Thursday’s class was definitely a lesson in explosive strength. And for the record, can you believe it’s been 3 months – three! – since we last did seated box jumps?
Box heights were jumper’s choice, although everyone was encouraged to work-up in height – i.e., don’t go for broke on the first set. For those new to the seated box jump, start in a seated position with the tops of your thighs at or just below parallel (a small box is usually your best bet, with bumpers plates used to adjust the height as needed).
To initiate the jump, rock back slightly while pulling your feet up off the ground a few inches, and then quickly rock forward, slam your feet down, and explode off the box into a full vertical jump onto the higher box. Remember to land light on the box, absorbing the impact with soft knees.
A key piece which will dictate both how explosive you are, and thus how high of a box you can jump onto, is the use of your arms. As you rock back, pull the arms back till the your hands are at your sides at least, preferably just behind you, similar to what you would do (or should be doing) in a broad jump. As you rock forward, drive the arms forward and up to help add explosive momentum to your jump.
One way to work on this, without the intimidation factor of a large box blocking your field of vision, is to remove the larger box and simply do seated jumps for height. You can work on exploding off the box and straight up into the air as high as you can. You can also perform this by finding an object to jump to:
This will not only build confidence, but can also help to reinforce how to use the arms, as the hands drive from behind the back past the chest and extend straight up over the head towards the object.
In the past, seated box jumps have often been paired with cleans, and this Thursday’s class saw a similar pairing with cleans showing up in the met-con (as well as a few burpees).
Each round was pre-set at 6 minutes in length, with the cleans set at no more than 2 minutes. This meant that each athlete had two minutes to complete the cleans, with a total of 6 minutes to complete the whole round. Any remaining time left over in the round after completion of all prescribed reps was rest. Weight was up to each athlete, although the suggested guideline was that everyone should be able to do the first set unbroken.
A quick stretch afterwards and it was all over. Read on for a few announcements regarding this weekend (including an important one about class on Sunday):
Also, best of luck to all those competing CF BWI’s Mid-Atlantic Hopper Challenge this Saturday and Sunday, including CFDC’s team represented by Coach Sara Katz, Chris Oehl, Julia Lam, Mark Minukas, Johanna Murphy, and Coach Chris “Salty” Sheppard. Kick Ass, you all!
Class/Schedule for Sunday, October 7th
- 9am Free Intro/Elements is CANCELLED;
- 10am is ON!
Coach Mike Choi has been kind enough to step in and cover the 10am class while Tom and Chris are in Baltimore for the Hopper. There will be lots of work to be done, so come prepared! For those of you used to coming at 9am for Elements, you’ll just have to wait another week to get your next dose of the Chris and Sara show.
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A few burpees? That was a lot of burpees. They were definitely much worse than the clean-to-OH.
I worked with Andraea and Erica at 65lbs. I think I finished around the same time each round, although on the 3rd round I had to set the bar down twice to re-grip and also rest. It was really tough to keep moving through the burpees on the last round.
I’ll be at the Hopper all weekend to cheer on our team and take pictures and videos. Hope to have some good footage to bring back! Have a great Columbus day weekend, everyone!
MC and Ben, congratulations!! We miss you!
“the intimidation factor of a large box blocking your field of vision”
^Yes, that!! The box jumps did NOT go well for me last night. I made it on to the 18″ box twice (after adding a plate to the box I was sitting on), but then kept stopping myself, even though I KNOW I can do it. Thanks to Chris for a great substitution!
I started with 45# for the clean and jerks, and then dropped to 35# for the second and third rounds because I wasn’t sure that I would be able to make it under the time cap and also didn’t want my form to go to hell. I focused on keeping my hips low during setup, and it was much better than during the bear complexes. I just kept moving slow and steady on the burpees and took them one at a time.
I’ll be joining Steph in cheering on our team on at the Hopper tomorrow, but I will be in class on Sunday for some Choi wisdom — so hopefully others will be there too!
Congrats SBV + MC!!! Have an awesome time!
Going to the chapel, and they’re going to get married…..well, not a chapel, but you know. Excitedly and sadly we will not be able to attend the Hopper but will be cheering wildly down in Atlanta for a strong CFDC performance. Cannot wait to hear about it and wishing all of the athletes a huge good luck and way to go. Super excited for Ben and MC.
I finally got the courage to jump onto a plate on a box and it was scary, but I managed to get through a few rounds.
I liked yesterday’s workout because I like when strength movements are paired with lung burning workouts. It’s also fun working with people who push each other to go heavier, faster, use better form, etc, which is what I felt like happened yesterday with Andraea and Steph. Used 65#s and the cleans got increasingly heavier (obv) over time, but I managed to go unbroken (but slower) on all three rounds. The burpees were rough, but my strategy on high rep burpees seems to be consistency, rather than going out strong and teetering.
Congratulations MC and Ben! Enjoy your day.
I have been easing back into the swing of things after my mini break. I’ve mostly made my peace with burpees but I have to admit I was really scared when I heard how many burpees we were in for last night. I decided to go light with the cleans at 50lb. It was too light. I ended up doing my last set of burpees outside on the pavement since it was slightly cooler than in the gym.
My swim this morning was just horrible since I just couldn’t get my legs going. Wonder if it had anything to do with the 12 million burpees from last night.
Good luck at the Hopper Team CFDC.
Congrats to MC and Ben! I’ll see everyone in a month!
Oh my god the burpees killed me! The first round wasn’t bad but I didn’t think I was going to reach 24 on the 2nd and 3rd round. I was cursing at every burpee!
Clean to OH went ok, I could feel my form suffering the 3rd round and stopped at the 8th or 9th rep to reset and remind myself of hips down, tight back, etc. I’m verappretiative of Steph, Erica, and Katie for keeping me going cause I was having serious attitude/motivation issues last night and didn’t think I’d make it through.
Congrats MC and Ben!!
Good luck to our Hopper team and I’m looking forward to hearing about it and seeing the pics!!
The workout yesterday was more difficult than it looked. The 12 ground to overhead reps took just enough energy to make the burpees extra horrible…but that is what makes it great! I used 95 and got all sets unbroken. In hindsight the weight might have been a little light, but after a week that included A LOT of overhead work (including Team Superfit), I think it was the right decision to lay off a bit.
Congrats to MC and SBV!! Also, Good Luck to the CFDC Team competing in the Hopper. You guys are going to kill it!
I have to echo Andraea’s comments about the met-con (especially the burpee portion of it) to a point. I, too, felt that burpees were killing me. I was also unsure about completing the third round within the time cap (part of the reason for my uncertainty was a lack of motivation and attitude). Nevertheless, I completed that final round – with seconds to spare – thanks to those folks at CrossFit DC who pushed me to finish. Thanks gals and guys; I really needed it. 🙂
I used 95# for the clean-and-push jerk; I was able to get two rounds of those unbroken. On the third round, I had to break it up into three sets of four (but I still finished it well under the 2:00 cap).
But, the challenge of a deceptively simple workout like that is what makes a CrossFit DC met-con “fun.”
After that workout, I really needed the stretching that Winnie’s class provided.
Congratulations to Mary Catherine and to “Has-Ben” (a/k/a SBV). I wish you two all the best.
Best of luck to kick-ass Team CrossFit DC at this weekend’s Hopper challenge.
I’m curious to see what Coach Choizilla has in store for us. 🙂
Great work out. Felt that for days. Thanks for the reminder to comment Steph!