After some punishing workouts, including Tuesday’s lengthy beat-down, Thursday’s class dialed things down a bit, focusing on some good old fashioned cardio intermixed with a little mid-section work.
Sit-Ups were prescribed on abmats and with feet un-anchored. Remember to try and open up the legs as much as possible (“butterfly” style, with the soles of the feet together), as it takes the hip flexors out of the equation and instead emphasizes full range of motion with the abs.
The band resisted good mornings were a gut check, literally. While the emphasis seems to be off your abs and onto your hammies and hips, it is actually over-emphasizing the need to constantly keep the mid-section pulled in tight. A loose mid-section results in a rounded back; keep the abs braced and shoulders pulled back and down to maintain a neutral spine through-out the movement. Remember: if rest is programmed, use it; If you need to rest, take it; however, no movement should be undertaken as a chance to “rest” during a workout.
Congrats to Mackenzie for getting (1) her first strict chin-up, and then (2) her first two-at-a-time chin-ups!
Learn to love the band pull-aparts – they will really help with opening up your shoulders. Concentrate on keeping your shoulders pull both DOWN and BACK (photo below @ left), rather than the natural tendency which is to let the shoulders ride up towards the ears (photo below @ right).
You can see the difference in the finished position, especially when you compare the position of Vicki’s tattoo – when the keeps her shoulders down and back (photo below @ left), it’s facing off to the left of the picture. When she allows her shoulders to ride up and doesn’t engage her scapula (photo below @ right), the tattoo is facing dead-on.
Nice work. Be sure to keep rolling and stretching on your own, especially if you’re still feeling some lingering effects from the first half of the week. Also, the humidity’s up again, so be sure you’re getting you fluids and your salts.
.
0 Comments
Hello everyone!
Still in London where I am having major CFDC withdrawal. I’ve had the shakes all week.
My time here has been extended so I won’t be back until around the end of the month . Until then, I will have to content myself with hotel gym burpees. Looking forward to a beatdown when next we meet.
Miss you all. Cheerio!
Dian, glad to hear your still alive and burpee-ing. Don’t worry, we’ll celibrate your return to a real gym here in the colonies come September.
We miss you too Dian!!
Dian, I hope you are having some fun while you are there.
It’s not the same without you Dian. We look forward to your return.
For the Workout: I breezed through the entire workout until I got to eht 1K run which left me coming in the door at after the 17 minute mark. I finished the row in just under 4 minutes but didn’t feel winded at all. I kept a nice easy steady pace throughout the row.
The hardest part of this workout was the 50 band pull-aparts. I had to start doing just 2 at a time by the time I hit 25.
Dian, if you had stayed away from the riots like I had advised you to do…just kidding…really, I am. 🙂
You know that there is always a space for you in class. See you in September. In the meantime, you could increase your “burpee love” by doing “Jeremy” (21-15-9 reps of burpees and overhead squats…or bodyweight squats if you don’t have a PVC pipe or broomstick handy). 🙂
Back to the workout: Similar to what Sara mentioned, I thought I was keeping a good pace (3:38 row) until the 1K run. I did slow down a little bit on the second set of AbMat crunches though.
Max chin-ups: I was able to do 10, 5, and 6 (5 unbroken + 1) respectively.
Thanks to Coach Brose and Coach Salty for accommodating me: I came in late for the 6:00 class (due to traffic), did the warm-up, the pull-ups, and the band pull-aparts. In the 7:00 class, I did another warm-up and the met-con before heading off to yoga.
“Not too bad for an old man.” -CFDC’s (and possibly CrossFit Dupont’s) own ODB.
Hi Dian, it’s great to hear from you! Hope you’re having a great time in London.
And wow! Big congrats to Mackenzie – first of many more pullups to come, I’m sure!
celibrate = celebrating celibacy?
or I just need to spell check my comments a little better before I publish them.
Nice work on a tough change of pace workout. That run really suffres after the situps and band GMs.
Nice display of fortitude from the 7PM team, pushing through with a smaller group.
Dian, once you’re done with the hooliganism, we’ll see you back in DC.
See you all Sunday for a nice relaxing barbell session.