Do the hook

Reminder: the hook grip is with your thumbs wrapped around the bar and your fingers wrapped around your thumb.  You don't have to get all white knuckles on me by death gripping the bar, just using two fingers is enough to lock that bar into place.  

So I competed in the sectionals this past weekend and despite the fact that I asked God to "just take me right then and there" at least 47 times, it was still an amazing experience for me.  However, I dont want to talk about MY experience competing. Instead, I want to share with you all what I learned this past weekend.  

From everything that I took away from the competition, the main thing that is stuck in my head is:  Crossfitter's are a whole new kind of species, and a funny one at that.  

" Sage, when I was working out, I realized something.  I'm in a parking lot, lifting weights, and putting myself through terrible terrible pain.  Why would anyone ever CHOOSE to do this?" - Nichole Dehart

After laughing for about 7 minutes, I stopped, and then tried to really think about that question. Why do we work out in odd places, why do we do odd movements that make for WAY too many "thats what she said" jokes, and why do we push our bodies til we feel like death? 

My main answers to that question are:

#1 We do it because we're all obviously a little messed up in the head and in Crossfit, being crazy = being badass .

#2 We do it so that we can give back to this "thing" (crossfit) that has changed  all of our lives. 

I don't know about you guys, but I can honestly say that, without Crossfit, I would be in a completely different place in my life.  I would probably be making millions as a rapper.  (kidding, but not really) 

But its true! I would not be in San Diego, working for the best gym EVER, and I would not be traveling around the world getting to coach and meet so many amazing individuals.  I wouldn't have any friends other than my mom (maybe not even her. kidding mom. but not really) because all my friends are Crossfitters, and I wouldn't have the pleasure of looking at people's facial expression every time I tell them I'm going to be teaching them about the snatch!

My life would be completely different.  My life would be way less fergaliciously awesome.  

Crossfit has provided all of us with so many great opportunities.  It has changed the way we look, the way we act, and the way that we view ourselves.  It has given all of us confidence that we never knew we possessed.  And THAT, my friends, is a beautiful thing.  There is something about beating a previous time in a WOD, or hitting a new clean and jerk record, or doing a workout as prescribed for the first time that makes us feel like we did something amazing.  Like we did something worth while.  Like we did something that we can be proud of.  All of those things are soothing for our souls. And, I dont know about you, but I LOVE a good, soothed soul.    

This post has gotten way out of hand with all the randomness and cheesiness.  So I'm gonna stop.  But, think about what crossfit has done for you.  Maybe that will explain why you workout in strange parking lots and why you choose to push yourself to the point were death seems more appealing than doing one more thruster, and why you risk sounding like a complete hoochie mama when you try explaining to someone that you had 7 different coaches working on your snatch at the last olympic lifting certification. 

keep it sassy.  

What is death?

Dont let your starting position look like this:

There are three questions that every single human being will ask at least once in their lifetime:

#1  Why, when taking a nap, is it more comfortable to sleep on top of a well made bed as opposed to being under the covers?

#2 Why did the oompaloompas change colors from the very first Willy Wonka movie to the more modern one?

#3 What is death? 

Well I'm here to answer question #3.  

Death comes in three forms:

1) Rounding the back when pulling weight off the ground.

 If you do not tighten everything that can possibly be tightened when pulling a barbell off the ground, you. are. going. to. die. What happens is that the bar starts to pull you WAY far forward and when that happens, you've lost control of the weight.  Not being in control of the weight means that you cannot use your great technique to get that barbell over your head.  Instead,the bar will be flying all over the place.  Trust me, that is NOT a pretty sight...  And we're all about being pretty.  So squeeze your back shoulder blades together, get your chest up, shift your weight back onto your heels, AND THEN proceed to lift the bar off the ground.        

