A much needed rest day for me.

that's by far the best video ever! I need to get my a** to a certification soon :o)

Brent looks confused

Yes Coach! Always good to see Burgener.

getting UNDER the bar... easier said than done...

The video is in the context to what lift and what stage of the lift?
Thank you,
Matt

Glad to see Mr. Yon is back in Iraq. As usual, his skilled reporting and unique perspective is appreciated.

-D.

Glad to see Mr. Silver is back. As usual, his sharp wit and unique perspective is appreciated.

Nice one, Jeff. Concur.
To quote Dan S. - "May 2007 not suck as much as 2006."

Nice reports from Michael Yon. Nothing about his reporting sounds unusual to me - by that I mean, troops are troops are troops, from doughboys to GIs to 'Nam grunts, it's always the same. What is surprising to me is that we don't get more of this kind of coverage.

Dogs are great. No one has benefitted more from our presence in Afghanistan and Iraq than the dogs. They LOVE Americans because we give them what they want - some love and decent treatment - and in return they give the same.

I think Brent looks good. Were proud of you Brent.

I've read some of michael yon's stuff before. I like it more than most, although riding around with a CSM is better than riding around with a general, I still think it's a little more rank than soldiers feel comfortable with. But, it is probably the most effective rank to actually move from place to place with. I guess that's the trade off.

I wish we had more Michael Yon's. Believe it or not, his stories make me miss my days as a Marine grunt. Life as a "grunt" is basic, and very focused, very little BS. Ahh, Semper Fi...

The man's a genius.

And not because he understands gravity and momentum, but because he can take a concept that scientists spend their lives trying to explain and put it into simple english that you and I can intuitively understand.

That's genius.

Another priceless piece of wisdom from Coach B. I've been telling my athletes to 'float' the weight for a long time and now have a device that I can use to *show* them. Many thanks for posting the video.

I miss my dogs. Thanks to Mr. Yon for bringing some firsthand insight to me. Thanks much moreso to those men and women doing the work.

Great video! Once again thank you for the tremenous insight. Is there ever a chance that we can host a certification seminar in Anchorage?

matt #6:

coach burgener is talking about the second pull (i believe) on either the clean or the snatch.

man oh man, i'd love to go to oly cert someday. i have a feeling that it'll happen before i go to a Xfit cert...mostly due to money issues ; )

Jeff, Dale, you flatter me, sirs.

-D.

"Dogs are great. No one has benefitted more from our presence in Afghanistan and Iraq than the dogs. They LOVE Americans because we give them what they want - some love and decent treatment - and in return they give the same."

Yeh, OK. Maybe a little less time cuddling with puppies and a little more time looking for Bin Laden and you would have found the guy.

Comment #6 - you want the bar to float so you can rack it on your shoulders. So the "stage of the lift" is right before you duck under the bar and rack it on your shoulders (right after the second pull). First pull - lift the bar above the knees, second pull - violent pull to get the bar to float high enough to duck under it.

Please ignore the troll

God Bless CSM Mellinger for his steadfast leadership and 1/3 of a century of service. May we all remember those walking the line.

Jacko, I know you're a liberal and all, but when you "support the troops" try to refer to them as "we" not "you". As is "we would have found the guy". It's hard to support the troops when you don't cheer for 'em.

Burgener = The Man

I actually get the video, thanxs!!!

I like the way the article was presented.
It read very well.

What's with the boot camp style responses in the video? Is this the norm for Coach Burgener's seminars?

#26 - chris lampe - from what I understand, yes, it is.

The purpose of an Olympic pull is JUMP THE BARBELL THROUGH A RANGE OF MOTION, GENERATING ELEVATION AND MOMENTUM. WHEN THE BARBELL HAS BECOME MOMENTARILY WEIGHTLESS YOU ARE TO PULL YOURSELF VIOLENTLY UNDERNEATH TO RECEIVE IT.

Apologies to Coach B. if that was slightly wrong. If so, I guess Burpees (Yeay burpees) for me.

There are really two points there. One, your arms are EXACTLY like cords, and in the sams sense that you can't bend a cord, you don't bend your arms at any point in the pull, until you are pulling yourself downward--faster than gravity alone would pull you, since the barbell has gravity too--in which case you DO use your arms, in a perfectly executed lift. At least in my understanding.

