CrossFit HEL Class 106 is in session this week. They will represent the last Boot Camp to be initialed as members in 2009. Class 106 is six (6) member candidates. In the picture above, from left to right, they are: Guy, Max, Matt, Macie, Ida, and Peter. Wednesday was the last day of movement training - in the picture they are getting Med Ball Clean instruction from Instructor Hess.
Congratulations to Noel Jackson who, after a few weeks of dedicated training, earned her Blue Shirt and joins the Basic ranks! Noel was able to complete most of the Basic qualifications with little adversity. The Wall Ball Shots gave her some trouble. So what do you do when you have trouble with something at the Lab? You train it! A LOT! So Noel did 100's of Wall Ball Shots (maybe 1000's!!) over the past couple of weeks and when she was confident she could do 25 continuous, she asked to show me. Then she killed Christine. Nice work Noel!
This is one of my favorite videos. It's short but it has a ton of energy in it! Josh Everett is a champion in the CF community and this is a video of him doing a split clean and split jerk at 155kg (about 342lbs). The angle is great because it shows the barbell directly overhead for the jerk. Also notice the front knee is over or just behind the heel, well behind the toes.
Muscle-up practice today. This video above is pretty good on instruction. While I would rather you learn the muscle-up without a kip, the technique described here is sound. The problem with the kip is safety - attempting to stabilize the shoulder on a dynamic plane.
Take a look at the video from 3:24-3:26, the slow motion part of the muscle-up. That is where many of you who are close the muscle-up fail. When the wrists and elbows are pull away from the torso, the range of motion is shortened and the ability to stabilize is compromised. Keep everything tight. Once the shoulders are completely over the hands, push the chest forward to find a position of support.
Power cleans today. A HUGE part of this movement is the 'jump' from the hip. This part of the power clean, in my experience, requires the most coaching. The power clean is NOT a pull from the ground, although the movement starts there. You can think of the power clean as a deadlift and a jump.
Once you have brought the bar above the knees, the barbell will find a new platform from which to accelerate (increase its rate of speed) from . This platform is the thigh.
Rip mentions a couple of problems that can occur when finding the correct position on the thigh from which to jump from. If you jump to early (barbell is low, just above the knee), you will move forward. If you notice yourself jumping forward or the WOD Coach tells you you're moving forward, you are hitting your thigh too early. If you jump late (barbell is high, just below the hip), you have already exhausted your powerful extension - and likely will miss the clean.
Neuro-muscular development will take longer for the power clean than the other power lift (back squat, deadlift, etc). This is due to the added coordination and accuracy associated with the power clean. If you have not found the correct thigh position from which to jump from, this MUST be developed BEFORE adding load.