I like the way you move!... Now move better.

As most of you already know I've spent a lot of time traveling over the past few months taking different courses to become better as a trainer. And at every trip I've taken I've learned something new but one thing remained constant, every teacher asked me to move better. Whether it be TRX or CrossFit, the instructors constantly asked me to move better because if I moved better I perform better.
I spent Superbowl weekend this year in Sacramento, California at a Olympic lifting specialty course through CrossFit. I'm pretty fast, the coaches asked me to move faster. So I did. The coaches at the seminar taught me proper warm-ups, movement patterns, skill transfer exercises throughout the day with a simple PVC pipe that by the time I picked up a barbell I was moving so fast that weights I didn't know I could move I moved with ease. 
It's called neurological adaptation. Working within the movement without weight to allow your nervous system time to become used to the movement and move weight previously perceived as too heavy to be moved in the motion.
Many of you came to the foam rolling seminar I taught and I spent time on the TRX showing warm up and cool down techniques for injury prevention and rehabilitation. These same movements allow for a neurological stimulus that will make your muscles perform better.
Now in regards to injury, you may be inquiring "should I be concerned that I could get hurt? Especially with the CrossFit movement, the amount of intensity they seem to ask for?" Here is the truth of the matter, there is always a risk of injury in everyday life but you can not allow that to inhibit you. As I've discussed in previous articles, intensity can only be made by what you're physically and mentally capable of on that day, any anyone who has ever met with one of the trainers at ChrisFit knows that we will never ask you to do something that could seriously injure you. Personally I'd rather see you do a movement properly repeatedly than sloppily once. Truthfully it comes back to the coach or trainer. Yes it is the coach or trainers job to push you past a previous limit but it's also our job to make sure you push that limit safely. If you're going to snap your back in half doing a deadlift or you're not squatting low enough, or if you're reverse curling the bar rather than cleaning the bar that is on us. It's our job to keep you safe and injury free, whether it means backing down the weight to correct form or supplementing different exercises to help develop better motor mechanics.
Anyone who participated in the team challenge during January and February knows that if I see something going wrong during a movement I stop and correct it before allowing anyone to move on. Which brings me to a big piece of exciting news. The team challenge was a big success and we have opted to keep it permanently. It will be more individual rather than team, but it is here to stay. Monday and Thursday nightsfrom 5:30-6:30 and Sunday mornings 11:00-12:00. Met/Con is here, start moving better.

Jack Lazarus