crossfit snatch

ISSUE ISSUE SIXTY SIX TY-SIX -SIX

February 2008

CrossFit-Powered U.S. Kettlebell Victory Kelly Moore

page 1

You Can’t Can ’t Lift Lif t What You Can’t Hold On To Tony Young

page 4

Pre-SOF Training Part 3: “Assessment” Robert Ord

page 9

The Time Trial as a Training Tool Brian MacKenzie

page 16

Coach Burgener Teaches the Snatch, Part 2 Mike Burgener

page 18

Technique, Part 1 Greg Glassman

page 19

Hammer Time Throwing Drills Robin Lyons

page 20

Use Your Feet for Stronger Rowing Tom Bohrer

CrossFit-Powered U.S. Kettlebell Victory

page 25

Row Corrections, Part 2 Greg Hammond

page 27

Kelly Moore

In about May of 2003 I discovered CrossFit when I typed “pull-ups” into an Internet search engine and, no surprise, it appeared appeared high in the results list. I read through the workouts posted on the CrossFit site and was both amazed and skeptical. Who does 100 pull-ups in a workout?! Anyone capable of doing ten was considered a superman in the gym. And who combines lifting with “cardio” for rounds rounds for time? That wasn’t what I read in the bodybuilding magazines, and it sure wasn’t what the powerlifters in my gym did. I was intrigued and gured I had nothing to lose. continued page ... 2

Why Indoor Rowing? A Quick List Greg Hammond

page 28

Rear Naked Choke Becca Borawski

page 30

CrossFit Journal • Issue Sixty-Six • February 2008

CrossFit-Powered U.S. Kettlebell Victory ...continued

I had joined a gym in 1981 when I nally got sick of being obese and weak. I started with “20 sets per body part” Muscle-and-Fitnesstype bodybuilding workouts, and then moved into competitive powerlifting when I realized I had actually become fairly strong. strong. After sustaining several shoulder injuries and becoming disillusioned with the use of support gear, I stopped powerlifting and was again going through the motions of non-productive lifting routines until CrossFit changed the way I thought about what a workout could be and the results I could get. In the beginning, I picked through the posted CrossFit Workouts of the Day (WODs), attempting the ones I thought I could manage and posting my my result results. s. Here’s my commen commentt several days after my rst CrossFit workout, which was the June 27th, 2003, WOD of 50 pull-ups, 200 squats, and 75 push-ups, done in the blazing time of 14:10: “I am in agony! agony! I could use a break from these pull-ups for a couple days.” For comparison, I did the same workout today, after a six-minute kettlebell snatch set and a CrossFit Total—in 7:27. 7:27 . My pull-up technique is now much, much better (my rst couple years of pull-ups were of the half extension variety), and I am now able to do the set of fty non-stop.

in his weight class and the head of the AKC. His bell-handling technique is what allows for high-rep snatch sets s ets without injury. My rst lesson with Imes was in December of 2006. I told her I was interested in doing kettlebell competition (known as kettlebell sport or girevoy sport), and she agreed to be my coach. She asked me to do a four-minute snatch set, with one hand-switch at two minutes, at whatever pace would allow me to go the entire four minutes. I barely made it. My hands were close to a callus tear and were cramping crampin g up. Imes had a lot of work to do, as it became clear that I really had no idea what I was doing. She spent that day and many more correcting my technique, with special attention to grip and the overhead position. Proper grip and overhead position are critical to preventing tears and to being able to complete highrep sets. She instructed me to work on the technique corrections for timed sets at a 15 reps per minute (rpm) pace.

After several years of extremely avid CrossFitting, I became interested in kettlebells, both both as a training tool and as a venue for competition. I pursued kettlebells rst on my own and then with several trainers, and I eventually became a certied trainer for both the RKC (Russian Kettlebell Challenge) and AKC (American Kettlebell Kett lebell Club) C lub) organizations. In December of 2006, I contacted AKC coach Catherine Imes for kettlebell training advice because I was totally frustrated. Despite having received personal training from several kettlebell instructors and even becoming an RKC-certied instructor myself, I was still unable to do more than a couple dozen kettlebell snatches without ripping up my hands. I searched several kettlebell forums and noted that torn hands were common and almost seemed to be an expected result of the exercise.

As often as I could, I traveled to to St. Louis for more coaching from Imes. Each time, she xed xed more faults and slowly increased the length of time per snatch set in my training, while keeping the rpm the same. I had trouble with the concept of working for length of time rather for total reps, but Imes insisted that working slower under time would expose technique aws that would hold back future progress if we didn’t x them up front. She was right. I could complete 20-rpm sets, but I couldn’t last very long and my hands would tear tea r. The T he slower, longer sets s ets forced force d me to work on improving my technique.

I did notice that there was one person—Imes—who was not always tearing up her hands despite completing sets of 100+ consecutive reps per hand. Even more impressive, Imes’s training logs indicated she was doing that kind ki nd of volume four to ve days a week. She was doing full ten-minute sets in competition and her numbers were impressive. Better yet, she lived within driving distance of me, so personal instruction was was possible. She was trained by Valery Valery Fedorenko Fedorenko,, undefeated kettlebell sport s port champion c hampion 2



I had joined a gym in 1981 when I nally got sick of being obese and weak. I started with “20 sets per body part” Muscle-and-Fitnesstype bodybuilding workouts, and then moved into competitive powerlifting when I realized I had actually become fairly strong. strong. After sustaining several shoulder injuries and becoming disillusioned with the use of support gear, I stopped powerlifting and was again going through the motions of non-productive lifting routines until CrossFit changed the way I thought about what a workout could be and the results I could get. In the beginning, I picked through the posted CrossFit Workouts of the Day (WODs), attempting the ones I thought I could manage and posting my my result results. s. Here’s my commen commentt several days after my rst CrossFit workout, which was the June 27th, 2003, WOD of 50 pull-ups, 200 squats, and 75 push-ups, done in the blazing time of 14:10: “I am in agony! agony! I could use a break from these pull-ups for a couple days.” For comparison, I did the same workout today, after a six-minute kettlebell snatch set and a CrossFit Total—in 7:27. 7:27 . My pull-up technique is now much, much better (my rst couple years of pull-ups were of the half extension variety), and I am now able to do the set of fty non-stop.

in his weight class and the head of the AKC. His bell-handling technique is what allows for high-rep snatch sets s ets without injury. My rst lesson with Imes was in December of 2006. I told her I was interested in doing kettlebell competition (known as kettlebell sport or girevoy sport), and she agreed to be my coach. She asked me to do a four-minute snatch set, with one hand-switch at two minutes, at whatever pace would allow me to go the entire four minutes. I barely made it. My hands were close to a callus tear and were cramping crampin g up. Imes had a lot of work to do, as it became clear that I really had no idea what I was doing. She spent that day and many more correcting my technique, with special attention to grip and the overhead position. Proper grip and overhead position are critical to preventing tears and to being able to complete highrep sets. She instructed me to work on the technique corrections for timed sets at a 15 reps per minute (rpm) pace.

After several years of extremely avid CrossFitting, I became interested in kettlebells, both both as a training tool and as a venue for competition. I pursued kettlebells rst on my own and then with several trainers, and I eventually became a certied trainer for both the RKC (Russian Kettlebell Challenge) and AKC (American Kettlebell Kett lebell Club) C lub) organizations. In December of 2006, I contacted AKC coach Catherine Imes for kettlebell training advice because I was totally frustrated. Despite having received personal training from several kettlebell instructors and even becoming an RKC-certied instructor myself, I was still unable to do more than a couple dozen kettlebell snatches without ripping up my hands. I searched several kettlebell forums and noted that torn hands were common and almost seemed to be an expected result of the exercise.

As often as I could, I traveled to to St. Louis for more coaching from Imes. Each time, she xed xed more faults and slowly increased the length of time per snatch set in my training, while keeping the rpm the same. I had trouble with the concept of working for length of time rather for total reps, but Imes insisted that working slower under time would expose technique aws that would hold back future progress if we didn’t x them up front. She was right. I could complete 20-rpm sets, but I couldn’t last very long and my hands would tear tea r. The T he slower, longer sets s ets forced force d me to work on improving my technique.

I did notice that there was one person—Imes—who was not always tearing up her hands despite completing sets of 100+ consecutive reps per hand. Even more impressive, Imes’s training logs indicated she was doing that kind ki nd of volume four to ve days a week. She was doing full ten-minute sets in competition and her numbers were impressive. Better yet, she lived within driving distance of me, so personal instruction was was possible. She was trained by Valery Valery Fedorenko Fedorenko,, undefeated kettlebell sport s port champion c hampion 2



In March of 2007, I went the full 10 minutes (the maximum set length in kettlebell sport competition) at a NAKF (North American Kettlebell Federation) Cross World competition held at the Monkey Bar Gym in my hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. My numbers were just barely enough to achieve the AKC’s AKC’s Master of Sport (MS) ranking, the highest available ranking for women at that time. (The ranking tables have have since changed.) My technique had a long way to go, but my years of consistent CrossFit training allowed me to achieve high reps after only three months of spor tspecic training.

Kelly’s CrossFit stats

CrossFi t Total: CrossFit Total: 650 65 0 “Fran”: 3:15 (65-pound thrusters) “Diane”: 4:30 (225-pound trap bar deadlifts) “Lynne”: 42, 42, 42, 42, 40 kipping pull-ups & 18, 17, 16, 13, 12 bench presses, with a 3-minute break between couplets. Max pull-ups, single set: 62 (33 strict) stric t)

In preparation for meets in 2007, I repeated the process Imes had outlined for me: start at a slightly higher rpm pace for six minutes and slowly increase the time while maintaining the rpm, until I could complete a full ten minutes at that that pace. Increase the pace incrementally, then rinse and repeat. Simple and effective.

