rat snake texastip

Will Edmonds from CNN visited us here at Training Think Tank to pick Max’s brain about the 2019 CrossFit Games.

They discuss Noah’s awesome weekend, why Will Moorad wasn’t 100% after the final cut, and Travis Mayer missing that final cut by .001 seconds.

Will from CNN arrived 10 mins earlier than we had expected and caught Max mid-meal where he was eating some very spicy food and sweating profusely. In an effort to be camera-ready Max wiped the sweat off his head with a paper towel, only to realize after the interview he had a giant piece of paper towel still stuck to his head. No one said pimpin' was easy, but someone has got to do it.
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Extra footage provided by CrossFit Smugmug

Travis Mayer's first attempt vs. his third attempt. There was a second attempt (not shown) that happened 8 hours after the first attempt.

Link to Competition Guide: http://bit.ly/tankcompguide
TTT Coaches Brannen Dorman and Kyle Ruth share their first thoughts on 18.2 immediately after watching the Pro's go after it during the announcement Thursday night.

Travis Mayer, his coach Max and Noah Ohlsen do commentary over his Trav's 18.3 performance, followed by some thoughts and tips from Max after having watched all of our on-site athletes hit it this morning. Link to our Competition Guide here: http://bit.ly/tankcompguide

Music: "Blind" by Hercules & Love Affair

Max El-Hag and Brannen Dorman's thoughts on 18.1 immediately following the announcement/workout Thursday night.

Link to Competition Guide: http://bit.ly/tankcompguide

Max shares his thoughts on 18.1 after watching our on-site athletes (including Noah Ohlsen, Travis Mayer & Will Moorad) hit 18.1 this morning.

Music: "Art is Hard" by Cursive

𝗪𝐀𝐑𝐌-𝐔𝐏 👇⁣
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰 ⁣
10-15min: ⁣
12-15cals AB⁣
12 Banded Good Morning⁣
6 Cook-squat⁣
12 Walking Lunge + Reach⁣
6 Deck-squat / Candlestick Rolls⁣
12-15cals Ski⁣
12 Arch-hollow Swings⁣
6 TTB⁣
30ft HS Kick-ups (kicking up into a wall-supported HS hold from alternating legs)⁣
6 2.5lb Wtd PVC Pass-throughs⁣
+⁣
Joint / Movement Prep⁣
A. DB Front Rack ⁣
-front rack elbow supported pulses⁣
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-banded front rack drives⁣
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-PVC external rotation in front rack position⁣
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-Shoulder/elbow rotations on rack⁣
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B. Shoulders/Lats/Scap⁣
-Foam Roll: Lats / Pecs / Upper-back - 2min each (faster / lighter rolling)⁣
-Back To Wall Shoulder Flexion - 2 x 5-6; rest as needed⁣ -Yoga Push-up w/ exaggerated Shoulder Flexion - 2 x 5-6; rest as needed⁣ -PVC Pass-through w/ progressively more narrow grip - 2 x 3-4; rest as needed⁣ -Bar-hanging Scap Circles - 2 x 3-4 ea direction; rest as needed⁣
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𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐩⁣
A. Box Step Overs - practice footwork technique you will use for workout - minimize extra steps and work on speed. ⁣
B. FRWL - practice step-through lunge, fast reps, and holding DBs in comfortable position you can breathe in. ⁣
C. BMIU - practice smooth kip and efficient first rep arch ⁣
D. Hang Squat Clean - warm-up positions and build to your opener ⁣
+⁣
2-4 sets @ comp pace⁣
90 Sec Assault Bike (start at highest target pace and then slowly back off) ⁣
15-20' FRWL ⁣
4-8 TTB ⁣
4 Box Step Overs ⁣
2-6 Bar Muscle Ups ⁣
into ⁣
Hang Squat Clean (slowly build up each set to your opening weight) ⁣
rest 1-3min bw sets ⁣
…⁣
rest 5-10min… and go!
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𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍👇⁣
10min AMRAP⁣
50ft DB FR Walking Lunge @ 35/20lb
16 Tuck-ups⁣
12 Alt DB 2-arm Box Step-overs @ 35/20lb (20")⁣
6 Burpee Pull-ups⁣
...at the completion of the 10min⁣
6min window to build to max hang squat clean ⁣
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𝐌𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒 👇⁣
-Walking Lunge must be completed in 25' segments⁣
-DB's may be held in the front rack anyway as long as hands stay in contact with handles⁣
-TTB - Open Standard TTB⁣
-Box Step-overs - DB's may not rest on box, must alternate legs, both feet must contact the ground each rep ('18 regional standard)⁣
-BMU - Open Standard BMU⁣
-Hang Clean - bar must pass through completed DL before lowering bar to hang, hang may be below knee or above, bar may be preloaded, may use assistance in changing weights⁣
-Clean - bar may be pre-loaded to first attempt, may use assistance in changing weights

