Jake Di Vita

So you can't practice but you want to get better? Have fun beating your head against a brick wall. (that has probably been the problem all along.)

Quite simply, you sacrifice accuracy for speed in practice with the same intent of hitting alphas.

If you only practice with perfect technique, you will never get any better. You get better by pushing yourself to the point of technique breakdown then fixing the technique at the higher intensity.

Any information on this match for 2011?

I'm not ridiculing anybody. Sure I support what Flex said, but as you can probably tell, the members don't always follow the guidelines. Sometimes one of the volunteer moderators can't get to the post soon enough to fix the error, which means sometimes it is inevitably too late (as can be seen in just about any thread where people are complaining that their program was spoiled). All I'm recommending is people use some common sense. If that is seen as ridiculing people to you, sorry, but that's not what I mean when I say it. I mean c'mon, what else do you think is going to be posted in these threads after the episode has already aired???

It would probably be prudent to assume that when you see a thread titled "TOP SHOT #XX" that the thread more than likely has spoilers in it. How the same people get spoiled every week is beyond me.

I'm interested. Let me know if I can help.

I'm sure Ben would help you out if you PM'd him. This information isn't exactly dated though. Chances are the reason your turning draw is holding you back is from not snapping the eyes to the target first, although I'd say if you are having trouble going sub-6, there are probably more significant areas to look at first. Maybe try posting what your splits are for each shot to give a bit better info to work from.

You can't miss fast enough to win. But you can hit slow enough to lose. Technique is important and the only way to get it is with hours behind the gun. No short cuts available. If the reason for the OP's performance issues before were mental in nature, then you actually aren't a better shooter now. You are just utilizing more of the skill you've had. Now imagine if you had this breakthrough but had been putting hard hours in instead of off time.

You made a blanket statement which I believe to be incorrect. I respond to it with events from my own experience and you turn it around into something personal? You don't know nearly as much about me as you think you do. I greatly respect the names you mentioned, and have learned from more than one of them and countless others that you didn't name. I'm also not too shallow-minded to think I can only learn from the "pros." For what it's worth, I wasn't trying to argue (and truth be told, I don't give a hoot about changing anyone's mind - least of all yours) I was sharing information from the perspective of putting more time into it consistently over the last several years than the majority of people do in their day jobs. Some people find value in experience regardless of credentials, I see you are not one of them. I was trying to have an intelligent conversation...Apparently you'd rather attempt to insult me instead. The last thing this needs to turn into is my kung-fu is better than your kung-fu. If I wanted a part of that, I'd go to T-nation. How about we call it quits because this conversation obviously isn't going anywhere. I hope your training goes well.

+1 If people would pay attention and not be too damn lazy to turn their heads, this problem likely wouldn't happen. If I had a Jeep, I'd never have the doors on in the summer either.

I disagree with the vast majority of your post, but I don't want to type a book of information. If you are interested in what I mean, I can give you several links written by people far smarter than me.

Aglifter, I'm a bit short on time so I'll provide a brief answer to your question. The way performance in CF workouts is determined is by average power output. Sure starting from a stopped position would make it harder, but the added time would greatly decrease the average power output for the workout. In a similar note, if you have to move a huge pile of rocks in real life, I'm sure you won't worry about the finer points of conventional weightlifting like you are talking about. I totally understand what you are saying, but I believe you are comparing apples to oranges here. If we are talking about straight powerlifting, what you are saying has much more merit - however utilizing the stretch reflex (the "bounce" at the bottom of a back squat for example) is required for that as well. Can you cite some examples please so I can do some research into it myself? I'm perfectly open to being wrong, but I'd like to do my due diligence first. Here's a good example that I think is relevant. When I had my knee surgically rebuilt several years ago (ACL reconstruction, loss of entire meniscus, not able to bear any weight on my leg for 3 months before surgery) I followed my surgeon and physical therapists advice to the letter (I was regularly regarded as the hardest working patient they ever had). I had knee pain for 2 years post op, the physician's opinion was I'd have it the rest of my life. When I disregarded their "educated" advice and started squatting (something they all said was extremely hazardous to your knees), my knee pain literally disappeared in a month and has been gone ever since. So in this example, I had at least 5 people with PHDs in this field give me advice that was completely and patently false. That completely changed my outlook on doctors. And before you question it, my surgeon was highly regarded by a close personal friend of mine who is a very successful malpractice attorney. I'll say it one more time because this point is significant. If I had listened to my doctors and blindly followed their advice, I would have been in pain for the rest of my life. Also (with no conventional education) I have rehabbed 2 people from knee surgery (to the point where their surgeon was shocked as to their rapid progress back to health), helped several overweight people lose 30+ pounds within 2 months (and greatly increase strength), put 30+ pounds on several skinny guys looking to get stronger, and rehabbed my mom's shoulder that had been bugging her for 5 years. In this case, bias has nothing to do with it. This is a small sampling of the people I've trained and is based on factual events. About 20 minutes ago my 55 year old father just got done with his first "Helen" as prescribed. He's healthier now than he was when he was 25 years old.

