3 COMMON FAULTS TO AVOID WHEN DOING RDLs

The Romanian Deadlift, commonly known as the RDL, is one exercise you definitely need to incorporate into your training if you're looking to increase posterior chain strength. But like all movements, doing it properly will provide the most bang for your buck and keep you healthy for the long-game.

The  most common faults that occur while performing RDLs are:

1. Rounding the low back
   This usually occurs because the athlete does not have control of their mid-line position or the athlete is attempting to go lower than there hamstring mobility will allow.
2. Bar drifts away from body
   This fault can be seen when the athlete is not properly engaging their lats to pull the bar back against the legs in an active position.
3. Too much knee flexion
   Again, this often occurs when the athlete attempts to go further than their mobility allows. But it can also be related to a poor understanding of pushing the hips back to stretch the hamstrings. 

An overarching concept that you'll find to be helpful is to only go as far down as your body will allow while maintaining proper positioning and activity. Everyone's range of motion and body mechanics are different, so don't get caught up forcing ranges of motion that aren't there yet. This will only lead to injury. Give it time and some solid effort to move as perfectly as possible and the benefits will soon follow.  not there to keep from possible injury.

Be sure to check out the video below. Joey Chapa, TCS's newest intern, breaks down the RDL and the concepts we've talked about above with some of the very best demonstrations ever performed by some dude with a great beard. HA!
 

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WOMEN'S WEIGHTLIFTING CREW

Starting in February (2/3/17) TCS will host the Women's Weightlifting Crew on the first Friday of every month. This is open to any female in the area who loves to pick shit up and put it down. Strongman, powerlifting, olympic lifting, "gymnastical" shit....everything is up for discussion. Myself and Coach Mary D from the Strictly Strength side of the gym will be leading these workouts. 

If you are familiar with TCS, Travis hosts "Lumberjacked" for the dudes once a month. This is the same - but better for obvious reasons.

WWC is open to any fitness level. You could be starting out day 1 - or be competing in the Olympics. We don't care, and neither should you. This is about getting together with other strong women and doing what we love: Lifting heavy shit in any way possible. 

Sign ups are HERE. Look on the class calendar each month for the announced Friday night for the WWC. 

WEEKEND NUTRITION SURVIVAL GUIDE

By: Jen Shaw

The weekend...A.K.A. killer of all diets, is more often than not where people break. What is it about "the weekend" that makes people jump off shit pier and ruin everything? Even if you are absolutely perfect Monday through Friday you will completely blow your goals if you food orgy pizza and beer for two days, or even one full day. 

So, in an effort to help you battle the weekend slip-ups, I want to share the rules that I abide by. They might seem dumb or maybe even minuscule....but you they're the keys to coming out of the weekend on top and in control.

RULES OF THE WEEKEND

1. There are no "cheat days" so stop. 

First, stop using the word "cheat." It's super negative and means you are doing something wrong which you are not, you are living. However, going on a sugar bender all day will absolutely ruin you. Yes, you can recover from it and move on for sure. However if you are involved in anything like "GET RIPPED" that only lasts six weeks you are really stunting your progress. 

2. NEVER ever treat yourself on Sunday night.

Sunday night is usually the night before you are back at the gym and lifting heavy. Treating yourself on Sunday night will sabotage your workout and possibly how you feel when you wake up Monday morning. Only good things Sunday night. 

3. If you MUST have a bad meal, do it at lunch - not dinner. 

It's much harder to recover from a treat if you have it at dinner. Eating bad and then going to sleep leaves you feeling like crap in the morning. So after your treat at lunch drink water, nap, eat a good dinner and have all the good things before you sleep. 

4. NEVER EVER drink after you eat your last meal of the day. 

I cannot stress this enough. Have you ever woken up anywhere between 2-4am sweating and your heart racing and beating out of your chest? That's drinking, and sugar. I suggest you have your cocktails before dinner, then eat, then water. Wine after meals, the worst. All of that sugar just sitting there waiting to crush your sleep at 2am. 

Try it and let me know how it works! 

