Hy it’s DC here…
I hope you are crushing an awesome week.
Now that my training has been bumped back up to full go, it’s time to talk more about some of the actual training and exercises I use at the facility to help make sure our athletes never plateau and turn into freaks.
I took this ab exercise from Barry Ross, because if it is the only one he uses with his sprinters and athletes, then I think it’s worth using in the facility.
Side Note: If you haven’t purchased his book “Underground Secrets to Faster Running” and you train athletes, then you are doing them a disservice!!
In a few interviews he talks about performing what iso static holds and rotations with your upper body off hanging off a bench and your feet tucked under a squat rack safety. Well after tweaking it a tad to accomodate for comfort and shorter athletes, we moved that exercise straight to our GHR.
Needless to say, this exercise is an absolute killer… Especially when done correctly. Your abs aren’t just getting worked, but it forces your entire core to remain engaged, stiff, strong and powerful.
You have 2 variations, the rotation where you remain out and rotate as SLOWLY and in a big of range of motion as possible, and the hold. With the hold you just lay out and hold for a set period of time.
We typically go 2-3 sets of 30 seconds on the rotations, and then we go 2:00 on the hold.
We have yet to have anyone go 2 straight minutes on the hold, so the goal is 2 minutes total as fast as possible. When you come up to take a break, the clock stops. Start it again when you go back down.
Check Out Cushing’s Face… He Was Only 30 Seconds Into The Hold…
So what are some cues for performing and coaching this exercise?
- Set up the GHR so the base of the butt is still touching the outside of the pad. Any shorter than that you aren’t doing enough work, any more than that the lower back gets overworked.
- Lay back until the upper body is slightly above parallel with the ground.
- When rotating, rotate as slowly as possible and as big as possible making sure your shoulders turn. If we go for 30 seconds, we average 25-30 total rotations.
- When holding, remain in that parallel position until you have to take a break.
This is KEY: Make sure you and/or your athletes hips and legs aren’t flexed. If they lock their legs or do nothing but flex their hips and quads during the movement, the abs and core aren’t getting the full amount of work needed.
Here is a short video shot a few days ago of me and one of my coaches performing the exercise. The exercise is very boring to watch, so I only included 1 set of rotations and 1 60 second hold. It appears that I also included one of my coaches thumbs who can’t operate a camera very well.
Check it out and please let me know what you think.
I’ll talk to you guys on Monday, as I’m flying out early tomorrow morning to Phoenix for some awesome business masterminding and won’t be back until late Sunday night.
Enjoy the weekend and feel free to direct all your cuss words when performing this exercise (especially the holds) at either myself or Barry.
DC
Filed under Best At Sports, Bodyweight, Fast, Strong, & Jacked, Get Stronger by on Jan 26th, 2012. 3 Comments. 
One of the biggest questions in life, is what came first… the chicken or the egg?
Well the same thing can be said about CrossFit… which came first the workout or the business model?
With how eerily similar they are, both seem to either be referred as a) the most awesome thing in the world, or b) business and workout that the Anti-Christ himself works in.
In a CrossFit workout, the goal is to accomplish the most “work” as possible and some times sacrificing form/quality if necessary to get the needed reps/quantity in.
In the current CrossFit biz model, the goal is to get as many affiliate owners in the program, and max out 6 seminars a weekend of 60 attendees, 4 weekends a month, for 12 months/quantity by sacrificing education, business knowledge, or in-depth training/quality to achieve that goal.
I want to mainly talk about the business side in this post, and how awesome it was starting out, and how it needs to be changed before it blows up in all these hard working people’s faces…
Why is there such a huge difference opinion both inside and outside the CrossFit community regarding the certification and affiliate process, and how the actual business should be run?
I think it is mostly because lack of education by all parties.
There are 3 groups of people that 99% of people fall into regarding CF business ideas, and they can be broken down like so:
- The Old Timer - You are what made CrossFit so popular. You never sacrificed any part of the CrossFit motto to progress, and although you used to be referred to as the Kool-Aid drinker, you have started mellowing out and allowing others to talk to you about outside business models.
- The New Timer - You are what is making CrossFit so annoying but profitable. You take all the bells and whistles of CrossFit, are trying new things to grow and market the program, You are the best, your box is the best, and those other boxes around who don’t do things like you or your friends boxes are old and don’t know whats up.
