News from Tacoma Strength

Stretching Series

Details

• When: Every Monday starting June 24 through August 5 (except July 22 when we'll be in CA for the Crossfit Games) at 6:30 pm
• Where: Fawcett
• How much: $200
• Who: Amy Honeycutt assisted by Morgan Blackmore. Space for 12 people.
• Sign-Up

Shortly after opening CrossFit Tacoma, superfan Tom K recommended I [Morgan] get in touch with a friend of his named Amy Honeycutt. Amy is a Massage Therapist, but she's not your typical MT, she actually fixes problems. I've used Amy for several stretching clinics as well as hired her to teach an anatomy course for our trainers. A year after opening our doors, I invited Kelly Starrett (the mobilitywod guy) to come here. After his workshop I was somewhat surprised to realize that I had heard it all before, from Amy. What's more, Amy has become our go-to person for when somebody has persistent pain or restriction. She's where I go when I need help. In fact, I'll go to her when I don't know what the problem is. Her level of understanding the body and how it works is what I aspire to as a professional trainer.

Yesterday, I sat down with her and explained the problem and the goal. The problem is that there are many of you for whom traditional stretching and mobility work isn't sufficient. Even the great advice you find on mobilitywod.com can reach a dead end. When I look around the gym I see individuals who are still struggling with the same movement restrictions that they had a year ago. They work hard, and we've tried several different ways of addressing their problem, but with little improvement. I thought about bringing Amy in to do another stretching clinic, but I want something more powerful and more long-lasting. Clinics are useful, but you end up forgetting most of it and any questions or uncertainties you have later are left unanswered. The goal is to do something that will get people the specific direction and help they need and then give them the follow-up that will see them through to the results we're looking for.

The solution we came up with is this new Mobility Series. Here's how it works. On Monday June 24 at 6:30 pm at Fawcett, Amy, I and 12 others will spend a couple of hours giving an overview and how-to about best practices for improving movement. Then we'll do a complete personal flexibility assessment where we go over everything from trigger points, symptoms, history, posture, symmetry, range of motion, and sport-specific movement. Then, using that we'll put together a personal stretching program. Over the next 4 weeks we'll continue to tweak and revise your program. If you've made progress we'll move you on to the next step. If not, then we'll be able to figure out the problem and make corrections. On the last day we'll have a long session again where we do a final wrap up and send you off with a plan for the future.

So there it is. The class is limited to 12 people. I posted a little announcement on the Facebook group this morning and as of this writing on Friday afternoon, 5 slots have already been filled. Registration is now open.

By Morgan on Friday, June, 07, 2013

Summer Program For Kids

• Preschool Class, ages 3 & 4 at 411 Fawcett Ave
• Kids' Class, ages 5 - 11 at Wright Park
• 9:30 am - 10:30 am
• $70 for 14 classes, $5 for each additional class

Register at Fawcett; or to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) before June 15th and receive a “Friend Pass.”

Register Online Today

• Preschool Camp
• Elementary Kids Camp

Theme days will include Circus Day, Pirate Day, Ninja Day, Sports Day, Water Day, and more!

By Lisa on Wednesday, June, 05, 2013

Fawcett Tuesday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Tuesday, June, 18, 2013

Pine Tuesday Whiteboard

By Leon on Tuesday, June, 18, 2013

Fawcett Monday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Monday, June, 17, 2013

Fawcett Friday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Friday, June, 14, 2013

Pine Friday Whiteboard

By Leon on Friday, June, 14, 2013

Pine Thursday Whiteboard

By Leon on Thursday, June, 13, 2013

Pine Wednesday Whiteboard

By Leon on Wednesday, June, 12, 2013

Fawcett Wednesday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Wednesday, June, 12, 2013

Fawcett Tuesday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Tuesday, June, 11, 2013

Pine Tuesday Whiteboard

By Leon on Tuesday, June, 11, 2013

Fawcett Monday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Monday, June, 10, 2013

Pine Friday Whiteboard

By Travis on Friday, June, 07, 2013

Fawcett Friday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Friday, June, 07, 2013

Fawcett Thursday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Thursday, June, 06, 2013

Pine Thursday Whiteboard

By Leon on Thursday, June, 06, 2013

Pine Wednesday Whiteboard

By Leon on Wednesday, June, 05, 2013

Fawcett Wednesday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Wednesday, June, 05, 2013

Pine Tuesday Whiteboard

By Leon on Tuesday, June, 04, 2013

Fawcett Tuesday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Tuesday, June, 04, 2013

Fawcett Monday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Monday, June, 03, 2013

Pine Friday Whiteboard

By Travis on Friday, May, 31, 2013

Fawcett Friday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Friday, May, 31, 2013

Pine Thursday Whiteboard

By Leon on Thursday, May, 30, 2013

Fawcett Thursday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Thursday, May, 30, 2013

Pine Wednesday Whiteboard

By Leon on Wednesday, May, 29, 2013

Fawcett Tuesday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Tuesday, May, 28, 2013

Pine Tuesday Whiteboard

By Leon on Tuesday, May, 28, 2013

Fawcett Memorial Day Murph 2013

Notes: Movement Prep

New movement prep reference for the week.

By Morgan on Monday, May, 27, 2013

Pine Monday Whiteboard

By Leon on Monday, May, 27, 2013

Fawcett Friday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Friday, May, 24, 2013

Pine Friday Whiteboard

By Travis on Friday, May, 24, 2013

Pine Thursday Whiteboard

By Leon on Thursday, May, 23, 2013

Fawcett Thursday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Thursday, May, 23, 2013

Pine Wednesday Whiteboard

By Leon on Wednesday, May, 22, 2013

Fawcett Tuesday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Tuesday, May, 21, 2013

Pine Tuesday Whiteboard

By Leon on Tuesday, May, 21, 2013

Fawcett Monday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Monday, May, 20, 2013

Pine Monday Whiteboard

By Leon on Monday, May, 20, 2013

COFFEE BREWING TUTORIAL

At Tacoma Strength, the only thing we love as much as working out, is bacon... but running a close second is coffee.

And right in the midst of the Pine Street athletes we discovered a true coffee aficionado and connoisseur among us.

Please join us Saturday, May 25 at 8:30 am at Pine for a coffee education class led by Jay Lijewski from Handsome Coffee.

Jay will provide a veritable “seed to cup” coffee education class including a cupping so you can taste and learn to your heart's content. The first 10 people to RSVP HERE by email will recieve a complementary bag of beans after the class.

And, once the class is over and you're all “Hopped Up On The Bean!” you can stay for the 10 am Pine WOD. WooHoo - Hope you can make it!

By Craig on Sunday, May, 19, 2013

Pine Friday Whiteboard

By Travis on Friday, May, 17, 2013

Fawcett Friday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Friday, May, 17, 2013

Pine Thursday Whiteboard

By Leon on Thursday, May, 16, 2013

Fawcett Thursday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Thursday, May, 16, 2013

Pine Wednesday Whiteboard

By Leon on Wednesday, May, 15, 2013

Fawcett Wednesday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Wednesday, May, 15, 2013

Fawcett Tuesday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Tuesday, May, 14, 2013

Pine Tuesday Whiteboard

By Leon on Tuesday, May, 14, 2013

Fawcett Monday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Monday, May, 13, 2013

Pine Monday Whiteboard

By Leon on Monday, May, 13, 2013

Dan John Seminar Part 3

In last week's Dan John Recap article, I discussed whether your workout goals were for health or fitness. In this third article we are discussing “Doing, What We Say We Are Going To Do.”

The next phase (Q3, in Dan’s schema), is where most of us are, and all of us end up. The main rule for us is to do what you say you need to do. And what do you need to do?

Get Stronger. To quote Dan, “The answer to all your wishes is strength training.” Absolute strength is the glass and a bigger glass can be filled with more stuff. Strength training for lean body mass and joint mobility work trump everything else. As an aside, recommends we read “Strong Curves” by Contreras.

Master Fundamental Human Movement. He has a cleverer way of saying that. The fundamentals are push, pull, hinge, squat, loaded carry. Good movement quality just looks beautiful. Athletes do better (train longer, progress further) when they are focused on mastery.

Within each of those fundamental movement patterns, Dan follows this progression:

1. Plank (which is posture and position)
2. Slow Strength (basic strength exercises)
3. Symmetry (1-arm and unilateral work)
4. Triad (build explosive power with Kettlebell swing, push press, Litvinov sprints)
5. Olympic Lifting (first squat snatch, then clean and jerk)

When planning a workout program, create an “at least” option with the least amount of things you can do to work toward your goal. This helps prioritize exercise selection and order. Make a list of the basic fundamental movements plus stretching. Build your correctives into the program (strengthen phasic muscles, stretch tonic). He didn’t say much about cardio except that he really recommends using heart rate monitors.

With regards to timing, go through a calendar and label 8-10 months as “off” which are set aside for you to be a good worker bee and train at a level that is reasonable and sustainable. The rest you can label as “on” wherein you can train hard.