The second point is that the second pull has to be SHARP, not long. There has to be a violent pop. Basically, the first pull solves the problem of getting the barbell over your knees. As soon as you can, once you get the barbell over your knees, you reposition your torso to point up and down, where you can generate maximal momentum UP (versus OUT, which will cause the barbell to describe an arc that ends on the floor behind you--i.e. a missed lift). What he's showing is almost exactly like when you pick a couch up by the arm, then have to do a quick pop to get your hands under it. When it's weightless, you get under it.

I really enjoyed the article and the pictures that were in it. It did read very well.

I would say about Jacko that perhaps he has never had to search for anything in his life.

Thanks for the video! It definetly gave me something to try next time I practice cleans (which will be tomorrow). I'm pretty sure I was missing the snap to float the bar.

The "Boot Camp" style responses I took as a sign of respect and acknowledgement of hearing and understanding.

Kate

I thought I would share this-

Yesterday, L built me a small box as a surprise, to stand on and do jumping dips off.
N & L had some friends over (ages 12 to 14) and when I went outside to see the box, they were telling me the stuff that they were practicing (handstands, the climbing wall, rope climbing) so I mentioned they should do some of what we do for a workout. That sparked some curiousity so I rigged up our caving ladder, and had them climb that, only one got up to the top, everyone else got halfway, more rope climbs, how many pull ups/ chin ups can they do, and how many dips. Then we brought out the wall ball and I showed them wall balls. They tossed it back and forth to each other a bit. Then I told them about Tabata squats and they all wanted to try that. The boys were done after that so I had N and her friend do plank holds for how long they could. The boys came back and wanted to try that too. They all had a lot of fun and N's friend (a girl) said she wanted to come back and follow "our" plan. I explained about CF and the work load and she is still interested. They all didn't know fitness could be this fun.

If she does, she will be my first recruit beyond my kids. I guess I'll be checking the Brand X website more for the kids section. I also need to buy a lighter medicine ball for the kids.

Kate

Awesome video. It's been hard for me to communicate the coordination and transition between the upper and lower bar. The best I've done is that telling them that the legs do the power and the arms just guide the bar. But I really like the way Mike gets the point across. You can always tell the difference between right and wrong by the bar speed as it comes up. When done correctly it moves much faster and snappier. In fact on the clean you will likely clock yourself in the chin the first time you get that cooridination and transition correct.

That video is friggin awesome. Thank you for posting it!

Just to show all you people who gripe about rest day comments...notice Jacko.

Also, be advised that I responded to Jacko and my post did not make it onto the board for very long before it was removed. I did not use foul language. I only addressed his comment....crudely I admit. Yet as it stands now, his post which is truely offensive is still on here.

That is the way it goes sometimes...So all you leftist who gripe about your posts being removed or held..sack up

I was deployed with an imbedded reporter from a home town paper. We, at first, were very nice to him and talked to him about all sorts of stuff. After we saw his work in print, we realized he had betrayed us and was a (insert favorite bad word here)-------. We made sure he knew he was not welcome anymore and had to watch him to keep him away from the younger troops. So now I just steer well clear of reporters, but I think I can make an exception for Mr. Yon.

The hardest part about that second pull is holding onto the bar, you can in effect jerk it loose from your grip very easily, hook grip or not.
#31 CCTJOEY, point taken. But why haven't we found OBL? With all the surveillance I tend to believe he's not even there, more likely in some former Soviet republic.

That video is friggin awesome. Thank you for posting it!

RobertP...

It is not for lack of effort.

Some of the cause is definately bad decision making.

Some of the cause would be due to Rules of Engagement that we employ for both foriegn policy reasons and to keep world leftist and hostle organizations and governments from hamstringing the search even further.

Some of it is personal sacrifice(or cowardice) by OBL to remain hidden and keep overt communications to a minimum.

Some of it is most likely the host nation, state, region, or faction finds it to their benefit to keep him around.

Great article by Mr. Yon. Thanks for posting it.