2) Not fully extending AKA not finishing

Some people LOVE the feeling of the bar hitting them right in the face, but I personally do not love it.  I don't know why, but I just never wake up in the morning and say,  " You know what I would really love today?  A good smack in the face by a heavy barbell!" Call me crazy, but that's just me.  SO, if you're on the same page as me, take my advice and FINISH your pull.  A good finish ( and by finish i mean the movement, not a Finish person) is with the body fully extended, a big proud chest at the top, and the shoulders slightly behind the barbell. That will allow for a great path for that barbell to travel straight up.  If your finish is with your hips vertical, but your shoulders hunched over the bar, you're inhibiting that bar from taking the path that it wants to take in life, so in turn, it will smack you in the face or be out in front of you in a position where you cannot stand up with it cause its too far forward. (talk about a run on sentence) Anyways,  it's a mutual relationship here people.  Love the bar, let it take it's desired path in life (which is going over your head) by getting your chest and face out of the way, and it will do good things for you.   

3) Not flipping the hook grip out on the turnover on the clean

I've seen broken wrists TOO many times from slow elbows on a clean.  Fred Lowe, a million time Olympian, was helping me at my cert this past weekend in Chicago.  He said the greatest quote EVER... "The turnover is an attitude".  He is totally right.  Turning those elbows around FAST and with a "junk yard dog" (as my dad likes to say) attitude, is the only way you will not die on a clean.  And the only way to get that incredibly ghettofabulous fast turnover, is by flipping your hook grip out and letting that bar land back on your finger tips with your elbows WAY high up.  Keeping the hook grip means low elbows, which means all the weight is on your arms, which means arms hitting the knees at the bottom of the squat, which means broken wrist, which means death.  Got it? Think about turning the elbows ALL the way around (flipping the hook grip out) the same time that the feet hit the ground.  MAKE THE LIFT SNAPPY!

Dont make me post a video of some guy doing a clean with slow elbows and his wrists are flying all over the place hitting people in the audience in the face.  They show those videos enough on the news.  Which pisses me off, btw.  But thats a whole different blog post for a whole different time. 

keep it sassy. 

pretty much the fastest burgener warm up in all of existence

So, I was in Florida visiting my bestest friend for a week and was without a computer, so dont sue me for not updating my blog.  I was told that I apologize all the time for not updating my blog, yet still continue to not update it, so Im just going to stop apologizing so that I'm not looked upon as a liar.  I got a rep to keep up, yo.  

First off, I would like all of you to know that I got shoes that say fergilicious on them.  They're pretty much the coolest things ever. 

Second, a lot of people have been asking me "Sage, I am just SO perplexed! What iiiisss the REAL Burgener Warm-up? I've seen so many different versions and it has been giving me extreme anxiety not knowing which one I should follow!" (thats exactly how they said it too, im sure of it!)  Well! I'm here to clear things up for ya'll.  The burgener warm up HAS been modified slightly over the  years, so I want to give you guys the most updated version cause I'm a nice person AND I don't want you to feel out of the loop. 

1-2-3- Down and up: you have a Snatch grip, the hook grip OF COURSE. You dip straight down drive straight up and shrug at the top. Dont lean forward when you dip, that is a different position. (this is pretty much the jump)

4-5-6- Elbows high and outside: this is followed by the down and up and you continue with your elbows going high and outside (hence the name).  This helps to keep the bar close to your body. Always make sure the elbows are above the wrist.

7-8-9- muscle snatch.  NO REBENDING OF THE KNEES OR ILL HIT YOU WITH A PVC PIPE.  This helps with the snappy turn over.  Its a muscled movement (hence the name..again.. We like to keep things simple. K.I.S.S. keep it simple stupid-michael scott) so you don't want to be thinking about getting underneath it, that will make you rebend your knees and that's bad!

10-11-12- snatch land- this helps with footwork. The bar stays overhead after the muscle snatch and we have people land in a two inch depth squat, a 4 inch depth squat, and then a 6 inch depth squat.  All above parallel, but working on getting lower (this helps with practicing meeting the bar at different heights) without throwing the feet out.  You want your feet to be in the EXACT same position every time no matter what depth of squat you are in.  Kapeesh?

