CrossFit How To

While currently a static page, this HOW TO will soon be a dynamic source including images of and links to videos demonstrating many exercises, as well as explanations. Do not underestimate the value of a textual explanation of an exercise; very often an essential point explained in a textual description will be missed when observing a video, or the clarity or decisive difference can be explained in words better than it can be seen.

Dumbbell Thrusters:
Dumbbell Thruster video, .wmv, 208Kb, Dave Leyes at CFSantaCruz

• Feet shoulder width apart, squat position
• Dumbbells “racked” atop shoulders, in hands
• Squat deep, at top of squat use momentum to drive hands w/dumbbells up to full extension
• Drop from full extension (arms overhead) straight into next thruster.

Leg Lifts:
Partner version:

• Lay on your back on the ground
• Partner stands over your head, facing your feet
• Lift both legs, knees straight, accelerating feet towards partner’s chest
• Partner catches feet and throws them back towards ground; stop your feet before they hit the ground and repeat.

Solo version / substitutions:

• You can support yourself from a pull-up bar, on dip / parallel bars, between two chairs, or laying on an incline board
• You can raise your legs with knees extended / straight, or you can bend your legs, lifting your knees toward your chest (”knees-to-chest”). Straight legs are more difficult.

Overhead Squat:

• Hold broomstick overhead, arms fully extended, elbows locked out
• Wider grip on broomstick — shoulders make a “Y” (snatch grip)
• Shoulders feel like they’re opened back — (”armpits wide open”?!?)
• Watch from side: broomstick should travel in a straight line over the middle of the foot.
• As on all squats, squat deep, below parallel, heels down, maintain lumbar extension.

Burpees:

• Start from standing upright
• Place both hands on ground aside and in front of feet
• Shoot both feet backwards to push-up position
• Push-up
• Shoot both feet back to bottom-squat position
• Jump straight up extending hands overhead, aiming for an 8′ target
• Repeat
• If you have low-back / lumbar / sciatic pain, do this exercise carefully and control the “shoot feet back” movement gracefully. Keep your butt slightly higher. You can protect your lower back by keeping your abs tight.

Push Press:
Push Press video from Performance Menu, Sage Burgener, .mov

• This is a shoulder press with a little jump.
• Dumbbells racked in hands atop shoulders
• Slight buckle in the knees = “dip”,
• Straighten aggressively and at top of this “drive” use momentum to drive dumbbells up through shoulder press
• We call this “dip and drive” — do not bend as deep as 3/4 squat, even.
• You can lift significantly more with a Push Press than with the normal Shoulder Press, so adjust your load heavier than you would with a shoulder press. While your body — leg extension — is enabling this extra weight, your shoulders are getting neuromuscular adaptive benefit from the increased load, and this will increase shoulder strength faster than grinding through shoulder presses with a lighter load.

Good Mornings:

• Rack broomstick across back of shoulders
• Legs wider than shoulders
• Keeping lumbar back arched, bend at hips
• Do not bend below 90 degree angle between back and hips
• Return

Wheelbarrows:

• This is a dynamic shoulder & core body strength exercise for one partner, and a “farmer’s carry” for the other.
• One partner is prone, “leaning rest” push-up position (hands on floor, shoulder width apart), ankles are being held by other partner
• Holding partner keeps ankles on either side of hips
• Tabata strategy: critical. Do not go full intensity from first set. Pace yourself.
• Pace suggestion: aim for about 5-8 steps per interval, flop and rest till next interval. Partner may lower ankles to floor during rest, but be ready to lift and go!
• Strategy is to maximize total number of steps and distance covered over all 8 intervals. Count steps and distance.
• Wrists — if wrist pain, use gloves and fists. Also experiment with radial direction of wrists, from inward to outward, Ninja style on fingertips… etc. Also, “coordination” is partly a matter of controlling the strength to place your hands gently — even with speed. Try with this in mind and see what happens.

Solo substitution:

• Assume push-up position with feet elevated about 30″ (on a table, bench, chair)
• Slap your hip pocket with one hand, replace it, then repeat with other hand

Tabatas
The tabata protocol:

• A “tabata” is a timing protocol for performing high-intensity intervals of an exercise
• The timing is 20-seconds work, 10-seconds rest = 1 interval; the “tabata” consists of 6-8 of these intervals (we use 8 intervals as the default, if the number of intervals is not specified.)
• You need to be able to time 8 intervals of 20 second periods alternating with 10 second periods
• Download this Tabata timer to be used on your computer: http://tabata.sperker.de/ (This timer will play a “whip crack!” noise to start your work interval of 20 seconds, then a “ding ding ding” bell at the end of the work interval… rest 10 seconds… “whip crack!” — 20 seconds work — “ding ding ding” — 10 seconds rest… etc.)
• A standard tabata of 8 intervals lasts 3 minutes 50 seconds, and will devestate you. You will be sore for days. It can be used with a wide variety of exercises, but ideally you choose exercises which you can do more than 10 repetitions of at one go.

Scoring your Tabata

• You need to get in the habit of counting all repetitions, generally. For tabatas, we often count both Total and “Tabata Score”.
• Tabata Score = the lowest number of repetitions in any one 20-second interval. For example, if you do a tabata of push-ups, and the number of repetitions for each round looks like this: 16-13-11-7-5-5-5-5, then your Tabata Score = 5. You can game this, by pacing yourself, to try to get your score higher, and there are trade-offs to the different approaches. I regard the pacing approach as better, as it maximizes total repetitions and work.
• Total Reps = self-explanatory, count reps from each 20-second interval and total them.

Tabata Squats

• Perhaps the single best exercise for beginners to CrossFit, because it helps to train good squatting technique, and is the most efficient vehicle for ramping up your anaerobic–>aerobic metabolic conditioning, is the Tabata Squats
• The best video showing you the Tabata Squats workout

Slalom Jumps

• Place an object on the floor to the side of your feet, about the size of a handbag / backpack. I use a parallette which is a PVC pipe supported horizontally about 16 inches off the floor
• Keeping both legs together, jump over the object, landing both feet on the other side, and immediately jump back — like a skier slalom jumping. Count your jumps.

Feedback and progress reports are high priority. With feedback, productive substitutions and modifications are possible.

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