Pound For Pound Competition - CrossFit Northampton

CrossFit Northampton...and this is only half of it!

On Saturday 15th June 2013 three intrepid CrossFitters from CrossFit Connect and two much loved spectators (thanks for the support Simon and Cerise!) took to the road to visit CrossFit Northampton, or Unit 22 as it is now known, to take part in the Pound For Pound CrossFit competition.

What set this comp apart from the many others that are now popping up on the CrossFit calender was the fact that all the WODs (or workouts) were to be completed using percentages of the athletes bodyweight. Whereas in a normal competition all the competitors use the same weight despite their size this battle would see the lighter guys perhaps having an advantage as they would have to lift less. Would it be a smaller guy that would come out on top as the strongest 'pound for pound' athlete?

First off I have to say i got massive box jealousy as soon as i walked into Unit 22. What a box! A beautiful 4000sq ft of CrossFit heaven! A 12 station rig custom built down one side of the unit, offices and reception at one end and more wall bars, racks and even a custom built solid set of parallel bars on the other side. So much space! Outside the unit was an empty car park with tyres stacked up ready to be flipped and not really anyone to be overlooked by (aside from a few houses whose gardens backed onto the space). It really was a playground. It made our box at Connect look like a store cupboard. A lovely store cupboard, but still.....

Weighing in having not eaten breakfast (but after consuming far too much dessert the previous night!) myself and Barney were both amazed to weigh in at a shade under 80kg. We looked on jealously at Dean as he skipped off the scales at a nimble 63kg.

The competition kicked off at 9am with 68 guys and around 10 girls taking part. We think the lack of women at this event was down to the fact that the percentages of bodyweight were the same for men and women. And these worked out pretty damn heavy for the ladies. Perhaps at the event in the future we may see these scaled more to make it more achievable for the regular woman CrossFitter, say 70% bodyweight for men and 60% for women. Just a thought?

The WODs ran smoothly and on time and the BBQ was fired up for bacon rolls for breakfast and then a great BBQ for lunch at very good prices. The judging was spot on, the effort put in by every athlete was great to watch and we saw a few new PBs from a lot of people especially in the muscle ups and snatches.

The WODs were as follows:

WOD 1:
For time: 3x rounds of 12-9-6 reps (75% Bodyweight)
Deadlift
Hang Cleans
Shoulder To Overhead

Dean on his STOHs

WOD 2:
For time: 3x rounds of 15 x Bodyweight back squats and 5 x Muscle Ups

Muscle ups are a favourite of mine so i liked this WOD the best.

Barney in full kipping flight

Deano getting his 5 linked muscle ups and a new personal best.

Barney on one of his 45 bodyweight squats. The legs are feeling this one today!

WOD 3:
(70% bodyweight)
1 minute max rep Snatch
30x double unders at the top of the next minute
1 minute max rep Snatch
30x double unders at the top of the next minute
1 minute max rep Snatch
Max rep double unders in the last minute

(Score was total number of Snatches)

Snatch action at 56kg - I got 31 reps in total

Barney with the same weight. Oh to weigh less than we did!

WOD 1 was tough but really only from a grip point of view. Those that could hang on to the bar the longest did the best. WOD 2 was very hard on the legs and then got a lot of people struggling with their muscle ups (a pull up and press out on the Olympic rings) and WOD 3 was real heavy and gassy.

The Connect crew applied themselves admirably with both Barney and Dean smashing out their muscle ups in much better style than they were perhaps expecting. Meanwhile myself and Barney were cursing Dean for only weighing 62kg when it came to the bodyweight back squats as we both loaded 80kg onto the bar. But, its all relative i guess! :)

After the first 3 WODs were done it was the top 24 that progressed into the Semi-finals and i was pleased to find myself in 13th position. Although I'm not sure my legs were happy that i had another WOD to do. Dean finished in 31st place and Barney in 36th. Competitions are funny things in that you always look back at the end and think "If only i hadn't put the bar down" or "I'm sure i could have gone quicker". At the time though its not so easy.

The Semi - Final WOD was a non-stop lung burner with:
1 x Deadlift
2x Chest to bar pull ups
3 x Burpee bar hops

7 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible)

And this is where being light helped a fair bit! The deadlifts were loaded up with 1.5 x bodyweight so the heavy guys were looking at 120-130kg whilst the lighter guys only 80-90kg. Although it was only one rep over the course of 20 rounds this adds up a touch i reckon.

