1-1-1-1-1
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“Isabel”
For time:
30 Snatches, 135/95
There is a 10 minute cap on this workout.
Post time and Rx to comments.
Andrew M and Rickke M
Strategies for Movement Development:
The Olympic Lifts, Part 1
The quick lifts are notorious for their perceived complexity and many athletes struggle developing capacity in the lifts. To the undeveloped lifter, the Olympic lifts look like a blur of movement and often feel even worse. Putting it all together seems overwhelming and often frustration and dismay ensue. The good news however is that with the right approach steady progress can be made. Below are three things to consider that I gurantee will make your training more productive.
Mindset
The Olympic Lifts (Snatch & Clean and Jerk) are different than the Power Lifts (Deadlift, Back Squat, Bench Press). While both are barbell exercises, the Olympic lifts are demonstrations of power expressed through a technically sensitive sequence movements and positions. Their inherent speed decreases your margin for error unlike the power lifts (misnomer anyone?) which are performed at slower tempos and are easier for your nervous system to process. We often harp on gradually increasing the loads on your power lifts to develop strength and many in our gym have been quite successful getting strong through gradual progressive increases of weight on the bar. We cannot however expect the same linear development of the olympic lifts. Your emphasis when approaching these lifts should be “as heavy as technically proficient today” instead of “a little heavier than last time”. If you’re feeling good and the positions are clicking, then by all means push a little that day, but if you’re missing positions and starting to deviate from good form, you need to pull back and work on the skill component of the lifts. This mindset helps produce productive training sessions where you can focus on getting better, not necessarily moving more weight. Instead, each time you train, focus on one to two aspects of the lift you want to develop that day. Even if you moved 10lbs less then the previous week but your rack delivery became a little smoother and quicker, you’ve moved in the right direction.
Positions
The biggest mistake I see athletes make is not taking the time to develop PERFECT starting and rack positions. The beauty of these is that they’re static positions you can take the time to work on and get right every time. There are a lot of things happening quickly in the Olympic lifts, but if you focus on achieving mature start and end positions a lot of the blurry stuff in the middle will naturally begin to work itself out.
Start position basics
Whether you’re starting from below the knee, the floor or anywhere else take the time to make sure your back is arched, your weight is balanced and the bar is touching your body with your arms hanging straight. On top of that, remember that you’re about to rapidly accelerate a barbell and you need to get TIGHT. This means taking the slack out of the barbell/you system by taking a big breath in and bracing your muscles. You upper back should feel engaged and your hamstrings should be on tension (like our “gillie” stretch). A simple way to think about this would be to imagine you’re about to jump as high as you possibly can from your start position. Another way to think about it is to imagine you’re going to throw the barbell as high as you can towards the ceiling. These mental cues often help people achieve the positions and tension they need to initiate an efficient pull (does this guy look soft?). Never, ever (ever) rush through your start position. If you’re soft or out of balance, the barbell’s trajectory will deviate from where it needs to be and the lift will be missed or botched. You simply cannot lift well from a bad start position, so take the time to learn exactly where you need to and get there every-single-time.
Rack Position
I don’t think there’s anything that makes me want to pull my hair out more than people who try and stand up a lift they haven’t properly racked on their shoulders or overhead. It’s understandable that this portion of the lift can be difficult for folks because of mobility restrictions or general apprehension about the movement but once you’ve got that barbell in the rack position, take the time to make it perfect before standing it up. If it’s so heavy that you can’t troubleshoot your position here you’ve jumped the gun and gone too heavy too fast. Developed lifters will need to troubleshoot minor errors and occasionally chase a lift but it’s never because they don’t know how to properly rack the barbell. Think of if this way, every time you do an Olympic lift there are three positions you need to get through.
A. Your Start Position: On tension, in balance and ready to explode
B. Your Rack Position: In the clean, this means the barbell is on your shoulders with your hands open and elbows as high as you can get them. In the Snatch, the barbell is locked out overhead above the middle of your foot. These can be received anywhere from a 1/4 to full squat.
C. Your Finish Position: Fully stood up with the barbell and you in balance and under control.
Often I see people want to go straight from A to C in an effort to simply complete the lift. If there is no distinct rack delivery position in the early stages of your learning progression you will NEVER (ever) move heavier weights well and you’ll never lift anywhere near as much as you’re truly capable of. The “B” should be a quick, distinct and crisp moment where the lift is won or lost.