Height: 5’0” Weight: 114 pounds (109 when she earned the Master of Sport World World Class rank in November 2007)

Before November of 2007, women could compete only in the snatch. AKC head coach Valery Fedorenko asked for female volunteers to attempt a 10-minute jerk exhibition set as a test at the NAKF Nationals in May. May. Several of us partic participated ipated in the exhibition and expressed interest in including the jerk as a competition competi tion event for women. Shortl Shortlyy after, the World Kettlebell Club instituted the one-arm jerk competition for women. After the Nationals competition, I added one-arm jerk training to my snatch training, again using timed sets at a predetermined pace and working up to ten continuous minutes.

I owe several people big thank yous for making my progress possible. Many thanks to to Catherine Catherine Imes. She is an amazing kettlebellll sport athlete and an outstanding coach. To Lynne Pitts, kettlebe thank you for always listening and bolstering my condence when I was frustrated. I owe you big-time for your therapy sessions.Thanks as well to Lorraine Patton, Steve Cotter, Valery Fedorenko, and all the other AKC coaches and athletes who organized meets and offered encouragement (and heckling) throughout the year. And, of course, my special thanks to Coach Greg Glassman and the CrossFit community. My years of CrossFi CrossFitt have have given me a I competed four times in 2007: in March, May, July, and November. tremendous strength, endurance, and mental toughness advantage At the November World Kettlebell Lifting Championships, I that I was immediately able to apply to kettlebell sport training became the rst U.S. athlete to achieve the the rank of Master of to achieve signicant results in a very short time. I am deeply in Sport World Class (see video of the event here.). This is the your debt. highest possible ranking in the sport. Other than altering a few of the posted CrossFit WODs a month before competition to prevent hand issues, and stopping the workouts just prior to the meets, I continued to do the CrossFit WODs the entire time I was training for kettlebell sport competition. My training schedule for the kettlebell competitions was simple: one timed kettlebell snatch set followed by the CrossFit WOD in the morning at home, and then one timed kettlebell jerk set in the shower room during a break break at work. (I had attempted multiple jerk sets throughout throughout the day day but quickly found the pain pain of the bell resting on my forearms forearms unbearable). I work ten-hour days days as a police/911 dispatcher, so a few minutes away from the stress to do something enjoyable and constructive was a welcome break! I usually snatched and jerked ve ve times a week. This conservative amount of time under the bell seemed to work with my recovery ability.

Kelly Moore lives in beautiful Madison, Wisconsin, where she is a 911/police dispatcher dispatcher,, part-time artist, and full-time cat mom.

The timed-set training that Imes and Fedorenko outlined is straightforward and works works well. I will be using the same training schedule for the upcoming 2008 20-kg competitions. (The AKC plans to bump the women’ women’ss competitive kettlebell weight from the current standard of 16 kg to up to 20 kg). k g).

Catherine Imes & Kelly Moore 3


You Can’t Lift What You Can’t Hold On To Tony Young

Although we CrossFitters do our share of both heavy slow lifts and Olympic lifts, where grip plays an important role, grip is probably not something many of us actively focus on training. But grip strength is no less important to us than to full-time powerlifters, Olympic lifters, strongmen, or grapplers. In fact, the nature of our broad training approach means that we have a greater need for healthy hands and multi-dimensional hand strength than most sport-specic athletes. We are also exposed to more potential hand and forearm injuries. Those CrossFitters in law enforcement and combat duties and sports are already aware of the importance of a strong grip and may want to give this training area even more emphasis. This article is an overview of grip strength and will suggest ways to add hand and forearm strength and conditioning work to your training, complete with a sample weekly workout plan at the end. There are three broad categories of grip strength: crushing, pinching, and supporting. Crushing strength is actively closing the hand, bringing the ngers across the palm with the thumb in essentially a supporting role. Think shaking hands. Pinch grip is a supporting grip, that is, a static grip that holds an object, with the ngers on one side of an implement, usually but not always at, and the thumb on the other side. Holding a 2 x 6-inch board by the edge and doing rafter pull-ups, for example, require pinch strength. Support or open-hand grip is set around an object to hold it (or you) in place. Deadlifting and rock climbing use this grip.

it, even various metal grits and shots. Sit in front of your high-tech tool on a low stool. The elements in the warm-up/beginner routine can be done in any order:

A fourth type of hand control which is closely related but not strictly considered grip strength is wrist and forearm strength, which stabilizes the ngers and hands and includes levering, twisting/turning, and curling. I also include object lifting involving the arms as part of this category.

1.

Work your hands down in to the sand to about the knuckles on your hand. Slowly open and close your hands, concentrating particularly on the opening part of the movement. This limbers the ngers using a moderate load to get things moving. And focusing on opening the hand strengthens that set of muscles opposite to the ones we use most, the closing muscles. Do a gentle set of twenty.

2.

Now, with closed sts, make circles using just your wrists. You can brace your arms lightly on the insides of your legs. Do ten clockwise and ten counterclockwise.

3.

Again with closed sts, raise and lower your hands relative to your forearms against the resistance of the sand. Do a set of twenty.

4.

Still with closed sts, twist your hands back and forth as if turning a doorknob. Do twenty.

5.

With a rigid wrist, make circles with your whole arm. Go around the inside of the bucket. This is a static move and will build the strength to resist. Do ten each direction with each arm.

6.

“Ripple” the ngers back and forth in a wave pattern. Concentrate on the eccentric portion, that is, the opening direction, of this movement. It may be awkward in the beginning, but it’s worth the effort to learn as it helps build independent nger strength and coordination.

Warm-up and beginner routine

If you take nothing else away from this article, please believe that a thorough hand and forearm warm-up can be instrumental in your long-term success and comfort as an athlete. Through overuse and blatant neglect I gave myself a two-year running case of tendonitis in my forearms that left me too hurt to lift anything heavier than a fork. Two weeks after using the movements in this routine, I was pain-free and nearly good as new; I have felt better and better ever since. You can add a hand warm-up to your daily regimen in just a few minutes with the simplest of tools. Start with a clean, ve-gallon plastic bucket. Now, add fty pounds of medium sand from your local building supply store. That’s it. If you want to get fancy, or if you have large hands and arms, you can use a second bucket and another bag of sand, one bucket for each hand. Rice is an option here, particularly if the sand is too much resistance at rst. Though neater, rice is less dense, so it is easier to move through. As your strength and dexterity improve, you can move up to coarser sand, small gravel, then large gravel, and, if you’re really into 4


You Can’t Lift What You Can’t Hold On To ...continued

As you advance, and if you have time, you can repeat the closed-st exercises above with open hands, both with the ngers together and spread apart. This builds strength and independence in the digits. Other variations to the above include the depth of your hands in the sand and the speed at which the movements are performed. Vary the intensity for your goals: lighter for warm-up and rehab, heavier for strength building. Experiment.

A classic crushing grip exerciser is the rubber ball. Try a few until you nd one that’s challenging but not impossible. Work the whole hand, and the thumb and each nger in different combinations. Please, though, I beg you, don’t do what I’ve seen suggested by the well-meaning and do these exercises while you drive. Just don’t.

Crushing grip

You can progress from these sublime tools into the realm of the ridiculous by including produce in your repertoire. Apples and potatoes are crushable with enough practice.

The simplest way to train crushing grip is to use a gripper. There are many on the market but far and away the granddaddy of them all is the Captains of Crush series from Ironmind. They are the grip world’s standard of excellence. Don’t fool around with the models sold in most sporting goods stores; you’ll just be disappointed. Grippers are also just about the only hand-strength tool I haven’t gured out how to make for myself satisfactorily, and don’t think I haven’t tried. They come in a wide variety of resistance strengths, so everyone can nd a comfortable place to start. An important word to the wise: treat these or any grip tool as you would a heavy barbell. They’re not toys, and it’s easy to overdo it at rst (without realizing it until serious soreness sets in). Start conservatively and train two sets of ve on a model you can handle three days a week until you’re comfortable, then add reps as you can. When you can do three sets of ten, you’re probably ready to move on to a more difcult gripper. There are excellent manuals on this tool; the best is probably Captains of Crush Grippers: What They Are and How to Close Them by Strossen, Kinney, and Holle, also available from Ironmind.

Pinch grip

Pinch grip is an often overlooked aspect of hand strength training. It’s vital, however, since it’s the only grip focus that directly trains the thumb. And as you can easily recognize, the thumb is the potential weak link of the grip. For example, the escape from a wrist grab is to twist the arm and pull away through the gap between the assailant’s thumb and ngers. A crushing grip only partially addresses this vulnerability. An easy pinch grip tool can be made from a chunk of 4 x 4-inch wood with an eye screw added to one side. Put a length of rope through the eye and hang a weight from it. With the wood pinched between your thumb and ngers, do timed holds—longer for lighter loads, shorter for heavier—as well as lifts to the front and side. A thinner board, such as a piece of ¾” plywood, with a hole and a cord attached will build a close pinch grip. This close pinch can be taken all the way down to nger tip strength by drilling a hole in a quarter-sized metal disc, running a wire keychain loop through the hole, and hanging the weight from it. Again, timed holds at arm’s length and lifts to eye level will build complete hand strength.

Another crushing grip tool is a oor model machine that allows plate loading for progressive resistance. These look a little like guillotines and work well for the gradual resistances between the strengths of the grippers. Still another is a plate loading leveraction device that closely mimics the action of a gripper.

