CrossFit South Brooklyn

Established 2007

Front Squat | WOD 6.15.16

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Front Squat

Fitness
3 x 5 Linear Progression

Start light enough to add weigh throughout the cycle.

Performance
3 x 8

We’ll do sets of 8 again next week, so leave room to go up.

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Exposure 1 of 8
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For Time:
20 Deadlifts 225/155
50 Double-Unders
15 Deadlifts 225/155
75 Double-Unders
10 Deadifts 225/155
100 Double-Unders
5 Deadlifts 225/155

The Deadlift weight should be medium heavy for you and unbroken on the fast end. Scale so that they can be completed in at most 2-3 sets. The sub for Double-Unders  is 20-30-40 attempts or 3x singles.

Post time and Rx to comments.

As anyone who’s ever attempted a Squat will tell you, ankle mobility is important! Read on to add a new stretch to your repertoire! | All photos by Thomas H.

Ankle Mobilization with a Band and Kettlebell

By David Osorio

Here’s a great little ankle mobilization you can set up with a band and kettlebell that is highly efficient and ergonomic. Set up a green jump stretch band low on the upright of a rack, and loop the other end around the joint line on the front of your ankle.

That means the “corner” where your foot and ankle meet, not on the front of your tibia (shin bone). Once you’ve got the band where you want it, crawl out so that the angle of the band is a continuation of your foot line. That means your toes, your heel, and the band should all form a straight line when viewed from above.

Grab your kettlebell and place it on your knee to introduce a little more compression into the system. The compression causes the ankle joint to close in the direction you want it to.

Finally, you can hook your back foot over the band so that it creates a slight downward vector in the band, which will help optimize the joint distraction.

A few more things: Wearing shoes often makes this easier, because they prevent your foot from sliding on the floor; however, make sure to maintain an “active” foot, meaning you should feel like your toes are grabbing the floor and you’re working to maintain or create an arch in your foot.

You can camp out here for as long as you’d like. I would recommend a minimum of 2 to 3 minutes per side. This is also great for people who have “creaky” ankles that often feel stiff and sore. Finally, here’s Ryan DeBell talking about ankle mobilization in a little more detail. Try it out before today’s class!

Comments

  1. 6am with NickDowell

    FSQ – 205x8x3 – this felt pretty good. Definitely better than the 8s a few weeks ago and I'm still not 100% recovered from crush week.

    Metcon – 5:31 Rx'd

    Last set of DUs was rough. Did a set of 30 and then it was 10s and 15s the rest of the way.

  2. 6a with NickDowell

    Front Squats with Dan and Michael. Dan became our official spiritual guru this morning and told Michael and I what weights we were doing. See the Guru for more info and words of wisdom (as needed)

    WOD 9:12 Rx
    This is a double under workout! The last rounds of double unders were split up by big set to start followed by small sets 10-15.
    DLs: 20, 9-6, 6-4, 5

  3. 7 AM with NickDowell

    HBBSQ 160x8x3. I was surprised at how heavy this felt. On the other hand, I made sure to hit bottom every time.

    WOD 10:20 Rx (!!!!!!) I feel like I haven't been able to put "Rx" after my name in FOREVER!

  4. As someone with limited ankle mobility (I mean, mobility in general isn't my strong suit, but ankles in particular), I'm a big fan of that banded ankle distraction we sometimes do in A/R. This looks like another good variant for me to try and get in early to do on squat days. Thanks, DO!

    7 a.m. w/Nick & McDowell.

    FSQ: 165x8x3. Slow. Creaky after crush week. Backed off a little bit from what I did last cycle to give myself more runway to go up in weight in later weeks.

    Metcon: 11:01 @ 185#, s/u's and attempts. "Bleh" is an apt description here.

    Final shameless self-promotion for awhile (promise!): this political podcast I started landed a pretty wild interview with the Transhumanist Party candidate for president, who is actually drawing enough interest that the libertarians vetted him as a potential VP pick. He was… a little scary? But he answered our questions! Here's the episode on SoundCloud, and you can now subscribe to us on iTunes so I don't keep bugging you in the blog comments about listening!

  5. 6am with Nick and McD

    Front squat at 155#. Happy with this being my "nice and easy" weight to start the cycle.

    Metcon: 175# DL and so many double unders. I think I stopped at about 80 DU in the last round because everyone else was so far done and I just needed to finish it up. 11:55 or something. A fun one though!

  7. 7 am with Nick and McDowell
    I dunno…we did just a little run – corner to corner – and my hamstring seized up. Mentioned it to Nick with McDowell in proximity and they still had their 6 am hats on and Nick basically said, "Rub some dirt in it and walk it off Campbell." By the time we got to the WOD he was in full 7 am mode and suggested I go lighter to not aggravate it. So 103#, found a jump rope I liked for a change and made most of my DUAs. 11:15. I'm just so out of gas these days – blah.
    FS 3×8 at 75#. This might have been too light but it puts me on a good path for front squat sets at 125 by the end of this cycle.
    Thanks for the ankle mobility suggestions DO – made me realize I have a body part that never hurts – my ankles!!!

