Oct 26, 2011 - Power Snatch

WOD: 7 rounds for time: 3 x 105lbs Power Snatch, 100m sprint
My Time: 12:46

I have to improve on my power snatches. I felt off today. It's good to be back after 1 day rest. Lower back was gassed. Here's an article on Power Snatch.

Olympic Lift - Power Snatch

The Olympic Lifts are recommended exercises for inclusion in power and speed training programs. The objective of these exercises is to develop the large muscles of the body in an explosive action that requires the use of many joints and muscle groups in a coordinated movement. The Olympic Lifts comprise of the Clean & Jerk and the Snatch. The Power Snatch and Power Clean are auxiliary lifts that aid in the training of the Clean & Jerk and the Snatch.

The Power Snatch execution checklist

Start Position
Mid Position	End Position

• Hands placed close to the end of the bar
• Feet flat on the floor, shoulder width apart, toes slightly out
• Bar touching shins
• Arms straight
• Chest up and out, shoulder blades together
• Head facing forward
• Back straight
• Hips low with thighs parallel to the floor
• Bar pulled slowly off floor in a straight line
• Arms straight
• Pull done with the legs and hips
• Knees move back and return under the bar
• Back straight
• Athlete bends at the hips
• Arms straight
• Bar slightly over the knees and touching the thighs
• Legs and hips extended
• Shoulder shrugged
• Pull with the arms
• Bar remains close to the body
• Legs spread slightly to the side
• Athlete bends at the hips and knees
• Bar pulled over the head
• Body extended, bar held high overhead

Page Reference

The reference for this page is:

• MACKENZIE, B. (2001) Olympic Lift - Power Snatch [WWW] Available from: http://www.brianmac.co.uk/psnatch.htm [Accessed 26/10/2011]

Oct 25, 2011 - Barefoot Running

Rest day today. I've been hitting it hard so it feels good to rest. This is the last week of Paleo, but I've decided to keep it up as long as I can to continue to improve my performance in crossfit workouts. The training and diet had improved my strength and conditioning with building more muscle mass. I may not fit my shirts if I keep this up.

Yesterday was day 3 of my Russian Squat Training. 4x4 225lbs squat.

WOD: Diane: 21-15-9 225lbs deadlift, HSPU
My Time: 16:29

Here's another article:

Are Barefoot Shoes Really Better?

By TARA PARKER-POPE

Jodi Hilton for The New York Times

Barefoot running may be trendy, but for scores of runners who train on urban streets or rocky trails, running without foot cover isn’t an option. As a result, many runners have switched to minimalist sports shoes that add a thin layer of protection without detracting from the feeling of running barefoot.

But do minimalist running shoes really reduce wear and tear on a runner’s body?

The American Council on Exercise, a nonprofit group that reports on fitness, recently sponsored a small study to learn more about the popular footwear. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, asked 16 women, all healthy recreational joggers ages 19 to 25, to spend two weeks getting used to running in the Vibram FiveFingers, a snug, glovelike shoe that weighs less than five ounces. The women were advised to use the shoes, the best-selling brand of barefoot sports shoes, three times a week for up to 20 minutes a day.

Jodi Hilton for The New York Times

The women then returned to the lab, where researchers analyzed their form, foot-strike patterns and the force at which they hit the ground under three different running conditions — with regular running shoes, barefoot and while wearing the Vibram FiveFingers.

The researchers found that half of the women who switched to barefoot running or minimalist sports shoes failed to adjust their form, resulting in more wear and tear on their bodies, not less.

The study showed that when the women were wearing traditional running shoes, they all used a rear-foot strike, meaning they landed predominantly on their heels. But when the women switched to barefoot running or the Vibram FiveFingers, only half of them adjusted their form, as recommended, to a forefoot strike pattern, which entails landing mainly on the ball of the foot. The other half of the women kept the same form whether running barefoot, in Vibrams or in their cushy running shoes — landing first on their heels as they propelled themselves along.

