Push Jerk
135 x 3
155 x 3
175 x 3
185 x 3
Kettlebell Swings
3x: 20 swings, crossfit style 53lb kb
Kettlebell Snatch
2x: 10L, 10R 53lb kb
Snatch Practice
3 x 3 @ 75lbs
Continued to practice Pat's advice of doing power snatches, catching the weight, then riding it down into a full OH squat
Ab Ripper X
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What did you think of the KB snatch? I think it is one of the greatest exercises. It is a total body power endurance move that has no equal. As good as people think light weigth olifts done at reps are for condition..I think KB is much better, same benefits (allows you to move a load a distance, quickly) without the negative aspect of doing high rep olifts (which, I my opinion, is just laying down poor form and causing bad habits).
ReplyDeleteOne criticism I have with the crossfit swing is it encourages the arms to pull the bell up to finish the arch. More and more people just pull with the arms, instead of just using the hip snap to elevate the bell. The problem comes when transitioning to the KB snatch, where people again fall back to pulling the bell with the arm. Again, in the KB snatch almost all the height should be attained with the hip snap, the arm just guides the bell around. This is absolutely a must to hitting 200+ snatches in 10 min (the Secret Service Snatch Test). However, the CF swings encourages too much arm involvement, again it causes one to practice bad habits over and over again, until those habits become bad form.
I would add KB swings as one more movement CF uses, but actually encourages such poor form (through the constant need to measure everything and a misunderstanding of why one should actually do that unique move). The result is after one has done the CF version of this exercise over and over again, it becomes harder to learn the proper technique and it is only through proper technique we will be able to express our full potential.
Pat, those KB snatches are the real deal, that's for sure. We were all breathing heavy.
ReplyDeleteI've always done the CF form of KB swings, as that is what I was taught. I'll definitely watch some videos and give the RKC style a go.
As always, thanks for the advice! There hasn't been a time yet that I haven't followed the advice you've given me (and I've seen success).
Dave,
ReplyDeleteIn the September 2004 issue of the CF Journal there is an article about why CF uses the KB swing to overhead instead of the shorter, "Russian" or hardstlye swing, taught by the folks at Dragondoor. This is an interesting article because you can see insight into Greg Glassman's methodology.
After reading the article I came away with the ideal, again, maximizing power output is the sole goal of CrossFit. CrossFit HQ can talk all they want about virtuosity or the concept of develeping the body to be able to do unfamliar task well, but at the end of the day all they seem to celebrate it "power", that is moving the most load, the furthest, the quickest. In fact, in the discussion boards we see time and time again Greg Glassman's refusing to say any of his athletes just had bad form.
Back to the swing...the CF version is all about power...moving the bell the furthest distance, the fastest time. Obvisiously, a bell moved to overhead travels further then to face or chest. That is because in order to move the bell to overhead, it must be actively pulled up with the arms. This makes the KB swing less a funtion of pure hip snap and more a total body exercise. This is not a bad thing, but what makes the KB so unique is the ballistic hip snap. It works this major source of power production. CF again, takes an exercise, performs it poorly for the sake of "power" and the exercises losses what makes it unique.
At this point, I believe 100% doing random shit makes you better at doing random shit. It does not make you significantly better at doing non random shit. Said another way, doing a CF WOD over and over will make you generally better at doing random shit. If you never rowed, you will row better. Likewise, if you never squatted it will make you squat better. But, if you are stuck at a 2x BW backs squat, I do not think CF will make you squat more and infact, Greg Glassman probably agrees with me.
Read the CFJ article (it is free), read the stuff for free from Dragondoor and think about why you do an exercise.
Lastly, crosstraining with circuits using barbells, dumbells, bodyweight, whatever, is probably very beneficial in most athletes training. This type of work was made famous by CrossFit, but no one at CrossFit invented any of it any more then when I do my own couplet, I can say I invented that form of training.