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
- I was living in pain competing and my default was Spinal Overextension
- I had absolutely no core strength
- 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
- I’m a completely different performer (same person 🙂 )
- I did this experiment in 2016 where all I did was gymnastics and nothing else…
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- 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…
- The kip is Speed-Strength
- Gymnastics taught me more about myself than other things
- You build far more strength from NOT moving than moving
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- 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
- Static over time is what builds insane strength
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- 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 thought I would lose strength if I stopped lifting
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- I WANT TO SHARE THIS AWESOMENESS
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- 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 😉
- Just make it more efficient
What type of athlete would you recommend this program to?
- EVERYONE
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- 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 🙂