Tag Archives: squat

Is barefoot running dangerous?

barefoot runningBy Guy Lawrence

“The human foot is a work of art and a masterpiece of engineering.”
—Leonardo Da Vinci

Guy: These are just one of the questions we ask sports scientist, barefoot specialist and running coach David Chamberlain.

I must admit, myself and running are not the most compatible companions. If Forest Gump were a gazelle, I’d be a silverback gorilla! In saying that, running has always been in there or there abouts with my training.

A few years ago after a spell of chronic back pain, one of the things I looked at were the shoes I was wearing, which sparked an introduction with the barefoot minimalist shoe ‘The Vibram Five Fingers’ which you can read my review here. I’ve worn minimalist shoes ever since.  Continue reading

Snatch does Monkey Magic WOD


By 180 Nutrition

snatch the crossfit monkeyAfter crushing Fran in 2:34 and then casually squatting 200kg, 180 Nutrition sponsored athlete Snatch the CrossFit Monkey is back with a skill heavy WOD of his own devising.

As the Open draws near, we ask the question: how is your skill work holding up?

Win a 180 CrossFit prize pack

180 performance prize packIf you think you can match Snatch, or better yet beat him, record yourself doing the workout and then post it up on our Facebook page and we will give two boxes of WOD Bars & a 180 T-shirt to the fastest time! (Comp’ closess March the 6th 2013)

What are you waiting for team? Get practising those triple unders and we look forward to seeing some super times!

If you enjoyed the Snatch’s skills, would really appreciate the share on FaceBook and any thoughts comments below. Thanks…




You can flow Snatch’s Journey on FaceBook here.

Improve power snatch technique for crossfit

By Guy Lawrence

In this video: Khan runs me through some drills that I have found exceptionally helpful to improve my power snatch technique for crossfit.

The power snatch

overhead_squatAfter being out for almost 3 weeks with an infected elbow (you can see it here), I have now just under 3 weeks to prepare for a team crossfit competition we are sponsoring. It’s going to be a stella event that is called the State of Origin CrossFit Youfit Classic. One of the event organisers is one of our very on sponsored athletes James Newbury (you can follow James here).

crossfit bareOne of the team events is going to be a 50kg power snatch. I’m defiantly weak in this area (3 week lay off hasn’t helped) and these are the drills I will be doing in the lead up to the crossfit competition. We shot this video in our second home: Crossfit Bare in Bondi-Junction (pictured left. click to enlarge image).

Are you struggling with the snatch or are you a ninja? Would love to hear from you… Thoughts, ideas, useful links etc… Cheers, Guy

Snatch the CrossFit Monkey attempts 200kg/440lbs back squat

By 180 Nutrition

Snatch The CrossFit Monkey idolises his fellow 180 Nutrition sponsored athletes. After seeing the Australian CrossFit champion Chad Mackay squat with one arm after shoulder surgery, Snatch wanted to emulate his hero!

Snatch the crossfit monkeyAfter his first workout ‘Fran’ being a very impressive 2 minutes 34 seconds, Snatch’s confidence his high. With wild instincts coursing through his veins being fresh out of the jungle, we still feel we need to keep his ego in check and improve his table manners…

You can follow Snatch’s journey to the 2013 CrossFit Games here.

CrossFit Journey Part IV: A typical WOD session at CrossFit Bare

By Guy Lawrence

What is CrossFit? I’m still struggling with this question when I get asked. But when I tell people the first thing I do in the morning is check the CrossFit Bare website to see what today’s WOD is, I usually get two responses that go something like this:

  1. Uh? Don’t you think that’s a little obsessive? What’s wrong with you mun!
  2. Wow…Really! What’s a WOD? Tell me more…

This post is dedicated to the latter…

Continue reading

Exercise less & lose more weight (part II): The best exercises for weight loss

best_exercise_for_weight_lossBy Guy Lawrence

“If you motivate an idiot, they just do stupid things faster… Education is key!” – Unknown

Last week I told my mate he needed to exercise less to improve his health and lose more weight. If you have no idea what I’m on about, read this post first (part 1) before going on. I asked him if he liked the idea of exercising 1 hour a week instead of 1 hour a session. He did…

I’d finally started to make some inroads with his way of thinking. He could see that to gain success with weight loss, it needed to be a byproduct of living a healthy lifestyle. Not living for weight loss and hoping he’d become healthy. A subtle difference but an extremely important one.

I love exercise, I do it most days. I always look for ways at how it can be fun yet challenging, and for me it can be extremely rewarding too. But weight loss is the last thing on my mind, and I wanted to hammer it home for my mate too.

He asked me what/why exercises he should be doing and this is what I said… Continue reading

Adding some Kettlebell exercises to your workouts

The following kettlebell exercises are some of the more popular. Try adding a few of the exercises, doing three to four sets of 12 to 15 repetitions, to your regular fitness regimen.

Swing – Stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Grip a kettlebell with two hands with the weight of the ball centered in the middle finger. Swing the kettlebell to shoulder height or straight overhead and hold for one second. Keeping the movement slow and in control, return the kettlebell to starting position.

Squat and press — Stand with legs shoulder-width apart or wider and grip a kettlebell in each hand, holding them at chest height a few inches apart with palms together. Tilt your hips back and squat downward like you are sitting into a chair, keeping the knees behind your toes. Maintaining an upright torso, continue down into the squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor while raising the arms overhead, rotating the palms so they face forward at the end of the movement. Return to starting position.

Single-arm clean and press — Start with a kettlebell on the ground and stand with legs at least shoulder-width apart. Grab the kettlebell and lift it to shoulder height with the palm facing the body. Then shrug and press the bell overhead, palms facing forward, using a slight throw and catch.

Single-arm alternate swing – Standing with the legs at least shoulder-width apart, grip a kettlebell, centering its weight in the middle finger, and swing it to shoulder height. Let go, quickly catch the kettlebell with the other arm and return to starting position.

Lunge — Grip the round part of a kettlebell with two hands and hold at chest height. Start with your feet together and shoulders back. Take a large step forward with the right foot. Lower to a 90-degree position while pressing the kettlebell overhead. Be sure to keep the torso upright, the shoulders back and the knee behind the toe. Push off the heel of the front leg and return to starting position, lowering the kettlebell back to the chest.

Overhead squat — Stand with the feet at least shoulder-width apart and hold two kettlebells straight overhead. Tilt your hips back and squat downward like you are sitting into a chair, keeping the knees behind your toes. Maintaining an upright torso, continue down into the squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor, and slowly return to starting position. As you complete each repetition, keep the arms straight overhead.

No exercise is complete without excellent nutrition. Checkout 180 SuperFood here.

You can read the full article here.