Cross Fit training
Apr. 13th, 2011 12:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beth_leonardDespite the fact that I have to get up at 6:15am to get to class on-time, I'm enjoying the cross-fit fundamentals class immensely. We're learning about 2 new exercises per session, and I found that already I'm starting to forget some details. I know all these exercises are on the web, but the process of blogging about them as I learned them helps me remember. I'll keep future entries on this topic private, unless friends express an interest in reading them, in which case I'll start a filter.
The first day started with about 8 more people signing up for the class than had pre-registered. Our class has 16 participants. This worried me at first, but the instructor seems to be able to handle such a large group while still giving people the corrections they need. It's probably a good thing for me, because he has us do exercises in groups of 4, and I need every bit of rest. Martin looks much older than I had expected; he has a 6-inch grey beard down to his chest and likes to wear a ski cap.
Our first exercise is the squat, or air-squat.
Stand with your feet slightly more than shoulder width apart, and your toes angled slightly out. He said 15 degrees each, but when he demonstrated, they appeared to be more like 30 degrees each out from parallel. Sink your weight into your heels and keep it there. Do not roll up on your toes during the whole exercise. I did once, and that hurt my knees, but when I kept proper form, my muscles merely burned yet nothing hurt. Keep your chest up -- he says that chest up is not a direction relative to gravity, but a position relative to the rest of your body. As your body moves through space, don't hunch your back, but keep your spine engaged.
Squat down and keep your hands out in front of you for balance. Don't let your knees go past the tips of your toes, and keep your back engaged so that you stop just below the level of your knees. If I do it right, it always feels to me like I'm about to tip over backwards. Don't go all the way down. Then stand back up again. If you're doing lots of them fast, then you might wave your hands about for momentum and that's ok.
3 sets of 15 air squats gets me really tired and my heart rate up.
We also did push-ups on the first day. I know proper form for these from Tae Kwon Do, but wow!, I had no idea those muscles had atrophied so much. Lifting the kids must not work them. I couldn't even do knee push-ups with proper form. He recommended I start out by doing them leaning against a wall to help strengthen the muscles before doing them on the floor.
Dead-lift: Approach the bar with feet about shoulder width apart and toes out slightly. The bar should be over your shoelaces. Bend down in a stance similar to a squat. Then shift your shins forward to touch the bar. Breathe in, then stand while letting your arms remain straight and let the bar hang down. Remember to keep your chest up. Look about 8 feet in front of you on the floor. Lower the bar by letting it slide down your thighs slowly, don't swing it away from your body. The bar travels straight up and down with respect to gravity. Once it is below your knees, bend your body more and let it go all the way to the ground. When you get to the bottom, exhale. Don't breath in the middle or you're likely to lose tension in your back and you may injure yourself.
During class he had us all learn on an extra light bar, 15 lbs for the bar with two 15 lb weights on it. 45 lbs seemed light for this exercise, but we didn't do more than 2 reps while learning.
Press: We also learned a press that day using a lightweight stick. Lift the bar to your chest and put your elbows forward without cocking your wrists too much. I found that tricky; I must not be very flexible in that direction. Don't hit your chin as you lift the bar above your head. Find the right balance point neither too far forward or back. Then take the bar back down to your chest.
Dip Press(?): One of the things I've forgotten was the name of the modifier to the press. For larger weights, you bend your knees slightly while keeping your body in line as if your heels, rear, and shoulder blades were all touching the wall. With the bar, bend and push upward for a little extra lift.
Jump Press(?): The third type of press is for very heavy weights. Basically you dip down a little farther and give a little jump to get the bar up. Then you put your feet back on the ground quickly. I did this a little bit wrong once and it hurt my knees.
That day our end-of-session exercise was to do as many reps as we could in 5 minutes of the following exercises, using a bar with no weights on it (15 lbs in my case): One press, Two dip presses, Three jump presses. The first 2 or 3 reps were really easy and I wondered about the workout. Then it got harder. By the 4th or 5th rep I felt the need to rest a little before starting the next rep. By the end, I wondered how that bar could have ever seemed light. I think I did 14 reps over all, but I may have lost count or forgotten by now.
Kipping pull-ups: He had us stand on boxes such that the pull-up bar was only about 12 inches above our heads. We were supposed to jump up and try to touch our chests to the bar. After that we hung down and swung back and forth on our toes. Then on the back swing, we were supposed to lift our feet of the ground. The next step was to combine lifting our feet of the ground with a jump and try to touch our chests to the bar. I get the feeling we still have a long way to go before achieving kipping pull-ups.
Kettle Bells: I think he was calling the weights with handles on them "kettle bells" but I couldn't tell for sure. The basic idea is to pick up the bell as in a dead-lift, then do a squat while using your thighs to push your arms to swing the bell forward. Let gravity take it down, and be sure to keep your back tight. Increase the height of the swing, using not your arm strength, but momentum. Eventually you could get all the way up to the top. Breathe at the top of the exercise not at the bottom, because you don't want to let the air out of your lungs while your spine is doing work.
