Thursday, January 5th 2015
GYMNASTIC CYCLE EXPLAINED!
We are so excited for the start of our current gymnastics cycle and we have heard lots of positive chatter from the community as well. We’ve also heard a bit of frustration that people want to hit certain movements like muscle-ups (as an example) but have been directed to work more on pull-ups first. While we can’t address it all here (this will already be a nice and long blog post) please know we are ALWAYS here as coaches to answer your questions individually. Having said that, we want to share as much of our broad thinking as possible. We also want to share questions we’ve been hearing about the cycle as we are sure that if a few of you have questions, many more probably have the same ones but haven’t asked. Here’s a bit of background…
We have chosen to focus on three separate, but related, gymnastics movements that build upon one another.
Pull Ups – focusing on developing strict strength to pull ourselves over the bar and supporting it by teaching kipping fundamentals.
Toes-to-Bar – continuing the refine the kipping motion teaching straight arm lat engagement and putting a greater demand on our mobility and core strength.
Muscle Up – combining deep pulling and core strength, scapular stability, and the ability the dip to this high-skill gymnastics move.
It is important to note that all three of these movements are related and by perfecting one you improve the quality of the rest. We know that many athletes dream of getting their first bar muscle up, but by spending more time perfecting the kip with toes-to-bar or developing a full range of our pulling strength, it WILL eventually lead to that first muscle up. But more importantly, it will give you the fundamentals to do them efficiently and safely. Everything is a progression and we are all in different phases of the development needed for each.
Speaking of progressions, it is VERY important that you have a base of skill and strength to determine the appropriate movement you should focus on…
As a guideline to be part of the muscle up track we want people to have 8 consecutive Chest-to-Bar Pull Ups. Having that deep pulling strength is very important. We discussed this standard as a staff and want you to hit that standard using either kipping or the butterfly method before thinking to move to the muscle up track.
We have had some questions about learning Butterfly Pull Ups as a skill. Note that this is a high skill movement that really serves the competitive CrossFitter. That does not mean you want to just get good Metcon times, it means you plan to go outside the box and compete regionally. If that is a goal of yours we are happy to support you. With that said, we want you to have great mobility and stability at the shoulder, have a baseline of 6+ pull ups, and have really perfected our classic gymnastics kip before we butterfly.
There has been some concern that this cycle might lead to rips. Our plan is to have 2 days focused on our gymnastic movements. One will be more dynamic like Monday’s EMOM but the other day will be more core, raw strength, and skill based training that will support your skill development but not beat up your hands.
We also have people that want to work on two tracks at the same time. Generally we think it would be fine to focus on one movement track during class and add some of the strength/skill accessory work at another time. So for example, I would work on toes-to-bar during class but at another time I might work on some J-hook pull ups or ring rows to help my pull-ups. That is fine as long as you are not over-using your shoulders or destroying your hands. Talk to a coach about appropriate volume and times to do this if you have questions!
The exciting thing about this cycle is that this is a HIGHLY individualized training cycle so each athlete should see great results if you stick to the programming. The hard part is that this cycle is that it is so individualized that the answer won’t be the same for everyone. Embrace it. Don’t worry about what the guy or gal next to you is doing. Do your thing. Do it great. And great things will happen. Promise.
STRENGTH WOD
Wide Stance Box Squats 5/5/5/5/5
DEMO HERE
WOD
1 minute on 30 seconds off for 12 minutes
8 Back Squats
Max Double Unders
Fitness: 95/65
RX: 115/75
RX+: 135/95
Coach’s Tip: There is rest in this workout, but it is not a lot. 30 seconds will fly by after the third round. If you are good at math, you’re realize this is 8 rounds of work. That means you’ll be hitting 64 reps on the back squat! Some of you were complaining about soreness from Monday’s monster leg day, so please stay on the light side if it took you a while to recover from that. Use the time to go quick on the squats and develop your doubles. Regardless of the weight you choose you should be able to knock out all 8 unbroken and fairly easily for most of the rounds! If you do not feel comfortable lowering the bar on your back please use a rack. If you are coming from the floor, feel free to clean the bar up before the minute starts and be ready to go at the top of the minute.
Phil, Justin and Karena working the barbell!
