Work Towards Achieving Symmetry

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Beach WOD at 11:30 am at Venice! 

Prehab:

Posterior Chain Flossing x30-45″
Monster walks 2×20″
Good Mornings with PVC/Bar 2×12
SuperRack Stretch x45″

Warm up with partner:

Row 800m (200 each)
-then with KB-
40 Goblet squats (switch every 10)
40 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls (switch every 10)
40 KBS (Switch every 10)

Fitness

Strength

Every two minutes, for 12 minutes (6 sets):

Strict Chest to Bar Pullups or Bar Muscleups x 2-3 reps

Conditioning

3 rounds for time of:

Run 400 meters
30 Squats
12 Deadlifts

-15 min cap-

Notes:  Prescribed for the Deadlifts is 225/155.  Prioritize form and safety over load on the deadlift!

 Advanced

Strength

Take 10 minutes to build up to a heavy clean and establish your weights for the workout

 Conditioning  – 2014 Granite Games Final Workout

Perform the following two segments against a running clock…

For time:
Row 40 Calories
50 Alternating Pistols
30 Toes to Bar
10 Bar Muscle-Ups

When the running clock reaches 9:00, begin part II…

For time:

Row 20 Calories
3 Squat Cleans (heavy)
2 Squat Cleans (heavier)
1 Squat Clean (heaviest)

Notes:  There has been a lot of pulling and muscle up work this week, so be sure to save your hands and substitute any movements as needed for the toes to bar or muscle ups if needed.  The second part of this was very advanced, with weights up to 305/200!  For most athletes the percentages will build up from around 80-95%.  Every rep should be challenging.

Cool Down:

Pigeon Stretch x60″
Couch Stretch x60″
Keg Drill 2-3 min Lacrosse Ball Glutes 1-2 min

Work towards achieving symmetry.
Recently I have been seeing a large influx of athletes who come to me with pain in their right shoulder, but the evaluation reveals that they are actually tighter and less flexible in their left shoulder. Same goes for the hips. This goes against conventional wisdom but with crossfit, its actually very common. For example, when squatting, if your right hip is tighter, your body will take the path of least resistance and will over compensate by using the left hip more to deepen the squat depth. As a result, the left hip becomes overworked and will lead to pain and dysfunction. To make things worse, when most people feel pain in a joint, they assume that its because the joint is tight and needs to be stretched, which in turn will lead to a hypermobile joint (excessively mobile). As you can see the vicious cycle manifests itself.

Solution: focus on stretching and strengthening each body part evenly. Really take the time to focus on moving with a purpose. I really enjoy seeing our athletes spending the extra time, working on prehab exercises. I become less enthusiastic however, when I see the movements being incorrectly. I am not putting anyone at fault, but I will say that there is a huge difference between the movements being performed right and wrong. Its the difference between getting reults and not. One of the simplest ways to perform exercises the right way is to think about what muscles you are trying to target, and how effectively they are being targeted. If you are not feeling some degree of difficulty with each movement, make the exercise more challenging. This can be increasing the resistance of the thera band, adding a weight, increasing the number of reps, and focusing on performing each movement exactly the same per extremity. It can mean the difference between having pain and not having pain.