5



Support grip

Seven-day sample grip workout

Thick bars are good tools for building support or open-hand strength. You can make a thick bar to be reckoned with from any length of 1½-inch pipe. This diameter will accept your Olympic plates. It’s not a perfect t but you’re not going to be throwing them around a lot. If it gets too sloppy, you can add a layer of grip or athletic tape to the loading area. Do deadlifts for reps or do timed holds. Heavy dumbbells or specially made handles can be used for farmer’s walks. Do one- and two-hand varieties for a great grip and total-body workout.

Here’s a seven-day routine combining all the elements we’ve discussed so far. It’s a mix of dynamic and static moves spread out to allow adequate recovery from each one. The set/rep scheme is just to get you started. Add reps until you’re doing twice the starting number, then add weight and start again. Do the holds until the last hold is twice the starting time, and then add weight and begin again. Yes, this is conservative, but you don’t want to hurt yourself. There are other training schemes; once you’re comfortable, conditioned to this work, and condent, you can easily adapt your training to your needs and desires.

Other useful tools are softballs and baseballs with added eye screws and a short length of rope to hang a plate from. Grip these from the top, not letting your ngers get underneath the curve of the ball, which would defeat the whole purpose.

Every day Sand bucket warm-up/cool-down (see the “Warm-up and beginner routine” section of the article) Monday Crushing: Gripper, 3 x 5, done with a gripper you can close pretty well Support: Vertical bar holds, 20 seconds x 5 Tuesday Lever: Thick bar side/front levers, 3 x 8 Pinch: Two-hand thick board holds, 20 seconds x 5 Wednesday Twist: Thick bar twists on pin, forward and back x 5 Crushing: Assisted gripper, 3 x 5, with the next harder gripper up from the one can close unassisted; use your other hand to help you close it. Thursday Lever: Thin bar front/side levers, 3 x 8 Support: Thick bar deadlifts, 3 x 5 Friday Pinch: One-hand thin board holds, 20-seconds x 5 Twist: Thick/short twists, forward and back x 5 Saturday Support: Hub holds, 20-seconds x 5 Crushing: Gripper, 3 x 5 Sunday Carries: Large-object bear-hug-style carries (rock, bag, re hydrant, garbage can, etc.), 50 meters x 3

6



the bar straight out in front of you from horizontal to vertical. With your arm in the same position do the same levering action from side to side. One thick and one thin bar will cover your levering strength needs.

Try putting an eye screw in the at center of a hockey puck or PVC end cap and you’ve got a hub gripper that you can hold at, with your ngers around the outside edge. As with the ball grippers, don’t let your ngers stray to below the lower edge of the puck. Make them work.

Curls for girls. There, happy? I said it. Any tool can be used for the wrong purpose, and curls are not inherently evil; they just been utilized improperly. Thick bar curls are actually excellent for hand and wrist strength and can be improvised from 1½-inch black iron pipe. Again, your Olympic plates will t nicely on these bars. Another option is to wrap a towel around your implement of choice and secure it with a couple rubber bands. With three to ve layers of towel on it, the bar will feel like a bone in an arm. (Great for grapplers and the parents of slippery toddlers.) One of the best variants is the power curl. Using a curl grip on a moderately heavy barbell, slide the weight to just above the knees and “curl-clean” the bar. This is just like it sounds: drive the weight up using the legs, hips, and back, and nish with the curl movement. Let it come down under control. This is good practice for rock or stone lifting and other odd object and “round back” lifting.

Plain old pull-ups done from ledges, overhangs, and overhead beams are great open-hand strength builders. To build strength for rope climbing, do pull-ups with a 4-foot length of 2-inch diameter rope thrown over your pull-up bar, with one end in each hand. Substitute a heavy rolled towel if you don’t have a rope. Do these with an even grip and with an offset grip (one hand higher than the other). Don’t forget thin-rope pull-ups and rope climbing, too. Functionally speaking, you probably aren’t going to have to carry a 25-foot length of 2-inch rope to make a climbing assault, but you might want to climb a 3/8-inch rope. Try it; it’s a whole new ball game. Forearms

On to levering, twisting, and turning. The exercises in this categor y are not strictly about hand strength, but your hands don’t operate in isolation, and without sturdy wrists and forearms, the strongest grip in the world is a pretty abstract thing. The classic forearm strengthener is the wrist roller. This can be made from a wood dowel or piece of iron or PVC pipe. Fasten a cord either by locking it on with a mufer clamp or drill a hole and knot the cord through it. You should have a thin one, maybe one inch in diameter, and a thick one that is two inches or more. These can be used either freehand or mounted on a pin. Be sure to roll in both directions (toward and away from your body). Another roller can be made from a short (3- to 4-inch) piece of 4-inch PVC tted with end caps. Twist it up by the ends, mimicking a jar twist. A loadable dumbbell handle makes a handy lever bar. Using a light weight to start, lay your arm out across a handy bench or table with enough room for the implement to clear the edge, and twist

7



This brings us to lifts using the whole arms. Stone lifting is functional strength at its most basic, as well as a great overall workout. Stones can be purchased, but it’s much more fun to hunt (or make) your own. A duffel bag lled with sand is a good, adjustable substitute rock. When it’s light you can just lift it on up and carry it any way you like, though, for our purposes, you’ll want to hold it with the arms around it in front. As you progress to a heavier stone, you’ll have to pull it up and “lap” it—that is, pull the bag or stone to about knee height and squat your knees under it. Let it rest there on your lap for a second while you get your arms around it, and then stand the rest of the way up. Now, go. Walk with your object. Carry it for either time or distance, and enjoy. Use your imagination when it comes to objects. Logs, chunks of concrete, children, sacks of groceries (you knew it was coming), or stacks of weight plates are all fair game. This barely scratches the surface of grip training. The hands and arms are capable of such a wide range of movements that the variety is truly endless. Grip can in fact be a discipline all its own. There are performers who specialize in tearing telephone books and decks of playing cards, rolling up license plates, bending spikes, and other truly astounding feats. Of course, as athletes and workers, we know that, like the man says, you can’t lift what you can’t hold onto. First responders, law enforcement ofcers, combat troops, and ghters of all kinds need a dependable set of hands to do their jobs. The sky’s the limit if you’re willing to do the work.

Tony Young is an aspiring grip athlete as well as a level-2 CrossFit trainer. As a mature athlete, Tony looks for new and non-destructive ways to continually improve his training regimen. He recently moved away from Dayton (and his afliate, CrossFit Ohio), and he now lives in warm, wonderful Columbus, Georgia.

8


Pre-SOF Training Part 3: “Assessment” Robert Ord

Due to the increasing trend in global radical extremism, the military branches of the U.S. Armed Forces have made a long-term commitment to increasing the size of their Special Operations Forces (SOF). What this means to CrossFit afliates is that there are an increasing number of individuals across the country who are awaiting the beginning of their training; who eat, sleep, and breathe SOF preparation; and who are hungry for anything that will prepare them for the challenges to come. This, coupled with the escalating spread of CrossFit’s presence in military SOF training pipelines and in the physical training (PT) programs of operational units, means there are, and will be, an increasing number of “preSOF” trainees at many CrossFit afliates in the United States. Review of phase I, “Indoc”

This is the third in a series of articles on pre-SOF training that are designed to provide afliates with a template for operating a training program for hopeful SOF ghters, as well as anyone else eager to take on full-edged warrior preparation. 9


Pre-SOF Training ...continued

The rst four weeks of the Selection component of the program, called “Indoc” (described in detail in the January 2008 issue of the CrossFit Journal ) should have met the following training objectives: 1. 2. 3. 4.

cumbersome than shorts and athletic shoes, especially when wet. What is also evident, and every bit as important, is the perceptible psychological change in the level of motivation and aggressiveness in the trainees that occurs with the change of attire.

Introduction to CrossFit movements and stimulus. Introduction to conditioning exercises, such as calisthenics and long slow distance (LSD) running and swimming. Establishment of a cohesive unit, led by an appointed team leader. Development of “brass ring vision,” our rst step in developing the warrior spirit.

If everything has gone according to plan, trainees who did not know each other before are now like family, bound by a common goal. They train together and assist each other in areas where one individual might be weak. Like a slight uphill grade, intensity has increased steadily since the beginning of the rst week of Indoc, and ample time has been devoted to nutrition, hydration, and recovery. Trainees have been provided a framework for developing the physical and mental toughness that will be required to get them through the next four-week phase, Assessment, where the slight uphill grade meets the base of the mountain. Phase II, “Assessment”

The objective of pre-SOF training extends beyond physical preparation to a larger goal that also includes broadening an individual’s self-condence, awareness, and ability to withstand discomfort and pressure. This is accomplished, at least in part, by providing a framework for growth and presenting the challenges that elicit that growth. I describe this to my clients and trainees as the “stimulus and response principle,” which is to say that the appropriate stimulus will elicit an appropriate response. Of course, as with any other coaching situation, each individual is at his own stage of development and therefore the stimulus to required to elicit the desired response can vary from person to person. In pre-SOF training, the principles that Coach Glassman wrote about in the CrossFit Journal article “Fundamentals,Virtuosity, and Mastery” apply just as they do for any other group of clients. I say this before describing the principles and programming of the Assessment phase to ensure that coaches and trainers do not lose sight of the objective of coaching and developing pre-SOF trainees just as you would other clients, even though the ends and, to some extent, the means for the training might be different. Assessment: Finding the warrior within

There are a number of noticeable differences between Indoc and Assessment, the most obvious of which is that shorts and running shoes are replaced with camouage pants and jungle boots. From here on out, every workout in pre-SOF training, be it “Murph,” “Fran” or running on the beach, is done in pants and boots, no exceptions. This change in uniform adds an obvious element of hardship, since pants and boots are heavier and more 10

