Front Range Crossfit Fall Meet Update

The start lists previously posted for the Fall meet this weekend November 5th and 6th are being revised. Final lists will be available Thursday. Women will have an additional, earlier session on Saturday: weighing in at 9 and lifting at 11, so if you were originally scheduled to weigh in at 11 and lift at 1, this change will possibly effect you. Stay tuned!!

Emma Cook getting after it:

 

 

Obility-WOD

General warm up 10 minutes, walking lunges, crawling lunges, shoulder dislocates, OHS, wrist looseners

1) Clean from three hang positions. All three positions = 1 rep. 3 sets x 3 reps

2)  Push Press: 55 60  65(3)  (use 1RM push press %s)

             3   3    2    

3) Front Squat:  55 60 65 (3)

                          5   4   3       

4) Clean Pull:  80 (3)

            3

Two Hand Kettlebell Swings to Chest Height: 3 sets of 20 reps. Use a heavy bell!

V-Ups 50 total with med ball

Brendan has been lifting just a few months and has gained almost 30lbs of bodyweight...hard to believe. His lifts have moved up too. Here is a PR jerk from the blocks: 100kg!

Snow Day

No Weightlifting Club today, Oct 26 due to the big snow!

O-Bility WOD: Squat (and two more PRs)

Sometimes referred to as the Back Squat to distinguish it from the Front Squat, the Squat is the premeir exercise for developing leg, hip, and and core strength. Powerlifters of course compete in the squat and so they have adopted techniques and gear that allow them to pursue moving maximal poundages. Olympic Weightlifters use the squat to build leg strength and to some degree leg speed not only for recovering from deep squat receiving positions in the snatch and clean but also as an assistance movement for the first pull: the quads are the prime movers from the floor to the knee. 

Use a hip width or slightly wider stance, toes pointed slightly out, bar carried across the traps, chest elevated. Keep the head up, find a focal point about eye level. Tilting the head slightlly upwards can help activate the back extensors, but avoid extreme neck flexion. Take a big breath and hold it, squat down pushing the knees to the side until you hit bottom, or your current full range of motion. Have a friend or coach watch you to make sure your low back doesn't round at the bottom: if it does, cut the movement off a little higher until your hips get mobile enough to go deeper without rounding. Be patient, start light and add weight conservatively. Technique is key to moving heavy weights: two old training cliches are worth remembering: "it isn't where you start it's where you finish" and "it isn't how much you lift in training it's how you lift it that matters".

Here's Phil Locker hitting two PR squats (one a double at 210kg and then a single 227kg) keeping his technique together even when he hits that tough sticking point.

This is an unloading week in preparation for a heavier testing week next week, less intensity, less volume this week.

1) General warm up 10 minutes, walking lunges, crawling lunges

    Dislocates +Snatch Balance + OHS:  PVC or broomstick

2) Featured Exercise: Hang Snatch from 3 positions (light) practice for 10 minutes

3) Snatch: 55 60 65  (2) 

     3   3   2    

4) Squat:  55 60 65 (2)

                 5   4   3       

5) Sn Pull:  75 (2)

      3

Two Hand Kettlebell Swings to Chest Height: 5 sets of 10 reps

Abs 50 reps, your choice

Pan Am Weightlifting in Guadalajara

Follow the action live on a very clear, stable free web feed with great camera work from Guadalajara. Action started Sunday Oct 23 and goes until Thursday Oct 27th. Schedule is here: Pan Am Lifting Schedule

Web feed is here: Pan Ams Live!

Enjoy. At the moment I'm watching the women's 58kg session clean and jerk: the bar is at 126kg!

PRs

Part of keeping life interesting in the day in day out of training is setting a new personal record even if it isn't a big increase. Especially if you have been enduring a plateau in performance in other exercises or if you are having to gut out a less than stellar workout, going for and setting a new PR in something (anything!) can make it all seem more worthwhile.

Here's Phil hitting a new best in the Front Squat.  

O-bility WOD: The Sots Press

 This exercise is a mother@#%!$&! It takes a lot of shoulder mobility and perfect front squat posture to pull off. Not everyone can do it, not everyone should do it, but I think everyone should give it a shot since how well you do it or how badly you fail at it provides a lot of feedback about your mobility, stability and pressing ability.

My former coach Leo Totten of East Coast Gold was in the warmup room at the Atlantic City Record Makers meet int the early 80's and observed the great Russian lifter Viktor Sots performing this movement (maybe to psyche out the other lifters) which now bears his name.

