Sometimes a movement is just not coming. Sometimes you lose your confidence and just can’t get it right. A mental barrier gets erected. This can often happen with high skill movements such as the snatch or muscle up. When this happens, it is best to just take a step back. Come at the movement from another angle, or even just leave it for the next day. Let’s look at the muscle up and the snatch.
The part of the muscle up where most people fail is the transition. Too many failures can get into your head, causing you to lose confidence. Leave the rings alone until the next day. Instead, go to the pullup bar and hit some pullups as high as you can, really pulling to the chest if not the stomach. The next day, know how high you can get on the bar, the muscle ups should be a breeze.
Catching the bar in the deep squat seems to be hardest part of the snatch. If you are not getting it, work the snatch balance, gaining confidence in the bottom position. Leave the snatch alone for the day and hit it again the next day.
Sometimes taking a step back can be the best thing.
How do you break through a mental barrier? Post to Comments.
Workout:
Cindy with a twist
AMRAP in 20 minutes
3 Power Cleans 165/105#
3 Rounds of 5 Pullups, 10 Pushups, 15 Squats
Score as a normal Cindy
Post score to Comments.
I think everyone has at least one thing that they just don’t “get”. Personally I’ve struggled with the clean repeatedly and to such an extent that one might begin to wonder about my competence in general. I just cannot get that movement down. One of the things I have found helpful, however, is to take classes with different instructors. Everybody has a slightly different style and sometimes the way one person phrases something can really change or click something into place. I also find it helpful to ask people in class to watch what I’m doing and to point out where I goof. Also, if I see someone with really good form, I’ll ask them what they are thinking when they are doing the movement, or what tips helped them in their learning process. For me, this is one of the places where the CrossFit West community really comes into play. I’ve yet to have someone be annoyed by my constant questions, or to be anything other than supportive in the learning process, and that’s a really nice thing.
Sam, I totally agree. I also find that sometimes you just start over thinking a movement and that’s the time to take some time off, and come back in a week and give it another shot. Another thing that seems to help me is visualizing each part of a movement, and then practicing each fragment of that movement individually. So for instance, in the clean, practicing the clean pull and the hang squat clean.