The Crossfit Games have announced the workouts for the Master's Divisions. These workouts look like they are no joke. In particular, WOD 4 looks memorable. Keep an eye on the Crossfit Games this weekend, for the workouts alone. This is when Crossfit drops their most interesting and challenging tests. It's gotten better every year, as the guys and gals at HQ have better defined their ideas of fitness, and how to test it.
We'll be working with the Sumo deadlift today. The "sumo" refers to the wide stance used for the lift. The hands are inside the legs. Generally, you can sumo deadlift more weight than you can deadlift conventionally. As far as I can recall, we have never used this lift in the gym. I would like to familiarize ourselves with this version of the lift, as it can help train the body to move more weight.
Below is a video of Dave Tate (from Elite FTS) explaining deadlifitng technique. Among other things, Tate shows the difference between a conventional deadlift and the sumo deadlift.
Pay particular attention at 1:30, when Tate explains a common deadlift fault. We see this fault, which I call a "back lever", mostly in hip rep deadlift workouts. It's a less efficient way to move the barbell. And it can leave you very sore. ESPECIALLY if you return the barbell to the ground using the "back lever"!
2 epic posts from James Fitzgerald, aka OPT. James fashions himself and his followers as higher level fitness thinkers. I tend to agree, but his grammar and punctuation are worse than mine!
Second, James does a tremendous job programming for "the sport of fitness". After the Games, he will start breaking his blog into 3 phases, which means 3 different workouts will be posted depending on goals and ability levels.
Forearm pain is one of those nuisances that we hear about a lot. With all the gripping, pulling and racking we do, our forearms take a beating. Just recently, I've talked about forearm tendinitis/athletes elbow a handful of times. Since I've started mobilization, I intuitively used the lacrosse ball on my forearms (but probably not as much as I should). But check out this video, then starting digging objects into your forearms, move your wrist on fingers, and mobilize your tissue.
Workout Of The Day
Strength
Clean
1-1-1
Clean Pulls
3-3-3
Metcon
AMRAP 9
15 Cleans 135/83
40 Walking Lunges
15 Jerks 135/83
40 Squats
Use your "Grace" Challenge weight.
The Games are upon us, now it’s time to get under the bar
Sunday, July 24, 2011
The Crossfit Games are this weekend! Expect some mainstream attention…like in the Economist? I used to read the Economist, but not so much anymore. Any Economist readers out there? Post to comments.
We're going to change up some of the Olympic Lift training, starting this week. As a gym, we are pretty damn good at pulling the barbell. Now is time to start getting good a getting UNDER the barbell after we pull it. I don't know if the there is a better way to practice this skill than the Snatch Balance.
You may get to the Snatch Balance 2 ways.
1. From the rack. Just like a back squat. I prefer this when I am trying to move largest loads, as you are not expending too much energy getting into a position to lift.
2. From the floor. You'll need to get the barbell to your back, either by snatching or cleaning, jerking, and moving to your back. I like doing this from time to time, as it requires more work.
Some cool PDF downloads in the Crossfit Journal this week:
Crossfit Kitchen Handy Snacks. It's always good to have quick, simple, easy nutrition. It's also important to keep it interesting.
Taking Age Out of the Equation. I am on the older side of Crossfit competitors. But I won't use that as an excuse. I don't even want the thought in my mind.
The definition of Crossfit is: Constantly varied functional movement performed at high intensity. Sound like fun? Does it even sound interesting? Even some of Crossfit's best thinkers have struggled with describing it. This video does a great job of showing what Crossfit is: a lifestyle.
Workout Of The Day
Run 800m
20 Squat Cleans 135/83
Run 400m
15 Push Jerks 135/83
Run 200
10 Snatch 135/83
What do you wan to see in the “hopper”?
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Greg Glassman is the brain behind Crossfit. One of his operational models of Crossfit is the "hopper" model. In a nutshell, you take a bunch of physical tasks, throw them in a hopper, pull them out and perform them one at a time. The person that constantly performs the best at the combined tasks is the "fittest". And the thing you want to see LEAST come out the hopper is probably the thing that will improve your overall fitness the MOST.
The actually chose to events at the 2007 Crossfit Games using a peanut roaster as a hopper.
That's kind of what we're going to do on Friday. We have 3 WODs in our "hopper". Just a hint: I consider all three WODs moderately heavy, and of a medium duration. The skills required to complete the WOD are basic. We will cap each WOD at 20 minutes. Each class will pick a WOD from the hopper, so every class may perform a different WOD.
We'd like to try this one day a month, and as we get better at the "unknown and unknowable", we'll add more tasks to the Hopper.
FYI, OPT has extended the $99 price tag on his seminar to August 15. Again, the event is in San Diego, October 7-9. I'll be there.
