As Rx'd Blog

We will be hosting another intra-gym competition on June 10^th! Here’s your opportunity to participate and compete with and alongside your fellow Elysium members in a team format. The last time we did something like this was a blast, and this year promises to be even better. Here are some of the details-

Date/time: June 10^th, TBD but likely from morning to the early afternoon

Format: This will be a team competition amongst CrossFit Elysium members only. The number of people who sign up will determine the number of teams, as well as the total members per team, so get signed up early so we can start planning! We will be balancing the teams so that everyone has a legitimate shot to win. The events will be programmed so that if you scale movements you can still participate and help your team.

In addition, we will be adding certain requirements (e.g., only two people per team for a certain workout, etc.) that will force each team to strategize and decide what the best way to approach a WOD would be, decide what their strengths and weaknesses are, and so on. The teams that best strategize and work together will definitely have success in this format.

Depending on the number of entrants, we may have a “coaches team” to compete alongside you athletes. I know a number of you have asked to see something like this in the past. The coaches’ team would be competing for fun only and would not affect the overall standings.

Entry fee: 20$, to cover cost of prizes/logistics.

Prizes: TBD, dependant on number of entrants.
Who remembers the "Rumble in Paradise" competition from Nov 2011? Here's another chance to compete!
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Look for sign up sheets and information around the gym very soon! If anyone has any questions feel free to contact one of the coaches.

Coach L

The back squat and muscle up cycle is wrapping up this week. Coach P and I are excited to see just how many of you are going to smash your old PRs. We also have already had FIVE of you achieve your first muscle up this month, with a few more very close and many people who already had muscle ups showing improvement as well. People who have gotten their first muscle up as of this writing-
- Nef, Monty, Soner, Vlad, Isaac, Sam? (he can get one, he got on top of the rings with his wrists COMPLETELY inverted, still in a false grip, I've never seen that before).

The testing days will be Thursday, Friday and Sunday of this week. Come in on any of those days to test your new 1RM back squat! Also, the Sunday 10:30 elite class will be open to everyone (as will every 4th Sunday at the end of every cycle). This will be your last chance to test the back squat this cycle. Afterwards, we will hold heats and judge one of our benchmark workouts in competition style, where everyone will be able to workout together, simulate the atmosphere of the recent CrossFit Games Open and hopefully get a new PR!



Upcoming cycle- clean and jerk and handstand push ups!

The next cycle will focus on the clean and jerk for the strength movement, and handstand push ups for the gymnastics skill. We will be addressing the fundamental components of both movements with plenty of scaling and instruction. As always, general training and conditioning will remain a major focus. Stay tuned! 

Hi everyone! We've got some exciting changes and announcements in store for April!

Britt is great about using the online signup system. Are you?

1. Online signups-
PLEASE continue to use the online mindbody signup system. We want to preserve the small classes and personal coaching that make us unique in San Diego. As such, enforcing our class cap is going to become an issue as we continue to expand. As a reminder, 8 spots are reserved in each class for online signups. If you are debating coming to a class, we'd prefer you signup and cancel later, rather than not sign up at all. Online signups are the ONLY way to guarantee a spot in class.

4 spots are reserved for walk-ins, first come first serve. When you arrive as a walk-in, you MUST PUT YOUR NAME UP on the class whiteboard. The coaches will use these names to determine the order in which people arrived (and who might need to be turned away). This is your responsibility.

Anyone who is having issues with the system PLEASE let one of the coaches know. I have already fixed two people's problems- it can be done, trust me.


2. Friends and family day!
We will be holding another friends and family day on 4/16 and 4/18. Bring a friend to any of our regular classes for free, and show them what our community is all about! Any member who gets a friend to join us will receive a gift card to a local, tasty eating establishment. If you know you're going to bring a guest, please let one of the coaches know so we can plan accordingly. Thanks!

3. Cancellations-
effective immediately, Monday noon Yoga classes are cancelled. All classes Easter Sunday (4/8)  are also cancelled.