Another signicant change is that the preparation and planning for each progression in training is largely transferred from the trainer to the trainees. During Indoc, the trainer points and yells, and trainees jump and fetch, until everything is as it should be. In Assessment, instead of continuing to employ the “gofer” tactic (go fer this, go fer that), a seemingly random individual is selected to communicate and oversee the work required to accomplish a specic mission. The trainer provides the task, which may be as easy as “set up four 95-pound bars” or as complicated as “hump [carry] four tires, four kettlebells, and four PVC sticks to the beach a mile away.” The trainee who is chosen to lead the task is allowed freedom in accomplishing the task but is observed by the trainer. Every task has a challenging time constraint, with the decree that failure to accomplish the task completely, accurately, or within the time allotted, will result in additional conditioning for the entire group. The time constraints could be something like “Set up four 95-pound bars. You have 1 minute, 30 seconds. GO!” or “Take the four tires, kettlebells, and PVC sticks to the beach. You have 12 minutes. GO!” Trainees are assessed on their composure and their ability to communicate a mission under pressure. The act of conceiving a plan and communicating it under the pressure of a tight time window, with the knowledge that the result of failure is everyone’s discomfort, is extremely stressful. This may very well be the rst time some of the trainees have been in this uncomfortable position, and even those who excel as athletes can completely break down under the pressure. From the trainer’s perspective, the selection of the trainee to lead the task is not random, of course, but a planned part of the overall training agenda. Those who are exhibit leadership qualities can be challenged with more complex tasks, leaving the simpler tasks to challenge the younger, greener trainees. In most cases, the assigned timelines are achievable only under near-perfect conditions, which provides ample opportunity for additional physical conditioning. CrossFit workouts for each of the four sessions are the same as those in the previous four weeks; however, there are now pass/fail metrics that must be met (see session agendas, below). Trainees are made aware of the standards—time limits or minimum required rounds or scores—before beginning the workout, and they are provided time checks at regular intervals during it. Trainees who fall short of metrics by either failing to meet the minimums or by improperly performing the exercises are generally allowed to continue training through the end of Assessment and then given opportunities to retake the “test.” If they are unable to successfully meet the standards even on retest, they are not allowed to continue on to the “Preparation” block of training (which comprises the last two of the four phases).



Session 1 The leader role

Become your vision

In Special Operations, all members of a team can nd themselves in positions of leadership. SOF warriors often need to lead members of their own team or other military units or civilians under stressful and dangerous conditions. The goal of “ready to lead, ready to follow, never quit” in pre-SOF training is to begin to develop the skills required for leadership under pressure.

In the earlier Indoc phase, the theory of the “Brass RingVision” was introduced as a means for developing the foundation of kokoro, or the warrior spirit. Now, in Assessment, as training becomes more difcult, trainees are instructed in actively making their vision a reality by assimilating the qualities and characteristics of how they see themselves in their minds into their current daily lives.

1 n o i s s e S

Agenda

Brief

Timed Run

Instructor Remarks Welcome to “Assessment”

Set the stage for next 4 weeks

Phase training schedule

Provide Trainees the “Agenda” section only

“Ready to lead, ready to follow, never quit”

Explain the role of the leader (see below)

Easy 1-mile run and stretch 3-mile timed beach run

Team leader leads warm-up Time limit: 24 minutes

40 minutes

Demonstrate proper form and explain rules of the workout. Allow 25 minutes for completion.

40 minutes

Become your vision

(See explanation below.)

15 minutes

Running times and “Angie” scores

Present pass and fail statistics

Homework: Research your training pipeline

Use Internet, library, or bookstore.

20 minutes

“Angie” For time, complete all exercises, in order:

CrossFit

Kokoro

Debrief

100 pull-ups 100 push-ups 100 sit-ups 100 squats

5 minutes

11



Session 2 Tire PT

The following is an example of pre-SOF conditioning using regular pick-up truck tires (one tire for every pair of trainees), tubular nylon, and 1½-inch PVC pipe. Pick a trainee to lead the evolution and then provide the following instructions for all to hear: • • • •

Take tires, harnesses (10-foot lengths of 1-inch tubular nylon), and four PVC sticks to the beach. Set up PVC sticks in the sand in a large rectangle measuring 10 yards by 100 yards. Set up the tires at one end of the rectangle, two trainees per tire. Five minutes will be allotted to gather personal and workout gear. After ve minutes, each additional minute will result in one round of: o Man 1 - 50 Overhead presses with tire o Man 2 - Tire drag to far side of rectangle o Man 2 - 50 overhead presses with tire o Man 1 - Tire drag to starting point

(Look to future CrossFit Journal articles for more specic preSOF conditioning workouts.) 2 n o i s s e S

Agenda Brief

Instructor Remarks Team leader collects PT logs

Review PT logs

Team leader brief

Lead, follow, never quit

Training pipeline presentations

Pick trainees at random

1-mile warm-up stretch and run

Warm-up stretch and run led by trainee. Allow 10 minutes.

10 minutes

“Cindy”

CrossFit

Complete maximum number of rounds in 20 minutes:

30 minutes Minimum requirement: 20 rounds.

5 pull-ups 10 push-ups 15 squats

Kokoro

Debrief

Tire PT (see below)

Carry tires, harnesses, and PVC to beach for SOF-style conditioning.

60 minutes

“Victory is reserved for those willing to pay its price” -Sun Tzu

Discuss meaning of quote and relevance to self-awareness.

10 minutes

Individual performance

CrossFit and conditioning performance notes

Assignment: Research history of your SOF unit

Use Internet, library, or bookstore.

12

10 minutes



Session 3 strength in meeting and overcoming adversity. Muscle fatigue and failure are a foregone conclusion, so it is expected that trainees will experience involuntary muscle failure. When this happens, the evolution becomes more of a mental training exercise, where trainees are expected to “steel their minds” to push past the barrier of what is comfortable. Trainers should watch for signs of mental weakness (whimpering, crying, and other obvious forms of giving up), and provide whatever motivation is necessary.

Merging Conditioning and Kokoro

The conditioning exercises are performed as a group. If a trainee puts his feet down or fails in some other way to perform the exercises correctly, the trainer should stop the set for everyone, point out the offense, and start the set over again from the beginning. After it is obvious that all trainees are suffering together, the trainer should begin to describe the role of employing mental

3 n o i s s e S

Agenda Brief


Review PT logs

SOF unit history presentations (last session’s homework assignment)

Pick trainees at random

20 minutes

“Murph” For time, complete all exercises:

CrossFit

Break up calisthenics sets a s needed—i.e. 10 sets of 10 pull-ups, 20 push-ups, 30 squats.

Run 1 mile 100 pull-ups 200 push-ups 300 squats Run 1 mile

45 minutes

25 of each, then 20, then 15, then 10, then 5, and then back up, from 5 to 25. Done as a group. (See description below.)

Flutter kicks Sit-ups Leg levers

50 minutes

Kokoro

Debrief

The role of mental strength in physical endurance

Done in conjunction with conditioning. Performed while feet are 6 inches off the oor.


Hold no punches

Assignment: Memorize SEAL code

Provide handout

5 minutes

13



Session 4 “Attack the Hill”

The warrior within

This workout uses a number of tall wooden staircases that lead from the Encinitas beach up to the Pacic Coast Highway, across the cliff.

Individuals can never complete training their inner warriors. It is a lifelong process that consists of inwardly searching the heart and mind for aws and weaknesses and outwardly searching for information and guidance that can be manifested through skill and discipline.

Trainees assemble on the beach, at the base of the stairs, where they will follow the trainers’ lead to perform push-ups, sit-ups, utter kicks, mountain climbers, and a number of other exercises. At the command “Attack the hill!” trainees go up and down the stairs as fast as they can, enter the ocean until they are completely wet, and return to the trainer for more instruction. PT resumes when everyone is back, which provides the fastest trainees a little rest before the next round (drawing on the adage “it pays to be a winner”).

4 n o i s s e S

Agenda

Brief


Review PT logs

Recite SEAL code

Group recites from the lean & rest position (plank hold in the push-up position). Each individual recites alone to recover.

20 minutes

Weight as prescribed. Time limit is 10 minutes.

30 minutes

“Fran” Three rounds, at 21, 15, and 9 reps, respectively:

CrossFit 95-pound thrusters Pull-ups

Conditioning

Beach workout “Attack the Hill”

(See below.)

60 minutes

Kokoro

The warrior within

(See below.)

10 minutes


Hold no punches

Expectations of next phase, “Water Preparation”

Provide agenda

Debrief

14

10 minutes



Conclusion The increasing need for Special Operations Forces personnel around the world has created a rise in the number of individuals preparing for the grueling training.The serious ones are looking to CrossFit, based on its efcacy and its use in the training pipelines that they are heading toward. Physical preparation alone, however, is incomplete, as a large part of the pressure that SOF trainees

encounter is mental.The pre-SOF training template that I describe in this series of articles is designed as a means of introducing trainees to the kinds of stress they will face and as a means of eliciting the rst stages of the development of the warrior spirit that they will require for success.

. S / D U B t a g r e b n e o h c S d r a h c i R y b s o t o h P

The objective of pre-SOF training extends beyond physical preparation to a larger goal that also includes broadening an individual’s self-confidence, awareness, and ability to withstand discomfort and pressure.

Robert Ord is the Director of Training at the U.S. Tactical CrossFit Training Center in Encinitas, California, where he oversees all CrossFit training at the center as well as the online training and mentoring provided by NavySEALs.com. Initially trained by the Navy as a corpsman and deep sea diver, Rob chose the path of Special Operations by volunteering for duty with SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One, where he worked as a diving medical technician in numerous platoons and other capacities. He worked as a consultant and contractor with the Navy in its efforts to nd and effectively prepare future SEALs, Special Warfare combat crewmen, explosive ordnance disposal technicians, and Navy divers before devoting his full time to the U.S. Tactical CrossFit Training Center.

