shoes. get them.

Watching people do the olympic lifts in running shoes, sandals, high heels, whatever you people are wearing these days hurts my soul. This is like watching soccer players run into a game in their tennis shoes. Or tennis players running onto the court in soccer shoes. Or runners going for a run in olympic lifting shoes! Hopefully you get the point. The shoes exist for a reason. They work. I have heard the argument, "I'm not good enough at the lifts to justify buying the shoes!" Well guess what, you will never be great at the lifts WITHOUT the shoes. You might have the technique down, sure, but you are limiting your abilities and even flirting with injury. Doing a clean in running shoes is like standing on a pillow and being asked to clean.

What's that? You don't want to listen to me? Well then, take it away, VS athletics narrator guy:



One thing the video doesn't mention is the raised heel. The heel height varies a little in certain shoes, but the purpose of the heel is to make the bottom position of an olympic-style squat (upright torso, think receiving position of clean/snatch) easier to obtain. The raised heel lessens the need for ankle mobility to comfortably get in that position. It is absolutely possible to achieve good bottom positioning without a raised heel, but it's certainly easier with it. Why not take that advantage?

These are helpful not just for our heavy lifting, but also for any metcon where there is lifting and no running or box jumps. This is quite a few, actually.

You can't buy these shoes at Wal-Mart or Sports Authority, however. Unless you have a kickass gym supplier in the area, you are more than likely forced to order them online. Don't worry, here are a few of the places that sell the shoes:

http://vsathletics.com/

http://www.againfaster.com/weightlifting-shoes/

http://www.dynamic-eleiko.com/products/shoesFR.html (Adidas, and my personal preference)

http://www.ristosports.com/ (handmade and customizable)

http://www.roguefitness.com/store/weightlifting_shoes.php (Keith has some of these if you want to check them out)

http://www.muscledriverusa.com/wesh.html

If you can't find a shoe after all those links, you're hopeless. There are subtle differences between the different shoe brands (sizing, heel, firmness of sole), so if you have a specific question, I might be able to answer it, but probably not. I'm helpful like that.

UPDATE: Ryan asked a good question in the comments, here is my reponse:

Good question, Ryan. I wouldn't recommend maxing your back squat in them or even doing any of the strength work in them, but there are definitely shoes that are "better" for cf. The common themes are mostly minimalist shoes, low profile, not much cushioning, light weight, flat soles. Here are a few options:

Chuck's are the default and work great: http://www.converse.com/#/products/collections/specialcollection7 (the only reason I don't wear these is because my feet are entirely too wide for them)

http://store.dcshoes.com/home/index.jsp (Skate shoes work well because of the flat sole and they are designed to help you "feel" the ground)

http://www.terraplana.com/evo-p-1263.html?colour=76 (these are on the extreme end. a lot like "five fingers, but without the ninja turtle toes)

http://inov-8.com/Products-Detail.asp?PG=PG1&L=27&P=5050973060

http://inov-8.com/Products-Detail.asp?PG=PG1&P=5050973021&L=27 (my current choice)

http://inov-8.com/Products-Detail.asp?PG=PG1&P=5050973023&L=27

http://www.adidas.com/campaigns/performance/ru_ss10/content/products.aspx#grid (I have used Adizero's quite a bit and love them)

holy crap

Well, not every post needs to be entirely about training...right? And since I'm a dork, I thought this video was pretty stellar:



I can remember making Rube Goldberg machines in middle school for science competitions...ours were, uh, simple.

And what off-topic post would be complete without some animals?

Animals catching treats in slow motion.

Keep the music nominations coming!

training music

The music being played in the box is a constant topic of discussion, catalyst for fights, and source of amusement when MJ comes on and Chauncey flips his lid. I have heard just about every damn thing possible at the gym. I have heard more Black Eyed Peas than I would care to admit, but I've also heard some funky circus music, country, metal, rock, reggae, hip hop, whatever Barry Manilow is (adult contemporary?), and everything in between. I think there are as many opinions about "good" training music as there are genres of music. I am going to present you suckas with what kind of music I like, and why. Buckle in and and get ready to disagree.

(actual picture of Chauncey the last time The Jackson 5's "ABC" came on)

Training music is not as simple as "blast AC/DC bitches!"...at least for me. I want different things playing when I'm lifting heavy than I do when I'm fumbling through a metcon. I like certain songs when I'm warming up, when I'm cooling down, whatever. I'm weird. At the same time, I should note I rarely hear the music during an actual workout. Once the clock starts or the lift begins, anything in the world could be playing and I wouldn't care. I just prefer the music to get me in a proper state of mind. Sometimes it does help bail me out of a meltdown, but I try to avoid those times.

First, for metcons, I like relatively calm music. WHAT?! Heresy!! As much as I like Disturbed, it makes me feel like crashing through walls and punching children. If I am going to have a good metcon, I am already pumped up and ready to go, so I want music that will help calm me down if I start to freak out because I can't breath and there's a hundred pounds crashing on me. Sometimes I like Rage Against the Machine or something to get me ready for a metcon, but usually that means I don't want to do the metcon in the first place, so that's a whole other problem. My current favorite metcon song is kind of embarrassing. It came on Pandora one day during one of my metcons and I totally dug it. Later I found out it was by Limp Bizkit. Sigh.... anyway, here is that song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEGI9NbH-mk . Don't ask me to explain it, it just works for me. I don't even listen to the lyrics. Here is another favorite metcon song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS4OAK-v6Zg . I'm less embarrassed about that song, but most people wouldn't dig it for Fran.

For heavy lifting, I like things like U2's "Numb" . For some reason I also like STP's "Loungfly". Why? It played one time when I PR'd my snatch, so now I like it. I think Reggae is legit lifting music too. If you disagree, you're wrong. A decent amount of good hip-hop belongs in there too.

As you can tell, I like pretty random music for training. I want anyone and everyone to post some favorite songs in the comments and I'll start collecting them onto a playlist that we can have at the gym. I doubt everyone will like every song, but I also doubt that I care. Nominate songs and we'll play them! Probably.

sharks and quads

I have a couple posts in the works, but in the meantime I'm going to leave you with two things: 1) A killer stretch for your quads/hip flexors and 2) A killer animal video.

Read, perform, reap the benefits:
http://sanfranciscocrossfit.blogspot.com/2008/12/doode-wheres-my-quads.html

And,