Hydration & Hip Openers

by Jen

This week at CrossFit Juan brought us some new joint mobility and hip opener exercises that he learned at a Kelly Starrett Movement Mobility Certification seminar. Kelly Starrett has an impressive background as a physical therapist and a coach to the likes of Olympic athletes.

I learned that the number one way to prevent injury in sports is to drink water. According to Kelly Starret, we should each drink half of our body weight in ounces of water daily - and that is without any training. In addition, we should drink 16-20 ounces of water per hour of exercise. So, if I am 140 lbs and plan to train 60 minutes at Crossfit and 90 minutes at BJJ, I should drink 110 ounces of water. In basic terms, the waters effect on our muscles is likened to oil in a car. If there is not enough oil in the car, the engine will not work right. If our muscles do not have enough hydration, they will not work right.

We worked many of the new mobility drills with a lacrosse ball to work the deeper muscles. Personally, I walked into the gym one morning with a sore hip and wondered if I would be able to run the 5K this Saturday. The 10 minutes of work eased the pain and it has not come back. Check out Kelly's Mobility WOD site. He regularly posts video blogs of drills and exercises. Undoubtedly this work will help with jiu jitsu.

In my work towards the Heraean games, we worked deadlifts and pull-ups this week. We used the same bar to front squat and deadlift, so our deadlifts were lighter than usual. Working at the lighter weight, and trying my best not to race the clock, helped me focus on correct form. I learned that the deadlift should be about a 3-second motion.

My hands were torn up again while working pull-ups. Using gloves causes me to widen my grip, causing me to slip easily. Using no gloves causes torturous pain and calluses. I found this tip on taping hands for pull-ups -I'll try it out this week.

On the mat, after a long period of frustration, I feel like I am back in the game. I cannot pinpoint when and where the change happened. Tom reminds me that our training is a journey with both high and low periods. My low period seemed like it was endless, but I am feeling much better and much more confident. I'm really focusing on limiting the space I give to my opponent. It feels good to be back.