15


The Time Trial as a Training Tool Brian MacKenzie

“How do I CrossFit regularly and not lose my specic tness for an endurance event?” This is a question I’ve been asked probably no fewer than 100 times in the past few months. I believe it boils down, at least in part, to effective use of time trials in your training program.

perfect, which would mean too slow. I’ve gone out in a 100-mile race pushing sub9-minute miles in the rst 20 miles only to call it a day by mile 20 because I was running way above my ability. I had nothing left and was fried. Dumb! Once the goals are set, you need to look at any PRs you’ve had in the past few months. If none, then go out and set a benchmark baseline. For endurance athletes, I like to keep the benchmark test between 20 minutes and 2 hours, depending on skill level. This lets us keep the intensity up a bit, even when the event they may be training for isn’t going to need too much intensity. For example, we had a cyclist who started with us last week. He used to ride Cat 3 (this is a mid-level club cyclist; Cat 1 is pro; Cat 5 are new racers) a few years ago; he’s 38 and rides pretty consistently still. We sent him out this weekend on a 25-mile time trial knowing that it would hurt but he would recover. I’ve sent marathoners on time trials of distances ranging from 5k to 13.1 miles. With rowers I’ve used 1k to 5k time trials, depending on the distances of their races. It all depends on what they can handle at the time—meaning, what do their training schedules look like and have they been riding/running/ rowing consistently or have they been CrossFitting more? If it’s the latter, I usually make it a shorter time trial and plan to build their endurance as we go.

I and the long-distance athletes I train have been successfully implementing training programs that integrate CrossFit and sportspecic endurance work. In each case, our times in our respective sports (running, rowing, cycling, swimming) have gotten faster. And our CrossFit times/numbers keep getting better too. A lot of people I’ve come in contact with in the last couple of months initially tell me that they think they have to choose to do either CrossFit or marathon/Ironman-specic training and cannot do both successfully. Well, I went on a 10-mile trail run a few weeks back on the same day I had a CrossFit Total lifting event as well. I ran well—not my fastest time on this course, but within 10 minutes. Then, within two hours, I set personal records on every lift (back squat, press, and deadlift) at the Total. This was a breakthrough day for me. If you are training for a specic sport, you need to establish your goals for that sport. Are they attainable goals? Or are you like me and tend to set almost unattainable goals and then either hit or miss them, rather than set reachable ones that you can really commit to accomplishing?

Once you gure out what kind of a time trial to use, you can then use the result to set up interval training for that particular athlete’s training regimen. I like to use 100-meter to 5-kilometer intervals for runners. For cyclists, I use generally use half miles up to 8 miles. For swimmers I use 25 meters to 1000 meters. For rowers I use 100 meters to 1000 meters.

Time trials dene the endurance sports. They also help dene you and how successful you are in training. I like to set up time trials every two to three weeks at various distances for my athletes. You want to think of each of these as much like a race. You don’t need to go overboard with that, but you should really be prepared to do your best. You need to make sure you get enough sleep, that you eat right and aren’t dehydrated, and are stretching to maintain exibility—all things that should be done every day anyway, especially when CrossFitting, but with a little more attention for the time trial. You don’t want any reasons—or excuses—for not doing well!

Now let’s look at the distance and how it determines interval schemes based on the time trial result. Take the time from the trial and gure out the pace the athlete held. If it was a 10k run and it took 41 minutes, then the athlete held 6.61-minute miles (divide 41 minutes by 6.2 miles/10k). That’s a pace of 6:37 per mile or 9.07 mph (60 minutes divided by 6.61). So, I know that the athlete was able to hold a pace 6:37/mile for 6.2 miles, but that will be a pretty easy pace to keep for a 200-meter or even a 1-mile interval. If I want to set up 200-meter repeats, I simply take the original per-mile pace and divide by 8 (since 200 meters goes into a mile eight times). That produces a fraction of .83, or about 50 seconds, for 200 meters. If the athlete is new to inter val training, I give 20 percent of their per-mile pace for each 200-meter interval.

You need to have a clear view of what you need to do for the time trial. What type of pace will you need to hold for the distance? How hard can you work without undermining your mechanics and technical training? You don’t want to try to run/ride/swim/row/ etc. outside your ability, but you should be pushing the envelope a bit, because after all without some breakdown, it would be too 16


The Time Trial as a Training Tool ...continued

In our example, this comes out to 39 seconds, which I then apply a bit of cushion to (3 seconds for 200 meters is a decent cushion). I usually set up 8 x 200-meter sets at a pace of 39 to 41 seconds each. What about for 400-meter intervals? Based on the athlete’s tness, I drop about 3 to 7 seconds with each increase. So I would have this athlete come in between 1:24 and 1:27 for 400 meters.

follow the WODs as prescribed. I have found that the athletes who can CrossFit each week as prescribed on the main site and also follow my (relatively low-volume) sport-specic programming are the ones who make the most gains in their sports and also maintain the best overall health. So what about revisiting the time trial? About three weeks after the rst one, back off the training for a couple days before a time trial by scaling back on intensity and/or load, and just watch what happens. You don’t necessarily need to use the same time trial as before, either. (Maybe go a 5k or 10 miles?) In my second week of training like this I PR’d my 5k-, 10k-, and 10-mile paces on the 10-mile run. You can’t guarantee this result for anyone, of course, but the possibilities are there. Just the other day, one of our newer athletes who has been training this way ran a 50-mile run on Catalina Island in Southern California (this is the athlete I called “Rookie” when I presented his training plan in the January 2008 CrossFit Journal ). He averaged 12:26 pace, nishing in 10 hours and 22 minutes. In his last race, a 50k (only 31 miles), his time was 6 hours and 36 minutes, or a pace of 12:41 per mile. Both were mountainous runs, and he went faster in the 50-miler.

When starting out, I usually have a beginner athlete recover 3 minutes between each set, and start them off with about one mile of interval work. The greater the ability the more they can handle, and the less recovery time they need. But as you get closer to a race, you want to sharpen the recovery times to 1 minute or less; then, the week of a race, give them 2 to 3 minutes of recovery, with the same high work speeds they have been training at. If the athlete tells me the intervals are too easy or is recovering in under a minute, I speed it up a second or two. If they are just holding on by the skin of their teeth, I wait it out a week or two to see if the next week gets easier. If they just can’t get through it, I back off a couple seconds to where they can now make the intervals. This does not change until the intervals become easier and/or recovery gets quicker. I usually program interval work two times a week in training, with one day of hill repeats that is also interval-based. For the days my athletes do intervals, I make sure they do them before their CrossFit workouts, and pay close attention to the performance in their intervals. If they are not making the set then you may need to slow the interval pace a tad until an adjustment is made. If the athlete continues not to make the intervals, then you probably need to pull back some either on the CrossFit training or the total amount of training they are doing. All of this is assuming the athlete is eating correctly to support their work. In two to three weeks you should see a change in performance. You will probably be able to make the intervals longer (I never go over 2.5 miles of interval training, even with elite-level athletes), or mix them up by steadily increasing duration and slowing the pace slightly. As for CrossFit, they might see a dip in performance on WODs at rst when you introduce the interval days, but it should come back up. Some days should be solely for CrossFit and no other sport-specic training. You eventually want to CrossFit someone four to six times a week, with sport-specic training four to ve days a week. However, this doesn’t mean two hours of training a day. It should be more like one hour, in most cases. If you are going to design your own CrossFit workouts rather than following the daily Workout of the Day (WOD) from the website, I suggest incorporating three or four of the classic benchmark workouts (“the girls”) each month. These give the best assessment of overall tness, and that’s something you don’t want to jeopardize.

Every other week or so I also like to throw in an easier run/ ride/swim/row that is aerobic, sometimes in the week following a poor time trial. What is the reasoning behind this? Most athletes I deal with use heart rate monitors, and although they are poor indicators of intensity and measures of performance, I can use them to see how quickly an athlete’s heart rate recovers after an event or inter val, and, more to the point here, I can send an athlete out on a time trial that has a target heart rate attached to it (usually requiring them to stay at around 80 percent of calculated max heart rate). This sometimes gives me a faster performance then the unmonitored time trial. I’ve had athletes go out on runs or rides where they PR’d an aerobic time trial (according to what they thought their heart rate monitor was telling them), thinking they were going easier, only to nd out they just put all the components of technique, pacing, and intensity together. This is a huge mental boost. And that boost is essentially is what we are looking for, because a happy athlete is an athlete who wants to train.

Brian MacKenzie is an expert in strength and conditioning for endurance athletes and a coach for Multisports Orange County. He is a level-3 CrossFit trainer and a level-3 POSE certied running coach. He is the owner of CrossFit Newport Beach and operates an internship for professional trainers. He is a competitive ultra runner and Ironman triathlete. He has competed in Ironman Canada as well as several ultra marathons ranging from 50k to 100 miles, including the Western States 100 and the Angeles Crest 100.

CrossFit programming (as represented by the WODs posted on CrossFit.com) is ideally what I want my athletes doing every week. Unfortunately, a lot of them can’t handle the prescription, so we scale workouts or create our own until they are strong enough 17


Coach Burgener Teaches the Snatch Part 1 (Video Article) Mike Burgener

Online Video

Video Article (12:56)

http://media.crosst.com/cf-video/CrossFitJournal_BurgPatSnatch2xj8a.wmv http://media.crosst.com/cf-video/CrossFitJournal_BurgPatSnatch2xj8a.mov

In Part 1 of “Coach Burgener Teaches the Snatch,” last month, Coach B worked with Pat, of CrossFit Virginia Beach, on some basics of footwork and positioning for the snatch. In Part 2, here, they walk through a progression of preparatory skill-transfer exercises and then into the snatch from the high-hang position—all still with just PVC: 1. Overhead squat: The landing position for the snatch. 2. Pressing snatch balance: A slow pulling of the body down under the bar.The feet begin and end in the landing position and do not leave the ground. 3. Heaving snatch balance: A faster move, which emphasizes the initial “down and up” and teaches the athlete to actively drive the barbell upward and pull his body down under the bar. The feet begin and end in the landing position and do not leave the ground. 4. Snatch balance: An even more dynamic move, in which feet begin in the jumping position and move quickly to the landing position during the jump. 5. Snatch from the high-hang position: Coach B gives his now-classic instructions for any of the Olympic lifts: “Jump the barbell through a range of motion, creating momentum and elevation on the bar, keep the elbows high and outside, and pull yourself down into the overhead squat.

