Captured Shannon, Daniel, and Kelly’s personal snatch records.
The snatch.
From ground to overhead in the blink of an eye, we have the snatch. Probably one of the most fun of the dynamic lifts, it is also one of the most technically challenging, and if you don’t have sufficient range of motion in the hip and shoulder, you’re going to find it especially difficult to make much progress, if any. The snatch is a beautiful expression of strength and speed.
Solid benchmarks for the snatch are 50%, 70%, and 100% of body weight.
Rob Smith sets the indoor rowing world record with 1:15.9 at 48 strokes per minute.
Better rowing technique = faster finish times
Yesterday we spent an hour honing our row technique. Some achieved personal records, but the majority found their fastest set to be several seconds below their best time. What’s up with that?
Not always, but almost always, when you first learn a new exercise or technique, you’re going to under perform, until your body becomes more efficient.
But that momentary loss in load, time, or score is only temporary, and within a short period of time you will find your performance exceeding your previous best.
Check out any sport and you’ll see the strongest lifters, the hardest hitters, the fastest runners and rowers, in fact, all the top athletes are also the most technically proficient.
Focus on form and technique. Speed, strength, and power will come.
I see a lot of variations of dumbbell swings on YouTube. The method I use, I read about in the September 2009 issue of MILO (which is in our library). It seems perfectly suited to swinging the heaviest loads overhead, and is fast becoming one of my favorite lifts.
Video is a great tool for finding weaknesses in your movement. There are many low cost video recorders on the market. This video was shot using the Flip Ultra HD. Consider adding one to your gym bag and setting it up on lifting days.
GPP and the long run
Last week I received an email from Pat Johnson. Some of you may remember Pat from a couple of winters ago when he was preparing for Smokejumper Rookie Training.
He had read my post The Long Run and wanted to share his experience training for and running the Coeur d’Alene marathon.
With Pat’s permission, I’ve posted the email exchange below for your consideration.
Hey there,
I was browsing through the WOD blog and noticed one you had about training for the Missoula marathon. I don’t remember if I have told you already but I will tell you again if I did, I ran the Coeur d’Alene marathon last may. Leading up to the marathon I did about 10 weeks of a workout program based directly off crossfit exercises. Lots of circuit workout with some but not too much running, the longest run I went on before the race was 8.5 miles. I felt so good just from being in good shape and did the race in 3hrs and 40 minuets, my goal was under 4 hrs. Thought I would share that with you after reading your blog. I am still working as a Smokejumper in Washington. Looks like the gym is still cranking out some sweat. Good luck in the run.
Pat Johnson
Hi Pat,
Thanks for the account of your training leading up to your marathon. Smoking time too!
Do you mind if I share this on my blog?
Also curious, if you were going to train for another marathon, would you do it differently, or did that program design work the best for you?
Thanks,
Daniel
Yeah you can share it. I tried to think about the marathon as 4 hrs of work rather than 4 hrs of running. I wanted to run the race training the same way I would for a summer of work. I thought, from past experience, that getting in awesome shape by doing a variety of activities would help you do any activity well. I read a lot about training for a marathon and having a 16 week training schedule and all the distance runs to do ahead of time, but I didn’t really do too much more running than I think I normally would have just training to get in excellent overall shape. I bet if I focused more on becoming a runner, rather than a well rounded athlete, I would be able to produce a faster time, but then again I wanted to do the race as a well rounded athlete rather than a runner. I was satisfied with the way I felt the whole time so I guess I would try and do the same training and also I think having a great positive attitude toward completion is key.
“You can’t come in my kitchen, kick my dog, and take a box of ball points!”
WOD 100309
Deadlift 5×7
Peruse the internet and you see lots of weightlifting rep and set schemes. There’s no magical combination. The number of sets we’ve come to appreciate for all our strength days is seven. Seven sets of one, two, three, and five reps seem to be fulfilling our need to move heavier and heavier loads.
Our seven sets start at 80% of rep max and proceed to 85%, 90%, and 95% before attempting a personal record with 101% plus. We then finish off with two drop sets between 80% and 90%.
