Olympic Weightlifting Program In San Diego

I am super excited about our Olympic Weightlifting Program that is on the horizon.  My plan is to have the best program in the area.  We have the platforms, bumper plates, Olympic bars, and great coaching.  There is no reason why we can’t have the best lifters in the area training with us.  The Crossfit San Diego Olympic weightlifting class will train Monday through Thursday at 4 or 4:30.  Rest Friday.  Train Saturday at Crossfit San Diego or up at Mike’s Gym to get training from the guru himself, Mike Burgener. (A.K.A. Coach B).  What a great opportunity to work on your lifts and improve your overall athleticism.

The benefits of Olympic Style lifting are numerous.  How many lifts do you know of that improve agility, speed, power, balance, explosiveness, flexibility, and on and on and on.  There is no comparison.  The Olympic lifts are what the Professional Athletes do.  Its part of their program.  If you ask me its crazy that these aren’t taught to high school athletes.  If there are high school athletes doing the Olympic lifts, I can almost guarantee they are starting for their sport.  You just can’t get good at the lifts without it benefiting you in your sport.  Period.  

There is no substitute.   

Stay Strong

I am in a sling because of my recent surgery to repair my left pectoral tendon.  It had ruptured a few weeks back while I was bench pressing.   Now I am on the path to recovery.  One week into recovery and I am ready to throw this freaking sling in the trash!!!  It is so hard to not do anything.  Especailly when each day that goes by is a day that someone else is working out trying to beat me in weightlifting.  I have enough people that I need to catch or pass to move up in the rankings of the 77kg Men’s Weightlifting class without needing to add more.  

I have to really stay focused.  With everything that is going on around me, I still have to produce results with the gym, clients, trainers, and myself.  When I have all that going on its easy for me to get caught up in everything else but what is important for myself.  What is important right now is that I rehab this left shoulder while somehow increasing leg strength.  Looks like I am about to get creative.  That’s okay because I like the challenge. 

I wrote a post not too long ago about working out while your injured.  It just talks about the importance of doing what you can at the gym.  Don’t let the injury run your life.  Your in control.  You tell your body what to do.  Its really easy to sit back at home and say, ” I’m not going to do anything today because …fill in your sorry excuse here.”  That is your little voice in head called mental weakness that is telling you what to do.  I hear him too.  I just try and to tie him up with a blindfold, gag him, and then throw him in a box when he speaks.  Then I push myself to do whatever it is that I need to do.  

REMEMBER YOUR IN CONTROL!!!  YOU MAY BE SURPRISED AT WHAT YOU CAN MAKE YOUR BODY DO!!!

Olympic Weightlifting in San Diego

If you found this article its probably because your looking for a place to do some Olympic Weightlifting.  Most globo-gym facilities don’t cut it, or get mad at you if you want to throw some weight around.  Well, your in luck.  I coach and train in Olympic Weightlifting here at Crossfit San Diego.  We have everything you need to meet your goals. (4 Platforms, Jerk Boxes, Bumper Plates, Bars, Coaches)  We are also a regional training center for the Crossfit Weightlifting Team under Coach Mike Burgener.  We have 2 in house coaches here.  Sage Burgener and myself.  Sage has a lifetime of experience and is a great communicator with her students.  You will not find a better place to train here in San Diego.  The closest thing is Mike’s Gym in Bonsall.  

In the near future Crossfit San Diego will be adding a weightlifting training sessions for those people looking to improve their lifts.  My whole thought behind adding this session is to get some serious lifters in here that may want to compete or just get really good with their lifts.  The sessions will be run by Sage and Myself.  If you want to get good then this is where your going to do it.  We will occasionally set up road trips up to Mike’s Gym to get some instruction from the Guru himself.

If this sounds like something for you.  Please don’t hesitate to leave me a comment.  

Bad News!

