MobilityWod: Post a Link to MobilityWod
August 30, 2010Frontin’
Last night’s class was a definite quad & glute fryer! After a good warm-up with a special-focus on stretching out the lower half of the body, it was time to get down to work. First up, a strength portion:
Front Squat: 4×5 (with an extra round just for fun)
Remember, besides being a great overall strength builder, front squats are an invaluable tool for strengthening various movements in CrossFit, including both Olympic lifts, OH squats, thrusters, wall balls, and even box jumps. So keep squatting!
For the MetCon, Tom let everyone choose two of the following four choices of workouts:
(1) 1000 m row;
(2) 45 burpees;
(3) 100 wall balls; or
(4) 50 thrusters & 30 pull-ups.
Each person performed the first workout for time, rested for roughly 5 minutes, and then performed their second workout for time.
Post weights for the front squats to comments, as well as your reasoning behind choosing the MetCons that you did.
Also, if you haven’t noticed, stretching is becoming a much more common part of our workouts (rather than an on-your-own deal). While strength and conditioning are great, flexibility and mobility are just as important. The CrossFit community has a great resource in this department in a man by the name of Kelly Starrett. Kelly is the founder and head coach of San Francisco CrossFit (opened in 2005, same year as CFDC). He is a licensed and practicing physical therapist, and has been making regular rounds through affiliates across the country leading seminars on improving mobility and form for exercise. He has also started his own blog dedicated solely to this subject:
(just click on the banner to visit the blog)
In Kelly’s own words:
“Every human being should be able to perform basic maintenance on themselves. You know what to eat, how to train, and what to do if you have a cut; you should also know how to fix your tight hips, painful knees, and stiff shoulders, and how to make yourself faster and more powerful. It’s too much to mobilize everything, all the time, everyday. Start somewhere. The Mobility Wod should take you four to 10 minutes to complete. Do it everyday. Remember the areas that feel like a Shaman’s Blow.”
I would encourage everyone to visit his blog and to incorporate his movements into your weekly routines.
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0 Comments
Nice post Salty! I’ll check out the Mobility site after I post this comment.
Front Squats – I did a warm-up set with the bar and then did 65#, 75#, 85#, 95#, & 105#. I definitely could have done more but it’s been a long time since I last FS. This was also the first time doing FS with the FiveFingers on. I felt stable but it was a little scary at the bottom.
Workout – For the first workout I didn’t want to do WB shots or Pull-ups and the rowers were all taken so I settled for the 45 burpees. I finished in 3:10 but it was a little disheartening to see Salty absolutely fly thru the burpees! uhm, at least I survived? : For the second workout I ended up with the 100 Wall Ball shots. Have no idea when I finished but I was approaching rep 60 when everyone else finished. I wanted to do the rower but they were quickly taken and I still didn’t want to do pull-ups. Damn WB shots gave me horrible memories of last year’s Hopper Challenge.
Needless to say walking home was a bit of a challenge last night. Meh
K-Stars mobility blog is REALLY good. I lost a ton of flexibility, and some of my movements are limited. I DO NOT want to pass that fault along to those I train.
Front Squats were good, improved bar placement across the board. Getting the upper back to open up and take pressure of the wrists not only feels better, but it puts the bar in a position that allows the spine to stay rigid. Also, good to see everyone working to legit depth. Missing reps is OK, shortening them to get a certain number of reps …well, you didn’t get those reps. ALL SQUATS GO BELOW PARALLEL, and last night, they actually did!
Maiko, you finished the Wall ball in 8 minutes. Next time I’ll kick someone of the rower for you (seniority has to have some privilege to go along with being picked on), but it was good to see you take on a movement that really challenged you before. Nice work!
It was nice to be back participating in class.
Front Squats: I warmed up with with the bar then started slow.
55#, 65#, 75#, 85#, 95# and then did a couple at 105# cause Tom suggested Chrissy watch how I adjust/adapt to the front squat position even though it is not very natural for me. They all felt good with no pain. A little tightness today but my PT exercises will address that.
Workouts: I picked rowing first because it is one of the things I have been able to do even while I was sitting out from class. It felt horrible and I really wanted to stop 3/4 of the way through. This is due to the fact that I have had very sporadic workouts over the last several months so I have been tiring quickly. I did manage to finish in 3:59. Next I picked the burpees because I felt the thrusters and wallballs would have been too much for me after the front squats. The burpees were extremely tough after the row, squats and the weight vest squat and push-up workout I did monday.
As chance would have it, I did just want Tom was thinking of for the strength portion of class about 1 hour before class started, along with a 10×2 of box squats. As such, I got to watch others suffer. Some highlights: Ashok’s ridiculously natural squat position (so jealous) and the shoeless-crew!
If she reads this, I hope Erika will comment: I suggested more than a few people remove their shoes before trying Fr.Squats. why? running shoes are very soft and absorbent in the heels. Great for running, horrible for lifting. They provide little stability when performing heavily lifts, so a lot of your strength is devoted to stabilizing your base, rather than moving the weight.
Additionally, running shoes are pitched forward to match your running stride – this is exactly the opposite of what you are looking for on the lifts, where the emphasis should be on driving through the heels/mid-line of the feet.
Here’s the challenge I would make to everyone: try one lift with your regular running/tennis shoes on, then one lift without (semi-heavy weight, same weight for both) and then tell me which feels better. 9 times outta 10, I bet the flat feet will feel better. Course, that’s just my take on it…
oh yea, I also worked out – always need a little MetCon to brighten my day. Started off with 45 burpees, and finished in 1:47, which I contribute entirely to the fact that I had more than 45 min to rest before starting my first metcon (as opposed to everyone else who only had 15 min). For the second MetCon, I chose the wall balls. Single word: horrible. Both shoulders and quads simply were giving out during the wall balls. CNS went on strike today. Hope I can get some scabs in before Thur!
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