4. Programming changes-
We're excited about this one- it's big. Starting 4/9, we will be moving toward programming all classes in 4 week long cycles. Each cycle will focus on a specific lift (eg, back squat, clean and jerk). This programming should help beginner and advanced athlete alike make accelerated gains. We will be altering loading, volume and intensity over each week to help all of you achieve maximum results. Here's some specifics-
- certain lifts will likely occur on specific days of the week. Don't worry though, even if you miss some days you'll still make great progress. Also, even if a cycle is focusing on a specific lift (eg, back squat), there'll still be plenty of work on other movements
- each class will still follow our same basic template (skill/strength/metcon)
- there won't be any need to change what YOU do- just keep showing up and we'll take care of the rest. All we ask of you members is that you keep track of your own numbers. A lot of the work will be off of percentages of your own maxes, so make sure you know/record the work you're doing.

5. Future plans-
We've got another intra-gym competition lined up, as well as changes to the PR board (will likely become the "wall of fame"). Stay tuned!

Coach L 

Hi everyone! As we continue to expand and welcome additional members into our ranks, I wanted to remind everyone of some general “good citizenship” tips which will make everyone’s experience at CrossFit Elysium better.

1. Class reservations-
We have a class cap of 12. The vast majority of our classes will allow for 8 spots to be reserved up to one hour in advance online. The remaining 4 spots are reserved for walk-ins.

In the event of a class being full (a happy but unfortunately more common occurrence these days) all members who reserved their spot online will be GUARANTEED a spot. The remaining spots go to walk-ins on a first come first serve basis (i.e., show up early). If the class is full and you haven’t reserved a spot, you may be asked to leave. If the class is full and you haven’t reserved a spot online, and then someone who DID reserve online shows up, you may be asked to leave. Bottom line- use the online sign up system! For those who don’t know, the link is on the left of our website main page (“members click here” button). Once you get used to it it’s a snap.

I know several of you have said that no matter what you do, the Mindbody system won’t let you reserve a spot in class. If this applies to you PLEASE email me or Coach P and we will look into it.

 
2. Parking-

The lots directly in front of us are reserved for us M-F. After hours and on weekends they are first come, first serve for us, the Krav Maga guys and the dance studio down the street (previous agreement with the owner).

The lots in front of JT Enterprises are OFF-LIMITS from 7a-5p M-F. Please respect this, and remember the owner OWNS the building, and all the lots as well. We park by his good graces. Be respectful and do not give him lip when he asks you to move your car (apparently someone did that recently). They hold all the cards.

The lots in the back alley are also open to us, except for the one furthest to the right when facing the building (closest to the dumpster). Feel free to park in any of these spaces as well.

Thanks to everyone for continuing to make CrossFit Elysium an awesome place! Working together on this will help keep everything running smoothly. We appreciate it.

Coach L

Coach Leon is now offering advanced programming and athletic consultation. This series is intended for people who are serious about their fitness and training and are willing to go the extra mile to get results.

What: an initial intake session where we identify which goals you would most like to achieve. These can be almost anything fitness related, specific or general such as “I’d like to be able to do a pullup” or “I want a 300lb back squat” or “I want to lose 50lbs”.

If you have some goals which are outside of the realm of CrossFit, or for which I can’t help you- we can talk and if I can’t program for you/lack the knowledge to help you I won’t give you any BS. I’ll give you a refund and hopefully at least point you in the right direction. As an example, if you tell me you want to learn POSE running I probably won’t take you on board. I don’t know enough about that subject to teach you effectively, but we can establish all of this during the initial session.

Dependent on your goal, I will then program training specifically geared towards helping you reach that goal. If there is a need for dietary counseling that will also be provided. There will likely be several follow up sessions where I will be able to observe your progress and provide coaching and real-time feedback. The vast majority of the programming will run in the 4-12 week duration.

Why: I know there are a lot of people who I can help. I know there are a lot of people who aren’t getting where they want with their goals, or need a little extra work to get there. I love training and coaching, and especially programming with specific goals in mind.

