WAKF & Crossfit Blog

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January 26th, 2012

I’m pretty sure we set a record tonight in terms of attendance.  I say “pretty sure” because I can’t count anything accurately when it’s not for time but I think there were 19 people in the 6pm class.

What was really nice is that there was an almost even split between folks who have been doing CrossFit for a while and folks who are pretty new to the game.  This provided an excellent opportunity for the more experienced students to teach the newer students.

In my experience, having students teach other students is invaluable.  You get to see the depth (or lack of) understanding that people truly have.  It is one thing to be able to do a motion yourself.  It is quite another to be able to explain that motion to someone else.  Inevitably, when you do explain that motion, you gain a deeper understanding of it.  Teaching, in short, makes you a better student.

Ever Downward
10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1
Cleans (135/95)
Toes to Bar

Check the whiteboard for times.

Posted in CrossFit | 0 Comments

Scissors and Puppets

January 26th, 2012

It’s hard to think of a more obvious push/pull motion that the scissor sweep.  You push with one leg and pull with the other, causing your partner to fall over.  Maybe what is more interesting is what one of the kids noticed today – that your arms and legs are connected, almost like the wooden rods of an old-fashioned puppet.  As you sweep with the legs, you rotate the arms.  We call it “turning the bus”.  By grabbing your partners arms and turning, you accelerate the motion of the sweep with your legs.

As the night continued, the puppet idea struck me as extremely relevant to forms class.  We talked about the mechanics of a right handed punch in the following terms:

  • Right hand pushes forward
  • Left hand pulls back
  • The right hip is “connected” to the right hand and is pushed forward
  • The left hip is connected to the left hand and pulls back

We put extra emphasis on the “pulling back” of the left hip because well – it’s a different way of looking at things and sometimes it is these different ways of looking at things (like imagining we are puppets with rods running from our hands to our hips) that helps us move forward in our training.

Check out the adults feedback here.

Posted in Kids, Kung Fu | 0 Comments

Levers

January 25th, 2012

Put one hand behind an elbow.  Put the other in front of it.  Now, push with the “behind” hand and pull with the “in front” hand.  If the recipient doesn’t offer much/any resistance, they are likely to make a somewhat pained face in response.

The notion here is that if you understand a hinge joint like the elbow, then you know that it only goes so far in one direction.  Knowing this, if you attempt to drive it past that point, the rest of the body will try and move in attempt to avoid pain/damage.

What’s really cool is that many of the joints in the body can be exploited in this way – the fingers, the wrist, the knee, the spine… the list goes on.  The trick is finding a way to move someone around with these joint locks in such a way so that even if they do resist, you’ve set up the angle and the leverage such that it is easy to defeat their muscular resistance.

A huge key to all this is the theme of the week – push and pull.  Push on one side of the joint and pull on the other.

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Games, Games, Games

January 25th, 2012

Grab a turkey leg and shout huzzah!  The 2012 open starts on February 22nd.

The what?  The CrossFit 2012 open.  What’s that?  It’s a series of 5 workouts that will determine which absurdly fit people will compete in the 2012 regionals.  Those regionals, in turn, will determine which obscenely fit people will compete in the 2012 finals.  The finals are, you guessed it, absurdly challenging!

The workouts will be announced on Wednesdays (starting February 22nd).  Our approach (the same one we took last year) will be to do all these workouts on Saturdays (the first one will be February 25th) as a group.  For those of you motivated enough to look at the games site, this means you’ll be able to know what the workout is ahead of time.  Oooooh…scary!!!  It also means that we’ll be hard pressed to do Murph and the 4th games workout on the same day (March 17th).  Anyone have a solution to that one?  Maybe we move Murph to memorial day (May 28th)?

Chip, Chip, Chip
50 Box Jumps (20″)
50 Push Ups
50 Back Extensions
50 Pull Ups
50 Tuck Jumps
25/25 KB snatches (24/16kg)
50 Lateral Hops (2=1)
50 Sumo DLHP (75/50)

Check the whiteboard for times.

Posted in CrossFit | 2 Comments

Sweep the leg, Johnny

January 24th, 2012

When we think “push and pull”, most of us think of using only our hands.  That’s a good start.  Most folks are going to be more comfortable with that but there are so many good throws out there that can be greatly assisted with the use of the legs.

Push the head back and sweep out the leg with the foot to bring them down.  Pull the head down and push on the hips to throw them over.  Pull the arm down and kick the back of the calf with the heel to send them sprawling.  To borrow a phrase, “sweep the leg, Johnny”.

Check the whiteboard for feedback.

Posted in Kung Fu | 0 Comments

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