Cleanliness is next to...

Our past meeting had us looking at elements of the Clean and various progressions, working from the deadlift, through the front squat, up to the pulls of the clean itself. The finish to the workout was a full session of tabata front squats with a 45lb bar.

This coming week, we'll be looking over gymnastic elements of the rings, parallel bars, and the floor.

Pull-ups and Oly-lifts

This past Saturday, we took a look at pull-ups, from the simple jump to the butterfly, and followed that up with a run at Cindy, doing as many rounds as possible of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 squats in a 20 minute period. We had a great push from everyone that came, especially the new guys.

Sunday, Ben and I went to Richmond to attend an Olympic Weightlifting seminar, headed up by Chris Wilkes and assisted by his sons. The seminar was absolutely great; everyone got tons of reps on all the major lifts (snatch, clean, and jerk), all of them critiqued by a top coach and his three sons, all national medalists. Hopefully we'll get a chance to show you guys some of the material we learned in the coming weeks...

Taught by this man (right)

His second oldest

And his two youngest

Deadlift mechanics

This past Saturday, we met and looked at some cues and fixes for squat and deadlift mechanics, and then broke in the new Pendlay bar and Olympic lifting plates at Rocky Top on deadlifts, working our way up from 40kg all the way up to 160kg! Cooling down included some tomfoolery on the rings and parallel bars. Great efforts from everyone!

Drive

Lock out

Don't forget to yell

Moving Along

Great job to everyone last Sunday! We hope everyone enjoyed the workout as much as we had fun encouraging you guys and watching you guys put it all out! The workout for this week will be indoors, in anticipation of some possibly bad weather.

Class will be held at 11:30am this Saturday at Rocky Top Rec (here). There will be an instructional portion first, looking at barbell mechanics and exercises, followed by a workout.

Something we've also been discussing is sport-focused training. Though Crossfit centers on general fitness, it is also endlessly adaptable to improving specific modes of activity. If there's a sport you play that you want to be in better shape for, be sure to mention it Saturday. Also, on your own time, consider if there are particular things you'd like to improve. If it's a sport that involves on-the-ground movement, are you concerned with agility? Maybe long-term endurance or ability to generate many small bursts? Think about your athletic demands and where you'd like to see your own gains.

Starting Up

We'll be kicking things off for a new school year, this time starting off with an introductory group workout at the UVA track (http://www.virginia.edu/webmap/FUHallAndAthletic.html - Lannigan Field). The meeting time is 4:30pm on Sunday, September 7. Wear comfortable clothes and tennis shoes. No previous experience is required, and anybody at any level of fitness can participate; everyone will get involved in the group workout!