SW Portland Martial Arts Blog

http://youtu.be/9ncI7IEZ7L4

We tackled one of the CrossFit benchmarks today – Elizabeth.  It is a couplet of cleans and ring dips.  One of the challenges of the workout is to keep good clean form because if you get sloppy with your cleans and use your arms, your ring dips will suffer badly.

The advice I offer for this one: keep the bar close.  If you start swinging that barbell away from you, your shoulders will light on fire and your dips will cease to exist.  It is worth setting the bar down if you feel your form falling apart (okay, maybe not on like the last 2 or 3 reps) and taking the rest.  Muscling your way through and saving a few seconds only means paying a higher price in the end.

If you did the workout today, record your results!  This one will come up again and if you have an old score, you’ll have something to try and beat.

http://youtu.be/OmMlDpcsknM

Most of the pressing we do is from the front rack position.  Today in the Olympic lifting class, we did some presses off the back.  As with any variation on a basic, there are usually a few things you can get out of it.

First off, enjoy the novelty.  It’s something different.  Light a candle.  Jump for joy.  Sing out loud.  Acknowledge that variety is a good thing in life and moving your body is no different.  If you move the same way all the time, it’s boring.

Secondly, notice how easy it is to put the bar in the right position overhead.  You face isn’t in the way!  You just push it straight up and BANG there it goes.

There are lots more reasons to try pressing off the back.  Try it.  See what you think.

Some of you have gotten wise to the fact that I have been squatting every day.  This is probably because you’ve heard me crying about how I’ve been squatting every day.

Why?  Because I want to clean more but my squat stinks.  My pull and catch are decent at heavier weights but I just can’t stand up because my front squat is weak.  My solution is to squat everyday.  Anyway, some of you were asking so here is what I am doing:

The picture above shows my attack plan.  Since I’m at the gym 5 days a week, that means I get to squat 5 days in a row and then rest 2.  Sounds crazy until you figure in all the variations I’m tossing in.  Back squat, front squat, overhead squat, zircher squat and power squat.  (The second five repeat the same lifts but are all done with a pause.)  All this changing of the squat helps make sure I’m not wrecking myself.  Every day is 5 sets of 3 and each time I get back to a lift I’ve already done, I try and do more weight.

I stole the idea from a program called “squat everyday” and adapted it to suit my needs and schedule.  If anyone wants to jump on the squat wagon with me, you are more than welcome.  If you want to wait 4 months until I’m done so I can tell you how it went, you can do that too.