Workout of the Day:
“Fight Gone Bad”
Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 20/12 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 75/55 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, 24/18″ box (Reps)
Push-press, 75/55 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)
In this workout you move from each of five stations after one minute. The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. On call of “rotate,” the athletes must move to the next station immediately for best score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.
Does Your Brain Know What Your Ass Does For A Living?
Written by C.J. Martin
Charlette is pictured above. She is new to CrossFit. I already love her.
Charlette is a cynic. She comes in every day at lunch convinced that she cannot possibly do whatever task I have written on the whiteboard. But, she comes in anyway, and that is why I love her. Each day this week she has overcome some perceived barrier. Yesterday we did squats.
The picture above is of the bottom of Charlette’s squat at approximately 12:10 p.m. It was nearly as ugly as ugly can be. Now, Charlette is plenty strong enough to lower herself and stand back up, and I knew her flexibility could not possibly be so bad that she couldn’t drop her hips any lower. Charlette’s problem was that her brain had no idea what her ass does for a living. I decided to introduce them so they could work it out.
We started Charlette at the bottom of a squat to confirm that she had plenty of hamstring flexibility. I asked her to hold on to the squat rack so balance wasn’t an issue she would have to worry about. The hamstrings were good to go. Next we started walking up the pole hand-over-hand. This allowed Charlette to drive through her heels without fear of falling over. Then we worked our way back down whilst keeping her hands high.
On each descent, Charlette tried to rely less and less on her hands for balance. Eventually, her hard work paid off. Her brain was now good friends with her body’s most powerful asset – strong hip extensors. Check out Charlette’s squat at 12:45 p.m. – just 35 minutes after the photo at the top.
Success! We love you already Charlette. Keep up the good work!
Way to go Charlette! Now you know that there isn’t anything you wont’ be able to do as long as you put your mind to it. (By the way nothing wrong with a little cynicism, are you originally from NY?
) Keep up the great work you are an inspiration for others who think that they can’t but really can.
Yeah! That’s my girl!
I dared Charlette to come to Crossfit with me and her response was, “I’m not afraid of anything.” She calls me every afternoon to bitch at me for not warning her about the WOD, but keeps on going back for more!
Yesterday afternoon when she called me, I could hear the pride and happiness in her voice. She was so happy and amazed that she could get a workout just doing body weight squats.
CJ, this is the perfect example why you are meant to be a coach. You showed her what she is capable of, just like you do with the rest of us. All of you CFI coaches do that for us. I can’t believe how friggin lucky I am to be part of this!
Thanks again CJ for another great 6am WOD… Sorry I couldn’t stick around and cheer on heat #2, my time management skills are still a work in progress… I’m sure we had a couple of PRs though because of that AWESOME music…
Keep hitting it hard 6am! I’m going to rest my back some more and see you all Monday, have a great weekend….
Great job Charlotte!
Squat question to trainers: How does pronation affect squatting? Is it enough to keep in mind the cue to push the knees out to the sides or can pronation actually be a physical barrier to proper squatting? [I am not sure this question even makes sense, but I will hope that Calvin or Mark can understand].
thanks.
Courtland, your question preempts a blog article we will run next week. Without spoiling the punchline too much, pronation sucks.
Pronating (rolling to the arch of your foot) while squatting (1) increases your likelihood of injuring your knees and (2) drastically decreases your ability to generate power. Pronating at the bottom of a squat, or caving your knees in, destroys the proper hip, knee and ankle alignment we are striving to maintain. That cue you hear, “push your knees out,” is designed to ensure that everything stays nicely aligned in an optimal position. When the knees cave in pressure is shifted to the medial aspect of the knee (the inside of your knee) and all the precious ligaments that keep your knee from buckling in. I hate to make this about injury though, because too many people mistakenly believe that squatting is too dangerous to be worthwhile. It just ain’t so, but having a good coach keeping an eye on you is certainly beneficial.
The bigger issue is efficiency. A proper squat is one that recruits the most powerful hip extensors (the glute max and hamstrings). If I want to get my ass firing, I am certainly not going to cave my knees together. Stand up from your computer right now, roll to the arch of your foot and draw your knees together and try to contract your glutes (i.e., squeeze your cheeks). It’s not easy. Now push your knees away from each other and roll to the outside ridge of your foot and squeeze your cheeks. It’s like magic. Those big powerful caboose muscles are what we want to power us through the squat, and they simply don’t work when the knees are rolling together and the feet are pronating.
I can relate to Charlette. I have the similar problem. I remember the first time I tried squatting it was very hard for me, but CJ was there to help me.