It took Turkey far longer to find Ocelan in their own country and surrounding states, than we have been looking for Osama 5000 miles or more from us. Finding one person in a country full of similar looking people is not easy. We have satellites and HUMINT and a host of other tools but, as is well known, intelligence is never perfect. Give the search for Osama a bit more time before becoming so conspiracy theory consumed.

They finally caught Ocelan and he can rest assured he will probably never see the outside of a prison or court house again.

Oh yeah, Mr. Yon is the only reporter in Iraq whom I follow and it is good to see that he is back in Iraq producing honest work.

I wish more reporters would descend from the Ivory Tower known as the Green Zone and report on what is actually happening.

I thank Mr. Yon for his courage. We need more journalists telling us what they see on the ground in Iraq.

However, Mr. Yon's reporting hasn't really changed my conception of the war. Maybe morale is a bit higher than I may have thought, but that could be for a lot of reasons, even not necessarily ones we would like. (Troops don't really know what is happening in the big picture, or they don't care to know, or Mr. Yon is deluding himself on that score, or maybe Mr. Yon just got in with a particularly well run group.) Besides, high morale does not win a war. I'll bet morale is even higher, sadly, among the insurgents.

Moreover, the report reinforced my view that we (including the troops) don't have a clear reason for fighting the war. There are so many enemies, some of whom are fighting each other in addition to us, that the prospects for a lasting stability in the foreseeable future is nil. The report gave the impression that it is rare to find an Iraqi soldier or civilian who actually likes to work with Americans -- there are some, but they are like needles in a haystack was the sense from the report.

"We are stretched too thin" was a refrain, and sending 20,000 troops to Baghdad won't help the good guys in Anbar. They were jealous when they saw the good Humvees. That does not translate into high morale, even if they can joke about it a little.

Overall, nothing in Mr. Yon's report led me to want to support this war. Support the troops, yes. God yes. And I thank him for showing us the humanity of being a soldier in Iraq.

But not the war.

rest day - 7 mile hike on the muddy trails of Wissahickon Park on a very foggy afternoon in Philadelphia.

Slink...please clarify this paragraph that you wrote...particularly the part in parenthesis

"However, Mr. Yon's reporting hasn't really changed my conception of the war. Maybe morale is a bit higher than I may have thought, but that could be for a lot of reasons, even not necessarily ones we would like. (Troops don't really know what is happening in the big picture, or they don't care to know, or Mr. Yon is deluding himself on that score, or maybe Mr. Yon just got in with a particularly well run group.) Besides, high morale does not win a war. I'll bet morale is even higher, sadly, among the insurgents."

any suggestions? i have trained hard (although sometimes incorrectly) for about 15 year and played coll. football. i changed my training to a crossfit approach about 1 year ago. strenght is good but my cardio dosnt seem to be getting anybetter. my times when a run/row/bike is involved in the workout is average at best.

Looks like good honest reporting to me. It is always useful to get insights from a different perspective and by some of the comments here and on his website, this is exactly the type of stuff some Americans need.

Another Spectacular Seminar from Coach Burgener. Many thanks to Sage Burgener ( I am SO impressed with that young lady- wow) Eva T., Tony B. Hollis...all the Coaches.
Coach Burgener has a way with articulating the Lifts that every serious CrossFitter should hear and hear again.

Congrats to my son Keegan, who made his Momma proud.

Great video. I'm inspired to get to that Cert. Thanks for posting.

Kate,
Congrats on spreading the word. One person at a time.

3 x sets of shoveling the driveway, not quite a rest day but I'll take it.

"I'll bet morale is even higher, sadly, among the insurgents."

With people like you running the New York Times, they have ample reason to hope for victory OFF the battlefield.

"The report gave the impression that it is rare to find an Iraqi soldier or civilian who actually likes to work with Americans."

Maybe we read two different reports. I read the one by Michael Yon, in which he said that a lot of soldiers--despite an omnipresent danger of sudden painful death--choose to work with us anyway, because they have both courage and a vision for their nation which you for one dont' appear to share.

"We are stretched too thin." For what? You know you wouldn't support an escalation anywhere but Iraq or Afghanistan, and we're reinforcing Iraq. I'd be curious as well as to how many dozens of books on military history you've read, and the extent of your firsthand knowledge of conditions on the ground. Is this something you've come to believe based on substantial research, or is it just a good talking point that isn't OVERTLY anti-military?

