So effective in its simplicity, the plank is an excellent exercise to strengthen your core. There are many great exercises to build core strength such as overhead squats, deadlifts, hollow rocks, l sits and squats. Adding different variations of the plank into your training will help you to attack your midline from new angles. Core strength will help to:

• Avoid injury
• Stabilise your spine
• Control and generate force effectively
• Stabilise movement

8 functional exercises to build a strong core and abs of steel

1. GLUTE PLANK

Also known as the glute bridge this plank focuses on the rear core muscles, glutes, hamstrings, and lower back. Start with your upper back on a weight bench or edge of a couch and bend your knees at 90 degrees having your back completely parallel to the floor.

2.SIDE PLANK

Start by lying on your side. Push yourself up onto your forearm and the side of your feet so your body is parallel with a wall. Make sure both feet are directly on top of one another. Slowly raise your hips off the ground and tighten your oblique muscles until your body is perfectly straight. Avoid letting your shoulders roll or twist. In addition to your oblique’s, the side plank also stresses the abductors, delts, and lats.

3.UNEVEN PLANK

The uneven plank is just as much of a core builder as it is a triceps builder. “Unlike the standard plank, you’ll lift one forearm off the floor,” says BJ Gaddour, “Now your arm is holding the bottom position of a pushup, which instantly activates your triceps.” The longer you hold the exercise, the longer your triceps will be under tension. And since you only have one forearm on the floor instead of two, your core has to work overtime to stabilize.

4. PLANK BIRD DOG

Begin in a full plank position with your legs spaced at shoulder width. Lift your opposite arm and leg out until they are parallel to the floor. Hold a moment at the top. Return and repeat, Alternate from between both sides.

5. WALKING PLANK

In a forearm plank, begin to laterally arm crawl the length of your mat: Keep your core engaged and shoulders and hips squared to the floor as you move the right elbow and right foot. Maintain the same body position as you move left elbow and left foot, traveling the length of the mat. Reverse the direction, returning back to starting position. That’s one rep. Repeat.

6. REVERSE PLANK

Sit on the floor with your legs extended in front of you. Place your palms, with fingers spread wide, on the floor slightly behind and outside your hips. Press into your palms, and lift your hips and torso toward the ceiling. Look up to the ceiling, point your toes, and keep your arms and legs straight. Keep your entire body strong, and form a straight line from your head to your heels. Squeeze your core and try to pull your belly button back toward your spine. If your hips sag or drop, lower yourself back to the floor.

The goal is to maintain a straight line and hold for 20 to 30 seconds. You may need to begin by holding the position for only a few seconds as you build your strength. It’s better to hold the correct position for a shorter time than to go longer in an incorrect position.

7. WEIGHTED PLANK

Adopt the plank position on your forearms. Next have a friend load plates onto your back as you stay braced. If you’ve never tried this before then it can be a good idea to take it slow at first. Its better to start off too light than too heavy and crush yourself.

Think trunk not 6 pack: how to forge a rock solid core

strengthen that core! © CrossFit Jacana

The bird blank dog © spineandsportspt

A powerful core sets you up for success in Crossfit © Sels Photography

The post 6 Types of Plank to Build Rock Solid Core Strength appeared first on BOXROX.

Rich Froning, 6 X Crossfit Games Champion is a true legend. But this legend was born from steel and sweat. Rich trains like a beast and there is a reason other Athletes always ask: ‘What´s Rich doing?’

Like many other Athletes, he also has his own program, and you can sign up for your personal WRD (What´s Rich Doing) training plan. We took a look at a typical training week for Rich looks like to give you an idea of how much of a workhorse this guy actually is:

MONDAY

A.M.

3 x power clean (205 lbs) EMOM for 10 minutes

Rest 5 minutes

Followed by

WORKOUT:

• 15 min AMRAP
• 5 x pull-up
• 10 x push-up
• 15 x air (body weight) squat

P.M.

WORKOUT:

• 5 rounds of -descending reps (10, 8, 6, 4, 2) of:
• muscle-ups
• AND descending reps (50, 40, 30, 20, 10) of: wall ball

The post 7 Days and 18 Workouts: A Typical Training Week for Rich Froning appeared first on BOXROX.

The lift that always gets an audience’s attention and a cheering response is the squat jerk, a full, deep squat with the barbell directly overhead.  Done after a full squat clean, you dip and drive the barbell up, and instead of splitting your legs, you drop into a full squat with the barbell directly over your head and your feet widen just a little.

It’s very spectacular and dramatic because it involves two full squats with maximum weights. This lift requires tremendous shoulder flexibility.  You know how hard overhead squats are with a snatch grip; now imagine doing an overhead squat with a clean grip. The squat jerk is not to be confused with the power jerk where you don’t split your legs but drop into approximately a quarter squat position, as Pyrros Dimas and Kakhi Kakhiashvili did winning three Olympic gold medals each.  However, whenever they went below parallel they missed their jerks!

“In theory”, you should be able to lift more weight with a squat jerk since you don’t have to lift the bar as high (this is why, outside of masters athletes, you basically never see split cleans/snatches anymore). The reality is more complicated though, as the squat jerk does have some issues:

1. The mobility requirements. Getting into a clean grip OHS with a limit load is…pretty tough. Ankles, hips, shoulders – it’s all gotta be pretty supple.
2. It’s much harder to save. You basically have zero margin for error in technique…any deviation front-to-back and you’ll lose it. The split position provides a much more stable base.
3. You have to stand up from a squat again, this time with the bar overhead. At snatch weights, this is basically never an issue. But at c&j weights, after having already stood up from a heavy clean, this seems far more exhausting.

Even with basically unlimited training time to develop the requisite mobility, technique, and strength – 90%+ of elite lifters still split, and that should tell you something. For the average the split is almost certainly going to allow you to move more weight.

LIFTERS THAT USE THE SQUAT JERK

Taking a look at the lifters that use the squat jerk, it becomes clear why it is also called the “Chinese jerk”.

Zhan Xugang (69 kg and 77 kg) won the 1993 and 1994 Junior Worlds, the 1995 Senior Worlds, and the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games. Besides winning two Olympic gold medals, Zhan also set world records in the clean and jerk, topping out with 207.5 kg (457 lb.) in 2000—Probably  he was the first really successful squat jerker.

Shi Zhiyong (62 kg) was the next successful squat jerker, winning the Junior Worlds in 1997 and 1999 and the 2004 Olympics in Athens.  He won the Worlds in 2005 with his best clean and jerk performance with 190 kg (418 lb.) at 67.98 kg (148 lb.) bodyweight.  Shi’s squat jerk technique wasn’t as perfect as Zhan’s—Shi leaned forward some and didn’t go to rock bottom as Zhan did.

Zhang Guozheng (69 kg) may be the second best squat jerker, as he won three World Championships (2002, 2003, and 2007) and the 2004 Olympic Games.  Zhang’s best clean and jerk was 192.5 kg (424 lb.) in 2002 and 2007, but his squat jerk was anything but pretty.  He would be twisted and looked very unnatural in his bottom position, and he didn’t go to rock bottom, but he made a lot of lifts with his unorthodox position.