He said there are basically 3 types of workouts

1. Next Day. These should be the majority of your workouts. You stick to the plan and don’t do anything that’s not in the plan. Save some in the tank for the next day.
2. Kill Yourself. A few times a year, go for it. Train hard. It’s a good opportunity to do this in conjunction with a short term goal such as cutting weight, game day, whatever. You just can train this way forever.
3. Hangover. This is a kind of serendipitous event that catches you by surprise. It’s the 20 pound PR that felt easy, the conditioning that feels effortless. He calls it the Hangover because sometimes people do extraordinarily well after a hard night of drinking. Dan thinks it’s because they have no expectations. My thought is that they might also feel a little disassociated with their bodies and the space lets the body work without interference.

After that, we spent the rest of the afternoon doing some correctives. The PUPP, the 6 Point Rock and Rainbow, Stoney stretch, T-Spine, Windmill Stick, etc.

By Morgan on Sunday, May, 12, 2013

Pine Friday Whiteboard

By Leon on Friday, May, 10, 2013

Fawcett Friday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Friday, May, 10, 2013

Fawcett Thursday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Thursday, May, 09, 2013

Pine Thursday Whiteboard

By Leon on Thursday, May, 09, 2013

Pine Wednesday Whiteboard

By Leon on Wednesday, May, 08, 2013

Fawcett Tuesday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Tuesday, May, 07, 2013

Fawcett Monday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Monday, May, 06, 2013

Pine Monday Whiteboard

By Leon on Monday, May, 06, 2013

Dan John Seminar Part 2

Last week I brought you the first in a three part series assessing the Dan John Strength Seminar that was held at Tacoma Strength in April. This week we are assessing your workout goals.

Is Your Goal Health Or Fitness

Health is the optimum interplay of organs. Basically, feel better, move better. Live til you die. If health is the goal, then follow these rules, in order of importance:

• Don’t smoke
• Wear a seatbelt
• Wear a helmet
• Learn to fall and recover
• Eat more protein
• Eat more fiber
• More water
• Take fish oil
• Floss
• Keep healthy joints
• Build some muscle

Also get regular medical check-ups. Get your blood tested twice a year, get your eyes checked once a year. He added a couple others to that list, but I wasn’t quick enough to get them down.

Now if your goal is fitness that’s a different matter. First, he defines fitness using the dictionary definition which is, “the ability to do a task.” This is obviously very context dependent. There is no broad idea of what a fit person should be able to do or what the qualities of fitness are. If you are able to run 5k, then you are fit to run 5k. If you are able to lift 500lbs, then you are fit for that task. The benefit to this definition is that in order to train, you need to establish the task you want to be able to do. It automatically gives your training an endpoint to plan toward.

As an aside, CrossFit defines fitness as “work capacity across broad time and modal domains.” In other words, fitness is your ability to do more stuff. It’s not task-dependent, it’s a general quality of the individual. The CrossFit definition is supplemented by the 10 Physical Skills (strength, power, speed, coordination, accuracy, agility, balance, flexibility, stamina, endurance), which together produce a well-rounded picture of the abilities we want a person to have.

These two definitions aren’t mutually exclusive, Dan’s dictionary definition of fit would include the CrossFit models, meaning that somebody who is fit by CrossFit’s definition would be able to do more tasks and therefore would also be more fit by Dan’s criteria. However, I have to say I have a preference for the CrossFit model. I think it’s more refined and objective than the dictionary. And I think that fitness should be an idea that is more holistic than a mere collection of abilities. Abilities are your data, but the goal should be larger than that definition.

Now, Dan does see the bigger picture of course, and while I may have my own small quibbles with a particular definition, it’s irrelevant in the bigger picture.

After establishing his definition of fitness, Dan went on about fitness-based goals.

He led with the idea that your life is knitted. I didn’t get his exact words on this, but paraphrasing from memory, the idea is that your life is similar to a knitted fabric, consisting of interwoven aspects. In his words, your personal life must fit with your public life, training life, etc. Fitness needs to knit with life.

For those of us who’ve been around a while, the reality is that fitness and health depend on your lifestyle far more than anything we do in the gym. What we do in the gym is simply a small feature of your lifestyle. Dan used the example of a student athlete, the kid who doesn’t show up on time to class, won’t be 100% at practice. Being unorganized, unmotivated, unprepared, unwhatever in one area of life will drag down the other areas. If you procrastinate at work, then have to work late, you’re hungry but don’t have food in the fridge, so you go out to eat, then you don’t feel as good the next morning at the gym, etc. Conversely, perhaps the best thing you can do for your fitness training is to clean your desk, which would free up time and mental RAM to take care of other things that get in the way of your training. It’s all knitted together.

The next concept he talked about is tuning. I didn’t get much of this idea. I may have been distracted during this part. He compared the process of prepping an athlete to tuning them as you would the strings of a musical instrument. I’m not sure how this idea fits in with goal setting but then again, I wasn’t paying attention at this point. Perhaps someone else who was there can fill me in in the comments section below?

He continued with the question, “Does this goal spiral your life out?” Basically, the metaphor is this: your life has these four aspects: rest, work, pray, play. Which should all remain in balance. If you increase your time in the gym and clean up your diet for your goal, what sacrifices are you making elsewhere and how will you compensate for those? As an example, he gave his own recent decision to take a job which increased his work load. Using this spiral concept, he decided to get a hot tub. He balanced the increased work with something that increased his rest (and which also facilitated husband-wife time, definitely a good thing). I may still have been up and down at this point, so I may not have gotten all of that exactly right. Add corrections to comments below if you have them.

 From here I want to paraphrase a couple of hours into a few paragraphs. One of the tools Dan uses is a grid he calls the four quadrants. I’m unable to find a good graphic of this and I don’t want to waste words describing it. Here is the point of it all anyway.

If you’re under 18 and still in school you need to play a lot. Develop a wide variety of skills, play several sports and don’t worry too much about becoming a master of any particular thing yet. As an aside, kids need training. They need to learn to tumble, wrestle, ride a bike, lift, calisthenics, swimming, basic first aid, basic survival skills, and urban awareness. (Which resonates with what I heard from a European soccer youth development coach said and gives me something to chew on regarding kids training at our gym)

If you’re over 18 under 28 and are pursuing an athletic career full time, then you need to be focused on mastering your sport and do everything you can to maintain your presence in it for as long as possible. Call me when you hit 28. Long-term, you want to slowly move into the next phase.

Next week we will cover “Doing what you say you need to do.”

By Morgan on Sunday, May, 05, 2013

Fawcett Friday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Friday, May, 03, 2013

Pine Friday Whiteboard

By Leon on Friday, May, 03, 2013

Pine Thursday Whiteboard

By Leon on Thursday, May, 02, 2013

Pine Wednesday Whiteboard

By Leon on Wednesday, May, 01, 2013

Fawcett Wednesday Whiteboard

By Morgan on Wednesday, May, 01, 2013

Fawcett Monday Whiteboard - Squat 10 Rep Max Benchmark

By Morgan on Monday, April, 29, 2013

Dan John Seminar Part 1

If I had given an intro prior to Dan John’s seminar, I would have said something like, “Dan’s genius is to take simple concepts and to express them simply.” After listening to him for the day and reviewing my notes, I realize I would have been dead on. I really do think this is a form of genius. My shelves are spilling over with books and training manuals which are half read and generally left unused. These books are full of advanced techniques and technical language. The problem is that as coaches and scientists get deeper into the minutiae of what they do, they lose contact with the people who will actually be doing the things they set forth. To be able to go into the realm of sport science and come out with a clear idea of what’s important and how to express it to regular people, is a gift that not many coaches have.

The following are some of my thoughts inspired by what Dan spoke about, supplemented by a little of my own research and experience.

To begin with, Dan laid down the following points.

• Whatever your health or fitness goal is, it is a problem which has a solution. (This is a counterpoint to the mystery and misinformation that gets pushed by supplement companies, magazines, bad science, and repeated in otherwise reliable media)
• The solution is
  • Assess where you’re at
  • Set a goal
  • Plan the steps to that goal
  • Do the steps of the plan
  • Reassess

I want to start with point D. Dan opened with a commentary about how many people come to him to debate or dispute a particular training regimen he’s mentioned here or there. The problem with all of this is that few of these people ever actually do the plan. You may question the quality of something, but virtually any quality is better than nothing at all. If you don’t follow through with the plan and do the step-by-step daily work, it’s all just hot air.

He said multiple times that the quality of the plan isn’t as important, as long as you you follow it. Later he did talk about quality (the “what you actually do”), but that great ideas and good intentions never accomplished anything. Getting your butt to do it is what does it.

When explaining the thesis, Dan started with point B, the goal. He laid out some criteria for it. Is it reasonable? Is it health or fitness? What are intermediate steps? He talked about the needs of elite athletes and the rest of us in the other 99%.

Elites need to know where they’re at. They need an intervention like an alcoholic, they need a moment of clarity to step back and come to terms with the reality of their situation. They need to determine what are their gaps? Flexibility/mobility? Strength gaps? Technical and support issues. Literally what is their starting point?

The Rest of Us need to know where we’re going. And this should be point B, not point Z. The goal should be reasonable, what the next turn in the road we need to take is.

Next week I'll discuss whether your goal is HEALTH or FITNESS. Stay tuned!

By Morgan on Sunday, April, 28, 2013

Truman Wrestling Update

Earlier this year the members of Tacoma Strength opened their hearts and wallets to share a little love with the Truman Middle School Wrestling team. A little bird told them the wrestling program had a pitiful amount of money in the banks for the year, something around 40 bucks or maybe I should say about ten lattes.

