Steve Whitmore

Monday, November 3, 2014

Drink Up

Anytime I am asked about what foods to eat or supplements to take to optimize CrossFit performance, I always ... READ MORE »

4 Steps to Increasing Strength to Weight Ratio for BJJ

In BJJ, a competitor does not need to be as strong as possible. A competitor needs to be strong for his or her body weight.

Here’s my opinion as a strength and conditioning expert and a BJJ practitioner: Most Brazilian jiu jitsu competitors should not cut weight. Instead, they should improve their strength-to-weight ratio over time.

Your brain only requires a small amount of glucose. You can just as easily (and more effectively) work off of ketone bodies.

Since Bulletproof Coffee and Grain Brain have become almost as popular as twerking, the ketogenic diet has also, synergistically, taken off in popularity. There are many uninformed people who try this diet - and they end up feeling pretty horrible.

The Need for Speed

CrossFit Games athlete Valerie Voboril and powerlifter Laura Phelps Sweatt explain how they use intensity to limit their time in the gym.

On a Friday afternoon in early October, Valerie Voboril—a five-time CrossFit Games competitor with four top-five finishes—worked out with the sounds of “Dora the Explorer” drifting into her backyard gym from the living room.

Her 3-year-old daughter, Vin, repeated Spanish words to the TV while Voboril and her training partner, Marc Rizzo, finished the conditioning section of their workout. Other than “Dora,” the only sounds were Voboril’s feet making contact with the plyo box and the medicine ball hitting the floor after she completed her reps. Voboril doesn’t play music when she trains. It’s not because the sound bothers the neighbors.

“It’s one more thing I have to set up,” Voboril said.

Setting up music takes time, and Voboril’s hour of training is a model of efficiency and focus. Voboril has a lot going on in her life—other than being one of the top CrossFit athletes in the world. She’s a mother, a wife and a full-time fourth-grade teacher. She doesn’t have hours to spend at the gym, so she’s learned how to get the most out of her training sessions.

Most CrossFit athletes don’t aspire to compete in the Games, but many people struggle to balance work, family life and fitness. Similarly, strength sessions can eat up hours, but there are time-efficient ways to get beastly strong, according to Laura Phelps Sweatt, a world-record-holding powerlifter and staff member for the CrossFit Powerlifting Trainer Course. It’s all about efficiency and intensity.

Short, intense sessions are not the only way to train, and some people love to spend long hours in the gym. However, many CrossFit athletes only have an hour to spare. Here’s how to make that hour count.

Keep Training When Life Is Busy (Athlete Journal 57)

Every second of every day has been occupied by something I had to do for school or the gym this week, but I'm ready to take on the challenges.

I had a lot on my plate this week, but I’m feeling much better and I’m ready to take on the challenges.

Fit to Teach Episode 1: Trust Me, You’ll Love It

With the encouragement of co-worker and CrossFit coach Meredith Davis, 18 Cannon School educators in Concord, North Carolina, started training at CrossFit Vitality. In this nine-part series, these teachers and administrators go through CrossFit fundamentals and try to determine the cognitive impact of the program.

In Part 1, meet Davis and Coach Steve Pinkerton, as well as teachers Angela, Jennifer, Hilary, Anne, Courtney, Joy, Haley and Michelle.

Davis, the brains behind the operation, is a science teacher and coach at CrossFit Vitality, and she wanted to show her co-workers and friends CrossFit is for everyone.

“It feels nice to bring them into my world,” she says on Day 1 as the group members arrive at the box. “We’re teaching every day, and now they get to see what I love.”

Pinkerton, owner of CrossFit Vitality, leads the group through its introduction to CrossFit.

“I really want to expose them to as many workouts as I can,” he says. “I want them to think about, ‘What can I do with my class?’”

After Day 1, Pinkerton isn’t sure how many will come back.

“If they don’t come back on Day 2, then they’re not gonna come back,” he says. “If you get through the first three weeks … you’re sticking.”

“Between Meredith and my husband, I’m here,” says Hilary, a physics teacher. “(My husband) said that I have to keep going. The pain won’t go away until I keep doing it. So, I showed up.”

A few days in, a core group is committed to sticking it out for the long haul.

Video by Gary Roberts and Jordan Shalhoub

9min 45sec

Additional reading: “Teach Kids to Teach Deadlifts” by Laura Bruner, published Jan. 16, 2014.

Friday, October 31, 2014

Base Building for Strength (Athlete Journal 113)

I'm experimenting with high-frequency training, and also added a few new exercises into the mix this week.

A basic tenet of periodization is that each training cycle should start off general and end up specific. Another way to put it is that “a peak is only as tall as the base is wide.”