As Rx'd Blog

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! 

What is changing? 

We are going to try something new with the way we program here at Elysium, we will be having a barbell and gymnastic focus every four weeks that will help us advance our athletes better in the strength department and at the same time increase our ability to handle some of the more difficult gymnastic skills. If you are someone that is interested in learning what exactly is changing please keep reading. For this first  month we will be focusing on back squats and muscle ups. Why did we pick these moves? Well the back squat is the king of the jungle when it comes to being strong with a barbell. If you have a great back squat that means your hips should have more power for a front or ohs... You have more drive for that push press or jerk. In general back squats make everything better. 

The muscle up should be a goal for every member at a crossfit gym. It represents a great level of strength and coordination. There are different aspects to the muscle up that present problems for different people. Some have the strength but lack the flexibility or coordination to pull it off.  While others understands the general movement but lack the power to do it. We will be working on different parts of this through out the month. As well as showing you how to add things to your daily practice to help you as well.  Hopefully we will get some more people into the "muscle up club!" 

If you would like to maximize the new program then continue to read. If you don't care about how to best take part then don't worry about, just continue to show up and do what you have been doing since you started. Just don't ask me any questions that could be answered by reading the following paragraphs, unless you just want me to make fun of you. 

How does this affect your experience here at Elysium? 

For the next month Monday and Thursday will ALWAYS be back squats. These days won't be max effort days like we normally do, you will be doing sets based off of a percentage of your one rep max record. The sets will move faster round to round - since you are not maxing out the way you keep the intensity up and progress is to keep the rest intervals shorter. That means while the sets are sub-maximal they will still get difficult.  At the end of the four week cycle we will have a test day where everyone will get a chance to see how much stronger they have become! Missing a day or two won't ruin the whole thing but planning your schedule and rest days to make it it on squat days would be best. 

The other days of the week will stay about the same as they are now, working on over head shoulder strength, skill work, oly work will still stay. The metcons should stay the same except for back squat days, on those days it may be a bit on the shorter side. Remember the back squat focus doesn't mean we are doing less met-con work. It just means it is being organized differently. I would suggest that in order to get the most out of the system, you plan on being in classes 4 days a week. Scheduling  your rest days accordingly might need a little more planning than usual. If you miss a some days it won't be the end of the word. 

This was just my brief and simple explanation. If you would like to know more details or if you have questions after reading this, just ask Coach L or myself next time you see us.

A quick rant on why we are changing things. 

Leon and I have decided to change things for one reason... we want to provide to you the best service and product. That is what you pay for and that is what you deserve. We have always thought that are programming was good, simple and reliable. We still think that it is. However we want to see if we can improve with some things we have learned in the recent past. Programming the strength differently and little changes to the met-cons in order to make all of you stronger and faster. With the CrossFit Open the past month we definitely learned a few things... we are decently strong around Elysium and with a good handle on complex moves, which is why our best event was the Snatch ladder. We also learned that our general conditioning can be a whole lot better, since the burpee wod was by far our worst performance. Overall we did pretty good and you can bet that I sure am damn proud of all of you for taking part and doing your best. We are a young box and with focus I totally believe that we could have a team being sent to the socal regionals in the future. This is now an opportunity for those of us who think it would be cool to be a part of the group of us working towards building that team. All you have to do is work hard at showing up on the important strength days and spending some extra time learning the skills it requires to be a little competitive. We aren’t going to turn into a super agro competitive gym, we will always be the Elysium that you all know and love. We just want to continue to improve as much as we possibly can!

 

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

Everyone’s got certain movements they love, and others that they hate in CrossFit. I’m no different. Here’s a list of my top 5 “Most hated” and “Favorite” movements, along with a brief explanation why. In some cases it’s because I’m good/bad at the move, and in others there’s a more in-depth reason.

Coach L’s top 5 Most Hated Movements

5. L- pull ups

I’m good at L-sits. I’m good at pull ups. Yet I hate L-pullups. There’s something about the particular level of torque on the shoulders, something about the grip, that means I just can’t stand the movement. I still feel like I could beat most people if this move came up, I just can’t stand it personally.

4. Kettlebell swings

The simple swing, one of the easiest movements we do, just destroys me. Almost nothing else can get my heart rate going so high so quickly. As a lighter person, a standard 53lb KB will tend to be a larger percentage of my bodyweight than for most people. Whatever. I can handle that. What I can’t handle is the feeling of absolute breathlessness that I have when I’m doing swings.

