CrossFit Evergreen – CrossFit
“A single death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic.” – Joseph Stalin
A morbid thought from the former dictator of the Soviet Union.
There is truth behind this statement that we can relate to. As human beings, we do not relate to the many. We relate to the one. We simply cannot connect on an emotional level to something without a specific human story.
The purpose of the quote above is not to shame us, but to bring perspective to something we can take into our daily lives: to treat every individual, as a true individual. Stereotypes are ever easy to adopt. But when we do, we write off individuals… as just another number. A “statistic”.
When we feel the desire to generalize, let’s choose the opposite path. Act for the one.
Strength
Front Squat
5 Sets of 2 Pausing Front Squats
3s pause in the bottom of each rep.
Set #1 – 65% of 1RM Front Squat
Set #2 – 70%
Sets #3+4+5 – Build to a heavy double.
All reps are taken from the rack.
Positioning is what we are after today. In the bottom of each squat, check in on the big three of the front squat.
Positioning – Bar on shoulders, not on wrists. Maintaining tension in the arms is only going to help us with stability, unless it’s causing our elbows to drop into a disadvantageous position.
Midline – Not just our mid-section, but our upper back. As we all have felt, the front squat can pull us forward. Shoulders back, and “be big” beneath the bar as well as tightening down the rib cage.
Heels – It’s not uncommon for athletes to loose heel contact with the ground at the bottom of our squat. Not in an egregious, highly obvious way, but more so in a slight shift in weight. When the ankle rolls in, and we can see movement of the outside of the heel caving in just slightly… we are losing our connection to the floor. Have a friend, or a video, assist us here to check in on how we’re doing.
Metcon
Dirt Nap (Time)
3 Rounds:
15 Hang Squat Cleans (115/85)
15 Lateral Barbell Burpees
In “Dirt Nap”, we have a short-range sprint effort. On the hang squat cleans, we are looking for a load we are very confident we could complete 15+ reps with unbroken when fresh. Today is a day that we are looking to hold onto the barbell for larger rep counts, versus smaller sets.
Another way to look at this is that we are looking for a load that we feel confident we could complete the 15 with one break or less in each round.
On the burpees, these are lateral to the barbell. That is, we are completing the burpee perpendicular to the barbell. A two foot jump over the barbell is Rx, with a burpee step-up still counting as Rx.
Pacing wise, although a mid-range sprint, we still need to pace the burpees relative to our conditioning. What is more important than cycling the burpees quicker is the need for large sets on the barbell. We aren’t going to stop on the burpees, but we absolutely can stop on the barbell. With one break (or less) being the goal on the barbell per round, let’s then increase the pace our burpees.