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. 

INTENTION & THE SWING

The Russian Kettlebell Swing is a seemingly simple movement - much like an air squat or pushup. But, these movements are key to the foundation of any person's ability to perform quality work in the gym and out.

The trouble begins when people think that because it's a basic movement that they can afford to simply go through the motions rather than making each and every rep as effective as possible. I know I'm guilty of this at times, but it's important that, as coaches, we convey a message of intention to our athletes. On the other side of that coin, the responsibility to carry that task out on a consistent basis - each and every rep - lies in the hands of the athlete.

So this video is for everyone. Coaches and athletes, take a few moments to watch the video and then apply these concepts and movement patterns into your reps. You'll find that intention tends to change everything! 

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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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LUMBERJACKED 2017

LUMBERJACKED is a 4 week nutrition program for men designed to be a straightforward way to kick-start some big results through simple guided nutrition and additional workouts.

The New Year is when everyone gets super jazzed about all the changes they're going to make this year that screwed up their lives last year, but as most of us know, that usually doesn't yield the results we were hoping for. Why?

Excuses.
Poor Planning.
Lack of Accountability.

The beauty of the LUMBERJACKED program is that those obstacles are recognized and addressed in ways that make the process of change as simple as possible. That does NOT mean it's easy. It will require dedication, integrity and a willingness to work for what you want. IF you can get your mind wrapped around that, you can surely make some serious change occur!

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THE BREAKDOWN

Program Duration: 4 weeks
Start Date: 1/6/2017 @ 6pm
Finale Date: 2/3/2017 @ 6pm (Food to follow)

Program Details:

• "Before/After" pictures and measurements
• Food list of approved foods
• Individualized guidelines
• Weekly nutrition accountability
• 4 FREE Friday night workouts with other LJ participants

REGISTER NOW

MAKING INTRODUCTIONS

GET RIPPED 2017

It's that time again! Get Ripped is kicking off on New Year's Day at noon. At the kickoff all terms will be discussed, and all the questions will be answered. 

This year we will take six weeks to dial in and focus on sleeping, eating, and working out. These all seem so simple, but are extremely difficult to tackle alone. We all know how hard it is to break bad habits and replace with good ones.  You will have access to a group food log, weekend conditioning, and support from me and an amazing group of women who are in it with you. 

GR provides accountability, support, and education to reach goals in and outside of the gym. This program is open to anyone here in Austin, or not! You can easily do this program online.

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IMPORTANT DATES:

Registration closes December 31st, midnight.
Kick off- January 1 at NOON. 
First official day- January 2nd
Last official day- February 12th

SIGN UP

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A JUMP IS A JUMP, RIGHT?

You see it all the time: a viral video of some absurdly "springy" human that takes off from the floor and somehow floats to the tip top of a stack of bumper plates precariously placed on a tall box. Kinda like this ridiculousness...

There's no doubt that this is an incredible feat. This daring effort surely captures or attention and admiration, but there should also be respect given to lower jumping efforts that accomplish large displacement.

Let me explain...

With massive box jumps like the one above, the effort is comprised of two Important parts:
1. Power production and explosiveness.
2. Mobility

As you can see from the video, there's a tremendous amount of explosive power production as he jumps, but equally impressive is the "catch" position. Pause the video at the moment that he makes initial contact with the top plate. What do you see?. I see one helluva deep squat! This position would not be possible without some serious mobility.

So again, nothing should be taken away from these types of efforts. All I'm saying is that it shouldn't always be about max height. And here's why...

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dis·place·ment

disˈplāsmənt/
noun
1. the moving of something from its place or position.

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I know it's not nearly as impressive, but watch my video below. I want you to compare the first two box jumps to the second two. What do you notice? HINT: Keep in mind that this entire blog is concerning the concept of displacement. You may also want to establish a focal point, I suggest my hips....they don't lie.