There are plenty of misguided people in the world.

Well by that logic a Jerk is an incomplete exercise as well as the dip and drive used to generate power is practically the exact same. I don't think you would say that jerks don't build the posterior chain, right? Also the reason you stand flat footed is because as soon as the heel leaves the ground while under load, the posterior chain completely deactivates. Imagine trying to do back squats on your toes - dangerous and extremely ineffective. The error here that I'm seeing is you are judging the kettlebell swing as a primary exercise rather than a piece of a very large pie. I think you should try a very scaled version of crossfit (google Norcal On-Ramp program) simply because most of this stuff needs to be experienced to have a proper perspective on it. I know you need a different perspective because: Try and do 50 KB swings in a row. I think you will agree that "lazy" is the last thing that embodies. Remember that the majority of these people aren't trying to be powerlifters.

I'm not really sure what you mean by this. What "swings" are you talking about and how is it a cheating exercise? Also how is the swing (the only thing I think you can mean here is a kettlebell swing) not a proper exercise?

1) What difference does it make if it works? I don't have any certifications outside of Crossfit, does that mean I can't program effectively for people? Doesn't decades in the training industry with a ton of success trump conventional certifications? 2) Well I know the Florida Marlins recently adopted a CrossFit style of programming. I also know of several pro football players (retired and active) who are active crossfitters. At least 2 of which own and operate an affiliate. I also know that CrossFit style training was introduced into BUD/S. Would you like more examples? 3) The fact that you actually use this as an argument illustrates exactly how weak of an argument you have. Who would this expert be out of curiosity? Here is where you lost me my friend. I'd say with absolute certainty that most trainers who work with professional or collegiate athletes get credit for training the athletes when in the majority of cases highly above average genetics is more responsible for their conditioning than the trainer's programming. Building a program for what we do really isn't all that complex. Short, intense bursts of power, long hours in the sun on your feet carrying gear is pretty much the highlights of what we have to train for. Olympic lifting, basic strength work, and a bit of conditioning for staying fresh throughout the day - do this under the hot sun as often as you can. These are all things that can be self taught with a little bit of gumption.

In order to do it successfully, you need to completely have your ego in check. If you don't, you will shoot much worse than normal. If you do, you will learn more and shoot better every time.

Are stages going to be posted?

Bah, you are good enough to know what I mean.

That makes sense that problems in your technique manifest themselves when the intensity of your shooting increases. In general when you operate at or near the limit of your ability, weaknesses show up. This is the key reason why I'm a firm believer in pushing hard in practice and NOT shooting all alphas (although the goal should still be to hit the A box).

Wait...you are surprised that you do better when you try?

I would say the term "relaxed" should refer to your mental disposition rather than physical tension.

Sam, I want you to write a book...I don't even care what the subject is - I'm buying the first copy.

When I read comments like these it's usually due to exposure to stupid trainers or a major lack of understanding. The fact that you say p90x is great if it works, but crossfit is rambling and disjointed regardless of whether it works makes me think the latter is the case. If you are referring strictly to the main page wods...that is but one expression of an idea...it is not the end all be all. The biggest problem I have with CrossFit, is I don't think they emphasize strength enough generally. A proper mix between strength work and metabolic conditioning is fantastic for just about anyone that isn't specializing for sport...and it is still CrossFit.