Wednesday
Practice: Power Clean

Conditioning: 3 rounds for time

• Row 500m
• 15 KB Swings (24/16)
• 15 Burpees

Coach’s Corner
Proper Hip Extension
One of the most common faults I see when athlete’s are performing the power clean or a hang power clean, besides pulling early, is not pulling the hips back aggressively into a solid quarter squat.  We are always emphasizing full hip extension when performing those movements but that’s only half the story.

In order to finish the power clean or hang power clean in a solid receiving position the athlete must retract the hips as aggressively as he/she extends or opens them up.  Think of it as a “punch” with your hips.

Wall Ball from Chris Brown on Vimeo.

Chris demonstrates proper wall ball form, a common fault, and a couple variations.

Wall Ball has been a part of CrossFit since the early days and there is a oldie-but-goody (and free) article from the CrossFit Journal entitled “Functionality & Wall Ball“. From the article:

The wall-ball drill comprises two highly functional classical weightlifting movements brought together at light loads and extended duration to create a super-potent metabolic conditioning tool with an enormous potential for increasing athletic performance.

In the article Glassman suggests we consider the following milestones:

30 seconds: 12 shots
1 minute: 25 shots
1.5 minutes: 37 shots
2 minutes: 50 shots
2.5 minutes: 62 shots
3 minutes: 75 shots
3.5 minutes: 87 shots
4 minutes: 100 shots
4.5 minutes: 112 shots
5 minutes: 125 shots
5.5 minutes: 137 shots
6 minutes: 150 shots

He goes on to propose that we start with a 4 pound ball and incrementally work towards the 20 pound ball. The 150 shot milestone eventually became known as the benchmark workout “Karen” and back in 2003 the record time was 4:52 with a 10 foot target and 20 pound ball. A lighter ball can quicken the learning curve with this movement but when it comes to 100+ shots its rough no matter what size ball one uses.

Beat The Coach Challenge
In the late summer of 2010 at EmerFit we’re going to see wall ball fairly often in our regular training sessions. We are working up to a couple attempts at “Karen” in August and September. Below is a video of Chris completing 150 shots in 7:26. Who is up for a challenge of beating that time? The first EmerFit guy and gal to do it before October 1st get a free EmerFit t-shirt. You must complete the challenge at EmerFit during one of our scheduled attempts of “Karen”.

Karen from Chris Brown on Vimeo.