Other than the Blackjack WOD, I haven't done any CrossFit WODs since I the rope climb WOD almost 2 weeks ago.
On one of those rope climbs, I jumped to the ground and landed on a piece of the rope -- we have quite a bit of extra rope that lays on the floor due to the low height of our ceiling beams where they're hung.
The side of my foot felt funny, but it seemed like it was just one of those momentary twinges, and nothing major. I get twinges like that from time to time ever since I switched to less supportive shoes -- I think it's my feet re-learning how to act as shock absorbers, and it's also me learning how to use my feet in that way, and land in the right position.
Anyway, that afternoon my foot started aching, so I put some ice on it, and by dinner time I was really in pain. Damn! Got it X-rayed the next day, and luckily nothing was broken -- the doctor declared that pain to be from soft tissue damage (though oddly my foot never got swollen or looked bruised). Spent the next couple days using crutches, an ice pack and 800mg Motrin a lot. Ditched the crutches, but still icing once a day, usually in the evening, and doing Motrin at least once a day.
So now you know why I haven't been posting about my WODs! :)
The thing about soft tissue damage is that you need to be gentle on it, and let it rest so it can heal. I didn't want this injury to be nagging me for months, so I haven't run or jumped since I hurt myself. This week I'm going to get back into doing WODs, but I might still continue to row instead of run. Just gonna take it day by day.
--
This week is a big week for me -- it's the week my box will be doing the WODs that I programmed! I was so excited to come up with a week-long training program for our athletes, and I'm really excited to see what they think.
My theme for the week is GYMNASTICS! :) All the WODs will involve only body weight movements, with 2 exceptions -- kettlebell swings on Wednesday, and kettlebell sumo deadlift high pulls on Saturday.
The week kicks off on Monday with what I'm calling a "Squat Clinic". Remember when I asked you guys for your input on squat resources? I took your suggestions into account, and I also found a great new resource that gave me the basis for helping my athletes improve their squat.
YOU MUST WATCH THIS!! If only for the first 20 minutes, but watch the whole thing if you have time. It's a video of Dan John sharing his techniques for coaching Olympic lifters, and he basically just talks about squatting for the first half of the video. The guy is obviously a total pro, and just understands how to get people moving properly. Amazing.
So after I teach the squat mobility movements on Monday, we'll be repeating them everyday proir to the WOD for the rest of the week. I'm hoping that by Saturday we'll have been able to reinforce some changes in squat technique and get some muscle memory in place for the long term.
The primary goal of the week is to improve the squat -- the secondary goal is to improve knowledge of scaling other body weight movements. The gymnastic component of CrossFit is the most frustrating to beginners, in my opinion, because it's hard to learn to do a movement when you can't actually DO the movement.
Anybody else out there have a moment of shock when you learned that you could do pullups with a huge rubber band under your foot? I definitely did. I was absolutely thrilled to find a substitution where I could perform the full range of motion of the movement without it involving someone pushing on my fucking foot. Woot!
That aside, I just want to education my athletes about their options for progressions on handstands, handstand pushups, dips & ring dips, and muscle ups. And for muscle ups, I want our gym to move past the x3 pullups and dips substitution, and start practicing the skills needed to perform a muscle up. You've already heard my rants in that area, so I'll leave it at that. :)
Well, I've just rambled on, but suffice it to say that I'm super excited about next week, and I'm going to try to do every WOD that I've programmed, so you'll see them here. :)
Showing posts with label gymnastics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gymnastics. Show all posts
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
Loving all these comments!
Wow, I am really loving all of these comments on the last 2 posts. It would be awesome to have more discussion here, so keep it coming ladies!
I was giggling so much reading Andrea's comment about wanting "scary arms". I have been flexing as a party trick since I was in high school -- I love blowing people's minds with my bi's and tri's. :-p And I am with you on the big legs. When my "side quad" first started popping out from squats, I was sooooo excited!
Angie got her stats up in her sidebar already, and OMG -- her 1RM on OHS is 110! That must be getting close to body weight, am I right? That kicks so much ass. :-D
Can't wait to see your stats too Kelsalynn!
Oh, and KD and Sara, you ladies need to join in the fun as well, since you were my original CrossFit mentors. :)
--
I'm still freaking sick. What a pain. Especially since I'll be in and out of the pool tomorrow for my Water Safety Instructor class, plus I'll be teaching 4 10 minute swim lessons. KILL ME NOW. At least I might have a tiny bit of a voice by then -- I'm actually able to force out some real sounds and not just whispers today.
--
When I hit the urgent care clinic on Monday I wore this shirt to help myself feel super tough. Bad ass, eh? :-D
If you watch the Games live web cast, watch out for Kate!
--
And finally, my real reason for today's post.
Last night I was hacking up a lung, so I gave up on trying to lay in bed and got up and watched some TV and also looked at some stuff on the computer. Since it was late, that meant lots of new WODs had been posted that I could look at! Yay! Yes, I am such a CrossFit geek that I am subscribed to the blogs of several affiliates so I can check out lots of different WODs. :)
Anyway, CF KoP included a link within today's WOD post. And it got me so freaking excited, because it is *exactly* what I need right now.
