull-up, primarily because it establishes developing the momentum needed to skill transfer to the kipping pull-up. 

Marc, kip swing practice from Keetron Breece on Vimeo.