Introducing the New Skill Levels

Earlier this week, we rolled out the new CrossFit Portland Athletic Skill Levels. These are an updated version of the ones that we have been using, and you will see that these are significantly different.

The Athletic skill levels were originally created by Dave Warner of CrossFit Seattle (then CF North). These skill levels have been adopted in various capacities by many affiliates around the country, though they are not part of the official CrossFit HQ material. Some affiliates have modified the original skill levels. In creating these, I used CrossFit Seattle’s original charts (the updated versions), CrossFit Oakland’s excellent modifications of the Seattle levels, and CrossFit Los Angeles’ addition of a plethora of other skills and abilities. Our new levels are a blend of these three, but with numerous additions or changes only found here at CrossFit Portland.

You’ll see that each level has mandatory skills and abilities, plus a certain number that must be done choosing from the optional ones. As you advance thru the levels, you must complete more optional skills.

The levels have all been modified to be more accessible. For example, to my knowledge, no one in the world has ever completed level 3 in the original Seattle levels, much less level 4! Many advanced athletes can fairly easily do most of the things on the original skill level 3, but there are just a few skills that put completing the whole thing out of reach for almost all. As an example, the 3/4 bodyweight added pullup is a FAR harder strength goal to achieve than any of the other strength standards of the level. Another deal breaker for many was the 6k row time for men…just to do this one skill, one might have to train as a distance rowing specialist for quite some time. This would likely make keeping up your other abilities very difficult. We have had a few former and current collegiate 6k rowers training here who cannot make this time!

I wanted the levels to be something to motivate and help our athletes work toward correcting any weaknesses. I made levels 2 & 3 possible with plenty of hard work. Very dedicated trainees could even get to level 4. You will see that some of the skills that were on level 2 have been bumped to level 3, and some from level 3 to 4.

Also taking a cue from both CrossFit Oakland and CrossFit Los Angeles, I differentiated the run times and upper body strength abilities between men and women. This reflects the different genetic potentials between the sexes. As lower body lifts are relatively similar between men and women (in relation to bodyweight), the standards there have remained the same.

Numerous gymnastic skills are now in the levels, as mastery of one’s own bodyweight, plus the coordination and confidence that comes with it, is essential to well rounded fitness.

We have a few flexibility standards in our levels; this is unique to us as far as I know. These will be a work in progress, we may update or change these as needed. A couple of notes here: these 4 tests are by no means a complete picture of athletic flexibility needs. That is really beyond the scope of the skill levels. Some of the essential ranges of motion are covered in the strength or gymnastic standards already. For example, the ability to properly perform an overhead squat, or hold a long “L” sit, require both flexibility and strength. The flexibility tests in these levels just make sure some of the basics do not fall thru the cracks. They are not really dynamic tests, as it is very difficult to measure this in a simple, accurate way.

Remember that these levels are just to help with goal setting, and assessing where your weaknesses lie. For the upcoming advanced classes, one will need to complete at least Level 1, or have instructor’s approval while actively working to complete Level 1.

What if you have already completed CrossFit Seattle’s Level 1 or 2? (the ones we used previously) You’ll only need to knock out the things that are new.

Good luck, and have fun with them! I’d also love your feedback on the new levels and skills. They will continue evolve as experience dictates.

February 8, 2009 | Filed Under Exercises, News | 6 Comments

Home Improvements

There are lots of things to work on at the gym, and some of you come all of the time and have enough access to work on things at the gym. But remember also that we’re giving you the tools so you can practice skills and things at home and continue to improve in the areas that you want to improve in. (Even if you come all the time.)

For Christmas my mom sent Anton and I a pullup bar that we put in the doorway. During the holidays I had a couple of kipping pullups but felt no where near a dead hang pullup. That wasn’t even in my vocabulary. So I decided to grease my pullup groove. We also have an exercise band because dead hangs were not happening without a band (you can’t kip with the portable pullup bar). I did about 8 band pullups, 3 times a day, with the occasional negative. I was mainly working on them for my kipping pullups. But then I realized my dead hang pullup was starting to become a possibility.

This pullup groove helped me improve all around. I have hit two huge milestones recently. Early in January when we did Fractioned Fran I did the whole workout with kipping pullups – NO SUBS! This was a first for me as I had never done a WOD with real pullups. And then Monday night I got my first dead hang pullup ever. WOOHOO!

Pullups! from CrossFit Portland on Vimeo.

The point is it’s easy and cheap to do stuff at home, to work on your goals and improve your skills. A Tabata sequence with any exercise can be great to get the blood moving during a long day at work. Or one of the mobility chains from the Mobility Class on Monday nights. Or grease your groove with pullups, pushups, squats, dips, handstands, and more! Think of your goals, and decide what you need to help improve them.

Maybe a jumprope? Or rings? Maybe a gym mat, or pullup bar! Ross Enamait is a great trainer and home gym innovator. He has several articles and tips about doing stuff at home. Check them out below:

Also check the Home Workouts post on the forum, and add to it! What do you do at home to get a WOD in or to work on your goals?

