November 2002

THE

IN THIS ISSUE:

"mess you up"

CrossFit Journal
The Muscle-up - page 1
Glycemic Index - page 1
Stategies for rowing 2000 meters in 7 minutes - page 7

The Muscle-up

Glycemic Index

The muscle-up is astonishingly difficult to perform,

unrivaled in building upper body strength, a critical
survival skill, and most amazingly of all, virtually
unknown.
This movement gets you from under
things to on them (Video). Let your
imagination run.

For several decades now, bad science and bad politics

have joined hands to produce what is arguably the
most costly error in the history of science - the low
fat diet. This fad diet has cost millions unnecessary
death and suffering from heart disease,
diabetes and, it increasingly seems, a
host of cancers and other chronic and
debilitating illnesses.

Though containing a pull-up and a dip,

its potency is due to neither. The heart
of the muscle-up is the transition from
pull-up to dip - the agonizing moment
when you dont know if youre above
or below.

Gary Taubes, the esteemed science

writer, has written two brilliant and
highly regarded pieces on exactly this
subject. The first appeared in Science
Magazine in 1999 and the second in the
New York Times just this summer.

That moment - the transition - can

last from fractions to dozens of
seconds. At low, deliberate speeds, the
muscle-up takes a toll physically and
psychologically that can only be justified
by the benefit. No other movement can
deliver the same upper body strength.
Period.

A new age is dawning in nutrition: one

where the culprit is no longer seen as
dietary fat but excess consumption of
carbohydrate - particularly refined or
processed carbohydrate. In fact, theres
an increasing awareness that excess
carbohydrates play a dominant role in
chronic diseases like obesity, coronary heart disease,
many cancers, and diabetes. This understanding comes
directly from current medical research. Amazingly, the
near universal perception that dietary fat is the major
culprit in obesity has no scientific foundation. (See
Taubes, above.)

This Frankensteins monster combination of pull-up

and dip gives the exercise advantages that render it
supreme among exercises as fundamental as the pullup, rope climb, dips, push-ups, and even the almighty
bench press.

Theres a family of popular diets and diet books based

on decreasing carbohydrate consumption. Most of them
are excellent.

We do our muscle-ups from rings chiefly because thats

the hardest place possible.
Heres how to do a muscle-up on the rings:
1. Hang from a false grip
2. Pull the rings to your chest or pull-up
3. Roll your chest over the bottom of the rings
4. Press to support or dip

Chief among these books are Barry Sears Enter the

Zone, Michael Eades Protein Power, Atkins Dr.
Atkins Diet Revolution, Cordains The Paleo Diet, and
the Hellers Carbohydrate Addicts Diet. Each of these is
an honest and accurate chronicling the effects of the low
fat, fad diet. (continued on page 5)

(continued on page 2)
1

November 2002

Its that simple. Steps 1 and 3 are where youll have trouble
if you do.
From a normal grip roll the meat of the hand over the ring
leaving the thumb on the starting side until the wrist opposite
the thumb is in full contact with the ring - this is a false grip.
It shortens the forearm greatly improving strength.
The false grip is difficult simply because its a sufficiently odd
feeling that the beginner rarely believes is whats expected.

1. Note the false grip.

Without this you dont
have a chance

5. Watch the elbows migration

from pointing down and in front to
pointing back then slightly up

No false grip, no muscle-up. When an athlete cant get it,

50% of the time theyve got too much hand on the thumbs
side of the ring. This part is really very, very easy. On the
other hand rolling your chest over the bottom of the rings is
very, very hard.
Here are some tips for rolling your chest over the bottom of
the rings.
1. Stick your nose as far over the rings as possible
2. Drive your elbows from down in front of you to
up and behind you
3. Keep the rings as close to your body as possible
4. Tighten your gut
5. Have the meat of the thumb trace a line from
collarbone to the armpit, just above the nipple

2. The hands come together down the 6. Notice Loyd Lewis leaning foward
sternum to below the collarbones where through the transition - sticking his
they separate and move towards the
nose out over the rings
armpits

Ultimately, none of this really helps; you just have to struggle

with it until you get it.
Assuming the grip is O.K. - youll know it is if you get deep
bruises on the wrist opposite the thumb - there are two other
common barriers to the muscle-up.
First, not being strong enough. Heres the litmus: if you can
do fifteen good pull-ups and fifteen good dips then youre
strong enough. If you cant, work your pull-ups and dips
overtime until you can do the muscle-up.