Mike Burgener, aka “Coach B” or simply “Burg,” is the owner of Mike’s Gym (a CrossFit afliate and USAW Regional Training Center), a USAW Senior International Coach, former junior World team (1996-2004) and senior World team (2005) coach, and the strength and conditioning coach at Rancho Buena Vista High School in Vista, California. He teaches CrossFit’s two-day Olympic lifting certication seminars.

18


Technique Part 1 (Video Article) Greg Glassman

Online Video


http://media.crosst.com/cf-video/CrossFitJournal_CoachTechniqueLecture1xja8.wmv http://media.crosst.com/cf-video/CrossFitJournal_CoachTechniqueLecture1xja8.mov

In his earlier video article “Better Movements” (Oct 2007 CrossFit Journal ) Coach Glassman explained that high power functional movements such as the jerk and the kipping pull-up are better exercises—in several critical ways—than their simpler relatives, the press and the strict pull-up. In “Productive Application of Force” (Jan 2008) he explained why our denition of strength is not equivalent to just muscular contractile force. What really matters is the ability to apply that muscular force to do real physical work, which cannot be independent of the skills and mechanics of functional movement. In this month’s video, Glassman elaborates further on the relationship between technique and functional movement, power, and tness. Technique, he explains—like its cousins mechanics, form, and style— is not at odds with intensity but is in fact essential to maximizing power and thus tness. Proper technique is the mechanism by which potential human energy and strength are translated into real work capacity. Part 2, next month, will be Q & A, mostly A.

Greg Glassman is the CEO and founder, with Lauren Glassman, of CrossFit, Inc., and the publisher of the CrossFit Journal .

19


Hammer Time Throwing Drills Robin Lyons

In 2006 I was referred to CrossFit.com to check out a workout called “Nasty Girls”. At the time, I wasn’t sure if I should open a video with that name in a public room. Well, what I found was probably more shocking than what I expected: a workout prescribing multiple rounds of fty air squats backed up by “crazy” muscle-ups and power cleans, all done with strength, intensity, and perseverance by three truly remarkable women. Out of curiosity, I gave the program whirl and soon after found a renewed desire to improve my own tness goals.

When learning a highly technical skill like the hammer, repetition and more repetition are key to success. This is not a skill you can learn overnight. I encourage anyone who is learning how to throw the hammer, considering competing in the event, or just wanting to incorporate functional throwing work into their general tness training to use the information and drills here as groundwork for your practice routine.

As a national and collegiate competitive athlete in the hammer, discus, and indoor weight throw, I had been trained to be a specialist in the weight room. Running excessively, doing any “cardio” training, or performing any exercise over ve reps was a big fat no (no surprise that I weighed 180 pounds). My long-held belief in what tness was—bigger, stronger, faster—soon became blurry. (Hmm, or was that blur caused by the CrossFit workout I had just completed?)

You will need a throwing surface no smaller than 10 feet by 7 feet. This is essential space for hammer throwing drills. For most of the drills described in this article, you will not need the specied throwing area, but in order to advance you will need to have an area with proper netting and caging.

Equipment

For serious training and competition, the throwing surface is marked with an 8-foot-diameter circle. Of course, if you’re using throwing drills and practice for broad conditioning purposes, the technical details of the environment are less important.

The event

In this article I share some drills from one of throwing events that I believe is the most dynamic and exciting to watch. The hammer throw is an athletic throwing contest where the object thrown is a heavy steel ball attached to a wire (with a maximum length of four feet) with a handle. The weight of outdoor competition hammers used today in the Olympics and nationally accredited (IAAF) track and eld events are 4 kg (8.8 pounds) for women and 7.2 kg (16 pounds) for men. The name “hammer throw” dates back to 2000 B.C., from when historians have found records of contests consisting of throwing stones, sledgehammers, and even chariot wheels with a single spoke attached (such competitions are still part of the Scottish Highland Games, where the implement used is a steel or lead weight at the end of a wooden handle). Like other throwing events in track and eld such as discus and shot put, competition in the hammer is decided by who can throw the implement the farthest. Athletes gain maximum distance by spinning the hammer around the front of the body to set up the circular motion. Then they apply force and pick up speed by completing one to four turns in a concrete circle. Most throwers turn three or four times, depending on the kind of technique us ed. The ball moves in a circular path, gradually increasing in velocity with each turn, with the high point of the ball toward the sector, or marked landing area, for the hammer; the low point of the hammer is at the back of the circle away from the sector. The thrower then releases the ball from the front of the circle. The two most important factors for a long throw are the angle of release and the speed of the ball.

20


Hammer Time ...continued

Technical footwork is fundamental to the hammer throw. Common running shoes are not only inadequate but dangerous footwear for learning the hammer throw because of their thick soles and sharp edges. The least expensive, thinnest-sole sneakers are best until you can purchase specialty shoes. Once you begin throwing the hammer, you will need a glove to protect your left hand (if you are a right-handed thrower). You can purchase a glove similar to the one pictured here from any track and eld distributor. The least expensive option, though, is to buy a gardening glove from Wal-Mart, Home Depot, or similar stores and simply cut off the tips of the ngers and the whole thumb of the left glove.

Rotate!

Rotational balance is essential in the hammer throw, along with postural core strength, or spine and trunk stabilization. An athlete with insufcient core strength will bend forward during the throw, which decreases the speed built up in the preparation. Building foundational strength is key to early success in performing hammer drills. Exercises such as kettlebell swings, weighted squats, thrusters, and deadlifts are excellent movements to include in a training program for the hammer throwing event. In this article we will work on rotary coordination, balance, preliminary winds, and the release before delving into technical turns. The hammer is an extension of the body, and learning how to move your body and counter against a force is the rst step in developing rotational balance and awareness. I have chosen basic cognitive drills that are fun and simple to achieve those skills. They can be implemented into more generalized workouts or warmups as well. Partner spin and counter

The rst step in learning or becoming a hammer thrower is learning how to rotate, counter and maintain your balance; this drill will introduce rotary skill and countering and balance on the balls of the feet. Grab a partner by the wrists and sit back to counter your partner’s weight. The “counter position,” as it’s called, is sitting back with your hips while maintaining an upright torso and tight midline, as you do when front squatting. Once you have grabbed your partner’s wrists, lean back against them in the counter position and quickly move in a circle around your partner on the balls of your feet to create rotational speed. Be sure not to bend over or round your shoulders. Spin around for a total of ve turns and then stop. It is crucial not to let go of your partner until you have both returned to a standing position. 21



Once you gather the concept of rotating and countering, the next step is to implement a hammer or similar object (e.g., a rope with a weight on the end) into your rotational drills. If you have a hammer, place the handle across the end joints of the ngers in the left hand. (Lefties will use the right hand.) The right hand will then cover the left hand, as in the photo (previous page). The walkaround drill

This drill is an excellent way to learn how to move with the hammer without worrying about technical footwork. It will also help teach you to keep the weighted object in front of you while you begin to create momentum rotating. I was taught this drill by U.S. national coach Stewart Togher. •

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Start with your feet shoulder-width apart and the hammer held in front of you on the ground, with your arms straight, relaxed, and down in front. Don’t hold your arms out in front of you with the weight off the ground; when you begin to move, your momentum will raise the ball and your arms automatically. Step your feet around in a small circle, keeping your head, shoulders, hips, and feet all facing the same direction. The hammer also needs to stay in front of you; don’t let it lag behind. Take eight steps around to time you back to your starting position. Make sure your feet, head, and shoulders are not leading the turns, causing you to drag the hammer. Everything must move together. Once you can get your body and the hammer as a unit back to the position you started from, start reducing the number of steps you take to complete the circle. For example, start with eight, and then reduce to six, and then, when you can do that cleanly, to four.

Wind-up drills

Winds are essential in starting the momentum in the hammer throw. Without winds it would be very difcult to create a rhythm or tempo along with the speed needed to throw the hammer a competitive distance. Key points here are to keep the arms relaxed and use the shoulders to create rotational momentum. 1. In the starting position, stand at the back of the circle, facing out. 2. Standing in the back of the ring, feet parallel to 22



each other and legs bent, hold the hammer on the ground behind the right side of your body. 3. Swing the hammer out in front of your body by straightening your legs and pulling with your left arm. 4. Curl your left arm as the hammer passes overhead. 5. Rotate the shoulders to the right and sweep the hammer out in front again. Once you can wind the hammer and maintain balance, a great drill to improve specic core strength and stability for hammer throw is to walk and wind with the hammer. Wind the hammer as described above and begin walking forward. You must time your walking and winding to coordinate the movements and optimize execution. This is a great drill to include in your warm up prior to throwing. I also have used this drill for golf and long-drive training.