 I got some bad news recently.  I just found out yesterday that I tore my pectoral tendon.  It happened about 2 weeks ago at a seminar that was going over the bench press.  We warmed up a bit, and then decided to do the NFL Combine 225lb bench press.  After a couple of other athletes I decided to give it go.  I unracked the bar and started my reps.  It was going pretty smooth.  1……2……3…..and then as I was pushing up on my 4th rep POW!!!!  It felt like somebody punched me in the chest and then the bar came crashing down. I had spotters so they were able to get the weight off pretty quickly, thank god.  Then I grabbed my chest.  I had never felt anything like that.  I thought someone was playing a joke on me.  After I stood up there was some pain in my chest by my arm pit.  Not good!!!  I had some trouble trying to move my arm across my body and my left pec didn’t feel right

Over the next couple weeks I iced it and did some physical therapy hoping that it wasn’t fully torn.  I eventually got an MRI on May 28th.  Got the results back and spoke with an Orthopedic surgeon on June 1st.  Turns out I tore my pectoral tendon.  Surgery is required if I want to keep lifting and stay active.  SO…..I go under the knife next Tuesday.  They will go in and reattach the parts that have come undone. 

What does that mean for me?  Well, that means that I will have to take a little bit of some time off Olympic lifting.  I will still be training athletes and running classes throughout my recovery.  I still plan on reaching my goal of competing in the American Open in December.   I have a long road ahead of me, but as long as I do the right thing I should be OK.

Working Olympic Lifts With Injured Hamstring

Most you now know that I have been battling a Hamstring Injury.  One of the hardest things for me to do is to rest when I am injured.  I am one of those guys that can’t stop working out.  I feel depressed, sluggish, and worst of all my joints start to hurt if I am not doing some kind of activity.  The problem with that is that sometimes when I am injured I never allow the injury to fully heal.  Over the years and as I mature I am learning, more often then not the hard way, that I need to rest or work around the body part that is injured. 

Rugby season is over and its time for me to focus on Olympic Lifting.  In order to do that I have to lift.  With a hamstring injury its can be hard to imagine doing Olympic Style lifting without putting a massive amount of stress on the hamstrings.  I couldn’t really figure out how, I was going to do it.  So what did I do?  I called my Guru Coach Burgener.  He suggested I do some light Muscle Snatches off of blocks, Light Overhead squats, some high hang cleans and high hang snatches for this week.  This would allow me to train the lifts while not aggravating the hamstring. 

Monday looked like this:

• Muscle Snatch x 3 +Overhead Squat x 3 (40kg)
• Muscle Snatch x 3 +Overhead Squat x 3 (40kg)
• Muscle Snatch x 2 +Overhead Squat x 2 (60kg)
• Muscle Snatch x 1 +Overhead Squat x 1 (70kg)
• Muscle Snatch x 1 +Overhead Squat x 1 (70kg)

This workout felt good and I was surprised to see that I was only 5kg off of my PR for Muscle Snatch from the ground.  Just proved to me how important that speed through the middle is. 

Weightlifting, teaching the Olympic lifts, and just training people in general is quickly becoming a major passion in my life.  If I can help myself progress doing certain things, then I can’t wait to share those same pointers or techniques with other people. 

Below is a video of the Muscle Snatch + Overhead squat.

If you or anyone you know may benefit from training with me please write me an email at:

jp@crossfitsandiego.com

Crossfit San Diego is the best place for Olympic style lifting in San Diego.

Get in the ZONE!!!

I subscribe to a newsletter from www.Zonediet.com.  They always send me some good stuff as far as how to stay in The Zone, and great recipes.  So occasionally I will throw something up here for you guys to check out.  This is a recent newsletter with with a recipes for dinner and lunch.  Check it out.  Hope you enjoy.

Grilled Turkey Salad with Mandarin Oranges
Here is a recipe adapted from Dr. Sears’ Zone-Perfect Meals in Minutes.
1 lunch entrée (4 blocks)
Ingredients:
4 ounces cooked turkey breast, cubed
1 cup celery, finely sliced
3/4 cup red onion, finely sliced
Romaine lettuce
1/2 cup Zoned French Dressing  
1/3 cup unsweetened Mandarin oranges
1 peach
1 1/3 teaspoons olive oil
1/8 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon fresh mint, chopped

Instructions:
In a salad bowl, combine turkey, celery, onion, oil, Zoned French Dressing, peach, oranges, turmeric and mint. Toss lightly to coat. On a lunch plate place lettuce, top with turkey mixture and serve.