Who: anyone can sign up, but the following is strongly encouraged-
- Membership at CrossFit Elysium. If you are not a member and would still like a consultation I’d be happy to provide that for you, but I most likely would only be able to do follow up sessions at CrossFit Elysium. If you are a member you’ll have a place to train and I will be around for many of those sessions. In addition, CrossFit Elysium members get a substantial discount.
- People who are “stuck” on a goal and aren’t making progress- make no mistake, our general programming at CrossFit Elysium is going to be appropriate for everyone and you will make progress. I am talking about people that want accelerated progress, or haven’t been able to make it past a sticking point in some time. If you are relatively new to Elysium and wonder if this is for you, talk to me. If the general classes are most appropriate for you I’ll tell you.
- Motivated people only- you will be doing a lot of training “on your own”. You might be training during normal Elysium operating hours, but likely will not be doing the same thing as the general classes. You may not have a coaches’ eye on you at all points. There may be major dietary modifications involved. Suffice to say YOU have to want this, and YOU have to put in the effort to succeed with any programming. I can point you in the right direction but I can’t help you without you helping yourself.

 

When: during any of the regular Elysium class times, with private sessions as needed when convenient for both me and the client.

Where: as mentioned, virtually all the training sessions will take place at CrossFit Elysium. If you are not a member and want this service, I’m happy to consult with you via email/phone/etc., but observed coaching sessions will take place at my gym.

My Qualifications:

- I’ve been a certified CrossFit trainer for 3+ years
- I’ve been an M.D. for almost a decade and am the Clinical Director of the Anesthesiology Dept. at UCSD despite only being on staff for 5 years. This may not seem like it relates much to coaching, but it should tell you that I GET STUFF DONE.
- I am constantly and continually reading training logs, theory, protocols and biomechanics to improve my knowledge base
- I “experiment” on myself and my family, and we only use what works. My family currently follows a paleo lifestyle. How did we adopt this? We educated ourselves about it, then PUT IT INTO PLAY and watched the results. They worked. Our training works the same way- I won’t have you do anything I haven’t already done to myself or have documented evidence that it will work for you.
- I actually care about my clients and want you to succeed. I don’t run CrossFit Elysium because I need the money. This is a passion for me, not a job.

How much?

Initial session- 150$ for CrossFit Elysium members, 200$ for non-members
This session will include-
- Identification of goals
- Coaching/athlete alignment (basically, let’s get on the same page with training, diet, etc.)
- Your programming and/or dietary regimen for the duration of the sessions (likely 4-12 weeks).

Follow up sessions- 75$ for CrossFit Elysium members, 100$ for non-members

These sessions by definition will vary in amount and frequency depending on your needs. I would expect almost everyone would need, and want, at least a few follow up sessions. Depending on your exact goal, these sessions might include-
- Direct coaching and observation of progress
- Follow up with meal plans
- Consultation sessions with Dr. Wall (nutrition and lifestyle specialist for CrossFit Elysium)
- Much more

Again, I want to stress that this is a service I am prepared to offer if you want to take your training and fitness to the next level. If continued general fitness is your goal, our general programming at Elysium will likely be the most appropriate. Contact me today ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) if you’d like to learn if this is right for you.

Coach L

Wow, what an event. First of all, a huge shout out to all the members of CrossFit 858, CrossFit Mission Gorge and of course, CrossFit Elysium for their efforts in the “Rumble in Paradise”. A big thank you to the judges, sponsors and spectators as well. I don’t even know where to begin. I think I’ll give you my thoughts and observations of all three events, the individual competitors that I saw, and my own personal perspective trying to keep things organized. I apologize in advance if I leave out anyone’s awesomeness- I don’t have the data from the event in front of me (all the results will be posted later in a separate post when I have time). I’m going purely from memory here.
The most awesome group of athletes ever. 

Pre-event-

OMG. The good news is that things are always easier the second time around, so the next event we organize will just be that much easier. I won’t bore you with the details- let’s just say planning, designing, and tracking an event, in addition to rounding up sponsors and getting T-shirts made is a BITCH.