It’s not a strength issue either. When I first started CrossFitting the 2pood (70lb) KB would give me a lot of trouble. These days I can swing that reasonably well. KB swings are just a pure metcon kick in the nuts for me, out of proportion to most other moves. If they come up in a WOD I’m probably going to get dominated.

3. Wall balls

This is not a short person’s exercise. I am a short person. ‘Nuff said.

Here is why this is a tall person’s move-

Tall people have much less distance to launch the ball to hit a standard 10ft target. Imagine a 5 ft tall person; with their arms fully extended, they may reach up to 7ft. That leaves 3 ft left that they have to propel the ball through. Contrast that with a 6ft tall person. We’ll even pretend the 6ft person only has the same 2ft overhead reach that the short person has (which isn’t true). That still leaves only 2ft that the ball has to travel. Multiply that over 50, 75 or 100 reps and it really adds up. When you look at tall vs. short people doing wall balls the difference is painfully obvious- the tall person can generally stand up and casually “flick” the ball at the wall, while the shorter person is heaving the ball, like a huge basketball push pass.

These issues come up on the way down too. The tall person catches the ball much higher than the short person, meaning there’s less distance the ball travels = less time for the ball to fall = less gravitational acceleration and force that has to be controlled with each rep. Check out a tall person receiving a wall ball- it looks effortless. Then, look at me. It’s like I’m being hit with a sledgehammer on each rep.

Fancy way of explaning that wall balls smack into a shorter person with more force.

Sure, I’ve heard the argument that a tall person squats through a “longer ROM” than a short person. That’s not technically true. A tall person squats through the same ROM relative to their height that a short person does. A squat is a squat is a squat. Anyway, just like kettlebells, if wall balls come up in a WOD I’m going to get worked.

2. Thrusters

Good god. There is no other movement that can generate such pain, so quickly. Find me one person who likes thrusters and I will show you a clinically-insane person.

And, my number one hated movement…

Is this what long-slow-distance running makes you look like? Sign me up!

1. Running

Despise it. Loathe it. If CrossFit didn’t have running in it, I wouldn’t run. I cannot imagine a more monotonous, soul-sucking exercise. I can get my metcon punch in other ways, thank you very much. It doesn’t help that I run like a wounded water buffalo.

Coach L’s top 5 favorite movements

5. Butterfly kipping pull ups

Man, I love these. There’s just something about hitting a ton of butterflies that can’t be described. If you time things right, they’re almost effortless. The coordination required, the union of strength and timing, the demands on core control (butterfly pullups are essentially hip flexion/extension in a rhythmic pattern) make this such an elegant move.

Check out Chris Spealler doing butterfly pull ups. No one does it better. (Go to about 1:30 in)
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4. Handstand push ups

Yeah, ok, I’m good at these. Whatever, that’s a good enough reason in and of itself. If they come up in any reasonable volume in a workout I’m probably going to crush you. Beyond that, I think they’re a good test of upper body strength, especially strength to size ratio. It’s funny to see guys with 300+lb bench presses that can’t do one handstand push up.

3. Snatch

Although I’m not particularly good at the snatch, when you make the lift just right it feels effortless. Watching someone do a full squat snatch well is a thing of beauty.

2. The squat

Fact- squatting fixes everything. Powerlifters need to squat more. So do gymnasts. So do grandmothers and everyone in between. There is NO population that couldn’t derive benefit from squatting.

Squatting builds muscle. It causes fat loss and strengthens bone, tendon and joint. It gives girls the curves they need, and helps guys lose the gut they don’t need. Never mind the fact that the squat, and strength derived from it, forms the foundation of nearly every movement we do in CrossFit.

Some movements come and go like fads. A lot have limited utility and are at best, assistance exercises. The squat will always be here to stay, and should form the foundation of ANY well-designed fitness program. If you’re not squatting, you’re doing something wrong.

And, my number one favorite movement…

1. Clean and Jerk

This is the “king of lifts” for a reason. There is NO way to move as much weight from ground to overhead. This is definitely my favorite lift. Crushing a heavy clean and jerk can make your whole day. The demands on coordination, strength, flexibility, timing… Olympic lifts take it all. If I had a choice between getting a PR on the snatch or the clean and jerk, I’d take the clean and jerk every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Liao Hui, 198kg clean and jerk at 69kg bodyweight.
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Most of you know this about me- few things piss me off more than stupid people. Within this category, there’s a subtype that bothers me even more- stupidity in training and the fitness industry.