Lu Xiaojun (77 kg).  Lu won the 2009 Worlds, setting a world record in the snatch (174 kg / 384 lb.), and then squat cleaned and squat jerked 204 kg (450 lb.) for a world record total of 378 kg (833 lb.). Lu is another picture-perfect lifter with beautiful technique: rock bottom squat and upright body position.

Now more and more lifters from countries other than China, such as Armenia and even the USA, are doing the squat jerk.  The first U.S. lifters to really do it were Cassie Clark, Stephanie Bodie , and Cara Heads, and they all had good success winning national titles and competing at the international level.

Cara Heads placed seventh at the 2000 Olympics in the 75-kg class and her best squat jerk was 122.5 kg (270 lb) done at the 1999 Worlds.

USA’s Kendrick Farris has a very unorthodox squat jerk.

His is somewhere between a split jerk and a squat jerk and he doesn’t really go into a full squat (but it’s close) with his maximum weights.  Kendrick did 202 kg (445 lb.) at the 2008 Olympics in the 85-kg class, where he placed eighth.  His coach, Kyle Pierce, calls Kendrick’s jerk a “splat,” as it is somewhere between a split jerk and a squat jerk.

5 ways to improve your Split Jerk Technique 

The Squat Jerk © chinese weightlifting

The post Squat Jerk: Strength, Mobility & Technical Mastery at its Finest appeared first on BOXROX.

With the popularity of the average joe training like the professional athlete, more and more people are turning to strength programs to get the gains and hit their PR’s for that special gratification that only Instagram can give. I write programs all the time, I’ve done my fair share of hard programs, easy programs and the ones that were just right too, but what if I’m not a professional athlete?

What if my only experience is a few years of CrossFit classes? Or a few nights at a weightlifting or powerlifting club? Am I really going to be moving well enough to do a strength program and actually get the desired results or am I progressively loading bad habits?

DON’T LOAD IT UP IF YOU’RE NOT MOVING RIGHT

Programs are “things to do” your overall strength development at the end of the day comes down to how well you move, and how well you know your body, how hard to push it and know when to back off. Strength programs don’t take your dog dying and you getting sacked from your job into account, they don’t care when you’ve got a stomach ache or if you’re not sleeping… They are numbers and that’s it. “Advanced” athletes are some of the worst ones to work with, they’re hitting good numbers, and the ego has kicked in, they’ve done lots of programs and always gotten stronger from it so OBVIOUSLY they work right! Right?

VISUALISING SUCCESS

Everyone always freaks out when I ask them “what do you feel when you’re doing that?” And I’m usually met with a depressing bemused “I dunno” or even worse, being told the external cues that they have been taught “keep back straight, knees over toes, arms locked out, look forward, belly tight” …….. Really? You can think all that at the same time?? I can’t…

Want to know what I think when I’m snatching? I put my hands on the gates of hell and rip them off, the flames explode up around me and I stand up, paint a picture that gives you confidence!

So why can I think something as “silly” as that? Because the other training that I do is working towards FEELING the movement intrinsically, so when I do go through a full movement I don’t have to think, I know my body knows what to do. When was the last time you double checked something like how to do a push up, a pull up? Or how to brace?

People seem to assume that when they’ve done something once they’ve mastered it, I’ve had so many people that could squat a hell of a lot of weight and they’re taking the bar out of the rack incorrectly, they are three years away from getting an “inexplicable” back injury, when I show them the difference after a few sessions they’ll generally hit a PR. Not only are they in a better position to squat but the weight doesn’t feel as heavy due to being stacked in the right way, there is more to bracing than just keeping your back straight.

STRENGTH PROGRAMS: IDENTIFYING PROBLEMS WITHIN MOVEMENT PATTERNS

I recently had a difference of opinion with someone over a lifter, his clean was limited and he wasn’t able to stand up out of the hole, he had a belt on and the first things I noticed was that he was being pulled out of position in the pull and also coming back up from the squat his back rounded. This was put down to a leg strength issue. He was given a squat program and later PR’d. My point of view was that if your spine doesn’t feel safe then you will not be able to access the potential strength that you have. Therefore a program is just fueling the problem. And yes, now he is able to lift more… But it’s still not as good as it could be. If he was given a deeper understanding of bracing would he have needed the squat program or did he already have the strength?

Make a movement as close to perfect as you can THEN by all means LOAD IT UP!

I’ve actually nothing against strength programs, they are great for giving an athlete focus and logical progression. But with modern day training and time commitments, people aren’t able to get the benefits. Many people don’t seem to realise the work that goes in to being able to cope with a program starts years before doing programs. You can’t skip that part!

It used to really bug me when I was younger and playing guitar, I would see people trying to play these stupidly fast licks and their pinky finger was sticking out when not being used… How the F**K can you play something fast when your god dammed finger is half way across the room! Sort that out first then learn how to play fast! As a personal favour to me if you ever see a guitarists pinky sticking out, break it.

In short, we’re human, we miss things, make sure you are always learning and most importantly keep going over the things you do know to give yourself a solid foundation, when you truly move like a badass THEN it’s time for programs.

The post Why Strength Programs are Useless Without Mobility appeared first on BOXROX.

Warming up and stretching are two different things, but stretching exercises can help to prepare you for a WOD and improve your recovery.

A proper warm-up will help any athlete have a better session with the weights and equipment and greatly reduce the risk of an injury.

Increase your performance by perfecting your warm up

Stretching exercises after an energetic session will help to improve overall flexibility, lessen muscle soreness and enhance recovery.

4 steps to efficient recovery after Crossfit training

Stretching allows your body to more easily move through the full range of motion when it comes to hitting weights, in effect creating long, full muscles instead of stunted ones.

There is a reason as to why we are trained to stretch before and after exercise. Not only does stretching warm the body, but it does wonders for recovery and may just prevent the dreaded Delayed Onset Muscle Syndrome. Exercising creates toxins in the body as muscles are exerted. By stretching the muscles after exercise, these toxins move into the bloodstream and out of the muscles, where they can be broken down and eradicated. So in effect, stretching after a tough WOD means that when you’re tying your shoes or trying to sit on the toilet the next morning, you won’t be left feeling like a mummy just released from its sarcophagus.

These 5 tips can be done easily before and especially after every WOD.

• They combine nearly everything you need for a successful training session.
• It is also a good idea to add movements that are applicable to the exercises that you will be performing in your WODs into your warm up.
• Dynamic stretching will help to prepare for the workout ahead
• Static stretching is more advisable for the end, to aid with recovery and improve flexibility

HAMSTRINGS

The Hamstrings are an important part of your posterior chain. Cleans, snatches, deadlifts are the heavy lifts you need them for. Sometimes you can even feel them whilst performing butterfly or kipping pull ups, or even toes to bar when you power your hips and legs forwards.

Position like shown. Change the difficulty with your hips. Leaning forward will put more pressure on the hamstrings.

TRICEPS

Push ups, Bench press, all kind of presses, overhead squats, jerks. All movements that demand extended arms will recruit the triceps. A good stretch will make your overhead lifts much easier.

SHOULDERS

Talking about the triceps of course do not forget the shoulders. The shoulder joints are one of the most frequently demanded part in your body, nearly every movement in your upper body uses your shoulders. So, don’t let them rust.