This was certainly not enough to cover the basic needs of the growing program, which exploded this year from 13 wrestlers in 2012 to nearly 40. The program coffers weren’t even enough to cover one pair of shoes for one kid. They had to go with their dingy socks early on.

In the end, Tacoma Strength raised over $4,500 for the Titan wrestlers of Truman. To say the least, this overwhelmed original expectations. Now the kids could get shoes and proper equipment like headgear and mat tape. There were dreams of getting every kid a t-shirt, warm-ups and shorts that they could cherish as memorabilia.

These were certainly grandiose dreams that did not come to full fruition. An unfortunate decision was made in regards to what was done with the money. No, it probably isn’t what you would think, the money wasn’t gambled away in a game of roulette. The process of getting the gear to the athletes got hung-up on bureaucratic road-blocks.

The mistake was giving the money directly to the school’s ASB fund. I’ll explain: since this was now the school’s money, school rules needed to be followed. Since it was now technically the school that was paying for the gear, all of it would need to be returned to the school at the end of the season. No kid would be able to keep a single item.

This was the first problem which directly played into the decision to order the super nice Under Armor sweats that were at least twice as expensive as the other options. They couldn’t be just regular-old-cotton because that doesn’t have the longevity of those super satiny sweats that UA makes. Now there probably wasn’t enough money for t-shirts.

Since the money was going through the school there now needed to be approval from a seemingly endless amount of people… “Hey, this is the logo we’re looking a using.”

“Well, you’ll have to get that approved by Bill”
“Hi Bill, this is the logo we’d like to use. What do you think?”
“Well Kris, this looks great but make sure you get Lisa to approve it.”
“Hi Lisa, This is our logo we’d like to use. Bill already approved it. What do you think?”
“Well Kris, I think it looks great but I’m going to have to get approval from the district. I’ll get back to you on that”

Now, I’d have to wait several days for a response. This was pretty much what I’d go through for every decision: the logo, the color of the singlets, the color of the sweats and the actual process of placing the order. This last part was especially frustrating. After all the invoices were collected they were deemed not official because they didn’t have the word, “invoice,” in the upper corner. Once I got the official ones we then had to wait for the district to increase the spending limit on our credit card, which also took several more days.

It was around two weeks to go in the season when I actually placed the order for all our gear. There was a small hope that we would get our snazzy new digs in time for the district tournament. I was wrong. When placing the order I was told that it would take up to six weeks for the singlets to be screen-printed and ordered, bummer.

Now, months after the season is over, we have all our gear: sweet sweat tops and bottoms, snazzy shorts and superb singlets. We were able to order enough to cover the varsity wrestlers only. This will hopefully encourage more competition for those coveted varsity weights and get more participants because those sweats really are nice. The program now has headgear for all, shoes for those who need them plus mat tape and match scoring books for the next several years in the future. Thanks. We didn’t get the instant gratification but the future is looking shaahweeeet(sweet)!

The lesson learned here would be to just do all the ordering ourselves and treat it like a booster club. This way the athletes would be able to keep their sweats and shorts as a token to their hard work instead of only blood, sweat and tears!!!!

Speaking of this past season, our athletes came up big. We entered as a young team with a revamped coaching staff. Many athletes and one coach were brand spankin’ new to the sport who didn’t even know the difference between a “half” and a “crossface.” The season could have been awful but thankfully the program was in good hands… as far as the other coaches were concerned.

The competitive season certainly didn’t start out well. We lost to the Meeker Meerkats or Muskoxes or whatever they’re called. We lost pretty bad, at least I think so, still trying to figure out that pesky scoring. It was expected. The program at Meeker was well established with some great coaches. Ours was still in pubescent stages with most athletes being 6th graders sans any mat time. However, it didn’t hinder the determination of our team. The athletes and coaches had a vision of our quest for domination.

As the season progressed so did their supremacy. Another speed bump loss to First Creek was avenged weeks later with a convincing team victory. They narrowly beat out fierce rivals, Mason, in an electric team meet along with mopping the floor with many other schools. They were getting work done at practice: burpees, mat pushes, partner carries, rounds upon rounds of live wrestling, stairs, box jumps, sprints… enough work to make a billy goat puke.

It had them ready for the district tournament and it showed. These Titans placed 7 wrestlers in the finals with 3 becoming city champs. An awesome achievement for those young individuals who also got to share in a much bigger prize, DISTRICT CHAMPIONS baby!!!!

It was noted that in the final scoring we placed a wrestler in almost every weight class. It’s exciting to think they will only get better in the future. They’re young. They’ve got the experience. They’ll be perfectly supported with all the help you’ve given.

Thanks again,

-k

By Kris on Wednesday, April, 24, 2013

Fawcett Wednesday Whiteboard - Bench Press 2 Rep Max Benchmark

By Morgan on Wednesday, April, 24, 2013

The Death Race [Tyler May Die]

Tyler May Die

I first heard about The Death Race a few years back when member Tyler Severy told me about it. In broad strokes, TDR is a three day “race” in Pittsfield, VT. Last year, less than 15% of entrants actually finished. No times were recorded for finishing. If you finish, that’s enough. In fact, there is no official starting time, no published course, no known finish line.

The goal of the designers of the race is to make you quit. They want you to drop out and go home. They talk shit to you, they lie to you. Volunteers last year were instructed to tell racers they’d been disqualified and could go home now. They post signs along the course, telling you that quitting is the only option.

I bring it up today because Tyler will be participating in the 2013 event on June 21st. Prior to the event he needs to get some local “media” coverage. Based on our readership, writing about him on this blog will apparently suffice. If I don’t do this, Tyler will have to do 1000 deadlifts with a 50lb boulder. While it is tempting to remain silent just to bend a friend over, I thought I could at least share a little about the insanity of the race.

The event starts well before official race day. It starts when they start giving you tasks and an equipment list. Tasks include things like getting somebody to write about you. Last year they asked participants to bring a live fish which was going to be dumped into a tank. At the end of 60+ hours racers would be told to identify their fish. This was later scrapped when PETA heard and complained to the state of VT. Instead, participants were told to bring $22 with them and on the first day of the race, they were told to buy a fishing license. As it turns out, it wasn’t needed.

The race is different every year, but last year it started with walking up river in waist deep water for over an hour. Then come back. Get out and hike to the top of a hill. Once there, they’re instructed to hike down to a pond and sit in icy water for 5 minutes. In the words of one participant:

Back down the hill to another pond. There were 2 lengths of rope lying across the pond, which was about 40 yards or so long. On the other side there was a very steep mud bank, which went back up to where the fire was.

The task was to get into the water with our packs on and either pull ourselves across or swim to the other side. I have no idea how deep the water was but I couldn’t touch bottom. When we made it across, we had to climb up the hill and at the top we were handed a lit candle, which we then had to walk around a field holding it and if it went out we had to start again. When we returned the lit candle to the race staff that was 1 lap. We had to do 7. After my second lap I noticed that some racers were standing at the fire for a couple of minutes before heading back down so I followed suit. Each time I went back in the water didn’t seem so cold but each time the water hit me I got crazy cramps in the calves and mentally it started getting extremely difficult.

Later they had to carry a 50 lb log up hill. Once there they had to memorize a Bible verse (1 Cor 16:13 “Be watchful. Stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong”). At the bottom of the hill they had to recite it perfectly otherwise walk back up the hill. It was an hour round trip.

Then chop the log, get a new one, engrave it, carry it through water, up hill, mud, etc. At another point, racers had to barrel roll for ¾ of a mile (under black plastic, over mud and buckets of sheep intestines) at the end of which they had to immediately answer an SAT question. That’s one lap. People had to do 6 laps, 12 if you had a bad attitude.

And on and on it goes. 60 hours of cold, wet, frustration, lies, fatigue, hunger, thirst, and confusion. Like I said, the point is to make you quit. So why do it? For some people, it makes no sense to put yourself through 3 sleepless days of suffering; and for what? No trophy, no finish line, no finish time. Just the knowledge that you did it. For others, they hear about it and they don’t know how you couldn’t want to do it. It’s a test of will. How far can you push yourself, how long will you endure?

I have to admit it intrigues me. I’ll be very interested in hearing Tyler’s experience. As to that, I hope this article will suffice in saving him 1000 deadlifts.

By Morgan on Saturday, April, 20, 2013

Movement Improvement: the Snatch

Movement Improvement class will be a cycling 4 week series for improving technique and mobility in a specific movement. In this cycle we will be working on improving mobility, shoulder stability, and snatch technique. Can't figure out why snatching is so hard? Have trouble with your pull or overhead squatting? Want to be able to snatch body weight for a triple or just have healthier shoulders? Join the movement for improvement. Taught by Jordan Hoover.

The first class will be Tuesday April 16th at 5:30pm at Pine st. It will be held on Tuesday and Thursday each week for 4 weeks. It is free to Tacoma Strength members. The class is meant to progress from beginning to end, so it would be beneficial to attend all or as many of the classes as possible.

By Leon on Friday, April, 12, 2013

Fawcett Wednesday Commentary

Longer than I anticipated. Didn't mean to push out to 20 minutes for the third day in a row, but it can be hard to predict how long a given workout is going to take.

