Lift Ratio Calculator

When we talk about being a good CrossFitter we talk about not being specialized   in one area, such as not being to biased to bodyweight or strength movements. When we get a bit more nit picky we want to not be too biased towards one movement within a particular domain. An example would be being extremely good at toes to bar but not having the technique to string together 4 kipping pull ups. Both are gymnastics movements so we should have proficiency in both of them if we are proficient in one of them (i.e. if we can string together toes to bar, we should be able to string together pull ups.) I know that I am not the best at balance when it comes to this concept, but I am trying to work my weaknesses. For me I can string together muscle ups and handstand push ups within a workout but if a workout has ring dips or strict hand stand push ups I am usually stopped dead in my tracks. I tend to place too much emphasis on my kipping gymnastic movements where I should be working them strict more often.

This concept concept can also be applicable to the barbell lifts. If you have a huge back squat, but a really weak front squat, you should probably front squat more. For those of you that don’t know, I am a huge fan of reddit and visit the site daily. While I was perusing the CrossFit subreddit the other night, I stumbled upon a lift ratio calculator on the Waxmans gym website. Waxmans gym is an olympic weightlifting gym in Southern California that has a very high level coaching staff as well as national level weightlifters who train there. Essentially what the calculator does it does is it shows you the ratio between multiple lifts (primarily the snatch and clean and jerk) and what lifts you should improve on to become a more balanced weightlifter. When I used it it revealed that I have a snatch bias (surprise surprise), and that I needed to improve my my clean. Rather than saying that I needed to work on purely strength, it said I could improve my clean from making technical improvements in my receiving position as I have the front squat strength necessary to stand the weight up.

For some it might just be a reminder of where your weaknesses are, but that might just be the push you need to work on those weaknesses! For me it was interesting to see where I could improve to become a more balanced weightlifter. And while we are not strictly weightlifters, we can adopt some of the weightlifting principles as it could make us more balanced in the lifts, and better CrossFitters in the long run. Let me know if you use it and be sure to ask any coach if you need help figuring out how to bring up certain lifts!

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