I hope that my hint made this fairly obvious, but if you missed it, the first two jumps had far less overall displacement than the last two jumps. Again, if you were watching my hips you would've seen that the last two efforts showed a much great elevation than my first two attempts. Therefore, it's safe to say that I created more power during those final jumps.

The end result is the same - you end up on top of the box. But now it should be clear that there are two different ways to train the same movement that elicit different responses. I don't think that one is better than the other.  You can perform jumps in a manner that delivers a cardio response, or jump (for displacement) to improve power and explosiveness. Either way, I think that consciously training both styles is important and should implemented in to your training routine.

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.

CLOSING THE GAP: DOMINANT vs. NON-DOMINANT GRIP STRENGTH

Did you know that as grip strength improves, so does overall strength? The two have a strong correlation, and if you think about it, this makes perfect sense. You can't pick up what you can't grab. That's the way it is and has always been. It's a self-preservation tool that lives deep in our DNA from when we first figured out how to use these limbs of ours. 

It would then be logical for anyone looking to improve their strength to put some serious effort towards building hand strength. More specifically, it would also be beneficial to minimize the difference between the dominant and non-dominant hand. The more balanced we are, the stronger we are. 

In the video below, I share just a couple ways that you can work on creating balance between your dominant and non-dominant hand. As you'll see, these tips are by no means ground-breaking, revolutionary ideas, but rather simple, everyday things you can do to develop that balance between right and left. 

It'll be kind of crazy to realize how much you subconsciously rely on your dominant hand. To break this habit will require awareness, so whenever possible, tap in and challenge yourself to use that other hand. You'll be amazed with the results!

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ATLAS STONES: SMOOTH IS FAST

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As strongman training methods become more and more popular (YAY!), newbs are being exposed to implements and movements that they've never done before - which is AWESOME! However, just like any new skill, you must understand the concepts and techniques, then apply quality practice - especially when first introduced.

In an effort to help some of you strongman newbs dial in your atlas stone technique, this video is all about performing the stone shoulder smoothly rather than rushing through it with reckless abandon.

In general, it is my opinion that performing any movement with fluidity will increase your overall speed. This is especially true with the atlas stone. Just remember: Smooth is Fast! 

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NEED A KICKSTART? START WITH THE BASICS.

Summer is over, kids are back in school, you are at work. But I'm guessing that you probably had some summer cocktails during your vacation(s), which means you probably took some time off from the gym. Is anyone out there feeling a little more puffy and out of shape after this fun summer? You are not alone. Time to get back to basics and clean it up!

Starting on September 18th I (Jen) will lead a three week nutrition program to get everyone back to the basics of eating clean. This program is designed for the nutrition novice, the guru and everyone between. You can be a current TCS client, or just a member of the Austin community ready to make a change with your eating habits. Everyone needs a kickstart sometimes, right? 

this program INCLUDES :

• TCS SPEED class on Sept.  24th and Oct.8th @ 730am
• TCS Conditioning Class on Oct. 1 @ 9am
• Detailed food list to make it easy
• Measurements
• Monitored food log
• One on one time if needed
• Accountability! 

Benefits:

• Better mood
• Better sleep
• Clothes fit better
• More energy
• Clearer skin
• Actually being hydrated
• With all of these things your workouts become better as well. You are able to put more effort into it, use more weight, move your ass faster.

Important Dates:

• Kick off meeting Sunday September 18th at 11am. 
• Official Start - Monday morning the 19th.
• Official Finale - Monday October 10th (after final measurements).

SIGN UP HERE

SIT-DOWN: RACHEL LASSETER

Oh Rachel...where do I start. She loves wine, animals, steak, food as a whole, dirty memes, other people's babies, and power cleans. Hates sandbags :) 

Rachel is married to one of Travis's long time clients, Ryan. They were married not long after we opened TCS. After the honeymoon Ryan said "hey my wife might want to start working out so I am sending her up here to you." These are my favorite- I never know if the dude is telling his wife to come, kindly suggesting to start working out, or who knows. But once I met Rachel- I knew for sure Ryan was not telling this chick anything! HA! LIFT was definitely her decision.