Women who used the correct form experienced lower-impact forces on the foot while running barefoot or in Vibrams. But among the women who didn’t change their form and continued to land on their heels, the impact forces created by barefoot and Vibram running were nearly twice as high as in regular athletic shoes.

“People who run, they’ve run in shoes for so long, landing on their heels, that some of them are going to continue to do that,” said John P. Porcari, professor of exercise and sports science. “When you land on your feet, the force gets transmitted up the kinetic chain — to feet, to ankles, to knees, to hips, to back. That’s why runners can have injuries from their toenails to their belly button.”

Cedric Bryant, the chief science officer for the American Council on Exercise, said the study shows how important it is for new barefoot and Vibram runners to pay attention to form and slowly transition out of traditional shoes.

“Take the slow and steady approach,” he said. “Rather than going out and trying to run your typical distances at your typical speeds, give yourself ample time to adapt and adjust to this new style.”

The council recommends that runners who want to switch to barefoot or minimalist shoes begin with brisk walking. Once they start running, new barefoot and Vibram runners need to shorten their stride and focus on landing on the forefoot as opposed to the heel. Someone who has been running four or five times a week should try the minimalist shoes for only a portion of one of their runs until they adjust to the change, Dr. Bryant said.

“The key thing our study seems to suggest is that it’s really important you take some time to really adjust your running form or running style,” said Dr. Bryant.

In addition, the study found that all the runners bent less at the knee while running barefoot or in Vibrams, a change in form associated with fewer injuries. However, compared with barefoot runners, shod runners and those in Vibrams showed more pronation, which is the natural side-to-side movement of the foot during running. Excessive pronation is associated with more injuries.

While the research shows that runners who are able to change their form may benefit from going barefoot or wearing Vibrams, longtime runners who are doing fine may think twice about making the switch.

“If you’re not injured, I wouldn’t change anything,” said Dr. Porcari. “If you’re constantly getting injured, you may want to try these things. Maybe, biomechanically, shoes just aren’t for you.”

Oct 23, 2011 - Day 23 Mobility vs. Flexibility

Went for a run with Kito, my sister's yorky/chihuahua mix. The Paleo diet is going strong. I've been eating a lot of meat and vegetables, mainly spinach. Snacking on green apples and nuts. I definitely feel better performance on my workouts and more natural energy. I'm not sure if I'm going back to my old eating style.

WOD: GI Jane: 150 burpee to pullup.
My Time: 26:15

Day 2 of Squat Improvement: 2x6 215lbs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwBWR8kzeUc&feature=player_embedded



Here's another article from Invictus Crossfit.

Mobility vs. Flexibility: What’s The Difference?
Written by Calvin Sun

I have spent over half a decade working in the fitness industry and, for better or worse, things have changed a great deal over the last few years. Among these changes, strength coaches and physical therapists have found themselves on convergent paths. Many PTs are required to have a certification in strength and conditioning and more coaches are finding themselves at seminars learning about myofasical release and techniques for increasing range of motion. In the past, coaches and trainers would simply instruct their clients on how to “stretch”, focusing on increasing flexibility by lengthening muscles that might be short and tight. Today, especially in the CrossFit community, we hear the term “mobilization” used in conjunction with or even in place of the word “stretching”. This has caused some confusion amongst coaches, clients, and their respective physical therapists, chiropractors, and massage therapists. In a clinical setting, joint mobilization typically refers to a type of manual therapy intervention where a therapist will physically move the joint to help restore function and/or alleviate symptoms. However, more commonly, coaches are referring to the definition popularized by Kelly Starrett of San Francisco CrossFit and MobilityWOD. He describes mobilization as “a movement-based integrated full-body approach that addresses all the elements that limit movement and performance including short and tight muscles, soft tissue restriction, joint capsule restriction, motor control problems, joint range of motion dysfunction, and neural dynamic issues. In short, mobilization is a tool to globally address movement and performance problems”.

Mobility should be a proactive approach, not a reactive one. In other words, don’t wait until problems arise before you address them. Too often I will see athletes finish a workout that might have hundreds of repetitions of loaded squats or pressing and do absolutely nothing to address the potential issues that are usually right around the corner. Having said that, there’s a great deal you can do to prevent injury, speed recovery, and improve performance. We can break down mobilization into three primary modalities: soft tissue work, stretching, and joint mobilization.

