Christmas Came Early! And I Got a Box Full of Balls!

I want to thank Jill Miller and Robert Faust of Yoga Tune Up for donating a box of Yoga Tune Up Therapy Balls to Operation Reload and Recover! I first discovered Jill after she appeared on MobilityWOD. Jill Miller is the queen of fascia and I have always enjoyed her guest spots on MobilityWOD, as her knowledge on movement and recovery is immense.
I'm no yogi, but I started to use YTU Therapy Balls because my body was so extremely tight that a lacrosse ball was just way to rough on many places that I tried to roll out. For those places that I needed to mobilize the most, a lacrosse balls was just too painful, so I was not really benefiting from myofascial release... as the key part is being able to RELAX and contract while treating soft tissue. The YTU Therapy Balls allowed me to actually relax and really treat my issues.
The YTU balls are softer (but not too soft like a tennis ball) and they are grippy, which is important...as anyone who has ever tried using a tennis ball has seen (tennis balls will just slide out from underneath you).
One of the most impactful things that I have learned from Jill is how important, and critical the psoas can be in treating your pain. For me, treating my psoas has been key in my rehabilitation. In an upcoming post I will talk about the psoas and show you some ways to mobilize it.
I STRONGLY suggest picking up a pair of the Yoga Tune Up Therapy Balls. Put it at the top of your mobility want list. Or better yet…come out to a Operation Reload and Recover Event, we have a box of them now!!!

My favorite mobilizations with YTU Therapy Balls are:

1. Using the pair in the bag for thoracic mobilizations. For anyone who needs a lot of t-spine work, (which a majority of our military and first responders do from wearing body armor and carrying heavy loads) a pair of double lacrosse balls are just to rough sometimes. YTU balls are the way to go.

2. Neck Mobilization. I do this one (@5:10 on video) when I watch TV or have been working on the computer for a while and my neck is tight. You would be surprised at how tight your neck can be, This would be great after a jump or a ruck march. As the ball has some grip, gently push the ball into your neck, give the ball a twist to take the slack out, and gently look away in the opposite direction…repeat in different places, and on different sides.

3. Ankle Mobilization. Again…great after/before a ruck march and just after wearing boots all week long.

Interview With Olympic Rower Kristin Hedstrom

About a week ago, some fellow coaches and I had an awesome rowing workshop at Bladium Crossfit with Olympic rower, Kristin Hedstrom. Kristin is an amazing athlete and I cannot thank her enough for taking the time out to coach us. It was great being coached by an elite Olympic rower, and we all learned a lot. I had the opportunity to sit down with her and ask her a few questions:

1.  Damper setting...a much debated topic in the crossfit world. What damper setting should a typical crossfit athlete use for a typical WOD involving rowing less than 1000m at a time?
The numbers on the side of the erg act as a guideline. Instead of going off that, hit "more options" and "display drag factor." This will give you an actual reading of the drag on the machine. Row at a decent pace (like 70% of max), see what number it gives you, and adjust it up or down based on what number your'e going for. Shoot between 120 and 135 - lower end if you're a smaller female, higher end if you're a bigger male. I heard some people saying they want to throw it up to 10 on the damper setting. I was surprised; as elite rowers, we do very little work at a 10. It makes the load really heavy, so you'll burn out sooner and it won't be efficient. What you want is to put a lot of power into each stroke but still be able to keep the fan moving and take a lot of strokes per minute, which is possible on the lower drag setting.

2.  What is the most common fault you spot while people are rowing?
You see this one all the time and it makes all rowers cringe: after finishing the stroke, people bend their knees first and then have to lift their arms over their knees. Instead, your hands should come away from the body, then the upper body pivots over at the hips, THEN the legs bend. It's more of a three-part motion up the slide. 

3. What does your typical warm up look like?
For a 500 / 1k on the erg? 10 minutes rowing at about 70% pressure, stretching, then 5-10 more minutes of going 10 strokes hard, 20 strokes easy. The "hard" should be at the split and rate you want to hold for the race and the easy should be paddling. 

4. What does your typical recovery look like?
From any hard workout, it's at least a 15 minute cool-down, then taking care of the priorities: refueling and rehydrating while stretching and foam rolling. 

5.  I saw on your twitter that you made an interesting looking "kale-mango-pineapple-greentea-coconut-flax smoothie"…there was no recipe; will you share it or should we just burn it from our memory?

Oh man, my smoothies get a little crazy sometimes, depending on what I have in the kitchen. I never follow a recipe. I just throw stuff in and if it tastes yucky, add a little more of this or that until it's better. More often than not, you can't go wrong. Going off of memory, that recipe looked something like: 

1/2 cup frozen mango

1/2 cup frozen pineapple

1/2 cup frozen kale 

1 tsp matcha tea powder + 1/2 cup water

3/4 cup light coconut milk

a couple tsp ground flax seeds 

a couple tsp chia seeds

6. What is next up for you (when is your next major competition or what are you currently training for)? and how can readers find out more about you?
I'm going for the Olympic Games in 2016, but the most important upcoming race is the 2014 World Championships. National selection for that starts in April. You can follow on my website - www.kristinhedstrom.com - where you'll find links to my blog, twitter account, and ways to support me. 

Thanks again to Kristin for taking the time out to speak and work with us. Go check Kristin out and help support our Olympic athletes. There is a huge misconception that Olympic athletes make a ton of money like NBA or NFL players…they don't! These athletes bust their ass pursuing their passion, simply for the love of their sport. For 99% of these athletes there is NO money in becoming an Olympic athlete…hopefully this will change

“@spartangrass: KendrickJFarris do you do the Olympics for the money?” What money?
— Kendrick J. Farris (@KendrickJFarris) November 29, 2013

USOC pays 25k for gold 15k for silver and 10k for bronze, this hasn't changed in over 10 years and due to inflation it's about 5k less.
— Kendrick J. Farris (@KendrickJFarris) November 29, 2013

Kristin and my fellow coaches after a great rowing workshop

What Makes a Hero?

I recently read this article which reviewed several studies on what makes humans want to take heroic action and if we are hardwired for it. It was an interesting article based on several different experiments. Basically, scientists came up with a few ideas hypothesising that, doing something charitable, "provides an intrinsic reward that is neurologically similar to ingesting an addictive drug", giving people a "high on being heroic" and that being compassionate or heroic can be likened to a muscle that you can condition by certain practices.

...Blah blah blah....For those of us who have served, we can offer a different perspective on this topic. In my experience, what makes a soldier take heroic action in combat is LOVE. Its the love for his brother in arms, a bond which is incredible strong. I would die for any of my brothers that I served with and know that they would do the same for me. Its not that anyone wants to be a hero, they just want their brother next to them to make it home.