Colm O'Reilly is in the well

Roper · 14-02-2009 9:08pm #1

Ask this man questions now

brianthebard · 14-02-2009 9:27pm

Good pick.

Colm, how's about some information on your training history?

Khannie · 14-02-2009 11:01pm

How's running a crossfit centre working out for you?
What percentage of people doing crossfit with you are fighters?
What kind of fighters?
What other reasons are people doing crossfit with you for?
Tell us a bit about your MA background if you would?
Do you fight?
At what weight?
I have more, but I'll be kind for now and stop there.

itsallaboutheL · 14-02-2009 11:16pm

any chance of a free t-shirt!! i like that one about gyms without sledge hammers!

Large Please!

On the less serious side, did you have to pay to do a crossfit trainers course/ become affliated to them..

Khannie · 14-02-2009 11:28pm

itsallaboutheL wrote: »

did you have to pay to do a crossfit trainers course/ become affliated to them..

I can answer that one.

Yes he did. They have the fees up on their website.

itsallaboutheL · 14-02-2009 11:39pm

is it recognised by non-crossfit gyms???

Hanley · 15-02-2009 1:00am

Khannie wrote: »

How's running a crossfit centre working out for you?
What percentage of people doing crossfit with you are fighters?
What kind of fighters?
What other reasons are people doing crossfit with you for?
Tell us a bit about your MA background if you would?
Do you fight?
At what weight?
I have more, but I'll be kind for now and stop there.

Would they be in any chance fighting related??

Colm, any idea on maxes for the big three? (tho for you press probably replaces bench?)

How fast can you run 5k?

Colm_OReilly · 15-02-2009 12:15pm

I try to make a habit of not posting on weekends, but I'll answer these questions later today/tomorrow.

Just in case you thought I was ignoring y'all.

Oh, and Barry, well diverted sir.

eroo · 15-02-2009 3:03pm

Roper wrote: »

Ask this man questions now

The polite way of saying ''leave me the feck alone!!''

Khannie · 15-02-2009 4:04pm

Hanley wrote: »

Would they be in any chance fighting related??

Probably. :pac:

Edwardius · 15-02-2009 8:38pm

Who'd win in a fight between you and Roper?

What's your cindy time (for reference Chuck Norris can do it in ten minutes)?

Colm_OReilly · 16-02-2009 9:35am

Khannie wrote: »

How's running a crossfit centre working out for you?
What percentage of people doing crossfit with you are fighters?
What kind of fighters?
What other reasons are people doing crossfit with you for?
Tell us a bit about your MA background if you would?
Do you fight?
At what weight?
I have more, but I'll be kind for now and stop there.

CrossFit - as a business is growing quite nicely at the moment, no recessional slump. As a job I love it! I get to shout at people and they say thank you afterwards

Joking aside, it's very rewarding to take someone from completely uncoordinated/unconditioned and have them do things they thought they'd never be able to do. Muscle Ups, planches, handstands, olympic lifts, pull ups...

Very few of my CF clients are fighters tbh, most do CrossFit as their activity, rather than using CrossFit to supplement MA training.

Most of my clients are just pissed off/fed up with the globogyms (a term CFers use for big box facilities that don't offer serious coaching, and mainly provide machines upon machines), they like the challenge of CrossFit, the camaraderie, and the fact that it's usually all over in under 20 minutes.

No, I don't fight. Tim Murphy holds the distinction of retiring me a few years ago at this stage. Every now and again I think about fighting, but I've always preferred coaching to competing myself.

Colm_OReilly · 16-02-2009 9:39am

itsallaboutheL wrote: »

any chance of a free t-shirt!! i like that one about gyms without sledge hammers!

Large Please!

On the less serious side, did you have to pay to do a crossfit trainers course/ become affliated to them..

Show up to the gym and I'll give you a t-shirt, how about that? (Offer only applies to this poster).

Yes, I paid $1000 for my Level 1 and $500 for my Level 2. I also pay CrossFit $500/annum at present for the use of their name. To be affiliated, I had to write them a letter stating why I liked CrossFit, what I intended to do with my affiliation, etc.

