Paul Chek, Bulletproofbodies & Cross-Fit

"There is no such thing as a bad exercise or exercise system. 

There are only incorrectly prescribed exercises and exercise systems."

Paul Chek

                      

In case you don't know, Paul Chek popularised Functional Movement and challenged the Body Building Gym culture of the 90's.

The Chek Institute is concerned with Holistic health and not just Functional Training.

He uses his 4 Doctors analogy which is brilliant. 

The last 4 Doctors you will ever need:

Dr Happiness - AIR - What do you want from CrossFit?

Dr Movement - FIRE - Are you over training?

Dr Diet - EARTH - Are you eating correctly?

Dr Quiet - WATER - Are you rehydrating and resting enough?

We put all these in the Couldren of Consciousness which contains many ingredients and requires some alchemy: 

Planning

Action

Celebration

Rest

Paul is not against CrossFit but he wants to make us aware of the challenge. Or as he calls it, “Trial by fire, baby.”

What Paul is highlighting is the significant risk that high intensity training may bring if you do not have adequate muscle flexibility, joint stability and baseline fitness

Are you ready for CrossFit? 

Are you prepared for CrossFit?

Are you scaling your workouts?

Are you maintaining good form when lifting?

Are you training through injury?

CrossFit replaces a primal need, that of significance, or proving yourself in society where you no longer have to prove anything.

Check out Paul's book - "How to eat, move and be healthy." 

I love Paul Chek and CrossFit and would recommend both to you, but only if you are ready for a trial by fire (baby)!

Paul Chek, the Bulletproofbodies team Salute you.

https://chekinstitute.com/

Stop comparing kipping to pull ups

At Bulletproofbodies we get this question a lot.

Kipping Pull Ups are bad or not proper Pull Ups.

This demonstrates how the person asking the question does not really understand what they are asking. 

Or they have an agenda to say that CrossFit causes injury (which of course I disagree with!).

In my experience of treating and managing CrossFit injuries for 7 years, it is true that I treat a lot of shoulders. 

However, these athletes have a few musculo-skeletal niggles rather than what I would classify as an injury. 

These athletes respond quickly to treatment and have fantastic adherence to the rehabilitation exercises they are asked to perform. 

For us at Bulletproofbodies, CrossFitters are the perfect patients.

There is also a culture of body maintenance thanks to Mobility WOD and ROM WOD.

In studies on CrossFit injuries by Hak et al (2013) and Weisenthal et al (2014) they both point to overhead activity as the main culprit for shoulder injuries.

Muscular fatigue of the rotator cuff during kipping may be responsible for the loss of proper form and increased potential for injury.

The simple injury prevention strategy is to break up your big numbers into bite-sized chunks.  

Then, progressively build up your rotator cuffs exercise tolerance to keep the humeral head in the optimal position.

The mind-set of task completion must also be addressed, if you feel any pain whilst performing kipping simply stop and rest.

It is important to differentiate the achy feeling of delayed onset muscle soreness which should be relieved in a couple of days and the sharper, “this does not feel right” pain that you need to seek the opinion of a Physiotherapist for.

Check out Luke’s Channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCueCBBvCWzVb7n6FxKjDUog

References

1.     Hak PT, Hodzovic E, Hickey B. The nature and prevalence of injury during CrossFit training. J Strength Cond Res. In Press, doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000318.

2.     Weisenthal, B. M., Beck, C. A., Maloney, M. D., DeHaven, K. E., & Giordano, B. D. (2014). Injury Rate and Patterns Among CrossFit Athletes. Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, 2(4), 2325967114531177.