HIPS

Jump, Squat, Lift. Stand up, knee, sit down, everything goes down with your hips. They are your torsos connection and key point. Stretch them properly to mobilize not only your hips, but the flexors and thighs.

The couch stretch

Hip flexor stretching exercises

ANKLES

The ankles are the pillars that carry not only your bodyweight but all the plus weight you lift.

Make stretching an important part of every session, improve your range of motion and work to reduce the risk of injury. What other stretches are important to you?

Banded hamstring sketch © hifitnessclub

Hip flexor stretch © total pro sports

Hamstring stretch © berlin-orthopaede

Ankle stretching exercise © crossfitslipstream

Triceps stretching exercise © i.ytimg

The post Effective Stretching Exercises to Improve Crossfit Performance & Recovery appeared first on BOXROX.

Mobility and gymnastics are hugely important elements of Crossfit. Although gymnastic work requires exhausting lessons, and progress is often slow, it should be an irreplaceable component of every crossfitter’s daily process. Combined with strength and power, gymnastic skills will gives you the possibility to drive into new areas and dominate even the hardest WOD.

In Crossfit, body-weight movements are considered gymnastics: air squats, push-ups, pull-ups, etc. If gymnastics movements are performed properly, they will influence every aspect of your life and have a dramatic effect on your fitness.

Gymnastic WODs assist in the development of many of the 10 components of fitness: accuracy, agility, balance, coordination, cardiovascular endurance, flexibility, power, speed, strength, and stamina.

GYMNASTIC WOD 1

• 10:00 AMRAP of:
• 10 Wall balls (10/9’, 20/14#)
• 10 Toes-2-bar
• 10 Alt. pistols

WORKOUT 2

• For Time:
• 50-40-30-20-10
• 5-10-15-20-25
• Double Unders
• Kettlebell swings (70/55 – 32/24kg)
• Toes to bar

MARY

• AMRAP in 20:00 of:
• 5 Handstand Push-Ups
• 10 Alternating Pistols
• 15 Pull-Ups

WOD 4

• 21-18-15-12-9-6-3
• Handstand Push Ups
• Pistol
• Muscle Ups
• Burpees

GYMNASTIC WODS: ELIZABETH

• 21-15-9
• Clean (60/40 kg 135/90 kg)
• Ring Dips

WORKOUT 6

• 10 to 1 Of:
• Burpee Box Jump
• Between each set 10m Handstand Walk

WORKOUT 7

• For Time:
• 4 Rounds
• 30 Double Unders
• 5 Muscle Ups
• 5 Wall Climbs
• 10 Pistols

Which one will you try?

The post 7 Gymnastic WODs to Test and Improve your Crossfit Skills appeared first on BOXROX.

1. Side plank march
2. Split squats
3. Bottom up press
4. Ring rows
5. 90/90 rotations
6. Glute bridge

Evening you beautiful people! Like me, you probably all love to lift weights, and there is no cooler way to lift weights than with the barbell. There are no better exercises than the back squat, the barbell strict press and the Olympic lifts, like after all… Snatch is life!

I could go down the usual scaremongering route of “omg! If you don’t do these exercises you’ll get injured!!” But in all my years of working with athletes and myself I’ve tried a lot of stuff, and I mean A LOT. I hate wasting my time or anyone else’s for that matter, so if I’m going to pick a “mobility exercise” I’m going to pick something that will give me the best returns possible for the least amount of effort. I can then put my focus into adding weight to my big lifts, the only ones Instagram really cares about!

So let’s get started!

1. SIDE PLANK MARCH

Yes… It looks like Pilates, BUT! It’s actually firing up your lateral chain! And from a coaching perspective, it’s gold! It teaches the athlete to stay tight through their trunk with a neutral spine, while simultaneously flexing at the hip! (Squats anyone?)

The key things with this are to keep the shoulders back and have a nice long body and neck, have your hand open and palm flat on the floor otherwise you turn this great oblique exercise into a crappy shoulder exercise. Also practice your breathing technique in this position. Its fantastic for your warm up and takes no time at all! 1 min each side or 20 reps each leg on both sides.

The post 6 Unique Exercises to Enhance your Crossfit Performance appeared first on BOXROX.

BASIC BENCH PRESS TECHNIQUE

• Setup. Lie on the flat bench with your eyes under the bar. Lift your chest and squeeze your shoulder-blades. Feet flat on the floor.
• Grab the bar. Place your pinky on the Knurl (ring) marks of your bar. Hold the bar in the base of your palm with straight wrists and a full grip.
• Unrack. Take a big breath and unrack the bar by straightening your arms. Move the bar over your shoulders with your elbows locked.
• Lower the bar. Lower it to your mid-chest while tucking your elbows 75°. Keep your forearms vertical. Hold your breath at the bottom.
• Press. Press the bar from your mid-chest to above your shoulders. Keep your butt on the bench. Lock your elbows at the top. Breathe.

ARCH YOUR BACK

Bench Press with your lower back arched. Lie on the bench with a natural arch in your lower back. The same arch your lower back shows when you stand. I should be able to slide my flat hand between the bench and your lower back. Arching your lower back also helps to keep your chest up.

USE YOUR FEET

Keep your feet about shoulder width apart, with your heels flat on the floor. Bring them back so that you can feel the tightness and tension in your legs and core. When you bench press, drive with your feet, engage the glutes, hamstrings and quads and push this force up through your body into the lift. Having your feet flat on the floor will also help you to stay stable throughout the whole lift.

STAY TIGHT

Always keep your body tight and your core engaged throughout the full lift.

USING THE BENCH PRESS TO IMPROVE LOCK OUT STRENGTH FOR CROSSFITTERS AND OLYMPIC LIFTERS

The bench press is not often programmed into Crossfit workouts. This is surprising in many ways because it is an incredibly effective exercise for building strength and power. These benefits can be transferred into improving lock-out strength, which is highly useful for overhead pressing and olympic weightlifting exercises.

Want a stronger lock out? Add these into your skill work! #stonebergstrength @reebok @wfitnutrition @fitaid @themarcpro @troyswillis @resiliencyproject #resiliencyproject @perfectbar #500

A video posted by Ben Stoneberg (@bstoneberg) on Nov 20, 2015 at 3:38pm PST

If you are interested in bench pressing to improve your lock-out strength, start by assuming a narrower grip. To develop a strong lock-out, you need strong triceps. Not only does a narrower grip take stress away from the shoulders by decreasing shearing force on the joint, but it also increases the load on the triceps by increasing elbow flexion.

The ideal position for transference is going to be your jerk grip or overhead pressing grip. This will help strengthen the exact position you use when going overhead. If you’re concerned about shoulder health, the closer you can get your arms to parallel in the starting position, the better.

THE BENCH PRESS IN RELATION TO OLYMPIC LIFTING

Most Olympic lifters in the ’60s shunned benches. They didn’t want any additional body weight to be laid down on their chests because the pectoral muscles do very little in overhead lifting. They preferred to spend their time doing more overhead work and weighted dips, as well as doing isotonic-isometric contractions in the power rack when isometrics were the craze in the early part of that decade.

There was also the general opinion that the bench press tended to tighten up the shoulders, making them less flexible, and flexibility is crucial to success in the Olympic lifts. The standard of strength for many up until the early ’70s were overhead lifts. Then several things happened that changed things dramatically. First, there was the emergence of the sport of powerlifting.