Here's the letter I wrote (complete with typos and unfinished sentences). Nicole seemed to like it.

Colm_OReilly · 16-02-2009 9:43am

Hanley wrote: »

Would they be in any chance fighting related??

Colm, any idea on maxes for the big three? (tho for you press probably replaces bench?)

How fast can you run 5k?

Been a while since I did a CrossFit Total, but iirc.

150Kg squat - did this back in Feb last year but have been unable to replicate it, which leads me to wonder whether I did it high. I have done 135Kg for one in Aug/Sep.

160Kg dead

80Kg bench - back in August at the end of a day doing gymnastics. It was the first day we had a bench so we had a bench off for the craic.

Not sure of my 1RM shoulder press atm, haven't done this in a while.

Snatch - 70Kg
Clean & Jerk - 80Kg, my jerk technique and overhead strength seem to be my limiting factors.

5K - back in 2007 I ran 5K in ~22 minutes iirc, I can't get on to Nikeplus.com to verify this. Last attempted 5K was 25 flat I think.

Roper · 16-02-2009 11:10am

eroo wrote: »

The polite way of saying ''leave me the feck alone!!''

LOL. I'm actually happy to answer any and all questions face to face, I just have limited time on the interweb, 5 mins here and there between appointments believe it or not!

Colm,
what sort of screening processes do you use prior to getting people into the main workouts in your gym?

Colm_OReilly · 16-02-2009 12:01pm

Roper wrote: »

LOL. I'm actually happy to answer any and all questions face to face, I just have limited time on the interweb, 5 mins here and there between appointments believe it or not!

Colm,
what sort of screening processes do you use prior to getting people into the main workouts in your gym?

This begins to border on one of the main, misguided criticisms of CrossFit, in that we abandon form (and by extension safety concerns) in pursuit of better scores/times. We have our motto of Technique --> Consistency --> Intensity.

So, when a new person enters our gym, we have someone go through the workout with them, observing how they move, and teaching about our standards of movements (i.e. pull ups - full extension to chin over the bar)

We always have a technique portion of the class, where we'll go over the main points of the movement we're doing with a pvc pipe. Any major form faults (faults at which we will not allow the movement to go ahead) will be worked on with the pipe until I'm confident they can start on the light weights. Then we work it up to the point where form begins to break down again.

Beginners workouts are heavily scaled down, and we inform them they are not competing yet, and their goal is perfect movement. Someone will literally stand next to them the entire workout, providing cues, pacing, and motivation.

Over time we begin to remove the training wheels and allow them greater intensity, providing their form is acceptable.

Every day, everyone starts out with the PVC pipes. Regardless of whether you pull 30Kg or 300Kg, we go over the movement with the pipe.

Khannie · 16-02-2009 3:48pm

I'm gonna give you a bit of rope here.....

I'm not really familiar with why people dislike crossfit (when they do). What are the main criticisms that you've heard and do you think they're founded? I understand it's difficult for you to be objective, but I think you're aware of that, so I expect that to be reflected in your answer anyway.

ryoishin · 16-02-2009 3:52pm

Whats the best advise you have received for mma and fitness?

What do you think are the qualities needed to be a fighter?

Who are the people you look up to/ inspire you?

Where do you get the funky socks?

Roper · 16-02-2009 5:44pm

You sort of answered my question but gave an interesting answer anyway so I'll forgive you.

What I actually meant was do you use flexibility or movement screens or do you just use the observational method of watching them do the actual movements?

Another question: Hardest lift to coach?

Mikel · 16-02-2009 7:48pm

Do you do any imbalance correction or prehab exercises?
eg shoulder/ hip stability
Have you found crossfit hard on the shoulders?