Sit ups: In cross-fit they do sit-ups using an ab mat. The mat is supposed to be in the small of your back such that the word ABMAT is upside down, were you to be standing up. Put your feet in a butterfly position. At the top of the sit up, you should have your chest up, not rounded over. Do whatever you'd like with your arms.
--Beth
The first day started with about 8 more people signing up for the class than had pre-registered. Our class has 16 participants. This worried me at first, but the instructor seems to be able to handle such a large group while still giving people the corrections they need. It's probably a good thing for me, because he has us do exercises in groups of 4, and I need every bit of rest. Martin looks much older than I had expected; he has a 6-inch grey beard down to his chest and likes to wear a ski cap.
Our first exercise is the squat, or air-squat.
Stand with your feet slightly more than shoulder width apart, and your toes angled slightly out. He said 15 degrees each, but when he demonstrated, they appeared to be more like 30 degrees each out from parallel. Sink your weight into your heels and keep it there. Do not roll up on your toes during the whole exercise. I did once, and that hurt my knees, but when I kept proper form, my muscles merely burned yet nothing hurt. Keep your chest up -- he says that chest up is not a direction relative to gravity, but a position relative to the rest of your body. As your body moves through space, don't hunch your back, but keep your spine engaged.
Squat down and keep your hands out in front of you for balance. Don't let your knees go past the tips of your toes, and keep your back engaged so that you stop just below the level of your knees. If I do it right, it always feels to me like I'm about to tip over backwards. Don't go all the way down. Then stand back up again. If you're doing lots of them fast, then you might wave your hands about for momentum and that's ok.
3 sets of 15 air squats gets me really tired and my heart rate up.
We also did push-ups on the first day. I know proper form for these from Tae Kwon Do, but wow!, I had no idea those muscles had atrophied so much. Lifting the kids must not work them. I couldn't even do knee push-ups with proper form. He recommended I start out by doing them leaning against a wall to help strengthen the muscles before doing them on the floor.
Dead-lift: Approach the bar with feet about shoulder width apart and toes out slightly. The bar should be over your shoelaces. Bend down in a stance similar to a squat. Then shift your shins forward to touch the bar. Breathe in, then stand while letting your arms remain straight and let the bar hang down. Remember to keep your chest up. Look about 8 feet in front of you on the floor. Lower the bar by letting it slide down your thighs slowly, don't swing it away from your body. The bar travels straight up and down with respect to gravity. Once it is below your knees, bend your body more and let it go all the way to the ground. When you get to the bottom, exhale. Don't breath in the middle or you're likely to lose tension in your back and you may injure yourself.
During class he had us all learn on an extra light bar, 15 lbs for the bar with two 15 lb weights on it. 45 lbs seemed light for this exercise, but we didn't do more than 2 reps while learning.
Press: We also learned a press that day using a lightweight stick. Lift the bar to your chest and put your elbows forward without cocking your wrists too much. I found that tricky; I must not be very flexible in that direction. Don't hit your chin as you lift the bar above your head. Find the right balance point neither too far forward or back. Then take the bar back down to your chest.
Dip Press(?): One of the things I've forgotten was the name of the modifier to the press. For larger weights, you bend your knees slightly while keeping your body in line as if your heels, rear, and shoulder blades were all touching the wall. With the bar, bend and push upward for a little extra lift.
Jump Press(?): The third type of press is for very heavy weights. Basically you dip down a little farther and give a little jump to get the bar up. Then you put your feet back on the ground quickly. I did this a little bit wrong once and it hurt my knees.
That day our end-of-session exercise was to do as many reps as we could in 5 minutes of the following exercises, using a bar with no weights on it (15 lbs in my case): One press, Two dip presses, Three jump presses. The first 2 or 3 reps were really easy and I wondered about the workout. Then it got harder. By the 4th or 5th rep I felt the need to rest a little before starting the next rep. By the end, I wondered how that bar could have ever seemed light. I think I did 14 reps over all, but I may have lost count or forgotten by now.
Kipping pull-ups: He had us stand on boxes such that the pull-up bar was only about 12 inches above our heads. We were supposed to jump up and try to touch our chests to the bar. After that we hung down and swung back and forth on our toes. Then on the back swing, we were supposed to lift our feet of the ground. The next step was to combine lifting our feet of the ground with a jump and try to touch our chests to the bar. I get the feeling we still have a long way to go before achieving kipping pull-ups.
Kettle Bells: I think he was calling the weights with handles on them "kettle bells" but I couldn't tell for sure. The basic idea is to pick up the bell as in a dead-lift, then do a squat while using your thighs to push your arms to swing the bell forward. Let gravity take it down, and be sure to keep your back tight. Increase the height of the swing, using not your arm strength, but momentum. Eventually you could get all the way up to the top. Breathe at the top of the exercise not at the bottom, because you don't want to let the air out of your lungs while your spine is doing work.
Sit ups: In cross-fit they do sit-ups using an ab mat. The mat is supposed to be in the small of your back such that the word ABMAT is upside down, were you to be standing up. Put your feet in a butterfly position. At the top of the sit up, you should have your chest up, not rounded over. Do whatever you'd like with your arms.
--Beth
