Things got off to a flying start Tuesday with an immediate re-visit of the 30sec on/30sec off continuous box jumps from a few weeks ago. However, before we could get to that point, a little limbering up was called for.
The Inch Worms are similar to regular inch worms, except that after you’ve walked your feet up to your hands, you then walk your feet backwards and then walk your hands back to your feet. Out and back equals 1 rep.
More important is the hollow rock with one leg pulled in, which is a slightly scaled-down version of the full hollow rock. The hollow rocks have made a number of appearances as of late, but there’s still some struggle through-out class maintaining that hollow position. Watch the following two videos, each about 2min, from the Gymnastics WOD site talking about setting up the hollow position (1st video) and then keeping that position while incorporating a rocking motion (2nd video):
Key on keeping that hollow position – legs straight with the abs pulled in and the lower back pressing into the floor – rather than on how far you rock.
The continuous box jumps are meant to be done with as little rest as possible – i.e., non-stop motion. Think about jumping rope – how long would it take to do 100 skips if you stopped each time the rope passed under your feet to reset and then start the rope moving again? A lot more than if you were to keep jumping continuously. Your goal for the box jump should be the same. Sure, it’s faster and more efficient, but more than that, it will turn out to be a lot friendlier on your joints.
Too many of us are doing a good job of absorbing the landing when we jump on to the box, but then land stiff legged after jumping back down off the box. Not only is this inefficient, but it puts a lot of strain on the body – you can feel the shock travel up your body on landing, and that’s not a good thing. You should be absorbing the landing when jumping off the box as much (if not more than) as when jumping on to the box. AND, since you’ve already bent the knees to absorb the depth jump off the box, you might as well put that loaded crouch-position to good use and simply jump back up on to the box.
So, continuous box jumps are another step along the path to better box jumps. The continuous jumping promotes more efficient movement, but a by product will be a safer movement for many. If that requires you to choose a slightly lower box than usual, so be it – it’s worth it.
Pull-ups could be done on the bars, on the rings, or on the climbing ropes.
Dips were done on benches or plyo-boxes. A hint for doing them on the plyo-boxes: turn your hands out to the side of the box (as opposed to having the knuckles facing your ass), which will help you keep your arms in tight to the body, with shoulders pulled back and down.
Great work everyone. Remember, we still have some new CrossFit DC shirts left for sale ($20), so get yours while you can. There’s a lot to comment on in today’s post, so let’s hear it – did you like the hollow rocks with the leg pulled in? have you got the feeling for the box jumps? did your coffee cup feel extra heavy this morning after that met-con?
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Is the one-legged hollow rock easier than the two-legged? I feel like I have enough trouble doing the regular one that doing it with one leg in sounds impossible. Andraea said it was actually easier.
It was great having Oren back in class! Hopefully now that school’s over, we’ll see more of him! I wonder if he knows about the burpee rule 😉
I thought the metcon was a great way for people who can’t get consecutive pull-ups to work on their pull-ups while still getting a fun but challenging workout. I’d like to try that one.
Great job everyone! See you all Thursday!
I was not fully recovered from the weekend, so I could not go full tilt last night.
I can definitely tell that my box jumps are getting better though.
Looking forward to throwing some weight around on Thursday.
Thanks for posting those videos of the hollow rock. It feels like my back is shaped like the sides of the pentagon and not rounded properly when I do that exercise.
Steph, the knee tuck should make the movement easier, while allowing you to get the feel for the correct position. Just holding the hollow position takes strength as well as body awareness- in fact, in the beginning, the “rocking” is much less important than the “hollow”. One of the reasons we have been working on these so much is that ability to hold the hollow position is crucial to maintaining form under load at times. Anyone really struggling with posture on handstands (and HSPU), wall walkers, KB swings, pushups etc…work on the Hollow position.
Good work on the Pullup practice. Remember, our unofficial rule is that we want you to have 5 deadhang pullups before we introduce the kip. When you do start learning to kip, what do you need? the Hollow position.
Continuous box jumps: I’m actually getting better with these. For starters, I am able to “jump-on, jump-off” as opposed to “jump-on, step-off” (which was my usual MO). I had to use a lower box than “normal,” but that’s okay. My knees (especially my right knee) felt fine. The bonus for me was that I got to work with Julia (a/k/a “Ms. Giggles”). 🙂
Met-con: It was grueling…especially the five pull-up/five burpee part. I managed to get almost five completed rounds (I was on the five pull-up/five burpee portion when time was called). Chalk up another “sweat angel” for me! 🙂
Post-class: Worked on my double-unders for about fifteen minutes. Thanks to Sara, Coach, and Greg for the pointers.
“Not too bad for an old man.” – CFDC’s own ODB
5 pullups from a dead hang?! honestly don’t see that happening. I’m at 2 now and that has taken years!
I enjoyed the metcon and working on pull-ups and push-ups. The one-legged hollow rock was a good variation and let me feel how it’s suppose to feel when I get the back rounded.
Box jumps got better for me last night. I can last maybe 4-5 jumps on the small box before I lose my rythym and end up resetting. First time I looked up and not at the box, which helped. I had no idea I wasn’t suppose to look at the box! Obviously my attention span at the end of the day is very short.
Man, apparently I didn’t read the blog very closely or watch the video. Busted! Sorry!
I loved last night’s class. I’m feeling pretty good about the continuous box jumps, but I’m also using the bitty box. How do you know when you should move up? The met-con I thought was going to be a zoo, but ended up perfectly. I was able to get one strict pull-up every round until about 7 min in, when I couldn’t get my chin anywhere near the bar so switched to the negative/band/jump combo at the end. By the end there wasn’t even that much rest time. I also appreciated being corrected on the release push-ups as they were feeling too easy at the beginning until I learned I was doing them wrong. Boo. Hollow rocks with one leg, def much easier.
Hollow rocks – I think I’m getting the feel for these, but I don’t know that I’m applying that awareness to HSPUs, wall walks, kipping pullups… incidentally, all movements topping my list of things to work on.
Box jumps – thanks for being my partner, Reggie! Taking that extra beat to get full extension forced me to adjust my timing – I felt like I was jumping off faster and landing slower, if that makes any sense? – and I’m eager to keep working on this.
Metcon – liked the mix of strict skill + conditioning.
This was a fun change of pace, see you all tonight!
For those who aren’t sure they have the feel for hollow rocks just yet, don’t worry, I have a feeling they’ll show up again soon…
As for pull-ups, if you’re at 1-2 now, don’t worry, you’ll be at 5 before you know it. There are always variations on an exercise which will help that exercise (e.g., ring rows for pull-ups), but sometimes, nothing beats just doing the exercise. Pull-ups are that way. The more you do them, the easier they become – although you might have to fight like hell to get that first one, the numbers actually start adding up pretty quick the more you do them, even if it’s doing just one at a time.
For pullups, 5 is OK for me but past that is where I start to have trouble. I have to keep working on that.
I need to practice maintaining the hollow position. The videos are great. I will definitely be practicing.
I was glad to finally get the chance to do the continuous box jumps (I missed the other classes where we did these). I worked with Greg and I’m so glad he suggested a low box. I think I did okay with those. I got a good rhythm going for some of the rounds. I need to practice these. Fight Gone Bad is coming up.
For the AMRAP – I was able to do the 1 strict pull-up for all of the rounds (I lost count of how many I did). Really happy I was able to do that. I was thinking of doing at least 1 round of 3 strict pull-ups but I decided against it. I used the bands for the set of 3 and I did jumping pull-ups for the set of 5.
Another fun class.
My legs hurt more than anything else after this workout thanks to those box jumps.