 
Vegetable and Tofu Kebabs
Some people may believe that vegetarians cannot enter the Zone. That’s simply not true. In Dr. Sears’ The Soy Zone, published in 2000, chefs served up 100 tasty vegetarian recipes. Here is one of them.
1 dinner entrée (4 blocks)
Ingredients:
4 to 6 wooden skewers, soaked in water overnight
8 ounces extra-firm tofu, patted dry and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 large red pepper, seeded and cut into large pieces
1 large green pepper, seeded and cut into large pieces
2 large red onions, cut into large pieces  
2 medium zucchini, cut into 1-inch slices
2 medium summer squash, cut into 1-inch slices
1 1/3 teaspoons olive oil
Dried thyme, to taste
Dried oregano, to taste
Garlic powder, salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:
Put tofu and vegetables on wooden skewers, being gentle with the tofu so it doesn’t break. Place vegetable kebabs at the bottom of a shallow pan or bowl. In a small bowl or jar mix together olive oil, thyme, oregano, garlic powder, salt and pepper, adding more olive oil if necessary. Pour mixture over kebabs and let marinate, refrigerated for at least 1 1/2 hours. Prepare grill or broiler. Place kebabs on grill, medium flame, turning frequently. Watch carefully so that vegetables don’t burn. Cook until vegetables are tender. Serve.

If you want or need more information on nutrition or want to get fit contact me at:

jp@crossfitsandiego.com

Weight Loss!!!

One of my favorite shows and probably one of the only TV shows I watch is the Biggest Loser.  Although,  I’m not a big fan nor do I advocate counting pounds or kilos as a measure of getting in shape.  The most important thing is losing the fat, period.  On the show they push losing weight and that is all good for Prime-time TV.  The only thing I wish they would cover more is how important it is to lose actual body fat over water weight, and muscle weight.  With the rate that those contestants are losing weight, its impossible to say that they aren’t losing a lot of water and muscle weight.

I push for my clients to concentrate on losing fat instead of looking at the scale.  Inorder to do that you have to get measurements.  The best way to do that currently is by getting dunked in the water.  That can be expensive.  Another good way is Calipers.  The Caliper method is as good as the person doing the pinching.  If you have the same person doing it and knows what they are doing then you can get a fairly accurate measurement of bodyfat %.  It might not be the best but its good enough to give you a baseline and an idea of where you truly are at.  There are many other methods, but those two are the best to my knowledge. 

If you concentrate on losing the bodyfat over the pounds, you will see and feel much better results.  You will be able to keep your strength and lose the eccess dead weight (FAT). 

If you need help with this, or would like to come in just to get measured you can contact me at jp@crossfitsandiego.com.  I will be more then happy to measure you and get you going on a plan to meet your goal.  I want you to succeed!!!

Mixing it up again

Glad to be back into the swing of things.  Injury is no fun.  But now I am starting to feel better.  Not a 100% yet but getting there.  I’m just glad I can hit the Olympic lifts again and squat without any pain.  Still can’t sprint at 100%, but pretty close.   Hammy still gets a little sore, but I just apply the whole RICE concept. (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation)

Yesterday was a good day.  I was able to get my Olympic Lifting workout in and train a client in the Olympic lifts.  The Olympic lifts are so much fun to do and teach.  Its awesome to see someone go from not being able to do any of the movement to getting a decent Snatch going.  There is nothing easy about these lifts.  They take years and years to learn.  I am still a rookie when you think about.  Lucky for me I have had a chance to train with a great coach who has helped me out tremendously (Mike Burgener).  Every time I see him a learn more and more.  Not only about my lifts but also in coaching the lifts.  I pretty much use the stuff he has taught me and apply it to my coaching style with my clients.  Seems to work well.  I have seen a current clients lifts improve dramatically.  He could barely hold any weight over his head and now he is Clean and Jerking 90kg.  I think he may be able to do more at the moment.  We will see after a few more sessions. 

As for my workout, it felt good.  I was a little out of focus when I started, but it only took one miss for me to pull my head out of my ass.  I had to focus.  You have to be zeroed in when you lifting.  If your just going through the motions, your never going to get anything out of it.  You have to be fired up and trying to improve your technique at all times.  That is the only way to get better.

