CrossFit 864 – WOD
5:15a.m./9:00a.m./4:15p.m./5:15p.m./6:15p.m.
Post your time on CrossFit 864 Facebook
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLFunBPgPOo
5 Rounds for time:
15 Ball Slams
15 Kettlebell Swings
Abdonimal Strength (not timed)
(5) L-holds on pull-up bar for max time
Each time that you break the hold – drop off the bar and complete 20 Abmat sit-ups.
Watch the following video before the workout today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc7cOUOGj6w
AS – American Style (overhead swing) CrossFit method
RS – Russian Style (to eye or chest level)
A good kettlebell overview discussing two types of KB swings.
Ending the Swing Controversy
There are currently two popular methods for teaching the Kettlebell (KB) Swing, American (AS) or Russian (RS) style. There is a tendency for some coaches to label their favored method right and the other wrong. Like most things in life, it is not that simple.
Exploring the Differences
It is easy to tell the difference between the RS and AS, just look at the arc of the swing. The RS starts just below the groin and is swung to chest or at most, eye level. The movement is short, brisk and compact. The AS begins level to the knees and moves upward to full arm extension over the head. Its motion is longer and smoother than its Russian counterpart. The height of the arc of the AS may be twice that of the RS.
The subtler difference is the bend of the knees. The Russian style looks similar to a stiff-legged deadlift. Most of the movement is in the hips and the knees bend slightly, almost as an afterthought. The American swing is more like a squat as the knees bend to a much greater degree. Each method requires a different body alignment for correct performance.
The primary focus of the Russian swing is to utilize extension of the hips to drive the lifter’s center of gravity forward and up. This movement results in a very efficient application of force. You may test this concept by doing a vertical jump. Sit back quickly into quarter squat depth and immediately jump upward. Do this several times and note how high you jump. Now drop down into a deeper squatting movement and jump. Most people will find that they will not jump as high in the lower squatting position.
The American Swing has its own unique advantages. Its greater range of motion requires much more work and effort than the Russian Swing. Test this by doing quarter squats while raising your arm to chest height when you return to standing position for a half of minute. You could probably do this all day without breaking a sweat. Now do deeper squats for the same amount of time and raise your arm fully over head as you stand. Not so easy is it? Notice the greater range of motion gets your heart pumping and increases your breathing. This makes the American Swing an excellent exercise for building work capacity and overall fitness. Bringing the KB overhead will also increase shoulder girdle flexibility, endurance, balance, co-ordination and strength.
Which Swing is Best?
The answer is both and neither. Is the hammer better than a screwdriver? It is the goal that will determine which tool to use. If you need to pound in nails, you want the hammer. But it won’t be as useful if you are working with screws. It is important to understand that the RS and AS, like the hammer and screwdriver, are tools to be used for specific purposes. It is the lifter’s intent and goals that decide which swing is best.
The Russian Swing is the foundation of almost all ballistic kettlebell movements. Mastering and strengthening this swing will have a positive impact on such key kettlebell lifts as the KB snatch or KB Cleans. The short, compact stroke will allow the Kettlebeller to conserve energy that will allow for greater repetitions in the competitive kettlebell lifts (1 KB Snatch and 2 KB Jerk). For the person who training is predominately focused on KB training, the RS would be a better choice.
The CrossFitter, however, has different needs. He or she must excel at a much wider range of exercises than the KB lifter. The AS will have a much better transfer to kipping pull-ups, thrusters and many other CrossFit movements. The improvements to flexibility, balance and co-ordination will greatly benefit the Gymnastic, Weightlifting and Barbell exercises found in CrossFit training. The added effort and work of the American Swing will help the CrossFitter develop the fitness needed to survive intense “WOD”. When you consider the needs of the CrossFitter, it is easy to understand the advantages of using the American Swing.
Is Safety an Issue?
There are people who believe the AS is more dangerous than the RS. They consider swinging a KB overhead potentially dangerous. Full squats were once considered harmful to the knees. Now they are commonly used in the rehabilitation process. Physical Therapists realized properly performed full squats are essential for normal functioning. The key to making any exercise safe is proper coaching.
Very few fitness professional know how to properly teach the AS. But the inability to coach the AS does not make it a harmful exercise. We find the AS is a great way for our clients to learn and co-ordinate Mark Rippetoe’s active shoulders and hips techniques. As a result of doing AS, our client performance of many other exercises (squats, overhead lifts, kipping pull-ups, etc.) dramatically improve.
Rather than injuring clients, the AS is a very effective “pre-hab” exercise. The AS and other exercises in the CrossFit program restores people to optimum functioning. After a few weeks of training, many new CrossFitters notice something’s missing. Their usual aches and pains (back pain, headaches, or other joint problems) no longer exist. CrossFitters develop the strength, mobility, endurance and co-ordination to easily handle any stress that occurs in life.
In the Beginning
The novice CrossFitter needs to focus on mastering the nine fundamental movements (squat, front squat, overhead squat, press, push press, push jerk, deadlift and sumo deadlift high pull). Once these movement are sound, it is easy to learn the AS. There is no reason for beginners to learn the RS unless they have special needs, such as developing a more explosive hip drive or feeling their center connect with an external resistance (kettlebell).
CrossFit veterans may find value by occasionally using the Russian Swing. CrossFitters know that the variety of training stimulus is the key to the outstanding effectiveness of the program. Louie Simmons created a wide variety of ways for his powerlifters to bench press- incline, decline, floor, with boards, bands, chains, a wide variety of hand positions, dumbbells and God knows what else. Because of the great variety, his lifters rarely stay stuck in plateaus and regularly lift for personal bests. You will get better results by using a variety of swings instead of just one type. Do the AS most of the time, the RS as a change up, and every once in a while a hybrid swing.
Hybrid 1: Hip drive of RS but swing KB overhead, this will feel somewhat like a power snatch.
Hybrid 2: Squat style AS but only swing to chest or eyes level.
Absorb What Is Useful, Disregard That Is Useless-Bruce Lee
Coach Glassman and Bruce Lee have both put results ahead of tradition. They both been heavy criticized by their peers by rejecting accepted training systems to create their own. Glassman’s CrossFit and Lee’s Jeet Kune Do are focused on a variety of methods and exercises that produce the best results. Lee freely mixed in strength training, boxing, and European fencing with the best parts from a wide variety of martial arts. Glassman realizes that gymnastic, powerlifting, weightlifting and endurance activities will create better total fitness results when combined than they could separately.
Glassman and Lee realized not one type of training is best. But the careful selection and combination of the proper sources will produce outstanding achievements. Therefore, it follows that neither the AS nor the RS is best. It is the intelligent use of both that will allow one to maximally improve their fitness.
-Tom Rankin
It is better to be poor and right than to be wealthy and dishonest. People may make plans in their minds, but the Lord decides what they will do.
-Proverbs 16:8-9
“Procrastination is suicide on the installment plan.”
“The only thing wrong with doing nothing is that you never know when you’re finished.”
BE STRONG!
Janice and Jay