12-02-03: Press, Overhead Squats and/or Snatches

Elm City CrossFit WoD for Friday, February 3rd, 2012

Robb Wolf coaching the overhead squat (or the snatch... probably the OHS on a plyo box)... and then the CHUDS attacked.

Overhead squat form. Note the two overhead pictures a the top, and how the bar doesn't deviate from its position directly over her traps.

Sage Burgener demos a perfect snatch, with a nice deep catch.

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet snatches in competition at the CrossFit Games.

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Strength: Pick 2

• 3 x 6 Press @ 85% (115#)
• 3 x 2 Overhead Squat @ 90% (110#)
• 3 x 1 Snatch @ 87% (110#)

Ah, a workout designed to work more than one goat at a time... sweet! Though I haven't worked presses in a while, I decided to shoot for the OHS and Snatch, since both involve both strength and skill, and I *need* to work on those skills.  After a good warm-up and pvc bar review of all three techniques, we went to work.

First up was overhead squats, which I tried to warm-up extensively with the empty bar (45#). As always, I find the empty bar very difficult to do, as it doesn't seem to provide enough of a counter-balance, but that's probably just my not-quite-supple enough body mechanics, where I need heavier weight pressing down and back to counteract my inability to fully open up my trunk and hips in the front. Maybe. I'm still tinkering with it. After some more warm-up sets at heavier weights, I moved up to my work sets at 110#. Best coaching tip I've ever had directed at me: "That's the best overhead squat I've seen you do here. How did that feel?" It felt freaking amazeballs!! ;)

After three sets of two (interspersed with helping Larry reset his far heavier bar in the rack after it hit the floor after his reps), I moved onto the snatches. After a few reps with the empty bar and a few at 65#, I started working up in weight to 110#. My goal was to perform all full "squat snatches" (as always, a full snatch IS a squat snatch, so squat snatch is actually redundant), rather than the allowable power snatches, which require a bit less skill, and don't work the part of the lift where you actually get under the bar, the most critical part of the Olympic lift known as Snatch.

I hit the first rep fairly easily, and felt good catching it at the bottom, but then I failed on the second. In that instant, I resolved that I would NOT count any misses towards my three rounds. Good thing. I hit the third attempt, bombed out on the fourth (crap technique put the bar too far out in front), and nailed the fifth. So, there was that. ;)

In hindsight (writing this a few days later), any workout that makes all your core and stabilizing muscles sore as crap for a few days is absolutely a great workout. This one looked easy on the whiteboard, but definitely was a bit of a ball-buster!