Among all of my WOD "catchup" posts, I posted about a very bad day that I had with a WOD that involved muscle ups. At the end I said I'd like to do strict muscle up progressions moving forward -- the only problem with that plan was my not actually knowing how to go about doing that. All the MU progressions I knew about involve assisting a kipping-based transition.
This is the same spot I've been in before with gymnastics (body weight) movements. I want to practice, I'm dying to improve -- but everything I try to practice, I can't actually do yet. It is a totally frustrating place to be in, and in all honesty I don't handle it well. AT ALL.
I can remember when I couldn't do a dead hang pullup with the green band. Not being able to get my chin over that bar made me feel like an utter failure. Lately when I've failed at attempts to do pullups on the rings while maintaining a false grip, I feel that same way. Or when I've had to resort back to a band on ring dips when my strength gives out. It's like I bottom out.
What I have to remind myself is that I didn't get better at pullups until I started working on them every time I was in the gym. If a WOD didn't include pullups, then I was on the bar doing some afterwards. Even if it was just 5 or 10.
But also, there was an incremental nature to my pullups, once I did manage to get going on the green band. There's a next step -- blue. Then white. Then mental floss. Then you're ready to kip and deadhang unassisted. That ability to progress incrementally is what's lacking in my muscle up practice.
So, back to what I watched last night. An incredible video with several options for progressions that work toward a strict muscle up. Hallelujah! And they are brilliant progressions in that you can easily measure your success and incrementally increase difficulty in each one -- foot placement, bands, used, etc. (If you don't subscribe to the CF Journal, do it now, it's worth $25/year)
This is where gymnastics is so frustrating, and so rewarding. You get in these "sticking points" where you can't do the movement yet, and you're not even sure how to go about getting there. But once you get on the path of the proper progressions and start practicing, next thing you know you've amazed yourself!
It's in these "sticking points" that you realize how little you know. I feel fortunate that I'm experiencing these moments as an athlete, because I think it's making me a much better coach. If I had the brute strength and "balls to wall" attitude to just fling myself up into a muscle up, I would not be looking at progressions like this. And I would less educated and less prepared to help others who need a much more incremental approach to practice.
And this highlights something fundamental that makes CrossFit special to me. With all the skills that are incorporated, CrossFit puts me into these incredibly uncomfortable positions, where I'm consumed with "I can'ts" and my outlook gets to bleak. But when I persevere, next thing I know, I'm doing things I never thought would be possible.
Last year at this time I was 20 pounds heavier, and hiding inside all day because I hated the heat and hated living in Georgia and hated myself. I had just purchased summer clothes in bigger sizes because I didn't think I was going to take the weight off. It would be another month of misery before I even considered getting back to the gym.
11 month later, and I've just completed Murph as Rx. Yeah, it took me 90 minutes, but who cares? I got that shit done! Freaking amazing.
And can I just take a moment to be snarky? There's no way in hell these changes would've happened via elliptical machines, Zumba classes and Jillian videos. :-D
--
One final thought on muscle ups. If you're a chick, and you have a kipping pullup and you can do a couple rings dips, have you considered adding this skill to your goals? Has your coach encouraged you in that direction?
As a coach, I think I want to bring this skill down from "holy grail" category and help my athletes perceive it as just another skill that is scalable and achievable for them, with time and practice.
And by "scalable" I sure as hell don't mean doing gazillions of pullups and dips on any day where MU's are programmed. I personally think that's total fucking crap. Let's start subbing movements with progressions of that movement people. (This is a pet peeve of mine, along with substitutions for rope climbs)
I'm making it my mission to make sure the ladies at my gym are setting their sights on going for a muscle up from the very moment after they get their kipping or deadhang pullups.
I think when you're just exiting the process of achieving unassisted pullups, you're used to being in that "sticky" zone, you're used to being uncomfortable. And the key is to keep one step ahead, and introduce a new "sticky" skill, so the athlete never has the chance to adjust back to being very comfortable. It's hard to get yourself back into the uncomfortable place once you're feeling a little cocky that you can do pullups Rx. At least that's how things have played out for me. It has been hell trying to push myself back to that place, but I'm working on it.
Also, more chicks on the rings for dips, please. Off the bars and onto the rings!
PS - I'm gonna be making some more videos of my work on gymnastics stuff. Be prepared to laugh because I'm sure to make an ass of myself doing HSPUs. :-D
I was giggling so much reading Andrea's comment about wanting "scary arms". I have been flexing as a party trick since I was in high school -- I love blowing people's minds with my bi's and tri's. :-p And I am with you on the big legs. When my "side quad" first started popping out from squats, I was sooooo excited!
Angie got her stats up in her sidebar already, and OMG -- her 1RM on OHS is 110! That must be getting close to body weight, am I right? That kicks so much ass. :-D
Can't wait to see your stats too Kelsalynn!
Oh, and KD and Sara, you ladies need to join in the fun as well, since you were my original CrossFit mentors. :)
--
I'm still freaking sick. What a pain. Especially since I'll be in and out of the pool tomorrow for my Water Safety Instructor class, plus I'll be teaching 4 10 minute swim lessons. KILL ME NOW. At least I might have a tiny bit of a voice by then -- I'm actually able to force out some real sounds and not just whispers today.
