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CrossFit Skills – The Pushing Edge (week 5)

Posted 23rd September 2014 by Josh Schouten

Last week in the pushing edge (week 4) we took a look at the power-jerk and the split-jerk movements.  This week we are going to continue on the pushing ideas and start to look a gymnastics elements.  In CrossFit, body weight movements are considered gymnastics (e.g., air squats, push-ups, pull-ups, dips, etc..).  In CrossFit, the gymnastics label is applied to any exercise in which your body moved through a full range of motion (ROM) or an extended range of motion (EROM) without external load.  Isometric holds without an external load are also considered gymnastics.

CrossFit Piramid_

If you haven’t already guessed, gymnastics has a HUGE focus on shoulder strength and flexibility.  Gymnastics quickly finds the weakest link in an athletes chain, as both strength and ROM limitations are impossible to hide.

Did you know that the shoulder joint is the most commonly injured joint across all sports.  The strength and endurance of the shoulder stabaisation muscles help to hold the shoulder joint in place during dynamic movements.  Hence the strength and flexibility of these muscles are key in minimising the possibility of shoulder injuries.  Gymnastics, if correctly used, is a great tool to improve the strength and ROM of the shoulders.

 

Muscle-ups, kipping ring dips, front and back leavers are all fantastic exercised used in CrossFit to test fitness.  However, the majority of CrossFit “weekend warriors” are not yet ready to perform these movements safely (please see 10 Lessons Learnt On The CrossFit Gymnastics Level 1 Cert).  Are you honestly strong enough to perform these advanced movements?  And if not, how do you get strong enough?

Mastering movements in a stable environment before moving to a dynamic environment is step number one.  If you cannot perform quality push-ups on the floor (stable surface), why would you even consider moving to the rings (dynamic surface)?

Understanding the basics

This weeks Pushing Edge CrossFit Skills class will focus on the following:

Warm-up:

– Hollow Rocks

– Active shoulders in the push-up

– Correct Push-up mechanics

  1. A. Push-ups on the floor (full ROM)
  2. B. Deficit Push-ups (EROM) on parallettes
  3. C. Dips on parallettes (full ROM) feet on floor
  4. D. Dips on boxes (stable surface, EROM)
    1. – Feet on the ground
    2. – Eccentrics
  1. E. Push-ups on Rings, with a spotter
    1. – Neutral grip
    2. – External rotation at the top
    3. – External rotations throughout the entire movement
  1. D. Progressions towards ring dips
    1. – Straight arm isometric holds on the rings
    2. – Bottom of dip isometric holds
    3. – Eccentrics on the rings
    4. – Feet on the floor, ring dips
    5. – Strict Ring dips
      1. – Neutral grip
      2. – External rotation at the top
      3. – External rotation throughout the entire movement
  1. E. Kipping Ring Dips

The above steps are the progressions that should be taken to achieve a “second-wave” adaptation to kipping ring dips.  Do not try to run before you can walk!  If you struggle to perform strict dips (CrossFit Hackney Functional level for strict dips male: 10 female: 5) you should NOT be performing kipping dips.  The goal for most CrossFitter is to stay healthy and active for as long as possible.  Don’t be that guy/girl that blows out a shoulder because you did not check you ego at the door.