logdriver

Logdrivers are hardcore... they exude many things that many athletes of today couldn't perform for 15 seconds and they do it everyday all day, and lets not forget they please their women completely!
keep that in mind if thats what your training for!

many men with naturally great grip strength usually share a common trait. Their daily life will involve a thick handled tools (sledge, axe...) Thick handled objects in training will improve your grip significantly. kettlebells, sledge hammers. Grip can be a common failure for many athletes and they aren't even aware of the weak hands being the failure.
Grip can be broken down into a few catagories:
crush grip, pinch grip, and support grip
working all of these into your training will unleash power you didn't even know you had. remember that because the muscles are very small relative to limbs, it will take a long time for the muscles to grow. be patient, tendentious can creep up on you if you aren't careful with training each equally.

if you don't have badass clauses then the chances of you having great grip strength in my mind is pretty slim. A grip workout when done properly can give you the same DOMS effect that an other workout will do....

cardio respiratory endurance, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, accuracy and toughness
are the 10 physical skills that we train to be a crossfit athlete.... use these to plan your individual training. Train hard and obtain the skills and at least then you can fall back on being a logdriver!

Reading

There are many books on many subjects, many of which get lost in form rather than function. With crossfit training it can be difficult to seek out "expert" advice from specialist trainers. When talking with an Olympic lifting coach, the typical response to crossfit is that its interesting and has good principles but will ultimately slow the progress that one would make Olympic Lifting. YES it will but the sacrifices made by not training in one domain of fitness, allows the crossfit athlete to be better at all other domains than the one dimensional athlete. Making you ready for the unknowable task and making daily life, combat, and sporting an easier experience.

How do I interpret what I read. There are basic principles that crossfit follows. When a specialist info breaks these rules (for example to increase a maximal deadlift typically a powerlifter will widen the foot stance to shorten the distance the weight travels) this breaks 2 rules 1.) increase ROM 2.) athletic position is somewhere between hip and shoulder position for the feet, this is where we jump and run from, and we should also train from.
the goals are different. The power lifter just wants more Lbs lifted when the crossfitter wants more strength and more strength will be made , by increasing the work load .

Many times we will take the form from the expert or high performance athlete in that genre of sport. We will take the spirit of their best workouts , and then add crossfit principles by increasing the ROM and increasing the intensity.... the effect tend to be quite dramatic.

I personally have done 21-15-9 years before crossfit was around Greg Glassman did not invent that. What he did do, was remove the expectation of rest, making this dramatically different.

he also made up pukie the clown!

books that are well received in the crossfit world.

-Starting Strength - Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore
-Gymnastics and Tumbling - United States Navy (1944) review available on crossfit.com, in the free journals section
-Entering the Zone - Dr.Barry Sears

The Abmat

The Abmat is an excellent training tool. It's purpose is to put or back int he correct position and ensure full range of motion during a regular sit up. I don't feel like giving it all the hype like they do on television and say that you'll get a six pack from using it, so I won't. What I will say is that this WILL help develop abdominal power and co-ordination at a low cost. (or free I will mention at the end)
as with the GHD sit up we have learned that we don't need to bring our sternum closer to our pelvic bone to create great "core strength" or mid line stabilization. There is a powerful set of movements you can do by keeping your back in a flexed position during the situp.
Opening your hips into a butterfly position will be even more powerful.
All of these movements will enforce a FULL ROM which is often cheated without even knowing it during a regular sit-up. I have personally felt the power of these helping to alleviate daily back pain, in combination with some other movements.
By cushioning the lumbar, the Abmat forces you to rely solely on abdominal effort to move your torso through the full range of motion. The opportunity to engage your hip flexors for that initial “umph” at the beginning of the movement is gone. Instead, your lower abs alone are left to do ALL of the work.

If something is injured it will require rest time, but at some time you will need to SLOWLY and gradually strengthen it again, so that you can avoid re-injury.

for more information here is an article from backbuilder.com click here
this article is a great break down of the mechanics during both traditional and abmat situps.

Free abmat:
The thickness is aprox 2 inches at the max height. I found folding and rolling a towel to be semi effective. With time and numerous reps you will have to re-adjust the folding and rolling, But a great substitute for no money. My towel has pushed me to purchase these for the gym... I suspect people will be asking me for them after a couple weeks.