3. The closer the rings are kept to the

body the easier the muscle-up

7. The head travels from looking up to

foward to down to up again

If youcan do the pull-ups and dips, your grip is good (youre

getting bruised wrists) and youre still unable to get above
rings, then youre either letting the rings wander away from
your body or you arent trying hard enough.
The muscle-up gets noticeably harder with every quarter
inch the ring moves away from the body. Keep the rings in as
close to your body as you can. Only a buddy can tell you if
theyre wandering or not. Typically the struggler has no sense
of where he is.
As weird as it sounds not trying hard enough is common
2

4. Note the rings rotation from adjacent

in two parallel planes to parallel in one
plane back to parallel in two planes
through a rotation of 180 degrees

8. Its not readily apparent but the

muscle-up involves a rather potent
ab contraction that hollows the
trunk. This makes rolling over
the rings much easier. The motion
reminds us of dodging a high-inside pitch

November 2002

among even the most accomplished athletes. Dont give up on each attempt until youve struggled for ten seconds with
the rings at the chest. This part is very hard.
How hard? Not very, really. Gymnastics moves are graded A through E, A being easiest and E hardest. The
muscle-up is an A move. Thats right, easiest. So its easy for gymnasts and nearly impossible for most everyone else.
But, once you get it, anything you can get a finger hold on, you can surmount. Youll be able to jump for something, catch
it with only two fingers, pull in two more, choke up to the false grip and, boom! - youre on top. Military, police, and
firefighter applications are too obvious to mention.
Less obvious are the martial applications where alternately pulling and pushing from awkward angles is routine. Our Jiujitsu guys recognize at once the utility of strength along these bodylines, as well
as the strength and advantage of the false grip.
You can assist the muscle-up with an easy push under the rump during the
transition. Its important for the spotter to push gently, and straight up. The
athletes legs will typically rise leaving him in a near-seated position from
which directing a push up and not out will be easy.
An effective workout would be for two athletes, regardless of ability to perform
the muscle-up - alternately assisting and working - in sets of five reps. Thirty
muscle-ups, each complete to lockout, is a good workout for most people. Fifty
will cover the needs of even elite barbarians.
If you still dont have rings, youre running out of excuses. There are options for
every budget and workout facility. See Ring Buyers Guide.
Rings were a regular feature of gymnasiums until modern times. Strangely, this
perfect tool for perfecting upper body development has fallen to newer fashions
and a disregard for challenging or even slightly technical elements.
Help reverse this trend and youll benefit immensely. So buy some rings, set them up, and use them - starting with the
muscle-up.
Garth Taylor is being assisted by a Delta No-Tangle Harness, Vest Style by Sala (651.388.8282) connected overhead to a
block and tackle assembly with a 4:1 purchase by Harken. This allows for a near perfect assistance the line of action is
not altered by the assistance (compare to Loyd Lewis).
In assisting the muscle-up the key is to gently and slowly aid the transition. The challenge is to keep the athlete moving
through the transition but slowly. The Sala vest and block and tackle provide for a method that not only doesnt alter the
line of action but also gives fantastic tactile feedback to the spotter. You can, by this method, assist perfectly without even
looking at the athlete the sticking point can be easily felt.

November 2002

Ring Buyers Guide, CFJ, November 02

Here are some sources for rings, from a free - standing ring frame suitable for international competition, to a homemade set for
throwing over your pull-up bar or tying to a tree limb.
Spieth Andersons Barcelona Ring Frame is a classic. http://www.spiethanderson.com/catalog/gymnastics/gym18.htm
If youre blessed with space and budget you can get a great Ring Set from AAI. http://www.gymnasticproducts.com/rings.htm
With less space, but still lucky enough to have tall ceilings you can buy ceiling mounted rings from AAI (http://www.gymnasticprod
ucts.com/rings.htm) or Norberts (http://www.norberts.net/catalog/2816.pdf).
Where budget or space is limited, you can get Lexan rings from AAI (http://www.gymnasticproducts.com/rings.htm) and the straps
from Norberts (http://www.norberts.net/catalog/2816.pdf). This arrangement can be thrown over your pull-up bar or just the right
tree limb.
Anyone can afford this option regardless of budget or facility. Frank Ollis, made a set for $3.25 (http://www.crossfit.com/cgi-bin/
message/show.cgi?tpc=26&post=18#POST18).

Here Loyd Lewis is demonstrating the muscle-up on our pull-up bar.

The technique is essentially the same whether the muscle-up is performed on a cliff, tree limb, balcony edge, or the rings.