13-14-15- Snatch drops- this again helps with footwork.  The bar is still overhead and you pretend there is a trap door under your feet and DROP all the way down into a overhead squat AS FAST AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE!!! DROP IT LIKE ITS HOT, YO.  again, make sure that your feet are hitting the same landing position every time.  Dont throw those kicks (ghetto term for shoes) out wide trying to get depth. Squat to get depth. 

This is probably THE worst burgener warm up technique wise, but get over it. It was hella (nor cal version of saying EXTREMELY) fast.  

Love me some OHS

So as I was cleaning my house today, I remembered the thousands of times I have been asked how to improve flexibility on the OHS.  I am STOKED (for the old folks out there, stoked means "so excited") that people ask me this because alls it means is that they want to get better at the best movement in the whole entire world! 

The solution is simple: DO MORE OVERHEAD SQUATS.

Whether you are cleaning the house, rearranging furniture or threatening your kids by tossing them over your head to prove your insurmountable feats of strength, you can always be practicing your overhead squat position.  Its one of those things where stretching your shoulders, loosening up your hip flexors, improving your ankle mobility, etc will ALL benefit you, but you really just have to DO the movement as much as possible to really get better at it.  Your body has to get used to finding the right muscles to fire and finding its balance. The only way to do that is to allow the body to feel the movement as much as possible. (AMAP)

 I know its a foreign movement being down in a squat with your hands out wide and heavy weight in your hands. Its anything but comfortable. But like everyone says.. "get comfortable with being uncomfortable". 

You should be able to OHS anything from a pvc pipe to a toyota camry, but when someone is struggling getting in the overhead squat position with a pvc pipe, I usually put a LITTLE weight in their hands (like a 15-33 lb bar) and that generally allows them to sit a little more comfortably in the squat position (if they stay tight and keep the bar back behind the ears allowing their body to support the weight) because something is weighing them down. However, like I said, your goal should be to squat a pvc pipe and a heavy weight exactly the same. Kapeesh?  

So, if your heels come off the ground in a squat, if your shoulders are so tight that the bar wont go back behind your ears, if your torso leans way far forward when trying to get into the OHS, know that these are all common flexibility issues.  Work on flexibility on the side, but for the most part, grab your swiffer and get your booty overhead squatting! 

One of my bestest friends in the whole entire world, Kaia, recently lifted in her first weightlifting competition ever.  She was extremely nervous (if you're not nervous before a competition, there is something seriously wrong with you) and was beginning to question her amazing lifting abilities.  Anyways, despite all the nerves and doubts, she ended up having the most amazing meet ever, going 5 for 6 and pr'ing about 27 times.  It's one thing to be nervous before a competition, but its another thing to be able to control the nerves and use them to your advantage.  And that is exactly what she did.  

Her competition experience inspired me to write this rap.  

size fetus

Oh herro! So, ya, thats me snatching like .7 kgs back in the day lookin like a criminal and stuff in my prisoner singlet. When I found this picture, it reminded me of the many atimes when people have asked me about little kids weightlifting and what I thought about it. I am obsessed with little kids and I am obsessed with weightlifting and it's common knowledge that the two things you are obsessed with HAVE to go good together. But let me further explain the benefits of lifting weights as a wee one (all my friends in Ireland will be proud of me for using "wee")

 First off, let me start off by saying that I have been lifting since I was four (competing since I was six), and even though I am a little (ok so maybe more than a little..) crazy in the region between my ears, I turned out to be ghettofabulous. 

What weightlifting has done for me:

1) Taught me body awareness. Body awareness is SO important and can make learning new things a heck of a lot easier. Weightlifting is great for body awareness because you are lifting a heavy a$$ weight over your head, and if you have no idea where your body is in conjunction with the bar, then you're basically screwed.  Lifting teaches you to be in tune to each little movement of each little body part.  

