Monday, July 8th
1. Starting our week by building upon the last, with stamina squats to open. A 3% climb from last week.
2. This serves as a primer for our conditioning for the day, "Elizabeth".
A.
STRENGTH:
Alternating "On the Minute" x 12 (6 Rounds) Odd Minutes - 3 Front Squats Even Minutes - 6 Back Squats Barbell - 63% - This is an increase of 3% from last week, and as a refresher, this is the same loading for *both* lifts.
B.
METCON:
“Elizabeth”
For Time 21-15-9: Squat Cleans Ring Dips
*Rx Barbell – (135/95)
Stimulus wise, we are looking for a barbell loading that we could squat clean for 12+ repetitions unbroken, when fresh.
"Elizabeth" is an original CrossFit.com "girl". Of all girls, one of the most challenging on the barbell. With our focus in Sled Dog being barbell cycling, Elizabeth is a potent start to our week.
Although the ring dips are a large portion of this workout, and must be paced so as to not hit the wall early, it is the squat cleans we are after today. Here's the met-con, the grind, and every reason why this workout is what it is.
Pacing these squat cleans from the onset is a must. It is tempting to lean into a big set early, but reminding ourselves of the total, we are after 45 squat cleans today. And a touch and go set of 10 is impressive to start, but not if we are reduced to slower singles on the following round of 15's. If we are aiming for sets, let's choose a number we are very confident we could cycle in the final round of 9's. We may need to move to singles there for speed, but if we wanted, we could hang on for it. Whether that's 3's, 5's, or beyond, consistency is king here with the higher rep count of the workout.
With that said, singles are a very strong option for many. Dropping from the top and getting our hands back to it after a full breath locks us into a methodical pace which can easily chase down those who come out hot and heavy, only to slow in the 15's. The aim is to move 1% faster in the 15's than we did in the 21's. The workout "gets real" at the 15's. The 21's are our buy-in to get there.
On the ring dips, this is highly individual dependent. But across all, efficiency in the kip is massively important. We don't talk about very often, as we are commonly doing this motion to finish a full ring muscle-up… where other focus points tend to come into play (pull and transition over the rings as examples).
Here, where we get to focus purely on the ring dip, let's aim to maximize the power of our kip.
Imagining ourselves in the bottom of our ring dip, visualize a plane of glass that sits about waist level in front of us. Our aim is to break that plane of glass with our knees. Though an aggressive upward knee strike, we'll break the glass, and immediately drive our feet back towards the floor to avoid the shards of glass that fall. This motion, driving up, followed by an equally powerful kick back down, creates lift. It is a matter of timing of finding this pattern, and practice is the best way.
On these dips, we are looking for a level of difficulty that allows us to find 7-10 reps unbroken, when fresh. We may opt for smaller sets in the workout, but this is not the heart and soul of our effort today. In can in fact pull us away from it if we become "stuck" at the rings, or just spend too much time there. Banded is entirely an option if we would like to train on the rings today.
