GCS Athlete Kat Dalecki demonstrating strict Chest to Bar Pull Ups
The 2013 CrossFit Open is now finished. You may have made it to this next level…now it gets real! So how do you prepare for this event? Is this the main game for you or are you a serious contender for the Games?
Over the next 5 weeks, I intend on helping you prepare your body to be the best it can be for your next major competition…The CrossFit Regional Competition.
13.4 is here – clean and jerk (C+J) and toes to bar (TTB) ladder – 7mins AMRAP.
Here are my initial thoughts, tips, prep and strategies.
Overall impressions:
This is a like a 1500m race – feels like forever for slugs like me but for the top guys, this will be a sprint where every dropped bar, every broken toes to bar, and even the transition time will make a difference.
I think the Toes to Bar will be a major difference at the top end…this is assuming the top end athletes find 135/95lbs relatively easy.
Grip endurance is key – consider using a 15kg bar…
Clean and jerk at 135lbs/95lbs
Heavy enough for me but will it be heavy enough for those at the top? It is Grace weight which means that if up have a 1:30 grace, you should hit that by 2:30-3:00 (3+6+9+12). That means you have the round of 15 and 18 to get to in the final 4-4:30mins.
To hook grip or not? I will be. My grip is weak so the TTB will get me so I will need all the help I can get in getting that bar up It may even be worthwhile considering using the 15kg bar to give your hands a different grip range…
Lastly, the longer you can pump out the multiple reps, the better.
Prep:
Shoulders:make sure your shoulders at the back are freed up so you can get into front rack efficiently. Stretch out your median, ulnar and radial nerves. Make sure your lats, pecs, serratus anterior and external obliques are freed up so you can lock out overhead and avoid a no-rep!
Neck and Back:Please keep your back and neck flat and still in your cleans. This will help prevent the repetitive strain soreness I will no doubt be dealing with after Easter. Keeping your back straight will be hard because TTB encourages flexion in your spine. If your face is parallel to the wall in your setup for cleans, IT IS A WEAK POSITION. Keep the distance from your chin to your sternum the same height. If you let your chin poke out, you will put the anterior muscles in a position that is hard to generate force from.
Hips and knees: – most people can power clean this weight – so while you won’t go into a full squat, make sure your hips are freed up. In your power clean catch position, let the hips take the weight into the back of the hip. This will help spare your hip flexors in the TTB.
Forearms/arms: – stretch them out. It is too late to develop your grip strength :-/ I suggest you push jerk as the top guys will be pushing 60+ reps of of each exercise and us weaker “enthusiasts” will need all the help we can get. A 15kg bar has a different grip size which may be useful.
Toes To Bar:
Like the box jumps, this may be where the top athletes come undone. The longer you can maintain unbroken reps, the better.
Make sure, especially if you are being filmed, that you meet the standards.
Prep:
- Shoulders:The prep for the C+J should be good. Get some kips in to free the shoulders up but the best TTB don’t swing around too much – Jessica Coughlan’s 21, 21, 11-10 unbroken in last year’s regionals is still fresh in my memory!
- Neck and Back:Try to keep your head aligned and watch for excessive lumbar extension if you have a sore back. Hollow rocks, Wall walks etc will activate the positions you should hit.
- Hips and knees:The warm up for cleans should be good enough. Make sure you can maximise the hips flexion component as this will spare your back from repeated flexion and extension…and thus soreness!
- Forearms/arms: Grip will be difficult to maintain. Between rounds, move those fingers and work those callouses
Good luck everyone. I am about to do it in about 90mins time so if I have any further insights, I will pass them on
So, the CrossFit open WOD 13.3 is actually the same as CrossFit Open WOD 12.4 – in other words, you get a chance to see if you have gotten any better!
I have outlined some of my initial impressions and ideas concerning advice for the elite athletes and “enthusiasts” (aka the rest of the world). Otherwise, please take care and if you are new to CrossFit, find someone to help you sit on the toilet!
In case you don’t know what 13.3 is…
As Many Repetitions/Rounds (!) As Possible in 12 minutes of:
Whether you love or hate Crossfit, it is here to stay. I personally LOVE Crossfit. I wrote a blog post in April last year about Crossfit and why injuries occur – you can read it here. I have been consulting with high level and the general Crossfit population for well over a year now. This blog post is about the common issues that I see and how to reduce the injury rate in Crossfit…
Crossfit Effects (CFX) is where I started my Crossfit journey. Mick Shaw and his coaches have been a fantastic resource and the friends I have made there have meant that Crossfit is one of the longest things that I have stuck with for quite some time – I try to go 5-6 times per week.
