Olympic Lifting Series - Part 2 - The Clean & Jerk

This is Part 2 of our Olympic Lifting series; The Clean & Jerk.

The Clean & Jerk is a strong and powerful lift and is great for developing explosive strength.
This video is intended for our members to recap what they have learnt in class and to watch in their own time to see just exactly what it is they are aiming for.

It is by no means a full instructional video of every teaching point but should be used as a reference guide after we have taught you at the box.

We encourage our members to learn the fundamentals of weightlifting before moving onto the more advanced lifts such as The Clean & Jerk and The Snatch. With these lifts you will see massive gains in strength, explosiveness, speed, balance and coordination. Plus, they are a lot more fun than seated bicep curls!! :)

For more information see: www.crossfitconnect.co.uk

Dont hesitate to get in touch and see what CrossFit can do for you!

Firebreathers and CrossFit Games Training Sessions

With the 2012 Crossfit Games qualifying WODs starting in 3 short months and the new London Games being held in February 2012, with their qualifying WODs starting mid-December, its time to start some serious training!

Some of you have now been training long enough to enter these competitions and we want to coach you to get there and represent CrossFit Connect!

As we are a fairly new box most of you havent yet had the chance to check out just what it means to CrossFit amongst 100's of other people and feel the electricity created by so many people throwing down WODs as hard as they can. Its what CrossFit is all about; the cameraderie, the spirit, the guts and the determination. It will push your own training to a whole new level as you strive to compete with the best there is. If you feel you need a focus to your training and something to work towards then this is it. Lets step it up!

Starting next week (the 23rd November) we will be running two classes a week for people who are interested in taking their training to the next level and competing at the CrossFit events next year. We believe we have a great standard of athlete at the box and some of you could do really well at these competitions if we put the time in now and train you correctly.

So, we are holding two competition standard or 'Firebreather' classes per week. They will be:

Wednesday @ 7pm - 8pm
Sunday @ 11am-12pm

These sessions will mean doing the WODs Rx'd and to strict competition form...no excuses! Yes, no reps will be called. :) We will be focussing mainly on WODs with some skill work thrown in when needed. Lifting will be done at the regular classes. Our focus will be on getting you to complete the WODs at the Rx'd weights/reps so no scaling will be done. If it takes you 30 minutes to complete Fran Rx'd then so be it. This will encourage you to lift heavier weights than perhaps you would in regular classes and get you used to training at the intensity needed.

Please talk to us about coming to these classes beforehand. Yes, they will be intense. Yes, you will need to be at a certain fitness level to get the most out of them. But, if you have the desire to compete we will do all we can to get you there.

We know this will provide a whole new reason for our members to train hard and have something to look forward to in the process. Its going to be a busy year next year in terms of competitions as CrossFit continues to grow and we look forward to being part of it with a strong team of athletes.

Let us know if you are keen and lets get this thing rolling. Its only about 4 weeks until the first of the qualifiers for the London Games so we have to get on it!

Also, if you know any friends who are already good level athletes and would be interested in training for the CrossFit competitions then send them our way or direct them to the blog.

Timetable Changes

Please note that some adjustments will be made to the timetable to reflect these new classes. Starting Wednesday 23rd November.

Wednesday evenings will now look like this:
6-7pm - WOD class
7-8pm - Firebreathers Class
8-9pm - WOD class

and Sundays will look like this:
10-11am - WOD class
11-12pm - Firebreathers class

As usual, any feedback you have for us over this is always much appreciated. Its hopefully going to be an exciting few months ahead!

CrossFit and Rest Days - How Much Do You Need?

We have been open a good few months now and some of our early members have had a while to really get their teeth into CrossFit. It is about now that an interesting question arises.

If you train at this intensity, how much rest do you need?

Of course this is an impossible question to answer in one fell swoop as everyone is built differently and will have different needs when it comes to rest and recovery.

CrossFit HQ programme their training and recommend a 3 day on / 1 day off split. They have found that this training frequency and rest produces the best results and the recovery needed to be able to go at each WOD hard. Now i think personally for your average person this is a little too much. We work hard at the box and you will feel drained and achy afterwards. Trying to maintain the intensity over 3 days will be too hard for most people. Its fine if you have a very athletic background or are used to training a lot but for a large majority of our members at Connect this isn't the case.

For years i stuck to the very popular Mon, Wed and Fri training days with perhaps a lighter session on weekends and this worked really well for me. I found i got the recovery i needed as every training day was followed by a rest day and as well as the physical side of things i didn't get burnt out mentally either.

With CrossFit and now owning and being at the box everyday i find a 2 day on / 1 day off split much better. I can work really hard in the WODs or lifts for two days knowing that i have a rest day to look forward too on the 3rd. I then come back on the 4th raring to go again (well mostly!).

Rest days shouldn't be underestimated. You actually get stronger and fitter when you are NOT at the box. You do all the breaking down of muscle cells and raise your metabolism whilst you train but the muscles actually repair stronger and you carry on burning calories when you are resting. Get plenty of sleep and eat well on those rest days and your results will improve. Continuing to train wont get you any improvement if what you really need to do is repair.

CrossFit is tough. You will be lifting weights you never have before and asking your body to do work that you previously thought impossible. You need to be nice to your body and give it its rest. Reward it for squatting a new PB of 100kg or deadlifting 150kg! Overtraining can lead to injury and we all definitely want to avoid this.

As i mentioned a couple of paragraphs up, maintaining your mental intensity is just as important. Have a think about where you are right now with your training. Do you walk into the box and groan when you look at the whiteboard as just thinking about all that work makes you tired? Or do you walk in ready to take on the world and smash your previous records? Its definitely the latter that you want to be feeling and if its not, then perhaps you need to take a rest day or two. I can guarantee you that in two days or so you will be itching to get back to Connect and bang out a WOD! If you have been CrossFitting a while remember the enthusiasm you had when you first started CrossFit? How you wanted to try all the benchmark WODs, set all the scores, compare yourself to everyone else. This is what you have to maintain. And that can be very tough. We aren't just another place to pass an hour of your free time. We are a strength and conditioning facility that wants to see you get stronger, fitter and faster and become the best you can be. And that needs focus and determination. If you are tired and actually hurting (as opposed to a little ache!) those two things are going to be very hard to achieve.

So do a little planning. Play around with different frequencies, different days and different amounts of work/rest ratios. See what works for you. If you continue to improve in your lifts and your times then you are probably on the right track. If you find that you have gone stale, your lifts aren't improving and you have lost your enthusiasm then take a few days off. Three to four days off will really recharge the batteries. Of course, if you cant bear the thought of doing nothing then you can always come down to the Open Gym sessions and just play around with a few skills, practice things that you cant do yet or just stretch out. If you can only make the WOD class times due to work or such then just tell us you want to do your own thing when you turn up. 

I hope this helps and makes you think a little more about what works for you. We have a whole year of competitions to prepare you guys for next year (see the DWF section above!) and there is a hell of a lot of promise being shown at the box at the moment. Its this that we want to build on.

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