CrossFit Muscle-up Contest

The competition is to perform as many consecutive muscle-ups as able. Each rep begins from a full hang and ends at full extension. The
count ends on touching the ground - even slightly.
Three natty CrossFit Muscle-Up Champion T-Shirts will be given for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in each weight division.
Mens weight divisions:
0-125
126-150
151-175
176-200
201-225
226-250
251+
Every female able to demonstrate a muscle-up receives a T-shirt. (Weve seen one, Olympian Eva Twardokens). Max reps is female
champion. There are no weight divisions.
Every athlete over fifty able to perform the muscle-up receives a T-shirt.
Submit claims with details of accomplishment to info@crossfit.com along with contact information of athlete and any witnesses by
March 1st, 2003. Early submissions will be notified of ranking. Videotape, though not required, may be archived on CrossFit.com.
Zoom out showing head to toe.
4

November 2002

Glycemic Index
(continued from page 1)

and they all offer a rational, effective regimen for avoiding dietary ills. For those technically inclined, the mechanism by
which excess carbohydrate causes disease state is known as hyperinsulinemia. Hyperinsulinemia is the chronic and
acute elevation of insulin as a result of habitual consumption of excess carbohydrate.
The list of ills linked to hyperinsulinemia is staggering and growing. Just recently colorectal cancer was added to the
probable list of hyperinsulinemia-mediated diseases . The evidence linking excess carbohydrate consumption to
hyperinsulinemia and coronary heart disease is compelling if not overwhelmingly convincing.
Additionally, excess consumption of carbohydrate may soon be shown to be linked to Alzheimers, aging, cancers and
other disease through a process known as glycosylation.
At any rate, a search on Google for hyperinsulinemia reveals hundreds of ills linked to this metabolic derangement.
The rapidly growing awareness of the consequences of elevated blood sugar is one of the more promising avenues of
medical advancement today.
Though frightening, the diseases brought about through hyperinsulinemia can easily be avoided by minimizing
carbohydrate consumption - specifically carbohydrate that gives substantial rise to blood sugar and consequently insulin
levels.
There is a singular measure of carbohydrate that gives exactly this information - Glycemic Index. Glycemic index is
simply a measure of a foods propensity to raise blood sugar. Avoid high glycemic foods and youll avoid many, if not
most, of the ills associated with diet.
Rick Mendosa has published one of the most complete glycemic indices available anywhere with a listing of over 750
common food items giving values based on glucoses score of 100.
We can increase the ease and utility of using such a list by dividing commonly eaten foods into two groups one of highglycemic foods, bad foods, and one of low-glycemic foods, or good foods. This is the rationale behind the CrossFit
Shopping List. See page 6.
You may notice that the good foods are typically meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds, whereas the bad foods include
many manmade or processed foodstuffs. There are some notable exceptions, but the trend is certainly instructive.
High glycemic foods, or bad foods, are typically starchy, sweet, or processed foods like bread, pasta, rice, potato,
grains, and desserts.
More than a few observers have pointed out that low-glycemic foods have limited shelf life and are found on the
perimeter of the grocery store where the high-glycemic foods have a longer shelf life and are typically found within the
grocery stores aisles.
Though this approach is an oversimplification of much of nutritional science, it has the power to deliver nearly all of what
more detailed and elaborate regimens offer such as those by Sears, Eades, Cordain, Atkins, and the Hellers. Eat more of
the good foods and less of the bad foods and youll garner much of what the more responsible eating plans offer.
Many of our friends have radically transformed their health through this single tool.