Have you ever really pressed out a snatch overhead? YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG. Have you ever stood up a clean with your hands still clenched to the barbell and your elbows low? YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG. Stop doing it wrong, it’s really not that hard. Just fucking take the extra time to fix the position every time you get there before standing up. If you practice this consistently it eventually won’t be a problem because a smooth and complete rack delivery will be so intuitive to you you’ll get as mad as I am right now when you see people rushing through this portion. These concepts also hold true for Olympic lifts in conditioning workouts. Every rep should be executed with intention of hitting A-B-C-A-B-C-A-B-C… as consistently and correctly and quickly as possible. The newer you are, the longer you’re going to need to take at each position before moving to the next. If your WODs look like A-C-A-C-A-B²-C-a-q-C-A-W?-C you need to chill out out and slow down.
In conclusion, don’t stress about your numbers every time you train the O-Lifts, learn what a good start position feels like and never stand up a lift you haven’t finished racking. Easy peasy.
Okay, movie time
Califorina Strength on Cleaning and the Rack Position
Watch Cal Strength at Catalyst Athletics. Get used to seeing the A-B-C for each lift.
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Training CrossFit vs. CrossFit as Sport Chris Spealer
caleb ward is very fast
Final CFMNL OG Day
Snatch
95×3 115×2 140×1 150×1 160xF,1 170xF,F,F,F
This was so frustrating, got under all 4 attempts at 170, but I keep having this problem when going heavy where my right foot involuntarily jumps back (as if I were doing a split snatch) and it sends my knee toward the ground and I cant stay back on my heels for the catch. Gonna have to figure this out.
Clean and jerk
115×1 135×1 155×1 175×1 195×1 205xC,1 215×1(PR)
Not the prettiest rack position on the clean (almost didn't want to link it after today's awesome post), and I took the jerk for a little stroll, but only a couple steps and it locked out overhead pretty tight so I managed to keep it up.
Snatch Pulls
185x3x3
Snatch 135×15 every :30
I swear I didn't look at todays workout before I did this as a finisher. Now I need to try Isabel to see if I can finish it in under 10 minutes!
Yesterday
Open Gym at Practice CF in Troy OH
Snatch – worked to 170 (1 pound PR!). Missed 175 a few times by not staying on my heels long enough…out in front. Was planning on Isabel but instead joined some of the PCF heavy hitters for a partner WOD. I've still never done an Rx'd Elizabeth…
Today was a team WOD, Ohio State vs. Michigan. Apparently there is a big college football game today? People were very excited. The whole class of about 50 people broke up into 2 teams and did.
AMRAP 4 minutes (actually only 4 people from each team did this portion, and I was chosen)
GI Janes (46) Slow and steady.
Partner AMRAP 7 minutes
5 Hang Power Clean
10 Burpee
Partners trade rounds on the HPC and can split up the burpees. We did 5 and 5 burpees each time. Plus there was a sled push in here too for the team, we each only had to do this once, 180# for 50m. My barbell was loaded at 155 and the dude I partnered with, Weeks, used 245!!! Score was the burpees, we completed 5 rounds each so 100. In writing this now I realized that we did our math wrong and only put in for 50 burpees.
Partner AMRAP 3 minutes
5 T2B
24' Broad Jump
Partners trade rounds. Score is T2B
We completed 50.
I was on Team Michigan…Ohio State won. I believe our missing 50 burpees would have been a game changer.
Tomorrow – 650 miles of interstate for time. Looking forward to getting back to Brooklyn.
So glad to be back in the gym, got sick last Sunday and sat out most of crush week. Snatched up to 135, failed at 145. Taking it from the floor is new to me.
Did the WOD at 95#, finished in 6:10. Had no idea how heavy to go since I've never done snatches for time before. This was really easy for a WOD, and I was taking the time to make sure each rep was good. I did press one out towards the end, just sloppy rather than being too tired. Looking forward to tomorrow! Perhaps an incredibly long chipper partner WOD?
WOD at 80#. 8:07. Enjoyed this WOD. 8am class.
12pm Group Class
Snatch
95×3
115×3
135×2
145×1
155×1
165×1
175,M,M,M
Feeling disconnected having not snatched in a bit but overall fine with this.