- The Outsider - You have known about and followed CrossFit for a few years and every time it seems like you want to dive in and become part of it, someone else not in CrossFit is able to talk you out of it by pointing out all the flaws that may or may not be true.
“Coach” Glassman’s Halloween Costume
So why so much confusion?
Mostly because the old timers don’t know how CrossFit is doing and changing things on the business side. The new timers don’t know how a box was successfully run back when there were just a few out there and instead depend on Twitter, Facebook, marketing, and advertising more so than building a solid community and referrals. The outsider has no place to go to learn more about the CrossFit business, if its profitable, worth investing in, how CrossFit helps a new box owner get started, or anything else most businesses put together in a welcome packet.
So here are a few key things that need to be talked about from all 3 sides to help see where CrossFit is going as a business, things it should do to change to remain successful, and how to stay on top of its growth.
1) The Cheap & Easy Entry Point -
If you have $4k and a free weekend to spare, you are allowed to open a CrossFit box. Those are the only requirements to becoming a part of CrossFit…
You only need $1k for the certification (or lack of) weekend, and $3k to pay CrossFit to use its name.
Did you know that just in 2011 alone, something like 3500 affiliates were started, and that is supposed to double or even triple in 2012 now that Reebok, ESPN, and other big name companies are promoting it?
This wouldn’t be so bad if it still happened how the old timers remember. They had already been training themselves or others for years, found CrossFit through the website looking for something new, loved it, got certified with just a few others, and opened up a local box and spent the rest of the time trying to get the word out about how different CrossFit is.
Here is a good example…
When I did my cert, it was max capacity (60+ attendees) and when they asked how you found out about CrossFit, 8 people raised their hands saying they saw it on ESPN thought it looked cool and signed up for the cert.
On Sunday these people were now not just qualified to train people using CrossFit methods, but also open up their own affiliate… Which after finding and talking to these people over the course of the weekend, 5-6 of them had goals to do so.
It blows my mind how I could actually go sign up to train at a box where the owner and “head trainer” had only performed 2 CrossFit workouts in his/her life… Fran and the team one they make you do on Sunday…
Simple Fix: Finally offer a level 2 and even a level 3 cert instead of coming out with all these specialty seminars that make trainers think they are specialists in things like powerlifting, football, strongman, mobility, endurance, etc. that typically takes years of study and training to master.
Level 1 Cert:
Pay $1k to learn all about CrossFit, the 9 basic movements, how to eat, etc.
Pass the test? Congrats… now spend 200 hours shadowing a list of trainers in successful boxes before being allowed to sign up for your Level 2 Cert.
Level 2 Cert:
Pay $2k to learn how to teach the 9 basic movements, and the majority of the accessory movements that pop up in WoD’s but never get taught.
Pass the test? Congrats you can now train others, but only under the guidance of an approved box or trainer.
Level 3 Cert:
Pay $2k + affiliation fee to learn how to run a business, market it, program workouts, hire people, etc.
Pass the test? Congrats… You can now open your very own box, but you have a 6 month probation period where you will be check up on to make sure you are doing things correctly. You fail your check ins? Congrats you have an awesome gym, but it can’t be a part of CrossFit.
This brings us to #2…
2) The Lack of Checks and Balances, and Regulations -
Sometimes when I want to feel really good about my training and programming, I will just browse the affiliate page on the main site and look at different boxes workouts… Then after I stop throwing up everywhere, I realize just how out of control this has gotten.
Want to do 1000 push-ups, 2000 jumping negative pull-ups, run 3 miles on the moon, and swim the English Channel? Good… because that is tomorrow’s workout.
CrossFit is hard… the training is hard… the coaching is harder because you have to find that medium of pushing someone vs holding them back if things go south.
Unfortunately no one will ever know if you are doing it correctly or not.
Simple Fix: Take those same instructors who teach the seminars, since they will have more time on their hands since less people will be filling up their certs since it’s now harder to affiliate, and have them travel around visiting boxes, seeing their programming, participating in the workouts, getting coached by the boxes trainers, etc to make sure they are giving CrossFit a good name and maintaining quality in their business.
3) The Lack of Support From CrossFit HQ -
What do you get from CrossFit HQ when you affiliate? A welcome packet with steps to help you get started? What about a phone call asking if you have any questions or concerns? Maybe even a post on the main site saying Welcome to the Family so people see that a new affiliate opened up in their area?