One person asked if we're going to switch to longer conditioning as a rule. The short answer is no. We get the best training effect with short intense intervals, but if you want to be able to go for 20, 30, or 40 minutes, you need to occasionally train in those ranges. After reflecting about the Open, I saw that we were missing a little of this and so threw some extra in this week. But don't worry, we won't be doing this every day in the weeks to come.

By Morgan on Wednesday, April, 10, 2013

2013 Open Write-Up

Another CrossFit Open is in the books. With that out of the way, now is a good time for a bit of a post-action review.

To begin with, a sincere thank you to all of you who volunteered your time to judge, help organize, come to cheer and who participated. The strength of our little community is founded on the willingness of you to come cheer and support each other. For those of you who have yet to participate in something as a competitor, you have no idea how helpful it is to hear people cheering your name, exhorting you to push through the pain and fatigue. It’s huge.

Next, some highlights. We have two people who have qualified through the Open.

Becky Clark took 21st in the NW Open Womens Division. This obviously put her in the top 48 who get to pass through to the next round which will be the Regionals tournament at the Showare Center in Kent on May 31st through June 2nd. From there, after a long and grueling weekend, the top three will continue through to The Games at the Home Depot Center (which will be renamed the StubHub Center on June 1st) in Carson, CA on July 22nd through July 28th.

Then there is Don King who finished first in the Masters 55-60 division in the NW Region, which put him 4th in the world out of a field of 688. The Masters are a little different than the Open categories, there the top 20 in the world go straight to The Games and don’t have to participate in Regionals. That makes Don our first Games qualifier.

Zooming out a little, this year we entered two teams- “CrossFit Tacoma” representing the Fawcett Ave location, and “The Real Tacoma Strength” representing the Pine St crew. There were 2,171 women in the NW Open division, 2,905 men, and 169 teams.

On the CFT team we had 37 people participate. The team finished 95th. Team scores are taken from the top 3 women and 3 men who finished any particular workout. The top three women overall were Lisa Hepfer who took 85th. Next are Amy Nielsen at 547th place and Erin Kirkendal at 654. The top men on the team were Morgan (your humble writer) who finished 248th, followed by Marcus Luckstead at 574, and Luke Shepard at 650th.

On the TRTS side we had 18 people. The team finished 61 overall. The top women starts of course with Becky at 21st, then Sarena Nau who finished 269th, then Kristie Hoke at 371. For the guys, Joey Burns was at the top with 190th (which also makes him our top Mens Open competitor), while CJ Reddus finished at 287th and Travis Daigle at 628th.

To give you some perspective on scores, take your score and divide it by the total number of participants in your field. That’s your percentile. So if you took Joey’s 190th place in the Open Men, that put him in the top 6.5%, meaning that he was a better athlete than over 93% of all of his competitors. Becky’s 21st place finish puts her in the top 1%. It’s easy to only look at the top names on the leaderboard, but when you use percentiles you get a better perspective on relative performance.

The top 30 teams in a Region qualify for Regionals. While neither of our teams made it this year, it is worth pointing out that a combined team would have a very good chance of being in the top group. If our ideas about combining the two gyms come to fruition in the next year, we can be a legit contender in our sport in our region. I should mention as an addendum to that, that the NW is one of the toughest regions in the world.

Overall, I’m proud of us. Not only do we have individuals who pass through, but we had a great turn-out. We encouraged people to participate in spite of not having any expectations of making the qualifying level; and you did. 55 total participants made us one of the larger teams in the region.

I love competition for its ability to reveal our strengths and weaknesses. Some of you may have been pleasantly surprised by how well you did. Others may have been disappointed. Either way, you doubtless have been given a grade, an assessment of your current state of fitness relative to thousands of others. It’s a reality check for better or worse.

With that being said, I want to remind everyone that simply because you generally come to a particular class doesn’t mean that you can’t come early, stay late, or ask for some extra help. Better yet, you can sign-up for some one-on-one skill work with a coach who can assess where you’re at, coach you on your technique, and give you drills and progressions to do on your own when you do come early and stay late. To inquire, shoot us an email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Skill sessions are $50 for 60 minutes, but for anyone who signs up before April 20th, we’ll discount it by 20%.

We can also design a strength or O-lifting program for you to follow if you want to focus on getting stronger for a while and take a break from the daily classes. Frankly, if I had my druthers, I’d start every new person who came through the door with a 3 month strength program and then move them into the O-lifting and conditioning as they’re ready.

Anyway, back to thoughts about the Open. I thought we were well prepared for the selection of movements and durations. We could work on chest-to-bar and butterfly kips. As always we need to get more people into double-unders and muscle-ups, but that’s always going to be true. For the most part, we were able to handle the heaviness of the weights. Sure some of the newer people weren’t, but they’re new, by definition they can’t do as much as the vets. One area we might need to work on is the longer duration workouts. We so rarely push into the 20 minute range in our daily training, that when we’re called to do so it can feel like a long time. (Hence throwing some 20 and 30 minute workouts at you this week).

Next steps from here are to plan on going to Kent on May 31 through June 2nd. Also on June 15th, WODFest will be coming to Cheney Stadium. This will be WODFest’s third annual event. They are a regional competition that we’ve taken competitors to every year. This will be the first time they aren’t in Seattle, a fact that I very much appreciate. If you want to keep training for a competition, this is the next one to train for. If you saw the Open and wished you had done it, here is your chance.

By Morgan on Wednesday, April, 10, 2013

Dan John Seminar

World-renowned strength and conditioning coach, Dan John will spend a day with us, covering topics including longevity of the athlete, training at a high level while balancing work and life. In Dan’s words, “I will have a LOT of information that people will never have heard. Also, I would like to present the Three E’s at your place, too… besides the new stuff.”

Click Here To Register Today

• The cost to attend will be $199
• Seating is limited to the first 50 participants
• This will be held at our Pine St location - 3113-c Pine Street, Tacoma, WA
• Sunday. April 14. 8am to 5pm
• Lunch provided by Carnivorous

An Introduction to Dan John

Dan John has spent his life with one foot in the world of lifting and throwing, and the other foot in academia. An All-American discus thrower, Dan has also competed at the highest levels of Olympic lifting, Highland Games and the Weight Pentathlon, an event in which he holds the American record.

Dan spends his work life blending weekly workshops and lectures with full-time writing, and is also an online religious studies instructor for Columbia College of Missouri. As a Fulbright Scholar, he toured the Middle East exploring the foundations of religious education systems. His books, on weightlifting, include Intervention, Never Let Go, Mass Made Simple and Easy Strength, written with Pavel Tsatsouline as well as From Dad, To Grad.

What we at Tacoma Strength respect about him is his ability to keep the main thing the main thing. In a field where it is all too easy to get lost in minutiae, Dan John is remarkably good at staying focused on the fundamentals, you know, those things that actually accomplish the goals you originally set for yourself. As someone who spends his days coaching people from every walk of life, I value and admire Dan’s ability to teach movements quickly and effectively. His cues and progressions shape a large part of my own approach to teaching.

During his time with us, we’ve asked him to speak on a few topics relating to the longevity and success of the athlete over time. Much ink gets spilled about maximizing performance for a single event, or season, or period of life. Less gets said about being active and successful over a life time. Furthermore, Dan has just published his newest book, Intervention, which will be given for free to attendees. Lastly, to quote Dan in a recent email, ”I will have a LOT of information that people will never have heard. Also, I would like to present the Three E’s at your place, too…besides the new stuff.“

Click Here To Register Today

• The cost to attend will be $199
• Seating is limited to the first 50 participants
• This will be held at our Pine St location - 3113-c Pine Street, Tacoma, WA
• Sunday. April 14. 8am to 5pm
• Lunch provided by Carnivorous

By Morgan on Wednesday, March, 13, 2013

Paleo Master Class Cooking Series

• Wondering what’s next with your paleo lifestyle?
• Wondering about those mystery words “probiotic” and “kombucha?”
• Wondering what all the buzz is about housemade bitters?
• Wondering if easy, healthy solutions to bottled salad dressing, ketchup and mustard exist?
• Wondering if anyone is cooking stuff besides meat with veggies?

Look no further than your friendly neighborhood Paleo gym Tacoma Strength!

Beginning in March, Tacoma Strength will host a 4 part series covering some of the more advanced concepts around a clean, healthy, Paleo lifestyle.

From Bitters to Kombucha

Tuesday, March 12 @ 6:00 p.m.

Craig, from Cavemanbistro and Two Spoon Spices, and Candis Lebaron, kombucha home brewer extraordinaire, will bring you a hands on demonstration class discussing probiotic bitters as well as helping you get started making your own kombucha home brew. Participants will help create the official Tacoma Strength Bitters recipe and will also receive a kombucha home starter kit.

Kraut Pounding

Tuesday, March 19 @ 6:00 p.m.

Coach Leon will teach participants to make live, raw, probiotic sauerkraut, an awesome food for helping improve gut health! Participants will start a batch during the class and leave with it ready to begin the aging process.

Beyond Ketchup

Tuesday, March 26 @ 6:00 p.m.

On March 26, Shanan O’Driscoll Hedges and Craig will teach clean paleo alternatives to store bought sauces, condiments, and dressings. Items will include a creamy paleo Caesar dressing, homemade mustard, prepared horseradish, and several other easy examples.

