Meg P. gettin’ after the double unders.
When’s the last time you stretched your gastrocnemius? Howsabout your soleus? We jump a lot… you should do some serious stretching of your calves pretty often!
Don’t forget to sign up for Tuesday night’s POST CFCC BCCC meeting at 730p!
POWER:
Box Jumps, peak set of 3
STRENGTH:
Front Squat, peak set of 3
METCON:
21-15-9 reps of:
Front Squats @ 2/3 of peak set
Box Jumps (36/30)
Kelly is a lot like Fran, friends, as far as the movement patterns go. Prep accordingly. PS – if you haven’t checked out the link on the side of the blog called the “Mobility Assignment of the Day”, you are SERIOUSLY missing out. Do it. Like right now. Seriously, RIGHT now. Ring in the fall with some sexy mobility…
METCON:
“Kelly”
Five rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters (loop)
30 Box jump, 24 inch box
30 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball (Sub Thrusters @ 45lbs.)
There’s a new link on the blog… and it’s right over there ——————> under the “Workout of the Day” section. This is because, technically – if you were REALLY keen to do as well as you could possibly do here – you’d be doing this new link EVERY DAY! Let us know what you think!
Today’s WOD is a secret… but you REALLY don’t want to miss it!
It may or may not involve the below.
So. Some of you have asked why we don’t do sit-ups in the past. That’s actually a pretty valid question!
The first step to answering that is to get the facts right about what we do do. The simple truth is that we do occasionally do sit-ups. We teach a perfect sit-up. We occasionally have people who are comfortable with sit-ups do them. We encourage people who have to pass PT tests to do them. We encourage people who will be competing CrossFit to do them every now and then.
The second step to answering this question is that we don’t do sit-ups because we don’t think they’re anywhere near as functional for making you better at everything ELSE in life and CrossFit as doing other things that emphasize stabilizing the midline. Essentially, research and our own experience tells us that doing a lot of other things can make you better at sit-ups but that getting better at sit-ups doesn’t make you better at these other things.
The third step in explaining why we don’t sit-ups is that for most athletes they aren’t worth the risk. You can read more about the risk here (scroll to the bottom of the article or search “sit-up”). Cressey says, “The psoas major has attachments on the T12 and each of the lumbar vertebrae. When activated [as in a sit-up!], it imposes significant compression (~3,300 N, 730 lbs.) on the spine. Coincidentally, McGill (2004) reported that 3,300 N is also the action limit for low back compression in workers as set forth by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH, or the Canadian equivalent of OSHA). In other words, each sit-up you perform exceeds the level of loading that is associated with an increased risk of on-the-job injuries!”
If what you want is rock solid core strength and/or visible abs (let’s all be honest here…) the way to get it is something closer to eating right, and coming to gymnastics – than doing a million gajillion (real number) sit-ups a day.
Just sayin’…
Ah, the beauty of the active shoulder! Here Rita shows off this component of many overhead lifts with a brilliant one-arm press. The active shoulder can protect your shoulder capsule from a good amount of injury even if you’re one of those not-so-flexibility-gifted types.
In the case of the overhead squat the active shoulder is to always think of pushing the weight up while it is over your head. This involves locking the shoulders up into the ears and attempting to keep the shoulder blades retracted (kept together). As much as you can you should imagine pushing your shoulders up with your lats, not necessarily with your traps (like a shrug). This position is easier to achieve if you imagine turning your armpits out toward the wall in front of you. The shoulder blades should be kept back and up!
Here is an example of good shoulder position in an overhead squat.
Believe it or not, here is an example of a not-as-good position in an overhead squat.
You’ll notice in both pictures the women have good hip mobility and pretty good thoracic mobility. In the second example however, the woman is clearly pushing her shoulders up versus turning her armpits out and THEN pushing her shoulders up. Which do you think lifts more? Those little muscles on top of your shoulders or your wings otherwise known as… your LATS?
One of the things that can interfere with your shoulder mobility is a tight pec minor.
Your pec minor has a lot to do with whether or not your shoulder can function properly because it attaches from underneath your pec major (your chesticles) on your ribs back through your body to the top of your scapula… and, as all nerds know, good scapular mobility and stability equals HEALTHY SHOULDERS!
So. Moral of the story? Stretch your pec minor. It’s pretty easy. Check out this great post to get in on the pec minor love. Any of the two stretches in the middle of the page will do!
SKILL WORK:
Overhead Squat
METABOLIC CONDITIONING:
“Nancy”
5 Rounds for time of:
400m Run
15 Overhead Squats (95/65)
CrossFit Center City 