Soft Tissue Work
There are a number of modalities within soft tissue work. In gyms, self-myofascial release (SMFR) is the most common form of soft tissue work. Tools such as foam rollers, massage sticks, theracanes, and lacrosse balls are common tools for this modality. SMFR can be performed before or after training sessions. Sometimes SMFR alone isn’t enough and an athlete will have to seek out a massage therapist, chiropractor, or physical therapist who is trained to deal with issues outside the scope of a fitness coach. Modalities such Active Release Technique (A.R.T.), Rolfing, Muscle Activation Technique, Structural Integration, and Trigger Point Therapy are amongst the techniques you will find utilized by professionals. If you are experiencing sharp, shooting pain, your coach should refer you to an appropriate medical professional.

Stretching
Static stretching and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretching are the two most common ways to stretch short, tight muscles. Static stretching normally involves using stretches that hold the target muscle in a lengthened position. Through autogenic inhibition, this method allows for increases in passive range of motion. Static stretches are typically held for at least 30 seconds. PNF stretching comes in a variety of forms but most commonly is performed by stretching the tight muscle, isometrically contracting the muscle, and then stretching the muscle further. Kelly Starrett recommends five cycles of 5 seconds of contraction followed by 10 seconds of passive stretching. Watch Kelly Starrett demo PNF stretching here: http://www.mobilitywod.com/2011/01/episode-148365-pnf-demo-deadlifting.html.

Joint Mobilization
A variety of techniques are demonstrated on Kelly Starrett’s website, often involving stretch bands, to provide distraction at a given joint. The goal of joint mobilization is to help increase extensibility of a joint capsule by breaking up adhesions and/or stretching the capsule itself. Be cautious if you are experiencing pain or are prone to joint subluxations or dislocations as joint mobilization is contraindicated. Having said that, I would also advise against using any sort of band distraction if you are pregnant as the increased joint laxity can be problematic.

Mobility or mobilization is not to be confused with warm-up. The primary focus of mobility is to improve positions thereby improving power output and performance. Warm-up is designed to prepare the body for movement, it does not solve positional problems. Most group classes at Invictus involve a warm-up consisting of dynamic range of motion movements, which will certainly help to prepare you for the impending training session. However, if you are positionally inhibited you will need to supplement your training with mobility work in order resolve any positional problems you might have.

Oct 22, 2011 - Day 22 Russian Squat Program

WOD: 5 rounds for Time: 50 squats, 400m run

My Time: 22:25

Here's a program these next 3 weeks I'll be using to improve my squat. I have been stuck at 245lbs backsquat.

Written by Matt Erdman

Russian Squat Program

This program was designed for the purpose of increasing the maximum weight lifted in the back squat. The author of the program is unknown, but it seems to have originated in Russia. A lifter should not be attempting to increase their maximum in other lifts while executing this program. This is one reason that the program is not appropriate for a beginner lifter, as the training focus is not correct. It seems quite reasonable that the program can be used to improve the front squat also (not simultaneously). The notation is the percentage of the current 1RM followed by the number of repetitions followed by the number of sets. 80%x2x6 means the workout is 80%1RM for 2 reps and a total of 6 sets. In the original plan it calls for 70%x2, and 75%x2 as the warm-ups for each workout. Warm-ups should be done in whatever manner the lifter feels is necessary to prepare for the work sets.

Volume Phase	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3
Week 1	80%x2x6	80%x3x6	80%x2x6
Week 2	80%x4x6	80%x2x6	80%x5x6
Week 3	80%x2x6	80%x6x6	80%x2x6

Intensity Phase	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3
Week 1	85%x5x5	80%x2x6	90%x4x4
Week 2	80%x2x6	95%x3x3	80%x2x6
Week 3	100%x2x2	80%x2x6	105%x1

Intensity Phase	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3
Week 1	215lbs 5x5	210lbs 2x6	225lbs 4x4
Week 2	210lbs 2x6	235lbs 3x3	210lbs 2x6
Week 3	245lbs 2x2	210lbs 2x6	255lbs

The Above Chart With Weights is My Program:

The last workout calls for 105%1RM. This is just an indicator that you should attempt a new maximum. It is typical to increase 5-10kg (10-20lbs) after completing this program. It may be helpful to skip the workout before the 105% day, or simply do one set with 80%.

