What were your reasons for designing the 6 week Gymnastics Specialty Course?

• Gymnastics taught me how to use my body
  • I had absolutely no core strength
    • I was living in pain competing and my default was Spinal Overextension
      • This is a simple motor control problem
      • I didn’t fix this until AFTER I finished competing
        • I competed, in one form or another, from 2003-2015
        • All that potential!
        • I don’t want others to make the same mistakes…
          • Ignore = Ignorance
• It made me more aware in all movements
  • I did this experiment in 2016 where all I did was gymnastics and nothing else…
    • I was physically prepared for the Open but not mentally
    • I tested my fitness and it worked
      • The year before I couldn’t finish the infamous 55’s
      • A year later, I finished 55s + some Deads
  • Presently, I’m on my 9th week returning to CrossFit
    • I’m a completely different performer (same person 🙂 )
      • Down from 190s to 180s (what I call my ‘fight weight’)
      • Stronger, Faster, Better
        • NOTE: Jay’s Program is LEGIT so don’t skip the WOD
        • DO THE WOD
        • Do gymnastics for accessories

• • Gymnastics taught me more about myself than other things
    • The kip is Speed-Strength
      • It builds Endurance – not strength
    • The Strict Pull-up… The Strict Handstand Push-up…..isn’t what you think…
• You build far more strength from NOT moving than moving
• • • • • Static over time is what builds insane strength
          • The muscles fatigue and are forced to demand reinforcements
          • Static holds test you more than moving
            • Kinetic Energy is FUN
            • Hanging Out in a position is HARD
            • Hard PAYS the big bucks for performance
  • It taught me to be HUMBLE and scale WAY back
    • I couldn’t perform the RING ROWS and I was wondering WHY
    • I used kipping for EVERYTHING
    • I didn’t know, literally could not understand how this was happening
      • Now I understand the truth – I skipped steps
      • I skipped SO MANY STEPS
      • So I returned to the beginning…this time with more awareness
        • Recently, I stopped Butterfly Kipping
        • Interestingly enough, I FEEL INCREDIBLE
        • Be careful what you do for Form Affects Function
  • It taught me I had MANY misconceptions about every exercise I was doing.
    • I had no idea that my eyes should be looking at something consistently
    • I had no idea that my feet were supposed to be together for anything gymnastics
    • I had no idea I was the source of my knee pain, elbow pain, wrist pain and oh, so not fun back pain
    • I had no idea what I was doing in every WOD…FOR A DECADE of CrossFit…I had no idea what I was doing
  • If the body is strong then everything else is much more efficient.
    • I thought I would lose strength if I stopped lifting
      • I gained 2 pounds of muscle mass (I liked to think a pound on each shoulder 🙂 )
      • I got STRONGER
      • I felt BETTER
      • The pain just seemed to disappear
    • Mentally I felt and feel much more confident
• I WANT TO SHARE THIS AWESOMENESS
• • Just make it more efficient
    • Utilize my college studies
    • Utilize my 2 years of hands on experience in gymnastics strength focus
    • Utilize Exercise Science and exploit adaptation principles
  • Make if FUN
    • My program was hardcore
    • This program is more funcore
      • Save the hardcore for the WOD 😉

What type of athlete would you recommend this program to?

• EVERYONE
• • Are you a human? YUP
  • Learn your body
    • Ever watch someone just ‘go for a run’?
    • Ever just try to ‘figure it out’?
  • Sweat the small stuff!
  • We have Foundations for CrossFit
  • This is like Foundations for Gymnastics 😀
    • Gymnastics just means literally YOU and your body

What is the biggest thing you’ve learned?

• Form affects function… I thought I knew….now I’m a lot more appreciative for the ‘little things’
• The body is AMAZING (REALLY)
  • Self-healing what I thought were permanent injuries
  • GET MENTALLY TOUGHER
• Don’t neglect seemingly ‘silly’ exercises
• Range of motion increases with Full Range of Motion Exercises
• Twice a week is plenty for positive gymnastics adaptations
• Motor Control fixes take 4-6 weeks
• Injuries to ligaments and their adaptation takes 6-7 months (200-230 days)
• Milk the steps/progressions for ALL THEIR WORTH
  • Fight the ego – if you’re still benefiting from rows – DO ROWS
  • Don’t borrow progress – stay the path
  • Progress – Not Perfection
    • Gymnastics are compact for a reason
    • I’m NOT
    • Effort and progress is measured in millimeters NOT reps

How has what you’ve learned in the program affected your performance in the regular classes/WODs?

• 9 weeks in and I literally don’t know who’s driving this beast of a machine…I feel like a new person (I’m 31 and I feel better than I ever have…except maybe 15…;) )
• I remember having to rest so much more in workouts
• Not a lot makes sense but I’m getting stronger, faster and improving and:
  • Doing less training than I’ve EVER done
  • Much more aware during workouts
  • The little voice is constantly searching for technique fixes to increase efficiency
  • The clock matters less and less
  • The barbell feels BETTER (I really don’t understand this – I lift less than EVER now)
  • RECOVERY is INSANE – I feel amazing
  • I remember things hurting so much more…now it feels good…
  • And it’s all because I listened to a Tim Ferriss Podcast….

I’m just trying to pay it forward and help others to just focus on the 20% that makes up the rest of the 80%…leave the exploring rift raft to the past 😉

Let’s play July 17th!

Click here if you’re more interested in finding out more 🙂