Smashby's Training Blog

The CrossFit Games Open is almost here! It’s so weird to sit back and realize that I’ve done this little online competition every year since it started, and it’s fascinating to think about how much it’s grown in that time. Here’s a picture of me completing the first workout of the 2011 Sectionals.

Check out that hair!

While looking back through this blog and seeing some of the previous posts I’ve made on the Open, I came across this little gem. It was from three years ago, (when I was working at another gym), and I recorded a video explaining why I think people should sign up. I have changed as an athlete and as a coach in the last three years,  but so many of the same exact thoughts run through my mind as to why partaking in a 5-week online worldwide competition can be a positive experience for almost anyone!

Why do I do the Open:

• It’s fun and challenging
• It gives me the chance to do the same workouts as other friends who CrossFit from all over the US and the world
• Every year brings moments where people accomplish things they never thought possible. That energy is ELECTRIC and inspiring!
• It heightens the sense of community in the CrossFit world for a few weeks
• The gym is going to do the workouts on Fridays anyways!

Here is a little video that CrossFit put together explaining why some of the world’s top athletes enjoy the Open. Strangely enough, people who have never competed in anything in their lives, often say many of the same things. The Open is for you, it’s for me, it’s for all of us!

Time to get signed up, and pumped up! Simply CLICK HERE and go to the “Register/Log-In” button on the right of the screen to get started.

The band OK Go, in my opinion, is the musical group with THE BEST arsenal of music videos ever. Yep, ever.

Their newest video, for their song “Upside Down & Inside Out” just came out, and it is just as incredible as some of their oldies. Click HERE to watch the video, and just for fun, here are a couple of their other awesome ones. Enjoy!

Here’s the first video of theirs I ever came across:

And another fun one!

It has been over a year since I’ve wanted to bring my regular blog posts back to the internet. Why hasn’t it been back? Well, there are a couple of reasons. The biggest one of all, is the most frustrating one for me to admit. For some reason, at one point I convinced myself that people didn’t really care about what I had to say.

It’s so weird I thought that because when I utilized this site regularly a few years back, it wasn’t to impress anyone in the first place. I was simply trying to take my years of experience in athletics, the fitness world, coaching, and in life in general… and putting my thoughts out in the universe, hoping it would resonate with anyone. I truly lived with the mindset of: If it helps ONE person, it was worth the 5, 10, 20 minutes, or in some cases, several hours of time it took to share a thought or a video. Having said that, it’s time for me to get Back to Basics! Every post I make will not be the best thing on the internet, and I don’t expect it to be either. What I AM going to start to do again, is try to ADD VALUE, and hopefully foster discussion between people in some way or another!

I often ask questions to the people who read my blog. The reason I ask them is because I want this to be an INTERACTIVE space. What types of posts are helpful? Should there be more information on technique and form of movements? Is mental outlook and “Game Day” preparation advice helpful? What type of content is FUN to watch? What information helps athletes feel like they’re better prepared to achieve their goals? What about nutrition, recipes, and meal-prep? Would it help for me to review specific items that you wonder about (shoes, equipment, bags, etc)? I’ve posted on all of these things in the past, mostly out of my own curiosity, but the goal was always to try and help you guys.

I’m happy to finally start writing and sharing my thoughts again, and I hope that together we can make this blog a resource for people everywhere again!

Happy 2016. Let’s go.

Here’s a photo of me competing in the 2015 Turkey Challenge

Photo courtesy of Brayshaw Creative

The 4th workout of the 2015 CrossFit Games Open is a couplet. Handstand Push-Ups. Cleans.

Now, keep in mind when reading this, that I am pretty much as far from the HSPU expert as you can get. However, one thing I think I can do fairly well is pace workouts. For me, this 8 minute WOD is basically a HSPU endurance race, with some Clean “breaks” built into it.

Handstand Push-Ups:

If you’re close to getting one for the first time, fight today! My advice on kipping them is simple:
With your butt against the wall, pull those knees down to your chest, kick to the ceiling, and throw your head “through the window” to help you ensure that proper lock-out.

I don’t want to get into the politics of sportsmanship and integrity in the Open in a strategy post, but know this… there will be lots of cheating in this workout. You just need to decide whether you want your score to be tainted and rank higher, or if you want to score less reps with proper range of motion. It really is as simple as that, to me. Some of us have been doing CrossFit for 5-6+ years already, and I feel this standard is the most fair one that has ever been set. I am very curious to hear from you guys as to why you might think this standard is LESS fair. Here’s how I see it… 3″ below your wrist, regardless of arm, torso, leg length, and regardless of your weight, is 3″ below your wrist. Am I missing something? Fill me in!

Cleans:

Do them. Haha, not much logic here. If it’s close to, or an actual 1 Rep Max for you, then buckle-up and get it. Plan on a full squat clean, jump and shrug as hard as you can, pull under that bar quickly with fast elbows, and stay tight on the way up! If you’ve got this weight, I’d suggest to move through it as efficiently as possible. For me, it felt like quick singles worked best.

Pacing:

As someone who isn’t great at HSPUs, my goal was to make it through all sets of them without reaching failure. I stuck with short, quick, sets of three for the entire workout. For my friends who are better at them, I suggest starting to break them up at least starting at the set of 12 (if not sooner). My best suggestion is just to fly through reps until you feel your pace slow, then kick down. Whether that’s at rep 7 or 9, or rep 4 of 12, kick down, shake ’em out, and kick right back up.
When I do this workout again, I’ll try to decrease my rest time between HSPU sets. This is going to be one of the workouts with the largest discrepancies happen between athletes. If you’re strong and stick to the standards, you’ll be just fine. What are your strategies? Anything crazy that might help someone else?
Good luck, have fun, I believe in you. We’re almost there, everyone. One more week!