CrossFit & Young Athletes

Bottom right: How's that knee angle for you......

Why young athletes should be doing CrossFit.

Before I go into detail on why CrossFit will drastically help a young athlete, let's all make sure it's understood that this athlete is training under a good coach.  Someone who understands and is experienced in athletics and also has experience using exercise to supplement specialized sport.  Basically, if you take your son/daughter to an affiliate w hopes of helping their athletic abilities and you hear words like "Murph", kipping, squat clean, squat snatch, and bear complexes being used FREQUENTLY, leave immediately. (Not that there's not a time and place for it.  That's another post.)

CrossFit teaches proper movement mechanics.

-All athletics require movement, and it's the ones who are most efficient in those movements who get that college scholly.  Otherwise, w poor movement mechanics kids are likely to be less efficient on the court/field, and much more susceptible to injury.  So learn the proper way to run! jump! press! fall! stand! lift! squat! etc!  Go to any hs weight room.  Most kids shouldn't be doing air squats, let alone finding their 1 rep max on a back squat.

CrossFit will improve strength.

-Every athlete needs strength.  Scrawny marathon runner or weightlifting fatty, it doesn't matter.  Strength benefits everyone!  This is probably one of the greatest deficits kids have when going off to college.  And it's almost always because they are misinformed on proper lifting and the benefits it brings.  Specifically I experienced this when I first got to UF.  Prior, I was terribly misinformed on the weight room, and how to use it as a supplement for my sport.  And that stinks because I worked my ass off (not literally unfortunately).  I had great pecs though!.....  Our strength coach (who's now the coach for the San Antonio Spurs) always said, "Big bench=really bad shoulders".

CrossFit helps prevent injury.

Think back to the movements.  Non contact knee injury is one of the most prevalent incidences in sport, yet I'd argue (I did my kinesio degree final paper on this) that close to 90% of those (non-contact) injuries are preventable......  It's conditioning your body to correct mechanics.  Ex:  if I squatted/jumped everyday w proper ankle/knee/hip alignment, then the chances are likely that when I land awkwardly (and you will), my body will be so conditioned to that correct setup that it could be the difference of being out for 4-6 weeks or having career ending knee surgery......  And it's EXTREMELY beneficial to learn this at a young age.

I'll be posting more on this, I just wanted to get this out because it's likely that most athletic programs would discourage CrossFit training methods, (even though they use them) and that's distasteful to me.  Especially since I've experienced quality coaching, and greatly benefitted from supplemental training for basketball.  Anyone "hating" on CrossFit supplementation for sport is simply uninformed, and has likely put zero efforts forward in correctly helping their athlete's inefficiencies.  3x8 backsquat is not a summer training program.

2 new meanings to letting it flow!lol

Wednesday
Strength
Box squat 5x5
GHD work

Conditioning
30-20-10
Pull ups
GHD sit ups
-then
10 min aerobic

The past week or so has been a grind to train through.  I haven't been feeling up to par, due to a minor case of the ol' stomach flu.  It wasn't anything severe, it just lasted for almost 2 weeks!  Yep, nothing solid for almost 2 weeks.lol disgusting, I know....  But fortunately, I've been feeling much better the past few days, and training/coaching has definitely reflected it....

Yesterday (like most Wednesdays) I did lots of posterior chain work.  Typically, I'll go heavy w deadlifts every other week, so being that I had box squats this week, there wasn't a whole lot of anxiety going into this one. The deadlifts will get you!lol.... I went light on the box squats and really focused on loading everything properly.  It's easy sometimes on box squats to overload yourself w weight & not load what's meant to be loaded.  The cheeks.lol..  Box squats are a great way to develop the posterior chain.  They also help teach proper mechanical loading and can greatly strengthen the hips w a wider stance (partial reasoning for doing them).  I finished the strength w lots of GHD assistance work.  The GHD machine is one of the most underrated, underused (and probably improperly used) machines in every gym.  If your gym has one, learn how to use it and get on it!!

Lately I've revisited some goals of mine and reevaluated where I'm at....  I think one of the most important things about setting goals is being realistic.  Of course this seems simple from a broad point of view, but it's beneficial to make sure most of your goals are realistic, in that they are achievable within your circumstance/capability/time table?  Going to Hawaii for the ironman probably isn't going to work for a weekend runner.....  I think a person's goals, should depict their everyday decisions.  Coach Shy called it winning right now.  "We all want to win the National Championship, but what can you do at this exact moment to help that cause?"  Usually it was about going to class.lol  But if my goal was to lose 5 pounds, what are the steps I need to take to realistically achieve that goal?  It's easy to set huge goals for yourself, and forget what it's actually going to take to accomplish them.....  It helps me to constantly ask myself, am I getting closer to achieving my goals by doing this? or hindering myself?

AND ain't nobody ever got time for rowing a half marathon!!!