Wednesday, June 26th
1. Overhead squat tempo work to start our Wednesday.
2. Our conditioning for the day follows in suit, with a CrossFit.com benchmark - "Nancy".
A.
STRENGTH:
Every 90 Seconds for 7 Sets:
One Tempo Overhead Squat In each, there are (4) pauses, each for a single second. Pause 1 - 1/4 of the way down (quarter squat) Pause 2 - Halfway down (parallel) Pause 3 - Absolute bottom of squat Pause 4 - Halfway up (parallel) Set 1 - 40% of 1RM OHS Set 2 - 45% Set 3 - 50% Set 4 - 55% Sets 5-7 - 60%
All repetitions are taken from the rack.
B.
METCON:
“Nancy”
5 Rounds: 400m Run 15 Overhead Squats (95/65)
If unable to run, complete:
500m Row
20 Calorie Bike
In "Nancy", we are looking for a moderate load on the overhead squat that we are very confident we could complete all five rounds unbroken with. We may break for strategy reasons, so that we can push our runs more, but if we had to, we feel confident we could complete all five sets of 15 unbroken.
This allows us to lean into the conditioning side. This workout is intended to be a challenge on the runs, and not a pacer. Let's make this workout about our conditioning, and not about our overhead squat loads. We'll have plenty of good work on the barbell in our next cycle, "Sled Dog".
On the runs, we are looking to find a challenging yet consistent pace. It isn't very common to see a five-round effort with 400m runs. This takes some thought to dial in a pace that allows us to push, but not to the tune of a rapid slow-down after 3 rounds. For many, this may be in the area of our estimated 3 mile pace. Much like on Monday, the transition back to the barbell is massively important in this workout. Pushing the runs and making it in 10s earlier on each run is very impressive, but not if we lose those 10s standing over the bar trying to catch our breath.
On the overhead squats, we can actually breath very well here. The shoulders of course take the brunt of the work overhead, but we can breathe far better here than we could in the front rack. Using the squats as a cadence, focus in on our breathing here.
As a sole focus point on the overhead squats, it's to drive up. In the overhead squat, it can be common to "relax" into the movement, once we find the position overhead. Although we don't want to exert extra energy ever in a workout, this is a place where pushing actively helps us in the deeper rounds. Imagine the barbell weights twice as heavy, and we are constantly trying to push it 1 inch higher. What this will do is cue and activate the muscles in the shoulder to stabilize. The better we hold position in the earlier rounds, the better we'll move in the later rounds… where we'll need it the most.