Some lifters feel the training volume is too difficult to complete the program. This can be due to a number of factors. Some lifters do not know their current maximum, so they over-estimate. Others will attempt to make greater gains by intentionally using a higher maximum than they are capable of doing. As the program progresses, the weights will simply become to heavy to complete all repetitions. Also, if someone is not adjusted to squatting three days per week, they may wear themselves out in the first weeks. Finally, it is not uncommon for someone to write a program that has a high volume and/or frequency of other lifts. Such as heavy classical lifts 5-6 days per week. Another culprit is heavy or frequent dead-lifts and presses.

More Coach's Cue:

Wake Your Butt Up – Part One
Written by Mark Riebel

Most of us are aware of our rear ends — the two cheeks we walk around with filling out our jeans and giving us a comfortable area on which to sit every day at work. But the attractive factor and a mobile seat are far from what your butt is actually for. Your glutes (the gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus) don’t exist just to shake on the dance floor, they are prime movers of your hips and legs, and often a lot of athletes in our gym just plain don’t know how to use them to their advantage. In this post I want to focus on your glute max, the big powerhouse that makes up most of the mass in your backside.

Your gluteus maximus is primarily an extender of the hip, a key piece of any clean, squat, jump or any other movement where you move from a flexed-hip position to a more open one. But here’s the deal, while all of these movements require the glutes to really work, due to years of movement without proper recruitment of the those muscles, you can end up over-using some of your other muscles which severely limits your progress. Think relying on your spinal erectors for a deadlift or heavily on your quads for a squat—your glute max is one of the strongest muscles in your body, so you’re doing yourself a disservice to not use both of them properly. If you or any of your training partners have that little “butt shimmy” when they come up on a squat, poor glute recruitment could be to blame. But fear not! After a few sessions of some simple exercises, you can help your glutes to remember just what they are there to do. These exercises are also easily increased in difficulty if you’re looking for a bit more of a challenge.

Your coaches will typically give you some glute activation exercises during warm-ups on days involving hip extension movements, but there’s a few that I recommend doing on a more regular basis, particularly if you think you may be suffering from “gluteal amnesia,” and especially in warm-ups on those days when you’ll need them in the workout.

Hip Bridges

We’ve done these weighted before, but for just patterning and learning how to get the hip extension down, go with un-weighted. Lay on your back with your feet on the floor and knees bent at about 90 degrees. (See photo above.) Keeping your weight on your shoulders and feet, squeeze your glutes together to bridge up and extend your hip fully. (See photo below.) Hold for about a second and then relax. Do three sets of ten to twenty reps on these. This entry-level version isn’t to build strength, but to remind your glutes what they do for a living.

Fire Hydrants

Get on your hands and knees with a neutral spine.

Keeping the knee and hip flexed, raise your right knee out to the side of you, avoiding excessive twisting of the spine and pelvis to increase the range of motion.

From this position, fully extend the right leg behind you, raising it higher than the level of your back, and really feeling the squeeze in your glute.

Do three sets of ten to twenty on each leg in a slow and controlled manner.

Again, doing these on a regular basis will give the best benefit of retraining your glutes to do what they’re supposed to. Next time, I’ll discuss some simple modifications to make these exercises more challenging to help further develop hip extension strength.

Wake Your Butt Up – Part Two
Written by Mark Riebel

Last time we talked about the importance of proper glute max function, and went over some simple exercise to get those muscles firing correctly when you need them to. If you’ve performed those movements regularly for a few weeks, you should really start to feel a difference in your lifts. Of course, you should see an uptick in performance, but what I noticed more of was actually feeling my glutes contract when it used to just be my spinal erectors that tired out on a deadlift or my legs on squats. Now that you’re comfortable with the movements and are getting some proper patterning, let’s go over a few more difficult variations to also work on strength in those areas.

