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Two Down
Well done Cindy getting her 18.2 and 18.2a done in Hawaii... and way to represent with the Vic City tank top!
Hey Vic City!
We are two weeks (and three scores) into the 2018 CrossFit Open! This past week was a bit of a surprise in that not only did we have to contend with dumbbells again, but that there were two scores available inside of the single time domain.
What happened for many of you was not what was expected - in that there were several BIG pr's in the clean following a very intense and leg focused wod!!
Most traditional strength and conditioning circles would suggest that the best opportunity to hit a max clean is in a fully rested state with controlled intervals between lifts. This of course was NOT the case in 18.2 and 18.2a, but people were still able to hit anywhere from 90% to 110% of their clean after working very hard for 7-10 minutes.
How does this happen? Well there are a couple of really important things at play in a scenario of this type - environment and time pressure.
It is well known that a very energetic and supportive environment is the best for promoting high performance. This has been demonstrated by several studies looking at maximum performance with and without verbal encouragement.
For virtually all the attempts in week 2, our athletes were getting a lot of encouragement once they got onto their lifts - in some cases there were 6 or more people all cheering on one person. This type of environment charges the athlete up with positive chemicals and lifts them to higher heights knowing that they are not in it alone.
The time pressure also comes into play in that there is minimal time to think. The olympic lifts are complex and much like any complex movement, the "right" amount of thought is helpful, but too much thinking can slow the lift down or complicate the timing.
By only having 90 seconds or so to get in three lifts, the athlete has only the opportunity to focus on what matters - pulling hard and guiding the bar - as opposed to focusing on the myriad of other cues they could be thinking about.
This goes just as much for the top lifters in the gym - many times PR's come on E90s repeated lifts where there is just enough recovery but not enough time to really think too much about each lift.
So both the community of people we have in our box as well as the unique nature of the wod helped to create these opportunities to supersede our previous bests. Well done this week team and let's look forward to whatever comes next!!
Cam
TRAINING MONDAY - TUESDAY
WARM-UP: Partner plank and shuttle runs (1,2,3,4 laps!)
No scores for today, just practice!
WOD1: 8 min alternating OTM: Power snatch x 5-7, OHS x 5-7
All weights scaled as needed - use one bar only for the power snatch and overhead squats
WOD2: 8 min alternating OTM: 1-4 muscle ups (ring or bar), 10 deadlifts
All weights scaled as needed - scale muscle ups to ring rows OR ring dips
WOD3: 8 min alternating OTM: 5-15 pullups, 5-15 handstand pushups
Scale as needed - sub hs or wall walk holds for hspu