I am going to be very sad to leave Thames.

I have been involved with Thames since its humble beginnings of early morning training in Kennington Park followed by Paleo pancakes. This eventually lead to spending Friday evenings in the ‘first box’ laying flooring whilst debating the plasticity of rubber matting and whether bubbles we created in the matting will eventually settle!

It’s amazing how things can change and I don’t think anyone could have predicted just how quickly Thames would grow. I believe this growth stems from tireless behind the scenes work focused on the development of its members and community as a whole. Being a part of that community is great! There are not many gyms that call on the knowledge of so many great coaches to help development and Thames has that in abundance thanks to Jay, Jami, Phil, Jos, Nick and Jim and now influenced by the efficiency of Nat. This is luckily being ensured in the future thanks to the interns: Alan, Maria, Julia, Jen, Dani, Gwen, Ja and Ash.

It’s with a tear in my eye that I must say farewell to the members of Thames especially ‘team blonde steel’ . I feel very privileged as a coach to work with such great people – the determination and effort that all members put into workouts inspires me to push that little bit harder, which I am very thankful for.

As most of you guys know I will be leaving in July, doing a spot of travelling around the world (in ‘Bernard the Brave’ – see below) so if you would like to follow the adventure you can check out some of the social media haunts (yes there will be WOD’s in random places!) Facebook or Twitter and visit our rather funky website 365 around the world.

Upon my return, I’ll be moving to sunny Spain – Mallorca to be precise. If any of you are over there it would be great to say hello, the easiest thing is to look me up on Facebook and let me know when you’re over.

It would be great to see all of you guys before I head off, I know the Endurance class this evening are preparing a ‘special’ workout, hopefully not as punishment for the amount of high box step ups they had to do! We are also having a BBQ on Sunday the 23rd which it would be great if you could come too!

At the risk of carrying on and sounding too soppy I will give you a cliché instead:

I’ll be back

Workout of the Day:

A: Split Jerk development

B: 10 rounds in 15mins:
2 Split jerks + 1 behind the neck split jerk

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Have you ever heard the expression “practice makes perfect”? It is more accurate to say “practice makes permanent”. In other words, you will get good at whatever you practice, so get it right.

The obvious area to focus on getting it right is movement. You first need to get it right during warm-up, gymnastics conditioning, progressions and drills. Remember that post about scaling? (link to scaling blog post) If you cannot execute a movement properly through full range of movement, you should scale it and practice with good form (even during warm-up). Mastering each stage of development prepares you for the next stage. Compromising at any stage and practicing bad movement is a dead end.

Where else does practice impact results? In short, everywhere! A few examples:

Approaching a lift – get organized and attack it
Consciously go through the bracing sequence until it is second nature.
Know the right positions and hit each one every time.
Approach the bar like you own it, knowing you will make the lift.

Make all of your lifts – even your max efforts
Some people might not agree, but you should make it a habit to make every lift; missed lifts should be rare.
If you often miss your last attempt of a max effort workout, what are you getting good at? Instead, use smaller jumps in weight and finish with success.
If you hit your limit with time remaining, it is OK to stop for the day. Better to end with success then go for one more attempt that you are unlikely to make.

Awareness and control – be deliberate in your practice to empower good choices
Head position: neutral spine is often desirable, but deviations from neutral are sometimes needed to help with spatial awareness or coordination of complex movements (e.g., look ahead on oly lifts). For each movement, practice the position that works best, developing your awareness and control.
Speed: Some people move the bar at the same speed on moderate and heavy loads. So, are they fast on heavy loads or slow on moderate loads? Maybe both. Practice moving the bar as fast as you can with good form. This should result in really fast reps on light loads, slowing as loads gets heavier.

What will you practice next time you are in the gym?

Workout of the Day:

A: Zercher Squat – 3 sets of 5 reps

Advanced:
A1: Find a heavy single for the day
A2: EMOM, 4 mins, 3 reps @ 80%
A2: EMOM, 4 mins, 3 reps @ 75%

B: 2x5min AMRAP, 2mins rest between
5 Chest to Bar Pull-ups
5/5 KB/DB Snatch (5 reps on one arm, then 5 reps on the other)
5 Push-ups

The post The good and bad of Practise appeared first on CrossFit Thames - Londons most effective fitness programme..

Self-awareness is a funny old thing, we like to think that we are all wonderfully self-aware peeps. My self-awareness has kicked me in the butt a few times recently and I’ve tried to catch myself before I speak.

What I’m talking about are excuses. Excuses as to why my form might be off, or why I missed a rep, or simply why a press, deadlift or squat looked like a car crash. Recently Phil W pulled me up on my form on my presses – before I could put the bar back down I was telling him that I was having trouble with my shoulder (wasn’t it obvious???) and that was why my form sucked! When Phil replied, “it was just your second rep, the others were fine,” I sort of slowed down with my excuse tirade!

I’ve caught myself making excuses a few times of late. And that is only because I now have a little more self-awareness around me that I’m even noticing it! It’s so easy to give the reasons as to why something isn’t working out, instead of working on making it work better. By using an excuse, I am excusing myself from getting better and that sucks. Phil was trying to help me and I was alleging that I didn’t need help.

So Phil, whilst I didn’t say it at the time, due to rolling out the excuse carpet, I’m really grateful now because:

a) my presses do suck sometimes
b) it’s really nice that you were looking out for me
c) I’m a little more self-aware now

So I’ll leave you with this vid…

6 days to go until our “Every Rep Counts” throwdown and BBQ! Sign up here!

Workout of the Day:

A: Push Jerk – Find a new 1 rep max

B: 15-12-9-6
Ring dips
KB Swings 32/24kg
Goblet squats 32/24kg

The post No Excuses appeared first on CrossFit Thames - Londons most effective fitness programme..

Love this guy! Make sure you come to Johns class next week, it will be his last official class at CFT before he moves to Majorca.

Time for another edition of Links of the week!

Real food is not only cheaper, but better for you than vitamins!

Stop sabotaging your sleep!

The “Every rep counts” throwdown….sign up now and get ready to WOD and party with the crew! Even if you don’t want to work out, sign up to attend, your £10 will go towards the food and booze for the event. You will be entered into a raffle for a free pair of Nano’s, and there will be special announcements made on the day which you will NOT want to miss.

A few of our athletes travelled to France this weekend to take part in the French Throwdown. Wish them luck!

A more technical article on the hip hinge. Explains why we practise it.

You need to warm up properly!

9 lies about life you need to unlearn before its too late.

Just in time for the British Summer, an article debating the pros and cons of sunscreen!

After last week’s regional domination in the toughest region, will anyone beat Rich Froening Jr? Cool vid on the games site about his dad.

Workout of the Day:

Rest day or Barbell Club.

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