Unfortunately it is none of the above…
The only thing you get from CFHQ when you affiliate is an email with a pdf that tells you everything you can’t do with the CrossFit name, all the steps needed to get your name listed under the affiliate tab, and your affiliate fee schedule.
I know they aren’t a franchise, and they aren’t set up to help you run your business or put systems in place… But is putting together a basic packet to help get people started down the right path so hard to do?
Simple Fix: Take your most successful affiliate owners and have them spend a weekend at CFHQ coming up with the basic things/knowledge that if they had when they first started, would have made things a ton easier and turn it into a CF Welcome “We Actually Care If You Succeed In Your Business” Packet.
I could write more and more about this, but these are just a few of the very basic things that need to be addressed before CrossFit gets so big that the market gets over saturated, flooded, and it becomes the next local global gym business that fails…
Empty CrossFit Boxes Could Become The Future…
I’m not saying my fixes are right or the best way to go about the few issues I talked about, I mainly just want to help open some eyes and get what most affiliate owners say behind closed doors to me when we talk business out in the open.
I would love your thoughts, comments, ideas, and suggestions on this especially if you currently or in the near future are looking towards opening and running your own box.
DC
Stay tuned, because in part 2 I’m going to get into the training side of things… It should be fun. 
Filed under Business, CrossFit by on Jan 25th, 2012. 7 Comments.
Disclaimer: If you are at all interested in competing in Olympic lifting, or think they are the absolute shizzle, and are one of those people who love to argue about them being the bees knees and better than any and every other lift known to man combined, then I recommend you skip this article because it isn’t for you.
If that is you, then here is a picture of some puppies running through the grass to help make your day warm and fuzzy.
Ok so for everyone else who made it past the puppy picture, lets get on with it…
Muscle snatch, hanging snatch, snatch balance, clean, power clean, hang clean, etc…
The list of different Olympic lifting variations can go on and on, and way too many coaches, trainers, and people looking to get bigger, stronger, and faster get too caught up in all the different variations.
After experimenting with Oly lifting on myself, my coaches, my athletes, and others who are just looking for results, I have weeded the variations down to just 2.
Narrow or Clean Grip Snatch & Hang Squat Clean
I’m not going to get into the absolute technical details on how to perform each one, but I am going to talk about what each one accomplishes and how when used together they can increase your strength, power, and performance more than other variations or combinations out there.
Narrow or Clean Grip Snatch
I was first introduced to the narrow grip snatch about 3 years ago when reading some of Dan John’s material. He (along with quite a few other strength coaches), talk about how not only the narrow grip snatch is better on the shoulders than the regular snatch but also how it requires more speed and due to the increased distance the bar has to travel.
That last part consisting of how it requires more speed and power is what first got me started down this path…
Anytime you can help an athlete increase speed and power by utilizing an exercise that is simple to teach, then to me it needs to become part of your coaching arsenal.
The clean/narrow grip snatch was just that.
The gist of the clean grip snatch is simple…
- Start off with the bar on the ground holding it as if you were to perform a conventional deadlift
- Begin your 1st pull by driving through your heels, keeping the bar path close to your body, and chest held high.
- Initiate your 2nd pull after the bar crosses the knees, and by 2nd pull I mean jump as hard and as high as you can trying to throw the bar through the roof directly above you.
- Catch the bar overhead with knees bent like you just performed a push press
See how simple that is? No worrying about snatch grip width, shoulder mobility allowing bar to end up directly in your center of mass, or any other of the 10,000 cues there are to teach a true Olympic snatch.
By keeping a clean/narrow grip you eliminate the need for those cues for a few reasons.
1) The catch is more natural so the end position of the bar has already been hammered into your movement patterns by (hopefully) tons of overhead presses in your training.
2) If you aren’t producing enough speed or power, then you will know it because with the more narrow grip, the ability to drop into a deeper squat to catch the bar isn’t happening. So you can’t “cheat” the purpose of the move just to get more weight up.
After a few months of experimenting with the clean grip snatch, my mind started wandering looking for ways to make it better…
“If the clean grip snatch works so well because of the increased distance the bar has to travel, then what if we trained the total opposite end of the spectrum as well? What if you hammered a variation that consisted of the absolute shortest distance the bar has to travel to be a successful lift?”
