Emulate the Best!

Thursday December 18, 2014

Prehab

Bird Dogs
Plank :15 on/:05 off
Wrist Mobilization

Warm Up

Handstand Progression
Learn & Practice Power Snatches

Cool Down

Cobra Stretch
Foam Roll Hip Flexors & Thoracic Spine

Fitness

Conditioning

Row or Run 1,000 meters
30 Dips
30 Sumo deadlift high-pulls
30 Handstand push-ups
30 Power Snatches
30 Burpees
30 Pull-ups
30 Thrusters

-25 min cap-

Notes:  Prescribed weight is 75/55.  We will take time to review and practice the movements as a group before the workout.  Handstand Pushups can be scaled with regular pushups.  Power snatches can be performed from the hang position or as a power clean and push press.

Midline Strength

“100 Abs”

25 Tuckups
25 Hollow Rocks
25 Scissor Kicks (l/r equals 1 rep)
25 Situps

Advanced  – Active Rest Day or Swimming

Four sets of:

25 Meter Finger Tip Drag (FTD: Drag your fingertips along the surface of the water as you recover. This drill encourages high elbows.)
Rest 20 seconds between each 25 Meter efforts

Four sets of:

25 Meter Breathe Every Stroke
(Breathe every stroke – both sides – and pause for a count of 3 seconds on each side of your body before rolling to the other side)
Rest 20 seconds between each 25 Meter efforts

Challenging Sets!!!

(Beginner swimmers may consider cutting the following EMOMS in half.)

Every minute, on the minute, for 4 minutes:
Swim 50 Meters
(work on stabilizing your stroke count for each set)

Immediately followed by…

Every two minutes, for 10 minutes (5 sets):
Swim 100 Meters

Immediately followed by…

Every minute, on the minute, for 4 minutes:
Swim 50 Meters
(work on stabilizing your stroke count for each set)

Rest a bit, and then cool down with…

Every minute, on the minute, for 4 minutes:
25 Meter Swim
(focus on tucked chin and rotation of head to breathe – one goggle in the water, one goggle out)

In the above video Emily Bridgers, a CrossFit Games competitor, completes today’s conditioning with some great examples of the movement efficiency that separates Games athletes from the rest. In particular, her dips at 1:28 and her thrusters at 12:00 into the video are worth watching.

Not everyone will be doing the dips unassisted so I want to call attention to her Thrusters first. Skip to 12:00 into the video and watch how she rests with the weight overhead. Four-time CrossFit games champion, Rich Froning, also utilizes this technique. It is counter-intuitive to rest at the top of the thruster vs. in the rack position but it makes a lot of sense.

In a proper overhead position, your arms are supported by your shoulders, are supported by your back… the weight overhead is resting on your bone structure with little muscular tension necessary. If you are resting the weight in the rack position it requires much more muscular tension.

The other benefit of resting with the weight overhead is you can “ride” the weight down into the bottom of the squat. Bridgers does a beautiful job of this. Notice how when she lowers the barbell, it doesn’t stop in the rack position before she drops into the bottom of the squat. Instead, as the barbell is about to land across her shoulders and she drops straight to the bottom of the squat, immediately “bounces” out of the bottom and rests again overhead. Give this a go when you are warming up today. See if you can find that overhead position where it feels as if you can release muscular tension and just let the weight rest on the support of your bone structure.

I also want to call attention to the efficiency of her kip in the dip. If you skip to 1:28 you will see that her dip kip is very similar to a butterfly pullup kip, and her rhythm is very controlled and consistent. She makes this incredibly difficult pressing movement seem effortless. If you have the strength to do at least 5 unbroken ring dips without band assistance I encourage you to watch Emily in this video and focus on emulating her kipping technique during the WOD today. I found that the key is settling into a slower kipping rhythm than you think you need. This will help you keep tension on the rings and prevent a back-and-forth swing which is detrimental to your ability to link multiple reps.

Enjoy!