CrossFit Citadel

Episode 365/365: Project Completed; 10 min Squat Test

"Hey Leopards,

Today’s mission rounds out the 365 mobility project cycle.  About 15 months ago, I thought it was a good idea to begin a serious discussion amongst some friends about better positioning, movement quality, and improving mobility.  I thought that creating 365 videos on the topic would be ambitions and good start.  I told one friend on that first day (BMac from Crossfit Endurance).  We just hit 1.1 million unique users in Google Analytics, covering 201 countries (North Korea is still not supple.  I will try harder.)  You can imagine that the whole thing blows my mind.  Over the course of the last few months I have learned a few lessons to say the least:

1) Athletes need to be treated like athletes.  Tubes of foam are for children.  Mobilization tools for athletes need to be legit.

2) We’ve got to keep  mobilization within the context and language of the movement we are trying to change.

3) Humans are hard to kill.  We have enormous capacity to heal and change.  Anywhere, anytime, anyplace.  We can probably fix about 80% of      our business ourselves.

4) There are no days off.  Fifteen minutes a day is more than enough time to deal with your crap.  But you need to do it everyday.

5) Programming to the movements of the day drives the relationship between cause and effect for athletes. Daily, topical, specific mobility  interventions allow for dynamic programming for large groups and meaningful use of time.  Test and retest progress and position.

6) Prioritize Motor Control through well performed movement first.  Then mobilize second.  Much of the pain and dysfunction with which athletes deal is a result of crappy movement.

7) Never go in the pain cave.  Leopards don’t live in caves. Pony up.

Performance is the only metric that really matters, because good mechanics and technique is never a compromise .

9) You should never sit down.  Ever.  Don’t you even think it.

10) People are clever, smart, and greedy.  Empowering athletes to deal with own crap before it becomes critical is the way of the future. And they can do it.  Tying changes in behavior to ego (everyone likes going faster, being stronger, and hurting less) always works.

11) We have so much untapped potential.

_ Episode 363/365: Pre-Squat Hip Opener Mob-Rx

"Hey Supplenesses,

Today’s mission is a reminder to keep it simple.  I often see athletes struggling to achieve a good bottom position in the squat.  (This is Mob2 position for you M&M coaches out there.)  During the warm up, even though these athletes are struggling for a solid straight back during peak compression, they actually spend very little quality time in the the actual position in which they are struggling.  Performing some warm up sets is great, but if you bottom position sucks and you are spending exactly .023 seconds in that position during the turn around, no wonder it really doesn’t end up getting that much better with big loads on the bar.  The bottom is tricky. It’s the position where you are weakest mechanically, potentially affected by your horrible hip and ankle ROM, and a position of transition (you are changing directions here after all.)  What to do?  Mobilize the position of restriction.  You’ll catch all of the components, fascia, joint capsule, muscle stiffness.  All you have to do it reflect a good position.  Think about your last squat session for example.  Now, think about how much time you actually spent working on the most difficult positing in that squat.  Hmmm.  Oh, couldn’t keep generating torque at the bottom by keeping your knees out and your chest came forward?  Hmmm.

Keep it simple.  Here is a little hip opening sequence that cures gristle-itis. Be sure to test-retest each side so you can see how ridiculously  tight you actually are.  Good gawd man, if you were a leopard, you’d starve.

2-3 minutes a side"

_ A. Clean & Jerk 3-3-3-3-3

B. In teams of two, one person performs KB swings while the other runs 400m. Teammates must tag up on the KB after every run. Fastest team to reach a total of 300 KB swings as a team wins.

300 Kettlebell Swings (53#/35#)
400 m Run

Post total time.

__
Episode 359/365: Shift of Paradigm Away from Pathognomonic Cueing

Hey Mwodies,

Today’s episode is about shifting our thinking away from a reactive model of movement dysfunction to a little more sustainable way of thinking.  Athletes are stubborn “if it ain’t broke and I’m kicking your ass, don’t fix it” kind of people.   We are asking the  wrong questions.  We should not be asking, how good are you?  We should be asking, how much better can you be?  Minimizing movement variables, force dumps, and torque bleeds, is the same thing as protecting the athlete from injury.  The data sets are huge.  Run like a jackass, get hurt.  Pull with a crappy back position, get hurt.  Eventually.  And this is the problem with the reactive model, if we wait for pain or dysfunction to inform us that we need to change technique then we are being suckered out of finding out how much better we can be.  And, now we have to deal with that torn labrum or fried heel cord.  Sweet.  We have to few movement with a different lens.  Open circuit positions and over tensioned systems are the root cause of 98% of the problems that the typical athlete faces.   This means, that sore elbow from squatting and pullups? It’s a preventable disease.

Going slow and being weak isn’t cool.  Make a better decision.

_
In teams of two, complete 2 rounds of the following for time:

* 50 Partner Med Ball Box Jumps (25 each)
* 50 Partner Wall Balls (25 each)
* 50 Partner Med Ball Sit-ups (25 each)
* 50 Partner Med Ball Cleans (25 each)
* 200m Med Ball Relay

Your bad running/walking mechanics can lead to nasty issues in the foot and lower leg. Below Kelley addresses a common problem known as "turf toe." Do you lack mobility in your foot/leg/hip area? Many of us do! Solve these issues before they solve you!

WOD
12 rounds of:
2 Dynamic Deadlifts per round. 50% of 1 Rep Max w/ 30 seconds rest between rounds.

then

Zercher Carry 300ft
Go heavy. Use as many drops as needed.

Pay your dues when it comes to mobility and flexibility drills. Remember: POSITION IS POWER!

Patience, hard work, and the right mobility drills will go a long way towards solving your front rack problems. If you want to move more load when front squating and cleaning then pay your dues! Try these drills K Star has for you...

5 rounds for max reps:
1 min Front Squat (135/95lbs)
1 min Box Jump (24/20")
2 min Rest


Post total reps for each exercise.