I was super pleased with my score of 19.1 rounds and this lead me to finish in 8th place out of the 24. Only the top 6 qualified for the final so i just missed out. In fact, only by 2 reps in the end. That's what competitions can come down too so you have to remember mid-WOD that every rep truly does count. Something that's easier said than done though.

The final 6 men then had a 50% bodyweight Thruster/Sprint combo to deal with 20/15/10/5 style and Samuel Wisniewski was crowned the winner and the first one to leap back onto his starting box. Samuel weighed in at just over 60kgs as did most of the finalists so it was proven that the lighter guys came out on top in the end. Barry Mairs who did a grand job to make the final was at a big disadvantage having to Thruster 45+ kgs compared to Samuels 30kgs. That's a hell of a lot more weight over 50 reps!

The Final. A sprint / Thruster combo.

I would like to say a massive thanks to Unit 22 and everyone involved in organising the comp. It was a great day, ran smoothly, was well executed and it would be great to see it become a permanent fixture on the calendar of events. A big thank you to all the judges too for giving up their time to count those reps. These events couldn't happen without you guys too.


We will keep you all posted of any more upcoming comps and if you would like to get involved just shout. Although nerve wracking and tough, competitions really are the best way to push yourself and give a purpose to your training. Just ask Dean about his muscle ups.....I don't think he's stopped smiling yet.

No More Space!!

We have a tricky situation ahead of us right now as a business and a box.

Due to overwhelming interest in what we do at Connect thanks to a top quality coaching staff, friendly atmosphere and stunning results we deliver to people I'm afraid to say we will not be running an Intro Course in July due to high current membership numbers.

Rather than pack as many people into the box as possible we strive to maintain a high level of coaching and personal interaction which made the box so popular and successful in the first place and this means limiting our numbers for the time being. This is hard to do from a business point of view but to maintain our integrity and continue to over deliver in our coaching it is something that must be done.

We want to know each and every one of our members well and know what their goals and aspirations are, know what their strengths are and perhaps most importantly know what their weaknesses are. This is what sets us apart from a regular gym and will be why CrossFit and Connect itself will continue to take over from Globo-gyms as THE places to train in the coming years.

If you would like to join Connect then get in touch as this will still be possible via a private Intro Course. Then at the end of July we will assess numbers and perhaps re-open the group Intro Course once again.

For existing members that have been considering a full membership now would be a good time to do so as we may have to cap numbers completely until we find new premises.

A big thanks to all our members for making the box one of the best places to train in Brighton & Hove.

The search continues for a bigger box.....!

CrossFit, Injuries and How To Avoid Them.

I have posted this as an open letter to our members on our Facebook page but thought it would equally apply to other CrossFitters and boxes so my musings might interest some of you.......

CrossFit is a great, no, scrap that, the best way of building all round functional strength and fitness that I have ever come across in over 16 years of training and coaching. It covers all your bases from strength work to cardio endurance and sprint speed to flexibility and agility in the gymnastic elements. Some of you discover CrossFit, come to us and it completely changes your life. And although that sounds pretty corny and dramatic I don't use those words lightly. You have fun, you make friends, you learn things you thought you could never do and you change your body in fantastic ways to become healthier, fitter and stronger.

However, CrossFit can and indeed does in some peoples minds have a reputation for being dangerous. The fact that pushing yourself to your limits is what makes CrossFit so fun and effective is also what can make it dangerous if you repeatedly go BEYOND your limits and don't listen to what we have to say. Whilst at Connect we always encourage you to go for every rep and lift that little bit more each time we always do so when it is SAFE to do so. We are responsible as coaches in getting the best out of you and when we think you can do more we will tell you so.

Just as a little question for our members, how often do you hear us telling people to lift heavier and how often do you hear us telling people to take the weight down? It is without doubt a lot more often the latter.

This is because you can get carried away with your own ability sometimes. You constantly want to get better (and we admire that) and you equate that with lifting heavier weights in WODs and focus sessions. Many of you have come to us having no background in lifting whatsoever and expect that in 6 months you will be lifting what the coaches are lifting and doing everything RXd on the board. Bear in mind that all of your coaches have been lifting for YEARS before they found CrossFit and have had time to develop not just the muscular strength but the strength in the ligaments, tendons and supporting tissues to be able to deal with the volume and weight of some of the WODs. Whilst we genuinely encourage you all to shoot for completing the WODS at RXd weight and lifting heavy during the focus sessions we also want you to realise it might take you years to get there. There is no rush. Much better to take things slowly, with perfect form than to rush through things and in 6 months time end up with nasty injuries which will force you to have time off. Or not come back at all.

