Of all the changes made to the
CrossFit Games schedule and qualification process, the one that seems to have
elicited the greatest amount of emotional reaction from the CrossFit community
is the introduction of Wildcards.
Four invitations to compete with and against
the best CrossFit athletes in the world, free of charge, without ever having
competed in the sport.
So, Hunter McIntyre is going to the
CrossFit Games.
But he didn’t qualify through a sanctioned
event.
Greg Glassman basically offered a “wild
card” spot to Hunter McIntyre and he has received his official invite to
compete at the 2019 CrossFit Games.
In the history of the CrossFit Games,
a wildcard invite like this has never been issued before.
What will CrossFit do next?
Delete their Social Media?
Technically, there are still three
more wildcard spots available but we’ve heard no additional information on how
or if they will be used.
So who is Hunter?
2x Tough Mudder X World Champion
(2017 and 2018)
6x OCR World Champion
4x OCR National Champion (USA)
Undefeated Broken Skull Ranch
champion 3 years running.
OK, so he’s a player in the Game.
How does this benefit the CrossFit community?
By giving a wildcard to a big name
draw from another sport can only be good for the sport itself.
Increased
spectatorship, generated from crossover appeal from fans of said athlete’s
previous sport, is an obvious pro.
But the secondary benefit is more important.
Those first-time viewers of the sport are far more likely to join a box.
The OM Yoga show at Event City last weekend was
amazing!
Two days of everything Yoga from Laughing Yoga to Yogi Tea.
The highlight for the
Bulletproofbodies Team was Sarah Ramsden’s “Yoga and Injury” Workshop.
Sarah has been a Yoga Practitioner for over 20 years.
She is trusted with some of the most expensive bodies in Football.
Most notorious for working with Ryan Giggs and keeping him Premiership Fit with Man Utd up until he was 40!
The DVD with Giggsy is 8 years old now but nothing has changed in the Yoga practice, it's all about being safe in every posture.
Sarah highlights that we need to talk about Yoga and Injury, which is the conversation that we have at Bulletproofbodies on a daily basis.
We love CrossFit, OCR, Yoga, Distance running, Triathlon, Power lifting, Olympic lifting, Gymnastics, to name but a few, but there are risks associated with everything, including the Sports which we all love!
Sarah posed some interesting questions.
In Yoga, we are either just "making shapes" and it doesn't matter how you make that shape.
Or.
Every single posture and joint placement is important and it all matters.
We agree with Sarah, because this is exactly what we teach in Extreme Sports with our clients.
The Workshop focused in a deep dive on only two postures.
The importance of the pelvic position was key.
In Yoga, which has more Female clients than Male there is a tendency to default into an Anterior Tilt position in every posture.
This effectively creates slack in the system.
However, by simply correcting your pelvic position to a more posterior tilt, it changes the whole posture.
Sarah Ramsden
Sarah has been working in
professional football with top players
at both Manchester City and Manchester United - including working with Ryan
Giggs since his early 30's.
In football, Sarah's work includes
seniors, reserves, U18’s, U16’s – in large groups, small groups and
individuals.
Sarah’s clients in football include:
Manchester City, Manchester United, Derby County, Preston North End and
additional work for Sheffield Wednesday FC, Notts County FC, and the Football
Association.
Sarah also teaches open classes in
Chester as well as working with individual clients.
Last week
the Bulletproofbodies Team were back in London for the Acro Yoga Solar
Immersion.
Our expert
Instructors were Jaqui and Pascal.
The video above was the prerequisites for the course.
Would you be fit enough to do Acro Yoga?
But Firstly, what is Acro Yoga?
Acroyoga is
a Yoga practice that combines the dynamic wisdom of acrobatics, the awareness,
breath and balance of yoga and the healing, loving nature of Thai massage.
Working with one or more partners these three disciplines are fused into
spectacular sequences of inversions, flows and balances.
It’s a
community practice, which, at it’s simplest, means that you are working with
other people. In this way we can practice developing trust, connection and
openness which can then be taken into the community as a whole. In AcroYoga,
the smallest community is 3 people covering the 3 main roles of base, flyer and
spotter.
