The truth behind the IC’s magic!

In the three-plus months Lisa has been coming to Morning Bootcamp, she has distinguished herself by being both a tremendously hard worker and an encouraging teammate. Her 10am colleagues have most likely gotten at least one high five or cheer from her per circuit, and that willingness to rally for others clearly pays itself back, because her own athletic performance has skyrocketed. Now she’s been making regular appearances at the Core classes, and it shows, because her push ups are stellar and she’s utterly remade her squats. Now she’s turned her attention to pull ups, and we feel confident she’ll have them soon. Be sure to give her a high five back and tell her what a great job she’s doing.

David chose to work out with the Core crew on his birthday. We got him good too. Happy Birthday David!

After overcoming a difficult year, Elsa was happy to share some wonderful news with everyone. She went to Maui and got married! Elsa is one of the sweetest most thoughtful members of the IC family… and not to mention, the most passionate knitter we know. (Thanks to Elsa, Baby Mateo has enough stylin’ hats to last him through high school.) We can’t think of anyone more deserving of some rockin’ good times. Congratulations to the newlyweds!

Fruit bats in training.

—————————————

What sorts of tactical animal skills do you want to learn?

With a newborn at home, Rachel Quilici began commuting from Oakland to train at the IC in the fall of 2007. Since then, she has rarely missed a class (not even since we changed her preferred time slot). She trains hard and doesn’t give up easily. Her biggest asset, and possibly the secret to her success, is her positive attitude. Anyone who trained alongside Rachel yesterday and witnessed her very first barbell clean and jerk knows what a powerful force she has become. The result: 12 pounds down and a 4 point drop in body fat. The sky’s the limit Rachel!

Thanks to Kerri, Baby Mateo has a matching Puma tracksuit just like his dad. Only time will tell whether Mateo will love them as much as Steve does.

_______________________________________________

What workout gear is your current favorite? (…besides ADIDAS supernovas and Nike frees, of course.)

A strong grip is critical to developing overall body strength. Here’s a nice test. Next time you back squat, try two variations; one with a loose soft grip, and the other with a tense tight grip. Can you guess which of the two leads to a stronger squat?

With his tentacle-paws, Baby Mateo can grab and lift objects 1.5x his size (e.g. instead of sitting on his large toy train rocker, he flips it upside down and places it on his lap). Tell us a story of your grip strength development and how it has enhanced your athletic performance.

—————————————————————

IC Tip of the Day: using weightlifting gloves hinders grip strength.

How We Exercised During The Holidays

From Kim Martinez:

We were in Denver visiting my family for the holidays and my brother brought an interesting toy for us to play with – a “slack line.” Apparently climbers use this to entertain themselves when it’s not their turn to climb. We tied a one-inch wide nylon strap to 20-foot long climbing ropes, which encircled two trees. The slack line was about three feet above the ground, but lowered a bit when you stood on it. It’s an incredible balancing challenge and uses more muscles than I can count (including the swear muscles that you use when you fall off, often straddling the line! – ouch..) We had a nice cushion of snow below us; I understand some climbers challenge themselves over precipitous drops.

Here is a photo of John on the line – balancing without assistance. You will not see any photos of Kim, because she is on her butt in the snow, having fallen off numerous times. Imagine her chagrin when HER MOTHER (age 67) was able to stand unassisted. Kim valiantly took the photos, though…