Most of you also know that I became a coach and got involved in the fitness industry relatively late in my life; most of my adult life has been devoted to becoming a doctor, then becoming an anesthesiologist, father, husband, etc. That being said, I like to think I’m a fast learner, and I do my homework. I am ravenous in increasing my understanding of physical fitness and training, and I try to learn something new about these endeavors on a daily basis. Call it self-improvement. Anyways, although I haven’t been a coach for very long with each passing day I think I can speak more intelligently on the subject, and I realize more and more that there is A TON OF STUPID CRAP IN THE FITNESS INDUSTRY.

As an aside, I would have liked to title this post “Silly Bullshit” but unfortunately Coach Mark Rippetoe beat me to it. Coach Rip has forgotten more about weight training than most of us will ever know, and is a somewhat cantankerous Texan who always speaks his mind. Suffice to say he is hilarious, and the man knows what he’s talking about. Read his article here.

Here’s my (at the moment) top 5 list of stupid concepts, ideas, and movements in training-

5. Bosu Balls

GOOD GOD PEOPLE. Use your head. These balls are supposed to “improve your balance”, “train your core”, and are regularly associated with “functional training”. Let’s start with the balance aspect. Sure, standing on a bosu ball is hard. I’m sure with practice your balance would improve by a bit. But you could make the same comments about standing up on a canoe, or hopping on one foot, or doing pistols. How many of you still can’t do pistols? Maybe, just maybe, your balance has something to do with that. I would argue practicing pistols or some other movement that isn’t so frickin’ stupid as using a bosu ball would confer much greater benefit to your fitness.

“Train your core”? I don’t even know what this means. Core or midline stability is defined as being able to control and generate/transmit power through your trunk. You know, doing things like sit ups, L sits, deadlifts, squats… like we do every day at CrossFit Elysium. The only actual reasonable use of a bosu ball that I’ve seen is for people to do sit ups or back extensions on them when they were INCAPABLE of doing those movements on their own (the ball acts as an assist device). So yes, I suppose if you’re too weak to do a sit up, or squat/deadlift the empty bar, then the bosu ball may have some value.
 

“Functional training”- sure, because standing on an artificially wobbly and unstable surface REALLY mimics the challenges you’ll face in real life. Give me a break. The worst offenses occur when “trainers” do anything with weights combined with a bosu ball. Lifting weights is done most optimally with, and almost by definition requires a stable surface to lift from- that’s why things like lifting platforms and squat shoes exist. It’s also why we don’t deadlift on rowboats. So let’s combine a modality that demands stability and then place it on an unstable surface- GENIUS! You should insta-run from any charlatan who uses this in their training, or alternatively you could mock them relentlessly. Either is fine.

4. Stupid devices and implements.

A new one of these comes out every two weeks or so. This would include things like that shaky-masturbation thingy, the elevation mask, and so on. Read a good review of elevation masks here. Oh, and the machines at your local globo-gym would fall right into this category. Let’s rename the category “things that we can sell for a huge markup, that won’t get you results, but we can market them like they’re the magic bullet you’re looking for so you’ll buy them”.

How many commercials have you seen for some random home-gym contraption that’s supposed to make you “shredded” in weeks? There are some ripped models using the device, all oiled-up, photoshopped and ready to go. Now, here’s the question- have you EVER met someone who used those devices and ended up looking REMOTELY like that? Have you ever met someone using the machines at the local globo-gym that actually look like they’re in shape and can play sports?

I gotta hand it to the people that can invent and market those devices though. They are better entrepreneurs than I am. Hell, I wish I invented that shaky-jackoff-thingy. I’d already be rich and could retire and train with non-shaky-jackoff-thingies every day (you know, barbells).

3. People who say squatting is bad for the knees.

I’m not talking about the layperson saying this. I can understand if they make a statement like this, because they don’t know any better and the media at large has taught them this. I’m talking about the moron trainers/media “experts”/doctors out there that are supposed to be dispensing useful information. Kill them all now. Here’s the deal- again, USE YOUR HEAD! All else being equal, whose joints are more stable- the person who can back squat 500lbs, or the bosu ball- training weakling who doesn’t squat? Whose musculature and ligaments are stronger? It seems to me that the person who can squat 500lbs has some pretty damn strong knees. If both people stopped squatting today, 30 years from now the former squatter will have less-strong knees. The person who never squatted WON’T BE ABLE TO WALK WITHOUT A WALKER. Or they might be dead, because squatting cures everything.