Slow Cookeroff 2, Electric Boogaloo

Tuesday, April 2 @ 6:00 p.m.

Concluding the series on April 2, we will have our 2nd Tacoma Strength Slow Cookeroff & Recipe Exchange. This event was hugely popular last October resulting in full bellies, full recipe books and happy paleo chefs all around!

Details

Admission cost for each class varies, and if purchased separately, will total $50 for TS members and $65 for non gym members. However, if you wish to purchase admission to the entire series on the first evening, you will save $10.

Space for the bitters/kombucha & kraut classes are limited to 12 participants, so reserve your spot now! To reserve a spot, or if you have any questions, please email Craig.

We look forward to seeing you at the classes and helping you expand your healthy kitchen knowledge!

By Craig on Sunday, March, 03, 2013

Tacoma Strength Athletes Body Slams Pledge Drive Goal

If you missed the dealio about the Truman Middle School Wrestling Team pledge drive, click here first.

​

Some good news and some bad news.

First the bad news:

• Unfortunately we didn’t raise our goal of $3,000.00 for the Truman Middle School Wrestling pledge drive.

Now the good news:

• First click this link for proper ambiance
• ...did you click it?

Okay… We didn’t raise $3,000.00 for the Truman Middle School Wrestling pledge drive because you crushed the goal with a top rope flying body slam suplex turnbuckle figure four leg lock plus that thing Hulk Hogan does when you think he’s done for but the crowd totally pumps him up and gives him enough energy to come back and deliver his signature leg drop. How much you ask?

At the close of the day you raised $4,590.00 for the Truman Middle School Wrestling Team. Not bad for what, nine days of fundraising?

We’ve got some awesome people ‘round here.

In the words of Randy the Macho Man Savage, “Oh, Yeah!”

By David on Friday, January, 25, 2013

Andrew Playing With Rings

Tuesday

Wednesday

By Leon on Wednesday, January, 23, 2013

Truman Middle School Wrestling Team Pledge Drive

*** Click For Update: 01/25/2013 ***

Our own Kris Ilgavizis and Jonathan Brown are coaches of the Truman Middle School wrestling team this year. So firstly, props to them for making the effort to work with kids. The world needs more and better coaches - they can have an enormous impact on the lives of their athletes. I know for me at that age, my sport coaches had a WAY bigger impact on my life than any teacher or adult other than my parents.

Secondly, there’s a problem. Weirdly a middle school wrestling program is underfunded. They’ve got $83 in their budget, but they’ve got 40+ kids and not enough uniforms for them all. To get their full wish list (headgear, warm-ups, t shirts) it’ll be around $3,000.

Tacoma Strength Challenge

So here’s the challenge. For every dollar a member contributes, Tacoma Strength will match it. We’ve only got until the end of next week (Jan 25th) to do this. Can we raise $1500 in 10 days?

How Do You Pledge?

Bring your cash and check pledges to the gym by Friday, January 25th, to take advantage of the matching offer. Checks should be written to: “Truman Middle School Wrestling”

Pledge Suggestions

A pledge of…

• $20 will purchase a team t-shirt (50 needed)
• $25 will purchase head gear - because you know the head is kinda important (30 needed)
• $25 will purchase a team hoodie (40 needed)
• $35 will purchase warm-ups (15 needed)

A Hearty Tacoma Strength Size Thank You To Those Who Have Pledged To Help

• Debbie Bingham ($100) - The first to step up to pledge!
• Nicole Bavo ($50)
• Jeff Kray and the Kray Family ($100)
• Katie Hoyt ($100)
• Ivy Brent ($50)
• Jessica Phay
• Kyle Meidell ($50)
• John Richards ($50)
• Amy Tiemeyer ($25)
• Kyle Roberts
• Bob Jensen ($50)
• Corie Slacker
• Kaylan Pearson
• Nikki Williams and Family ($125)
• Susie Sunflower ($50)
• Kym Brolin Pleger ($25)
• Lisa Bernsten ($50)
• David Pak
• Don Muridan ($150)
• The Kirkendalls ($20)

Bring your cash and check pledges to the gym by Friday, January 25th, to take advantage of the matching offer. Checks should be written to: “Truman Middle School Wrestling”

*If you have donated but you don’t see your name on this list PLEASE send a note to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

*If you see your name misspelled DOUBLE PLEASE send a note to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

By Morgan on Wednesday, January, 16, 2013

Sarena’s First Muscle Up

By Leon on Friday, January, 11, 2013

CJ 225 Pound Hang Snatch

By Leon on Thursday, January, 03, 2013

Most Awesome Mustache Beauty Pageant 2012

A Big Round Of Applause To Fawcett Gym Member Jonathon Brown, Winner Of Tacoma Strength’s “Most Awesome Mustache Beauty Pageant 2012!”

Nothing is manlier than the ability to grow facial hair… other than serving our community which includes so many people and families that are struggling. When you can grow facial hair AND step up like a man to serve the women and children in your community then it’s a win-win.

Outside the gym, Jonathon has the privilege of working for a global non-profit, but is always moved by the stories he hears from our local agencies that also want to change the world. Now he can!

As the winner of the Tacoma Strength “Most Awesome Mustache Beauty Pageant 2012,” he has chosen Network Tacoma to receive the proceeds collected. Jonathon says “Network Tacoma does an amazing job of taking care of members of our community in a way that empowers change that we all benefit from.”

Here’s a tip of the cap and twist of the stache to Jonathon Brown and Network Tacoma. Nice work! You can learn more about Network Tacoma and how you can help their organization by clicking here.

By Craig on Sunday, December, 23, 2012

Pedagogy For Training

This is the first article of a series that will explore the process by which we acquire and master new skills, and how the training and coaching we use to get there should look.

I’m calling this little series A Pedagogy for Training, and it’s meant to be a stratospheric-level view of principles and ideas for the work-a-day athlete who in interested in maximizing their training, but shouldn’t need a degree to understand what’s going on.

What happens on the cellular level when we learn something

To begin with, let’s look at that term “pedagogy.” For the teachers in the audience this will be a familiar concept. Pedagogy is the study of how people learn and teaching methods which can maximize that process. This field could provide you with a lifetime of study, but there is one area I want to introduce you to which I found fascinating way back when I spent my days in front of a classroom of pubescent kids. This is the area called Brain-Based Learning (BBL). BBL looks at how the brain actually forms memories and learns new skills. What happens on the cellular level when we learn something? The follow-up to that is, what can we do as teachers (and learners) to facilitate that process? My object here is to apply those same two questions to the acquisition of movement skills.

So lets have a look at biology. For the sake of simplicity and readability, we’ll assume a healthy person with fully functioning muscles and nerves. Our sample movement skill will be the push-up, a familiar, relatively simple multi-joint movement that requires a fair degree of stabilization during the action.

What is happening on the cellular level when you do a push-up?

First, your brain recalls the motor program. A motor program is a pre-set sequence of instructions that your Central Nervous System (CNS) uses to control movement. There is some uncertainty among researchers about what the motor program consists of and how adaptable it is. My reading is that the “schema” model makes the most sense. The schema model says that you have a motor program for general categories of movements. You have a “squatting” schema, a “lying on your face and pushing off the floor” schema, and so on. This general pattern gives the learner a starting point for performing an action and lets you learn new variations quickly. If you’ve done the Cobra pose in yoga, you’ll have an easier time learning a strict push-up. Likewise, if you have a good push-up on the floor and we challenge you with ring push-ups, you’ll learn it better and faster.

I’ll explore the implications of this more fully in the next article, but suffice it to say that we control our own movements on a rather abstract level. If I say, “push-up”, you don’t start thinking about hip tilt, contractile potential, or the proper tension in antagonist muscles. Instead, you draw up a mental picture of what a push-up looks like while your body seems to work out the details of how to conform to that mental image.

We control our own movement on a rather abstract level.

That working out is what comes next. After pulling up the motor program, it gets sent to a part of the brain called the Central Sulcus. This is an organ in the brain which sits right between the two hemispheres and sends signals through the nervous system and out into the muscles. As an interesting aside, this is one of the few places in the brain where you can find a sort of map of the body. Researchers have been able to stimulate parts of the Central Sulcus and get corresponding contractions in muscles. Even more interesting, the biggest areas of this organ are dedicated to fingers, throat, and mouth. Shoulder, trunk, and hip get about the same space as the combined fingers.

Anyway, this motor strip sends signals through the spine which then routes them to the appropriate muscles. A nerve signal is essentially electrical, a rapid linear transfer of electrons. The path terminates with a muscle neuron which shoots a neurotransmitter into the surround muscle tissue. The muscle tissue responds in the only way it can, by contracting. The speed of the contraction and how much muscle actually responds depends on how much of that neurotransmitter was released.

The strength of the signal makes the difference.

I’m reaching my 800 word limit, but I want to point out a couple of features of this. First, that every time an electrical pulse travels down a nerve, it “smooths” the pathway, so the next pulse will move faster and with less degradation. Second, that not all muscle reacts completely and immediately. The strength of the signal makes a difference.

Writing guidelines say that you, dear reader, cannot focus on a blog article more than 800 words long, so discussion of the implications of these biological processes will have to wait for the next article.