November 2002

CrossFit Shopping List

Good Foods

Bad Foods

Water

Apple

Acorn Squash

Cereal

Oatmeal

Grape

Baked Beans

Cornstarch

Eggs

Plum

Beets

Croissant

Protein Powder

Shrimp

Black Eyed Peas

Crouton

Peanut Butter

Mayonnaise

Butternut Squash

Doughnut

Tahini

Plain Yogurt

Cooked Carrots

English Muffin

Olives

Deli Meat

Corn

Granola

Beef

Ham

French Fries

Grits

Cheese

Soy Milk

Hubbard Squash

Melba Toast

Salsa

Spirulina

Lima Beans

Muffin

Black Beans

Tempeh

Parsnips

Noodles

Kidney Beans

Egg Substitute

Peas

Instant Oatmeal

Ground Turkey

Oil

Pinto Beans

Pancake

Soy Sausage

Peanuts

Potato

Popcorn

Chicken

Swordfish

Refried Beans

Rice

Turkey Sausage

Tuna Steak

Sweet Potato

Rolls

Salmon

Tomato Sauce

Turnip

Taco Shell

Turkey

Spinach

Banana

Tortillas

Canned Tuna

Carrots

Cranberries

Udon Noodles

Canned Chicken

Orange

Dates

Waffle

Soy Burgers

Pear

Figs

BBQ Sauce

Cottage Cheese

Pineapple

Guava

Ketchup

Almonds

Brussel Sprouts

Mango

Cocktail Sauce

Macadamia Nuts

Eggplant

Papaya

Honey

Avocado

Sauerkraut

Prunes

Jelly

Tofu

Hot Dogs

Raisins

Sugar

Tomato

Chick Peas

Fruit Juice

Maple Syrup

Lettuce

Lamb

Vegetable Juice

Teriaki Sauce

Onion

Pork

Bagel

Chocolate

Mushroom

Dill Pickles

Biscut

Corn Chips

Cucumber

Soy Beans

Bread Crumbs

Ice Cream

Blueberries

Asparagus

Bread

Potato Chips

Milk

Cantaloupe

Steak Sauce

Pretzels

Broccoli

Strawberry

Bulgar

Saltine Crakers

Zucchini

Peach

Sweet Relich

Molasses

November 2002

Strategies for a Seven Minute 2K on the Concept II Rower

Our purpose here is to show specifically how a simple goal - like rowing a seven-minute two thousand meters can
not only be systematically and deliberately approached from multiple protocols, but can generally encourage similar
thinking in pursuing other fitness milestones.
Set the rowing ergometer for two thousand meters, row, and note the time at completion. Repeated regularly, the time to
complete the two thousand meters will fall. Eventually, you may pass under the seven-minute mark and become one of
the better rowers. This is one obvious and common approach to training for a 7 minute 2K on a rower (2K/7).
Lets look at another approach. Set the rower for seven minutes and row, and note the distance on completion. Gradually,
the distance for the seven minutes will increase. Eventually, you may pass the two thousand meter mark and become one
of the better rowers.
The two approaches, distance priority vs. time priority, represent distinct yet converging processes for reaching the
2K/7.
These two approaches suggest a third: hold the rate constant for as much time or as many meters as possible. With the
rate priority efforts, you would hold the 500 meter pace at 1:45 and note when the average 500 meter pace fell under
1:45 by either time or distance. Eventually, you may carry the 1:45 average 500 meter pace for seven minutes at which
point youve again become one of the better rowers.
Three different roads to the same end - two thousand meters in seven minutes. Each of these methods occurs at different
intensities and within different time domains, and therefore in terms of bioenergetics, they cross-train for the singular
goal of 2K/7. (The order of increasing intensity is distance priority, time priority, and pace priority.)
Three metabolically distinct yet convergent paths to the seven-minute goal offer great psychological and physiological
advantage over any of the individual approaches alone.
Slightly more complicated but extremely effective would be an interval approach where the two thousand meters is
rowed in ten intervals of 42 seconds. Set the rower for intervals of 42 seconds of work followed by 30 seconds of rest. If
you row 10 of these intervals and get 200 meters in each youll have experienced the 2K at the seven-minute pace with
the advantage of nine 30-second breaks that stopped the clock.
On the next attempt you could set the rest for only 25 seconds while leaving the work at 42 seconds and see if you can get
200 meters in each of ten intervals. Youve now rowed the 2K at the seven-minute pace again, but this time you reduced
your resting time by 45 seconds. (continued on page 8)

The CrossFit Journal is an electronically distributed magazine

(emailed e-zine) published monthly by www.crossfit.com chronicling a
proven method of achieving elite fitness.
For subscription information go to:
http://www.crossfit.com/shop/enter.html,
or
Send check or money order in the amount of $25 to:
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November 2002

With each successful run where you manage the 200 meters in each of ten intervals you can drop the rest time by 5
seconds on the next workout. Eventually, youll be able to eliminate the rest. At that point youve achieved the 2K/7,
this time by the interval approach.
Heres yet another interval regimen towards the 2K/7. Start with 42 intervals of 10 seconds each followed by thirty
seconds rest. If youre able to manage 48 meters in each of the 42 intervals, in your next workout try 35 intervals of 12
seconds each followed by thirty seconds rest. If youre able to manage 57 meters in each of the 35 intervals, then youre
ready for the next interval in the progression where the work interval increases, the number of intervals diminishes and
the rest remains thirty seconds. The following table shows the progression from easy to tough.

Number of
Intervals
42
35
30
28
21
20
15
14
12
10
7
6
5
4
3
2

Duration of Work
(Seconds)
10
12
14
15
20
21
28
30
35
42
60
70
84
105
140
210

Duration of Rest
(Seconds)
30
30
30
30
30
30
30
30
30
30
30
30
30
30
30
30

Meters in Each
Interval
48
57
67
71
95
100
133
143
166
200
286
333
400
500
667
1000

Total Time for

Workout (min:sec)
27:30
24
21:30
20:30
17
16:30
14
13:30
13
11:30
10
9:30
9
8:30
8
7:30

More important than the particulars of any approach is the variety or breadth of stimulus in moving towards your
target. Youre limited only by your imagination and will power. Each distinct approach adds a unique advantage to your
overall strategy.
This particular goal of two thousand meters in seven minutes is a prominent benchmark in an athletes development.
The Concept II Rowing Ergometer is particularly amenable to interval training because of its marvelously flexible
console, allowing for customizable inputs for intervals. However, dont lose sight of the more general lesson of
incremental, metabolically distinct, and converging methods contributing to an efficient strategy for success.