Fitness Blog

I had torn my hands apart pretty badly a few times while doing pull-ups at CrossFit and decided to get some grips from Phoenix Gymnastics.

 

I checked out the facility (which was pretty nice!) and noticed that they offered Adult classes once a week.  I used to be a competitive gymnast when I was a kid so figured I’d sign up, test my skills and see where I was at after 20 years!

 

The first night I was able to do a round-off back-handspring back-handspring which I thought wasn’t too bad… worked on some basic tumbling skills, the trampoline and tried to avoid the beam!

 

The classes run for 2 months at a time, so my goal at the end of the first 2 months was to be able to do a round-off back-handspring back-tuck which I was able to achieve on my last night… I probably could have done it a bit sooner but I let my nerves get the best of me! I don’t like having a mat in place or a spotter, it makes me to concerned about my footing and hitting the spotter by accident, so I decided to wing it! The first attempt I got pretty good height and over rotated a bit so toned it down and managed to get it under wraps!

 

It was a great experience and I’m looking forward to working on some more skills from my past, while keeping the ones I got back and trying to focus a little more on the bars / beam this time around. It’s amazing what your body can remember after such a long period of time!

I wasn't too sure what to expect and I wasn't totally sure if I would enjoy a 2 day running clinic but I have to say that I left the course feeling very satisfied and felt that I had greatly improved my running efficiency. We started the weekend doing 400 meter intervals so John could film our running strides. After that he lectured on everything from running mechanics, footwear, injuries, injury prevention, nutrition and recovery. It was a ton of information to absorb but it was all really interesting. On top of the lectures, we would intermittently take breaks and work on different drills based on the Pose Method to help improve our running mechanics and efficiency. 

Near the end of the first day we reviewed the videos that were filmed in the morning and John broke down each persons running stride frame by frame. It was pretty clear after watching the videos how poor everyones mechanics were at the start of the day. After doing drills all day, I started to feel like I was running a little bit better. We ended the day with a short intense workout. It consisted of 7 rounds for time of a 200 meter sprint followed by 10 burpees. I finished in 7 minutes and 23 seconds and thought I was going to vomit!

The second day of the course consisted of programming implementation and a lot more running drills. John re-filmed the group running during the second half of the day and then we reviewed the videos so we could compare ourselves from the day before. John had a really cool software program that calculated the amount of time it took your body to pass its general center of mass, how long your foot kept in contact on the ground and how long you were in the air. The program was able to calculate the percentage of improvement in your stride so we we able to compare numbers from each of our runs. I had a 71% improvement from the first day and Marlaena had a 75% improvement!

I would strongly recommend this course to anyone interested in tightening up their running mechanics and making themselves a more efficient runner. There was a ton of great information, it was very well instructed and we were left with a six week program to help drill in the new running techniques. Hopefully Marlaena and I can keep each other on track and make sure we each do our homework!

Marlaena, my training partner Jordan and I attended an exercise science seminar this past weekend at CrossFit Vancouver. The seminar was hosted by Tony Leyland who is a senior lecturer for the Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology at Simon Fraser University. It was a one day seminar that covered a variety of topics such as the different energy systems in the body, basic biomechanics, VO2 max, nutrition, work/recovery cycles and programming.

Most of the information that was covered throughout the day was stuff that I've already learned in previous courses but it was still a great refresher and I really enjoyed the way Tony presented the material. As a former competitive athlete and now an avid CrossFitter, he has a great understanding of the body and how it works because he not only teaches the info but also puts his knowledge to practical use!

Because the seminar was held at the school of fitness, we did a workout half way through the day to break things up a bit. It was a partner workout that was put together by one of the CrossFit Vancouver coaches. The workout consisted of 10 clean and jerks (95lbs/65lbs) and 10 pull-ups between you and your partner for as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes. I partnered up with a pretty fit guy named Mike and we managed to do just over 12 rounds in the 15 minutes. Marlaena and her partner Emily (who is one of the top female crossfitters in the world) were just a bit faster and were able to do 13 rounds. I was absolutely exhausted after the workout and pretty happy that all I had to do was chill out and listen to the second half of the lecture.

All and all it was a great day! Lot's of very useful information, met some new fitness friends and had a killer workout. Thank you CrossFit Vancouver for putting on this great seminar and thank you Tony for a very well informed, incredibly thorough presentation! 

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