Injury Sucks, But Its A Part Of Life

I am going on my fourth week of a Hamstring pull.  No Bueno!!!  It has been the first time that I have pulled my hamstring.  Kind of amazing when you think about how long I have been playing sports at a competitive level.  I have torn my ACL a couple times and have had multiple surgeries on my knees.  We won’t say how many.  But its more then you can count on 1 hand.  Anyways, back to the hamstring.  I pulled it in a Rugby game going after a loose ball.  Prior to the game my hammys were tight and I knew it probably wasn’t the best idea to play, but I pushed it just because I love competition.  First half went with no problems, and then 10 minutes into the second half it went.  It was like someone shot me in the leg.  I couldn’t get a good step going in my left leg.  I thought….DAMN!!!! 

The next day sucked big time,  couldn’t even sit down on the toilet.  That is pretty bad.  I couldn’t put any pressure on the back of my leg.  You never notice how much you use something until its injured or broken.  Then its a constant reminder every time you try and do something that involves that muscle or bone.  It sucks.  I knew that I was going to miss the opening weekend of Super League and probably the next game after that. 

Here I am, 3 almost 4 weeks after I injured it, and still recovering.  I have been able to work around it though.  I have taken this time to work on some other things while I am down here at Crossfit San Diego.  I have clients throughout the day, so that keeps me busy, but when I have free time, I mess around with my pull ups, muscle ups, dips, and other things that don’t aggravate the hamstring.   I think the front flips with Aush were a bad idea though!  I have noticed some improved strength and technique in some of these areas.  I have also taken this time to go really light and work on technique with my Olympic Lifts.  In a way this hamstring pull has helped me develop other areas that may have been taking a back seat for awhile.  With Rugby and the Olympic lifting I have taken a more specialized route for performance in my position at that sport.  In doing so I have seen a fall off in some of my other activities.  Just goes to show what specializing does to you. 

Bottom line is this…..

Just because you get injured, DON’T STAY AWAY FROM THE GYM!!!  Do other movements that don’t aggravate the injury.  Take this time to get after some of your weaker movements.  Keep in touch with your workout partners.  I suggest everyone get a person that holds them accountable.  If you don’t have someone, then get someone.  Don’t feel bad for not being able to do the daily workout because of injury.  It happens, deal with it.  

Once you get healthy you will be a better person.  You will be able to do things you used to do, plus more.  Never stop growing mentally and physically. 

These guys remind me that I have nothing to bitch about when I am hurt.  Their courage and motivation is UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Are you a Chump or are you a Champ?

The other day I was talking with a client and friend Mark R.  He regularly attends our Crossfit classes and has some goo things to say.  Anyways, we were talking about several things but one that stands out in my mind is that he was talking about a book he read by some author, I can’t remember who, that had an interesting view on people and athletes.  Basically we are all “CHUMPS or CHAMPS”.  Meaning that when we make our decisions throughout the day are we making a Chump decision or a Champ decision.  One good analogy that Mark brought up was when you are driving in your car and your hungry.  Do you stop at the fast food joint because its quick and easy (CHUMP decision).  Or do you keep driving past it to the grocery store and pick up some healthy foods so that you can put it together at home.  Yeah its going to take you a little longer, but it will be better for you in the long run (CHAMP decision).

I can honestly say that ever since this conversation with Mark I have had to decide between CHUMP or CHAMP a few times.  Lets just say I have been on both sides.  DAMN those thin mint girl scout cookies.  I can’t wait till they are gone.  They are like Crack!!!  The point is though that I think about this throughout the day.  Am I being a CHAMP or CHUMP right now.  I feel like it has made me aware of some of the bad  and good decisions I have made throughout the day. 

The good thing about this is that you can apply it to everything.  Business, fitness, your relationship, just about anything.  Is what your doing going to make you a CHUMP or a CHAMP.  Think about this when you look at your path towards your goals.  And if you don’t have any goals then your already a CHUMP.  I suggest you make some ASAP, and put them somewhere where you can see them.  We are all human so of course we are going to be on both sides from time to time.  Work hard to make the CHAMP decision as often as you can.  Then watch yourself progress. 

See you later CHAMP!