What are the most common injuries you see? (not just in crossfit)

What is your view on specialisation, if you found you were really good at X, would you be tempted to concentrate on it at to see how far you could take it?

davyjose · 16-02-2009 9:24pm

Colm, simple enough questions, (and ones I could apply just as much to anyone else in the well - Hanley, G'em et al), but how many hours a week do you put into your training?
I'd also like to ask how evenly crossfit is divided between cardio and strength training, and which you personally consider to be more important to you? I hope this question isn't naive, but basically would you rather bench 150kg or run a marathon?

And finally, how much junk food/alcohol do you eat/drink a week?

dioltas · 16-02-2009 9:52pm

Sorry if these are really stupid questions, but for someone who knows feckall about crossfit,

What's the difference between crossfit.com and crossfit.ie?
Is the idea of it that people log on to the website, check out the wofd and do that?
If this is true, then you don't know what you are doing the next day right?
Is the whole idea of a crossfit gym that there are crossfit instructors and all the nessecary equipment there?
Can anyone just log onto the website, check out the workout and do it without being a member of a crossfit gym?

gabgab · 17-02-2009 12:08am

How big are your guns?

What one lift would you consider out of all the workouts/lifts to be the acid test for a persons overall strength/fitness?

Of that lift/workout what is a decent benchmark, eg a 75kg man/woman at an intermediate level should be able to do it at such weight in such time

Colm_OReilly · 17-02-2009 10:15am

gabgab wrote: »

How big are your guns?

What one lift would you consider out of all the workouts/lifts to be the acid test for a persons overall strength/fitness?

Of that lift/workout what is a decent benchmark, eg a 75kg man/woman at an intermediate level should be able to do it at such weight in such time

My guns: Humogous - I barely have time to make it to the gym so I have to sculpt my guns in the office. In fact, I can barely lift my arm because I did so many. I don't know if you heard me counting but I did over a thousand.

For the purposes of this thread we're defining fitness as laid out in the CrossFit Journal, work capacity across broad time and modal domains. As such, strength is a component of fitness. A pretty damn important component, but still a component nonetheless. In that regards you couldn't really define one lift or workout to acid test someone's fitness.

Some may argue that Fran is that acid test, and indeed Fran has a ridiculous amount of attention associated with it, but Fran (21, 15, and 9 reps of 95lb Thrusters and Pull Ups) is just one modal domain, so it can't be the be all and end all of fitness.

If I had to think of a lift, one could argue a snatch, as it incorporates total body strength, coordination, flexibility, balance, speed, agility. But it does neglect a cardiovascular component, and for the most part and endurance component. Also it's only one modal domain and in a 1RM case a single time domain as well.

As a digression, and since I have the floor on this thread I'll take a digression, the public perception of fitness is generally centred around longevity, so marathon runners are heralded as very fit. However, public perception also believes that high carb/low fat is good for you, but has little to no scientific data to back it up.

As for the 75Kg man question, right now I've a 5:41 Fran and a 70Kg Snatch, if you can't beat me you're a pussy. If you can, you must be on roids.

Colm_OReilly · 17-02-2009 10:31am

dioltas wrote: »

Sorry if these are really stupid questions, but for someone who knows feckall about crossfit,

What's the difference between crossfit.com and crossfit.ie?
Is the idea of it that people log on to the website, check out the wofd and do that?
If this is true, then you don't know what you are doing the next day right?
Is the whole idea of a crossfit gym that there are crossfit instructors and all the nessecary equipment there?
Can anyone just log onto the website, check out the workout and do it without being a member of a crossfit gym?

The difference between CrossFit.com and CrossFit.ie - The mainsite is the main hub of CF, and as Glassman has pointed out, it's one iteration of the prescription of 'functional movements, constantly varied, executed at high intensity'. Essentially it's "hey, we don't know what you're weaknesses are, but if you follow this you'll get fit. But, go work on your weaknesses as well."

Individual Affiliates, like CrossFit Ireland, will be able to tailor their programming to address the weaknesses through the programming, so the CrossFit.ie programming will more accurate target the weaknesses of the clients of CrossFit Ireland than the mainsite can.