So out into the facility I went to start playing around and testing some variations that I had pulled from more research than I care to think about in Olympic lifting log books, articles, and texts. This brought me to the hang squat clean.
Hang Squat Clean
So now the goal is to not just move the bar as fast and as powerful as possible, we also have to move our body as fast as possible to be able to catch the bar in a front squat position.
By starting it from the hang position, we not only focus purely on reaching triple extension but also in forcing the body to change direction in the shortest time possible.
This is why it ended up being the perfect partner to the clean grip snatch.
Although the hang squat clean is a tad more complex to teach, once athletes learn the catch and bottom position it truly turns into an awesome exercise. Most athletes already know the catch and bottom position though from tons of front squats (if they are taught correctly from day 1).
The gist of the hang squat clean goes a like this…
- Grab the bar with a normal clean/deadlift grip and stand up with it so it is touching your mid thigh.
- Begin the movement just like a narrow grip snatch, by trying to jump, explode, and throw the bar through the roof.
- Once the bar begins moving up, pull yourself under the bar by dropping into a squat position with your feet moving slightly wider.
- Front squat it up to the standing position.
Don't Do It Like This Kid... His Foot Positioning Is All Wrong
The thought process behind only needing to utilize only these 2 Olympic lifting variations is pretty simple.
Take the variation that requires the most power needed to complete due to the long distance the bar has to travel (narrow/clean grip snatch), and pair it up with the lift that requires the most speed to complete due to the short amount of time you have to get underneath the bar (hang squat clean), so that you have 2 explosive lifts that cover both ends of the Olympic lift spectrum, but are simpler to teach.
One thing I noticed that does apply to Olympic weight lifters or those training in it, is that by taking these 2 variations and incorporating overhead squats into your squat work, your Olympic lift numbers tend to dramatically increase even without hammering the exact lifts.
I would love to hear your thoughts behind these two lifts, or if you have any comments about other variations you have tried and like more than these 2.
I hope you are having a great week, and keep on killing everything you do.
If you know a true Olympic lifting homer who you know this would piss off and want to have some fun, then be sure to share and like this article or pass it along to them.
DC
Filed under Best At Sports, Fast, Strong, & Jacked, Get Stronger by on Jan 18th, 2012. 2 Comments.
Whats up… DC here and I hope you are having an awesome week.
I didn’t plan on writing a post today, but it turns out I really need your help…
BIG TIME
Before I tell you exactly what I need help with, let me first tell you why.
I hate public speaking... Actually let me correct that.
I DESPISE PUBLIC SPEAKING!!
It can be over training, talking about my life, or any subject including the ones I’m super passionate about.
No matter what it is, I truly believe that I would have a better chance of not peeing my pants skydiving or bungee jumping.
No Matter What Billy Madison Says… I Still Don’t Think It’s Cool To Pee Your Pants
With that being said, not only have I been asked to speak at a local high school on Friday, but it will be in front of over 1000 10th graders and for 45 minutes…
I think I peed myself a little bit just typing that out.
So how can you help me?
I’m supposed to be talking to these 10th graders about career paths, obstacles, and things that I did or had to overcome to be where I am today.
Instead, I’m going in there guns blazing hoping to change at the minimum one 10th graders life, so I’m going to be talking about finding your passion and by combining it with hard work becoming successful.
So I need your help.
Please comment and let me know your favorite and most inspirational success story.
I want to give examples of actors, businessmen, athletes, etc who these kids look up to and show them how by finding their passion and hustling, they can be successful.
So if you have 30 seconds and prefer not to hear about me peeing my pants in front of 1,000 10th graders, then drop a comment briefly talking about someone’s story about them becoming successful.
If you know someone who knows everything about everyone who is famous, then please pass this along to them so they can comment and help me out.
DO IT FOR THE CHILDREN!!!
DC
Filed under Motivation, Powerful Mind by on Jan 18th, 2012. 8 Comments.
Whats up? It’s DC and I hope you are having a kick ass week.
Things at Genesis have never been busier as we have not just our normal junior high and high school athletes training, but we also still have our pro baseball group training for a few more weeks, our NFL Combine/Pro Day group has been going strong for a couple of weeks, our AFL football guys are finishing up before heading out to camp at the beginning of February, and now our NFL guys are starting to trickle back in now that their season has wrapped up and they had a few weeks to recover and rest.
