Here is the final post on this short little 3-part series I started last week, trying to encourage women to give CrossFit a chance, despite a common perception that it’s only a workout regimen performed by crazy men.
“Join fitness model Lauren Berlingeri as she takes on a crazy new challenge each week. Whether training with the FDNY, tossing axes with STIHL Timbersports legends, or bounding through parkour routines, our fearless host manages to land on her feet with a smile (well, most of the time!).”
In this episode, Lauren Berlingeri “Attempts CrossFit” at EVF Performance (with coach Eric Von Frohlich), home of CrossFit Upper East Side in New York, where she will complete the workout Fight Gone Bad with CrossFit competitor Jenn Hunter.
Hold on for a second before you watch this video, though…
I may not be a fitness model, but this type of a “job” would be AMAZING to have every day.
If you guys know people, or have suggestions as to how I can start to do something like this, please let me know!!
Ok, enjoy the video!
My favorite part is when Lauren asks her trainer a question while he is teaching her the Sumo Deadlift High Pull:
Lauren- “What are we working here?”
Coach- “Everything. It’s CrossFit.”
This clip (called the Strandafjellet segment), which comes from the movie “Being There” (last year’s film by Field Productions), blew my mind.
The jumps these guys make combined with the scenery below as they b-line these hits (really big jumps)… wow!
Be warned, especially all of you Physical Therapists out there, at one point Aleksander Aurdal dislocates his shoulder (you don’t see the fall, relax). Their on-site medic helps him pop it back in (CRAZY!) and then… a little while later… he decides to ski AGAIN! Why? Because, as he says,”Can not let this opportunity pass!” Do NOT try that at home folks…
Visually, however, some of these shots are stunning.
As Denver prepares for it’s first potential snow of this season, enjoy!
On Tuesday I posted this piece that featured some tips for female weight lifters, trying to offer encouraging words to women who may be considering taking that type of training more seriously (which they should)!
Here is the second of three articles or videos that I will be sharing this week on the topic of women getting more into CrossFit. Check it out!
Just under two weeks ago, WellandGoodNYC.com posted an article which went through a woman’s journey into trying CrossFit. The piece discuss the author’s initial reservations with giving the program a shot, citing that felt as though the program was geared towards “Marine-wannabe guys,” more-so than women. She then mentions that as popularity began to explode (with “4,400 boxes nationwide and Reebok aligning itself with the sport, not to mention the major PR of the CrossFit Games“) that women started to become more involved.
The two main reasons Alexia claimed women didn’t want to try it out were that they were “worried (about bulking) up and that they simply couldn’t do the workout,” which often times included movements that athletes weren’t even able to complete at the time. How great is it to know that CrossFit workouts are universally scaleable to anyone’s ability level?! And as for the bulking part (and my favorite part of the piece), check out this quote:
“Women are finally catching on that they won’t bulk up if they do CrossFit,” says Bender, now a coach at 212 CrossFit. “Bulking up has to do more with your genetics and your diet.”
Boom, I couldn’t have said it better myself. Click here to go over to the article and read it for yourself! It’s short and sweet, but a great read.
Brooke’s back again! Check out her update below. Any questions, recommendations, stories you want to hear from her, words of encouragement? Just ask in the comments section!
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I have no idea how many days I have been doing the Lurong Challenge. I do know that I suck at eating strict Paleo for any longer then 48 hours at a time. This is extremely difficult for me to admit. I hate failing! or sucking at something. Welp, I suck at Paleo. But don’t worry, I haven’t and won’t throw in the towel 🙂 I will continue to TRY my hardest to eat clean and limit my cheating. I hope that’s good enough for this blog and thank you for your understanding!
Anywho, training has been awesome! I have been super consistent with getting to the gym and improving on a few things. Handstand walks and balance are at the top of the list right now. I think I walked about 7 ft. or so! I was just concentrating on core strength and not knocking myself out. Weighted pull-up, 1 rep @37 lbs., which is like both of my dogs tied to my chest!
Here’s a cool picture from the Austrailian Pink Floyd show last weekend. I had to drink some beer!! Everyone else, including people my parents age, were on SOMETHING way cooler than Coors Light.
CrossFit is continuing to grow in popularity. Quickly. The appeal of the program’s effectiveness is spreading, and groups of people who were often intimidated or uninterested in training at high intensity are starting to come around. One of those groups: Women!
With the interwebs at our fingertips, there are now so many women out there who are able to share their stories with the rest of the world, and show a hesitate friend that CrossFit really can be fun for them.
This week I am going to be sharing THREE articles or videos with you that have been circulating this week. I hope you enjoy them and pass the on as well!
In this piece, Aimee Everett (of Catalyst Athletics, which is an AMAZING resource for ALL weight lifters) gives 10 really good “Head’s Up” suggestions and things to realize for a woman considering getting more involved in Weight Lifting. (Men, you’ll see by looking at some of the points below, this advice isn’t geared towards you. Still read the post, though. Information is the best weapon, and you can share this stuff with your female friends!)
The points below are totally valid, and some of them are really funny, too. Check out the summary here, but please click over to the actual post to read the whole thing!
