How to Be More Awesome. By Sarah (of course)

If you haven’t had Sarah for a coach yet, about it you are missing out. Before you read this you will need to know that Sarah is small but mighty. She is strong and spunky and great at correcting movement. She is a great athlete as well as coach. And a mom on top of all of that. WOW. As an athlete she is aware that some of her time outside the gym, page while limited, needs to be used for increasing range of motion and mobility. She has been working on it for a few weeks and is going to share about it. 
We are a super fit gym- winning at life. I mean, whether or not you believe it, if you show up to CFO, put in the work, you’re getting stronger EVERY day. So what does that mean? We tear muscle when we work out, when we lift. That muscle grows back bigger, stronger and more badass then it was before… but something else also happens, or shall I say CAN happen. New muscle growth, if not stretched, can take away our full range of motion. With that said, some of us have never had the benefit of full range of motion- which does hinder our ability in increased strength. I can assure you, catching that snatch in a bottomed out squat, will not feel confidently executed- if done at all- without adequate range of motion in ankles, hips, shoulders and wrists.
So what’s the cure? What’s the secret? What’s the band-aid? STRETCH!
Although any stretching would be better then none at all, the BEST stretching would be “long holds” of poses or positions. The idea behind “long” would be anywhere between 1 minute to 4 minutes for each position. Seems easy enough, however- when done effectively- it’s tough, it’s uncomfortable, it’s boring. But if you do it enough times (like 5 days a week for 10-20 minutes a day) it produces self awareness, self healing and of course, my favorite, GAINZ! Ha!
Many of our movements, whether lifts or gymnasty movements, are improved tremendously with better range of motion. I have my own experiences that I’d be glad to share if ever interested, but for now, let’s talk about good resources for mobility work. First and foremost, you can always ask a coach. The benefit of having one of our coaches assist, would be having specific areas targeted just for you. The disadvantage would be the self led stretching. To do the work, and hold the poses with zero accountability is tough. Heck, that’s why we workout at CFO! Best advice would be, create a list of poses to do, the amount of time to hold each one (write this workout down), and stick to it. Be sure to also create a battle plan of how many days you intend to do this type of workout, and stick to that too! Second resource for a great stretch sesh, would be yoga. Namaste. Benefits- it’s led by an instructor, and you pay money for it- so there’s lots of accountability here. Disadvantages- you might get stuck doing compromising poses next to the sweaty, slightly smelly, older gentlemen that wore too tight of light grey sweats to class and he feels very relaxed during a pose which may, or may not create gaseous movement. Just saying.
Lastly, well at least in my realm of resources… “ROM WOD”: these two words shouldn’t look foreign to you; they are “range of motion workout of the day”. It’s programing, just like how CFO programs our WODS to increase our strength, ROM WOD programs to increase your range of motion. Here are the benefits: it’s instructor led so you don’t have to look at clocks or write your own stuff. You pay money (you get a trial week for free), so you just bought yourself some accountability on usage frequency (I’m not even sure that’s a legit term). And you’re in the comfort of your own home/personal space (just the other day I did a very sketchy stretch with some good people at CFO; they must trust me a lot to put them in such vulnerable positions in public. Hahahaha!). Disadvantages… you pay money and you feel bad when you don’t utilize what you paid for… and sometimes it’s really uncomfortable… but you get over it. Wow, that’s my long explanation on stretching. Hope it helps, and if nothing else, I hope to open up further conversations on our own journeys in taking care of ourselves outside of the realms of Crossfit. Peace, out!

Workout of the Day
Strength
Max Clean and Jerk
Conditioning
Brian’s 100%
40 Box Jump and Over 24/20,
20 Power Cleans 165/110