You know what’s bad for the knees? Not using them. Or doing squats improperly (e.g., using more weight than you can handle, doing high squats, doing “stupid crap”).

Gosh! Half-squats with 2lb dumbbells! Sign me up! 

2. People who dispense information despite having no useful knowledge or experience with the subject.

This is a broader example of the witch doctor/fitness “expert”/media idiot reference above. If you are going to talk about something as if you know about it, and you KNOW NOTHING, be prepared to eat your words. If I need surgery, I go to a surgeon. If I need my car fixed, I go to an auto mechanic. The one thing I do NOT do is go to an MD for exercise advice, when they have ZERO formal training on the subject. I am an MD and yet I am making this statement about 99% of my peers- think about that. If I want advice about barbell training, you know who I go to? I go to the people that have been training their whole lives and have gotten results. I want someone who knows what it means to put a barbell on their back day, after day, after day, to give me advice.

This is just common sense. Want to learn about gymnastics? Go to a gymnastics coach. Opening the latest issue of Men’s Health will NOT be helpful. Unfortunately talk is cheap and everyone is allowed to have an opinion (despite the fact that most people’s opinions are worthless). Don’t even get me started on how easy it is to become a trainer- in most cases, a weekend certification is enough (tongue in cheek critique of CrossFit here, but hey, I’m confident most of you actually think I’m a good coach). So some high school drop out can literally take a course and then is “qualified” to put you on a bosu ball with 300lb on your back- yeah, have fun with that. A colleague of mine and Anne Shapiro’s recently started “training” with one of these idiots. She was inspired by Anne’s progress at CrossFit Elysium, and decided… to join a non-CrossFit gym and do whatever BS they shoveled her for 100$/hr. And guess what? Yep, she got injured. Now she blames ME AND ANNE for her injury, because we inspired her to workout! WHAT?! Why don’t you blame the moron who knows nothing, and had you flailing around with pink 2lb dumbbells doing moves I’ve never even heard of? Or, blame yourself for not using your head.

Coach P can’t stand being called a trainer, for good reason. He knows just how easy it is to become a trainer and just how idiotic most “trainers” really are. He wants to be called a coach, because that’s what he is.

Here’s the quick summary in case you missed it- Most doctors don’t know ANYTHING about training or fitness, and should summarily be ignored. Most TRAINERS don’t know anything about training or fitness, and should likewise be ignored. NO ONE IN THE MEDIA KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT ANYTHING, and thus should be ignored. There- useful advice and I didn’t even charge you anything for it.

This "trainer" is probably making more money than you, for teaching THIS. Note use of bosu ball. 

And now, the # 1 thing that I hate in the fitness industry-

1. Partial Range of Motion (ROM).
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Watch the video, and then try and tell me you're NOT PISSED OFF. And on top of it there's some idiot high-school football coach getting PAID to mess up these kids' knees, and he's probably bragging about how big of a "squat" his kids have to anyone who will listen. 

I get an aneurysm every time I see this disease. Coach Paul and I are hard on you guys with ROM, for good reason. IT MAKES ME MAD. DON’T DO IT. I could make this post 1000 pages long with all the reasons partial ROM is bad. Here’s the shortlist.

- You don’t get the full stimulus
- You don’t train all your muscles equally, which can lead to injury. Classic example is the squat- high squats are very quad-dominant and don’t involve the muscles that stabilize the posterior part of the knee. Over time, the result? Chronic patellar pain. Know anyone that complains of this when they’re squatting? Ask them if they go deep enough.
- You don’t train all your muscles equally, which leads to stagnation.
- You can’t measure progress with partial ROM. What happens if you do 30 “half push ups”, then a month later do 50 half push ups? Can you really say you can do 20 more? How do you even know how deep you went if you didn’t go all the way down each time?
- It’s easier, and facilitates egos. The number of high school kids out there with 500lb “squats” is staggering. It’s funny to watch videos where they’re forced to go all the way down, and get stapled with 200lb.
- It’s NOT THE FULL MOVEMENT. It’s cheating- period.
- Every time you cheat a movement, god kills a kitten.

Thoughts? Liked/hated the post? Post to comments.

Coach L

 

Coach P