10 Things New Women Weightlifters Should Know
1. Lift with other girls.
2. Know that you will cry.
3. Your cute skinny jeans aren’t going to fit anymore.
4. You will more than likely pee a little when you squat or clean heavy.
5. You need to learn patience.
6. Have a life and interest outside the gym.
7. Shorts and tights.
8. Nails.
9. Knee sleeves.
10. Have fun.
The folks at Zapata Racing are making that dream become more and more of a reality with their Flyboard!
I have seen clips of these things before, but never a whole video put together displaying the AWESOMENESS that is the Flyboard. Check it out…. and yes, please. Buy my one for the holidays.
The CrossFitFattie.com is probably one of my favorite blogs out there, but before I talk about it, let me address something. I really don’t like the name of the blog! The author (who is awesome) explains in this post why she used the name, and makes a few very valid explantions for why. One example, “… the “fattie” label in the title also is to let others in the same shape know I get it. That’s another sociolinguistic concept; that you use particular terms to identify yourself as a member of a community.” Ok, fine. But I still wish it were called something else. 🙂
Ok, now that I got that off of my chest, today’s topic is about some major concerns that present themselves when an athlete (aka, anyone) considers walking into a CrossFit gym for the first time. The post is called “7 critical concerns for the atypical CrossFitter“. In the piece, seven very important issues are discussed that many people either might not think of, or are too afraid to bring up, during their own individual “adventures” as CrossFitters. I mention in the video that while the points are very valid and relevant to new (and potential) CrossFit athletes, I think these are points that should also resonate with all athletes, regardless of ability level!
She starts her original post with this: “This last week I had a rather unexpected setback. I had a “minor” oral surgery procedure that managed to knock me on my butt for at least three days straight (advertised as “you’ll be up and going the day after”). I visited my wonderful physical therapist, Dr. Stephanie Thurmond, and after talking to her, and reading some blogs and comments from other folks in my position, I started thinking about CrossFit for “nonathletes” generally and what’s important for those of us who
are overweight to morbidly obese,
are over 50,
are congenitally awkward and remember PE as a torture chamber filled with humiliation,
have accumulated injuries that need accommodation,
are illness- or injury-prone,
have hormone issues (HRT, perimenopausal). and/or
have illnesses that make them hypersensitive to stimuli (fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, migraines, allergies and asthma, as examples).
I’ve discussed much of this in other posts, but I felt the need to sum up.”
Today’s thought of the day is about “knowledge”. Many people (in our context, let’s say personal trainers), will make claims about knowing “more” than someone else, and state that their value which they can offer you is more than that of another trainer or gym.
Now while I 1000% believe in the constant expansion of a trainer’s knowledge base, and I think we should learn and try and read and consider other and new ideas constantly, I do not believe in ever trying to compare yourself to anyone else. There are so many different things that we can learn about and focus on, yet quite frankly, those things have little to no bearing on one’s effectiveness as a coach/trainer of actual people.
I know some INCREDIBLY knowledgeable individuals with allll sorts of letters after their name (Certifications, Degrees, etc) who couldn’t teach someone in layman’s terms how to pick something up off of the ground. Conversely, I also know people who have watched a 4-minute how-to video on the YouTubes, yet could probably lead a complete newbie through a safe clean and press after a few minutes.
The key for me, is to be someone who knows how to safely teach movements we perform, and do it in a way that makes sense to each individual athlete! Some people can hear and adapt concepts to their own actions. Other athletes need hands-on instruction of the “trial-and-error” sense until they can FEEL the movements themselves. That is what I love about coaching so much. You may need to explain the same concepts in 20 different ways to 20 different people in order for the message to get through effectively.
So it’s not about how much you know. Once you can ensure that your athletes are being as safe as possible, then it’s about your individual ability as a coach (and human) to communicate with whoever it is that’s in front of you. So to get better at coaching, I would absolutely recommend reading and learning more. At the same time, however, spend time in front of your athletes and focus as well on improving your craft. In that sense, we are all our own unique people. No two coaches will ever be the same.
This all ties into our video below somehow, believe it or not! Read the summary, which is copied directly from the TED Talks description for the video:
“Gravity. The stars in day. Thoughts. The human genome. Time. Atoms. So much of what really matters in the world is impossible to see. A stunning animation of John Lloyd’s classic TEDTalk from 2009, which will make you question what you actually know.”
John Lloyd opens the clip by, basically, telling us that we (as a people) actually know very little… about anything! Check out the video below, and try to put “knowledge” into perspective a little bit after watching. Hope you like this one!
DANG! I posted a LOT today. What do you think? Too much!? 🙂
Either way, here’s one last gem to send you guys off to sleep. It makes me smile more the more I watch it, and the crew at Volkswagen hit this one right on the head!
I’m going to start this off with a bit of “constructive criticism” I received from my friend.
Adam Griffin is one the most handsome men in Denver (maybe you remember him from this video), and a close friend of mine. His feedback to me after watching the video below (in which I talk about relationships) was, “It’s a great topic, but you could have done without the comparison to family, the point stands enough on it’s own.”
My logic for including that in the video is this: There are many different kinds of relationships that we have. I say that the only one where there will be a nearly certain outcome, though, is that relationship we have with “the barbell.” My comparison to family issues was to simply say that you never know what can happen with our interactions with other people.
If you put in half of the effort with your training, rest, and nutrition, I feel you should expect half of the results. However, if you truly dedicate yourself to doing those things well, your potential for performance and improved health is nearly unimaginable.
As always, I would love to hear your feedback on this stuff, guys.
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