Nasty girls

3 rounds for time of:
50 Squats
7 Muscle-ups
135 pound Hang power cleans, 10 reps

Nasty Girls Video

Many people will tell me that the first crossfit video that they watched was "Nasty girls". Is it the title that draws the attention, or the performance in the video, or just the good music. It's inspiring to see women doing what most men can't do, I think.
The first time I did this workout I was just proud to finish it (muscle-ups being the toughest portion) Now although a tough workout, it isn't so much of a religious experience. I've been crossfitting for a while now and if I look back to when I saw this video the first time and thought OMG thats impossible, to now where I am competitive to the ladies times, I have come a long way.
Crossfit is a journey, that isn't an easy one. The only promise is, if you work hard you will get results. who would have thought!

Brand X scales it as such:
Big Dawgs:
as Rx'd
women 95#

The Porch:
3 rounds for time of:
50 Squats
14 Jumping Muscle ups
115# Hang power cleans, 10 reps

or

3 rounds for time of:
50 Squats
35 pull ups
35 dips
115# Hang power cleans, 10 reps

women 80#

Pack:
3 rounds for time of:
50 Squats
10 Jumping Muscle ups
95# Hang power cleans, 10 reps

women 65#

or


3 rounds for time of:
50 Squats
35 pull ups
21 ring dips
95# Hang power cleans, 10 reps

women 65#

Puppies:
3 rounds:
20 Squats
10 Assisted Pull ups
10 Assisted Dips
10 Hang Power Cleans 25-35#

Buttercups:
3 rounds:
20 Squats
10 Assisted Pull ups
10 Assisted Dips
10 Hang Power Cleans PVC-20#

Rubber mat moving!

WOD:
Move 5300lbs of 4x6 rubber mats up 3 fights of stairs and load them into a truck. Rest 2hrs Carry mats 50ft and stack them. for time.

Thanks Brad, and PJ I wouldn't have been able to do that alone!

Foam Rollers:

Foam rollers are used to increase soft tissue condition and increase range of motion. Although it may look like it feels nice, this will hurt! This is an important thing to mix into your stretching routine.
If you tie a knot in a rope and then you pull on the rope the knot will only get tighter. With a foam roller, you will break up all those knots, adhesions, and scar tissue that tend to accumulate over time and not only will you improve range of motion (no more knots), but you'll also improve overall tissue quality as well.

trigger points occur when the muscle has been over stimulated. These point can cause pain or can be pain free until direct pressure is placed on it. Trigger points can often send referral pain to another point. An example of this is tennis elbow. The issue is the extensor muscles in the hand but the pain is felt on the outside of the elbow.

now because most of you aren't aware of all the accu/trigger points the foam roller will allow you to do some basic moves and because the trigger points are in a swollen state they will be the highest point and thus the foam roller will put all of the pressure you apply onto it. (This is the part that hurts) When you feel this, you will want to slow down the roller and then repeat the spot you are rolling on until, if possible it doesn't hurt. It may take multiple sessions to free up scar tissue and knots in certain areas.

there are many products that accomplish the same thing, but this has to be the most economical and easiest to accomplish (this is why I choose it) It must be obtainable!

The Stick is a short flexible stick with mini rollers on it. its more portable, but doesn't allow you to put the same pressure as a foam roller.

Migun Beds is a bed that has round jade stones that are heated and roll to accomplish the same task as the roller. Although it says you can lay on your front, I beleive it to be designed solely for your back and legs. This uses inferred which really helps with muscular recovery. The downfall is these beds are very expensive and I beleive to be limited in the capabilities and is a one size fits all solution (meaning that it doesn't adjust based on height, which is a policy that I'm strictly against) plus side because they are a growing company they offer free treatments in their locations once you buy your own sheets to put on the bed $10

Massage I don't think I need to describe how this works but lets be honest, this really depends on the skill of the RMT and as well how much time and money you can put towards your treatments. This is also why some people will say they are sore after a massage. (this is a good thing)

Fact: Soft tissue and range of motion are huge factors involved with human performance. look into it try it!

The skeptic

On the weekend I was talking with Tony Budding the crossfit media guy. He had mentioned when we were talking about Olympic lifts, that he out lifts Greg Amunston (who we all know to be imortal) by up to 40% on all lifts but deadlift, But even on heavy lifting CF workouts Greg will out perform Tony. (by 12 mins on Linda is what he said I think)
If Mark Rippetoe was asked he would tell you that an increase in max dead lift will make you better at what you do. For example a bicyclist would get faster because each spin is a smaller % of the work done in a deadlift. This is true, but to a point. For the novice athlete any gain in strength will assist, but when we move beyond a certain point of strength we are sacrificing other skills.

The lesson learned here is that heavy strength days are important part of our training, but absolute strength doesn't not equal absolute dominance. Crossfit defines fitness as the practical application of power across broad and modal time domains. So when Tony can out perform on single rep maxes, and Greg can and does outperform in all other ranges, who has the practical output of power?