January 28, 2009 | Filed Under Exercises | 11 Comments

Crossfitting by Bike

I haven’t been around CrossFit Portland as much as in the past but don’t think I’ve been off doing preacher curls and leg presses at the local Gold’s! In addition to making the occasional appearance at CFPDX I’ve been spending a decent amount of time in the saddle getting in some miles for fun, and for the upcoming cyclocross season.

The vast majority of cycling training resources around are fairly conservative and old school, prescribing many miles of boring (and largely ineffective for my purposes) base training. Seeing near constant improvements in General Physical Preparedness from two years of crossfitting and after bouncing some ideas off of Scott, I knew that I’d deviate from standard periodization training on the bike. Spending months riding and not being allowed to get my heart rate above some magic number would likely burn me out and make me able to ride far, but slowly. ‘Cross races are 45 minutes of ~~pure hell~~ maximal effort bike riding, jumping over barriers and running up muddy hills. Explosive power is an advantage.

I just got done with a CrossFit-esque workout that I adapted from The Cyclist’s Training Bible. The protocol, after a warmup:

On a 6-8% uphill grade
-60″ of 90% effort in a medium-high gear
-30″ of 100% effort in a high (hard) hear
-4′ rest

My intention was to do 8 intervals. I only did 5. Why? Well, you know how in the middle of some CrossFit workouts you feel hypoxic and your whole body feels like it could fall apart? Take that same winded feeling but concentrate that full body burn directly into your quads. Yow! There’s no doubt that CrossFit workouts are super intense, but having that intensity largely in one muscle group is super intense in a different way. I *could* have done three more sets, yes, but my performance was quickly degrading (and I’m guessing becoming less effective since I wasn’t able to express power in the same way) and I knew I’d be going on a nice long cruise tomorrow.

For some balance, I finished my workout with 5 sets of 5 pushups and pullups. To be honest, these didn’t go too quickly. After spiking my heart rate so severely multiple times on the bike, it shot up again right away during my first set of pullups! The entire thing took me a total of one hour, door-to-door.

I plan on coming up with some more CrossFit workouts for the bike as well as using the great CrossFit Endurance site for some inspiration. After racing last season with plenty of crossfitting but minimal bike training I’m interested to see how I feel with more sport specific training.

Now for some fuel!

July 5, 2008 | Filed Under Exercises, Workouts | 1 Comment

Running, and the Windmill Complex Returns….

Windmills
The Wednesday night main event was the handicapped mile. We ran a mile the previous week, and recorded everyone’s times. This week, everyone started in reverse order, handicapped by their times from the week before. Everyone finishes at the same time, plus or minus any improvement! The finish was pretty hectic. Congrats on some nice times!

We followed this with light/high rep one arm snatches to windmills, with a focus on shoulder stability.

March 21, 2008 | Filed Under Exercises, Workouts | 1 Comment

Core Strength and Shoulder Stability

Kamal 1 Arm Snatch to Windmill

Kamal works up to a max load in the one arm snatch to windmill. This is a great test of strength, power, mobility, stability, balance and coordination.

March 18, 2008 | Filed Under Exercises | 1 Comment

Just Say “No!” to LSD

Jack Blatherwick, the conditioning coach for the Washington Capitols and conditioning coach for six American Olympic Ice Hockey teams including the 1980 “Miracle Team” talks about the ineffectualness of base training with long, slow distances.

This question comes up often: is it appropriate for young sprinters and athletes in sprint-interval team sports to establish an aerobic base with long, slow distances?

With few exceptions — perhaps professional athletes recovering from an intense season — the answer is “NO,” for the following reasons:

Read the rest on Functional Path Training

I really liked the following bits:

If marathoners do too much long distance training, they establish a comfort zone, running below their anaerobic threshold. To improve times, they must run faster, of course, above their threshold — and there are quite severe respiratory and cardiovascular consequences. This is a physiological habit, not a psychological one, and “speed” work must incorporate intervals to elevate the comfort zone.
Patterns of slow strides are imprinted just as “permanently” into our neuromuscular memory as the quick strides that a sprinter would like to record. Just as a golfer would not intend to include repetition after repetition of “bad” swings when he practices, neither would a sprinter.

…

the mistake made by many fitness coaches is to “compartmentalize” the training into separate workouts — aerobic endurance, anaerobic power, anaerobic endurance, skill, agility, strength, etc. etc. etc. Of course in a game, all of these attributes are required at the same time, so we should be looking for more ways to incorporate the various elements into “integrated workouts.”
Compartmentalizing the metabolic training is analogous to isolating each muscle separately in our strength workouts, and it is just as non-productive.

…

Furthermore, anaerobic interval training is highly aerobic, and can be a more intense cardiovascular workout than what fitness gurus would call a “cardio” workout. College hockey players doing six weeks of dryland training composed of “anaerobic intervals” for quickness and power made greater gains in aerobic and cardiovascular measures than if they had trained with aerobic distances for the same period

CrossFit for the win!! Don’t abuse your body with LSD training. Go hard!

March 13, 2008 | Filed Under Exercises | Leave a Comment