  8. 9:30AM session. decided to jump in on squats with group class so as to maximize my productivity and not dilly-dally forever alone…

    Heat Up: eccentric knee flexion, prone passthru, hollow rocks, lunge twists, xover symmetry

    quick WU: 3 rds:
    5 ea lateral box step up 24"
    8 ea kb high pull 12kg

    LBBS:
    45×5, 75×5, 95×4, 115×3
    125x5x4
    *Tweaked my knee Sat. It's been feeling funky but not painful since then, so figured some light, controlled squats would be good. Thought of this as a 2-counts-down tempo. Perfect weight.
    **I have not been squatting with both legs with a barbell much in the past 8 weeks. This felt AMAZING. Feel very balanced and solid. I think I'm ready to start coming back to regular squats the cycle, while keeping up some of my unilateral work.

    One arm DB press:
    30x9x3

    Conditioning…
    21-15-9 reps for time:
    Ghd sit up
    Hip extension
    Pull-ups
    Calorie row

    Time: 12:39
    -slightly out of butterfly practice, it seems. hands readjusting.
    -this was perfect volume for today

    20 min cooldown stretch:
    big toe flexor!, calves, adductor, hip ext rot, hip flexors

  9. Going to try doing mostly group classes for this cycle.

    12pm with MeLo and Arturo.

    Roxanne warmup- lol this was fun and actually I found myself looking forward to the burpees!!! And I was surprised that I was able to do them with my toe so yay!!

    Front Squat
    45 x 10, 95 x 5, 135 x 4, 150 x 2, 165 x 8 x 2, 165 x 7, F…..Oooooops!!!!

    I'm going to blame this on my lack of shoes. I'll try this weight again next week, hopefully with shoes on!! It's also going to be interesting getting used to less rest between sets, but in a good way.

    WOD- 155#/20" box
    20 x DL
    20 x step-ups
    15 x DL
    30 x step-ups
    10 x DL
    40 x step-ups
    5 x DL

    5:24

    Thanks Melissa for the scaling option.

    Cash out
    Tabata planks

  10. Su: 3.5 miles @ medium+ + spin
    Mon DIY lifting: incline db bench 60#e x 12 x3 + barbell rows 95x12x2, 105×12. Bench was hard, row not bad at all.
    Tuesday am: 2mi warmup, 3 hard miles, 1 mile cool down
    Tuesday pm: 5 easy miles

    Felt really fried this morning and skipped class. Decided to make it up at my third home away from home, the corporate gym…

    Front squat 235x8x3. This was a lot harder than I wanted it to be. Fried, I guess.

    WOD started well enough at a conservative 155, doubles were smooth intentional sets of 25… until my back "pop"ped in the 2nd round of deads. ???I think it'll feel fine tomorrow, but I calied it a day. Going to do something upper body focused instead of oly lifting tomorrow.

  11. 8am with Nick

    Front squat 185 x 3 x 8
    Felt heavy but moved smooth and quick. Definitely have a 10lb jump in me for next week.

    Did the WOD @ 185 cause my back was still sore AF from testing our 1rm last week.
    Finished in 7:26
    Broke the double unders deliberately: 50, 40/35, 35/35/30 and no trips!

  13. Front squats: 105 8×3 Ro said last two reps were grindy– and they were! But I was low enough– hoping it's due to my lack of seep, etc

    WOD: 125#, full volume double unders!! Woo woo!! 11:10
    Felt good about the weight and so proud to do all DUs- wish I could have pushed through cardiovascularly and rested less. Good for the lungs 🙂

  14. FSQT @115#x8x3

    WOD in 9:17 @155# and 25/50 DUs, then full volume on the rest

    DLs: 12-8, 8-7, 5-5, 5
    I'm not as good at cycling DLs at 155 as I used to be….should've been able to do the 10 unbroken and not taken so much rest.

    DUs are hit or miss with me so I asked Melo for timeframes to do as many DUs as possible rather than scaling volume. The first round of DUs is always terrible for me and today was no different. Took 1.5 minutes to do 25 DUs!!!! Then I did the full 75 and 100 in a reasonable timeframe. Wish I had stuck out that first set!

  15. Group class action today! Allergies got me like woah. Have basically been sleeping since Sunday (for those who got a phone call/saw a Facebook post from my worried mother, I am forever sorry) Decided the only way I would be motivated to gettting some fitness in was alongside the 4:30 crew

    FSQ: 160# 3×5
    Haven't done any squatting since last Monday. Wanted to find a heavy weight where I could maintain position. Right knee felt prettayyy good! Believe it or not, I was actually focusing on pushing my knees out slightly (less). I have the tendency to shove my knees out very aggressively, and I'm wondering if this is torquing the joint a bit too much under load. Only a theory, especially because my right ankle is über mobile. I've got basically no ligaments up in that joint all thanks to field sports.

    WOD: 5:00 RX
    Love me some deads and dubs. Deads unbroken. Dubs were kinda shaky.

    Did a little light snatching to stay tuned in since I've been backing off a lot recently.

    Cash out: wings, chocolate fudge bars, and a relaxing bike ride with my roomie Trev!

  16. I would also like to note that I appreciate @David Osorio has decided to anchor his rogue band on the talus and below the tibia #ehem ; )

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