One of the important aspects of continued progress is routine work on basic skills and bodyweight movements, with built in progression. We’ve worked up a structured way to approach this through the RVA Weakness Warm-Up. This is also something that can be readily employed by all of our group class members quickly before the warm-up, though keep in mind that it doesn’t replace the warm-ups with the group class! It will be programmed in specific places in our RVA Competition Group programming.
Background and Influences
In the Misfits group, we did once/week work with muscle-ups, HSPU, and butterfly pull-ups. We started with ~50% of our max reps, and then would do a few sets of perfect reps. We would only see these movements once per week though, which while was still beneficial, I found the frequency to be too low to get as much out of it as possible. When searching around further, I found the TZ Strength Warm-up, which mixed together movements that you need to work on, into a circuit. We’re borrowing heavily from this. Finally, we’re going back to some aspects of the very old “Grease the Groove” routine from Pavel, where you train movements with high frequency, always fresh, never to muscle failure. We’re talking multiple times per day, multiple times per week. The culmination of these ideas, and plenty of personal experience, is the following:
- 1 Static Movement
- 1 Upper Body Pull
- 1 Upper Body Push
- 1 Choose Your Own Adventure
3 Rounds:
Performed twice a week, before your workouts, beginning with ~50% effort/duration/volume. Increase effort/duration/volume every time the RVAWW is performed, with respect to maintaining perfect movement and keeping effort sub-maximal.
Here’s the basics.
4 Categories of Movement:
Static Movements:
Static positions that will ultimately carry over to dynamic movements. Examples below. Also, check out http://www.gymnasticswod.com and http://theoutlawway.com/category/connectivity/ (static shaping) for some creative options. Work up to slightly more challenging variations of the hold, or increase duration.
Hollow position
Handstand holds and variations
L-sits
Planks
Upper Body Push and Upper Body Pull
Self explanatory. Pick an upper body pull, and an upper body push.
Ring Dips
HSPU
Push-Ups
Pull-Ups (and all their variations)
Rope climbs
Muscle-Ups
Choose your own adventure:
A broad category to work on things that you know you need to. This could be short duration aerobic work, a CrossFit-specific skill, or a drill to work your way up to a more complex skill. Not a place for anything other than an empty bar, and it’s best to find non-barbell specific movements to work on here. No party tricks, and don’t pick something stupid.
Double Unders
Short efforts running, rowing, or on the AD
Skilled KB or DB work
Pistols
Handstand Walking
Toes to Bar
Sub-Max Effort
You’ll be starting off at 50% reps/effort. You should not be struggling through reps.
Perfect Movement
The key here is perfect movement. Consider this the limiter for how many reps you’re doing. Take the time here to dig into your movement mechanics. I know plenty of people who can do 15 kipping pull-ups, but can’t do a single one that’s solid. The same could be said for many other movements. Back up, ask me or another instructor for help, watch a youtube video. Above all, THINK. Be mindful of how your body is moving and feeling.
Constant Progression
The Competition Group will be cycling movements frequently, every 3 weeks. But during those three weeks, we’ll be looking at increasing the volume of movements every session, or every other session, with respect to both points above concerning perfect and sub-max movement. To avoid stagnation, and ensure we’re working on a variety of movements and skills, we’ll be rotating to different, but similar movements frequently.
Frequency
Work through the series of movements 2-3x/week.
You’ve got homework to do! Pick the movements you know that you need work on, and start making progress.