Release

To learn the release, I recommend working with an object similar to the hammer but lighter to give yourself a chance to practice before actually attempting to release a heavy steel ball. A broomstick (approximately four feet long) is an excellent tool for practicing extension, throw direction, and nishing balance. To begin, stand with the feet no more than shoulder-width apart, grasping the end of a shortened broom stick (a straw broom can remain on the end). For a right-hander thrower: 1. Hold the end of the broomstick in front of the body with straight arms and the left hand over the right. 2. With the hips square to the front and the back facing the release area, sweep the broom to the right side to initiate swing momentum. 3. Once the stick has passed the right toe, reverse the direction of the swing and powerfully push the broom around the left side of the body. 4. Turn the hips and feet together, and pull back with the head and shoulders 5. Release the implement when the hips and shoulders have turned 90 degrees.

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6. Continue rotating and nish with hands high, facing the sector. (You should look like a football referee signaling a touchdown.)

from the others, you will lose speed and balance prior to the release. Work on the walkaround drills to establish the way the body works as a unit. Wind and release the hammer until you can nish in balance on every throw.

The thrower must rotate enough that the implement lands approximately in the center, or slightly to the left of center, of the throwing sector. Once you can execute proper releases consistently with a broomstick or aluminum baseball bat, you can try them with a light hammer. For general conditioning, do throws from both the left and right sides for balanced body development.

Online Video

Medicine ball release

Walk And Wind

http://media.crosst.com/cf-video/CrossFitJournal_Lyonswalkandwind.wmv

Another great tool to work on releases with is a good ol’ medicine ball weighing around 4 kg for females and 6 kg for males.

http://media.crosst.com/cf-video/CrossFitJournal_Lyonswalkandwind.mov

1. Stand with your back about four feet from a solid wall.

Online Video

Walkaround Drill NO Hammer

http://media.crosst.com/cf-video/CrossFitJournal_LyonswalkarounddrillNOhammer.wmv

2. Hold the medicine ball between the hands with arms straight.

http://media.crosst.com/cf-video/CrossFitJournal_LyonswalkarounddrillNOhammer.mov

3. Keeping your arms straight, swing the medicine ball from the right hip (for a right-handed thrower) around and up the left side of the body.

Online Video

Walkaround Drill WITH Hammer

http://media.crosst.com/cf-video/CrossFitJournal_Lyonswalkarounddrillwithhamer.wmv

4. Keep the hips and feet turning as a unit, and keep the eyes focused above the ball.

http://media.crosst.com/cf-video/CrossFitJournal_Lyonswalkarounddrillwithhamer.mov

5. Finish with the arms raised high (touchdown!) and chin up. Prepare, with arms extended overhead, to catch the ball when it rebounds from the wall.

Online Video

Wind And Release

http://media.crosst.com/cf-video/CrossFitJournal_Lyonswindandrelease.wmv

6. Return to the start and repeat.

http://media.crosst.com/cf-video/CrossFitJournal_Lyonswindandrelease.mov

The goal is to create a rhythm and string the throws together. Try to get three good sets of twelve throws. Wind and release

Once your release technique is solidied, try adding the winds to the release with a light hammer. Make sure you have proper netting/caging before trying this drill. Once you can wind the hammer twice under control, release the implement into a net or open eld. It is imperative that you not make extra effort at the point of release. This will cause loss of balance and decrease the speed of the ball, in turn minimizing distance. Don’t worry about trajectory at this point. Keep the body working as a single unit—head, shoulder, hips, and feet all moving together. As soon as any part of the unit separates

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Robin Lyons is a two-time Canadian National Champion in the hammer and discus. Her NCAA career highlights include ve-time All-American titles in hammer, discus, and indoor weight throw and Mountain West Conference Championship titles in hammer and indoor weight throw. Robin’s passion has always been tness and sport, and she has now diversied into other sporting arenas. Most recently, she competed six times at the World Long Drive Championships (farthest drive 338 yards), placing second in 2004. She also has competed in the American Cup bobsled circuit as a brakeman. Today, she is co-owner and a trainer at the Edge Athletic Club in Mesquite, Nevada.


Use Your Feet for Stronger Rowing Tom Bohrer

Compared to the complexities of rowing a boat on the water, indoor rowing presents few technical challenges. There are no balance issues to contend with on the erg. You don’t have to feather or square your blade. There is no splashing water or risk of capsize; the coach can be standing directly next to the athlete; and everyone stays nice and warm rowing inside. All this gives you a wonderful opportunity to really get hands-on, back to basics work on the fundamental body positions and mechanics for rowing both on and off the water. If you’re coaching rowers, you can have them row in front of mirrors or take video and show it right away so they get an image of what they are doing right or wrong. Show them how to relax their shoulders and how to engage their lats as they start the drive. The possibilities are nearly endless. However, in all the things I talk Photo 1 about in the stroke, I think I spend most of my time talking about Heels up at the catch. As you move into the catch, feel the heels slowly the feet, which are so often overlooked in discussions of rowing rise and your body weight rock onto the balls of your feet and toes. Get it technique. right and you should feel like you can stand up. Once I realized myself how important it is to keep contact with the feet on the foot stretchers for the nal push at the nish, what it feels like to have your weight low in the feet compared to the upper body, and how to push off the balls of the feet at the catch—and how this can improve your rowing tremendously—I began to coach this to my rowers. I was not totally aware of what my feet were doing until I was 36 years old (I started rowing when I was 19) and rowing with Charlie Butt. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the role of the feet and breaking down the elements of it. Here are some of the things that I was able to gure out about thinking about your feet can get you rowing better. Get off your butt and onto your feet

Let’s look at how the feet bear and transfer weight throughout the various phases of the stroke, starting with the recovery. As the body starts to tilt forward from the nish into the recovery phase, you feel some of your body weight going on to the foot stretchers. The closer you move to the catch, the more weight you feel going on to the feet. Having your weight down low, on the feet, allows the upper body to be more relaxed. And the more your upper body is relaxed, the better chance you have of a nice clean placement at the catch.

pushing with the feet as if you were going to point your toes so that you have a stable platform as you nish the work of the stroke. Then repeat. Sound easy? Work on rowing with special attention to your feet, and see if and how it affects your stroke. The catch

There are not many rowers who can keep their heels down at the catch. Unless you are really exible, the heels will come up some, and this is ne. Coaches who try to tell their athletes to keep the heels down are asking for problems such as rowers shortening up their slide as they come toward the catch and then overreaching with the upper torso at the catch. (The rower should not stretch out extra from the armpits and round the shoulders at the catch.) Be careful what you say. You can use the feeling of your heels coming up as a reference point indicating that you are almost at the catch and as a cue to start swinging the arms up to place the blade. I also like to watch the speed of the heels rising: not coming up too fast, but controlled and smooth. If they come up fast and out of control, it usually means that you are rushing into the catch. You need to feel the patience of the weight smoothly rocking onto the balls of the feet. You can practice this out of the rowing machine by standing up and then stepping forward as in a lunge. Land smoothly on your heel then transfer the weight to the ball of the foot and then spring back. When you can spring back explosively, you know that you have done it correctly. The timing of the rock and drive has to be just right.

As you approach the catch, you can feel the heels come up slightly as more weight transfers onto the balls of the feet. At the catch, your weight is down low on the balls of the feet and for a split second you should feel as if you could stand up at the catch. Start the drive by springing off the balls of the feet. Don’t even worry about the heels.

The drive and finish

Think about keeping the feet in contact with the foot stretchers for the entire stroke. As you draw the handle into the nish, keep

When you are at the catch, you have your weight on the balls of your feet. During the drive, think about pushing off the balls of 25


Use Your Feet for Stronger Rowing ...continued

the feet as long as you can. If your back opens early as you start the drive, you take the weight off the balls of your feet, and your leg drive becomes less effective. (This is a common problem for many CrossFitters, who lean back too early against the handle and opening the back angle prematurely.) As you go through the drive, the power will naturally transfer from the balls of the feet to the heels, but you don’t want it to be early. Even as you nish the stroke, still concentrate on keeping the toes in contact with the foot stretcher, rather than thinking about what the heels are doing. I strongly believe that it is important to be able to master the drill of rowing with the feet out of the foot stretchers. Why? Try rowing arms only on the erg with your feet either totally out of contact with the foot stretchers or with just your heels on the foot stretchers. Then try it again with your feet on the stretchers and pushing with your toes as you draw the handle to your body at the nish. Which is more powerful? If the feet start to lose contact with the foot stretchers as you are opening with the back and then drawing with the arms, then you are throwing away power. It is a discipline and skill that should be learned.

Photo 2 Bad: Feet pulling off the foot stretcher at the finish. Remember, if the feet pull off at the finish you don’t have a strong platform to pull from and you are ultimately giving away power.

Another problem with the feet losing contact with the stretchers is that it leaves your body weight almost in free fall as you drive. The result is very sloppy nishes. It becomes even worse as the stroke rate gets higher. To maintain contact at the nish, rowing coach Charlie Butt would say, think about pointing your toes. As you draw the handle in, push with the feet as if you were stepping on a car accelerator. I sometimes put a piece of paper between the foot and the foot stretcher to make sure a rower is keeping contact. Bill Manning from Harvard gave an erg demonstration at the rowing convention one year and he used dollar bills between the feet and the foot stretchers with his athletes. If he could pull the money out then they were not doing it right and he got the money. As you come forward with the body (as the shoulders begin to get forward of the hips) in the recovery phase, feel as though more weight is going onto the foot stretcher as you come to the catch. I like to think of the foot stretcher as a scale; as you get closer to the catch, the weight increases. During erg practice, I will go and place my ngers between a rower’s foot and the foot stretcher. I want to feel more pressure going onto my ngers as they come up the slide. If my ngers are getting crushed, I am happy. This is not a pushing pressure from the leg drive, but pressure from a shift of body weight on to the feet. What it comes down to ultimately is regarding the feet as a part of the rhythm and coordinated movement of the rowing stroke. The circular ow of the stroke, from catch through drive, nish, and recovery—even on the erg—is about the transfer of body weight and the smooth handoff of force production throughout the body. Don’t cut yourself off at the ankles by leaving your feet out of the loop.

