My Time: 15:47
My lower back felt about 90-95% healed. I need to improve the endurance of it. It gets sore during the workout causing me to pause and let it stretch out.
Here's another article from Invictus Crossfit:
Training for Fat Loss
Written by Calvin Sun
I’ve spent the better part of a decade earning a living by training clients and working with athletes. In that time, the biggest misconceptions that I have seen over and over have been related to training for fat loss. I hate to generalize, but most women (and some men) believe that they should avoid all weight training and only perform “cardio” and abdominal exercises to get their ideal physique. I see this manifest in our group classes in the form of going through the motions during the strength portion and then only focusing on the conditioning portion of the workout – and often followed up by a few sets of sit-ups or something similar. My guess is that if you are guilty of this approach, you probably haven’t seen very good results with it. Maybe you lost a few pounds initially, but now you have plateaued and you may have even gained a pound or two. This faulty approach is perpetuated by novice trainers, workout routines published in “fitness” magazines, and a few common exercise myths. In previous blog posts, Mark and I have addressed both the myth of the fat-burning zone and the myth of spot reduction. Take a minute to go back and review them if you aren’t familiar.
The hour or so you spend in the gym accounts for a very small portion of your daily caloric expenditure. Unless you are a professional athlete that trains and practices for several hours each day, the large majority of your daily caloric expenditure comes from your Basal Metabolic Rate (or BMR), the calories burned to sustain your bodily functions on a daily basis. One of the most effective ways of increasing your BMR is through increasing the amount of lean muscle mass on your body. This is, of course, only achievable through weight training, preferably in the form of deadlifts, squats, presses, and other multi-joint, compound movements. You see, for every pound of lean muscle that you add, you will burn approximately 50 calories more per day. That might not sound like much but keep in mind if you swap out 5 pounds of fat for 5 pounds of muscle, you will burn close to 300 extra calories a day before you even hit the gym. Furthermore, intense weight training results in an afterburn effect where your metabolism is elevated for up to 38 hours after your training session. This is known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC, and you can read more about it in Mark’s post here. Doing cardio alone will only decrease your BMR as time goes on. This turns into an uphill battle as your BMR keeps dropping, you’ll need to increase the amount of cardio you do to create the same deficit. Without weight training, you’ll lose muscle which will actually account for some weight loss, and you might even lose a few pounds of fat if your diet is decent, but it’s unlikely you will achieve (or maintain) the level of fat loss you desire.
“Won’t weights make me bulky?”
Getting big and muscular is very hard to do. Just ask any average male. It takes years of hard work, the right training program, and a lot of food . . . it just doesn’t happen by accident. Weight training will add a few pounds of needed lean body mass which will in turn make you leaner and give you a better looking physique. Women simply don’t have the levels of testosterone needed to support the type of muscle growth you fear. Unless you are taking anabolic steroids, gaining too much muscle is probably the least of your worries. And if you are taking steroids, gaining muscle is still probably the least of your issues.
“Marathon runners are skinny, shouldn’t I run to become thinner?”
That makes as much sense as playing basketball to get taller. This logical fallacy is commonplace in fitness as many people are quick to make hasty generalizations. In any sport, genetics certainly play an important role. The best runners are thin because skinny people make for better runners. Just as the best basketball players are tall, the best runners are thin. In fact, many people who take up running end up “skinny fat”, a physique denoted by a lack of lean muscle mass and often accompanied by a noticeable amount of fat or “doughy” appearance. These people are known to complain about being unable to lose the last the few pounds of fat around their midsection while sipping on a fruit smoothie or over a lunch of whole grain pasta.
“So how do I go about increasing my lean body mass and improving my body composition?”
Definitely focus on the strength component in our group workouts. If you want to get more experienced with lifting, consider signing up for the Performance Clinic. You’ll focus on the core lifts, increasing strength, lean body mass, and overall performance. Many of the clients in the Performance Clinic have leaned out while getting stronger at the same time. Also, look into signing up for a nutritional consult or even the upcoming nutrition clinics. You’ll get some useful instruction on how to dial in your nutrition so that you can improve your body composition and performance with a sustainable approach.
I know many of you are in the midst of the current LGFGPG challenge so I hope you’ll take my recommendations into consideration not just for the duration of the competition but in the long run as well. Take a look at your current approach to training and be honest about how well it has worked for you. As always, feel free to consult any of your Invictus coaches if you need further guidance.