--
When I hit the urgent care clinic on Monday I wore this shirt to help myself feel super tough. Bad ass, eh? :-D
If you watch the Games live web cast, watch out for Kate!
--
And finally, my real reason for today's post.
Last night I was hacking up a lung, so I gave up on trying to lay in bed and got up and watched some TV and also looked at some stuff on the computer. Since it was late, that meant lots of new WODs had been posted that I could look at! Yay! Yes, I am such a CrossFit geek that I am subscribed to the blogs of several affiliates so I can check out lots of different WODs. :)
Anyway, CF KoP included a link within today's WOD post. And it got me so freaking excited, because it is *exactly* what I need right now.
Among all of my WOD "catchup" posts, I posted about a very bad day that I had with a WOD that involved muscle ups. At the end I said I'd like to do strict muscle up progressions moving forward -- the only problem with that plan was my not actually knowing how to go about doing that. All the MU progressions I knew about involve assisting a kipping-based transition.
This is the same spot I've been in before with gymnastics (body weight) movements. I want to practice, I'm dying to improve -- but everything I try to practice, I can't actually do yet. It is a totally frustrating place to be in, and in all honesty I don't handle it well. AT ALL.
I can remember when I couldn't do a dead hang pullup with the green band. Not being able to get my chin over that bar made me feel like an utter failure. Lately when I've failed at attempts to do pullups on the rings while maintaining a false grip, I feel that same way. Or when I've had to resort back to a band on ring dips when my strength gives out. It's like I bottom out.
What I have to remind myself is that I didn't get better at pullups until I started working on them every time I was in the gym. If a WOD didn't include pullups, then I was on the bar doing some afterwards. Even if it was just 5 or 10.
But also, there was an incremental nature to my pullups, once I did manage to get going on the green band. There's a next step -- blue. Then white. Then mental floss. Then you're ready to kip and deadhang unassisted. That ability to progress incrementally is what's lacking in my muscle up practice.
So, back to what I watched last night. An incredible video with several options for progressions that work toward a strict muscle up. Hallelujah! And they are brilliant progressions in that you can easily measure your success and incrementally increase difficulty in each one -- foot placement, bands, used, etc. (If you don't subscribe to the CF Journal, do it now, it's worth $25/year)
This is where gymnastics is so frustrating, and so rewarding. You get in these "sticking points" where you can't do the movement yet, and you're not even sure how to go about getting there. But once you get on the path of the proper progressions and start practicing, next thing you know you've amazed yourself!
It's in these "sticking points" that you realize how little you know. I feel fortunate that I'm experiencing these moments as an athlete, because I think it's making me a much better coach. If I had the brute strength and "balls to wall" attitude to just fling myself up into a muscle up, I would not be looking at progressions like this. And I would less educated and less prepared to help others who need a much more incremental approach to practice.
And this highlights something fundamental that makes CrossFit special to me. With all the skills that are incorporated, CrossFit puts me into these incredibly uncomfortable positions, where I'm consumed with "I can'ts" and my outlook gets to bleak. But when I persevere, next thing I know, I'm doing things I never thought would be possible.
Last year at this time I was 20 pounds heavier, and hiding inside all day because I hated the heat and hated living in Georgia and hated myself. I had just purchased summer clothes in bigger sizes because I didn't think I was going to take the weight off. It would be another month of misery before I even considered getting back to the gym.
11 month later, and I've just completed Murph as Rx. Yeah, it took me 90 minutes, but who cares? I got that shit done! Freaking amazing.
And can I just take a moment to be snarky? There's no way in hell these changes would've happened via elliptical machines, Zumba classes and Jillian videos. :-D
--
One final thought on muscle ups. If you're a chick, and you have a kipping pullup and you can do a couple rings dips, have you considered adding this skill to your goals? Has your coach encouraged you in that direction?
As a coach, I think I want to bring this skill down from "holy grail" category and help my athletes perceive it as just another skill that is scalable and achievable for them, with time and practice.
And by "scalable" I sure as hell don't mean doing gazillions of pullups and dips on any day where MU's are programmed. I personally think that's total fucking crap. Let's start subbing movements with progressions of that movement people. (This is a pet peeve of mine, along with substitutions for rope climbs)
I'm making it my mission to make sure the ladies at my gym are setting their sights on going for a muscle up from the very moment after they get their kipping or deadhang pullups.
I think when you're just exiting the process of achieving unassisted pullups, you're used to being in that "sticky" zone, you're used to being uncomfortable. And the key is to keep one step ahead, and introduce a new "sticky" skill, so the athlete never has the chance to adjust back to being very comfortable. It's hard to get yourself back into the uncomfortable place once you're feeling a little cocky that you can do pullups Rx. At least that's how things have played out for me. It has been hell trying to push myself back to that place, but I'm working on it.
Also, more chicks on the rings for dips, please. Off the bars and onto the rings!
PS - I'm gonna be making some more videos of my work on gymnastics stuff. Be prepared to laugh because I'm sure to make an ass of myself doing HSPUs. :-D
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