For the month of August, and leading into September, we will put emphasis on building our front squat along with our strict shoulder press. Over the past few months we have worked on our snatch, sumo deadlift, back squat and added more volume into our metcon’s. Moving forward we will shift our focus toward building our clean & jerk leading up to open season prep… Yes, it’s almost fall which means The Open is right around the corner! Over the next few weeks you will see a lot of “building to a heavy” for our front squats and presses before we get into a more specific percentage based progression.
*If you are new to CrossFit Bethesda, read about our annual CrossFit Open here.
If you haven’t noticed, there are lots of new faces in the gym! YAY! This provides the perfect opportunity to reset, and retest our numbers to discover new starting points. So, let’s figure out where your numbers currently are, shall we?! On the days you feel good we encourage you to test yourselves and see where you end up. Perhaps a new PR! On the days where perhaps you missed your “wheatie’s” that morning, it’s ok to back off a little and hit a quality “heavy” lift that will leave you feeling good. Listen to your body!
For our Olympic lifts you will see us going back to some snatch complexes to try and build some confidence in cycling the barbell. Technique work and drills are so important for success with the Olympic lifts. These complexes are just that. They are meant to drill you on the movement patterns for the Olympic lifts. These lifts are extremely technical, and most of us should take the time to go back to a PVC pipe and drill the movement until it looks exactly like it does with weight. No, this does not mean you are going backwards on your Olympic lifting journey. While adding some weight to a barbell provides “feedback”, that feedback is telling you where you need to remain engaged because you aren’t. Use this knowledge to drill the PVC and move the PVC pipe as if it weighs 1000 pounds. Remember: It’s not about the weight, it’s about how efficiently we move any weight. Make this your goal for the month, and I guarantee you’ll see leaps in your advancement with the Olympic lifts and improved body awareness.
Our 40 min EMOM’s won’t appear as frequently this month, however, you’ll notice multiple 20 min AMRAP’s in it’s place. We will also introduce some new skills that have emerged at the CrossFit Games this past weekend. I am certain we will see some new things in the open or quarter finals this upcoming year and this time… we(I) won’t suck at crossovers. LOL
Let’s get great workout’s in and learn new things this month fam!
-Coach Ray
