I probably found the smallest hotel room in London. Next to my bed I measured the open space: 3×7 ft (1 x 2.1 m). No worries, that is what the so called prison exercises are for, like burpees, pushups, sit-ups, prison squats… See more from Mark Sisson here.
Hotel Room WOD
Warmup:
– double unders
– handstand pushups
MetCon
For time:
– 50 jumping jacks
– 50 pushups
– 50 tuck jumps
– 50 situps
– 50 mountain climbers
– 50 squats
– 50 jumping jacks
TIME: 7:54
I flew to London on Virgin Atlantic today. The open bar area in the middle of the plane could easily accommodate an entire CrossFit garage gym… Hey, I can dream… (see my aspirational ‘photo’ below). One of the “advantages” of frequent travel is that it reminds us that flexibility can never be taken for granted. Mobility exercises have to be more regular after any extended sitting on airplanes, cars or trains. Learning from recurring back and shoulder injuries doing workouts the day after transatlantic flights taught me many useful lessons. They may be relevant even for less frequent travelers.
Cars and Airplanes are not Paleo
Noone can convince me otherwise. The human body is not designed to sit for 4-8 hours in a hunchback, rigid position, breathe recycled air, eat substandard food and produce anywhere close to optimal performance. But it’s a big world and we need to get around somehow. So the next best thing is to fix what gets broken as we are literally bent out of shape on these trips…
THINGS TO DO ON TRAVEL DAYS
Sometimes travel takes all day and by the time we reach a hotel we are tired, the hotel gym is subpar, we may have some extra jet lag and overall we’re not in peak state for a WOD. Yet I do believe every travel day could be a WOD day. This does not mean doing Murph or even Cindy. A short, 10 minute bodyweight drill at high intensity can do magic (remember the 7-minute burpees?) and keep muscles primed, metabolism pumping and most importantly prevent ‘Crossfitter-guilt’ of missing a workout. I have bad experience though doing weights in the hotel gym on arrival as it may worsen some of the muscle issues caused by the trip.
10-minute Daily Mobility Drills (DMD)
Travel amplifies flexibility, muscle and bone issues we already have. In my case back and shoulders. I made a list of mobility drills that address injury-prone areas. These drills should be done after every trip and preferably every day. After a while they become second nature.
My 10-minute DMD is the following:
– 1 minute Samson stretch
– 2 minute Burgener warmup (can even use hotel towels instead of a bar)
– 2 minute shoulder/back mobility with Lacrosse balls
– 2 minute hip socket stretch
– 2 minute arm/shoulder stretches (band or towel)
– 1 minute air squats and holds
10-Minute Bodyweight WOD
I like doing a max 10-minute bodyweight WOD after doing my daily mobility drill (see below). This combo can be done in 20 minutes.
WHAT TO DO AFTER A TRAVEL DAY AND BEFORE A PROPER WOD
Repeat Daily Mobility Drills (above)
Have a Good Warmup
This is obvious and all good boxes do them religiously: prepare the body for the specific torture about to ensue. Shoulders, back, quads and hamstrings for lifts, legs for sprints and so on. It is unlikely that we can overdo warmups and some boxes (e.g. CF Palo Alto, CF West Chester and others) adopted a standard, repeated warmup routine that addresses all major muscle groups.
Use Assistance Exercises especially for Lifts
Some of the boxes I visited (like Crossfit Balance) do a great job to also add assistance exercises for lifting days. This helps not to tire us out with warm-up weights while giving us an extra edge beyond warmup. This could be practicing snatch balance prior to a heavy snatch session, or romanian deadlift before power cleaning or handstand holds before toes to bar.
TRAVEL DAY WOD
– 8 hour flight from New York to London…
– Daily Mobility Drill
As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes:
– 10 double unders
– 10 pushups
– 10 situps
SCORE: 12 rounds
I’m not sure it counts towards general fitness but I managed the cram a lot into one day. We started of with Open WOD 12.3 which was followed by a 3-hour clean & jerk clinic. By the end of that session the empty barbell felt like a ton… I’m off to London where I plan to visit one of my favorite boxes at CF Central London. I’m also getting ready for a spring season of races including the Broad Street Run, Civilian Military Combine and maybe more…
WOD 12.3
As many reps as possible in 18 minutes:
– 15 box jumps
– 12 push presses 115#
– 9 toes to bar
SCORE: 129
I’m reluctantly learning from veteran CrossFitters the importance of body maintenance. Let’s admit that doing CrossFit is like being in a race every day (you’re on the clock) so the pit-stop is critical time for repairs, maintenance and in our case, mobility exercises. Kelly Starrett’s MobilityWod is of course the ultimate authority on the subject and helps us with any possible aspect of flexibility and injury.
I also like what happens during the Open when it comes to using mobility for preparation. Before every event there are various sites giving you pointers not just on the movements, but also on the best way to prepare your body through mobility exercises. The effort San Francisco CrossFit (like Starrett and Paoli) has poured into this subject is just unparalleled.
Chris Plentus from CrossFit KOP put together the best collection of prep work from all sources for the Open 12.3. It inspired me to create my little checklist of prep exercises for all tricky WODs, like FGB, the Heros and the benchmark girls. These checklists could make a great difference between tolerating and enjoying the race. While I still have not gotten the equivalent of the Runner’s High when doing CrossFit, I do believe that High is attainable.
Humans are said to be creatures of habit. Yet, there is nothing habitual about CrossFit training. I wonder how much most people are pushed to spend outside their comfort zone. Like, every day. The Crossfit Games Open 12.3 certainly delivers another great set of high volume movements that will test our limits. A lot of lifts, a lot of swinging and jumping… So today became warm-up for the Saturday sectionals.
WOD 12.3 Skills Session
Cash-in
– 100 Double Unders for fun
MetCon
Score is the number of times you have to stop to catch your breath 🙂
– 100 push presses @ 115 lbs
– 100 box jumps 24″
– 100 toes to bar
SCORE: 35 stops
