Buy In:
3 Rounds of “Cindy”
Power Clean Technique
WOD:
AMRAP 10 Minutes
12 Wallball 10ft/9ft, 20lb/14lb
6 Power Clean
*Go as heavy or as light on the power clean as you feel comfortable.
Cash-Out:
Stretch
Last week I overhead Coach Chris telling a his morning crew that he needed to get them performing “rounds of cindy” again as part of their warm-up. If you are not sure what Cindy is, it is a benchmark workout which consists of as many rounds of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 squats. Chris’s goal is to get his athletes comfortable with simple gymnastic movements, maintaining a good well-rounded warm-up (in addition to our leg swings and inchworms), and improving on calisthenics.
This is a variation of a concept called “Grease the Groove” was first introduced by Pavel Tsatsouline, famed russian kettlebell expert. In Pavel’s book, Power to the People, he discusses how training to failure is counterproductive. So he recommends performing to sub-failure, which can create a strong neurological response to adapt to the new stresses. In a way, we play with this concept in our strength building buy-ins, in that we hardly ever go to 1 rep maxes.
The greasing the groove concept has been employed by CrossFit HQ, especially in their early creation of the official “CrossFit Warm-Up”. CrossFit HQ’s official warm-ups include a series of squats, push-ups, pull-ups and other mobility drills.
Occasionally, in between strength days, we play with Greasing the Groove concepts. We have used other terms such as “volume training” which is a similar variation of the same concept.
We are going to start incorporating expressions of this concept in our buy in’s on off strength days. You may see ” X rounds of cindy” or “x rounds of push-up/hspu/ring dips”. Some days we may ask for strict pull-ups or strict handstand push-ups (if possible).
For the rest of the buy in we are going to work on Power Clean technique. Then, work up to a weight you would like to perform during this workout.
Some quick tips on the Power Clean:
Set Up:
Grasp the bar so your hands are just outside shoulder width. Place the bridge of your shoelace in line with the barbell.
Keeping your torso tight, and butt high, slowly lower your butt until your your shins reach the bar. This will give you an upright torso and low butt position. Your back and hammy’s should feel “stretched”.
1st Pull:
“SWEEEEEEP”
Extend your legs by driving your knee’s back. As this happens the bar should rise as the same speed as your hips. Keep pulling the bar back into you. (Visualize sweeping the bar back into your thighs). Shift the majority of your weight back into your heels. This first pull is not a violent pull, it is a squeezing pull, that is just slightly faster than a deadlift.
Transition/Scoop/Double knee Bend:
With the weight in your heels, lean back with an upright torso to finish the sweep.
2nd Pull:
Staying in your heels, “HUMP”/”POP”/”JUMP” the weight up. Whichever cue works for you. To get an idea of what this feels like, stand upright, dip down slightly and give yourself one of these cues. The “hump” cue really accentuates the violent hip extension, and the full torso extension. The “pop” cue really focuses on speed of movement, which is where we reach our velocity max. The “jump” cue focuses on the full opening of the hips and violent hip extension.
3rd Pull:
“DROP”.
As the bar is traveling up after your violent hip extension, pull your body underneath. Your feet should land shoulder width apart, in a partial squat. Elbows will come back and around to allow you to catch the barbell across the shoulders in the front rack position. Keep your elbows as high as possible on this catch so the bar can rest comfortably on the shoulders/chest.
In other words… SWEEEEEP, POP AND DROP.
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