Workout of the Day:
Snatch
Use 10-15 minutes to find your new one-rep max
and then,
“The Chief”
Max rounds in three minutes of:
135/95 lb. Power Cleans x 3
Push-Ups x 6
Squats x 9
Rest one minute. Repeat for a total of five cycles.
How To Get A Better Rack
Written by Calvin Sun
The rack position is the source of much pain and frustration for many athletes. The inability to get into a good rack position affects your ability to effectively press, push-press, or jerk a barbell overhead. You’ll also be far less effective in your front squats and, of course, your cleans. This is usually caused by some tight muscles throughout your upper body such as the latissimus dorsi, teres major, posterior deltoid, and triceps. The wrist flexors are also a common culprit. I highly recommend reading Kelly Starrett’s articles on stretching the lats and triceps. Also, read Greg Everett’s “Olympic Weightlifting: A Complete Guide for Athletes & Coaches” for some good ideas on how to stretch the wrists, or just ask a coach who has read these. Today, our focus will be on the teres major and posterior deltoid. Don’t get too caught up in the anatomy as our primary focus is to mobilize the restricted range of motion. Here’s a stretch that’s sure to improve your rack position.
1. Start with a length of PVC pipe, grip it in your left hand with your thumb pointed downward.
2. The PVC should rest on the outside of your left arm, grip the lower portion with your right hand.
3. Keep your left elbow pointed forward as if you were in a rack position. Keep your shoulder back and down.
4. Using the back of your left arm as a pivot, pull the PVC pipe up with your right hand to externally rotate your upper arm.
5. You should feel a stretch in the back of your shoulder and/or the back of your armpit.
Once you are in a stretched position, implement contract-relax techniques to make this stretch even more effective. Contract for 5 seconds by internally rotating your left arm as if you were arm wrestling. Relax for 10 seconds but keep tension by continuing to apply tension with your right arm. Five cycles of 5 seconds on and 10 seconds off is the standard prescription.
Don’t forget to switch sides and stretch your right side as well. Trust me, you don’t want a lopsided rack. In addition to this stretch and the few I mentioned earlier, make sure you are also working towards increasing your mobility in your thoracic spine. T-spine mobility is also essential to a pain-free rack position, read more in my previous post here. Still not sure how to perform this stretch? Simply ask one of your coaches.
Tags: Coaching Cues, Prehab, Rest and Recovery
Good stuff, Calvin. I need to work on this stretch. Thank you.
I’ve been focusing on mobility in my hips and shoulders for the past 6 months and I wanted to share a breakthrough I had last night. This is the only blog I read/post to which would appreciate it so I hope you guys won’t mind me sharing. Last night I pressed overhead as part of my workout and it was the first time since I started working the mobility I felt solid and locked in at the top.
I’ve loosened up my internal rotators and strengthened up my scapular retractors enough to where I could get solidly overhead and have a good active shoulder. It felt so good, solid and strong and powerful. Not that I was pressing any great weight, but it was still a really nice achievement. I’m sure as I progress the weight I’ll be able to handle more than before because of being in the right position and having the correct/enough ROM. Psyched!
Did this one a few weeks ago in CT , got 25 rounds.
Today. Front squat 3×5 185-205-215 took it easy
squat 1×20 235 pr
Getting bummed that I’m missing some great workouts! Can’t wait until I feel a 100%! I can appreciate now the agravation that people who are nursing an injury go through. Very limiting and frustrrating! Saw my pops compete this weekend in the crossfit throwdown and he was holding 6th place out of 15. His age category was 42 and above, he is 61. Very cool!
Would hate to get a lopsided rack…
I had a lopsided rack today, because I am an idiot and forgot to put a ten on one side. Boy was that and interesting clean.
Ha POS! That has happened to me before. I kept cleaning it to the right side throughout the entire workout and noticed the mistake when I was done.
[...] How To Get a Better Rack by Calvin Sun (of CrossFit Invictus) [...]
First time for me on “The Chief.” The last round was pretty tough for me. Got 5 rounds each time (25 total).
Nice work Pat! Good to hear you are making progress on your mobility. My clients here have been making great gains in their performance simply by becoming more efficient athletes.
POS, what can I say other than I told you so. Lopsided racks are bad news.
Cheers Calvin!
Thank you SO much for posting this. I’ve been an avid CF’er for just over a year now (doing mainpage for 8 months) and the rack position has been the bane of my existance. At first I thought it was just technique, and kind of pushed the issue on the backburner since I wasn’t doing cleans or front squats THAT often. Lately though, I’ve been considering doing a hybrid program of CF that includes Oly lifting. Well, I sure as heck can’t be seriously Oly lifting if I can’t properly rack.
I’ve been researching a ton in the past week about this, and have been doing a lot of thoracic mobility exercises (I have an hunched t-spine, which I’ve heard can be an issue with racking) and I finally found this webpage that can help address some of the other muscule ROM issues.
thank you so much!
[...] Peppers from Catalyst Athletics Do Running Shoe Types Reduce Injury?… from dr mc schraefel How To Get A Better Rack, by Calvin Sun of CrossFit [...]