CrossFit.ie (and CrossFit.com) both offer a degree of experimentation. Glassman himself has said that he can't wait for the day when one affiliate blows all the others out of the water at the CrossFit Games, then we'll steal their programming.

A large part of why I like CrossFit is the community aspect of it. It's one of the few places where people are celebrated for their personal achievements (first pull up, first clean, bodyweight lift, pushing themselves hard on a metcon, etc). Really this community feel is the true gift and benefit of working out at an affiliate.

Can you do the workouts on your own? Yes, absolutely. Will you get fitter than you ever have been? Yes. Will you develop at the same rate and to the same level on your own as the same if you were competing regularly with fellow athletes while receiving live coaching and instant feedback from a passionate instructor? No.

Coach Glassman was asked the same question when he gave a lecture at the War College. My answer is plagiarised from him. Here it is. 9If it's not on part 4 it's in part 3)

Another interesting thing about web based CrossFitters versus Affiliate based CrossFitters is the guys doing it at home will tend to pick and choose their workouts moreso than the affiliate based guys.

So:

Instruction
Equipment
Atmosphere
Competition
Camaraderie

That's what you get at an affiliate. A good one, anyway.

Let me know if I've failed to touch on any of the points you've mentioned.

Colm_OReilly · 17-02-2009 10:42am

davyjose wrote: »

Colm, simple enough questions, (and ones I could apply just as much to anyone else in the well - Hanley, G'em et al), but how many hours a week do you put into your training?
I'd also like to ask how evenly crossfit is divided between cardio and strength training, and which you personally consider to be more important to you? I hope this question isn't naive, but basically would you rather bench 150kg or run a marathon?
And finally, how much junk food/alcohol do you eat/drink a week?

My training week. Right now I'm playing around with Olympic Lifting, following the beginner's progression in Greg Everett's book.

So i'd have four hours of weight lifting each week (I videotaped and compiled all my lifts for a while. In about 40 minutes I was doing 1-2 minutes work as it turns out), 2 days of just lifting (Snatch/Clean & Jerk), other days are supplementary lifts (back squat, front squat, overhead squat, snatch/clean deadlifts, snatch/clean pulls, push press, snatch balances - I think that's all atm).

I'm also rolling 2-3 times a week. But given that I'm coaching as well I probably only get 15-20 minutes actual rolling (A brazilian jiu-jitsu/mma term used for ground fighting) each class. If the mood takes me, I'll do a short metcon (10-12 minutes preferrably) once a week as well. Generally, there's some CrossFit Ireland event or something or other once every month where I'll get my ass handed to me by some of the firebreathers.

Junk Food - I'm a fiend for coke and chocolate. As long as I'm busy I won't think about food I won't eat it, but if I'm seriously bored I can gulp down the black evil drink. I'd say I'd have one takeaway a week. Alcohol wise, I generally have 2 beers on Friday evening and usually head out for a few most Saturdays. After any sort of cheat like this I find the fastest way to get back to normalcy is to fast for a bit, then go back onto the zone.

As for the strength/cardio question, it would be very difficult to answer, since we don't make that binary distinction between the two. A large contention of Glassman, and by extension CrossFitters, would be that in real life (read, emergency situations) chances are you're going to have to exert maximal strength at an exceedingly elevated heart rate (think clearing debris off your partner during an ambush or fire in the office, for example).

If you want me to flesh out my thinking on this I can.

Colm_OReilly · 17-02-2009 10:51am

Mikel wrote: »

Do you do any imbalance correction or prehab exercises?
eg shoulder/ hip stability
Have you found crossfit hard on the shoulders?

What are the most common injuries you see? (not just in crossfit)

What is your view on specialisation, if you found you were really good at X, would you be tempted to concentrate on it at to see how far you could take it?

Generally we've found that to correct imbalances (created by living, rather that a defect) is correct application of the movements we teach. Had you any imbalances in particular you were referring to?

Is Crossfit hard on the shoulders? No more so that it is on any other major mover of the body.