2) Taught me how to focus under stress. The great thing about lifting is the competition aspect.  You work hard for months and months, and then you get to take all that hard work and perform in front of a crowd and in front of judges.  As great as it is, it is also makes you want to pee your pants from nerves! Its just you and the bar up on a platform in the middle of a huge room with thousands of eyes looking at you.  Scary or not, it is a great thing for a young kid to experience because you have to learn how to block out distraction and perform under great a deal of stress. That focus transfers over to almost every other aspect of life that requires focus. 

3) Learned what it meant to be dedicated to something. Weightlifting taught me how to be committed to something and how to STAY committed even if I hit a rocky road (mmm makes me think of ice cream).  that commitment did interfere with my social life with friends, but not enough to make me resent the sport. The rewards I received from the years of hard work i put in, far exceeded the sacrifices I had to make. I learned to set goals for myself and learned that I could reach each goal with my persistence and dedication. Reaching goals, is an important feeling for kids to experience and weightlifting gives you so many opportunities to do just that. 

4) Most importantly, weightlifting gave me confidence in myself. There is something about walking up on a platform, approaching a heavy weight, feeling afraid, and lifting that bar over your head that makes you feel such self satisfaction and makes you feel extremely proud of yourself.  The feeling of conquering your fears is a hard feeling to match. We all fear, yet we all have a choice: Do we let that fear control us? or do we control the fear? Olympic lifting allows you to feel that fear, accept that fear, and then punch that fear in the face, one lift at a time. With each fear you face, new confidence is brought about and you grow as a person. You grow as a person who believes in his or herself more and more each day. And to believe in ourselves (as children or adults) is the hardest feat that most of us will ever have to face.  

Weightlifting did great things for me. I can honestly say that I would be a completely different person if I didn't have olympic lifting in my life. It shaped me into the woman that I am and I am SO grateful for that.  It is why I blog all these corny blog posts to ya'll.  I want to give back and help you all to feel the benefits that olympic lifting has had on my life. I want ya'll to love it as much as me. 

I think I completely got off topic...

keep it sassy

Get up off my grill, son!

Why all you mutha suckas be up in my grill bout my updating of my blog? 

You know that whole thing where people want what they can't have? My blog updates are kind of like that.  I'm trying to play hard to get via blogging.  If I updated every 5 seconds, then ya'll wouldnt even read this shananigans anymore! Youd be off cheating on me with some blog about low bar backsquatting and power lifting. ;) 

Now that we all understand each other, lets move onto the important stuff: ice cream.  Thats what I'm blogging about, right? I can't remember if I'm supposed to be blogging about ice cream or oly lifting. I guess I'll just write about both today because I had a magical experience with ice cream on Friday night.... 

I had just finished a killer workout.. literally... Cj is trying to kill us... and I decided that there was nothing more I could ever want in the world than some nice, cold, delicious ice cream. So, I left the gym and proceeded to purchase a pint of ben and jerry's coffee and heath bar ice cream thinking that I was just going to take a couple bites and then continue on with my paleolithic lifestyle. but NOOOO I got home, turned on the tube which automatically killed about 80 brain cells, and ate that whole frackin pint in about 7 minutes.  Let me just tell YOU.. that was THE best 7 minutes of my life... minus the loss of brain cells.. but its ok because I have plenty ;)

ANYWAYSSSS

tip of the day:

Some people have been telling me that they jump back when they snatch and clean.  Is that good or bad?  

WELLLL.. Ideally, you want to be jumping straight up and down.  That tells me that your hips are moving vertically and that makes the bar move vertically and that's what we want to see.  Jumping back is OK, but you have to remember to be Compton Hard.. aka really aggressive when turning that bar over. Think about it this way... if you jump back, bring the bar back with you.  That is the only way you wont miss that bar out in front of you.  

So, jumping straight up and down is ideal, jumping back happens, but never  jump forward..EVER...  even if there's a fire. If you jump forward, it either means that you swung the bar out, or that you banged it off your hips, or that you were extending with your shoulders forward, rather than having those shoulder back behind the bar when you extend.  capeesh? 

keep it sassy