With all that being said though, I want to make sure that you continue to work hard, learn, and train as best as possible…
So today I want to wrap up with the final 6 tips to develop huge arms.
If you missed part 1, you can find it here.
So lets get rolling so you can get those arms growing!
7) Don’t Always Curl & Press… Start Climbing, Pulling, and Crawling More
The first thing that pops into most people’s head when you ask them about training to get bigger arms, are all the variations of curling and tricep press exercises that you see everywhere. In every magazine, youtube video, or internet product now days there is some super secret curling or pressing exercise to get results as fast as possible while bringing up your 5th bicep head and 38th tricep muscle that is located in the externaltemporaneous plane that is a secret.
Instead of living off curls and tricep presses (and all their variations), what you if you started moving your whole body just by using your arms? This is one of the biggest ways to trigger massive arm growth.
So instead of dumbbell bicep curls, go climb ropes. Instead of barbell preacher curls, hammer as many different chin-up and neutral grip variations as possible; and instead of always just tricep pressing your life away, start performing walks and crawls like crab walks, bear crawls, or even learn to walk on your hands to hammer those arms.
Iso Holds Are Awesome
Constantly moving and lifting are great ways to pack on some size, but what about just static holds? One of the quickest ways you can pack on size to those noodles hanging out your shirt, is by putting in some iso static holds at the end of your training session.
An Iso Static hold means taking a weight and for biceps, curling it half way and holding it there as long as possible. For triceps you would press the weight half way and hold it there flexing as hard as possible.
You can also throw these in with your normal bicep/tricep exercises.
For example, if you are doing alternate dumbbell curls, then hold one dumbbell in the iso hold position, and perform all the reps for your other arm. Then switch arms.
9) Add Weight to Bodyweight Exercises
Bodyweight exercises are the bomb… period thank you. But so many athletes and people don’t think so because they never make them harder or heavier. Start throwing chains around you during push-ups or dips, hang kettlebells or plates from a belt or squeeze a medball between your legs during pull-ups, or even just elevate your feet during push-ups to make them more difficult.
If you can find ways to bring those types of bodyweight exercises back into the rep range that promotes muscle growth, then your biceps and triceps will start growing again.
10) If Your Triceps Really Suck, Add in Bands
If your bench sucks because you can’t get those last few inches during the press, or if it looks like someone cut a chunk out of the backside of your arm between your elbow and armpit, then you need to bring those triceps up stat!!
The quickest way to do this is to press a band 2-3 times a week from different angles and positions. You should be cranking out 100 reps after every training session, to help get those triceps caught up with the rest of your body.
Press it down, overhead and out, lying on a bench… It doesn’t matter, but vary up the way you are pressing it each training session and get 75-100 reps.
11) Become a Farmer
If you aren’t performing farmers walks and some sort of rope pulling exercise, then your arms aren’t growing as fast as possible.
Performing these 2 exercises is probably the simplest way to jack up your biceps and forearms.
Why? One of the main reasons is because of a thing called “Time Under Tension”. Time under tension basically refers to the amount of time, a muscle is performing work before resting.
Charles Poliquin originally came up with this phrase and he discovered that if a muscle is under constant heavy tension for 30-70 seconds, then hypertrophy has a better chance of occuring.
So by performing farmer walks or something like a heavy prowler, truck, or sled pull with a rope for time or distance, creates that needed time under tension to grow your arms.
12) Get a Stronger Grip
Outside of Popeye, have you ever seen someone with huge forearms and a massive death grip, have small upper arms? I’m willing to bet no. That is because guys with massive grip strength and forearms lift heavy weights and realize that growing your arms is only going to be as effective as your weakest link.
So train your grip. At the facility, we perform things like Captains of Crush grippers, sandbag holds, clamp squeezes, heavy farmer holds, rice digs, and much more.
Get that grip stronger and the rest of the arm will follow.
So there are the final 6 tips. Get off the computer and get to cranking those arms.
If you haven’t liked the new Facebook page, then I ask that you click here and do so. That way you won’t miss out on anything I have going on both off and on the blog. I’m going to start doing live QnA’s, product giveways, and much more. So make sure you don’t miss out.
*** www.DCFacebookPage.com ***
DC
Filed under Bodyweight, Get Bigger, Get Stronger by on Jan 16th, 2012. Comment.
