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06. Sep
Observations, The Owner's Corner, Uncategorized

I’m a Beginner All Over Again

So for months I had been trying to come up with a new reason to train. I think that setting goals and having a PURPOSE for your training are imperative to stay motivated. I’ve thought of some crazy stuff. A marathon (nope), a 20 mile road march with a pack (maybe) and olympic lifting competition (not good enough) were all ruled out. I decided to do something far different and way out of my comfort zone. Rather than come up with an “event” to train for, I decided to just use the fitness that I’ve already acquired. I decided at the young age of 42 that I would start…Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Now, what does any of this have to do with CrossFit? Well.. a lot. Because what I have found is the two journeys (and that’s just what they are) are actually very similar in several ways. Walking in the door for the first time To say I was nervous the first time I walked in to Tennessee Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy in Spring Hill, is an understatement. I walked in just before the 11:30 class and about 5 guy’s heads whipped around to see who had just walked in. They were sitting on the mats, gis (a traditional 2 piece garment worn in many martial arts) half on and sweaty. I thought they might pounce on me and beat me to death right there. This must be EXACTLY how first time visitors to CrossFit feel. Walking in the front door for the first time is STILL the hardest thing that I’ve had to do there. We hear this at Combustion all of the time and literally every one of our athletes can tell you about his or her first time coming in and they can probably tell you what the first workout was. It’s tough to just walk in the door but, what you find is a welcoming and inclusive feeling. I’m getting better…oops…I suck again…what gives? In most cases, when people first start CrossFit they will begin to improve in a relatively short period of time. Their nutrition, consistency, coachability and the like will have a direct impact on when those changes start. But, without a doubt (assuming the aforementioned items are intact) a new CrossFit athlete will see marked improvement in 3-6 months roughly. The same is true for BJJ. Show up, listen, practice and you will improve in those first few months. Here is the catch…as soon as you start to improve, the target will get moved. What that means is, as you get better, your coach will make your work tougher (moving from an 18lb. kettlebell to 26lbs for KB swings as an example). In BJJ, the blue belts that have given you opportunities to work new techniques will start giving more resistance as you improve. They will no longer give you superior positions, you will have to learn to take them. It feels impossible at times. In both activities, that “moving of the target”…

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13. Jan
Observations, The Owner's Corner, Uncategorized

Why the Warm Up is important for youth athletes

Warming up and youth athletics. I don’t know about you but when I was a kid we rarely went through any kind of a warm up before we played or practiced. Whether it was on the baseball field before practice or a game, we usually just picked a ball up and started throwing. In basketball, it was sort of the same thing, we just grabbed the ball and started doing our drills. On the rare occasion that we did do some type of “warm up”, it was usually stretching. Well, that was a long time ago and since then, much has been learned about the importance and benefits of athletes warming up and on what is the correct way to do instruct warm ups. and what is just flat out damaging in terms of “The Warm Up”. Kids are very resilient. Their bones are not brittle. Their ligaments are not hardened by years of inactivity or poor nutrition. Young athletes just don’t get hurt as often as their High School, College or Adult athlete counterparts. However, none of those are good reasons for us to skip the few minutes that it takes to prepare our young athletes for their sport of choice. What I am going to share today is WHY we need to warm up our young athletes and a little about HOW to warm them up properly. What sport they are practicing or playing will not change their basic warm up. I recommend following up their general warm up with more sport specific warm up drills. i.e. throwing a ball, kicking a ball, etc. Why not stretch to start practice or a game? Stretching is important and has its place without a doubt. However, there is no real upside to stretching a cold muscle. In fact, over the course of time, stretching cold muscles may cause microscopic tears that could lead to injury down the road. Also, stretching pre-work (sports in this case) may reduce power output. Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying here. Stretching is vital because it gives us flexibility but, timing is everything. Save the stretching for after the game or activity is over. Warm up pre-work, stretch after work. So, why warm up? There are many reasons that warming up young athletes is absolutely crucial. A good dynamic range of motion (DROM) warm up will increase core body temperature, prepare the joints for activity, dilate the vessels in the muscles which will help them operate in their most efficient way. All of these reasons will benefit the athlete in many different ways and it will help them to perform better! Aha! We all like that. But, even more importantly, it will help them more easily AVOID INJURY. That is hands down the most important reason to warm up. It has been proven over and over that a good dynamic warm up keeps athletes both young and old from getting injured as often. Also, one of my favorite reason to take kids through a warm up…

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