Crush Cancer

Saturday, 10/12/2013

Join us today as we Stand Up 2 Cancer!  Organized by one of our local CrossFit gym owners that survived cancer, today’s workout is dedicated to raising awareness and working together to CRUSH CANCER!  If you would like to donate, click HERE and look for team Paradiso CrossFit!  

Mobility:

2 rounds:
PVC dislocates x10
Wall Squats x10
Good Mornings x10
Pull ups/Ring Rows x10

Classic Strength 

15 minutes to establish a 1RM Power Snatch + OH Squat

Notes:  Focus on quality movement and overhead position each attempt. Prioritize making contact with the hips!

Advanced Strength

7 min to establish a 3 RM OH Squat

Notes:  This will be the same format as Event 2 at Regionals. Pick a starting weight and go up in 10# (men) and 5# increments (women). Spend around 8-10 min loading up and go for it! Weight must be taken from the ground.

Men’s starting weights (pounds):  135, 185, 225, 255

Women’s starting weights (pounds):  85, 125, 155, 175

Conditioning

“Crush Cancer”

3 Rounds of 1 minute ME:

Power Cleans (95/65)

Kettlebell Swings (55/35)

Burpees

Shoulder to Overhead *(95/65)

Double Unders

Rest 1 minute

Notes:  Move from one movement to the next with no rest.  The score is the total number of reps completed at the end of 3 rounds.  Feel free to donate to the cause HERE!

Cool Down:

German Hang 1min
Foam Roll T-spine 1-2min
3 way Wrist Stretch 1 min

 Optimal physical performance.

I gave a talk the other night for our on-rampers with the topic of mobility. It was a great class that so many crossfitter’s can benefit from, but I think a more accurate title would have been how to achieve optimal physical performance.  While having great mobility is a part of the equation, it does not take into account strength and neuromuscular control. What exactly do I mean? And what is optimal physical performance?

Simply put, achieving Optimal Physical Performance is your bodies ability to improve as fast as possible while minimizing the chance of injury.

Well we have all either seen other athletes (or you are that athlete) who can get their butts all the way to the floor with a squat, but can’t get stand up a very moderate weight.(Lacks strength) Or the opposite is seen where a stud walks through the door who can squat the world above the knee, but physically cannot get their butt below parallel. (Lacks mobility) And then there is the other athlete who can drop below parallel, stand up heavy weight, but they have no ability to control their knees dropping in, further increasing their risk of meniscus injury and increasing the likelihood of plateauing with training (Lacks neuromuscular control–aka the bodies ability to turn on/off muscles at the appropriate time).

So which one are you?

The sooner you can honestly answer this question, the sooner you on the fast track to success, significantly quicker than you would otherwise. For example, if you have great mobility or borderline hyper mobility (excessive mobility), you should not be spending your time before class working on holding a rock bottom squat, you should be performing some type of hip strengthening exercise: monster walks, hip circles, or hollow holds. If you lack mobility, instead of powering all of your olympic lifts and loading up the bar when you can’ squat below parallel, you must spend your time increasing your hip/ankle mobility and trying to strengthen your muscles in new ranges of motion. You might be really strong above 90 degrees hip flexion, but if you aren’t familiar going through a new range of motion, you will be very weak, and will never be able to reach your full potential with oly lifts and crossfit in general. Lastly, neuromuscular control. Can you maintain hollow while doing pull-ups? Do to lose your midline with heavy jerks? Do your knees cave in with any type of loaded squat? If so, you need to spend the time working on these positions with lighter weight, improving your body awareness, and working on your core via planks, side planks, hollow holds, L-sits, etc, etc.   

 So be smart, don’t do the same mobility exercises because you are really good at them, perform the ones that you need the most work on. I promise you will improve, you will get more flexible, your strength will increase along with your body awareness, but only if you specifically and consistently address your impairments.

Train hard, train smart.