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Photo 3 Good: Feet maintain contact at the finish. Try rowing with a piece of paper under the toes at the finish. As you finish the stroke keep thinking about pressing with the toes to maintain contact with the foot stretcher. Try to have someone pull the paper out as you finish. You will have to concentrate, but you will be able to tr ain yourself to do this even when rowing hard.

Tom Bohrer has over 20 years experience rowing and coaching. He is a two-time Olympic silver medalist (1988 and 1992) and a three-time medalist at the World Championships. In 1989, he was voted U.S. Rowing Athlete of the Year. He is currently the head rowing coach at the Union Boat Club in Boston, where he trains rowers of all levels. He is a certied strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) and a certied personal trainer (CPT). You can send questions to Tom at tom@tbt.com or visit his website TBt.com for more training information.


Rowing Corrections Part 2 (Video Article) Greg Hammond

Online Video


http://media.crosst.com/cf-video/CrossFitJournal_GregC2RowFixes2jx8a.wmv http://media.crosst.com/cf-video/CrossFitJournal_GregC2RowFixes2jx8a.mov

Greg Hammond of Concept2 Rowing continues the rowing lesson he started in last month’s video article. Here, he offers tips on efciency and troubleshoots a full slate of common technique problems. Being able to see the problems and corrections in video makes them easy to understand and correct. Some of the key takeaways that Hammond demonstrates: • The rst couple inches of the drive, beginning at the catch, are the most important part of the stroke. You need to generate drive power right off the bat. • The body is like a pendulum, with the torso beginning in forward inclination, swinging over the hip, and ending with a slight backward lean. The recovery phase traces the same pattern in reverse. • The recovery should be slower than the drive. Think of compressing the body like a spring: the recovery phase is a controlled compressing of the spring, and then it explodes back out from the catch. • The back will be slightly rounded throughout the stroke, not fully upright and erect. • Keep the chain straight, taut, and level, moving back and forth in a straight line at all times. Hammond also demonstrates and explains how to correct one of the most common and ugliest problems on the rower—arcing the hands up over the knees on the recovery phase. The hands should move quickly, and straight forward, out of the nish position, leading the body toward the front. The knees do not bend until the hands pass over them.

Greg Hammond has worked for Concept2 Rowing for 11 years, most recently as a liaison to the CrossFit community and to re and police departments and moto/action sports groups. He has a Bachelor’s degree in health science and formerly owned and operated a tness business called Hammond Corporate Wellness. He was a Crash Rescue Fireghter for the Air National Guard for 8 years and was a longtime rugby player until he took up the safer sport of motocross/enduro riding instead. He has used indoor rowing as part of training for his sports for the past 17 years. 27


Why Indoor Rowing? A Quick List Greg Hammond

I am often asked “What makes the indoor rower any better than other forms of equipment for metcon (metabolic conditioning) training?

Catch

The typical measure of aerobic exercise is elevated heart rate, which increases blood ow, bringing oxygen to power the muscles, and of course, a lot of heavy breathing. All this elevated activity of the lungs and heart trains and conditions the cardiovascular system. Rowing, though, has some unique advantages over other forms of aerobic training that are often overlooked. More muscle mass

The advantage of rowing is that more muscle mass is used doing the activity than while running, walking or biking. Your legs, glutes, abdominals, back, shoulders, and arms are all being worked. Of course, as with anything, the actual amount of work being done, and the amount of power being generated, relates to how hard you push yourself. Even on a rowing machine you can just paddle easily, or you can train like an Olympian. Greater range of motion

Rowing puts all your major body parts through a large range of movement. This is not true of many other forms of aerobic activity. In every stroke, rowing requires full compression and full extension of the arms and legs. Consider the joint rotation during the rowing movement: the ankle rotates through 70 degrees, the knees 130, the hip 80, the shoulder and elbow each about 100. (But it’s also scalable for rehab or for individuals with limited exibility for whatever reason: the stroke can be shortened to accommodate them, and lengthened incrementally as need.)

Drive

Multijoint coordinated movement and balance

Anyone who has tried skimming over a calm lake in a skinny rowing boat (or observed a skilled person doing so) can appreciate the coordination and balance required. But even on a rowing machine, the large movements of leg, back, and arm are executed in a rhythmic whole-body way.

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Why Indoor Rowing? ...continued

The synchronization and coordination of your movements is not dened by the machine, however, as it is on, say, an elliptical device.

Finish

Rowing requires learning and skill—i.e., neuromuscular engagement. Learning to make your limbs work together to achieve a goal, even if it is just getting back and forth on the sliding seat while pulling the handle in the most efcient way, is an inherently valuable element of functional movement. Interval-like force generation

Rowing is not a steady-state activity. “In rowing, you catch, accelerate, decelerate, and change direction twice each stroke. You are constantly overcoming inertia” (Fritz Hagerman, professor of exercise physiology). The drive and recovery cycle of each stroke is essentially a mini work-rest interval, a relatively short burst of explosive power production followed by a brief recovery phase that accumulate to constitute a longer rowing effort, whether a short sprint bout or a more sustained aerobic session. Variable resistance

The beauty of variable resistance is that you can use the rower with everyone from kids to the biggest strongest guy you have in the gym, and from rank beginners to seasoned experts. It is simple: the harder you pull, the more resistance you get. You will never outgrow rowing as you get stronger.

Recovery

Feedback and performance analysis

The main principle behind the indoor rower’s computer, the Performance Monitor, is its accuracy. In addition to letting you reliably chart your output and progress, it also allows you to compare performance across all machines and users and can introduce a competitive element. You can choose from a variety of measurement parameters and display options, including watts, calories, a bar chart and a force curve. In a sense, it’s a scaled-up version of the CrossFit whiteboard (“Men will die for points”), and the data it provides is observable, measurable, and repeatable.

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Rear Naked Choke Becca Borawski

One of the most popular moves in martial arts is the rear naked choke. The rear naked choke can be executed with or without the traditional gi (kimono), and variations are put to use in every venue, from professional wrestling to law enforcement. The choke is known by many names. Called the Lion Killer or “Mata Leão” in Brazil, its lineage reaches back to traditional Japanese jiu-jitsu and judo, where it is known as the “hadaka jime” or “naked strangle.”

components of the move: it is “rear” because the attack comes from the back, or rear; it is “naked” because it does not use the gi; and it is a choke, meaning it constricts either the air or blood ow to the brain, thereby potentially rendering the victim unconscious. In this month’s article (the last one in our series with world champion grappler Valerie Worthington), we will walk through two variations of the rear naked choke.

The rear naked choke is the move most feared when a competitor gives up his back to his opponent. The name describes the central

The rst variation begins with Valerie in the dominant position (Photo 1). In this situation, for whatever reason, her opponent, Andy, has his back to Valerie. She has capitalized on this by getting her “hooks” in (Photo 2). This means she has her legs wrapped around Andy’s waist and her feet are hooked inside his inner thighs. She is able to control and restrict his movements with her feet hooked in this way. Her hands are gripping his lapels (Photo 3) and she is hugging herself tightly to his body, while he bears her full weight on top of him.

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 1

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Rear Naked Choke ...continued

While still on all fours,Andy can potentially buck Valerie off (Photo 4), or at least distract her with trying to maintain her position. To execute her offense, the next thing Valerie wants to do is atten Andy out and restrict his movement. She does this by arching up and putting all her weight into her hips. She drives her hips forward while maintaining her hooks, attening Andy out onto the oor (Photo 5).

Photo 6

Photo 4

Photo 7

Photo 5

Once Andy is attened out, Valerie presses her upper body down (Photo 6) on him, but maintains her hooks throughout the execution of the choke. She lets go of his lapel with her right hand and begins to slide it underneath his neck (Photo 7). Her goal is to reach her arm far enough through that the point of her elbow is underneath his chin. She can use her ngers to help pull her arm through, gripping his shoulder and walking her ngers forward. Once her right arm is through, she will release her grip of his lapel with her left hand and bring that arm over his shoulder. Her right hand will then grip her own left biceps (Photo 8).

Photo 8 31


Rear Naked Choke ...continued

At this point Valerie will make a “blade” with her left hand (Photo 9) and slide it behind Andy’s head. She will use the blade shape of her hand to make a slicing motion downward to get her hand low at the base of his head and behind his neck. Her head will move down close next to Andy’s ear. She will expand her chest to create downward pressure, and squeeze her elbows together. (Photo 10) These movements will close up the space around Andy’s head and compress his neck, putting pressure on his carotid arteries and reducing blood ow to his brain. Andy will tap out or risk quickly becoming unconscious.

In the event that Andy is defending effectively and Valerie is unable to get her right arm all the way underneath his neck, there is an alternate version of the rear naked choke. This version does not allow for as much control over the opponent’s head, but it can be an effective move. In fact, this variation of the rear naked choke is sometimes referred to as the “Severn Lock” or the “Dan Severn” due to his successful use of the technique in several early UFC events.

Photo 9

Photo 10

To execute the Severn variation, Valerie needs to get her arm through only enough that her forearm is under Andy’s chin (Photo 11). She is going to position her forearm so that the “blade,” or bony side, of her forearm is pointed upward. Again, by gripping Andy’s collarbone or shoulder she can use her ngers to help pull her hand through. When her arm is far enough through that she can reach it with her other hand, she will clasp her hands together (Photo 12) in a “Gable” grip. This is a grip common to wrestling and it means that the thumb stays with the ngers and the hands clasp together like two paws. (It is also the grip used for thumbless pull-ups.) Photo 11

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