As far as Bin Laden, are you sufficiently concerned about this issue that you would support Allied operations in Pakistan, in direct violation of the rules of engagement currently dictated by Musharrif? Is the problem that you're a hard charger, and just don't think we're trying hard enough? Or are you just throwing out a fog of doubt for partisan political purposes, the principle element of which is, in this context, engineering the defeat of the troops you claim to support?

Excellent coverage. Actually brought a tear to my eye.

Would that everyone covering the war were as accurate as Yon.

It's hard to believe, but sometimes I read articles like this a "miss" being there.

My prayers for those still over there and for those that are on eternal patrol.

Thanks, Coach!

-Dennis

Had the opportunity to drop into the Oly seminar this weekend. Always inspiring and educational. As noted, Coach B is the man, and the rest of the trainers were excellent. Very cool to see the growth of the people attending, excellent lifting Sunday afternoon.

I understand it, now I need to put into execution, make's perfect sense.

Great video I am having an issue with the second/third pull(squating under the weight) so i'll be working on that this week.

Jeff

ran 3 miles

Today's WO dedicated to the
memory of Dr. M. L. King:

Age: 36 BW: 175 Lbs.

10 Muscle Ups
12 L Pull Ups
30 Dips
1/2 Mile Run
Then 10 rounds of the triplet:
5 Pull Ups
10 Push Ups
15 Air Squats

Sorry I missed the meeting of the "Dan Silver marching and chowder society."

For those interested, I have very flattering pictures of Dan available for the right price.

Off the topic, but is anyone from the Fairfax Co. VA area? I am looking for someone to answer some questions about the area becuase i may be relocating there soon. Thanks. Crossfit rules.

Neil(49)& Ellie(52)

Had a day off work today. Got a little bit restless, so decided to play in our gym. After surfing some of the affiliated sites I came up with this workout. A well! it seemed like a good idea at the time.

This workout was inspired by Crossfit Valencia, which is a source of some really excellent training sessions.

Dead lift
Hang squat clean
Shoulder press
Back squat
D/B snatch R (30lbs/15lbs)
D/B Snatch L (30lbs/15lbs)

5 reps of each X 2 laps. 3 min rest x 6 rounds

Neil 75 lbs Ellie 40 lbs

5 mins rest followed by "Lightweight Grace"

30 X Clean & Jerk Same weights as above

Neil 2.23 Ellie 2.09

Great session and "A hell of away to spend a day off."

I also found some great training sessions on the following sites:
Crossfit Champions:
Crossfit Santa Cruz:
Crossfit One World:
Crossfit Rockford:
And my personal favourite Crossfit Ann Abor (Hyper Fitness USA)What a fantastic facility.

To you and all the many other affiliates, keep up the good work.

Neil & Ellie

I'll say this here, because I've said it to his face: I want to be Coach B. when I grow up. He has a beautiful house, two beautiful gyms, a kick-butt Harley he rides to work in the mist in the morning, and a son that just placed 10th in the world. AND he is an outstanding coach everyone would be lucky to be coached by.

I was going to say something on the political side, but I'll leave it for now. There's an obvious next step.

Michael Yon is an admirable character. He is very literally risking his life to spend time with people he admires, and report on their lives. We are incredibly lucky to have the talent and dedication we have in our Armed Forces, and in my view all of us, collectively, owe them a huge debt of gratitude. Especially Command Sergeant Majors.

Overhead squat
95 x 5
105 x 5
115 x 5
120 x 5
125 x 5

Front squat
125 x 5
135 x 5
145 x 5
155 x 5
165 x 5

Back squat
205 x 5
230 x 5
245 x 5
255 x 3
235 x 5

CCTJOEY and Barry Cooper--

Clarification: I just mean that high morale, while nice, does not address the issue of what this war is about.

Barry -- thanks for your response. "We are stretched too thin" was just something Mr. Yon said several times. I'm only taking his word for it.

And I said nothing about Bin Laden at all. Maybe you were thinking about someone else's post.