When people call CrossFit dangerous and stupid it genuinely upsets me. With any sport or past time there is always risk of injury. Just take football, rugby or even jogging. Way more people suffer injuries doing these than have ever been hurt doing CrossFit but you wouldn't call them dangerous things to do would you? The dangerous side of it comes when coaches fail to give advice or people fail to listen to it. We will never tell you to lift more than you are capable of and I want to see you guys listening to us when we tell you you are pushing it too much.

As our membership base grows at the box we have to learn more and more about every one of you and what you are capable of doing. This is our responsibility as box owners. However, you also have a responsibility as a member to be sensible about your abilities and also LISTEN to what we tell you. We aren't trying to hold you back. We are trying to perfect your form, make you stronger and save you from hurting yourself.

The two things that constantly come up in relation to injuries we have seen at the box are pull ups and lifting too much during a WOD. 

Kipping pull ups are an absolute no-no if you are using a band for assistance. If you cannot do at least 8 - 10 strict pull ups on your own you shouldn't even be considering kipping ones. They place too much strain on shoulders that aren't strong enough to deal with the forces involved in the swing and kip. PLEASE DO NOT kip if you are using a band. From right now. Period. Using a band for assistance is a great way of getting your pull ups but keep them strict, work on them consistently and you will get your strict ones before long. Use a bigger band if needed. Yes, your WOD times might go up but I'm sure you'd prefer a larger number in your diary and strong pain free shoulders than not being able to lift your arms over your head? Swinging all over the place on a band, trying to kip will not get you stronger for your pull ups. It will just hurt you.

As for weights in WODs only a very small handful of you can complete WODs at RXd weight at the moment. We don't want to see ugly, rounded backs in WODs as this is not a nice experience and we have a duty of care to make sure you don't hurt yourself. Ask us for our advice on what to lift if you need too and we will suggest the weights for you. This is what we do, what we have done for a long time and what you also pay us for. We are in no way trying to hold you back. Leave your ego at the door and lift what you can lift well with perfect form. You will still get gassed and have a good workout, trust me. Its just you will also eliminate the possibility of hurting yourself as well.

Bad vs Good. We dont want to see the one on the left!

I love CrossFit and I love coaching CrossFit and owning a box with such an amazing bunch of people for friends and members. However, I don't like seeing people get hurt unnecessarily and I want to make sure that we continue to develop a great team of coaches and a great reputation as a safe, effective and fun place to train. Please help us out on this front by being sensible in your training, being accountable for what you are doing, taking your rest days and not over-training. That way your CrossFit journey will last a very long time and your health and fitness will know no bounds........

The Gymnastic Workshop and Our Bodyweight Ninjas

The Olympic rings. If I had to pick one piece of  training equipment that had the most versatility and effectiveness it would be these. 

Our Gymnastics Workshop went ahead full steam last Saturday and it was a great day of bodyweight tekkers by all.

Sometimes the basic bodyweight principals and movements can be overlooked in favour of more advanced Barbell Lifts and the like but really being able to control and manipulate your own body in a variety of ways is where a good portion of your training focus should lie. Not only do Gymnastic skills give you added agility, flexibility and co-ordination they also build mahoosive amounts of strength!

Not bad musculature...and not a barbell in sight in his training.

Olympic gymnasts as a general rule do not lift weights. And look how muscular they are. Gymnastic training is based on an increasing progression of harder and harder movements using your own body as a lever to create increasing resistance ie more work. As a general rule, the more tucked you are in any position the easier it will be and the more stretched out you are the harder it will be. Look at the two examples below:

Tuck Lever

Full Front Lever.

The top photo, whilst still hard to hold for the beginner, will be a whole load easier than holding the full front lever like in the second photo. The more extended you are the harder it will be.

This is only one element that can be used in order to make bodyweight exercises as hard as you want them to be. Got your press ups? Try close grip ones. Got them? Try Lever Press ups (one hand on a ball, rolling it out to the side). Got pull ups? Try wide grip pull ups. Got them? Try uneven towel hanging pull ups. Whatever level you are at you are sure to find one stage of any exercise that you cant do and therefore can practice and make gains in.

