New Training Block: Olympic Lifting Focus
We are now done with our Strength Block for the fall and are looking to use our (hopefully) new strength into our Olympic Lifting where we will work for the next 2 training blocks.
Naturally when we are in a strength block we are doing very little Olympic Lifting in the Daily Wods and because of this we will use the first 4 weeks to build a better foundation in our technique and we will be lifting from different positions in both the Snatch and Clean where our main focus will be to get better at keeping the bar close, especially around the knees to allow for the bar to go more straight up.
For our Jerks we will as a general have one workout per week where the focus is on getting better at developing Power on the way up and one workout where the focus is to get better at getting under the Bar.
How much will we be lifting?
While we always have a specific period in our programming it is important to note that the main focus for the program is to get better health (and to get better at all aspects of CrossFit). Because of this we will never focus solely on one capacity during these periods but you will see our focus showing up more. For our Olympic Lifts we will be doing 2-3 days a week on the Daily Wods of Olympic lifting and then we will in addition to this also do 2 extra sessions in our Pre wods.
Help your positions: 10 min Air Squat a Day Challenge
Olympic Lifting has a lot to do with how good you are. And it will also always be a benefit to be able to catch the bar deeper since we then not have to get the bar as high.
Because of this we will during our first OLY Block do a daily challenge where you collect 10 min a day in a squat. The squat should be passive and you do not have to collect the 10 min in one sitting but can collect the minutes during the day. During the first few days there is a high probability that it will be hard and you have to split it up in many sets but over the course of the weeks this will be easier and easier to achieve.
This is inspired by the 30 min Squat Challenge from Ido Portal and we have often seen great improvement in the squat positions from putting athletes through this. The main benefit is of course that the athlete gets improved Hip and Ankle Mobility and are able to catch the bar deeper and be more upright in the bottom position of Both Snatch and Clean but this will also translate to being able to use a better movement pattern in all different types of squats in workouts.
Try to get a friend joining you in this challenge and log every day how many sets you do it in. Also take a photo the first and last day of the challenge to be able to see improvement
What to Expect for our next training blocks:
Week 46-49: Olympic Lifting Technique
This is the block we are starting now, expect a lot of technique training where we do not go too heavy in the start
Week 50-52: General Training Block (Christmas/New Year)
While many are away we choose to keep the training to more variation during Christmas and New Year before starting a New Block
Week 01-04: Oly/Gymnastic Cycle
For this period we will start to Build our Snatch and Clean & Jerk heavier and you will see less variations of the lift and more percentages on the lifts that are gradually building itself up. We are also starting to preparing for the CrossFit Open during this period and are adding more gymnastics into the metcons
Week 05-08: Open Prep
This is where we prepare in full swing for the CrossFit Open. Slightly more frequency of intensity and more focus on high rep gymnastics
We looking forward to following you during this next Training Block, if you have any questions about training you can send them to Kriger@krigertraining.com