Of course, the morning of- torrential rain. I realize on the way in that the only other time it rained this hard since we’ve moved in there was a LEAK in the ceiling that neither Paul or I told the landlords about. Uh oh. Of course, when I get in the roof is leaking. Some quick logistical arrangements and we’re ok- we can work around it. Slowly but surely CrossFitters filed into our box, bringing water-soaked gear with them. It’s a testament to the nature of most CrossFitters that things inside stayed dry and neat- everyone kept their area clean and the rain ended up not being an issue. Pretty soon, we were ready to get under way…

Event 1- 10 pull ups, 10 box jumps, 20in. AMRAP 8min.

Women-
Irene, Elizabeth and Miriam lead us off and represented strongly.
Courtney, Briana, Bev and Tammy all looked GREAT with their pull ups. Courtney in particular did more full pullups in 8 min than I’m sure she’s ever done in her whole life combined.
Alessandra and Karla competed next to each other and I’m sure their presence helped each other push harder. Both ladies had box jumps that were simply non-stop. Karla won the workout with Alessandra coming in second.
Karla knocking out butterfly pull ups. 

Men-
Scott knocking out full pullups- he had previously made the decision to switch from the scaled to open division but I wasn’t aware of it until the morning of the event. The progress he’s made has been awesome.
TJ, Sam, Emilio, Ben, Parnell, Shiloh and Kris working hard, as usual. A couple of hand tears, but hopefully nothing too serious…
Anthony blazing through the WOD, despite having seriously rolled his ankle the week before. You’d think the box jumps would have been undoable but you couldn’t even tell he had an injury.
Derek just motoring through the workout. I thought I was watching someone just go non-stop, until I saw Dave. 12 FULL ROUNDS, with what I believe was butterfly kips throughout. That is a seriously big score and as near as I can remember good for second overall on that workout.

From my perspective-
DAMN, we had to wipe those bars down from hand tears a lot. It seemed to me that the other gym’s members tore a lot more than you guys. Maybe your hands are used to our bars (the logical assumption).

The long sections of pull up bars CANNOT take two guys going at once haha. Paul and I were seriously worried at some point they were going to break but luckily things held up.

First event over and I’m already getting a little hoarse.

Event 2- max ground to overhead in 8min.

Women-
I KNOW a lot of you ladies hit PRs. It was incredible to watch, especially having seen most of you start at Elysium so hesitant with a barbell in your hands, and then to watch you hoist over 100lbs overhead, lock it out with a tribal yell, and bring the bar back to earth with a SLAM! Paul and I couldn’t be prouder. I saw Irene with one of her last lifts do her trademark “get the barbell up 80% of the way, then agonizingly press it out over 10 sec” jerks. You know what I’m talking about- and yes, she made it, and EVERYONE roared.

Karla and Alessandra tied for 1^st in this event, with lifts of 135lb. I saw Karla power clean over 135 easy several times, only to miss the jerk. Meanwhile, Alessandra couldn’t clean over 135, but I know she can jerk 145 or more without issue. Like I said ladies, all we need to do is combine Karla’s clean with Alessandra’s jerk… I don’t think any other woman got 125lb (Courtney nailed 120lb if I recall correctly). This put Karla and Alessandra firmly in the 1 and 2 spots, with Karla having 2 pts and Alessandra 3 pts TOTAL.
Courtney nailing a lift, with Tiff judging. 

Men-
Again, I’m sure most of the guys hit PRs during the event. Watching Ben Flores miss a 175lb? clean twice, and then finally get under it and stand it up was awesome. There was no question he was going to hit the jerk. Seeing TJ who is almost 50 yrs old put up near bodyweight overhead was inspiring to watch. For many of you guys, the jerk seems to be the sticking point of the lift and it’s something we’ll work on in the coming months. It’s hard for me to relate on some level b/c my jerk is easily 15lb higher than my best ever clean, so I know if I can get it to my shoulders, I can get it overhead. I want you all to know what that’s like so we’ll be working on jerking more efficiently. Kris, Parnell, and Dave all placed highly in this event, and combined with his performance in WOD1 Dave went into the final WOD with 9 pts, just 1 behind the two guys tied for 1^st. It was anyone’s to win at this point.