Advanced Hip Bridges

Changing up this movement is as simple as adding a bench and/or a box. Use the same set up as your regular hip bridges, but put your upper back on a bench to perform the movement as described in part one of this post. Still need some more? Put your feet on another bench so that both feet and shoulders are elevated. Again, squeeze the glutes together to bridge up into the air. Elevating your body will increase the range of motion to give you a bit more stimulus. Shoot for three sets of ten to twenty reps here.

Adding a barbell across your hips is always a good weighting option, but I prefer using a single leg variation before you make the step up to resistance. You want to develop the proper muscle function first before you jump straight to the weights, and training unilaterally identifies and addresses weaknesses much better than training with both legs at once. To perform a single leg version of this, take your same setup, elevated or not, and extend one leg, keeping it in line with your body. (See photo above.) Squeeze the glute of the leg that is bent to bridge your body up just as in the two-legged version.

If you’re feeling the strain more in the hamstring and low back, rather than extending one leg hug it instead up to your chest and perform the movement as before. This will decrease your range quite a bit, but will isolate the stress to your glute. If you’re having difficulty with one side over the other, perform a few extra sets on the weaker side for the next week or two, and the imbalance should start to right itself.

Another great exercise

Single-leg deadlifts are also a great way to hammer your glutes (which most Invictus members are familiar with). If you’re not, take a standard DL setup, beginning with just an empty bar in your hands. A dumbbell or kettlebell is acceptable if you’d like to go lighter, but hold it in the hand opposite to the leg you are currently working on. Starting from the top of the movement, arch your back and perform a deadlift, but as you bring the bar down to your shins, keep one leg off the ground, lifting it straight behind you for balance. Keeping the leg on the ground as straight as possible emphasizes hip extension and really improves balance. With a strength-building emphasis, go for three sets of five with each leg and add weight upon completion.

If you’d really like to delve into the realm of glute training, check out the work of T-Nation contributor Bret Contreras. He wrote a 675 page manual on the topic, so as you can see, we’re barely scratching the surface here. Whether you decide to go very in depth with a book on the topic or just mix in a few of the movements discussed here, you’ll greatly improve your glute function which will in turn lead to some seriously improved performance.

Oct 21, 2011 - Day 21 Bench Press

Friday! Rest day, somewhat. Tried looking up my old posts for a WOD I did, but can't find it.

WOD: 5 rounds, 3 minute rest in between: Max out Bodyweight Bench Press, Pull ups

My result:
R1: 28 bench press (previous 23), 20 pull ups (previous 20).
R2: 23 bench press (prev 20), 15 pull ups (prev 15)
R3: 15 bench press (prev 13), 13 pull ups (prev 10)
R4: 13 bench press (prev 10), 10 pull ups (prev 10)
R5: 13 bench press (prev 10), 12 pull ups (prev 8)

Total: 92 bench press (prev 76), 70 pull ups (prev 63)

I also trying to improve my overall performance on individual exercises: back squat, front squat, bench press, overhead press, and deadlift

Today: Front Squat 3x5 -135 lbs
Leg press: 5x5 pyramid sets - 270lbs, 360lbs, 430lbs, 450lbs, 450lbs

Here's an article of bench press:

Quick Tips for a Better Bench Press – Part One
Written by Mark Riebel

It’s pretty typical to hear among gym-goers the question “How much ya bench?” on an almost daily basis. It seems that the bench press is viewed as the ultimate test of strength, particularly amongst guys who work out in tank tops. There’s many reasons why I beg to differ with this notion (and the tank tops), but that is another post entirely. The bench press is a fantastic way to move a lot of weight with your upper body and just because you don’t see it three times a week at Invictus doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t make some adjustments to maximize your potential in the lift. This two-part series will take a look at some common failures people have in their technique on the bench press, because unlike many believe, it’s not as simple as lying on the bench and pressing your arms up and down. Some of these tweaks can add some weight to your bench in one session because they’re simple technique changes that you can make right away to become more efficient in the movement.