According to Leo, Sots cleaned 155kg and commenced pressing it from the full squat position for a double, then looked over at his coach and said something like "Good?"(хорошее?) and when his coach nodded he then lowered the bar. Here's club lifter Mac Crawford demonstrating the Sots press with a more conservative 50kg.

 

1) General warm up 10 minutes, walking lunges, crawling lunges, shoulder dislocates, OHS, wrist looseners.

2)  Sots Press: Clean + 3 presses from squat position, return to standing, lower bar. Practice for 15 minutes.

 3)  Power Snatch:  65 70  75(3)  

                   3   3    2    

4) Squat:  65 70 75 (3)

                 5   4   3       

5) Snatch Pull:  85 (3)

            3

One Hand Kettlebell Swings to Chest Height: 3 sets of 20 reps each side.

Toes to bars or knee ups: 3 sets of 10 reps

O-bility WOD:Split Clean

Today's featured exercise is the split clean which like the split snatch was the preferred method for many years for lowering the body to receive the bar. The classic deep split is shown above, executed by the late, great Polish lifter Waldemar Baszanowski. For our purposes the higher "power split" version is what we will be going for, ably demonstrated here by USAW lifter Jessica Gallagher off the blocks.

Practice the split clean from each of the three positions top down: hang from the mid thigh, hang from the knee and hang from below knee. It's not a bad idea,since we are using the split versions of the clean and snatch for variety and athleticism, to alternate the split from set to set. For a set or two, split with the same foot forward as you would ordinarily for the split jerk. Then for the next couple of sets split with the other foot  forward. This will balance the loading from side to side and also challenge your coordination a bit.

So for today:

 1) General warm up 10 minutes, walking lunges, crawling lunges

    Shoulder Dislocates, OHS, wrist looseners

2) Split clean from three hang positions. Start with bar, add weight conservatively. Sets of 2-3 reps.     Practice for 15 minutes.

 3)  Push Press:  65 70  75(3)  (use 1RM push press %s)

             3   3    2    

4) Front Squat:  65 70 75 (3)

                          5   4   3       

5) Clean Pull:  85 (3)

            3

Two Hand Kettlebell Swings to Chest Height: 3 sets of 20 reps. Use a heavy bell!

V-Ups 50 total with med ball

O-bility WOD: Split Snatch

Today's Obility Wod is going to focus on learning a variation of the snatch called the split snatch. The split snatch used to be the preferred method of lowering the body under the bar. Here is a picture of Olympic Champion Yuri Vlasov in the classic deep split receiving position.

These days, most lifters squat snatch. You will see a few masters lifters still using the split, although many power snatch. Not many lifters can hit the deep receiving position shown above and for our purposes we don't need to. The split snatch can caught much higher and still be as and even more effective than a power snatch. Here is 2010 National Masters Champion Russ Leabch split snatching in competition.

Set up is the same as if you are going to power or full snatch. The first and second pull also progress the same. Immediately following the explosion, instead of jump shuffling the feet to the side the feet split fore and aft (as in a split jerk) as the arms pull the body around, down and under the bar. Time the feet reconnecting with the platform with the catch lockout. Remember, the arms drive the body under the bar as the split occurs: punch down into the split explosively. Start with a broomstick, then the empty bar before adding weights. I strongly recommend practicing from the top down: high hang, above knee and below knee positions.

Here is another look at the split snatch by East Coast Gold Masters Lifter Tim Guarino, video by Veronica Aguila:

O-bility WOD: Squat + Snatch Grip Press

Featured exercise today is a great movement to strengthen the snatch receiving position. It is also very useful as a screening movement to identify mobility, flexibility and stability issues that hamper learning the full snatch. Start with a PVC pipe or broomstick and gradually progress with an Alumilite bar and added weights. It's a challenging exercise. Here is Phil Locker practicing under the watchful eye of USAW National Team Coach Zygmunt Smalcerz.

 

1) General warm up 10 minutes, walking lunges, crawling lunges

    Shoulder Dislocates, OHS, wrist looseners

2) Squat + Snatch Grip Press 3 sets of 5 reps, light

3) Clean+ Push Press:  60 65   70 (3)  (use 1RM push press %s)

                          3   3    2    

4) Front Squat:  60 65 70 (3)

                          5   4   3       

5) Clean Pull:  80 (3)

            3

One Hand Kettlebell Swings to Chest Height: 2 sets of 10 reps each hand

Russian Twist 50 reps (25/25) with med ball