If there were "a lot" of Iraqis willing to risk death for a vision of "their country" (who's country? Sunnis? Shi'a? Kurds? Al-Qaeda's? Who's country?) I don't think we'd be in the situation we're in.

Slink..oh...sorry...I was sure by your comments that you were implying that Soldiers don't know squat or care about the issue at hand.
I am not sure how I possibly have gotten that from your post (sarcasm).
Afterall, what would the guys on the ground know, who also have access to the same news outlets as the state-siders and see it first hand?
How could it be of any importance to find out what is going on in the street where the Soldiers are? What insight could possibly be gained that one could not get from a hotel room?

The term stretched too thin is NUMBERS of troops to have eyes where they need to be not necessarily an indicator of morale.

Funny how we are streched to thin and they should not be reinforced according to the political left..accept to retreat/"redeploy"/give-in /give-up/ cut-n-run...whatever.

When did quitting become so EASY in our culture?

Why are we afraid to succeed? Are we afraid of a world without despots? Do we hold our liberty so close as not to offer it to others out of fear of reprisals from those that would take it?

This war is about a foothold. One we will wish we had not given up within months of leaving Iraq without getting that country on its feet.

Dan Rather is gone, but he is unrepentent and his ilk have long dominated and still rule the mainstream media. That is why most folks cannot name a single heroic soldier from Vietnam and cannot name one from the battles in Afghanistan and Iraq or any other front in the GWOT. The MSM cannot allow heroes to exist and still toe the anti-war, anti-American party line of the Left.

I'm thankful that there is at least one Michael Yon. How bizarre, a reporter interested in the truth. I want to see more like him and wider distribution of his column.

wow that video was a pump up, awesome instruction. i would love to be able to take an oly lift cert course.

Well, to me the obvious next step was to accuse me of accusing someone else of a lack of patriotism. It was even suggested elsewhere that that accusation, like the accusation of being a Nazi or Fascist, ought to be an automatic end of the argument. The counterargument, presumably, is that all opinions expressed by citizens of this country are in fact patriotic, existing, as they do, in a condition of free speech, the exercise of which is inherently patriotic.

This is the same line of thinking that somehow makes pornography patriotic, by pushing the limits of the law. Larry Flynt, the Patriot. It is movies like the Aristocrats, which are "patriotic" because they push the limits of the acceptable into graphic verbal portrayals of violent incest.

Here is the way I think of patriotism. I rooted for the University of Louisville this last season. I thought they had a credible chance of playing for the national title, and might have gotten it, if they had pushed past Rutgers.

Now, the coverage of that game seemed a bit biassed towards Rutgers, in my opinion. They often showed the Rutgers fans, and to my recollection--and I was paying attention--never to the Louisville fans, who were present. It was almost like the commentators and associated cameramen WANTED Rutgers to win. Since they likely based out of New York, that supposition is likely accurate.

Despite this, at no point did I stop rooting for Louisville, or even consider not rooting for Louisville, even when they were losing.

I have heard Coach Petrino is a butt head to the players. There may be better ways for him to handle the players, diplomatically, but the fact of the matter is he wins (won) games.

The point is that my support was unambiguous.

Now, if in the middle of a game they appeared to be losing, and I switched sides, that might make me feel good, but no one would any longer consider me a loyal fan. If I stole a playbook, and gave it to the other team, then not only would I not be a fan, but I would be a traitor to the team. If I sat in the stands cheering for the other team, and wrote long essays detailing how evil U of L was, and how they cheat, etc. etc., I may be objectively accurate--it would depend on the specific contentions--but no one in their right mind would consider me a fan.

IF I DIDN'T WANT THEM TO WIN, FOR WHATEVER REASON, I WOULD NOT BE A FAN.

We are looking at the prospect of a bloodbath and foreign policy disaster if we lose in Iraq, and we have a sizable contingent of folks essentially urging unilateral (as in "unilateral nuclear disarmament", which we are VERY lucky never got traction) withdrawal, and to hell with the Iraqis left behind. Out of sight, out of mind. Oh yes, the terrorists are actually freedom fighters: then why are they killing their own people and destroying their own infrastructure?