From my perspective-
I honestly wish I could have seen more. Organizing and keeping things going can be a drag. It would have been sweet to be able to cheer on each and every one of you. The judges and athletes did a great job of breaking down the bars between heats and keeping things running smoothly. My voice was officially starting to go, and I had to run over immediately after the lunch break to start crunching numbers and figure out what the final heat ordering and standings were. The nifty little Excel file I THOUGHT would make this easy turned out to be a total cluster. I had to do most of everything by hand just to double check the computer. It basically took almost 2 hrs and at the end I was able to wolf down lunch Alessandra had picked up for me with Paul’s coffee measuring spoon. Talk about ghetto…

Final WOD- 24 KB swing, 53/35lb; 15 burpees; 7 thrusters, 115/75lb. 3 rounds for time.

Women-
A lot of really gutsy performances here. Irene put up a blazingly-fast time as we all knew she would. Briana and Courtney gritted their teeth and were able to finish just before the time cap. The thrusters were heavy and there were DNF’s all over the place, but the fight you ladies put up really made me proud. Miriam solidified her performance with this final WOD and ended up taking 3^rd in the scaled division!

Of course, going into the final heat were Karla and Alessandra, separated by one point. Alessandra’s recent pregnancy and her ongoing recovery started to show in this WOD- even though she wanted to keep moving, on some level she just couldn’t.  I was starting to worry she’d fall back just enough that the third place woman would overtake her. She managed to hold on and finish the WOD in 5^th place or so, which was good enough for her to retain her second place standing overall.  Karla? What can I say. Total domination. She tore through this workout like it was nothing and came in first. Over three events, 1^st, 1^st, and 1^st. Sick.

Men-
Unfortunately I missed a lot of you guys because I was trying to make up ground and started crunching the women’s numbers early. I did get to see both Parnell and Derek fight their way to the finish. Parnell finished things off and just COLLAPSED to the ground, totally spent. Derek moved ridiculously fast through everything; when I caught up to him and looked at the clock I assumed he was on round 2, then asked someone where he was. He was already on round 3! He smashed the WOD in 8:34 or so, good for second overall.

Kimpo came out blazing and was winning his heat in the middle of round 2 before the gas tank came up empty. I honestly have never seen him that smoked before. He managed to sack up and finish things off then promptly crumpled to the ground. It was truly inspiring to watch. Finally, we had Dave, just shy of the leaders. He had to win this WOD to have a chance of winning the whole thing, and let’s just say he left it all out there. Everything was non-stop. I kept shouting to him, “you are winning this thing, you are fucking WINNING” and he seemed like he heard me. Every time he looked like he was going to take a break and stop, he kept going. Watching him pull farther and farther ahead of the 1^st place men, KNOWING that with each rep he was that much closer to winning the whole thing was awesome. He absolutely destroyed the WOD with a sub-8 min performance, the only person to beat Derek. WOD 3- 1^st. Overall- 1^st.

From my perspective-
You guys have amazing bar/equipment discipline. What I mean is you guide your bars down and respect the space you’re working out in, even when fatigued. We know it can be hard to do this when you’re tired but all of you made Paul and me proud. No disrespect to the other competitors but if some of you let things fly around like they were doing you’d do nothing but penalty burpees every class haha. Hopefully all of you see why Paul and I try to teach equipment discipline. For one, it just looks ugly to let your equipment master you, rather than the other way around. As one of you put it, it’s almost disrespectful. Of course, the main issue is safety- for yourself and your fellow members. Eventually a bouncing barbell or kettlebell is going to take you or someone else out, and we can’t have that. Anyway, I don’t think anything happened that can’t be easily fixed or repaired. Mostly I just wanted to thank you all for showing such great equipment discipline and doing us proud.