My problem comes from riding horses when you post. Posting is to rise out of the saddle seat for every other stride of the horse’s forelegs. So when you do that you use your lower legs and they become tight which has made it difficult for me when I squat. It’s becoming easier for me as I practice my squatting more and more. Have a good weekend everyone!
I’ve heard conflicting opinions on the RX wall ball weight for woman. Is it sometimes a 16 pound ball with an eight foot target?
I just have to say….Chris kills me walking around in those black Chuck T. shoes!!! hahaha
They haven’t canx’d my conference in San Diego from 16-20 Mar….so hopefully I will be able to go to Invictus and “play” around a bit.
Me and the guys here at my job have been doing HQ’s WOD’s (a week back), so we had some good running in today’s WOD. Would’ve liked to do “Fight Gone Bad” though. I think Nate said “if you get anything below 190 you’re a bitch!” LOL
Nick
By the way….this Crossfit website is one of the better ones I have seen. Nice!!
Now that’s progress Charlette! Good job.
0600 rocked FGB. I’m gonna’ go out on a limb and say that Christina’s 282 will rest securely atop the female leader board today (any challengers?). Big props to coach Mark on posting a nice little 337 on his first ever FGB. Only a Manimal could do such a thing. Wink, you gave me a run for my money again! Nice job dude!
A hearty ‘welcome aboard’ to our new friend Steve. Steve dug deep and made it through his first CF WOD! Some kind of welcome, eh Steve? Solid work brother!
Nice job to the always heavy hitting Dani, Cynthia, Misty and Jen. You ladies bring it every morning and I know that I am always in for lots of laughs!
Fairlight and Lynne – You two were getting after it and are both looking STRONG. Nice work.
CJ – Thank you for playing so much Def Leppard and Scorpions lately. I really enjoy recalling my sophomore homecoming during WODs. Although I had to wear pair of white Nikes with a tweed brown suit (because we didn’t have money for dress shoes), I still got my groove on to ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’ (can you imagine such a sight?)
I not sure if it’s a sentimental thing (FGB was my very first WOD) or because I seem to enjoy feeling of getting beat up, but I love FGB. Posted a 250 (PR by 12!)
~BC
Great job Charlette! To chim in on the squats, for me if I focus on keeping my weight in my heels and really emphasize the butt squeeze it helps. However you can’t keep your weight in your heels if your knees aren’t in position and you don’t maintain a nice lumbar curve. Having had a handful of surgery on my knees, I find squats done properly have actually helped my knees. Squats are by far my all time favorite exercise.
Great job today Courtney! We made a powerful team…:)
Oh and BC…..I think you need to get out of the military and grow a mullet so you can get the full affect of your highschool years during the WOD’s
T
Charlotte is the perfect example of why people should join affiliates and pay for the price of admission. She could do the workouts on her own, but her form would have been bad and never corrected. In some cases, that could lead to injury. But with excellent coaching and practice, she has perfected her form. Good job Charlotte and great job Crossfit Invictus !!!
Hey everyone, our brother (Nick) is coming for a visit from NC! Whoot!
Nick -Stand by to get worked, dude. Our coaches stay up late in their WOD making laboratory and have mastered the art of mixing pain.
Bro, I gotta’ rock my Chuck Taylor’s. It’s the only way to keep my parakeet-like ankles from snapping off during a WOD.
~BC
Courtland, CJ’s explanation nails it down on why eversion of your feet isn’t the best way to squat. Along with the added pressure on the inside of your knees and less posterior recruitment, you also knock out all of your adductors (muscles down the insides of your legs that make up your groin). PLUS, you were right with your question that it can be a physical barrier. Not only with a ‘knees in’ squat can you cause impingement on some of the tendons that run up the front of your legs, and for even the skinniest guy or gal, keeping your knees in doesn’t allow for full depth due to you stomach running in to your thighs. And there you have it!
Keep working that squat Charlette!
CJ had me at “squeeze your cheeks.”
I can’t get past the phrase ‘if I want to get my ass firing’
I am visualizing CJ, a pot of beans/cabbage/hefeweizen, and a lighter.
Blue flamers….good times, good times.
way to go charlotte, and way to go coaches. wat to trick the brain and start at the end of the squat and work your way up.. genius!!
So much for taking this one easy….. Almost thought I got a new PR however I used the wrong weight in the Push Press, where were my coaches? So with only a 65# push press I got a 401. Just when you thought you knew a workout, you go a screw up the weight! I can’t believe Mark was a FGB virgin? You never forget your first!