North Shore CrossFit

With the size of the new space we are able to offer a full time recovery room.  We have our very own Dawn Adam-Brown as our Sports Massage practitioner and Ron Williams as our Acupuncture practitioner.  There are hours and contact info posted on the door to the recovery room.  Make sure you utilize this great resource!

Bios-

Dawn Adam-Brown is now in her 6^th year at NSCF continuing her work as a Coach and Massage Therapist. With her experience as a CrossFit Coach, Competitive Olympic Lifter, CrossFit Athlete, Massage Therapist and R.N. her recovery sessions specialize in injury prevention, healing and rehabilitation for athletes of all levels.

This type of recovery work is designed so that our members can continue to train with consistency and constant improvement.

Please contact Dawn at 617 594-7142 dmb4@comcast.net

• CrossFit Certified Level II Instructor
• CrossFit Olympic Weightlifting certified
• CrossFit Running and endurance certified (Pose running)
• USA Weightlifting Sports Performance Coach
• Catalyst Athletics Olympic Weightlifting Seminar – Level 1
• CrossFit Kettlebell certified under Jeff Martone
• Certified Massage Therapist
• Nursing Background
• USAW Referee
• Gold 2007 American Masters Weightlifting Championships
• Bronze 2010 National Masters Weightlifting Championships
• Gold 2010 Masters Pan Am Games
• NELWC Masters Record holder in clean and jerk

Ronald J Williams, Lic.Ac., M.Ac. holds his undergraduate degree in Biology, with a medical technology concentration and a double minor in Psychology and Chemistry.  Williams received his Masters in Acupuncture from New England School of Acupuncture, and is licensed by the Massachusetts Board of Medicine.   He is a certified Tui Na and Qi Gong Therapist as well as being a  Reiki Master.   In addition, Ron has been active in the Martial Arts community for over 30 years and most recently completed a six year certification program of Qi Gong with Dr. Yang Jwing Ming.

Ron provides the following services:

• Chinese & Japanese Acupuncture
• Tui Na (manual therapies)
• Qi Gong and Reiki Therapies
• Private Instruction in Qi Gong

To schedule an appointment with Ron Williams, he can be reached at 978-397-6505, or reached via e-mail at ronaldwilliams25@gmail.com

Hours of Operation:

Mon, Tues, Wed, Friday – 9:30 – 2:30

Thursday – 9:30 – 1:15

Acupuncture

The insertion of hair fine needles at precise Acu points, to balance the circulation of energy (Qi) in one’s body.

How it works:

Acupuncturists diagnose, treat disease, prevent illness and improve well-being, They recognize that the body is an integrated, whole system.  Health is maintained when there is a smooth flow of vital energy called Qi (pronounce “chee”).  This bioelectric energy circulates throughout the body and connects with specific organs, systems and body structures.  If the circulation of Qi is impaired or disrupted, normal function is affected, resulting in illness, pain or disease processes.  By helping Qi flow to areas where it is deficient and away from areas where it is excess or stagnant, acupuncture promotes the body’s ability to heal itself.

Recovery is such a big part of training and the easiest to skip.  Stretching, rolling, mobility, icing, fish oil, diet, massage, chiropractic, sleep.  It is never ending.  This is a big part of why you come to NSCF.  Keep the lines of communication open with your coaches.  We can help you navigate through your training and find that balance with your practice, workouts and recovery.  You are training like athletes, put in the extra effort to recover like athletes.  Here is a great new recovery blog from Kelly Starett with CrossFit San Francisco.

Check out the Mobility Blog.

Hopefully Raf doesn’t see this video and add them to the “burpee breakdown”. For the record, I love the burpee breakdown. I have added it to my daily warmup! I could possibly be late to class on purpose just to get into better shape.

 The Shoulder

Warm-up

(Please talk to one of your coaches if you are not sure how to perform any movements)

Use ball to roll chest, upper back and side of shoulder x 5 min

10 shoulder rolls forward then back

10 dislocates (Starting with very wide grip, then narrowing grip as much as possible keeping the arms straight and focusing on the ball and socket joint of the shoulder and rotating it through its full rotation)

10 figure 8 with pvc

 10 behind the neck press with pvc mixing it up with snatch and clean grip

10 pressing snatch balance with pvc

10 arm bars (start with no weight or light dumbbell increasing weight slowly)

10 Turkish get-ups (start with no weight or light dumbbell increasing weight slowly). If pain occurs while the injured shoulder is supporting your body weight just work one side until injured shoulder is able to perform the movement without pain.