3 TIPS TO MAKE YOUR TIME ON THE AIRBIKE A LITTLE LESS SHITTY

We all know that any time spent on an airbike(airdyne, assault bike, xebex, airfit, etc.) is probably going to be miserable and end horribly - It's the nature of the beast, but that's why we do it. There's not much out there that can create that type of suck. That being said, there's no reason to make it worse than it has to be!

In the video below, I share a couple quick tips on how to properly set up your bike so that your time in the saddle is a little less shitty. 

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MAKING INTRODUCTIONS

FUUUCK!

We've all had those workouts and/or movements that ended up being much harder than we anticipated. In fact, I just experienced a devastating workout that only involved a heavy bag of sand, some squats with said bag and some gut carries. OUCH!

After each set, I let out a long, painful, exaggerated F-bomb. This is what we call "immediate positive feedback". This type of reaction let's you know you're in that work zone and not just pretending - which is important to distinguish.

The reason I bring this up is that recently, my long-time mentor and friend Dennis Marshall(Owner and Head Coach of CF Garden City), beautifully described a very simple idea that I wanted to share.

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"It seems like there is a rapidly growing pool of "Accessory" movements in the CrossFit world that athletes are adding to their training program. While this is a great, and perhaps long overdue, development, the proliferation of these exercises through social media is potentially leading to as much, if not more, confusion as it is education. "Well, this guy/girl is doing it, so I guess I should as well?" There is only so much time and energy we can all dedicate to training and the majority of this must be directed towards our top priorities and biggest "bang for your buck" movements, workouts, etc. To pick and choose "this" and "that" movement "just because" can distract us from putting in the real work that will yield the greatest result. 

One of my favorite litmus tests for whether a movement is worth incorporating on a regular basis and dedicating significant time and energy towards is the response it elicits immediately upon completion. I'm generally looking for something along the lines of "Wow, that's harder than I thought" or simply any expletive (as demonstrated in the video). The more dramatic the response the more valuable the movement and the more frequently it should show up. Once the response is less dramatic it's time to move onto the next one." - Dennis Marshall

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I am no where near the wordsmith that Dmarsh is, so I tend to boil things down to their most simplistic elements. To me, all of this means:

Simple. Not easy.

And that, my friends, is something I will always believe in.

The Addition of "The Power Hour".

New Class

This week at Travis County Strength, LIFT Coach, Jen Shaw kick-started her brand new "Power Hour" class! This class is specifically designed to help female athletes improve their power/slow lifts.  By doing so, athletes will also encounter auxiliary work such as core stabilization, mobility, and accessory muscle group training/isolation exercises.  STRENGTH is the name of the game!

Jen's been itching to do this for a long time and she's pumped to get it started!  This Wednesday night (6pm) class is only open to 5 women, so reserving your training slot will be very important!

Here we go!

New Toys! And Why.

As things develop here at Travis County Strength, one thing that you'll notice is all the new stuff we have to do "fun activities" with!  The methods that we use to develop mental and physical strength require a wide range of tools.  

We do NOT specialize.  
We do NOT periodize.  
We simply WORK.

For some of you out there, the idea of not having a 12-month training plan with mirco-cycles and transition phases is blasphemy.  I get it.  The notion that each and every day that you enter TCS your one and only job is to work hard is crazy.  That's OK.....we are kinda crazy....  

You see, every single day that you and I walk this earth, we face new stimuli in unique combinations.  To simplify: Every day is completely different and unique.  The same can be said for the demands that are placed on you.

So, if you agree....which I think you probably do...Why would you then schedule, plan, set-up, complicate something so simple as WORK?  The only answer I'll accept is that you are a specialist, in which case, continue on your way.  Otherwise, you have been mislead.

Of course, all of this is my opinion, which you can agree with or completely discount - either is fine, really.  I bring this up only to present some compelling questions that (hopefully) get you thinking about what you're doing and why you're doing it.

In the mean time, we'll be having one helluva time working hard and challenging ourselves in as many unique scenarios as we can possibly think of - Just so we're ready for whatever tomorrow brings our way. 

Besides showing off our super sweet new farmers handles, I wanted to share this as an example of the "Train by Braille" mentality that we base our work on.  This was completely impromptu....and one helluva good workout!