By Morgan on Thursday, December, 20, 2012

The CrossFit Open - On Like Donkey Kong

The Crossfit Open will take place from March 6^th to April 7^th. Every Wednesday starting March 6^th, CrossFit will release the workout and participants will have until the following Sunday to do the workout and submit their score.

You can read the official rules and register here: http://games.crossfit.com/

At our Fawcett location we will be hosting event days each Saturday:

• March 9^th
• March 16^th
• March 23^rd
• March 30^th
• April 6^th

We will have all the necessary equipment, judges, loud music, and screaming supporters to do the thing properly. We will also verify the score which you submit.

Participation is $20.

There are masters categories. These are 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, and 60+.

When you register, you will need to select an affiliate. If you go to the Fawcett location for at least half of your regular workouts, you’ll select Crossfit Tacoma. If you go to our Pine St location for half your regular workouts, you’ll select unaffiliated.

Later, Leon and Morgan will add you to the team rosters. We have two locations and so will have two teams. These will be Team Awesome and Team Pine St. (these are just working titles, subject to change).

Who and why

The CF Open is open to anyone who wishes to participate. While mastery of higher level skills such as muscle-ups, snatches, and double-unders, is rewarded, it isn’t necessary. There is usually a way for people who don’t have these skills to do a part of the workout and receive a reduced score.

Why do this depends on the person, but some observations I’ve made over the years:

• Making the choice to compete changes your training, it gives purpose and intensity.
• It motivates you to make those other adjustments to your sleep and nutrition, that you might otherwise brush off.
• All in all, you’ll get more out of you regular training, and isn’t that what you’re here for in the first place?
• Lastly, it’s fun. It’s fun to work toward that goal, it’s fun to show up on game day and be in the middle of all the excitement and energy, it’s fun to get nervous before the buzzer, and it’s fun to be cheered and to cheer for the other athletes.

Scoring

All athletes within a region are ranked according to their score and points are awarded according to their rank. Fewer points mean a better placing. At the end of the 5 weeks, the top 60 men, top 60 women, and top 30 teams from each region will advance to the Regional competition. For Masters, the top 20 athletes in each age category worldwide will advance directly to the Crossfit Games.

For teams, regardless of how big the team is, the top 3 men and top 3 women for each event will be the score. They can be different people each time. If the team qualifies for Regionals, they will select 3 men and 3 women from their roster to be their representatives.

What to Expect

Crossfit prides itself on preparing for the “unknown and unknowable” so it’s wise to keep an open mind about what to expect. But on the other hand, there are certain limitations to the format which restrict the movements and workouts that we can reasonably foresee. There probably won’t be much, if any running, swimming, or biking. Sandbags and sleds are probably out.

A great website that looks at this is: http://cfganalysis.blogspot.com/.

Based on the past couple of years, here are the most common movements in order. In parentheses are the “base” weights which means the average weight of those movements during the Open, Regionals, and Games competitions. You can be confident that while you should aim to be able to do these movements at these weights, you will probably not have to go so heavy during the Open.

• Snatch (men: 135/ women: 90)
• Burpee
• Thruster (145/95)
• Pull-up
• Double Under
• Clean (180/120)
• Jerk (175/115)
• Box Jump
• Muscle-up
• Toes to Bar
• Wall Ball
• Push-up
• Deadlift (320/215)
• Overhead Squat (155/100)

A Open-specific program is available at Fawcett. If anybody else wants one, shoot me an email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

By Morgan on Tuesday, December, 11, 2012

Get The Best Outcomes

​The guiding principle here is, “Get the best outcomes for our members.” Everything in our business is built around that directive, from the movements we use in our program to the wavelength of the lights overhead (full spectrum), it’s been researched and if it’ll have an impact on the outcome of your training, we’ll do everything in our power to tilt the scales in your favor. With this in mind, about 6 months ago we started researching different membership types and options. The first question is, “Is there a membership type that will get better results for our people than another? Does the language on the Membership Agreement actually matter when it comes to body composition and athletic performance?” As it turns out, yes it does.

Here’s how. We currently use short-term contracts, no more than 3 months at a stint, and we’re very lax when it comes to enforcing that contract. Basically, if you want out for whatever reason, we let you out. The reasoning for this is as follows. First, we want to be accountable for the service we provide. If you’re unhappy with your results and you’re able to walk away, it puts the pressure on us to keep our program effective and our staff receptive. Second, we settled on 3 months because it’s been our experience that there is an inflection point at around the two month mark. Early on I noticed that beginners would come in at the start of their 3rd month telling me about something they did that would have been impossible prior to starting their training. We wanted people to commit to 3 months to get them to that point. We also thought that 3 months is a relatively easy commitment- we want to keep the barriers to getting started low. But it’s important to have some form of early commitment, if there’s no skin in the game when you first walk in the door, the fail rate that first month is extremely high. Lastly, it’s easy to get out of because we figured that if someone made the decision not to be here, we didn’t want a grumbling bitter person out there telling their friends what assholes we are for enforcing the 3 month agreement.

Our research uncovered the fact that a month-by-month agreement (which is essentially what we have if we don’t enforce the 3 month agreements) will lead to a loss rate of 3% per month, or 36% over the year. Meaning that if you have 100 people on January 1, by December 31 you’ll have 64 left. The really interesting thing is that the loss rate remains the same regardless of the type of program. A hands-on guided group training model like ours will have the same losses as an intensive 1-on-1 personal training model for $600 per month or a globo-gym where a $20 membership equals permission to use the machines and you’re just one of thousands of members. What this tells us is that the loss rate is dependent on the type of membership agreement, regardless the quality of the program. It undermines our idea that a great program will retain members better.

Rule number one for getting the results you want is that you have to show up. Those 36% who quit over the year means that we failed in our mission to get the best results for the people who come to us. To lose one out of every three in the course of a year is embarrassing.

So what does work? Nothing works perfectly, but the best results come with year long agreements. The loss rate there is 1% per month, or 12% annually. Meaning that compared to the 100 people on monthly agreements, there would be 24 more people training at the end of the year if they signed up for 12 months in January. That’s 24 people who are still squatting and stretching, still learning new movements and developing skills, and getting regular guidance and encouragement on their food choices.

It seems that regardless of the gym, people go through highs and lows during the course of a year. There are times when they’re motivated to train, are healthy, work or family isn’t too demanding, and they have a reasonably consistent schedule. At other times, illness, work, travel, or what have you, get in the way and getting to the gym regularly just isn’t happening. If you’re on a month-by-month deal, it’s super easy to let it expire with the best of intentions to come back when things settle down again. But training is all about habits. Fall out of the habit and it gets hard to get back into it; other things fill that space, the feeling of dread about going through the soreness, it conspires to put off training.

With that all said, we will be moving to annual agreements for beginners starting on Monday November 5th. All of our current members will be able to continue with the agreements they currently have, these changes will only apply to people who walk in the door after that Monday. Furthermore, we will have to take a more hard line approach to enforcing the agreement. A 12 month service agreement is only legit if we enforce it. We will still offer a 3 month option, but at a higher rate.

This is how it will all work.

Beginners will be able to sign up for a trial month for $75. We’ll put them through 3 small group private training sessions the first week, after which they can come to regular group training sessions for the rest of their month. After that they will be able to sign up for a year or three months. There will be an initial payment of $75 at the time of sign up (our research also uncovered the fact that a small up-front payment improves follow-through and retention during that first month). After that, they will pay their agreed rate each month until it expires. We won’t automatically renew people at the end because we still want to be accountable and earn your business which requires a renewed commitment. There are 3 ways that someone can quit - if they move 25 or more miles away, a doctor says in writing that they’re unable to train, or they change their mind within the first 3 days of signing up. That’s it. We’ll risk being assholes if it means that more people train longer and get the results they came to us for in the first place.

By Morgan on Wednesday, October, 31, 2012

Most Awesome Mustache Beauty Pageant

​This year, in honor of Movember, we’re hosting the first annual “Most Awesome Mustache Beauty Pageant.” Still working on the name, but mustache competition didn’t sound right. If you think about it, it’s totally a beauty pageant. Competitors will have one month to grow out the most awesome mustache possible, we’ll take before and after pics and it will be judged by all of our members. We’re trying to raise a bunch of money for charity, and the winner decides what to do with big pot of money at the end.

Movember was created to raise awareness and funds for prostate and testicular cancer, and if you wish to contribute on that front you can register or donate on their website. I however, am not a fan of putting up money for pharmaceutical research. If I win, or rather when I win the mustache competition, the money is going to a local charity. Something like the United Way, FISH food banks, or 2nd Cycle.

The Rules

Anyone who wishes to participate must be clean shaven on November 1st, and get a picture taken between October 29th and the November 2nd. The buy in is donation based, either 5, 10, or 20 dollars. After pictures will be done on the last week of November, and we’ll print off everyone’s pics and post them to the white boards by December 4th. Costumes, posing, and general debauchery is encouraged, may the best and manliest stache win. Anyone who wishes to vote has to buy in, either 1, 5, or 10 dollars suggested donation.

Limited Edition Shirts

We’ll have Movember t-shirts for sale all month, and the profits will go into the pot of money for the pageant winner. These will be the most awesome shirts we’ve ever produced, grab them as soon as you can.