Competitive weightlifters who were having difficulty mastering the quick lifts found that they could utilize their strength much more readily by doing less dynamic lifts: bench press, deadlift and back squat. Nearly every pioneer in powerlifting was a former Olympic lifter. Except for a few rare exceptions, these athletes stopped doing overhead presses completely and spent more time improving their benches.

The bench press works the deltoids and triceps, and those muscle groups are certainly utilized in pressing and jerking. And the different angle hits all the muscles involved in a slightly different manner.

SHOULDER FLEXIBILITY

There are two things to keep in mind about the bench press in regards to Olympic lifters and other strength athletes who are concerned about their shoulder flexibility and not adding any additional weight to their chests.

First, keep the reps low. Singles and doubles will strengthen the muscles involved without making them any bigger. Doing higher reps will tend to increase the size of the pecs, so if you don’t want that, stay with low reps.

Second, spend time stretching out your shoulders. Stretch them after every set, and do more after the session is over and even more later on that night. What it comes down to is the bench press is really no different from any other exercise in strength training. When it’s done with perfect technique and utilized in your program to meet your overall goals, it’s definitely a valuable asset.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl80qa97eFA

The post Why Crossfitters Should Bench Press More Often appeared first on BOXROX.

I started CrossFit in 2012, at the age of 66. As a retired Army Officer, my background led me to become a Crossfit coach. I got my L1 at age 67 and have since followed up with certifications in kettlebells and power lifting.

As an older athlete, with multiple mobility/health issues (triple bypass open heart surgery, major shoulder rebuild, inoperable rotator cuff damage, hip replacement, knee replacement, both upper biceps detached), there are Crossfit movements that I cannot personally perform or demonstrate.

My days of back flips, walking down the street on my hands, power lifting, and running marathons are well behind me.

I often use experienced athletes and/or videos to demonstrate.  However, my favorite method is to pick an inexperienced athlete and “talk them through” a movement.  We then spend teaching time correcting the athlete’s skill, so everyone can learn together.

At CrossFit BearCat, in Bunnell/Palm Coast, Florida, we have a great team of owners and coaches, all with our unique skill sets, strengths, and coaching philosophies.  At 71, I’m the box senior citizen, and these are some of my thoughts on coaching:

Earning the right to be called “coach,” requires a positive answer to three very important questions:

1. Can I Trust you? Trust doesn’t happen the day they walk in the box, but the process does start then.  Confidence in my coaching builds with time.
2. Do you Care about me? Does the new, overweight athlete learn quickly that I care about them and their goals, every bit as much as the box competitive rock star?
3. Can you Help me? This is all about competence.  Do I take time to study each athlete’s form  and technique every day?  Are my cues effective?  Do I read, study videos and pursue training seminars from credible sources?  Am I current and relevant?

Perfection is un-achievable and it is psychotic to chase it.

The goal is not always to become a champion, it’s about “excellent pursuit.”

I don’t coach an athlete to achieve “my” goal.  I help them along to what “they” want to get out of it.

I believe that the athlete is paying for – and deserves – a full hour of coaching effort.

It’s my thought that the warm-up, skill practice, and strength work is equally important as the daily WOD.  I let them know if I think they are cruising and “saving themselves” for a hot WOD time on the whiteboard!

Adverse conditions teach discipline and build morale

Even though there may be griping going on… it’s the good kind.

I enjoyed a 20 year Army career and I don’t ever recall hearing the Captain or the First Sergeant announce that training was cancelled “because it was raining, or too hot, or too cold, etc.”

Know the difference between your recreational Crossfitters and your gamers.

Give gamers extra competition box time.  If they ask for more, expect more from them.

Help your athletes spend more time on their strengths than their weaknesses.

Whoa!  Did I just say that?  So, CrossFit is a journey and it starts with the basics.  Pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, squats, running, rowing.  Then there’s the trickier Olympic and power lifts.  On to “Murph” with a 20# vest, muscle-ups, handstand push-ups, pistol squat burpees over the bar… peg boards, etc.  Don’t make every WOD one where the majority loses interest because they will never be in red and they feel disenfranchised.  Face it, many will never get a muscle-up and that’s OK.

As coaches, our aim has to be on teaching the athletes:

• Form, technique and mechanics before load
• Focus and concentration
• Strong mental attitude

Timing, rhythm, proper load and pacing holds it all together.

If the WOD is “Fran,” 21-15-9 of thrusters and pull-ups and 95# is Rx… and the guy insists on using 95# and it takes him 30 minutes… Well, that just isn’t the spirit of that sacred workout…

When they leave the box after the WOD, I want them to think, “That was hard!  But it was fun!  And I learned something today!”

Still going strong! © BOXROX

Frank with Powerlifting and strength legend Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell © Frank Zedar

The post Perspectives on Training from a 71 yr Old Crossfit Coach appeared first on BOXROX.

The 2016 Crossfit Team Invitational was a captivating mix of guts, glory and extreme fitness. To watch the entire two-hour event again, check out the video here. Find the best bits, biggest lifts and most brutal performances below and for full details of all the events and how the action progressed from event to event, see the section below that. Have fun, get inspired and enjoy your Crossfit!

Katrin Davidsdottir Snatches 91.5 kg (202 lbs) to help Team Europe take first place!

As coach and competitor, Rich Froning stepped up and delivered this monstrous 165 kg (365 lb) lift exactly when the pressure was mounting for the USA.

Event 1: Deadlifts and Bar-Facing Burpees

• Event 1 – All 4 athletes
• 21-15-9 reps of:
• 854-lb. deadlifts
• Bar-facing burpees

“All four athletes work together to deadlift a long bar loaded to 854 lb. Burpees must be synchronized.”

Event 1 Results

1. Pacific – 5:08.12  (6 points)
2. Europe – 5:18.44  (4 points)
3. USA – 5:24.10  (2 points)
4. Canada – 5:58.59 (0 points)

Event 2: Women’s Team Max Snatch and C&J

• Event 2 – 2 female athletes
• 1-rep-max snatch
• 1-rep-max clean and jerk

“For each lift, athletes will have two attempts. One female athlete will snatch, and the other will clean and jerk. The team score is the sum of the max snatch plus the max clean and jerk.”

Event 2 Results

1. Pacific – 447 lb. – 3 points
2. Europe – 442 lb. – 2 points
3. Canada – 430 lb. – 1 point
4. USA – 427 lb. – 0 points

The Pacific Team extended their lead going into Event 3.

Overall Standings (2 / 7 Events Completed)
1. Pacific – 9 points
2. Europe – 6 points
3. USA – 2 points
4. Canada – 1 point

Event 3: Women’s Team Handstand-Walk Relay

• Event 3 – 2 female athletes
• Handstand-walk relay

“Relay-style handstand-walk relay with each athlete walking the length of the floor.”

Event 3 Results

1. USA – 1:03.44  (3 points)
2. Europe – 1:22.34 (2 points)
3. Canada – 1:32.68  (1 point)
4. Pacific – 1:48.87  (0 points)

The event closed the point-gaps between teams, but that wasn’t enough to shake up the leaderboard.