Workout modifications

All overhead strength exercises should be kept to higher reps and pvc or light weight, continuing to move the shoulder through its full range of motion.

Make sure when performing any overhead lifts that arms come to full extension with head through at the top (this position is what engages and strengthens the muscles of the rotator cuff). A good way to ensure a proper finishing position is doing lifts from behind the neck.

Using dumbbells for overhead exercises is a great way to rehab a shoulder injury as it will not allow for the stronger/uninjured shoulder to compensate for the weaker/injured one.

Push-ups can be modified to knees, box or floor press (whatever is needed to maintain full range of motion).

Pull-up modified to banded strict, ring rows and once feeling better banded kipping.

Stretching

Stand sideways with shoulder against the wall, extend arm straight out against wall, turn your body toward the wall as far as possible. You should feel this through the back of shoulder and arm.

Standing facing the wall, extend arm straight out and turn body away from out stretched arm as much as possible. You should feel this in the front of the shoulder and chest.

Clasp hands behind back pulling up as much as possible.

Holding on to a doorway or secure post lean backwards creating slight traction on the shoulder joint. Tight muscles in the shoulder can tighten the ball and socket joint not allowing it to go through full range of motion. Applying light traction can release/relieve this issue.

Remember stretching should be done after the muscles have been warmed up and you should feel a gentle stretch but not pain.

 Post workout/between workouts

Ice

      Keep moving the shoulder through full range of motion as much as possible.

Roll/massage

Muscle imbalances can be related to your job (sitting at a desk for long periods of time…), sports, compensating for an old injury, improper form (not working full range of motion) or poor training habits that isolate specific muscles. Muscle imbalances occur when one muscle group is overused, and the opposing muscle group, acting as a stabilizer, becomes underused.

Once an imbalance occurs, the body is unable to function as designed and prone to injury.

The overused muscles become shortened which then restricts their ability to perform at their peak potential, can cause nerve impingement and pull joints out of alignment. The underused muscles become weak and elongated and are prone to spasms (a response to protect the muscle from overstretching).

         Some imbalances can be seen in a person’s posture;

• Rounding of the shoulders=shortened pectorals weakened rotator cuff and/or middle upper back.
•  Inability to fully extend the arm=shortened biceps weakened triceps,
•  Anterior pelvic tilt (difficulty with hip extension)=shortened hip flexors and weak glutei’s and hamstrings.

• Posterior pelvic tilt (flat back) =shortened hip extensors (hamstrings and glutei) weak hip flexors.

Usually the imbalance goes unnoticed and only dealt with once pain and/or injury has occurred.  

How do you avoid a muscle imbalance?

Always, work full range of motion during your training, even if that means using less weight or slowing down (intensity with improper form will only slow down progress).

Don’t be afraid of the dumbbell. Although the bar seems to be a ‘sexier’ training tool, your weaker side cannot hide under a dumbbell.

Pay attention to your body, work your weaknesses, and ask your coaches for advice. Typically the movements we don’t like are the ones we find difficult and need to work more.

How to deal with an imbalance?

If you can’t get full range of motion of a movement due to injury or pain don’t modify by shortening the range of motion, modify in a way that allows you to get the full range of motion.

Concentrate on your warm-up; if you are mentally aware of the muscles that are not performing as they should, ‘waking them up’ during the warm-up will get them moving better during your training.

 Know that where you feel pain is not always where the issue is

Talk to your coaches and then listen

Foam rolling and soft tissue work with focus on the tightened muscles

Extra mobility work

Reinforcement of good alignment throughout the day

Train smart and hard

We may train you in a group setting but we coach and encourage you to think as an individual.

 ‘I’m tired of people training without purpose. You don’t squat because you know you should squat; you squat with a purpose. Whether that purpose is a bigger squat, bigger legs, or a more jacked physique is irrelevant. You include the squat in your program for a reason; the same should be true of your entire training program. Every mobilization, soft-tissue technique, exercise, or stretch should be included with a specific goal in mind.’

Mike Robertson