Rachel was working out and seeing zero results. Dealing with a long time injury and frustrated she decided it was time to make a move. 

We started out with a month of personal training sessions to get her going and used to the way things work. She is naturally mobile and when I said "squat" she just went ass to grass...and that's when every coach is like YESSSS. She picked up things pretty easily...minus the name of equipment/movements which was pretty entertaining.  Every move we did was new to her. A lot of women would have been pretty intimidated and not come back, but Rachel just kept coming back for more and results came quickly. 

Rachel started off squatting the barbell. That 35lb bar kicked her little ass all over the gym. Today her max is 125 and really that looked a bit easy. She has gotten incredibly strong, and just keeps improving on everything. 

There has only been a couple of workouts where I thought she might punch me. Usually that somehow involves a sandbag. But she has a great internal voice that tells her to keep going and she always finishes. That is a quality that sets her apart from others. 

I love seeing her name on the roster because I know she will be walking up with big sunglasses and a smile soon...and everyone else is happy too because she is a team player in class, and such a great happy person!

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SIT-DOWN: KYLE L

Kyle is relatively new to TCS, but has already made a huge impact at the gym with his positive attitude, sense of humor and hard work. Not to mention, he's got some of the best hair in the gym - and he knows it. Hahaha.

I really can't say enough about Kyle's work ethic. From day one, Kyle has always brought his best effort, regardless of what his shift may have looked like or whether or not their new baby girl, Iona, slept like shit. This consistent effort has obviously resulted in some real progress(#gainZ) for Kyle. He's become stronger and more mentally and physically capable to do hard work. But honestly, the thing I'm most proud of Kyle for is his vastly improved ability to find proper positions while lifting. In the beginning, this was a huge hurdle. We had to essentially start from square one and rebuild his lifting technique, which is very difficult, but he never let ego get in the way and never stopped working at it, which has paid off BIG for him! 

This type of mentality is exactly why Kyle makes TCS a better place. He's here to get better, even if it means slowing down, swallowing his pride, and putting in the time and effort to do it the right way - even it may not be the easy way.

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SIT-DOWN: ALLISON

Allison has been with me for years. Hundreds of workouts, happy hours, events, job changes, everything.  Like many of the LIFT girls we see each other more times a week than friends or sometimes family. I notice hair changes, body changes, personality changes, stress, sadness and happiness. Allison and I have seen all of these with each other over the years. 

Recently she came to me after some major life changes wanting to start a new nutrition plan. I always suggest Renaissance Periodization first. If you are willing to count, measure and surrender to the process, RP is for you. After a short chat she was on board and ready to go!

Months later many people in the gym have noticed the changes. She is squatting more, pressing more, and overall a better athlete. Yes, a lot of this is contributed to making the nutrition change. The rest is your attitude, ambition, drive, and determination in the gym. It's all about the implementation. She took all the information and decided it was time to make a change. 

In the past Allison was okay being the smallest and lifting the lightest weights. That's how it went. Then she wanted more, and as a coach I was so excited to see her take this step. She shows up four to five times a week ready to rock. No complaining, just doing. 

Other people in the gym have noticed how strong she has gotten....because she is catching up with them! I could not be more proud of this chick. She decided she wanted to make progress. Goals, plan, workout, nutrition....SUCCESS. How can that be better planned out?

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THE BIG 3: THREE FACTORS THAT MAKE STRONGMAN F*CKING AWESOME

I was thinking about what makes TCS different from other spots around town. One answer, and probably the most obvious, is that we implement strongman movements more than any other joint in town....at least that I'm aware of.

Why is this the case?