The Turkish Get-Up
Written by George Economou
The Turkish Get-Up (TGU) isn’t a fancy exercise. Through a somewhat awkward series of movements, the TGU has you take a weight from a supine to a standing position with the weight extended overhead the entire time. It doesn’t have the sex appeal of the Olympic lifts, and you can’t “butterfly” it like a pull-up. Those things aside, it’s still an incredibly potent and effective exercise for two reasons: shoulder stability and core strength.
Shoulder Stability: The TGU takes you through a range of motion not duplicated by any other exercise, all the while forcing your shoulder stabilizers to respond to your movement, and teaching the shoulder how to stay “packed” through movement.
Core Strength: For anyone wishing to improve their deadlift, squat, Olympic lifts, or just avoid back pain, the TGU teaches you how to integrate your core/trunk/midsection/what-have-you into movement in a way that will help you maintain a neutral spine while also minimizing energy leaks.
The following pictures and cues explain how to execute a variation of the exercise that I prefer over others. Once you feel proficient in this lunge technique, you’re encouraged to experiment with other methods. As with any exercise, if this is your first exposure to it, keep the weight light (or non-existent) and practice the technique first. DO NOT sacrifice movement quality in order to get the heaviest weight possible overhead.
Throughout the movement descriptions, the term “working” refers to the hand, arm, or same-side leg that is holding the KB. Don’t be confused, you’re entire body is being worked throughout the exercise. Notes written in italics are common faults. Just as a disclaimer, I did not invent the TGU, and I don’t know who did. As for the way that I coach the TGU, my biggest influences have been McGill, Pavel and Cook.
Step 1: Getting into your starting position
– Lay down on your side, the side you intend on starting with.
– Establish a false-grip on the kettlebell (KB) with your working hand. Clasp your other hand on top.
– With the KB held close to your body, roll onto your back.
– Your working forearm is perpendicular to the floor.
– Your same-side leg’s knee is flexed, with your foot planted on the floor.
– Keeping your shoulder blade pulled back-and-down towards your spine, tighten down your abs and press the KB straight up.
– Keep your eye on the KB at all times.
Common Faults in Step 1:
– Taking the KB overhead from a compromised shoulder position.
– Flexing the wrong knee (bringing the wrong foot up into the support position).
Step 2: Push up to your elbow
– Keep your eye on the KB at all times.
– Keep the shoulder blade of your working arm pulled back-and-down.
– Set a tight brace.
– Keeping your working foot planted, roll/push onto your non-working elbow.
Common Fault in Step 2:
- Biggest fault seen here is not maintaining a solid brace. Throughout the movement, but at this point in particular, it’s critical to try to “marry” your rib cage and your pelvis – the two should not move independently of each other.
– Don’t be afraid of using your working foot to help push you up. This exercise is all about identifying movement strategies – integrating
every part of your body in order to accomplish a task.
Step 3: Push up to your hand
– Keep your eye on the KB at all times.
– Keep the shoulder blade of your working arm pulled back-and-down.
– Keep your working foot planted, maintain your brace, and press up to your non-working hand.
Common Fault in Step 3:
- This is where you tend to see the elbow start to bend. Keep the arm locked out. It may help to think of trying to keep the biceps close to the ear. If you can’t keep the arm locked out, try it with a lighter weight.
Step 4: High-Hip Bridge
– Keep your eye on the KB at all times.
– Keep the shoulder blade of your working arm pulled back-and-down.
– Keep your working foot planted and maintain your brace.
– Squeeze your glutes and drive your hips up as high as possible
Common Fault in Step 4:
– Creeping up to the toes. If you’re up on the toes of your working foot, the glutes will not fully engage, your hips will be too low, and
you won’t have enough clearance to pull your non-working leg all the way through. It’s an easy fix though, keep the heel of the working foot planted.
Step 5: Sweep the leg! You got a problem with that?
– Keep your eye on the KB at all times.
– Keep the shoulder blade of your working arm pulled back-and-down.
– Maintain a rigid position with a straight line from back of the head to working foot.
– Pull your non-working leg behind you until you’re in a partial lunge.
Step 6: Come into the lunge
– Keep your eye on the KB at all times.
– Keep the shoulder blade of your working arm pulled back-and-down.
– Keeping a tight brace, bring your torso into a vertical position directly over your hips.
– The palm of your working hand should turn in towards your head as your torso becomes vertical.
Common Fault in Step 6:
– The limp noodle. Keep the arm locked out!
Step 7: Stand
– Keep your eye on the KB at all times.
– Keep the shoulder blade of your working arm pulled back-and-down.
– Stand. (As shown in the photo at the very top.)
Step 8: Go through steps 1-7 in reverse order.
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