Not up for debate – By far my favorite thing to come out of the debate last night was watching my very close friend’s, Randy Dexter, live social media insight as he volunteered behind the scenes. Randy and I were deployed to Baghdad together for over 20 months. Not only was he hit by an IED, but as part of the group that made the initial invasion into Iraq back in March of 2003, he was one of too many Soldiers that I knew hit hard by PTSD. He was saved by his therapy dog, Captain, and has been advocating their use ever since. I consider myself lucky to know him. Read his whole story here.
Keep it on the DL – Don’t forget your deadlift socks. If you’re not keeping the bar in contact with your legs the entire lift, you’re doing it wrong. If you’re shins aren’t covered, you risk breaking the shin skin. And no one wants your DNA sample.
Finish the lift. That includes setting the bar down under control. Do not drop the deadlift from standing.
Reset between reps. Touch & go deadlifts are like kipping. It’s cheating. Not only is it dangerous when it comes to heavy lifting because your position and tension are broken after you finish a rep, you also aren’t performing a DEAD lift. Using the bounce means you aren’t getting stronger. So, control the bar on the way down and fully prepare your body before executing the next lift.
However, once you’ve established the requisite strength and mobility in your shoulders and thoracic spine, performed correctly, kipping definitely has it’s place in the gymnastic world….
Kipping Toes to Bar – Let’s Tackle These Bad Boys!
Written by Lindsey Johnson, CrossFit Invictus
Toes to Bar – they can really make or break your workout, can’t they? It’s one of the more common questions I hear as a coach; “Can you help me with my toes to bar?”. I find it more challenging than any of the other kipping movements, especially for us ‘long limbed folks’. It’s all about timing! It’s a long way to go to get those toes all the way up to the bar and back down repeatedly! Trust me, as vice president of the ‘long femur division’, I know!
Here are some things to think about that will hopefully help you the next time Toes To Bar are prescribed in a workout.
1. Initiate the kip with your shoulders, NOT your legs. When you feel like a kid swinging on the monkey bars and your kip is totally out of control, it’s because you’ve attempted to kip using your legs rather than your shoulders. Think about bringing your chest forward and back rather than lifting your legs up first.
2. Get your booty behind the bar! Your hips need to be behind the bar – not under the bar – so that you can bring your legs down and your chest can swing forward; this is what moves you into the kip for the next rep. If you hips are under the bar when you make contact with the bar the timing will be off and you won’t have time or momentum to bring your legs up for the next rep.
3. Tuck, Pull and Scoop! After your toes have made contact with the bar, TUCK your legs in towards your chest, PULL them down and SCOOP back up. The biggest mistake people make is thinking that they can just let their legs fall from the bar. It’s a long way down, people! You’ve got to actively bring your legs toward your chest, pull them down and kick back with your heels.
Warmup
Jump Rope 3 Minutes
10 Minutes – Animal Locomotion
10 yd Downdog Walk
10 yd Lateral Ape Walk
10 yd Backwards Downdog Walk
10 yd Lateral Monkey Walk
10 yd Panther Crawl
10 yd Frog Hop
10 yd Backwards Panther Crawl
Lift
Levels 3/4
Take 15 Minutes to work up to a heavy single Deadlift.
Then 6 Minutes E2MOM
2 Deadlifts at 85% of today’s heavy single
Level 2
5x
3 Deadlifts at 85% (calculate from most recent 1RM)
Rest 30 seconds
30 second Handstand hold
Levels 0/1
5x
5 Kettlebell Sumo Deadlifts (Double KB)
Rest 30 seconds
30 second Practice kicking into handstand
Rest 60 seconds
Conditioning
“Bomb Atomically”
21-15-9
Jump Rope
Sandbag Cleans
Toes to Bar
L4 – Double Unders (100/75/50)
L3 – DUs (30/30/30),
L2 – Single Unders (150/125/100) OR DUs mixed with SUs (15/15/15), knees to elbows or V-ups
L1 – SUs (100/100/100), butterfly sit-ups