Weekly WOD Insights 2/7/22

Building from last weeks positional work, we will have you all working from the hang only today. This should allow you to put a bit more weight on the bar as compared to last weeks high hang work because the hang tends to be more mechanically advantageous. It’s still important to keep in mind that the goal of positional work is not to put the most weight on the bar possible, it is to improve specific mechanics and positions of the lift. Jut because you can “do” the weight, doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the appropriate weight for the positional work. Always prioritize movement quality when it comes to the positional work. After 6 sets of the hang work, you will have an opportunity to work in some of the focus you brought to your hang work to your regular lifts. Before you all roll your eyes at the finisher hear me out. Yes extravagant workouts are very fun, yes they keep training fun and interesting, but improving the basics can pay huge dividends when it comes to improving your fitness. Todays finisher is simple by design. Its two movements that pop up often in CrossFit programming, and everyone could do with getting better at (including me!) I promise that getting better at the simple stuff will make the fun stuff…more fun.

A.) 12 Minute EMOM 

1- 2 Hang cleans or Snatches (above knee)

2- 2 Cleans or snatches

B.)

10 Burpees (Beef 15)

5 Pull ups (10 Pull ups or 5 C2B) (3/1 BMU) (6 BMU)

In contrast to last Wednesday’s workout, today is working with shorter sets aimed at improving transition time and overall intensity. The smaller cardio pieces coupled with the manageable volume on the barbell and jump rope should encourage you to go as unbroken as possible, or have short, methodical breaks in between movements. You will also notice that todays workout has rope climbs in it. If you don’t know how to climb a rope and would like to learn how to, or would like to work on your rope climb efficiency, be sure to let a coach know at the beginning of class. We would love to help get you to the top (pun intended) but we want to make sure we can allocate enough time to help you before starting the workout.

200m Run

8 Front Squat 95/65 115/75 (10 @ 135/95) (Thicc Bison 5 @ 165/ 115)

10 Double unders (20) (40)

200m Run

Beef/Bison only: 1 rope climb

At some point during the workout

Rx’d- 2 rope climbs

Adv- 3 rope climbs

Hopefully you all have noticed that we have been working in the different over head press variations. We started with strict press in my first week, we refined out push press last week, and this week will be focused on the push jerk. This variation will pop up mostly in met cons for people, but is still important to refine technique with heavier loading. Since we do not often focus on push jerks for our strength sessions, I would prioritize movement quality over loading today to make sure you have a good grasp on the movement itself. You will also notice we have one more week of the mobility superset. If you have been lucky enough to come on a pressing day the past two weeks then you will have dabbled a little bit in the realm of magical mobility. Todays shoulder CARs will be from a slightly different position aimed at really refining your overhead position. Todays finisher ill seem boring at a first glance (again), but trust me when done correctly it is EXTREMELY effective. Anytime we workout we are trying to stress our bodes enough to create adaptation. That is essentially how you improve fitness in a nutshell. There’s a million ways to go about this, and more often than not we like to use a mix of elements within a single workout to achieve this goal. While this is great, there is something to be said for effective and simple workouts. The advantage of using machines like the rower, bike, or ski erg, is that they minimize muscle damage, while still creating a metabolic stress big enough to create adaptation (aka getting more fit). If you always rely on the usage of weightlifting and bodyweight movements, you can sometimes run into the issue of creating more muscle damage than necessary to create adaptation. So while machine work might be boring, I promise it will still give you the gainzzzzz you seek. Okay rant over.

A1) Push Jerk 

3-3-3-3

A2) Prone Shoulder car 

3x 4 ea side

B.) 12 rounds on any machine 

:30s working pace (85-90% effort)

:30s recovery pace (50% effort)

You may have noticed that there is no squatting in this weeks programming. While I do value squats, there are other ways of developing the squat, without squatting. One of way doing so is performing single leg movements like the reverse lunge. In addition to improving your squatting ability, doing single leg work like the reverse lunge helps work on imbalances you might have between your right and left legs. I can guarantee that you will feel the effects of the lunges for days to come 😂 . Todays finisher is going to be a grip burner. With eh box jump overs being very fast, you will find yourself back on the dumbbell work and farmers carry’s fairly often. There’s nothing like a good ol fashioned forearm pump!

