CrossFit South Brooklyn

Established 2007

Pause Front Squat

Posted on

Work up to a heavy double on the Front Squat with a :02 pause at the bottom of each rep.
Use this as an opportunity to work on your position in the hole. Cap it around 85% of your 1RM

Before front squatting today we’ll review a mobilization sequence using the band and an upright to get your ankles and shoulders ready for Front Squats, Cleans and Thrusters. You’ll be seeing traditional Front Squats every Thursday for the next 6 weeks. The new training cycle starts on Wednesday.

Post loads to comments.
_____________________

5 Rounds for NFT of:
3-6 Pistols each leg
18 Kettlebell Swings

Pistol Scale:
A: Rx’d
B: Holding onto an upright for support
C: Elevating the active foot on a box


Coaches Josh and McDowell do a Russian Kettlebell Swing and Chest To Bar Pull-Up Couplet

T-shirts, Hoodies and our new Blue V-Neck are now in stock at the gym!

Open Workout 13.2 at CFSBK

As many of you know, we’ll be hosting the live announcement, demo (with two games level athletes) and after party for Workout 13.2 of the 2013 CrossFit Open. We’re incredibly honored and excited to be putting on this event with CrossFit HQ and our neighbors at Littlefield NYC. CFHQ will be doing a live half hour broadcast of the event straight from the gym and afterwards we’ll have the afterparty at LF. Color us stoked! Please RSVP before it the event sells out, we started at 375 tickets and they’re going FAST.

Open Workout 13.2 
March 13, 2013, 5 p.m. PT (8 p.m. ET)
CrossFit South Brooklyn
Brooklyn, N.Y.


RSVP for this event here

Dude, Where’s My 1RM?

By Coach Jeremy

Everyone has had the experience:  it’s the 2nd attempt of a Crossfit total or your working up to a new 1RM on singles day, you load up the bar with a weight equal to you your existing 1RM, you get psyched up, unrack the bar, go into the hole, and……nothing.  It doesn’t come back up.  Why?  Did you get weaker?  Are you doing something wrong?  Why can’t you do what you’ve already done?

Think of a 1RM not so much as a measure of strength capacity but as an act of strength performance.  Veteran lifters will speak of owning a weight versus hitting a weight.  Owning a weight means that you can get under a bar just about anytime you want and move that weight (assuming a proper warm-up and having not done back-to-back hero WOD’s that week).  Hitting a weight is a much less reproducible feat.  It means that on a day where you felt good, were well rested, timed your eating properly, had your weight belt sitting just right, heavenly bodies were aligned properly, and you managed not to fuck anything up,  you were able to squeeze out a higher weight than ever before. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that a weight that you have only hit isn’t something that you can just do on command.  It’s an act of strength and will; repeating it doesn’t just happen.  No sprinter expects to hit a PR every time they run a given distance, not in competition and especially not in training.  There is no reason to just assume that every time you get under a barbell you’re going to PR.

We should also consider that not every one’s best event in lifting is the 1RM.  Consider again, sprinting.  All sprinters are fast, that’s why they are sprinters.  However sprinters have different specialties, some are better in a 60m dash, others are better at the quarter mile.  If we took a random group of sprinters and tested their best times at a series of distances, say 60m, 100m, 200m, and 400m, we would probably find that the rankings would look very similar across the events: the faster runners would tend to do well at all of them.  However, you would also expect to see some shuffling of rankings based upon the individual strengths of the sprinters.  Some are better at accelerating, some run the turns well, some finish well, etc. To bring this back to lifting, imagine a group of powerlifters from the same weight class.  If you tested their 1RM, 3RM, and 5RM squat you would see something very similar:  The strongest lifters would tend to be at the the top of each ranking, however you would also see some move up or down the leader board as the reps changed based upon their individual characteristics.  This is relevant to us because the better you are at an event, the 3RM versus the 1RM for instance, the more likely you are able to reproduce your best effort.  We should test our strength at 3RM’s and 5RM’s for precisely the same reason that Track and Field tests more than just the 100m dash as a measure of speed.

Weighlifting, Powerlifting and Crossfit Total’s are all tests of 1RM. This isn’t because 1RM’s are magical, it’s just that they are easier to quantify, they are the highest weights (and everyone wants to see big weights), so they lend themselves to being tested. All this being said there is certainly nothing wrong with going after 1RM’s and when game day comes, you want to break some records. Set yourself up for success by working hard at a good program, resting up in the days leading to the event and getting your head inside your lift when you get under the bar.  Once the day’s lifting is over, let it go.  A sprinter isn’t suddenly slow on the day they don’t PR; you’re not weak on the day you don’t either.  Allow for the fact that not everyday you try to PR is going to be the perfect day to demonstrate that amount of strength.

_____________________
Which two CrossFit athletes are you hoping show up to face off at CFSBK?

Comments

  4. Julie Foucher! Luv huh.

    Today was Expose Stella's Mobility Issues day. Seriously, I thought maybe I'd be able to get an unassisted pistol on one side at least. Hahahahahaha! When you can't straighten your leg out, not so much.

    120# on the front squats. Yup…I still hate front squats.

