Accomplishment of a 10-Year Goal

“I think I am a good testimony to the fact that CrossFit … no matter when you start, you’ll see at the least 10 years of adaptation,” says Greg Amundson, the “original firebreather.”

Sevan Matossian catches up with Amundson to talk about CrossFitting for a decade. Amundson is a 10-year veteran of the CrossFit program, and he is still improving.

“I train harder now more than ever,” he says. “My capacity, my fitness, has immensely increased.”

According to Greg, he has even remained injury-free.

“All it takes is a little bit of appreciation for the fact that these workouts are designed to humble the world’s greatest athletes, and when you can realize that, when you can approach a workout with that knowledge and scale it for your level, it’s the world’s safest fitness program,” he says.

Amundson says he always strives to make PRs, but no one can break records all the time.

“If we find ourselves plateauing in one area, shift focus,” he says.

Amundson cites CrossFit’s Sports Series as a great opportunity to grow your fitness.

“We can be improving in our fitness for the rest of our life,” he says.

11min 37sec

Additional reading: Forging Elite Leadership by Greg Amundson, published April 18, 2011.

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Daily WOD

Complete 5 rounds for time of:

1 Press 90% of 1 RM
1 Strict Pull Up
1 Press 90% of 1 RM
3 Strict Pull Ups
1 Press 90% of 1 RM
5 Strict Pull Ups

Post times and loads to comments. 

Daniel M. 

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Hook?em: Longhorn-themed bar in Pakistan shows Texas? global appeal

The University of Texas has always claimed to be a global brand and nothing says global like the opening of a Longhorns-themed bar in Karachi, Pakistan.

Shanil Ali, a 25-year-old Texas alum and native of Karachi, opened the "Longhorn Sports Bar" as an homage to his alma mater and as a place for Longhorn fans in Pakistan (which could be in the 10s) to go watch football and basketball games and enjoy the Tex-Mex dishes they had while in Austin.

"I attended UT-Austin and I became a fan of their basketball and American football team," Ali told Pakistani newspaper, The Express Tribune. "After a while, I became a typical 'Longhorn' and wanted to share their lifestyle and their love for sports."

The appeal of a sports bar in Pakistan isn't that far-fetched. Texas boasts students from all over the world, who often move back to their native countries to live and work. It's no different than a UT grad in upstate New York wanting a place to catch the game with his Longhorn brethren.

While the sports bar doubles as a nightclub, it embraces Texas' burnt orange and white colors in fluorescent lights. The Longhorn logo is displayed prominently while Ali also champions his native sports of soccer and cricket.

The menu is an eclectic mix of Tex-Mex favorites and tradition Pakistani food. Several of the menu items are named after Texas football and basketball players, but Ali also gave a shout out to his favorite athletes with the "Steve Nash Texan Beef Burger" and the "Maradona Royal Bacon Burger." And no, neither played at UT.

The bar also offers live music and Xbox and PlayStation games.

You have to think the advance of the Longhorn Network will make this place - or other places around the world - successful because it will be able to show Texas-related sports content 24 hours a day. The only problem will be trying to get people into the bar for live events because of the 11-hour time difference, especially if the Longhorns play afternoon games in the United States.

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Pose Body Position and Gravity

Continuing the conversation, Pose Method creator Dr. Nicholas Romanov explains more about Pose and the role of gravity.

To find the key poses of the movement, Romanov says you use the common denominator: “Where the body weight is.” That body weight must always be traveling from one pose to another as you move.

Where there is body weight and movement, there is Pose, and that even applies to the Earth, the moon and the tides. The constant is gravity.

“Gravity doesn’t change,” Romanov says. “Gravity as a common denominator defined our life from cellular level to organism and environmental appearance—it’s all designed by gravity.”

Matossian summarizes their discussion: “The rules of physics that we move under are universal, so the method in which we move should, in the most efficient manner, should take this into consideration, this gravity. Terrain doesn’t matter, age doesn’t matter, body shape doesn’t matter—choose your movement and apply the Pose model.”

10min 22sec

Additional reading: The Basics of Pose Running Techniques by Brian MacKenzie, published Dec. 1, 2007.

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thurs, jan 13, 2011

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The Westside Conjugate System

Legendary powerlifter Louie Simmons explains the methods that have brought success and records to Westside Barbell lifters.

I was always stronger a week or two after a meet or a week or two before the meet but very seldom on meet day. The Soviets had coaches, like Matveyev, who realized there was a much better method of planning. There has always been controversy over who came up with wave periodization. Dr. Yuri Verkhoshansky has been credited with the pendulum wave. This was in 1964. Even the renowned Bulgarian coach Abadjiev had a similar plan for waving volume and intensities.

It was in 1983 when I broke my lower back for the second time. I thought there had to be a better way. I started to buy books such as the Soviet Sports Review, translated by Dr. Yessis, and the Soviet training manuals that Bud Charniga Jr. had translated. Bud told me that they were textbooks. This is just what I was looking for. They opened my eyes. They are very math- and physics-oriented, with a basis on Newton’s laws of motion. I was hooked.

I had totaled my first Elite USPF total of 1,655 in February 1973. I used no gear, not even wraps on my knees or elbows or even wrists—just an Olympic weight belt, not a power belt. If I wanted to continue to make progress, I had to get stronger, and I had to get smarter—much smarter.

I started all over.

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Jon Gruden discovers another side of Terrelle Pryor, humanitarian

Terrelle Pryor wants your tired, your poor?. your homeless.

That's right, Terrelle Pryor is trying to reform his image from, well, cheater, to humanitarian.

During his film review session with former NFL coach Jon Gruden on ESPN, Pryor continued to give ambiguous answers about his past, but he was clear about his altruistic future. No longer will Pryor think of himself; he's now a giver.

"I'm very heartfelt," he said. "I like taking care of people. I like putting people first and me being last. Anytime I see a person on the street, I give them the money I have; I pick 'em up, take 'em to go get food, you know. It gives me enjoyment, you know, just to put a smile on another person's face, it means the world to me."

Are you done laughing or should I give you a couple more minutes?

I'm sure Pryor brought a lot of smiles to people's faces as he sold his memorabilia and traded his signature for cash. I'm sure the bulk of that money went to soup kitchens across Columbus, Ohio or toward Happy Meals for homeless children.

It would be criminal if someone -- perhaps the NFL Network -- didn't spend a day or two with Pryor to get to know his philanthropic side. To share one of his (alleged) seven different cars with a homeless man as he takes him to the local Golden Corral for its all-you-can-eat buffet.

If Pryor wants to rebuild his image, this is surely a better way to do it than continually spewing apologies for ambiguous misdeeds that he won't actually talk about.

Pryor, who hasn't taken questions from the media since he left Ohio State last month, did field a couple softballs from Gruden about what went down at Ohio State. It wasn't anything Earth-shattering, but Pryor did acknowledge he was disgusted. With what? Well, we still don't know.

"I'm disgusted on what really went down, what had to happen to that university," Pryor said. "I regret the fact that Coach Tress had to leave, and I regret the fact that I had to leave. I just wish I could still be there with my teammates. I'm just trying to get used to it and just try to move on. It's hard for me, but it's something I have to do."

At some point, maybe far into the future, we'll all finally learn what "had" to happen to the university. Maybe Pryor will talk freely about his three seasons at Ohio State and we'll all find clarity in his answer. Maybe the homeless of Columbus really know more than we do since he's spent so much time hob-knobbing with them.

Or perhaps we'll learn that Pryor is still just all about himself.

"You know, [I'm] very heartfelt for it, very sorry," Pryor said. "But at the same time, I still have to move on because I still have a life I have to live."

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