A.) Alternate every :90s for 12 minutes 

1- 14 Dumbbell reverse lunges 30/20 (40/30) (50+/35+)

2- :30s-1 min Static core.

-Forearm plank (Adv Weighted)

-Hollow hold (adv weighted)

–Single arm tall plank (Adv single arm forearm plank)

-Side plank (adv weighted)

–L support on boxes (L sit)

B.) 9 Minute amrap 

8 Box Jump overs

12 Dumbbell snatches 45/25 (50/35) (15 alt 50+/35+) (KB snatch option 12 35+/26+)

70m Farmers carry (Match DB weight with other DB or KB)

The goal for today is to work on high skill movements like olympic lifts and gymnastics under a little bit of metabolic stress. Over the past couple of weeks I have intentionally programmed some lower intensity workouts aimed at keeping your heart rate in the 65-75% range. In terms of intensity, thats what I have aimed for today. This will allow you to tap into the longer aerobic domain, and also allow you to focus on movement quality on some important movements. Don’t be fooled because I am using more “traditional” CrossFit movements today, I do not want you laying on the ground at the end! Let’s try to keep today nice and chiiiiiiiiillllll 😎 .

Mindful Moving

1- 3 Clean and jerks 115/75 (135/95) (Beef ~75% of 1 rep max)

2- 10 Double unders (20) (50)

-:90s of rest-

1- 4 Power cleans 115/75 (135/95) (Beef ~75% of 1 rep max)

2- :40s Cals any machine

-:90s of rest-

1- 5 Front squats 115/75 (135/95) (Beef same weight as power cleans)

2- 12 Hanging knee raises (6 T2B) (10 toes to bar) (14 toes to bar)

Todays workout is focused on challenging your muscular endurance. You will be working with bigger sets and will need to take strategic breaks (except for the beef KB swings) in order to manage your grip fatigue and be able to keep a solid pace on the cardio. When it comes to breaking movements you also want to think about how your rep choices will affect your ability to move to the next movement, or in the case of todays workout, affect your cardio pace. Even though you may be able to rip off a big set of kettlebell swings, it might slow your box jump over pace, or slow you down on the cardio. If your intention is to work on larger kettlebell swing sets then going bigger on those would be the move for you, but if overall optimal pacing is your goal, then aim to be strategic with how you break things up.

600m run (Adv 800m)

25 Russian Kb swings 53/35 (70/44) (Beef 30 Unbroken 70/53)

25 Down ups (Burpees) (30)

403m Run (603)

20 Russian Kb swings (Beef 25 Unbroken)

20 Down ups (Burpees) (Beef 25)

403m run

15 Russian Kb swings (Beef 20 Unbroken)

15 Down ups (Beef 20)

200m Run

Todays workout is aimed at working at improving barbell cycling ability. With the simplicity of the core work and the cardio, you can really focus on improving your barbell cycling ability while under some fatigue. The small amount of rest will not allow you to make a full recovery round to round, but it will allow you to push the intensity a little more than usual. Also you may have noticed there is no bar based core work (think hanging knee raises and toes to bar). This was intentional on my part because while bar based core work is great, it doesn’t target the hip flexors/anterior core as directly as the core work in todays workout. Even though working on the gymnastics is always great, working on the musculature involved in a different fashion can also be beneficial. 

7 squat cleans 75/55 (95/65) (115/75 or Squat snatch 95/65) (135/95 or Squat snatch 115/75)

12 (total) Single leg V ups (Adv 10 Tuck ups) (Beef 10 V ups)

200m run or machine equivalent

-:30s rest between rounds-