CrossFit Oakland

Mike -

I'm not feeling the explosive hips, and I'm ashamed. Honestly, even on light thrusters, I'm not popping the weight up.

Brandon game me a drill to work on, but it was more linked to the power clean. Any thoughts on this one? I'm very coachable.

Thanks.

thanks for the tip, coach! i think i was doing some of that bad stuff on the cleans the other day.

Brad. Kettlebells, kettlebells, kettlebells. That'll learn ya!

Brad -

Obviously talk to Mike about this, but I usually supplement the CF workouts with some plyometric movements. Simple things like vertical jump repeats, broad jump repeats, and bounding. These movements have helped me develop more explosion in my hips, quads, and glutes.

Props to Journey for rocking the Michael workout!!!

The Black Box in NYC is awesome!! The Pope is here for Passover. What more could one want?

Brad. Kettlebells, kettlebells, kettlebells. That'll learn ya!

I am not trying to pick a fight here, nor am I even trying (and failing) to be funny. However, Greg Everett disagrees with the idea that kettlebells are a cure for all that all that ails you. I rather like kettlebells, but I like barbells and dumbbells, too.

I will now return to recording some piano in the wilds of Pennsylvania.

Tom - let's fight. Just kidding. But seriously, the hip pop required in kettlebell swings has been the most helpful thing to me for developing hip explosion in other movements like the oly lifts, thrusters, push press, etc. Obviously kettlebell swings aren't going to help your bench press, and no single tool is the answer to everything. That's why we do crossfit. But the hip pop in the swing is identical to the hip pop in a lot of other exercises, which is why I'm right. :)

Any takers for helping me make up with Nancy this afternoon at 4pm? I've heard she's quite a b*#ch and I'd rather not face her alone.

thanks to the 10am crew...the vest, encouragement, fan ect. all made it happen. now i nap. but seriously, thank you.
p.

Patrick - you're freaking awesome. I knew if anyone could take on Murph with the vest it would be you.
Melissa - have fun with Nancy! I did it at 9am and it was serious business for me. OH squats are the toughest for me, but I'm sure you're gonna kill it.

Patrick - nice job!

Brad,

I am dying to see what Mike says about this one.

The first thing that comes to my mind is tackling. In rugby we talk a lot about generating hip power in order to explode, laterally, into your opponent. Perhaps Mike will let you launch yourself into him a dozen times every other day. As long as he doesn't return the favor, you are surely to be more explosive after a few months of that.

On the off chance that he say's no (I would let you but the old ACL isn't quite up to speed) I second Brandon's vote on the jumping. And I would say you really need to push your comfort zone. Jump high, jump far and focus on generating power from your fingers to your toes. Your hip is likely to fire at some point in that venture, and before you know it, you will be able to command that same ability in thrusters, cleans, snatches, jerks and tackling!

I have to agree with the comments posted above that all of those exercises that force you to jump up on a box or pop the hip for kettlebells are the best for neurowiring in and strengthening that hip 'pop' or 'jump' movement in thrusters, cleans or whatever. When I spent a couple months not doing any shoulder stuff, I did a lot more box jumps, step ups, lunges and I can really tell the difference now. Hip strength gradually grows (ie takes a long time, for me anyway) and really is the core of most, if not of the xfit moves done on the ground. Brad G: I never really feel a 'pop' during thrusters either, but I do try to "jump" up..see if jumping feels better to you. If you watch Annie doing thrusters, she really jumps.

I have to agree with the comments posted above that all of those exercises that force you to jump up on a box or pop the hip for kettlebells are the best for neurowiring in and strengthening that hip 'pop' or 'jump' movement in thrusters, cleans or whatever. When I spent a couple months not doing any shoulder stuff, I did a lot more box jumps, step ups, lunges and I can really tell the difference now. Hip strength gradually grows (ie takes a long time, for me anyway) and really is the core of most, if not all of the xfit moves done on the ground. Brad G: I never really feel a 'pop' during thrusters either, but I do try to "jump" up..see if jumping feels better to you. If you watch Annie Sakamoto doing thrusters, she jumps, not pops.

Hey Brandon, Candace, Jonathan, Amy -

Thanks for the tips, I appreciate it. You'll see me do finishers featuring box, broad, and vertical jumps and some KB's for good measure.

We'll see.

Brad,

Brandon and Candace give good advice.

The vertical jump is often used as the metric for determining one's explosiveness.

And there have been numerous studies (I can't find this one that sums it up really nicely but will track it down because it's bugging me that I can't find it) that show a program that combines weight training (most often squats and power cleans) with plyometrics trumps any program consisting of weight training alone or plyometrics alone when it comes to improving one's vertical jump.

So yes, add in box jumps and various other plyometric exercises, in addition to hitting the heavy squats, and you'll improve your explosiveness.

While I'm trying to track down that one study, here's another one that compares the effects of training on vertical jump, squat, and 50-yard dash. The participants were broken into 4 groups: plyometrics-only, weights-only, plyometrics + weights, and a control group that did nothing.

Read This Study

As you can see, the plyo + weight group has the biggest improvement in vertical jump and 50-yard dash. The gain in squat isn't quite as much as the gain seen by the group that did squats (and other leg exercises) alone, but that's to be expected.

I can give you an explanation of why the combo of the two works in person, too, if you want more info.

But my fingers are tired of typing.

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