“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”

How bad do you want it?  I here all the time “how bad I want to lose a weight.”  Well here is the thing, if you wanted it you would make it happen. Talking about what you want is easier than actually following through with what you say.  Everyone has heard the saying, “Actions speak louder than words.” It’s true.  Make an attempt to follow through with what you say.  What you do reflects directly how much you want something.  If you want to accomplish a goal your actions will show how badly you really want it.  Look inward at yourself and ask… “How much do I want this?”  Once you commit to what you want, there is no going back.  Look towards the future and have a plan for what it will take to get there and don’t stop until you do.

*Good luck to Josh Barnett on your fight tonight. Members of CFW and CFB will be at Bourbon Street in Fullerton around 7 pm to watch the event. Fights start at 7pm.

Lately, I’ve been noticing a lot of people that seem to be hitting the “wall” in some of the longer, high rep workouts.  Hitting the “wall” is a point in the workout when your body wants to shut down because of the overload of work.  When this happens, you start to take longer rests and stare at the bar.  The burn kicks in and your body tells you, “I don’t want to lift anymore”.  It’s no fun getting to that point.  To avoid hitting the “wall”, we have got to learn to pace ourselves throughout workouts.  When we come into the gym and see a workout that’s “For Time”, that doesn’t mean you have to haul ass as soon as you hear “3,2,1″.  Especially when there’s a large amount of work to be done.  Instead, you should break it down and think about what YOU’RE capable of doing.  For some it may be 20 unbroken reps and for others it could be 5.  Whichever it may be, we have got to keep ourselves honest and remember that the technique is most important.  If you are smart about how you pace yourselves on each movement throughout a workout, then you shouldn’t ever hit the “wall”.  That being said, pacing is not an excuse to take frequent long periods of rest.  Your rest period has ALWAYS got to be shorter then your work period.  When you come in to the gym, try to find a solid pace that you can hold onto for the entire workout.  If you ever have any questions on how to pace or help with pacing, ask any coach.  Train hard, Eat clean, Rest easy.

-Will

Today was definitely a mental challenge!!! I was pumped to see everyone pushing through the pain of the workout and giving it their all!!! Not only were people pushing themselves, but I saw several people immediately start pushing the people around them who were still working.  It is amazing to see the growth in all of you both mentally and physically and I look forward to seeing you all continue to grow.  Eat Clean! Train Dirty! And….GET SOME!!!!! – Divalicious

Raymond Killing this workout Rx!

Marleen's 2nd day, and she got to do this lovely workout!

The Olympic snatch is one of the best exercises for an athlete to learn and master. It involves strength, power, speed, agility, balance, and coordination in order to get the bar smoothly and efficiently overhead. The biomechanics of the snatch make it a good carryover exercise to any movement involving fast hip extension (going from a bent hip position to a straightened hip position), such as jumping and running.   Olympic weightlifters are actually among the fastest, highest jumping, most flexible, and are the strongest athletes in the Olympic games.

The snatch is a very functional lift. There are 3 phases to the snatch. The lift begins with a smooth first pull from the
floor to mid thigh, generating speed but not rushing (controlled movement). The second pull is from mid thigh and involves an aggressive extension or “pop” of the hips creating vertical momentum and elevation on the bar. During the jump phase there is no pulling with the arms it’s all hips, the arms stay straight. The third pull is a flip of the arms overhead while pulling the body down under the bar into a squat (squat snatch) or partial knee bend (power snatch).

The three main common mistakes I see in classes from some of you are getting the bar too far away from the body in the midrange of the movement (i.e. swinging the bar), pulling with the arms too early, and rushing the lift off the ground. If there is one thing I can stress to you all, it’s don’t get frusterated and to continue practing and working towards proper technique. The fact that Olympic weightlifters spend years developing technique speaks to the complexity of these movements. I know no one here is competing for the Olympics anytime soon, so I’m not expecting perfect technique. However, I do want all you to develop good habits. So rather than just go through the motions when we work on drills, try to fully understand the mechanics. If something doesn’t make sense, ask questions! That’s what the trainers are here for.  Nailing down these fine details will enable you to lift more weight more efficiently and safely, as well as give you better gains in strength, power, and stability.

-Justin Guzman