Overall Standings (3 / 7 Events Completed)
1. Pacific – 9 points
2. Europe – 8 points
3. USA – 5 points
4. Canada – 2 points

Event 4: Bars, Rowers, Bikes and Pigs

• Event 4 – All 4 athletes
• 15 bar muscle-ups
• 20/16-cal. bike and 24/20-cal. row
• 4 Pig flips
• 12 bar muscle-ups
• 20/16-cal. bike and 24/20-cal. row
• 3 Pig flips
• 9 bar muscle-ups
• 20/16-cal. bike and 24/20-cal. row
• 2 Pig flips

Event 4 Results

1. Europe – 8:27.92  (6 points)
2. USA – 8:29.48  (4 points)
3. Pacific – 8:36.28 (2 points)
4. Canada – 11:04.36 (0 points)

Overall Standings (4 / 7 Events Completed)
1. Europe – 14 points
2. Pacific – 11 points
3. USA – 9 points
4. Canada – 2 points

Event 5: Men’s Team Max Snatch and C&J

• 1-rep-max snatch
• 1-rep-max clean and jerk

Event 5 Results

1. USA – 642 lb. – 3 points
2. Canada – 640 lb. – 2 points
3. Europe – 610 lb. – 1 point
4. Pacific – 597 lb. – 0 points

Overall Standings (5 / 7 Events Completed)
1. Europe – 15 points
2. USA – 12 points
3. Pacific – 11 points
4. Canada – 4 points

Event 6: Men’s Team Handstand-Walk Relay

Handstand-walk relay

Event 6 Results

1. Pacific – 1:06.49 – 3 points
2. USA – 1:08.99 – 2 points
3. Canada – 1:10.45 – 1 point
4. Europe – 1:11.53 – 0 points

Overall Standings (6 / 7 Events Completed)
1. Europe – 15 points
2T. Pacific – 14 points
2T. USA – 14 points
4. Canada – 5 points

Event 7: 2016 Crossfit Team Invitational

• As MF pairs, each athlete completes:
• 3 rope climbs
• 30 strict HSPU with HS hold
• Then, as a team:
• 30 slug cleans
• 30 Pig jump-overs, synchro
• 30 slug thrusters

Event 7 Results

1. Europe – 9:24.16 – 6 points
2. Canada – 9:27.59 – 4 points
3. USA – 9.38.87 – 2 points
4. Pacific – 9:38.97- 0 points

Final Results

1. Europe – 23 points
2. USA – 16 points
3. Pacific – 14 points
4. Canada – 10 points

*Exercise standards and Event descriptions are © of CrossFit Inc

Rich Froning in action! © CrossFit Inc

Stronger together © CrossFit Inc

The Event in full swing © CrossFit Inc

Flip the Pig! © CrossFit Inc

The post Europe Win! The 2016 Crossfit Team Invitational Recap appeared first on BOXROX.

6 important muscle up progressions

1. False grip rows
2. Legless rope climbs
3. Russian dips
4. Baby muscle up
5. Negative muscle up
6. L-sit lift off

There really is nothing cooler than someone hopping up on a set of rings and doing a muscle up. Most people can deadlift and squat to some degree, a majority can do pull ups, but in the world of getting acknowledgement for being a legend, the strict ring muscle up is King!

I still remember the first time I ever saw one (and I would have already deemed myself pretty strong at this point) and thinking “that dude is a beast!”. I wanted to take him out and buy him drinks just in the hope that he would like me! Then I saw a 10 year old girl do one… Naturally, I just wanted to kick her in the face. So clearly this girl couldn’t be stronger than me, so she must have been cheating! Which she was, she was using this thing called “technique” and what made it even worse was this other thing called… “Practicing”.

The progressions I am giving you here I teach to all my athletes, and every one that has devoted time to them has got their first muscle up, generally around 6 weeks.

Even if you already have your muscle up, these progressions are great for tidying it up and helping you achieve multiple reps. A super secret programming technique for you: whichever ones you suck at, do them the most.

1. False Grip Rows

One of the most important parts of the muscle up is the false grip, if it’s not solid you’re going to have a really hard time with your transition to the top.

Remember, set up is King! Wrist stretches should be done EVERY DAY in an extended and flexed position so you should have no problem attaining this. You HAVE to train the pull in this position or you will just not get through to the top, even if you can do 20 unbroken pull ups and dips, it is the wrist position that gives you leverage, turn out at the bottom and turn your knuckles to face each other then pull to your chest maintaining the grip at all times.

2. Legless Rope Climbs

If I see you climbing a rope using your legs it pretty much takes all of my willpower not to beat you to death with a lacrosse ball and rubber band! The BEST exercise for pulling and grip strength is the legless rope climb. If you can’t do it then scale it so that you’re still having to pull with your ARMS, unless your goal is to get better at standing up while holding on to something. Almost try to pull the rope to your stomach and the slower you move the better, think like a ninja.

3. Russian Dips

The transition is the tricky part of the muscle up, and it’s generally were most people will get stuck when they’re having their first attempt, the Russian dip is a great way to break it down and just focus on that one part. Again, slower is better and you can really hit this one with some high volume, keep as low as possible during the transition from elbow to press and try to have a really long neck the whole way through the movement. It’s all about shifting your weight and moving your body as one unit, so your hollow body position is key here! Keep your elbows in close to your sides, this applies to the push up also.

4. The Baby Muscle Up

The baby muscle up is putting the movement together with the feet still on the floor for a slight bit of assistance, opt for the tip toes rather than the ball of the foot or you may subconsciously push through your feet too much. Keep the rings as close as possible to you and break it down into 1. Pull to chest 2. Transition and 3. Press, feel the weight shift in your hand and make sure to maintain that false grip! The higher the rings are the more challenging this exercise is.

5. Negative Muscle Up

Again, this is putting the full movement together but in reverse. Take your time with this one and try to get that feeling of where your weight needs to be at each stage of the movement, be as ninja as possible! If you’re just dropping down in the transition part then go back to the baby muscle up until you get more strength, when you can do this movement with really good control you are well on your way to your first muscle up!

6. Muscle Up Progressions – L-sit Lift Off

I accidentally came up with this one day when I was practicing L-sit muscle ups. I had started to get tired then all of a sudden I starting stringing massive sets together, it took me a good 5 reps to realise I was actually just cheating. Set up with your false grip in place then drive through your heels to give yourself a boost to the rings, it’s all about the weight shift again, stay really tight through the middle and use the legs as a counter balance for the transition to the top of the rings, to make it slightly harder just don’t use your legs as much!

I’ve lots more progressions that I have used over the years but these days I spend more time getting rid of exercises to keep things more simplistic. So to recap, you’ve got your grip, your pull, your middle transition for below to above the rings, your dip and your lockout! All there in a nice bundle! Thank you for taking the time to read! And again don’t be afraid to follow my Coach page, I am forever posting tips on the silly things that everyone seems to miss! I hope to see you posting your first muscle up soon!

If you like the movements and would like to see more just follow my Tom Morrison Coach page!

The post The Only 6 Muscle Up Progressions You Will Ever Need! appeared first on BOXROX.

Once a year, the Klokov Power Weekend brings together some of the top Olympic weightlifters in the world to compete against each other.