  6. Julie Foucher and Iceland Annie.

    A belated thank you for an amazing experience training and competing in CRASH-Bs. I mean, who gets to train with an Olympic rower, get last-minute coaching from another Olympian (who claims that "the 2000m shouldn't be painful; only the last 250 meters should hurt" — um, ok) and practice the night before at the Harvard boathouse? Crazy, wonderful opportunity lead by dedicated coach Nick.

    I loved getting to know my teammates, and so appreciate their support and dedication. And I owe Ryan big time for coxing for me. He calmly encouraged me and kept me on pace, and then opened up with full-on Nick Petersen-inspired screaming in the last 250 to bring me home. I had been disappointed in my last test (9:00) and really wanted to come in faster at the race. Finished in 8:34.9 🙂

  7. 6am with Jess. Pause front squats: 45×5, 95×5, 135×3, 185x3x2. Focused on maintaining a good position at the bottom. Weight moved smoothly. Could have gone heavier.

    Accessory work with 4 pistols per leg each round and 20KG kettlebell. I have the strength for pistols, but not the flexibility. If I'm not holding on to a support I tumble over backward. Forgot a trick I've used previously which is to hold a light weight dumbbell to counter balance at the bottom of the pistol. Next time.

  12. Tough to narrow it down to just two pecs picks for the Open event. Graham Holmberg, Ben Smith, Mikko, Pat Barber, Spealler would all be great.

    Glad Janelle said Elizabeth Akinwale. Annie T, Kristan, Annie S would be great to watch, too.

  18. I'm predicting two women since week one is two men.

    For women: I agree with Janelle – Kristin Clever and Elisabeth Akinwale are totally kickass.

    And for men: Blair Morrison. And Blair Morrison. And maybe, if he can make it, Blair Morrison.

    I don't even really give a hoot if he even does anything – he can just stand there, for all I care. I just want to look at him. I'm shameless.

  19. Bench
    225×5
    245×5
    265×5
    300×1
    340×1 (PR)

    All-time best. Stuck for just a moment and powered through

    Shrug
    500x10x3

    Double Tabata Alternating Dips/25# DB Curls
    Dips: 24-8 Curls 12-5

  23. Making up for the week –

    I am flat out mad at my performance make-up — another hard lesson of ALWAYS going in with a plan. But after the crash B's at least the rowing was much better.

    Benching again was a beautiful thing – I am really excited we are going to be seeing more of it.

    The front squats with a pause were feeling really good considering I have not seriously lift in awhile — All in all good to be under a bar!!

  25. 1. I'm very thankful for @Fox post as I was on the same exact path.
    2. Use this as an opportunity to "work on your position in the hole" really made my day. Yes I am a 13 year old boy.
    3. Pretty much utterly failed the challenge and such due to my being sick and now mum being admitted to the hospital a few days ago, and is still there, with a "mystery" illness. I have been fueled by sugar and inappropriately timed espresso, booze and banh mi.

    Made it in last night and it was exactly what I needed. I fully admit that I cheated and did the last of a round of 5 push press instead of strict on my DB presses and felt so guilty that I did an entire extra round to punish myself. A three top on a rack for BP we busted it out as perfectly as a NASCAR pit crew. Love when that happens. Thanks again coaches for letting me label the hole thingies on the travel rack thing. Is there a legit name for either of those?

  26. Also, my computer was loading slowly, so I saw the "Swole Patrol" caption for Noah's picture before I saw that it was just our plain CFSBK shirt, except blue, and I got a little too excited that we were getting shirts with that line ON THEM.

    Never mind that unless worn with the intent of being tongue-in-cheek,, that slogan would elevate the wearer to levels of Jersey Shore (show, not locale) d-baggery. For a moment, I was stoked.

  31. Snatch-Work up to a heavy single
    198
    209×2(missed my first one here…eeeesh)
    220(felt fast and strong)
    225
    237.5(PR) Pull felt great. Got down in the hole super fast and nailed it.

    WOD
    FS-285# Pausex2

  35. Yeah, good question, where is my 1RM? No where near here that's for sure….

    Squat: 225×5, 265×5, 285×5, 305×3, 285×5
    The last set was the best, always a good sign. More snap and more bounce out of the bottom. Digging the new "program." I may call Israel ladders. So ridiculous that the top set was as difficult as it was. I lost 5 pound off my waist and 50 pounds off my squat. Just wrong.

    Bench:
    45×10
    135×5
    165×5
    180x3x2
    195x2x3
    205x2x2
    150×12
    A benching marathon.

    That took two hours, so that was that. Not pleased that I've skipped conditioning two workouts in a row.

    I've had a crush on Kate Hogan for a couple of years so I'd have say her vs. whoever.

  36. PM strength:

    Squat 45×5 95×5 135×4 185×3 225×2 270×5,5,4
    Bench 45×5 95×4 135×3 165×2 182.5x5x3
    Chins 35×5,4,3 BWx10

    JUST missed squattig 270x5x3, but still pretty psyched considering that's 15# over my pre-strength 1RM. Tried a belt while benching for the hell of it, and its voodoo made the weight feel super easy today. Chins were a struggle but considering I'm up 10 pounds I'll take it. Threw in a set at body weight afterward just to see.

×