"Isabel"
6:30 as Rx'd
Did this in sets of 5, felt really good about it. Was not sure how it would go and am excited to attempt it again in the future and hopefully get sub 6. Power Snatches felt really sharp! Thanks to Jake for keeping me on point through it.
Afterwards I played with the FAT BAR and did some hang power cleans and Deadlifts just for fun.
Noon with Josh and Arturo
Still trying to get that perfect form so will not increase in weight I am catching it at the bottom but I want to be faster.
Isabel@3:55 42lbs This movement felt so awkward since I'm used to catching it at the bottom so doing it in a quarter squat was really messing with my mind!
Power Snatch Doubles
176
198x(1+1)x4
Power Clean+2 Power Jerks
220
264x(1+1+1)x4
Front Squat
308x3x2
BackSquat
345x3x3
Great Spealler article about CrossFit the Sport vs CrossFit the Fitness Program. This was in the cue to write but I certainly couldn't have said it any better, and there's really not anything that I'd add. I fall into the second category and while I train to do my best at meets and local CF comps, I keep it in perspective and always strive to keep it fun.
Snatch work with Whit. Pulling from the floor threw a wrench into things. Worked up to 73# with a couple failed attempts at 78#. Didn't feel focused today.
WOD 3:40 at 53#. First time doing Isabel. Fun! Felt more like a metcon because of the light weight.
Made it in for a much-needed AR class today followed by noon with Josh and Arturo.
Power snatches with Erin. Worked up to a wobbly 78# then dropped back to 73# which actually felt good.
'Isabel' 4.03 at 53#. I was happy that I went into this having read the above article and also that Arturo said beforehand to look at it as 30 opportunities to improve this lift. This is exactly what I did and the whole experience has reinforced the idea that I promise myself to work at lower weights on the Olympic lift/s next cycle. Thanks for posting this article.
Did some erg drills and something happened to my knee and I only managed to row for nine mins out of the eighteen mins I was supposed to row because it hurt and I was scared. I did the voodoo thing, which helped. Hopefully it will feel better tomorrow.
After a lot of eating over the past couple days and then a good sleep-in today, made it in for noon class with Josh + Arturo.
Snatch w/ KMo
drills at 33#, 53# (full squat)
63# (full), 73# (full), 78# (power), 83# (power – pressed it out a bit), 83#, 83#. wanted to get some more practice in at that weight, since I still wasn't dropping fast enough and/or pushing it up enough. everything else before that felt very put together and tight though. have been needing to get full hip extension and i think i did that today!
Isabel at 58# in 3:58. This was fun and light after all that other work. Could've been faster, but took enough breaks to keep them as clean as possible. Great coaching to think of it as 30 opportunities to practice good mechanics. It's true — whatever habits we build during those high reps are going to cement themselves when we want to put more weight up!
Was inspiring and helpful to watch David out of the corner of my eye today. When you watch him, you really understand why they call it the world's fastest lift.
I've also been watching the London olympic games women's 58kg weightlifting for the past 20 minutes… wow.
Looking fwd to the last WOD of crush wk tmw!!
Great article on Olympic lifting strategy. I think I've read it before, but it's always a new day with me and Olympic lifts.
It's amazing how many times I need to re-hear things before they sink in, at least until I've internalized them. I should read this article again every time I work on snatching (except the part where it starts yelling at you).
Re: Crossfit training vs. sport, I think it's a good call to check in on what your goals are and keep things in perspective. I have had the "what are your fitness goals" conversation a few times over the last couple of years, and it's always been helpful in re-calibrating my approach and outlook. It has also been interesting for me to see how my answer has changed as I've learned more about my own abilities (and weaknesses) and my own perceptions of (or misconceptions about) fitness, health, strength, motherhood and beauty.
Fun day today. I cannot stress enough how much I have looked forward to Wednesdays and Saturdays this cycle… Please, please program more oly lifts for the next 6 weeks.
Hello CFSBK'ers – Happy Thanksgiving!
I rec'd a referral from an orthopedist for physical therapy on my shoulder. The problem is that the list he gave me is all Manhattan. Does anyone have a recommendation for PT in Brooklyn? This is shoulder related, something to help with my lack of mobility.
Thanks
-richard
Are you guys doing some crazy partner row marathon?
Who is the author of "Strategies for Movement Development:
The Olympic Lifts, Part 1"?