Pinch your shoulder blades together

When you get set up on the bench, you want to pull your shoulder blades together on your back as tight as you can. It may help to think of pinching a dollar bill between them and even trying to tuck the bones into your back pockets to really get them back and down. What this does is it makes your whole upper back region extremely stiff and gives you a much better foundation for holding that weight up over your chest. I don’t know about you, but the thought of having a loose upper body whilst holding a few hundred pounds over my sternum with the possibility of it crashing down doesn’t get me too comfortable. You want to be as stable as you possibly can be, and pulling your scapulae together and down is a great start. You also get the added benefit of a slightly shorter range of motion on the exercise. If you want a quick visual, put your arms out in front of you and pull just one of your shoulder blades back towards your spine while you leave the other where it is normally. It’s easy to see a few extra inches you have to push the weight without tucking your scaps, and that few inches could make the difference for a new PR.

Brace

This should seem like a no-brainer if you’ve been listening to our coaches, but bracing is just as important on the bench as it is in the squat or deadlift. While the weight is at the top and locked out, take a big breath to fill up your lungs and clench up your midsection like someone’s about to punch you in the stomach. Keep this tightness throughout the entire movement, and once you’re back at lockout, take a quick breath if you need it, get tight again and do another rep. Don’t breathe in the middle of the rep! Again, this is all about staying as tight as you can through the entire movement. Any inhaling or exhaling you do during the rep is going to affect how stiff the base is from which you’re attempting to press from, and you want that to be as solid as possible.

Next time we’ll take a look at putting some arch in your back as well as how to really engage some other muscles that you probably think have nothing to do with the bench press.

Quick Tips for a Better Bench Press – Part Two
Written by Mark Riebel

In part 1 of this post, we talked about the concepts of bracing and pulling the shoulder blades back and down to help improve your bench press technique. This time I’ll discuss two more quick fixes you can use to help bring it up as well.

Engaging your lats and your legs

Say that again? Yes, it turns out that by incorporating some muscles that you don’t typically think of as being a part of your bench can really improve your ability to do it. We’ll start with the easier one to explain—the leg drive. Putting your feet on the ground and driving them into the ground effectively extends your kinetic chain all the way through your body to the floor. If that’s a term you’re not familiar with, just know that it further adds to your stability in the lift. Really emphasizing the leg drive on the concentric phase towards lock out can particularly be of help. If your legs are a bit short, just put some plates on the ground so you can drive your feet into those.

The other neglected muscle in the bench press is your latissimus dorsi. Admittedly, I’m still figuring this part out myself and it may be one of the strangest feeling tweaks to your lift, but really flexing these throughout the motion can add a little bit to your top end strength in the movement. It can help to think of spreading the bar apart while you’re gripping it tight if you’re not too great at just keeping them engaged in the lift.

Arching your back

When you’re getting set up for the bench, putting a little arch in your low back may also add a few pounds to your effort. You don’t need anything excessive (though having the spine of a 14-year old girl might put you in excessive range of motion), but just a little bit of arch will help. This places your pecs at a more mechanically advantageous position, the lower fibers in particular. The specifics take more time to go into than this post allows, but suffice it to say that it does based on the properties of a third class lever (we’ll save the rest of the geek talk for the coaches’ office). Arching your low back will also shave just a hair off the range of motion as well, which may help you to press more weight.

Ask one of the coaches to assist you in demonstrating any of these adjustments if you need some additional help, but I’d highly recommend incorporating all of them to start improving your bench press today.

Oct 20, 2011 - Day 20 - Overhead Squat

My back was sore from last night's WOD. The Paleo is going well. Still craving some of my favorite snacks like chips. Lucky I don't have sweet tooth. There had been a lot of cakes, desserts, and donuts at the office. My weight had been fluctuating around 142-145, but I have built more muscle and feel leaner and better performance.