#SaturdaysAreForThrowdowns #tttTD19 #crossfit

Noah, Travis Mayer, and their Coach Max commentate over Noah's 18.5 performance, followed by some tips from Max.

When you see a child develop, it’s apparent the human spirit is meant to explore. If you put them in a park, they’ll find a playground to climb on, they’ll run around, they’ll roll on the ground, and if they see an animal they may even try to mimic its movement.

As we age, maybe due to fear of embarrassment or not perceiving utility in that behavior, we lose our desire to explore for the sake of exploration.

Our locomotion and flow playlist is a way for you to get more systematic structure to this exploration so as an adult you can cultivate your childlike enthusiasm for movement.

Properly utilizing this tool can have specific training application to goals in things such as martial arts, running, dance, and field sports.

The second of my three talks at the TTT Open Camp was a continuation of my Oz themed discussions. Instead of shying away from the role of the wizard, I embrace my status and morph myself in the story from the regular man behind the curtain into the Wizard that many people seek for answers.

Those answers were found in many places, but I specifically go into a portion of my athletic and coaching career, mostly discussing how failures over the duration of my life have led me to a place that many people around me perceive as 'successful.'

While successful is a new, and sometimes uncomfortable title for me to embrace, I thought it could be valuable to share what some of the obstacles in the road actually looked like to arrive at this destination.

I share it as an inspiration for others that are struggling to find their greatness, and perhaps as a warning to show just how treacherous the road may actually be.

It would seem that expert movers have the most repeatable skill sets. If you watch Steph Curry shooting a free throw, Dustin Johnson swinging his driver, or Tom Brady casually throwing a football you might be in awe of the repeatability of their skill.

However, looks can be deceiving as these expert movers actually have more variety in the way they execute those skills than meets the eye.

Having a multitude of ways to execute a skill is beneficial for a variety of different reasons. You can use this variability to bypass fatigue, navigate dynamic environments of sports, and continue to refine the skill as movement quality changes with an aging body.

I’ve found that people who practice a skill by trying to find complete repeatability with no variance lose out on this dynamic, reactive, and varied ability that true experts have when it comes to skill adaptation.
Movement variation is a training tool we use to provide varied constraints into training so that you can practice this and move closer to expert level movement ability.

Link to Competition Guide: http://bit.ly/tankcompguide
TTT Coaches Brannen Dorman and Kyle Ruth share their first thoughts on 18.4 immediately after watching the Pro's go after it during the announcement Thursday night.

Coming this year's Open to the Training Think Tank YouTube Channel!

We normally don't give much attention to these clues posted by Dave Castro for each CrossFit Open workout, but we might be onto him this time.

Max talks through Wodapalooza Event 8 practice vs. actual Gameday execution for Team TTTW (Noah Ohlsen, Travis Mayer & Will Moorad)
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Music:
Gucci Mane - Lemondae

In this episode TTT Coach Max El-Hag talks about how to manage joint pain.

Whether through yoga, band distraction work, or PNF many people use stretching as a component of their movement routine.

What I’ve realized is that most people stretch to “loosen up,” reduce tension, or they have go-to stretches they use to prepare specific movements.

I’ve personally found that stretching can create far more training gains if people learn the nuance of the skill.
When used to target a specific movement, isolate the joints that are limited, and then systematically progress the stretch, people seem to make improvements in movement without creating laxity issues.

Prescribed in this way, with awareness of tension cues/breathe and including post-stretching isometrics, loaded stretching can help athletes to create and strengthen better positions.

Max, Brannen & Kyle share some things to consider when it comes to assessing your 2018 Open performance and how to approach training moving forward depending on how you did.

The story of Noah Ohlsen & Travis Mayer's 2017 CrossFit Games.