Thursday, January 20, 2011

How Can 12 Minutes Last So Long?!

The testing at CrossFit Austin continues... before this morning, I don't think I'd ever rowed more than two minutes which means I technically have a new PR.
Skills
5 sets:
3 front squats
3 clean pull-unders
3 hip cleans
3:00 rest
My #s: 25 - 30 - 35 - 45 - 55

WOD
12:00 rowing = 2551m
According to Coach Wes, I ranked third among all the women in the Challenge. Neato!

Despite my not-too-bad performance, I need to work on my rowing technique.  It's definitely a skill which has gotten, like, zero attention from me. To supplement the (awesome) in-person coaching I get at the gym, I turned once again to the kickass videos at Again Faster.

These are kind of long, but are tremendously informative. Check it!


The Rowing Monitor Part I from Patrick Cummings on Vimeo.


The Rowing Monitor Part II from Patrick Cummings on Vimeo.
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4 comments:

  1. StephanieJanuary 20, 2011 at 3:54 PM

    Hi Mel,
    Could you tell me what a clean pull under is? I've seen you mention it before and I can't find it via Google. Good work on the long row! Thanks for all the info and recipes you share. Love it! :)
    Stephanie

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  2. Mel_JoulwanJanuary 20, 2011 at 4:00 PM

    The clean pullunder and hip clean (also snatch pulluder and hip snatch) are drills that focus on segments of the lift. We do them as part of our skills work quite often at CrossFit Austin.

    Clean Pullunder: Hold the bar in clean grip. In one smooth motion, shrug shoulders and lean back, then quickly drop under the bar and land in the clean catch position (at the bottom of the squat). The goal is to be TIGHT at the start, then drop really quickly under the bar.

    Hip Clean: Hold the bar in clean grip. Bend the knees slightly and "sit butt back" without lowering the bar down the thighs. Shrug and drop under the bar into the clean catch at the bottom. The goal with this one is to be really aggressive with the shrug and jump.

    When we work skills like this, we use pretty light weight and often, during the warmup, we just use a PVC pipe. Today I worked up to 55#, but my max clean is 80#. We use the light weight to really work the skill. I feel like it's done wonders for my comfort level with the lifts.

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  3. RichJanuary 20, 2011 at 8:09 PM

    thanks so much for posting the rowing videos. technique is so tricky that it's super helpful to get these pointers.

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  4. Mel_JoulwanJanuary 21, 2011 at 11:48 AM

    Rich --> Hope you find the videos helpful. I watched them and now my brain is EXPLODING with stuff to think about next time I hit the rower.

    ReplyDelete

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