This year, Dmitry Klokov pulled an all-nighter to make sure everything was ready before entering himself into the competition. Keep that in mind when you check out his lifts!

Dmitry Berestov won the Thruster competition with a 200 kg lift!

Dmitry Berestov 164kg Strict Press

Klokov 190kg Hang Snatch

Dmitry Klokov 160 kg Power Clean and Strict Press

Media by Hookgrip.

The post 4 Awesome Lifts from the Klokov Power Weekend appeared first on BOXROX.

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The post Cyber Weekend: HUGE Discounts from Your Favourite Functional Fitness Brands! appeared first on BOXROX.

The handstand push up is an important gymnastic movement that often crops up in Crossfit workouts. It can seem daunting when you first begin, as you have to have confidence in your strength, balance and ability to control your body when upside down.

Once you become more confident, and master the basics, then the handstand push up becomes a great exercise for building impressive upper body and core strength, agility, coordination and power.

KIPPING VS STRICT

The handstand push up can be performed, like pull ups, in a strict or kipping movement depending on the standards of the workout. As with all Crossfit exercises, concentrate on the strict version first. Build the necessary skill and strength that is required for the harder version before you even start to think about kipping.

Check out these tips and progressions to help you rep out handstand push ups easily and efficiently whenever they crop up in workouts.

SCALING THE HANDSTAND PUSH UP

These options will allow you to scale handstand push ups when they appear in workouts. If you can already do a handstand push up, then skip forward to the technique tips section.

The following methods begin with the easiest and progress towards the most difficult. If you work your way through them, you will gradually develop the required strength, skill and coordination.

PIKE PUSH UP

Start in a regular push up position. Walk your feet forwards so that your bum raises up into the air and your body resembles an inverted V. Whilst keeping your core tight, spine neutral and legs straight, perform a press up by lowering your head to touch the floor then fully extend your arms once again to complete one rep.

PIKE PUSH UP WITH ELEVATED FEET

This is the same as the previous exercise, however place your feet on a plyo box so that more pressure is placed on your torso, shoulders and arms. Perform reps as above.

KICK UP AND HOLD

Position your hands in the starting position. Lead with one leg and jump off the standing leg as you propel your feet toward the wall. It may take a few kicks to stick. Don’t be afraid to overshoot it at first. The wall is there to catch you.

Once you are in the handstand position, spread your finders and control the weight of your body. Start by holding this position with as little movement as possible. Once you can manage 30 seconds then it is time to move onto the next scaled exercise.

NEGATIVE HANDSTAND PUSH UPS

Once you feel confident with these scaled options, try a negative handstand push up to get your body used to kicking up into the starting position and being controlled whilst upside down.

• Kick up into the starting position with confidence.
• Propel your legs with force and support the weight of your body on your hands.
• Gradually lower yourself downwards until the top of your head touches the floor. Stay in control of the movement.
• Kick back out of the handstand position

PARTIAL RANGE OF MOTION HANDSTAND PUSH UP

For this version, prop an ab mat on a book or plate in order to reduce the full range of motion of the exercise. This will allow you to build up over time and get used to the feel of pushing your body upwards and balancing at the same time.

TECHNIQUE TIPS FOR THE HANDSTAND PUSH UP

HAND POSITIONING

Place your hands about a foot away from the wall. Too close and the movement becomes harder to coordinate and easier to fall off balance. Too far away and you will put your body in an inefficient position to perform the full range of motion. In competition, you may be forced to have your hands in particular positions, so it is worth practicing with your hands very close to the wall. This makes the exercise much harder, but it will also make you stronger and more coordinated.

If you are having difficulties, point your thumbs inwards towards the wall. This will help to place greater load on the triceps, and will take some of the pressure away from your shoulders.

STAY TIGHT

Keep your belly, glutes and core tight because this will help to stabilise your movement. Try the following exercise from Camille Leblanc-Bazinet for a great way to pinpoint your centre of gravity whilst upside down.

Working on strengthening your core strength is ALWAYS a good idea and will have huge positive repercussions throughout many other exercises in Crossfit, as well as in your daily life.

• Hollow rocks
• L sits
• Overhead Squats
• Deadlifts
• Squats
• Toes to bar

ELBOW POSITIONING

Keep your elbows in, and point them out in front of you. Think about when you jerk or overhead press, the movement is much more efficient with the elbows facing forwards than out to the sides. The same is true for the handstand push up. Concentrate on pointing them out in front of you, directly away from the wall.

Are there any other tips or scaled progressions that you use to improve your handstand push up technique? Let us know in the comments section below.

scale and progress © bodybuilding.com

The post Tips and Scaling Options to Improve Your Handstand Push Up Technique appeared first on BOXROX.

BodyPower introduced it’s first Crossfit competition this year called ‘BodyPower Games’. As always there was a lot of hype leading up to this event & it definitely delivered in the usual Crossfit fashion!

The arena was located in a great spot and was always grabbing the attention of people passing by. On the Saturday even the public got involved as a little taster workout to experience what it was like to try Crossfit.

Here’s a mix of a handful of tracks that I played over the weekend for it – turn it up!

The post Soundtrack from the BodyPower Games 2016 appeared first on BOXROX.

My journey into Crossfit starts before I stepped foot into the gym. My weight had never been stable since I was about 11 years old. I accepted that I was just bigger than friends and this went on till I was in my late teens and then I started on the various diet plans and even went to the local gym on more than one occasion but only stuck at it for about 9 months.

Like a lot of people, I turned to food to resolve my self-worth issues which only made matters worse. This time it had to be different because I wanted to be around for my nephews. Also I had been so ill for about 3 years and knew that if I carried on I wouldn’t be around to do anything with my nephews.

MAKING A CHANGE!

In November 2013 I joined the local gym again but was ill again so had to wait to the New Year to start properly. From January through to March I tried but found the gym pointless but decided to try one more instructor and program and he changed what I was doing so that it had purpose. At this point I had never heard of Crossfit and still wouldn’t for several months. In the March (2014) I weighed 19+ stone, a size 24 (UK) in a lot of clothes and struggled to walk any distance. I set myself little goals, to reach, such as getting into a dress that I was too big for and then a pair of trousers. In the gym my program was set in such a way that you could increase the weight on the machine as I got better or I could row further than I did the last time. The big goal was to lose weight and get fitter. The smaller goals help me attain the bigger goals, and still do.

In the beginning I was limited in what I could do. Apart from using the rower or cross trainer, most of what I did was stationary which I found hard and at times never thought I would ever get any better. After about 12 weeks I received a free PT session and it was here that I did my first Crossfit movements. I couldn’t manage the burpees but did manage the wall balls although the squats didn’t even make parallel but this was more than I had done in years and it hurt but thoroughly enjoyed it. After about 6 months I realised that if I wanted to see bigger changes in my ability I needed to be in the gym more often so I increased it to 4 times a week and I was surprised at how much of a difference it made.

