Fine Points

And fun was had by all.

Jesse and Gideon nail PRs.

If you have been training for even a month at a CrossFit gym, heck even a week or two at most, then you are probably sick of hearing terms like “full extension”, “jump”, “heels heels!”, “hips”.  These are the big points on a lot of movements that are part of the CrossFit arsenal.

However, eventually you want to progress past the big points and start learning the finer points to any given movement.  These fine points are the little things that add to a movement, make it a little easier, and make the difference on a PR attempt.  Let’s look at a couple examples.

* On the overhead squat, we all know about active shoulders, pushing the shoulders up into the ears.  You also want to lengthen the bar by pulling the hands apart.  A really easy way to think of this is to engage the lats and teres muscles, really contract them.  This will give the upper body the rigidity to stabilize the overhead load.

* When going overhead–press, push press, and jerk–launch the bar off of the shoulders with a powerful shrug.  As soon as the bar passes the head, drive the head forward.  Moving the head in and out, kinda like a turkey walking, and making use of the incredibly strong trapezius muscles will really shoot the bar upward and help transfer the force from the jump to the bar.

* On any high rep air squat WOD–Cindy, Angie, Tabata, etc–open your stance up quite a bit and really drive your hips back as you squat.  This will use the tightness in the hip flexors to ricochet the body back up.  Also, don’t be scared to get your disco hands on. Use the hand and arm movement to help your hips close and open.

* On the clean, concentrate on opening the grip when the bar is racked.  As you whip the elbows up, let the bar slide towards the tips of your fingers.  Not only will your elbows move faster with an open grip, but they can get higher.  If you have any kind of wrist pain on a clean, this will make a big difference.

* When coming out of the hole on a front squat, don’t focus on pushing the weight up.  Just concentrate on driving your knees out–really spreading the floor–and touching your elbows to the ceiling–push them as high as you can and then a little higher.

* When doing WODs that call for high rep pushups like Cindy or Angie and others, constantly vary your hand widths.  This will stave off muscle fatigue slightly and can make a real difference over a longer WOD.

I hope you try these 6 tips. Let me know if any of them work for you.

What are some of the finer points that make a difference for you. Please post to Comments.

Don’t forget to sign up for the Paleo Challenge.  Talk to Jocelyn or any trainer if interested.

Workout:

CrossFit Football Total

Max weight in the following movements:

Deadlift

Back Squat

Bench Press

Power Clean

Add the 4 weights together for your Total.  Limit 3 attempts per movement.

Post Total to Comments.