After a run of tough workouts, things were dialed back a bit Thursday, focusing on skills and balance.
Double Unders were scaled to triple-singles (i.e., instead of 50 DUs, do 150 single skips). The guideline for whether or not to switch over to single skips was whether or not a person could, with some regularity, hit 15 or more double unders – this included single-double or single-single-double. If not – if someone was still only putting together 5 double unders at the most – then it was definitely the time to do the single skip replacement. Remember, the goal is to get a similar response out of the workout, not labor away at it for ages.
With ample time left, class was then dedicated to working on some imbalances, followed by some much needed stretching.
Using DBs or KBs, perform anywhere between 8 to 12 reps of single leg deadlifts per leg. Although labelled as a deadlift, the single leg DLs are a top-down movement (weight starts at the hips and lowers down toward the shins), as opposed to picking the weight up off the floor as in a true DL. Thus, the movement is really more akin to the RDL, and it’s more instructive to look at the points of performance for the RDL when performing single leg DLs.
Chiefly, the movement is about pushing the hips back, not simply bending at the waist or rounding the lower back to touch the weight to the floor. The back should stay flat, with the shoulders pulled back, at all times, and the movement should stop when the hips fail to move back any farther. If you have tight hamstrings, your hips may not move very far – this is fine, so long as your maintaining good posture. What isn’t fine is when, in an attempt to lower the weight farther, you start hinging at the waist, rounding the back, or tilting the shoulders (or some combination of all of these) to reach the weight towards the floor.
The remaining time in class was dedicated to flexibility, including a good dose of calf stretching (essential after all the jump roping), as well as some supine wall straddles, which really turned out to be a good indication of where your level of flexibility currently lies…
Nice to see people really getting after those pesky DUs. Stay dry, and we’ll see you all on Sunday.
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My comments on double-unders:
So many CFDC athletes — and CrossFitters, in general — get worked up over their ability to do double-unders. In my opinion, worrying about double-unders is akin to wearing $200 shoes while the rest of your outfit is shitty. Or, driving around with 20 inch, platinum rims on a 1989 Toyota Camry. I find double-unders to be more of gimmick/party trick than they are a measure of someone’s fitness level. What good are double-unders if you can’t squat or press? They seems cool, but they comprise only a small fraction of the fitness pie.
If, for some reason, you’re really hell-bent on improving your double-unders, then you need to practice jumping rope all the time. Notice I said “practice jumping rope,” not “practice double-unders.” That would be like practicing double-back flips before you were good at a single-back flip. I learned double-unders by jumping rope all the time. Not just once a week after a CrossFit class. I used to go the gym all the time after I got my Buddy Lee jump rope and just practice jumping rope. The standard was 70 unbroken single skip and 70 unbroken alternate foot single skips. Then 150 of each. Then 500 of each. then 5 minutes straight of each. I don’t think I ever got that high; however, I did get really comfortable with jumping rope, which made double-unders very manageable.
I remember one time Chris said he’d love to have my double-unders. I offered to trade him for this squatting, rowing, pressing, deadlifting, Olympic lifting, and every other movement in CrossFit at which he was better than me. Bottom line: don’t lose sight of the forest through the trees.
Usually I would’ve been disappointed by such a light class, but I needed it last night, it was perfect.
I subbed knee raises for sit-ups. I broke 3-4 times on my DUs, which was annoying and maddening.
I definitely felt it in my hammies with the db single-leg DLs. I used a 30 for 3 rounds and then 35 for one round of 5.
See you all Sunday!
Sebastian, be careful or Chris will pass along blog writing duties to you! Very good points though.
Steph, don’t worry about the light workout, we’ll come back hardcore Sunday!
Thank you everyone for summoning the burpeepokalypse!
I meant to comment earlier, but I’m at least in time for Tuesday’s class! I’m so excited I actually made the blog as an example of GOOD form!! I actually love dead lifts. One leggers are a challenge balance and coordination wise, but fulfilling. I used 25# and could get about 5 on each leg before falling over.
I was worried about getting through all the rope jumpping, but really it was the abs that killed me! I’m usually pretty quick with situps but I’m not used to doing more than 20-30 at a time. The set of 40 slowed me waaaaay down.
Looking forward to a good workout tonight!