STRENGTHENING MOVEMENT

It was from this point on my program started to include more movement. As I started to have more PT session so they included more Crossfit. It was in these sessions that I was introduced to a barbell. To me this was always a man thing or for the skinny, so not something that I would be capable of. My instructor is very patient as my coordination isn’t the greatest. (I have a preliminary diagnosis of dyspraxia). As different lifts and moves were introduced during PT sessions so they appeared in my program, but it was the barbell that got me hooked.  There was something about getting the piece of metal from the floor to my shoulders or overhead. Once I discovered that it was Crossfit that I was doing I watched and read more than I probably had about any other sport.  It was the hero WODs which gripped more and movements like handstand press ups. There are many movements that I still cannot do but the scaled versions are my mini goals and the full version is my bigger goal. An example of this is handstands (which I haven’t done in 33 years) so I am doing wall walks with a pause to get me use to being upside down and being on my hands and not my feet. The fact that Crossfit can have the moves and or weight scaled to suit ability means that anyone can do it and that there is always something to work towards which suits my mentality.

CROSSFIT IS ALL IN THE MIND

I will have to admit that Crossfit is as much a mental thing as it is physical. This is something I struggle with greatly in the beginning because my own self-worth was in the pits. I would be given a work out during PT and my first reaction was ‘I’m never going to achieve that’ whatever that may be. This was more evident when the weight got added to the barbell. With the perseverance of my instructor and his teaching this area has improved greatly. My approach to a workout has changed and I see it as a challenge and not an impossibility like it did before.

Crossfit can also be very frustrating. Why is it that a skill that you can do i.e. power snatches are going well and then the following week they just fall to pieces? I am learning that this can be due to a lack of focus on my part, trying too hard and at times it is just one of those days. If it is one of the first 2 then I can sometimes bring it back but if it is the last one you just suck it up and accept it was just a bad day. I have been doing Crossfit for about 20 months and I enjoy it as much today if not more than the day I started. Why? Several reasons, the sport itself, my instructor and his programming and the fact that the first 2 have given me my life back and I am the fittest I’ve ever been. I now have a body shape that I have never had before and a confidence like nothing I’ve ever known. This has spread throughout all areas of my life and have gained friends on the way.

I have had the comment that every female Crossfitter gets ‘if you keep doing that you will get bulky’. Someone suggested that I do more cardio (treadmill) and leave the weights if I’m not losing weight and putting on muscle. This did throw me at the time and spoke to my instructor who was willing to change my program and explained the scientific differences (which I already knew and needed clarifying) and decided to stay with what is working, Crossfit. At the beginning I mentioned the size I was. I am now approximately 15 stone a size 16 (uk) and on occasion dropping to a size 14. The biggest difference is the fact that I like what I see, for the first time in my life. I have a way to go but loving the process that is getting me there.

If you are reading this and think that you cannot because of………. Then tell your head it is wrong. YOU CAN. All it takes is one step and once you have taken that step you can take another. What I have achieved didn’t happen overnight.

Since I started to write this I have entered my first competition at Crossfit Aldermaston which I heard about through Master United.  I signed up not knowing what to expect.  The day of the competition I was was very nervous as I had never been to a Crossfit box let alone compete.  I was amazed how I was included.  I was there on my own but yet had people supporting and chearing me on during the WOD.  At the end of the day I hurt but loved every minute and have now booked for my next one in September at one of my local boxes in Bournemouth.

To finish with I thought I would list some of my favourite WODs Death by…….. Murph, Fight gone Bad, Bear Complex done as 21-15-9 Ghost There are many more I enjoy and the top 10 changes as my skills improve but these always remain in    there

The post One Step at a Time (My Crossfit Journey) appeared first on BOXROX.

Exercises, Principles, Differences

If you’re looking to build muscle, get bigger and become stronger, these are the things you need to do:

• Lift heavy things
• Eat a diet based on your goals
• Rest

 Body Types

ECTOMORPH

An ectomorph is a typical skinny guy. Ecto’s have a light build with small joints and lean muscle. Usually ectomorph’s have long thin limbs with stringy muscles. Shoulders tend to be thin with little width.

TYPICAL TRAITS OF AN ECTOMORPH:

• Small “delicate” frame and bone structure
• Classic “hardgainer”
• Flat chest
• Small shoulders
• Thin
• Lean muscle mass
• Finds it hard to gain weight
• Fast metabolism

Ectomorphs find it very hard to gain weight. They have a fast metabolism which burns up calories very quickly. Ecto’s need a huge amount of calories in order to gain weight. Workouts should be short and intense focusing on big muscle groups. Supplements are definitely recommended. Ectomorphs should eat before bed to prevent muscle catabolism during the night. Generally, ectomorphs can lose fat very easily which makes cutting back to lean muscle easier for them.

MESOMORPH

A mesomorph has a large bone structure, large muscles and a naturally athletic physique. Mesomorphs are the best body type for bodybuilding. They find it quite easy to gain and lose weight. They are naturally strong which is the perfect platform for building muscle.

TYPICAL TRAITS ON A MESOMORPH:

• Athletic
• Generally hard body
• Well defined muscles
• Rectangular shaped body
• Strong
• Gains muscle easily
• Gains fat more easily than ectomorphs

The mesomorph body type responds the best to weight-training. Gains are usually seen very quickly, especially for beginners. The downside to mesomorphs is they gain fat more easily than ectomorphs. This means they must watch their calorie intake. Usually a combination of weight training and cardio works best for mesomorphs.

ENDOMORPH

The endomorph body type is solid and generally soft. Endomorphs gain fat very easily. Endo’s are usually of a shorter build with thick arms and legs. Muscles are strong, especially the upper legs. Endomorphs find they are naturally strong in leg exercises like the squat.

TYPICAL TRAITS OF AN ENDOMORPH:

• Soft and round body
• Gains muscle and fat very easily
• Is generally short
• “Stocky” build
• Round physique
• Finds it hard to lose fat
• Slow metabolism
• Muscles not so well defined

When it comes to training endomorphs find it very easy to gain weight. Unfortunately, a large portion of this weight is fat not muscle. To keep fat gain to a minimum, endomorphs must always train cardio as well as weights.

Keep it simple

• Leg Exercises – Squats, Deadlifts, or Lunges
• Push Exercises – Bench Press, Overhead Press, or Dips
• Pull Exercises – Inverted Rows, Pull Ups, or Chin Ups
• Core Exercises – Reverse Crunches, Hanging Knee Raises, or Planks

Master the basics!

Repetitions

Build Muscle: The most commonly used rep ranges with their primary training effect:

• 1-5 Reps Per Set = Mostly Strength
• 5-8 Reps Per Set = Strength AND Muscle Equally
• 8-10 Reps Per Set = Muscle With Some Strength
• 10-12 Reps Per Set = Muscle With Some Endurance
• 12-15 Reps Per Set = Endurance With Some Muscle
• 15-20 Reps Per Set = Mostly Endurance

That means:

• Lower reps (high intensity) is most ideal for increasing strength.
• Higher reps (low intensity) is most ideal for improving muscle endurance.
• Moderate reps in the middle of the two (moderate intensity) is most ideal for building muscle and really anything related to improving the way your body looks (rather than performs).

rep schemes © bodybuilding.com

body types © muscle and strength

The post Build Muscle and Strength: The Basic Principles for Beginners appeared first on BOXROX.

What is the posterior chain?

The posterior chain is simply the backside of your body and its primary muscles include the lower back, gluteus maximus, hamstrings, and calves. This area is often ignored and misunderstood. Many people sit for 8-10 hours per day. Because of the seated position the quadriceps become short and tight and even impeed the glutes. The glutes then forget their primary role as hip stabilizer and extensors. Generally, the glutes have one of the highest ratios of fast twitch fibers in the whole body.