WOD: 7 rounds for time - 7 (115 lb overhead squat), 7 hand slap pushups, 7 toes to bars
My time: 20:46

The overhead squat was difficult. I felt a lot of strain on my wrist. My shoulder


Here's an article for Overhead Squats (OHS)

Written by Kat Ricker

Six tips for the Overhead Squat The Overhead Squat (OHS) sits at the royal roundtable of the most efficient and rewarding weightlifting exercises. It works the entire body, increases strength, power, flexibility, coordination, and develops postural lean mass, which should be a priority for any intelligent bipedal. The OHS appears deceptively simple; yet learning it can be very challenging. Even though it is designed, as all the Olympic-style weightlifting exercises are, to put the entire body through its most ergonomically engineered paces, it is nevertheless an unnatural movement. This article is both for the novice and the lifter already performing the lift who seeks some nitty-gritty details on form and technique, to give the thinking lifter some explanation and keys to executing this successfully. Pictured: Allyson Goble Photographer: Chip Conrad 1. Stick your butt out. It goes against everything you've striven for in general decency, but it's going to go out - way out. Focus on moving your backside backwards, away from your midline, and then focus on curling your lumbar up into extension, like a scorpion raising its tail. What this does is set your center of gravity, so you don't end up tipping forward or backward. Do it sideways in a mirror and try to keep your knees in line with/in the same plane with your toes; don't allow them to move in front of them. 2. Press into the bar. This is one of the biggest things that can improve your performance. One reason the OHS can be so counter intuitive is that the body wants to move as a unit through the dynamics of physics - in this case gravity - which means that as you descend, the muscle groups involved in keeping the bar raised tend to relax, hold, and depress. So the scapular group try to switch from elevation to depression. The upper traps try to switch from concentric contraction to bigger balance with eccentric, to brace the body to catch the overhead falling weight. Use the cue to be constantly lifting/pushing the weight, never just holding it. Furthermore, there are far greater instances in work history that a person, if descending with an overhead object, needs to buffet it away in order to keep it from crashing onto oneself, than to catch it and return with it overhead with arms extended. So there is a certain amount of instinctive response and primal muscle memory that must be overcome. To learn to press into the bar continually, focus on it through auxiliary overhead work - overhead presses, the Jerk Support and Recovery, etc. - whatever exercises you're doing to assist in developing overhead strength. This means focusing on fully contracting every muscle involved in keeping a load overhead, at every moment. Thought cue: be constantly lifting/pushing the weight, never just holding it. This allows more muscles to support the overhead position. 3. Keep your chest, neck and head up, while bending over. Building on the reasoning above, it's easy to let the chest and head fall slightly forward on the way up. Actively focus on keeping these up throughout the movement, especially when hitting bottom and beginning ascent. Fix your eyes on something straight ahead or slightly higher. Be aware of what your neck is doing. In order to keep everything tight, retract and elevate the scapula. Now, don't confuse this with trying to maintain a vertical posture. It's not like a ball squat, where you try to keep your spine ramrod straight, like a chairback. If you do that, you'll fall down. You will fold a bit on the descent, basically bending over, but at the hip joint. So allow the angle of your torso to change, just don't round your back, droop your neck, unlock your shoulders, or look down. 4. Bounce out of the Hole: "When you master that bounce, you'll really take off in gains," Olympic silver medalist and coach Tom Hirtz told me. This applies in varying degrees to all squats and the snatch. It means learning where to stop on the descent and begin the ascent. Stop too soon, and you will perform only a partial squat, emphasizing upper glutes and hamstrings, and a legitimate OHS will be impossible. Stop too far down, and the squatting mechanism is completed, so major muscles will lose tension, and it's much more difficult to initiate the ascent. The goal is to stop descending when tension is still tight. Focus on feeling it in your thighs, especially quadriceps, and think of your hip flexors as springloaded. By shifting your focus from taking your cue from the glutes to the hip flexors, you'll get a faster cue from your nervous system and be better able to detect the "bounce" point. You'll also consciously engage your anterior muscles. This is important because most people are trained to focus on engaging their posterior muscles in learning the basic (back) squat, but the OHS is more of a front squat exercise than back, so by focusing on the glutes instead of the hip flexors, your body is more likely to follow the neuromuscular pathways you've set up for the back squat than to engage the biomechanics necessary to maintain an overhead press while executing a squat. This means that you're likely to naturally fall into the pattern of leaning forward, which is what you do with a bar lying across your shoulders, and flex your elbows, which will lead to you tipping forward and possibly dumping the bar. 5. Use your wrists and hands. It takes every muscle involved in the OHS to maintain the proper trajectory of the bar for balance. The bar should be situated in line with a point just behind the ears. As the body moves through the vertical plane, each joint must make slight adjustments to maintain this fixed point. Be actively aware of what your wrists and hands are doing, for they are primarily responsible for holding and positioning the bar, so hold onto it! The fine-tuning points on this grip may mean adjusting throughout the movement, so that the fingers extend slightly and the bar rolls out toward the fingertips as the body becomes closer to the ground. This is the opposite of what would happen if you were buffeting or catching an object overhead when you hit the bottom. 6. Push with your feet. Your feet are your foundation. Assume your starting position by positioning your feet first. Your stance should be slightly wider than your shoulders, toes angled out. Note that if you're tall, and your stance is too narrow, you're going to have balance problems, so experiment until you find a secure width that you don't struggle in. Be sure your shoes have firm soles and allow the footbed to fully extend. Throughout the movement, be actively aware of the load on your feet, and when you transfer into the bounce, push your feet "into the floor."

