What better way to get ready for a holiday weekend than with some tire flipping?
We worked on the pause clean pulls 4 weeks ago, back at the beginning of the month (“PULL THE PLUG“). The same basic structure for the workout which was before was put in place for this Thursday’s iteration: athletes were to perform back-to-back-to-back repetitions of a three-position clean pull with moderately heavy weight (a goal weight was equal to a lifters max effort clean).
Athletes could add weight across all sets so long as the weight did not cause the form to break down – again, this wasn’t a strength building exercise so much as it was skill and form reinforcement.
The purpose is not only to build control in the initial phases of a clean, but also to allow lifters to check their positioning at each stopping point. Remember that our goal during the clean is a controlled 1st pull (from the ground to our knees) followed by an explosive 2nd pull. Wrenching the bar from the ground as hard and fast as possible creates an long list of problems, each one creating another; in effect, it becomes a quintessential train wreck.
Thursday’s clean pulls used three stopping points:
For more information on the performing the pause clean pulls (which can also be used for the snatch), jump back to check out the blog post linked above from earlier this month. In addition, I’d recommend that you review two of our older blog posts, the first covering the three pulls of the clean (“Cleaned Out“) and the other being Coach Mike Choi’s Points of Review for the Clean. Rest assured, more Olympic lifts are in your near future, and those who are adequately armed with the information contained in these posts will have a much easier time absorbing the coaching points handed out in class.
The met-con was designed as written above, although we modified slightly for the small 6pm to include tire flips in the workout, as well as afterwards.
Each person was to grab a pair of dumbbells, with RX’d being 1/2BW for guys and 1/3BW for girls. For round 1, perform 1 DB clean, 1 DB Push Press, 1 DB Front Squat, and 1 DB Thruster, followed by a 50 foot out and back shuttle run (total of 100feet). Round 2 was then 2 DB cleans, 2 DB Push Press, 2 DB Front Squats, and 2 DB Thrusters, followed by 2 shuttle runs. Everyone continued in this manner until time expired.
With an early wrap up to the day’s work, and to just to have a little fun before the Labor Day weekend, we gave everyone the chance to flip some tires. Not much to write about on this one, so we’ll just post some pics instead.
Again, we WILL BE HAVING CLASS this Sunday, including both the 9am Elements and regular 10am class. We’ll be working on kipping again for this Elements class. If you’re in town, come join us.
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Ah, more hook grip! Now I know why the DCW peeps hands are always hurting. After working on stuff that required hook grip 3 days in a row, my hands were in so much pain yesterday! I’m hoping they are toughening up a little in the process!
It was really nice to work on the clean pulls. I don’t think I’ve done them with anything more than just the bar in some warmups, so it was good to focus on the different stages of pulling the bar with actual weight. It didn’t seem like much work, but towards the end I definitely had to work hard to keep my shoulders back and pinched.
I didn’t do very well in the metcon. Didn’t realize it was supposed to be 1/3BW so used 25lbs, but I also just didn’t have any gas and didn’t even get 5 full rounds. Lame performance.
Tire flips were fun though! I was a little worried with a bigger class the 7pm wouldn’t get to do them. Thanks for working them in for us, coaches!
Yay for the long weekend! Safe travels to anyone going out of town! See the rest of you on Sunday!
Steph, way to push the weight on the metcon! I think it’s much cooler to finish 4 rounds with 25# rather than more with a lighter weight.
Clean pulls felt pretty good; I worked on not “heaving” on the final pull. I can’t describe that, but know what it feels like and that it’s wrong. Worked up to 55# (I forgot I did a 60# clean on Sunday! Woohoo!). Jen worked up to 75# and Erin did 70#.
I used 15# DB for the metcon. (Jen 15#, Erin 20#.) I went first and finished my round of 6 and Jen got about halfway through her round of 6. I started that round with about a minute left, and my motivation to go quickly was to give my teammates some extra work. I’m nice like that.
The tire flips were SO MUCH FUN!! (and I bet they’re really great for the gym floor…) Erin, Jen, and I got 38 flips in 2 minutes. Awesomeness.
I did some bonus ab work with Erin and Amelia after class. Also very enjoyable.
I love the photo of Julia…I bet she just ran toward the tire and it flipped over trying to get away from her. :o)
See you all on Sunday!
Always a great class when tire flips are involved! I used 25# DBs on the metcon and worked with Sara and Amelia which was fun! It took me 3 rounds to understand what the hell I was doing as I did 2 rounds of the cluster instead of 2 of each movement. Then the 3rd round I messed up again, remembered to clump the reps but then forgot the 3rd rep so I did the cluster again. OMG I was having serious issues but got it together on the 4th!! Thanks Amelia and Sara for putting up me!
Clean pull work was good to work on. I echo Steph that by the 4th and 5th round I had to really focus on pinching my shoulder blades together.
Hope everyone has a fabulous and safe holiday weekend! See everyone next week!!
Nice small class at 6pm. Andrea and I worked together on the clean pulls. I think we did our sets at: 65, 85, 95, 105, 105.
The metcon was fun, nice to work with Sara and Andrea as we were all pushing each other. We were just shy of all finishing the 6th round.
Tire flipping is always fun.
See everyone next week!
This was an awesome workout. When Chris demoed the movement, I thought in my head “well that’s awkward and no fun.” But then after doing it I realized it’s EXACTLY. WHAT. I. NEED. My cleans totally break down in the beginning–my back rounds out. But this progression really allowed me to focus on pinching my shoulder blades together. (I’ve said a zillion times that this is a problem area across lots of movements). I could really feel a difference and hopefully it sticks the next time we do cleans. I think our group did 63, 83, 93, 103, 113.
I used 20# dumbells for the metcon and got nearly 5 complete rounds (minus a run). Thrusters were killer.
Tire flips were awesome. I love when we do those.
Mazel Tov to Erica and Ben on their nuptials weekend.
Thanks TomandAmi…I need some kipping work, maybe I’ll be there.
Congrats Erica and Ben!
I have done a lot of work lately on the different stages of the Olympic pulls. I think the hardest are these three stage pulls where you have to pause below the knee. I always feel like it is hurting my lower back too much and I am losing the tightness in the upper back. After yesterday I think I may just be mistaking that feeling. I now think it is jut that the entire back is doing so much work that it causes muscle soreness. I didn’t keep track of the weight I used but I think it was somewhere around 135-145lbs.
Metcon was fun. Amelia an Andraea were killing it. We finished 2 reps short of 6 complete rounds as a team because I almost lost my dumbells on the first of the 6 thrusters and then had only enough time for 3 more reps. I used 30 lb DBs.
It was great to get some nice work in on the cleans. It feels like I’m starting to develop a bit of a comfort level with them thanks to the coaching and tips from Tom, Chris and Sara.
I was happy to manage 5 rounds on the metcon minus the shuttle runs of the last round. I gotta grab the rubberized DBs from now on because I smacked my shoulders a couple of times (no harm done).
It felt weird to miss the Sunday double yesterday. For the record: I didn’t skip. At the last minute I signed up for an all weekend open water diving certification course to make up for the NOLA weekend that Isaac ruined. See you guys on Tuesday.