The goal of this competition and blog is to encourage athletes to work on their weakness. To eliminate them all would be impossible but our goal is to start taking down the most glaring issues and turning them into strengths. This competition will be continuous with monthly winners. What I would like is for each participant to write down a list of 5 weaknesses and begin working on 1 now. You will focus on improving this weakness for the next month and at the end I will chose a winner based on improvement. There will be a log book at the front desk where you will each be given a section. Each time you work on a weakness you will log it in the book. These logs do not need to be long and should take less than 2 minutes to write. I will periodically go through the logs and give you tips to help you along. Log entries could look like this
2/16/11 Worked on HSPU. Was able to do 5 with 2 abmats and no kip. Did 10 sets of 5
2/17/11 Worked on static holds against the wall. Did 5 holds for 30 seconds each
2/18/11 Was able to do 2 with 1 abmat today, did 5 attempts failing on my last rep.
This board will be a place where you can also log what you did but it is also a forum to ask your peers for help. For example if you are working on your pistol and seem to have hit a plateau you can post what you have been doing and we can all respond with tips. I will also post tips occasionally to help people along with their goals. This forum is meant to encourage and advise others in the competition.
At the end of each month I will evaluate log entries and the winner will receive a shirt that says crossfit hoboken on the front and Eliminate Weakness on the back and there will be a blog post about what your weakness was, the progress you made and how you accomplished it. These shirts will not be for sale and you can only get one by being me or by winning. This month the shirts will be red but that is subject to change. To participate all you need to do is sign up at the front desk and pay $5. The fee is only to cover the cost of shirts. Since this is new feel free to post any suggestions/questions/constructive comments here or email me at merissulivan@gmail.com.
While I will not be competing against you I will also be focusing on a weakness this month. I am horrible at double unders. Currently I can only do 4 in a row and not consistently. That will change by the end of the month. What will you do?
i'll go first. my biggest weakeness in the gym involves putting any weight overhead using my shoulders and upper body. This is a strength issue that i will attack from several angles this month.
ReplyDeleteThe overall goal is to be able to do 1 full ROM handstand push up by the end of March and 5 best effort HSPUs in a row.
-every day that i don't attend the gym, i'll do a minimum of 50 pushups and do the "crow pose" at home.
-at the gym, i'll work on my handstands, including a lot of "negatives" work.
-i'll ask people to help hold my feet and practice handstands off the wall.
-i'll shoulder press or bench when it comes up in WODs or if i have time for extra work.
-i'll thruster or overhead squat with heavy weight at least twice.
that's a lot of work.
Phil
I have three major issues I want to overcome. The first I am close on, but I want to do 50 double unders consecutively and consistently. The second issue is to do walking hand stands. I need to learn better balance and gymnastic awareness. Finally, I want to be able to extend the reach of my kick, which is being limited by the muscle/tendon that connects the calve to the hamstring and tight hip flexors.
ReplyDeleteEvery Day, I am not doing a work out, I will do 500 double unders, 15 minutes of hand stand practice, and 15 minutes of mobility work for my legs.
Phil and Bennett- I'm psyched that you guys are participating.
ReplyDeleteHere are a couple tips that I found really useful for improving both my over head strength and handstands.
1. Tabata handstand holds
2. Practice holding a handstand against the wall and lifting up 1 arm. In the beginning just lift it up a little bit and as you feel more comfortable trying reaching up and touching your hip. Once that becomes easy see how long you can hold it and maybe do tabata single arm holds
3. You both have a good range of motion in the overhead position but you may benefit from rolling a lacrosse ball on your traps. I did this and was surprised how much it helped. Everybody focuses on their lats/shoulder muscles but your traps are big players as well.
4. Kettlebell step ups. They sound easy but it really forces your shoulder to work and get good and stable. Use 12kg or 16kg dumbbells and maintain your overhead position while doing step ups. To make it more difficult try to doing it bottoms up where the bell is above the handle.
5. The last suggestion I have is to try doing back extension holds with your palms up. It works the range of motion for your shoulder and it is another way to work that strong midline hold.