Wrist mobility drills. And when you're ready, try doing press ups like this. Insanely hard.
(Please don't actually go straight into trying these, your are likely to break your wrist! If you want to  give them a go start on your knees first)

At our Workshop we started off gauging everyones levels in the six major bodyweight moves; Push ups, Pull ups, Pistols (or one legged squats), Handstands, Bridges and Hanging Leg Raises.

These are the bread and butter gymnastic movements and ones that you should all try and become as efficient as possible in. And the great thing about them? Aside from a pull up bar you need hardly any space or any equipment. Just the knowledge of how to progress from one small achievable step to the next.

Bridges...a fantastic back and shoulder exercise.

And this brings up an important point. You shouldn't rush this learning curve. Take your time to really perfect your reps and solidify the rep amounts you are aiming for. If you are gunning for 3 sets of 15 reps of full press ups (a pretty good rep range to aim for) before moving up to the next level don't just squeeze out an ugly 14th and 15th rep and then decide you are ready for close grip push ups. Take a few weeks to really nail those 3 sets of 15 perfectly. Then move on. Your progress will be much quicker and more assured and you wont become dejected when you move up a level and cant do any!

Along with the 6 foundational movements we also introduced Olympic ring work like ring supports, front and back levers, skin the cats and muscle ups and then some static floor progressions building up towards the seemingly gravity defying planches. 

A Full Planche. Yeah..these are gonna take some work.

The four hours flew by and we had some aching muscles by the end. All our attendees had gained a much greater understanding of the bodyweight progressions, how to programme them into their training themselves and how, with small manageable steps, even the most advanced moves can be attained if you have the desire and inclination to train hard and often.

Getting inverted! Front and Back Lever work.

Our next Gymnastics Workshop will be held on Sunday 9th June at CrossFit Connect. If we do get a lot of interest we may hold one sooner than this so keep checking our FaceBook page regularly or sign up for our Newsletter.

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Until then my bodyweight ninjas..............

Don't Make Stretching a Chore!

Feels Good Huh?!

We are always bleating on to our members about stretching and mobility and how important it is to your overall well-being and athletic performance. Being mobile means having a proper range of motion across all your joints and this affords you balanced body mechanics and the ability to run, jump, lift, pull, push, leap and squat with good form and no pain.

However, as we age the vast majority of us become stiff through under-use of our muscles and joints and even the most basic movements can become impossible to do. We sit down, hunched over too long and our once springy, flexible muscles become tight and unable to move through the ranges they once used to.

What do you mean this is hard?

Its not until you start moving again and trying to do something even remotely considered 'sporty' that you may realise just how limited you are in your movement patterns and how something that should be simple is in fact nigh on impossible. (see above picture!)

Take the basic squat for example.

I would say 85% of people who come through our doors cannot perform a correct, un-weighted, full depth air squat. Try it now:

1) Stand with your feet shoulder width apart.
2) Toes turned ever so slightly outwards.
3) Have your hands in front of you, arms outstretched.
4) Lift your toes up off the floor and start pushing your hips backwards.
5) As you sit down into the squat drive your knees outwards so they track over the second and third toes on your feet.
6) Keep your chest inflated and your arms up so your back remains straight.
7) Weight should remain over the heels at all times.

How far can you go down before one or all of the points above break down? Ideally we are looking for your hip crease to pass below the level of your knees with all of the above present and correct.

No bending of the back, no collapsing of the feet or knees inwards, no turning of the toes outwards...........

Unless you can perform a squat like this with perfect execution then you shouldn't really be loading any weights up onto a bar.

Improper mechanics leads to improper form which leads to injuries.

So what do you do about it if you cant do it?  Stretch and mobilise!

A great first port of call would be Kelly Starretts Mobility WOD website where he posts regular videos on some of the best exercises to do to improve your ranges of motion. Yes, some of them hurt and he uses some crazy tools of torture but they definitely work and even in a few short minutes you can see the difference when you test and then re-test a certain movement.

Next up would be our Mobility class that we run on a Tuesday night at 8pm at CrossFit Connect. We spend an hour working through many drills and trying to unglue your sticky points. Nothing beats a whole hour of mobility work. Plus you get to learn a few drills that you can practice at home.

