Monday 120716

Strength

Push press + push jerk

Work up to a 1RM of this complex in 20 minutes.

WOD

Complete as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of:

15 Drop squats

5 Chest-to-bar pull-ups

15 Wall balls, 20#/14#

5 Handstand push-ups

Scott working the push-press.

Thank You Billy!

When I was out in Vegas I was able to get some work in at CrossFit Max Effort. I had a great time out there and got to learn a lot of cool things. I went in for an Olympic Lifting class being taught by our friends Billy and Breyan. They had us doing a low key WOD with some movements to get
warmed up for the work that day. One of the things that we did was the Drop Squat.

Basically the drop squat is a body weight squat that you perform down to a below parallel position, like we normally do, then you come up to just above parallel and then “drop” quickly back down into the squat as low as possible and spring back out.

When Strength Specific Seminars was out doing their seminar at Evolve, they talked about the differences between the squat position for both the snatch and the clean. This is because the squat serves two completely different  purposes with each of the Olympic lifts.

With the snatch they referred to the squat as “home base”. You want to spend time at the bottom of the catch. Often the weight and your body position might be off a little. This is where you fix all that before you finish the lift.

The purpose of the squat with the clean and jerk is different. We want to see it as a “spring”. Whether you catch the weight high or low, you want to drop into that squat and then use that energy to spring back up to the upright position to set up for the jerk.

Dropping into a squat can feel weird at first and I know that I struggle to do so when I clean. So, with the drop squat in the WOD today, see it more as skill or drill for its intended use.