“A strong posterior chain means a strong squat and deadlift”

How does it help to support movement?

• Multifidus (spine support)
• Erector Spinae (back and spinal extension)
• Gluteal Muscles (hip extensors, femoral rotation)
• Hamstring Muscles (hip extension, knee flexion)
• Gastrocnemius or Calf (plantar flexes ankle, knee flexion)
• External Obliques (back and spine support, in tandem with anterior core)

Movement and mechanics

But even though both chain groups need to be treated equally, sedentary lifestyles, sitting at the desk and lack of proper exercise lead to suboptimal muscular activation patterns within the posterior chain due to lower crossed syndrome (LCS).

That means the hip flexors are overactive and impede the glutes. Without the contribution of the gluteus maximus to hip extension, the hamstrings and lumbar erector spinae muscles are placed under greater stress and become synergistic dominant movers.

This means that the main muscles that should be performing most of the work take a break and the few other ‘helper’ or the synergists have to take over to fill the gap. When this happens, there is marked anterior tilt of the pelvis and a stressed lordosis curve at the lumbar spine. Imagine you try to stand straight but your butt sticks out behind you, your hip is tilted forward and your gut protrudes out in front of you. This is a recipe for acute and chronic lower back pain syndromes.

To compensate for the lack of complete hip extension caused by anterior pelvic tilt, there is increased lumbar extension.

When you bend over, pick something up or stand from a seated position, you are now at a mechanical disadvantage. Instead of activating muscles in the correct movement, you would compensate and skip right over the glutes. Proper hinging at the hips and pushing the hips forward simultaneously are critical to effective posterior-chain motor control. Every muscle group needs to be flexible and strong enough to do its job, otherwise there will be an over-reliance on others to shoulder the load. This can contribute to chronic tightness, fatigue, stiffness and spasm episodes—not to mention the risk of injury when you are moving weight.

Use these links and videos to find other great ways to strengthen your posterior chain

Downward-facing dog

Romanian Deadlift

Glute Ham Raise

Some of the muscles that make up the posterior chain © vertical jumpin

The post The Importance of Developing a Strong Posterior Chain for Crossfit appeared first on BOXROX.

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Clean up your Olympic lifting technique with these 5 fixes!

1. Snatch, losing the bar in front or jumping forward: hip snatch
2. Snatch, losing the bar behind: muscle snatch
3. Split Jerk, unstable: elbow position
4. Clean, catching too high: hip clean
5. Jerk, push presses, forward bar path: weight in heels

There is nothing I love more in the world than weightlifting! No two people lift the same and no two coaches teach the same. There are hundreds, if not thousands of strength drills, speed drills, mobility drills, programs, you name it. All of that…. And it’s just two lifts, the snatch and the clean & jerk.

An advanced athlete to me, is someone that can do the basics extremely well and that has precision and consistency. A beginner athlete should only focus on those things. Precision first of all, can you hit every position needed to make a good lift and can you do it at speed? Then could you take a video of 100 lifts and be able to tell them apart? Only really when you have your consistency should you think about loading up, by all means go as heavy as you want in the rack but don’t cut corners with your technique or you’ll get stuck later on down the line! Play the long game!

Strength is cool, technique is cool but both combined are a recipe for success!

Here are some of the common errors I see with lifters all across the board, beginner to advanced and a few things you can add to your practice and warm ups to start hitting some PR’s in the near future! Remember, strength programs aren’t worth a damn if you don’t move well!

1. Snatch, losing the bar in front or jumping forward: hip snatch

Probably the most disheartening one, being under the bar and it just falling in front of your very eyes reminding you of the disappointment you have become as you still sit there in your squat. Missing your “triple extension” will be a massive cause of this, especially for newbies. Wanting to be fast under the bar can cause you to be too fast at the wrong point (a favourite saying of mine is “be fast but don’t rush it”) if you mess up your timing then you’re basically going to have to try to adjust in mid air and that will only get you so far.

You have to remember that when you make contact with the bar, that bar is weightless for a moment and in that moment you have all the time in the world to get under IF you finish your pull and close the hip at the right point (listen for the two sounds). The hip snatch is a great drill for giving you confidence in that position and really lets you see how much power comes from that small hip extension!

2. Snatch, losing the bar behind: muscle snatch

Mini heart attack anyone? I hate backwards escapes and I HATE when people refuse to jump away and turn to face the bar! YOU SHOULD ALWAYS PRACTICE YOUR ESCAPES!!!

That being said, if you’re going to fully commit to a lift and have no fear, it’s gonna happen. One of the main causes can simply be down to the bar path, any major deviation from a straight line will cause you to have to work harder to pull the bar back in on yourself, therefore making extra work for yourself – and no one likes that. The muscle snatch is good for getting you to keep the bar close and help you to visualise what should be happening on the way down, great for warm ups too! Just make sure that you don’t start to develop an early arm pull, it is an assistance exercise not a part of the movement!

3. Split Jerk, unstable: elbow position

With the 4 basic skills: position, motion, changing levels and penetration. The one I spend most of my time correcting is “motion” which is moving correctly from one position to another. Any extra movement that isn’t needed is energy wasted! (Ever notice the people with the most consistent form at the CrossFit games also seem to be the fittest?) Elbow positioning during the dip in your jerk movements is critical for having a solid receiving position! If they move as you dip, it’s game over, you will plateau at some point. The fancy drill for this one is… Practice.

4. Clean, catching too high: hip clean

This was a big one for me, if your mobility is not up to scratch and you subconsciously have no confidence in your squat you’ll generally find that you’ll “power clean” then ride the weight to the bottom rather than getting under straight away, which again is energy wasted, which we don’t like. Your arms will only be able to yank a weight up until a certain point, you HAVE to start catching in the bottom. The hip clean is great for practicing fast elbows and speed under, plus it’s a great movement to load up! It’s crazy how many athletes I have met that don’t know what they can hip clean! Again, it give you confidence in that position and trains that contact point, add it to your training immediately!

5. Olympic lifting technique – Jerk, push presses, forward bar path: weight in heels!

I say weight in heels with caution, you need to be thinking about loading the hips and having all of the foot on the ground and maintaining a nice, upright torso! This is probably THE most common error especially when it comes to PR time, that slight shift in weight can have dramatic effects with heavy loads! And no, a strength program won’t fix it. Your dip and drive should not resemble the loading process for a box jump, the goal is not to jump forward but more to accelerate vertical force. I would definitely recommend filming your footwork when you’re doing jerks and practice, practice, practice until you never want to jerk again… Then practice some more and you might start getting somewhere!

One more tip I would like to give to all that have made it this far is the secret to everything, the holy grail of weightlifting as it where. “Weight is irrelevant, the bar is eternal” you are always going to get stronger, your numbers are always going to go up and down but no matter what, you’ll always have a barbell in your hands, if you know how to feel the bar and own every position then your development as a lifter will be a smooth one, leave anything to chance, and then you’re guessing!

I wish you all the best on your weightlifting journey and if you have any questions or any videos you would even like to send for feedback just head over to my coach page and give it a like!

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