And this brings me onto the point of the article. Don't make stretching a chore. You don't have to find a slot in your day to dedicate a whole bunch of time to stretching and mobility. If you can this is of course ideal but most of us lead busy lives and all good intentions usually don't last.

Instead, make stretching part of your day. Learn a few drills or exercises to work on that would be most beneficial to you and do them every few hours for 30 seconds or a minute at a time.

Take this one: a mobility drill to improve dorsiflexion range through your ankles (one of the big reasons people can find a full depth squat so hard).

A great ankle mobility drill

1) Stand with the toes of one foot about 2 inches from a wall, foot straight. The other foot can be behind you for balance.
2) Leaning forward push the knee of your front foot over your toes and see if the knee can touch the wall whilst keeping the heel flat on the floor.
3) If you can do this, move the front foot back an inch or so and repeat.
4) You will come to a point where the knee wont touch the wall before your heel comes off the floor.
5) At this point work on reps of 15-20 movements pushing the knee forward and then relaxing it.
6) Change feet and repeat. Notice if there is a difference between ankles. More often than not due to previous injuries the ankles will work slightly differently.
7) A goal would be to aim to get your toes 5 inches away from the wall and still touch your knee on the wall whilst your heel remains flat. Less than this and your movement may be being compromised.

So, armed with this knowledge, every time you are waiting for the kettle to boil or are by the water dispenser at work (do offices still have those things?!) carry out this drill for a couple of minutes. Its an easy way to get your mobility work done without really dedicating any specific time to it. And believe me, do this 3 or 4 times a day for a week or so and you will notice a big difference.

Similarly, how about a hamstring stretch whilst you brush your teeth?

Okay, perhaps not that one but you get my drift! Standing with your heel on the edge of the bath and leaning forward whilst the leg stays straight is an easy thing to do whilst you clean your fangs.

Stretch regularly, consistently and make it a small but achievable part of your day. The more mobile you become the better your lifts and WOD times will be. You will move more efficiently and you will cut down your risk of injury big time.

For more information of stretching or better movement mechanics drop by the box and have a chat with us. We'll be only too happy to help.

Now is The Perfect Time To Start Your Journey!

Want to get involved at Connect? Well now is the time!

From March we are changing the way induct new members into the Connect community with a One-Month Trial Membership for people to purchase. After a FREE taster session with us of course! (For all the details and a darn good read see our website here)

This will allow you a whole month of trialling out our various classes to see if CrossFit is for you. There will be specific Beginners classes on a Saturday at 11am and a Monday at 7pm which we encourage all new starters to attend whilst we go over the main foundational lifts and movements. However, if during this time we feel you are accomplished enough to join the main classes we will be happy for you to do so.

Lifting time at the box!

The Beginners classes will run on a four class rolling schedule so that anyone who now wants to join can do so at any point in time and no longer have to wait until another Intro Course rolls around. We hope this appeals to anyone thinking about joining us and if you have now is a great time to get in touch.

The Beginner classes are also suitable for existing members who feel they still need to work on their technique so feel free to book in if this is you. If anyone has any questions we'd be only too happy to answer them.

Post-WOD stretch out.

Trial Month Membership         - £80

* Access to all 8 Beginners classes with emphasis on one-to-one coaching of our main foundational lifts and scaled versions of some standard CrossFit workouts.

* At coaches discretion you will have access to the rest of the 35 classes on the timetable. (We just need to be sure you have good movement or previous knowledge of lifting weights)

For more info, a friendly chat or to book yourself in for a FREE taster session don't hesitate to get in touch with us. Its never been easier for you to give CrossFit a bash!

Olympic Lifting Workshops

A great speciality workshop was held at the box this past weekend and an eager crew of members and non-members alike really got to grips with the technical aspects of the Clean & Jerk and the Snatch. When you break these lifts down its amazing how much detail you can learn about every stage of the lift. 

Fantastically coached by Coach Holly and British Weightlifting tutor Anna Hopcroft the four hours flew by in a blur of pulling, jerking, squatting and video analysis to really pinpoint what was going wrong and more importantly what was going right!

Our next Olympic lifting course is being held on Sat 2nd March, 12.30-4.30pm. Get in touch or see the post here for more details.

In the meantime I'll leave you with a little taster of what everyone got up to last Saturday...........