Sharpening your CrossFit form

The summer has flown by and the suicide hill mud plunge is now just four days away. Our ABC 10 Reporter, Rick Tarsitano, will be part of the action, but not without a few more pointers from the folks at CrossFit 906.

As the adage goes: no pain, no gain. But, sometimes it’s better to take a step back and watch and learn to make sure you’re using the proper technique.

Today’s benchmark workout is called Fran, which forces athletes to alternate between hip thrusters and pull ups in descending sets of 21, 15 and 9. And while racing against the clock is the name of the game, your form should never be compromised.

“It starts out in a front squat position. You’re looking for a full range of motion where your butt taps the ball and the full extension of your arms at the top where your arms are inline with your ears,” said Shannon Terres, a CrossFit 906 Trainer. “You want to keep your weight in your heels, chest up. We call it active shoulders, where your pressing your shoulder muscles up into your ears once your arms are extended over your head.”

Shannon keeps an eye out for any overcompensation because it will not only take away from the workout, it could lead to injury. She also makes sure the transition between workouts goes smoothly by helping everyone in and out of their resistance bands; a feature that allows athletes to isolate the desired set of muscles.

“The resistance bands help them get that full range of motion where their chin goes up over the bar and their arms are fully extended at the bottom, on the way down. We don’t do the swinging motion, or it’s called the Kipping Movement, until you get to the skinnier band or you’re ready for no band. It’s a gymnastics ‘Kip.’ It gives you the momentum to get your chin up over the bar, allowing you to get more reps in less time, which is what we do in CrossFit,” Terres added.

Once everyone has finished their workout, Shannon goes over each athlete’s results so they can check to see if they improved their times and assess whether or not to increase weight.

Watching everyone’s mechanics gave me a better idea of what to do my next time out, and will hopefully allow me to increase my speed and strength for the big day ahead.