My best guess is that coaches are afraid of screwing it up. Afraid of failure. Strongman can be extremely intimidating to athletes and coaches that aren't up-to-speed on the techniques and how they can apply it to their current training protocols. These are legitimate concerns, but they can be easily settled with some proper education. Once you've learned the movements, their specific techniques and how to appropriately program, it's an instant realization that you've been missing out this whole time(FOMO much?).

A meathead's attempt at some "Beautiful Mind" shit. Hahahaha!

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The BIG 3
Three Factors That Make Strongman F*cking Awesome:

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1. Something that many people don't realize is that strongman movements are actually the closest thing to real-life, functional exercises out there. Think about it. Waaaaaaaaay back when, there weren't strength coaches roaming the wild teaching early humans how to pick up logs or stones. That shit was just part of our DNA. They knew how to get the job done in a way that minimized risk of injury while using the least amount of energy possible. (Did you pick up on that? Safety and efficiency.) This is still the case today!

We don't learn strongman techniques - we remember them.

2. As coaches, we must always provide the best service to our clients. That's how we build a successful business and maintain a solid reputation. In general, our athletes rarely need an over-complicated routine with super technical lifts that find the coach and athlete getting frustrated by failure and a lack of action.

Remember: People want to fucking move! If all you do is talk, your clientele will find someone else to make them sweat. It's really that simple.

The balancing act comes into play when you, as the coach, know your athlete needs to build certain positive characteristics that produce results. It's my contention that strongman movements and methods are some of the absolute best when it comes to getting a massive ROI (Return On Investment).

Basically, it boils down to how soon can you get a newb moving with quality and then add the appropriate dose of intensity? That's what will cause positive adaptation - movement and (appropriate) intensity. With strongman, the learning curve is nearly non-existent when compared to other modalities of training. It's simple, not easy. New athletes are able to get up and rolling sooner, which gets them the results they're looking for sooner!
ps. This doesn't make the others bad, wrong or any less important, but it should be a wake-up call as to how you get your people integrated. 

3. This shit is FUN! This is probably the most over-looked factor when training the general population. People want to have fun with their training. They also want to do shit that looks cool. And I challenge you to find anything more badass than picking up giant stones or flipping massive tires.

Look, it doesn't really matter if you're the world's best (technique/programming) coach, with all the coolest shit...If you are a Fun-Nazi, people will drop you like a bad habit and go where the fun is. Simple as that. You've got to make it fun!

I mean, doesn't Smitty look like he's having a BLAST with this well-designed workout incorporating the SM log? FUN!

All of this probably sounds amazing by now, right? You're probably just wondering when I'm going to shut up and tell you how to properly education yourself in the ways of Strongman so that you can get started. Well, here it is:

10/9/2016 CrossFit Strongman Trainer Course -- Austin, TX @ Travis County Strength

You'll learn all of this stuff and more during this course. The cool thing is that you will learn by DOING! This is not a sit-in-your-chair-and-listen type seminar. We will discuss the movements, the proper cues, the common faults and then you will practice...and practice....and practice. And when you're tired from all the practice, that's when we perform the movement with a dose of intensity.  

This seminar is honestly one of the highlights of my coaching experience. I'd have to say that my absolute favorite segment of the course is the programming lecture. We discuss several ways you can institute Strongman into the programming at your gym and how to do so appropriately.

I love everything about this course and I would love to share it with y'all! Hope to see you there! 

SIT-DOWN: CLINT HARBOUR

A couple words come to mind when I think of Clint:

-JEEP
-Bandana
-Hip-Hop

Now, if you don't know Clint, this probably doesn't make much sense, but what it provides is a glimpse into how eclectic this guy is. Clint rolls up to the gym in his sweet lil red JEEP about 15 minutes before class. As he strides through the gym, he's rocking a bandana or headband with his earbuds in listening to some type of podcast. He sets down his old-school gym bag and begins his mobility exercises. And you better believe that if there's some old-school hip-hop on, he's reciting every single word right along with the artist. He's got them all memorized, word for word!

