Today's Workout: 040314

3-Position Snatch (60-70% of max) x 10 rounds
Then:
Tabata Pistols (alternating) – 8 rounds
Tabata Wall Balls – 8 rounds
Tabata GHD Situps – 8 rounds
Tabata Wall Walks – 8 rounds.
Post total reps.
The Tabata protocol is loosely based on the research of Dr. Izumi Tabata (Japan.) When his research on interval training was published, it caused a stir in the aerobics and sporting community; the idea of an ‘aerobic base’ was finally called into question after Kenneth Cooper’s 1970s assertion that jogging was the cure for everything.
The key to Tabata’s intervals was (and is) intensity. ALL-OUT efforts were made on his stationary bikes. Today, we’ll pay homage to his name, but not duplicate his intensity; we do that on a daily basis in CrossFit, and don’t need to sit on a bike. “Mixed-modal interval training” – we do a lot of different things at high and low intensity – is one of the best descriptions of CrossFit I’ve seen so far. Consider today’s challenge broken into four parts:
1. Consistency at a challenging skill: pistols.
2. Localized fatigue in a specific movement – GHD situps
3. High-rep aerobic threshold intervals (wall balls and wall walks.)
You’ll notice the wall balls and wall walks – low skill, high intensity – bracket the more skilled or localized work. This will allow more time for the heart rate to drop before the next “hard” interval. Training that recovery while still working is key to long-term work capacity (which we call fitness.)