People that don't want us to win in Iraq are not patriots. It's as simple as that. Jane Fonda claimed that ALL American soldiers were war criminals, in much the same way our entire occupation is made out to be an extended Abu Ghraib, coupled with repression of ordinary Iraqis along the lines the Gestapo. Using this line of thinking, the conclusion is that if we leave, things will normalize. This is unadulterated (as in there are no adults present) nonsense. ANY even cursory understanding of history will show that line of thinking to be romantic sophistry. Were the South Vietnamese better off under Communist rule? The war ended--as wars in the real world, versus the fantasyland of the dumbells who never grew up--in the victory of one side. At that, that particular sort of violence ended, and was replaced by murder, torture, and forced relocations. Anyone that thinks that is superior to OUR victory is smoking, well, what Jane was probably smoking, and what many "anti-war" leftists are smoking now.

I know and have known many soldiers. The ones I've talked in depth with about combat have no love for it. It is ugly, brutal, heartbreaking and just awful. This does not mean it is never necessary. If America had never fought a war, then the leftists who criticize it, would not be able to criticise it. Good things don't just happen, they have to be created, generally through great effort and difficulty.

So, Slink and Jacko, yes, I am going to accuse you of a lack of patriotism. Unless of course you really do want us to win. . .

It is not even about Patriotism to me anymore with these people...just plain decency. That country is going to be a slaughter house when we leave and we have not given it a backbone. I know it is bad right now...but you have to see that if we abandon these people now...the ones that are strong enough morally to fight for there freedom, will be slaughtered.

I get sick and tired of comparisons to our own revolution...we were a land locked country..swords, daggers, and muskets....not car bombs, AKs, and straight barbary. The bad guys have backers...the good guys should too. Liberty is worth fighting for.

I found these companion articles by Thomas Sowell interesting

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/column.aspx?UrlTitle=another_vietnam&ns=ThomasSowell&dt=01/16/2007&page=full&comments=true

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/column.aspx?UrlTitle=another_vietnam_part_ii&ns=ThomasSowell&dt=01/16/2007&page=full&comments=true

Barry #63 & CCTJOEY #64-

What you both said was clear and beautiful. Thank you both for expressing, often times, what I lack in words.

Kate

You're welcome. I had a quote for you (and other military wives) I meant to post a while back, from "Forever Odd", by Dean Koontz:

"The wives of Spartans are the secret pillars of the world."

It seems true and relevant. Hang in there.

Barry,
Thanks for the quote. The comparison between Spartans and SF has been promenent within the SF community lately, so it was very fitting.

Patiently waiting,
Kate

Kate...you are welcome.

I hope the comparisons between SF and the Spartans are about warriorship and not their particular "social" habits...

Not that I am asking or you should tell me :)

A thought occurred to me this morning, that we might have the opportunity, in protecting the Sunnis in Iraq, to engender more general good-will throughout the Middle East. The Saudis in particular have already expressed concern about the Sunnis, and offered to underwrite their civil war if we do in fact leave. In the same sense that the enemy of my enemy is my friend--a saying I believe originated in the Middle East--the enemies of the Sunni civilian population are Al Queda--who seem to operate in their midst as gangsters--and the Shiite militias, who any more are largely fronts for Iran.

This still leaves a large section of population that is Sunni and not terrorist, but that is being victimized. Syria and Saudi Arabia, being in the one case secular, and the other friendly to the West, have no particular love for Al Queda types, who in turn have no love for them (or anyone else, for that matter, except mass murderers). This does not imply we need or want their active help, but it does mean, it seems to me, that if we do succeed in protecting the Sunni population, we need to make a lot of hay out of it in all forms of public media, and position ourselves as on their side, which ultimately we are, at least the peaceful, democratically inclined types.

Any time you commit yourself to riding a tigers tail out of the jungle, there will be some strange turns in the road, and it just occurred to me that our very problems can potentially be turned into opportunities.

The Shiite question is more complex. It's hard to tell how close ordinary Shiites are to the Islamic radicals, but if we can protect the one, and isolate or kill the other, that will help a lot too. Obviously. The more allies we have, the better, on the ground, and the best way to get an ally and keep them is to bring home the bacon, although that might be a bad metaphor here. The halvah. That works better.