CrossFit Oakland

Shoulder press technique: shoulders up (active) or down? i need to know because of the constant troubles with my neck. Every time I've re-injured my neck has been during the overhead shoulder press with a heavy weight.

What's the best way to work on getting the speed needed for Cleans?

Ask Rip how to get the barbell from your chest to a position just over your head. Basically I want to know how to get the barbell out of the hole on the heavy shoulder press. I have heard the shoulder press can be improved by 30% with technique alone!

Random Dude, represent. We love you and we are with you! Do your thing...we anxiously await the new knowledge....

Franklin,

You're gonna love this little trick Rip showed to get the barbell moving, without actually bending the knees, and still making the shoulder press legitimate in terms of CFT competition and rules.

I'll show you (and everyone else) when I get back.

As much as I am interested in the technique advice, I would like to hear more about exercise programming. This is to say, I am sure that I haven’t exhausted all that Mike and Nicole have to offer me in the technique of my lifts but the exercise programming is a topic that has yet to be explored by CFO as far as I can tell. In fact, exercise programming on the national site seems to be pretty much absent… unless I am just missing something. This I find particularly interesting because it’s not as if the major CrossFit athletes do not find programming important. Rippetoe, afterall, recently published a book about "practical programming". Moreover, it's pretty much common knowledge that the top crossfit athletes don't follow the national site programming and have adjusted the workouts to meet their more specific training needs. Mike Minium included.

So... I guess that’s my question… how can we do that too? What's the secret to programming? You might find it odd that I ask that question after reading his book but that was a bit too theoretical for me. I want hard core examples and advice on the following questions: What are the real top athletes doing? When is it advisable to the CF workouts and when not? How long of a rest does he recommend before competitions? What kind of adjustments/additions does he recommend for athletes that are in regular competition? He talks about programming for football players in "practical programming" but not in the context of the crossfit workouts. How does he work in the crossfit workouts for his football athletes (or ruggers if he has any) and what changes does he make for them? Finally, some online interviews with Mark Rippetoe even seem to insinuate that he does not propose the CF workouts to be ideal for such athletes. In which case, I would like to hear the kind of programming that he has his athletes do. I mean, it sounds like from the book he is just talking about sets of 3 and 5 of cleans and snatches… is there any room for CF workouts???

That was long but programming I think is really the key here. You can bust your ass day in and day out in the gym but you need to be outcome oriented and in order to that, research shows that you have to have performance and process based goals. Well, that’s programming… and I want some coaching on that.

I hope you don’t hate me now.

Your excessively verbose friend,
Candace

look forward to hearing that shoulder press tip. that is the most mystifying of the 3 CFT lifts. regarding candace's question...good question. i assumed there was programming inherent in the cycle of WODs, but it would be good to know for sure. if there is programming built in, who is the target athlete?

Candace pretty much summed up a lot of things I've been wondering lately.

If you're involved in some outside Crossfit pursuits, are the WODs the best thing for you?

yeah i am really interested in candace's point too, seeing as i'd like to be good at crossfit but what i am most interested in is becoming a better climber.

don't forget guys, CrossFit Oakland is a GPP program(see Mike's post of 5/30). We are here to provide general conditioning to augment your sporting activity of choice. We are not specialists! CF by design is for GENERAL strength and conditioning. Balance of sport training and CF is something that needs to be strategized between your CF coaches and coach/trainer from your particular sport--bring it to us, in detail...what are your trying to do, what do you want to work on, where are your deficiencies? We can help you determine how to incorporate CF programming into your season.

Joe, I have a copy of a very detailed CFJ article on the programming of the WOD'S..I'll keep it for you on the desk with your name on it.