Mustache Dasche

This is a 5k race in Seattle, mustaches are not optional. You can register or donate to their cause here.

Good luck with your mustaches gentlemen, and you might need some of this.

By Joseph on Tuesday, October, 30, 2012

Champs

​Ralph, Rico and Bob.

I pity the fool, and I will destroy any man who tries to take what I got! 

All I asked was if I could use some chalk.

By Leon on Friday, October, 05, 2012

Clean Eating Challenge

​Tacoma Strength Is Gearing Up For The Holidays!

• 30 Day Clean Eating Competition
• Monday, October 1 to Tuesday, October 30.
• Fabulous Prizes for the Top Male and Top Female participants!

Details

• Whole 9/Whole 30 parameters will be followed.
• Before photos & measurements (body fat composition) to be taken 9/24 to 9/28
• Communication through the Tacoma Strength Clean Eaters Anonymous FaceBook Page & Twitter (@TacomaStrength)
• Weekly support & info meetings with cooking demos.
• Award party/potluck dinner to be held Saturday, November 3.

Intro Meeting

Please attend if you are new & have never done a challenge, and to get photos and measurements taken.

Clean Eating For Beginners

• Tuesday September 25, 6pm Pine
• Thursday September 27, 6pm Fawcett

Options

Body Fat Composition Testing.

NOTE: Outside test results will be for personal use. Only our in-house BF% scale will be used to determine winners.

• “Get Dunked!” - Mobile Body Fat Testing Truck
  • CrossFit Federal Way
  • 7am to 7pm
  • Tuesday, September 25
  • ($40-$60)

   

 

• Multicare BodPod

  • Call Lisa Lovejoy for Thursday appointment
  • 253.301.5091
  • $30

   

Fees

• $25 per person (payable in cash or on their gym account)
• $5 per info session to cover materials costs
• $10 for Potluck Awards celebration

By Craig on Friday, September, 21, 2012

Athlete Profile: Kurt Harsh

​Kurt Harsh. Tacoma Strength athlete. Checks in with an Ironman Triathlon performance. 12:56 with over 4000 ft of climbing on the bike leg.

Great job Kurt!

Have you been awesome like Kurt!? Send us a pic of your awesomeness great and small to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

By David on Wednesday, September, 19, 2012

Double Under Workshop

Double under workshop on Monday. Fawcett @ 5:30pm.

​Double under workshop on Monday. Fawcett @ 5:30pm.

Need some help getting those double unders down? Join us at Fawcett on Monday @ 5:30pm for some hands on coaching.

By Lisa on Saturday, September, 15, 2012

Vitamin B (for Butter)

I wanted to share with you guys an awesome superfood that may be amazing for your health. I try not to speak in absolutes, but even if it isn’t good for you it’s damn tasty. I’m talking of course about butter. Yes butter, the fully saturated, cholesterol rich delicious stuff some nutritionists will try and scare you out of eating with cholesterol boogey-man tales. Seriously though, butter from healthy and happy cows may add some much needed (deficient) vitamins you are missing out on.

One of my new favorite blogs I’ve been reading up on is whole health source. This guy is a biochemist, with a PhD in Neuroscience. Nerd alert, if nutritional studies and geeking out on the neurobiology of fat regulation makes you sleepy, don’t visit this website. I however, find it fascinating and worthy of ALOA praise. I’ve been reading a lot about the relationship between all of the fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) and how they work synergistically to improve bone mineralization. Don’t stop reading yet, I’ll try not to geek out too much, and I’m trying to make the case why you can add butter in to your diet.

Check out this post on a study, put together by a dentist, on how fat soluble vitamins help reverse tooth decay. Not prevent, but reverse. He has dozens of articles and studies cited on his website on how fat soluble vitamins (especially D and K) are responsible for better dental health, bone density, heart disease prevetion, and many other factors in health and disease. Why is this important? Grass fed (healthy cow) butter is very rich in vitamin K, that’s why.

But I thought the paleo diet says no dairy, you say? It does, but I surmise the issues with dairy are primarily in the lactose (carbohydrate) and casein (protein) in the dairy, not the fat. Butter however, is only the fat of the dairy. I’ve seen no relevant research published that implicates dairy fat having a negative effect on health or longevity. That is of course, unless you believe in the lipid hypothesis and/or the 7 countries study. If you have a dairy allergy however, butter probably is a bad idea. Try a vitamin K2 pill, just be sure and take it with a fatty meal (fat-soluble vitamin).

So enjoy your new found super food, I find it particularly delicious with my scrambled eggs in the morning. Actually, I find it pretty delicious on everything that I eat.

Grass fed butter- Kerry Gold brand, found at Trader Joes, Tacoma Boys and Metropolitan Market.

Further Reading- All the articles tabbed fat-soluble vitamins are extremely interesting and thought provoking.

By Joseph on Tuesday, September, 04, 2012

Cherry Picking

We’ve all done it before… purposely skipped a day that looked especially nasty. Running… wallballs… burpees? Everyone’s got a “most hated” list that makes them want to turn around and go home at the sight of the board… or worse… makes them stay home at the sight of the website. There’s nothing wrong with avoiding certain movements for the sake of recovery or specific training goals, but more often than not what we’re really doing is avoiding a goat. Here’s the lesson for the day: Don’t do that. If you hate it enough to let it keep you out of the gym it’s most likely the thing that you should be working on the most. Don’t be afraid to scale back on reps or weight to make a workout doable, but don’t avoid the movements entirely.

By Emily on Thursday, August, 30, 2012

Tacoma Strength Pine Street 2nd Anniversary Party

​It’s hard to believe that it’s already been 2 years since throwing open the big garage door to Tacoma Strength’s Pine Street location!

Please help Leon, and the gym members of Pine Street, celebrate this auspicious occasion at the end of summer with a very low key, very impromptu and very casual get together!

The Hub

• 203 Tacoma Ave. S., Tacoma, Washington 98402
• This Saturday (9/1)
• 4:30pm to whenever

Bring family and friends, grab a table, buy some food and drink, discuss your favorite Pine street memory and have a bunch of fun!

PLEASE ALSO HELP SPREAD THE WORD BY HELPING TO ADD OTHER GYM MEMBERS TO THIS EVENT!

• Facebook Event Page if you’re on Facebook

Hope to see you there!

By Craig on Wednesday, August, 29, 2012

Fats - Don’t Feat the Reaper

“Fat’s are good for you. Make sure to eat your good fats.” We hear and lecture this so often within our community and to our loved ones. Yes, fats are great for you, but we should understand a little more about why. Our friends ask us all the time for nutritional advice, so being able to regurgitate why something is healthy is important in helping others out. With all the misinformation making it hard for anyone to believe or keep up with all the diet trends, having specific knowledge of how the body works will go a long way in understanding the “what” and “why”.

I chose the discussion on fats because they are so important and I feel it’s good to remember why. Sure, the word “fat” is a scary concept, I know. We’ve been staying as far away from that word our whole lives. But, fear not my lovely health nuts; I’m about to blow your minds! Okay, maybe nothing that extreme, but I hope to definitely explain things a little better to help you understand the essentials of fat intake.

Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) are a polyunsaturated fat that no mammal can synthesize or produce themselves. Thus, it must be obtained through diet. Omega-3 and Omega-6 are considered EFAs. What can these guys do for you? So many things! EFAs support cardiovascular, reproduction, immune, and nervous systems. They assist in prostaglandins production regulating heart rate, blood pressure, blood clotting, fertility, conception and aid as a natural anti-inflammatory.

Omega deficiency, on the other hand (particularly Omega-3), is linked to issues such as heart attacks, cancer, insulin resistance, lupus, ADHD, depression, accelerated aging, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, and so many more things. In America, especially, we have a serious lack of Omega-3 in our daily diet. Aside from all the scary health issues, what exactly do we need all these EFAs for??

Oaky, so nerd talk, then the break down. When digested, omegas create supple and flexible cell wall formation while also improving oxygen circulation and red blood cell function. Also, fats produce more than twice the energy compared to carbohydrates or proteins. Within digestion of these fats or triglyserides (long chain fatty acids), lipids are formed and released.

Lipids become important when it comes to satiation. When your diet is high in fat, you are able to satisfy hunger, thus reducing appetite and lowering total food consumption. Also, the slow digestion of fat means the slow down of the emptying of the stomach; i.e.: you feel fuller, longer. So, not only do EFAs aid in immunity, but it also helps you consume less. How amazing is that!?

Now, this doesn’t mean to go living off bacon and lard the rest of your life; you still need quality proteins and veggies. But, now you know not to be so scared of high fat foods. As long as they are essential fats, they are good to go! Here are some examples of foods and oils followed by resources for more information.

Good Fats:

• coconut oil…well, coconut anything
• olive oil
• nut oils (walnut, pecan, macadamia)
• palm
• butter (if you include dairy)
• ghee (clarified butter)
• animal/animal fats (beef, duck, pork, chicken…)
• tallow
• avocado
• nuts and seeds
• eggs
• seafood
• fish oil supplements

Fats To Avoid:

• margarine
• hydrogenated oils
• “fake butters” (I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, Earth Balance…)
• canola/corn/vegetable oils
• Soybeans/soybean oils

If you have any questions on “good fats”, please feel free to write us. We love our research and you’re probably not the only one wondering about something. We take pride in helping you become as healthy as you can. Plus, it’s just fun watching you guys succeed!