Paul took over ringmaster duties for this WOD so I could crunch numbers more effectively. It definitely took a load off my shoulders and especially my larynx. There was something really special about tallying the final scores, knowing that we had taken both the open top spots. Yep, the numbers added up. OK, now to see which team won overall… imagine my surprise when I saw that CrossFit Mission Gorge, and not us, had won the team title. A quick inspection of all the overall standings revealed why- while we may have had the winners, they had more members place highly overall. Oh well- you can’t win everything and it was a really close margin (30 pts out of 450 total).

Presenting the award ceremony was fantastic. I felt like a proud parent reading off his kid’s accomplishments. From a personal perspective, I rushed the speeches during my wedding reception and afterwards wished I could have had that moment back. I was determined not to make that mistake with this event. In particular, presenting Irene with her well-deserved “spirit of the competition” award was the second-best part of the whole day, beaten only by presenting Alessandra her award and receiving a huge hug in front of everyone. At the end of the day, all of you gave it your best effort, and you’ll only continue to improve from here. I can’t wait to see how we do on our next competition!

Coach L

Alessandra, trying to embarass me in public.

Podium finishers-
Miriam Marquez- 3^rd, women’s scaled division
Alessandra Wall- 2^nd, women’s open division
Karla Wagner- 1^st, women’s open division
Dave Bennett- 1^st, men’s open division


 

Disclaimer- title shamelessly taken from another blog post, dealing with the same subject matter...

It's time to get off your knees. Ladies, I'm mostly speaking to you, but this applies to anyone still doing push ups on your knees. I don't mean this to be insulting; rather, Coach P and I have decided we have allowed this scaling to hold back your athletic progress long enough. From here on out, scaling pushups by doing knee pushups will not be allowed. I'll discuss some other options at the end of this post, and the coaches can always find one for you before the WOD. Please read on.


This will no longer be allowed.

First, let's examine why one would need to scale a push up. A proper push up requires two elements of strength-
1. upper body (chest, tricep, shoulder girdle) strength
2. "Core" (abdominal) strength to stabilize the midline

This is the ROM of a proper push up.

If either of these two elements are lacking, a proper push up is not possible. It should be noted "proper" refers to full lockout at the top, chest (NOT belly/face etc) touches the ground, legs fully extended and the body rising as one unit. The push up is a basic measure of bodyweight strength and EVERYONE'S goal should eventually be to be able to perform multiple full ROM pushups. If you cannot do a full push up in a very real sense you lack basic strength and the ability to manipulate your body in space.

Lack of upper body strength will manifest itself by inability to go all the way down, or inability to push the chest up from the bottom. Most people actually have at least some of the strength needed for this component of the move. More common is a lack of core strength- this can be seen when someone pushes from the bottom, and the chest rises BEFORE the hips. A tight core is unable to be maintained which would hold the body in a rigid plank, so the chest rises first and then the butt "snakes" up off the ground. Anyone who has done enough pushups and is fatigued will naturally break down to something approximating this move.



This is a "broken" push up, with no midline stability.

How do "knee pushups" help? Why are they easier?

Doing push ups off the knees takes much of the load (the entire low body) essentially out of the equation, so there is less work for the upper body to handle. In addition, because the "hinge" of the movement is now the knees (tucked under the body) rather than the feet, core strength is ESSENTIALLY ELIMINATED from the move.

So, why are we eliminating knee pushups as a scale?

Doing knee push ups will help develop upper body strength, to a certain extent. Eventually, one will max out the benefits from this scale and it would be time to move on to full push ups. Unfortunately, YOUR CORE will never get developed by doing knee push ups. So, part of you might be ready for full push ups, but you'll still be stuck on your knees. There are much more useful scales available- specifically, doing pushups off a box or a bench. The higher the box, the easier the movement (ie, the more vertical your body is, the easier). By doing push ups this way, at least you'll get the benefit of working to keep your body in a plank and developing your core strength.


Inclining the push up takes load off the upper body and midline and makes the move easier.

How many of you are still stuck doing knee push ups after months of doing them? We're doing this for your athletic and physical development. So, expect to use a new, more useful scale the next time you come and do push ups, and look forward to eventually achieving the full movement! Until next time, get off your knees...

Coach L