Because I sold my business, I needed to find rooms to rent. Unfortunately, CFX is within the area that I cannot work in under the terms of the sale contract – and fair enough too. I have been negotiating with some different places where I can rent a room and continue to see my patients. Because of this, I will be leaving CFX to train where I work (the subject of another blog – this blog is about CFX).
The purpose of this blog post is to clearly outline that I am leaving CFX on good terms, to acknowledge how much it has changed my life and to encourage others who want to try Crossfit to try it at CFX.
Jason Haywood from Crossfit BodyM doing a Pistol at CFX
The humble single leg squat. Feared and revered. Done by so many people around the world as a test of strength and a strength exercise. I have been teaching my patients variations of this for years – it is such a good exercise…but it isn’t for everyone.
The aims of this blog post are to:
1. Highlight the benefits of doing a single leg squat (but referred to as pistols from here on in)
2. Common pitfalls in doing this exercise
3. Safe progressions you can use so you can pistol with the best of them!
The Australian Crossfit Regional Games – where the top athletes from the Crossfit Open come together and compete to see which 3 men, 3 women and 3 teams go on to represent Australia and New Zealand in the Crossfit Games competing for a prize pool of over USD$1,000,000. Are you excited? I certainly was and still am! I had the privilege of being a physiotherapist at the “Regionals” with John Daher (Kogarah Physiotherapy and Sports Clinic), Mark Collins (Canton Beach Physiotherapy), Jess Ackad (Peak Health Services), and David Berg (Move Happy). There were also massage therapists and a chiropractor there as well.
I thought I would put my thoughts down to highlight some of the lessons I learned from dealing with some very elite athletes.
I have been doing Crossfit for 4 months now and I have had my fair share of niggles since commencing training. I have thought about the different reasons as to why I am sore or getting injured. Also, “out there”, there is a perception that Crossfit leads to a high rate of injuries – so I thought about these too!
As soon as babies can stand, they start to learn how to squat. I remember my kids standing and then squatting so they don’t topple over. Babies have fantastic flexibility and their brain is eager to learn new motor patterns…where did it all go wrong for most people?
This post is for Mark Collins – A physio in Toukley, Canton beach Physiotherapy. Mark is a Crossfit enthusiast…just like me!
Ring Dips – What are they?
Do you remember the old tricep dips that you did against your desk or chair? Or even dips on a stand at the gym? Ring dips are like that only better.
From a physiotherapy point of view, Ring Dips are superior because they require you to control your shoulder and use more muscles to control your whole body. But with complexity comes risk. Because the rings move, you can strain your shoulders more easily. But because the rings move, you can also protect your shoulders compared to the standard tricep dip.
This girl looks like she is in danger of a shoulder injury
Why Physios are wary of Tricep Dips (including Ring Dips)
Basically it is human nature to push yourself. If you have psyched yourself up to even do exercise, you are likely to try hard at doing it, right? What happens when you fatigue is that you start doing movements that are not optimal. With Dips, the most common problem is round the shoulders and then allow the humeral head to translate in the socket…in other words, the arm bone slides forward when it should stay still. This causes a lot of strain on your cartilage (labrum), the biceps tendon and the rotator cuff. Keep doing dips the wrong way and it will start to hurt.
There are quite a number of ways that you can try to keep your shoulder joint in it’s socket – I tell my patients to either “create space” in the shoulder – like injecting it with helium…this tricks the brain into using your muscles differently. The other is to feel it lock into the back of the socket – but be careful as you can overdo it too. The best is to get someone like your physio or a gymnastics-trained trainer to help you.
Using a Resistance Band is a great way to protect your shoulders
What If I Can’t Do One??!!
Like pullups, you can use a resistance band to help you keep good form and develop the strength you need to go on to do them unassisted. Just tie the band to one ring, hold the other end in your hand and then jump and kneel onto the band and you are good to go!
What do Pullups + Ring Dips Equal?
Once you can master these 2 exercises, you can progress to muscle ups!
Get training!
I would like to hear your tricks and advice on how you do Ring Dips…just comment below. Thanks!
It may even be worthwhile considering using the 15kg bar to give your hands a different grip range…
