Efficiency and Power
WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY (8/13 – 8/14)
Reminder: The below programming will be performed at MDR on Wednesday and Venice on Thursday due to the EIE discussion happening on the opposing day.
Mobility
2 Rounds:
External Rotation w/ Theraband
10 Lat Activations
10 Push Ups
3 Way Pistol x 3 each
Bottom of Squat, 1 minute
Gymnastics Strength
5 rounds or 15 minutes for quality:
5 Weighted Strict Pullups, heaviest possible
5 Plyo Pushups – DEMO
10 Weighted Pistols, heaviest possible
Notes: Sub 10 Ring Rows if you cannot perform a strict pullup. For the plyo pushups use plates and increase depth each round to find a challenging depth. Sub 10 regular pushups as needed. For the pistols, hold the KB at chest. Sub weighted step ups if you cannot perform a pistol.
Conditioning:
‘The Chief’
5 Rounds
3 minute amrap:
3 Power Cleans (135/95)
6 Pushups
9 Air Squats
Rest 1 min between amraps
Cool Down
External Rotation w/ Theraband
20 Hip Extensions
20 GHD Sit Ups
The King of Efficiency
Now that the Smolov cycle is over and we as a gym are taking a more detailed look at the positions and technique that goes into all the movements we do, I wanted to bring up something I have been thinking about for a lot of the athletes in our gym. We preach always getting stronger, but many of you at this point…are pretty damn strong. We gauge absolute strength most reliably by the back squat, and for nearly everyone that number continues to go up. We are to the point where we have a roster of athletes with back squats above 350+ for the guys and 215+ for the ladies.
With these numbers, I want to try to put something in perspective using the 80% rule. This is a theory used by weightlifting coaches to determine the efficiency of a lifter. I have talked about this before but essentially an efficient weightlifter can Clean & Jerk 80% of their best back squat and Snatch 80% of their best Clean & Jerk. So, if we take those 350/215# numbers this translates to a clean & jerks of 280 and 172# and snatches of 225 and 135# respectively. If those numbers seem absurd, I can assure you they are not. Without exception, the best athletes in the gym are at or above this 80% rule. These are the athletes who can translate their strength into POWER and do so efficiently. This power production will carry over to other hip intensive movements like butterfly pull ups, muscle ups, and kipping hand stand push ups, making these athletes really good at CrossFit.
I used some decently high back squat numbers for this comparison but this theory holds for every athlete at every strength level. If an athlete can learn to apply a high percentage of their strength, they will be good at all movement. So, I urge every one in the gym to plug in their numbers to this theory and see where you sit. If you are well below that 80% rule, which is normal, than try to take account of the steps you can take to align those numbers. Does it mean becoming more mobile through yoga, going to VBC, or just trying to put more weight on the bar? Probably all of the above.
This is essentially a follow up post to my post last week about why we use the Olympic lifts in general. Like last week, this applies to everyone but I must say, if you are considering trying to compete in the sport of CrossFit than pushing up your strength numbers while ALSO applying that strength explosively is as absolute necessity.
Seriously though, go to yoga. I went Sunday and it was great. Kristina does an awesome job addressing the issues that plague CrossFit people.