Oct 19, 2011 - Day 19 - How to Tape Your Hands

I have to improve my running. Today's WOD needed a lot of cardio and that's my weakness. I have to improve my body's ability to oxygenate my cells and strengthen my lower back.

WOD: AMRAP 15 minutes: Alley Sprint (100m), 15 box jumps, 30 double unders.
My Score: 5 rounds. I suck big time.

Squat: 5-5-5 225lbs

How To Tape Your Hands
Written by Calvin Sun
(Editor’s Note – This article was originally published on June 2, 2009. I try not to repeat our content, but given the fervor of many of our members looking to score as many points as possible in next Monday’s Look Good, Feel Good, Play Good Challenge, I have been asked several times recently how to prevent tearing while maintaining a rigorous pull-up practice schedule. I hope this helps, and look forward to watching everyone excel on Monday!)

Every CrossFitter has experienced a torn callus but I think it’s completely avoidable if you take the proper precautions. Perform callus maintenance regularly, don’t use too much chalk, and avoid workouts with hundreds of pull-ups. But what’s a CrossFit athlete to do when the inevitable tear happens? Taping your hands is certainly a good option. The problem I see is that most people have no clue on how to tape their hands. The most common “technique” I see employed is simply taking a length of athletic tape and wrapping it around the palm several times. Without a doubt, this is the best way to waste athletic tape and do absolutely nothing to protect your hands. Anyone who has taped with this method can tell you, a few pull-ups is all it takes to turn this shoddy tape job into a rolled up bundle of tape, chalk, and skin.

Most tears occur at the base of either the ring finger or middle finger, so it’s pointless to tape your palm. The best way to protect your hands and to prevent tears is to cover these hot spots. A former co-worker of mine was a gymnastics instructor and a few years ago she showed me this great way to tape the hands:

• Step 1. Take approximately 5 inches of standard athletic tape and fold it length wise. Wrap it around the base of your finger and overlap the excess. The ends should cover your tear/hot spot.
  
• Step 2. Take another length of tape approximately 10 inches. Tape the wrapped section to one end of the tape and fold width wise so that the other end of the tape also covers the wrapped section.
  
• Step 3. You now have a grip for your hands. If you did it correctly, there should be enough excess below the wrist joint to secure it with tape. Simply wrap some tape around your wrist to hold it in place.
  

Instead of having 1 or 2 layers of tape to cover your callus tear, you have 6 layers of tape over that spot if you use this technique correctly. You don’t have to wait until you tear to use this method either. If your callus is already showing signs of failure and there’s plenty of pull-ups in the WOD, you might want to consider taking some preventive measures.