Clint is a lawyer for the state of Texas, which tends to keep him busy with either case prep or travel, but when he's in town he always makes the time for the gym. The guy works extremely hard while he's there and does the right things outside of the gym as well. All told, Clint has lost 36lbs while with us and impresses/inspires others to get their nutrition on point through ACTION. 

There are a lot of people that talk. Clint walks the walk.

With an already jam-packed schedule, he finds time to coach TWO basketball teams; the 5th-6th grade boys at St. Andrews, and a High School select team with the Austin Dawgs club. What's really cool is that he's been able to use some of the things we do at TCS to help condition his teams and improve their fitness. What I respect most about Clint is that he does it first. Again, he walks the walk and provides his players with a great role model.

Just one more reason that TCS is the special place it is. With people like Clint, how could it not be something special? 

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BUILD IT, AND THEY WILL COME.

Gainz. Build it, and they (the gainz) will come. 

I know. This was a stretch, but it's true. If you want an inexpensive, easy to make, highly effective training tool - all you need is a keg.

Kegs can be acquired in a number of ways. Often times, all you need to do is ask that friend of yours that works at the bar for any leftovers that could be purchased for the deposit amount. Another easy way to snag one is from Craigslist, which by the way, is a great place to pick up any equipment on the cheap.

In the video that I'm about to share with you, I go into the details on how to select the correct type of keg, depressurize the keg so that the spike can be safely removed, fill and cap the keg.

Once you've built your keg, you'll have an amazingly effective training implement that can be used in numerous ways to build strength, power and speed! And just in case you're not sure how to use that keg, we will go in to some specific keg movements in future posts, so be on the lookout for those!

For now, watch this video and then go hunting for your keg(s)!

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A Sit-Down with Jen Jones

You've probably noticed that there isn't a lot of flare or fancy shit going on around here. We like to keep shit simple and get down to the brass tacks. So in keeping with that, we are starting a new interview series that we're calling Sit-Downs.

In each Sit-Down we ask our athletes, who, by the way, don't know that we are scouting them for this project, why they train here at TCS and what it has provided to them. 

So, without further delay, here's our Sit-Down with TCS athlete and all around badass, Jen Jones.

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A Trend You'll Want to Reverse ASAP!

As a Coach that's been doing this for a bit, I have picked up on to trends that take place on the gym floor. Some are good and others you'll want to stop ASAP. This topic falls under that later category.

General shoulder dysfunction as well as Bicep tendinitis are two issues that pop up more than we'd like. To start, our posture is typically pretty awful. Anteriorly rotated shoulders, a tight, immobile thoracic spine, and overdeveloped anterior muscles mixed with weak posterior muscle groups is a recipe for trouble in and of itself. Now throw in the workloads we place on our bodies....Uff!

Pushups, pullups, overhead pressing, dips or even overhead squats and snatches are all prime candidates for really aggravating the shoulder. To be clear, the movements aren't necessarily the problem, but rather the less than ideal positions or movement patterns displayed during said movements. This is especially the case when these exercises are done in large doses; what technique and solid position was once present, quickly disappears when the athlete goes in to "survival mode".

What makes this area less stable than others is the fact that the shoulder joint is designed for great range of motion and versatility, but tends to be less stable than your hip, for example. This all occurs because this joint is really a collection of muscles, tendons and ligaments that (should) secure the head of the humerus solidly within the Glenoid Fossa. A Fossa, by the way, is defined as a shallow depression on a bone into which another bone fits to form a joint.

Did you pick up on that? "A shallow depression..."

Sounds super solid to me. (sarcasm)

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Look. All I really want to do with this post is offer a quick and easy way to keep those shoulders happier and healthier. I don't want to get all scientific and go through a college level Anat/Phys class with you. I'm sure you don't want that either. So, in short:

1.If you have some grumpy shoulders, this will help.

2.If you'd like to keep your shoulders from getting grumpy, do this.

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