I hope these help you out and keep your training interesting. I know that working on 1 movement for a month could easily get boring, but when you are able to mix up your training methods I think it really helps.
Good luck and keep me updated on your progress!
I'm signed up now to follow this blog. This is a great idea and I'm looking forward to the challenge!
ReplyDeleteAs for goals, this week I need to finish preparation for the Rockefeller Stair Climb this Sunday. After that here are my three weak points and goals:
1.Overhead Squats: I had finally gotten the hang of these a few months ago but now my form is out of whack, the main culprit being my knees going forward causing my heels to go up and my chest to sag. I'm hoping to get this fixed so I can start OHS 95 pounds when RX'd on WOD's and getting a one rep max of 115+
2. HSPU: I've been working on these but the best I can do is a one rep max with one abmat below. My goal is to do a regular HSPU with no help.
3. Butterfly Kips: I want to work on these because it should be helpful for the high rep workouts and since pull ups have never been a strong point to begin with.
When I start the challenge I will write out a plan of attack for all three.
As for Doubleunders, if anyone would like any tips/spotting I'd be happy to help out, just look for me when I'm at the gym or post on here.
Thanks again to Meris for putting this together, Good Luck everyone!
This is definitely great Meris. I know you and I are working on a lot but I really need to work on double unders on my own. Tips I've heard so far is make sure the jump rope when folded comes up to your armpits and also leaning forward should help. I'm open to any other tips. Some people make these look so easy and it would be great to add to my skillset. Similar to Bennet I need to work on getting 50 of these every time I am in the gym in March.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea Meris! Thanks so much for starting this!
ReplyDeleteI've been slacking off lately due to a foot tendonitis injury from my marathon training. I've been off it for a couple of weeks now, but the doctor said i should be back soon.
If there's anything I need to work on, it's my form/technique and strength in every O-lifting exercise. For this month, I'd really like to focus on mastering every variation of the clean then go on to snatches. Since it's tough finding the time during a regular session, I plan on switching my schedule around and attending 2 of the early morning sessions. 1st session to just work on this.. 2nd session to do the WOD. For every day that I miss a practice, I will do 50 burpees.
Romero- First thank you for participating. I spent a lot of time working on My oly lifts this summer. My suggestion would be to break one (either clean or snatch) to start and really focus on it. Here is a link to help out with fault assessment on your snatch http://www.qwa.org/articles/snatch.asp
ReplyDeleteI am still far from perfect on my oly lifts but fixing my starting position had the most immediate impact. Make sure you are balance and that your midline is stable before beginning your pull. The other thing that helped me out was breaking it down by focusing on each piece. For example spend a good bit of time making sure your first pull is solid before moving on to the second etc. If you have any questions or just want tips please feel free to post!
Hey Meris, I will definitely participate! I can think of a couple of things I need to work on, but I think top priority for me is completing pull-ups without the band! When we do WODS with pull-ups I try to start with a smaller band but usually end up with a thicker a band towards the end, but i'd really just like to not use a band at all!
ReplyDeleteI'm in! I know there is a bunch I can improve on, but my priorities are, in order of importance: cleans/front squat (I figure they go together), snatches, HSPU on plates/parellets, free-standing handstands. Butterfly kips would be good to learn too.
ReplyDeleteI try to get 5-15 mins of mobility work each day to improve flexibility.
Hey Meris, I am in. As you already know pull ups are on the top of my list. I can't wait to ditch the band for good. And next HSPU and double unders, and after that I'm sure a whole lot more but baby steps.
ReplyDeleteJenny and Mahalia- I will be posting shortly about how to work on pullups. I think you will be able to make some solid gains by coming in early or staying a little later. 10 minutes or less each time
ReplyDeleteJason- So this month is it Front squat/clean? I will make sure to post some mobility stuff that could help you out since I don't think strength is the issue. More mobility will make technical improvements much easier
I love the responses guys, just 1 more week until the fun officially begins!