Part 1 and 2 of this series looked at rowing pacing—Pacing 101, as well as pacing strategies for multi-modal CrossFit workouts. The latter pieces considered how to pace when the rowing machine is on the meters setting. When a workout is in calories, though, the story changes completely...Or at least changes considerably. How To Approach A Calorie Row Like with meters, your first step is to figure out your intended speed for any given workout It's easy to do this if you already understand how to pace a row when you’re measuring your speed in meters. Then all you have to do is convert your split time in meters to its equivalent calories per hour speed.  So for example, if you know you...

Everything started out as planned: We arrived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and our trustee driver Aristace was there to pick us up—with his usual wide grin. Since the Community Builders house in McDonald was damaged by the recent Hurricane Matthew, we (myself, the president of Community Builders and my good friend Julie Roberts, and her two 9-year-old children) booked a resort 20 minutes away. This resort wasn’t open the first time I was in Haiti three-and-a-half years ago, so it was hopeful to see that economic progress is happening to a certain degree, albeit very slowly. As spoiled as we felt having air conditioning in our rooms, somewhat reliable internet, and endless authentic Haitian food at our fingertips in a country that has...

Part 1 of this series—Rowing Pacing 101 Part 1—provided a simple explanation about rowing pacing. To sum up, it's important you understand: Step 1: How to read the monitor (stroke rate and split times) Step 2: Understand what an easy, medium and race pace speed is for you over various distances—500-meters, 1,000-meters, 2,000-meters and 5,000-meters Step 3: Learn how to row a consistent pace throughout each distance (fluctuating more than + or - 2 splits off your target split during any given piece means you're not putting forth a consistent effort). At least you don't have to figure out how to row in time with 7 others... Once you have the above three steps figured out, you'll be in a good...

As a former college rower, it’s sometimes painful to watch CrossFit athletes do what we call “fly and die” on the rowing machine. Meaning they go out too hard and crash somewhere in the middle of the workout. To avoid flying and dying, you need to understand one simple thing: Pacing! The great thing about the ergometer is there’s a monitor with a screen that tells you exactly how fast you’re going, so you don’t even need to guess! Before I get into exactly how to pace the row during a workout like Christine or Jackie in Part 2 of this series, it's important you understand a few things:  Step #1: Understand what the monitor is telling you Two important numbers...

 It happens sometimes. Anxiety from reading the workout and your morning coffee are kicking in. You thought you could wait, but you can’t. You went through the warm-up and realized you just can’t hold it off any longer. So you drop a stinky deuce in the bathroom at the gym. You look around for something to fix the problem. But there’s no bathroom spray. No matches. No nothing! You’re stuck. You think if you’re lucky, you might be able to sneak out unnoticed, but just as you think you’re in the clear you make eye contact with another athlete, who's unmistakably approaching the bathroom. Just your luck, it happens to be the man you have been checking out in recent...

Humans have always had the capacity to smell. And to create smelly things. So it’s not surprise household air fresheners and bathroom sprays have existed for a long time.  In fact, smell killers—in one form or another—have been around for thousands of years. One of the oldest forms of air fresheners is incense—it was burned so the smoke created could mask unpleasant odours. The bathroom stink problem has been around as long as humans: Incense was the ancient solution. More modern air fresheners attempt to do the same—they mask odors, or at least they try to. But as we have all experienced, they don't always work all that well. Sometimes, instead of hiding the odor they make the smell even worse. Kind...

Do you secretly cringe when your significant other asks you nicely if you can rub some Deep Cold, or A535 Heat cream, or Tiger Balm or Liniment, or whatever muscle relaxant product of the day, on his sore muscles? You can’t possibly say no because it’s such a seemingly small favour. Then again, it’s not! Your palms and fingers get all gooey and gunky, and worse yet you end up stinging and burning in weird places all night because no matter how much you wash your hands after the rubdown, the residue is powerful—so whatever you touch with your hands feels the burning effect for hours. Nobody enjoys this! There’s finally a solution: RIPT Skin Systems’ Sore Muscle Rub. Like the...

Time and time again, athletes approach and ask me to teach them a skill—be it a pull-up, a muscle-up, a handstand push-up or a pistol. Here’s how the conversation often goes: Client: “I really want to get a muscle-up. Can you teach me after class?” Me: “How many chest-to-bar pull-ups can you do?” Client: “Maybe one on a good day.” Me: “What about ring dips?” Client: “One. In a band.” Me: “Johnny, you're not ready to work on muscle-ups. Once you can do 10 chest-to-bar pull-ups and 10 ring dips, then we can start looking at the muscle-up.” Client: "So you don't think I will be able to learn one today? Me: small chuckle. Client: Sadness overtakes his/her face.   ******...

Everyone knows the long sock, athletic tape rope burn prevention trick by now. It works most of time. By that, I mean it works when you're logging 5 to 10 rope climbs in a session, but once you get into a 12-plus rope climb workout a la Tommy V, it's not always enough.

In some ways Tantra Fitness is just another gym—fit-looking bodies milling about, some of whom are practicing impressive feats of strength. In other ways—namely the women prancing around in itty bitty underwear and high heels, and the numerous ground-to-ceiling poles—it’s a foreign-looking gym to me. A glimpse of the ladies at Tantra... But after spending half-an-hour observing the athletes, and eventually becoming immune to the thongs and poles, it becomes clear the similarities between Tantra Fitness and the gyms I know—including the ripped hands and bruises in weird places—are greater than their differences. Instead of chalk, pole dancers use a product called The Ultimate Gripping Solution. Hmmmm, maybe this would work for pull-ups, too! A few things you didn't know about pole...