After being led to believe class would have to be outside today due to a function in the studio, we were more than happy to find out late this week that we had been faked out: no out door class! We just had to celebrate, which, in CFDC, means classic lifts.
With all that hamstring work in the warm-up, you knew some sort of DL was coming. With a finite number of bumpers, Saturday’s program opted for a slightly higher number of reps than usual: 2 sets of 8, followed by 3 sets of 5. Going for higher reps on the DL, whether 10+ at moderate weight, or 5+ at moderately heavy weight, can help reveal issues with your body position that aren’t always obvious at heavy weight. For example: lifters allowing their shoulders to internally rotate, reaching the bar to the floor which leads to the back rounding.
A great cue for this, and one we’ve often used before, is to imagine squeezing a pen/marker/etc. in the armpit; the act of forcefully squeezing the arms in keeps the elbows in tight, externally rotating the shoulders, which helps set the lats and shoulders. Often you hear this as the cue “pinch the shoulder blades.” Keeping the elbows squeezed tight against the body – pinching that imaginary marker in the armpits – keeps the shoulders from rounding forward, which is what leads to a rounded back.
To put our positioning cues to work, we turned to one of the simplest, yet most effective DL met-cons out there: DL and burpees. The size of class and limitation on temporary equipment meant having groups work on the same bar in a follow the leader fashion, with DLs done at one end of the room, and burpees at the other. Weights on the DL were RX’d at roughly 60% of a 1RM, more or less.
To close out, class worked through a quick set of dynamic cool down movements and stretching. Of course, part and parcel of each and every class these days is putting the equipment away. Normally, our de rigueur column of members hefting equipment back to the storage room is unremarkable…except when Ami’s around:
Don’t forget about our inter-construction preview at the new space tomorrow (12:30 to 2:30, 1722 14th St, NW). We’re really excited to have everyone to have everyone tour the up-&-coming space. You’ll have to excuse our mess, as the construction crew has been hitting hard these last few weeks, but we’re amped to help you envision the next step of our CrossFit career. See you all then!
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Deadlifts are my favorite. I worked from 83# to 133# for the last set of 5 — an improvement for me, since last time I tried for a 1 RM it was 140#. I’m going to guess it’s above that now! Thanks to Kamber for suggesting we go for the 133…it was tough, and I felt my shoulders coming forward a little, but overall not bad.
I tried to focus on jumping up close to my hands (a la P2S) on the burpees, to save my back since we were also doing DLs. (You might think someone had mentioned that before…)
Per Coach Steph’s instructions, I spent some time with my foam roller at home after class. Good thing, because I’ve been neglecting it, and WOW, my IT band is so tight. I need to get back into the habit of foam rolling after every class.
Oh, and what you don’t see in the picture of Ami is that she then SQUATTED with the plates on her head. Seriously. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.
I had a good day with deadlifts yesterday. I went for 243×5. This is definitely a new 5 RM for me. I worked on a bar with Julia and we used 203 for the metcon. I gave her a choice of 203 or 193. She wouldn’t choose so I went with 203. It may have been the wrong decision for me. I was able to go unbroken for rounds 1 & 2 but 3-5 I had to break them. Oh well. Also it was a little weird doing deadlifts with a ladies bar. It is the first time I have done that.
Katie, way to go on those DL numbers! That’s awesome!
I did clean set-up DL since conventional DL seem to always fuck up my hip. The clean set-up works really well resulting in no hip pain, but I try not to mix-grip to keep the upperback pinched and upright, so usually the grip is the first thing to go. I worked with Ami and Erica and I think our last set was 143lbs (?) and used 123lbs for the metcon. I totally forgot it was 10 burpees in the first round and had to run back to do 5 more after Ami commented that I finished 10 so quickly! Oops! Way to pay attention there.
I need to follow my own advice and start foam-rolling again. (Also, it feels very strange to be called “coach.”)
Ami, ridiculous.
Sara, congrats on the PR!
Coach Steph, thanks for the DL cues!