Friday, December 28th

A.

STRENGTH: Jerk Primer

3 Minute EMOM:

3 Jerk Balance

*30-35% 1RM jerk

3 Minute EMOM: 2 Tall Jerk

*30-35% 1RM jerk

Followed by… 9 Minute EMOM 1 Push Jerk +1 Split Jerk

Set 1 - 50% Set 2 - 55% Set 3 - 60% Set 4 - 65% Set 5 - 70% Sets 6-9 - Build to a heavy jerk for the day.

On both the jerk balance and tall Jerk - we are looking for lighter loads to reinforce our best movement. Let's get some weight on the bar so that we have some feedback to work with, but we are not looking to climb above 30-35% of our best Jerk here.

On the first movement, the jerk balance, start in a partial split. With the bar in the front rack position, the movement starts with a dip drive to get the bar weightless. Instead of driving the bar up, focus on driving the body down as we step forward with our lead foot into the full split. This drill helps train our drive beneath, but also targets that front leg which poses difficulty to many athletes.

In the second lift, the Tall Jerk, start by pressing the bar just past halfway. Naturally, we want to use light loads here so that we can effectively press this bar into position and hold it there for a split second for the part that follows. As the bar is held just above the head, drop into our split. Instead of jumping up to move the feet, instead, pick up our feet. By picking up our feet, our center of mass actually drops (as nothing is pressing against the ground beneath it), and we have the chance to descend into position beneath the bar as we move into our split receiving position. This drill trains the speed of the movement, which builds upon the positioning confirmed in the previous Jerk Balance.

B.

METCON:

“Vader”

3 Rounds for Time:

24/17 Calorie Row

21 Wall Balls

18 Alternating Dumbbell Snatches (50/35)

15 Burpees

In "Vader", all repetitions and loads are intended to be on the manageable side, where the stimulus calls for each set to be completed with at most, one break. Applying this to the wallballs and dumbbell snatches, what we are creating here is a metabolic finish to our day where it's less about if we can find large sets, and more about, how fast we move on the repetitions and transitions.

On the row, this is our pacer of the workout. We by all means want to maintain intensity here, but the first items we need to dial in is our transitions and sets on the wallballs and dumbbell snatches. If we find ourselves breaking here, we are highly likely losing any time gained by pushing the row.

On these wallballs and snatches, our aim here is fluid methodical movement. With the intentions again being that we complete these sets with at most a single break, it is our aim to push our efforts here with quick transitions large sets.

On the burpees, there is much time to be gained (or lost) here. It is naturally a movement that can slow for athletes dramatically, with athletes being separated by a dozen or more seconds per round on this station despite it being the smallest amount of repetitions in the workout compared to the other stations. Tight, compact motions pay off here, where excessive, wasted motion does not. We don't need a specific speed to hold, but we do need to be consistent from round 1 to round 2. Without that, we can fall victim to those ever fast moving seconds. On our third and final round, let's finish strong with what we have left.

Jerk Balance