Most common injury, I'm kinda stumped. Sore backs would probably be the most common one, but it doesn't reach the point of stress fractures or anything like this. This is generally a result of people letting their ego, rather than their body, determine the weight to lift (particularly on their dead lifts). With a lot of people, their trunks simply can't support the power of their hips, so their backs round out a lot during lifts. Then I've to bust them down to a lower weight until they can recruit their spinal erectors.

I've absolutely no problem with specialization. However crossfit is by design not specialized. Specialisation will make you very good at one thing to the expense of other areas. It's entirely up the individual to determine if that's worth it.

BobbyOLeary · 17-02-2009 10:53am

I could ask in person but I may as well throw it in here.

How do you find sticking to the Zone? Now that you're on a more "heavy" program do you find the Zone diet to have enough calories for you to recover quickly enough or have you had to bump up your blocks?

Colm_OReilly · 17-02-2009 11:08am

Roper wrote: »

You sort of answered my question but gave an interesting answer anyway so I'll forgive you.

What I actually meant was do you use flexibility or movement screens or do you just use the observational method of watching them do the actual movements?

Another question: Hardest lift to coach?

The movement screens are really the movements themselves. With a pvc pipe, their is virtually no way someone is going to injure themselves learner a lift with it. For an adult male, a 20Kg bar is not likely to cause injury either. We also have 7Kg bars and 2kg bars for developing movements. There's also a hierarchy. For example, we're not going to teach someone the complete snatch before they have an overhead squat, and they won't do an overhead squat until they have an air squat.

Hardest lift to coach. I'll give you an interesting answer to this one as well. We've found it ridiculously easy for girls to learn the deadlift. Literally 3-5 minutes and they've got the pattern down, and after that it's minor tweaks. Guys will take a lot longer to learn.

Conversely, I've found girls struggle with the air squat and back squat, but will perform better (relatively) with the overhead squat. If I was to hypothesize why, I'd say it's the guys have stronger hips relative to their trunks than girls have, so they've a greater imbalance.

Probably the lift that needs the most time with an athlete is the back squat. That's one we try to get real solid mechanics on.

On a personal side, I don't like teaching the kip as I don't have a very fluid one. I prefer to farm that exercise out.

Khannie · 17-02-2009 11:11am

Colm_OReilly wrote: »

As for the 75Kg man question, right now I've a 5:41 Fran and a 70Kg Snatch, if you can't beat me you're a pussy. If you can, you must be on roids.

F*CK. Very impressive.

Colm_OReilly · 17-02-2009 11:20am

ryoishin wrote: »

Whats the best advise you have received for mma and fitness?

What do you think are the qualities needed to be a fighter?

Who are the people you look up to/ inspire you?

Where do you get the funky socks?

MMA - "Be your own Coach" by John Kavanagh. Now, whether John knew this was a gem or simple I was asking too many questions of him each class, he did encourage me to try and find out the answer myself, rather than hit a problem, then look to an authority for a solution straight away. Good advice for life really.

Fitness - Hmmm, can't really think of just one.

Qualities for a Fighter - Above all, consistency and honesty. There's a lot of talented guys that will train one week, take a week off, etc. By honesty I mean look at your weaknesses, and work on that. If you did that in your training you'd skyrocket.

Inspirations - Will Walshe, my fellow coach at CrossFit, for all his knowledge, hard work ethic, and athleticism, he has embodied the 'leave your ego at the door' principle. One of the few people I've known who can legitimately accept criticism and instruction so willingly.

Karl Steadman and Mark Beck from CrossFit Manchester - these guys are great coaches, thoroughly professional but also very friendly and welcoming. For the most part, I consider these guys my CrossFit coaches. I only wish I could travel over to them more often.

A few others but I'll leave it at that.

Funky socks - The socks began actually in Limerick, in early 2007. i decided that by July, all my socks would be colourful and cool, rather than dull and black. The earliest prototypes were just stripy, but today they've evolved to all sorts of elaborate decorations.

The Funky socks are my way of extending beyond outrageously bright and colourful shorts used in MMA - which, by the way, I invented.

Colm O'Reilly is in the well

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