Today's Workout: 120313

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Push Press 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1
Then, in a 15:00 cap,
40 -30-20-10 of:
Pullups
Kettlebell Swings
Max push press (115/85) in remaining time.
Tonight, the Junior Varsity and Varsity groups finally get their own time spots! Junior Varsity will stay at 4:30pm, and Varsity will move to 5:30. This will make better training opportunities for both groups. Not sure which group you’re in? Come to the 4:30 group and coach Cam will let you know!
CrossFit Lite takes over the back gym at 6:00pm. A ‘bootcamp with brains,’ Lite classes feature a hard fat-blasting workout based on the CrossFit model, but without weightlifting or skill work. Get ready to MOVE for a solid 45 minutes nonstop!
SWEAT FACTORY begins tonight at 8pm! Notoriously called ‘The Tuesday Night Group’ for the last several years, the Sweat Factory class features less skill work and more METCON. Sometimes, the workouts are partner WODs; sometimes not. But it’s a fun class, made up almost exclusively of ladies who can outdo most men. Entry by punch card (no long-term signups required for the Winter term!)
The push press is arguably the most ‘natural’ press. It’s our inclination to use our whole body to move weight whenever possible. If we consider a spectrum of overhead pressing movements, with a strict press (no leg) on the left, and a split jerk (big leg movement) on the right, the push press is in the middle. It’s hard to stop yourself from dipping at the knees in the strict press; it’s hard to make yourself move them enough in a heavy split jerk.
We train the push press roughly twice as much as we train the other two, because of the spillover effect. A push press is ‘easier’ than a strict press, and prepares us for the hard lockout. It’s ‘harder’ than the split jerk, but helps us press ourselves under a bar more forcefully. We can improve the broad spectrum by training the middle often and the extremes sometimes.
In the broader picture, this is the real beauty of CrossFit: train the middle capacities often, and see benefits in the extremes. On the strength/endurance spectrum, we can see gains on the left (maximal strength) and on the right (long, slow distance) by doing medium-heavy weights for medium-short time. Yes, we sometimes go heavy (as above) and we sometimes go long (wait until tomorrow) but we can improve the whole spectrum through hard work in the middle. We see both strength PRs and distance PBs all the time from those doing CrossFit workouts. Conversely, is anyone training both ends of the spectrum (powerlifting and marathon running, for example) and seeing these gains? Does it take them 2-3 hours per day? Are they having any fun at all?
Efficiency means doing the least amount of work required to stimulate growth. Good programming (workout construction) means optimal leverageability. Testing the extremes, like in a SuperMeet or a 10k run, is to measure the efficiency of our programming: are we getting better across the spectrum? Even if specialization is lost, are we more fit? I’d argue that we are.

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