Possibilities

NO 8 OR 9AM CLASS THIS SATURDAY:  ALL LEVELS WELCOME TO ATTEND THE 10AM CLASS.  CHECK THE SCHEDULE HERE.

3 Rounds for time of: – Results

18 Weighted Jumping Lunges (40-20# dumbbells)

6 Glute Ham Raises (video below)

100 meter Weighted Run

Rest 5-7 minutes

Finish with 60sec accumulated L-sit work on parallettes.

The run will be with a heavy bumper plate or sandbag of choice and one lucky person gets the Heavy Bag!

The Jumping Lunges keep all the same standards as a regular lunge, except you will be holding weights at your side and staying in one place.  Remember to kiss the ground with your back knee, avoid bouncing off the knee!

The above is a Glute Ham Raise…it is incredibly difficult.  The key to this movement is to keep the hips completely open, or unbent, throughout the entire range of motion. Everyone will be self spotting this movement to some degree.  After anchoring your feet, lower yourself as far as you can under control, with your hands out in front of you, when you reach the point that you can no longer control the descent you will catch yourself in the push up position and immediately push yourself off the ground just as hard as needed to pull yourself back to the top.  The key is to use your arms only as much as necessary!  Here is a girl performing the self spotting method. Feel free to try this at home by placing your feet under the couch and a pillow under your knees.  Be sure to stretch, this movement can cramp the hammys!

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I have been slowly introducing some basic gymnastic training exercises such as wrist push-ups and wall walks into the warm ups and cool downs.  I often refer to the Hierarchy of Athletic Development when discussing gymnastics.  The idea of a pyramid is simple, you cannot build a solid foundation at a higher level until the lower levels are established.  Lets look at this a little closer.  Nutrition is the base, it is the fuel for our body and it effects everything from energy production to recovery time to body composition.  From that platform, the next thing we need to develop and focus on is general strength and conditioning.  The quickest way to build strength is through barbell movements like the squat, deadlift and press and conditioning through short, anaerobic high intesity workouts.  Our stable of movements for these workouts include both olympic lifts and basic gymnastic movements.  At this stage, after an athlete has developed a sufficient amount of strength and conditioning, gymnastics is often overlooked.  We tout the “100 words of Fitness” (on the left of the screen), yet when is the last time you performed a pirouette, flip or splits?  These abilities will not only make you an incredible athlete, but will give you the ability to perform those Olympic lifts much better.  The progressions are difficult, and improvement can feel slow, but the pay off is worth it in the long run:  Increased flexibility, strength, balance, coordination, and agility.

A few amazing movements in the gymnast’s training arsenal include:  Germans (better than the average push-up), Front Lever Pulls (better than the average pull-up), ‘Basic’ Ring Strength (hilarious what they consider basic, love the song choice)