Here are some sources you can read more on:

• What are lipids?
• Mark’s Daily Apple 
• Good Fats

By Ashley on Monday, August, 27, 2012

Tacoma Strength

You are a physical being, you are meant to be active. Your body is designed to climb and crawl, run and wrestle. Humans are hard-wired to move and a person who is inactive cannot possibly reach their full potential. Exercise cleans your body of stress hormones, improves brain function, emotional condition, and generally improves your quality of life while also increasing the likelihood that your life will last longer.

You are a physical being, you are meant to be active. Your body is designed to climb and crawl, run and wrestle. Humans are hard-wired to move and a person who is inactive cannot possibly reach their full potential. Exercise cleans your body of stress hormones, improves brain function, emotional condition, and generally improves your quality of life while also increasing the likelihood that your life will last longer.

There are many reasons to want to be fit. For some it’s to be able to run a marathon, to kayak across the Sound, to hike Rainier, or to keep up with your 3 year old, party hard, or simply set yourself up for a long and fulfilling life. What can set you up for all of that without having to be an expert, while fitting into your busy life?

The answer is Tacoma Strength.

We run small groups through the best possible strength and conditioning program to produce well-rounded meaningful fitness. All of our classes are led by an experienced professional coach. It’s a proven fact that you achieve more with a coach and a team. We provide the best methods by the best coaches to get our members real results. Be the best at what you do, get the best to work for you. No fluff, no b.s., just hard-earned results.

For your next step, see our Get Started page.

By Morgan on Thursday, August, 23, 2012

Peer Coaching

We are blessed with a lot of good athletes and a lot of individuals who love training here have spent many hours studying our movements. In this environment the person next to you is a great resource. They can help you fix flaws and lift heavier.

For example, we have about 60 women, most of whom can do pull-ups. The majority of them did not learn the movement under the eye of a trainer. They did it by coming in early to work on it and by getting feedback from all of the other women who can share what it took for them to get it. I want to encourage this. But I also want to make sure it is done right. Done wrong, peer coaching can be confusing, unproductive, and annoying.

Here are some rules:

• Make sure you’re not being a pest. Know who you’re talking to, don’t start playing coach when you’ve never met the person before. Talk to them, make suggestions, and back off if they look like they don’t appreciate the feedback.
• Be humble. Nobody has it all figured out. We’re all learning and trying to get better together. Don’t let pride or ego or comparisons cloud your thinking. Be humble.
• One thing at a time. Address only one thing at a time. Only when the athlete has demonstrated the ability to do it consistently well, do you move on to the next thing. If you’re unsure what to address first, start with what comes first in the movement. A bad starting position will screw up what comes after it, start there.
• Be able to describe it. Just saying what is happening helps clarify what you’re talking about. It also often contains a seed of the solution you’re looking for.
• Get another set of eyes. Call someone else over (preferably a trainer) and describe what you’re seeing. Do they see it too?  Do they agree with your assessment and solution?
• Get better at it yourself. Your ability to coach is determined by your ability to understand what you’re talking about. If you’ve got major flaws in your own practice, you may be better served by figuring that out rather than solving other people’s problems.
• Spend time learning to coach. Teaching is a skill, it takes attention and practice. Read books, watch videos, go to seminars, volunteer to lead a class. Anyone interested in being a better coach can contact Morgan about assisting or leading a regular class during the week.

 

To head off any suspicion - there have not been any complaints or incidents which inspired me to write this. I just want us to get better at everything we do.

By Morgan on Tuesday, August, 21, 2012

T-Town Throwdown Update

First off let me just say this event is shaping up to be epic, way beyond my expectations already.  I just got off the phone with Anthony from Caveman Eats, a paleo food truck that wanders around the South Sound. He’s gonna set up out front for all the hungry spectators and competitors to enjoy. Think giant meat skewers and roasted sweet potatoes, simple but delicious.

As for the workouts, I’m equally giddy about programming for this awesome event. I’ve been racking my brain for months, trying to decide on the ultimate test for supremacy of awesomeness (see T-Town Throwdown). I’ve got three epic workouts planned for the competitors, though I’m only willing to share one of them with you at this point. 

Workout #1:

• Max Effort Clean and Jerk; Followed by
• Max Height Box Jump (in inches, x4)
• Your score will be your 1 rep max clean and jerk, added to your highest box jump in inches(x4). For example, if you clean and jerk 200 pounds, and jump 50 inches, your score would be 400. 

We’ve got spots open for individuals in the open division and scaled competition. Still have a bunch of spots for the teams of 2 as well, and we need anyone interested in volunteering to register so know who is committed. Head over to http://www.thegaragegames.com/events/t-town-throwdown/ to secure your spot.

By Joseph on Thursday, August, 16, 2012

Moment of Truth in a Crisis of Faith

*originally posted May 20, 2009

​[I wrote this essayette back in March before the site crashed. Fortunately, Annie had printed it and mailed a copy to me. Several others had expressed a connection with the spirit of it, so I thought I’d republish it here.]

When I was a child I wasn’t athletic. I was bookish and skinny. You could hold me up to the light and see my organs, that’s how skinny I was. At school I used to forgo recess in order to read. I even developed the ability to navigate the school halls while actively reading. I hated playing sports. Coaches yell at you, other kids make fun of you, losing sucks. Besides, I believed that it is through the mind that a person rises to greatness. Athletics is for brutes and idiots. I was convinced that a career of contemplation or calculation was in store for me.

In my first month of high school I got pushed around a bit. Being cocky, smart and skinny is a bad combination. Fortunately, not long after this, I heard an announcement for wrestling team tryouts. I wasn’t afraid of risk so I went for it. My experience in that sultry unventilated basement that passed for a wrestling room changed my life.

Every day was hard. We were constantly being pushed to run faster, go longer, do more. I worked harder than ever in my life simply because I was asked to by a coach in the presence of teammates. What I came to notice, and what really fascinated me were the recurring thoughts I would have at some point during each intense conditioning session.

At some point, usually after I had been training a while and was fatigued, I would assess, “Am I doing this as hard as I can?” Almost invariably, the answer was no. I could always eke out a little more. I could step faster, I could rest less. After this, when reaching the true physical limits of my ability I would always have what I now call a “crisis of faith.” This is when a barrage of doubt and thoughts would try to stop me. This is when I would tell myself some variation of, you can’t, nobody can, you’ve done enough, nobody else is working this hard, nobody else hurts this much, c’mon you never push this hard, you don’t really want it, just back off a little nobody will notice, you’ve done good enough.

This crisis of faith provided a choice. Do I push through, despite my screaming muscles and thoughts, or do I give in? Do I conquer or succumb? This was a moment of truth - in that moment, what kind of man am I? I didn’t always choose to perservere, but when I did it left me with something when it was all over. Some new presence in me, a strength of will that wasn’t there before.

This is what I came to love about athletics. It strips away the delusion and posturing to reveal your character. It asks the fundamental question, “Who are you?” I’ve heard a saying that crisis doesn’t build character, it reveals it. Hard-earned experience proves this false. There is always a choice, the outcome of which contributes to the making of who you are.

What we do at the gym is so much more than physics. Why do you think CrossFit has developed such a dedicated following? Why do people tear open their hands, push themselves to the point of vomiting or fainting or injury? Because in that moment there is something real. In that moment you have an opportunity to expand or contract.

By Morgan on Thursday, August, 16, 2012

If You Let Me Play

This year’s Olympic Games in London can easily be called the year of the woman athlete.

Some amazing notes from this year’s Olympic Games in London:

• For the first time in history, every delegation that sent a team to the games sent at least one woman;
• Women outmedaled men for the United States, China, and Russia. Context: The leading medal winners for the three traditional Olympic powerhouses were women — despite the fact that there were 30 fewer medals available to be won;
• From a marketing dollars/sponsorship/endorsement project perspective, women Olympians will earn a lot more than the men; finally
• The only medal won by the US Olympic Boxing Team was won by 17 year old Claressa Shields. Oh, and the color of that medal was Gold.

It looks like some time ago someone decided to “let them play.”

By David on Wednesday, August, 15, 2012

Turning Around Childhood Obesity

As the 2012 Summer Olympic Games came to a close I was thinking about how the United States has been said to lead the world in obesity rates. Then I looked at the medal count and thought, “In your face rest of the world!”

Then today reality came crashing back as two posts were… posted on the Internet:

• The CDC releasing national obesity rates by state; and
• A study that claims that recent school junk food laws may curb kids obesity

If we believe that children are our future then from a purely logical Mr. Spock perspective to me it would make sense to ensure that our children are given the best education, nutrition, fitness and medical services that we can provide. The counter is freedom. Nanny state. We should be able to do want we want even if the consequences effect our children.

I’m not a parent and I don’t play one on TV but I am always impressed when I see parents doing things right. Making fitness fun. Making nutrition a part of their children’s lives without depriving them of tasty memories. It can’t be easy. Or can it?

So my question to all of you parents is this. How can we at Tacoma Strength help keep things on track? How do you help each other? Who do you turn to? In a world where kids share lunches how do you keep carrot sticks from turning into potato chips when you are not around.

Let us know.

By David on Tuesday, August, 14, 2012