The base is
essentially the one on the bottom supporting the weight of the flyer. The
spotter’s primary role is to ensure the safety of the base and flyer and can
act as coach and assistant to help the pair through tricky transitions.
The two
main energies in AcroYoga are the Solar which reflects the more fiery acrobatic
side and the Lunar which embodies the more therapeutic and healing aspect. The
acrobatic side takes strength, balance and determination while the therapeutic
is side encourages opening, releasing and listening.
AcroYoga is
an exhilarating and open ended practice. It leads towards hard to achieve asana
positions such as scorpion, headstands and handstands. It deepens backbends,
lengthens hamstrings and opens hips, as well as an endless array of flying
positions that no-one has thought of a name for yet.
Solar
Immersion Workshop
Solar Acrobatic Immersions are designed to train us in
the art of training acrobatics safely, using progressive skill building and
effective spotting methods.
We learned to co-create a safe environment and
deepen our capacity to trust ourselves and others.
Paving the way for more
collaborative and advanced acrobatics regardless of what level you were previously.
We developed strength, increased confidence, training smarter techniques and
developed habits that will support our achievement for a lifetime of Acro Yoga.
Trust in
your spotter is paramount if you want to start doing moves that could lead to
an injury.
What better way to do this then the classic fall back and we will catch you!
If you have
not tried Acro Yoga yet, what are you waiting for?
Last weekend the
Bulletproofbodies Team were on the Rockblades Course getting certified with Osteopath
Mike Grice, at Active Health in Manchester.
We have been using Rockblades
for years but it was finally time to get certified.
Rockblades are the future
of IASTM (Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Massage).
Every detail of RockBlades—each edge, angle, and contour, was
carefully cultivated and refined over the course of two years.
RockBlades are
comprised of two precision-engineered and manufactured soft-tissue instruments:
a surgical-grade stainless steel “Mallet” and thermo-plastic polymide “Mullet,”
accompanied by a 100% natural RockRub emollient and sanitising wipes to form a
complete, turn-key IASTM system.
RockBlades are sold as
a complete IASTM solution - 1 Mallet, 1 Mullet, a 50g RockRub Jar and a pack of
sanitizing wipes. They're housed in a reusable docking station made of high
quality plastic that can be washed and used to store the tools for use and
display.
The Mallet
Honed from
surgical-grade stainless steel, the Mallet is the ultimate in-clinic tool.
Hand-polished treatment surfaces, combined with a perfectly balanced and
weighted core make tissue scanning and
treatment a breeze. Matte-finished dimples—four on each side—combined with a
patented "brass knuckle" style handle enables practitioners to hold
the tool six different ways. Every side is unique - both in shape and edge
radius. The non-treatment faces of the Mallet are laser-etched with RockTape's
awesome manifesto design.
The Mullet
The “Mullet” is a
lightweight tool designed to be portable, allowing practitioners to deliver
superior soft-tissue manipulation wherever their patients may be. The Mullet is
crafted from an incredibly durable thermo-plastic polyamide—the same material
is used in high-performance automotive and aerospace applications. The Mullet
features four distinct edges, providing comprehensive treatment capabilities
and its quirks include a functioning bottle opener. The non-treatment faces of
the Mullet are chemically-etched with RockTape's awesome manifesto design.
The Mohawk
The "Mohawk" is a revolutionary system
featuring 3 tools in one, Mohawk enables you to treat a wide range of pain,
mobility and neurological issues with one precision-crafted stainless steel
tool and two unique, patent-pending attachments.
But beyond the
certificate was some amazing teaching and sharing of techniques.
Combined with an
excellent handout containing some great pictures and messages.
People on the course
were from a mixture of backgrounds from Physiotherapy, Sports Rehabilitation,
Sports Therapy and Massage Therapy.
Basically, all from the
big Therapy family.
If you want to get
money off Rocktape products or find out where we are next visit the website
below:
