10-10-05: Back Squats and Pull-Ups

CrossFit WoD for Monday October 4th, 2010
For time:

• 95 35 pound Back squat, 50 25 reps
• 15 ft Rope Climb, 5 ascents 15 pull-ups
• 115 55 pound Back squat, 40 20 reps
• 15 ft Rope Climb, 4 ascents 12 pull-ups
• 135 75 pound Back squat, 30 15 reps
• 15 ft Rope Climb, 3 ascents 9 pull-ups
• 155 95 pound Back squat, 20 10 reps
• 15 ft Rope Climb, 2 ascents 6 pull-ups
• 175 115 pound Back squat, 10 5 reps
• 15 ft Rope Climb, 1 ascent 3 pull-ups

Scaling from and inspired by CrossFit Brand X.

Notice the hips BELOW the knees. If the fold of your hips don't drop below the tops of your knees (ie, below horizontal), you're doing it wrong, and predisposing yourself to knee issues. Ignore EVERYONE who tells you a half- or quarter- squat is "safer."  They've just proven they don't know anything about the structure of the knee. Also notice the bar placement: across the traps, NOT the neck. More comfort, and a bit easier on the low-back. (CrossFit.com)

Now *that's* a pull-up.  Chest to bar, actually. I can't do that yet...though it is a goal! (CrossFit.com)

So, first things first: The scaling and subs.  We have no climbing rope, so any sort of climbs were out.  I can't quite pull off towel pull-ups yet (hang a towel over the pull-up bar, and gripping it like a rope, do pull-ups that way), so I decided to just sub pull-ups.  Probably should have done more 'per rope ascent,' but decided I wanted to finish the workout, not crap out 3 rounds in!

As for the weight scaling, we don't have a squat rack...or anything even vaguely resembling one, so each and every set of squats was preceded by either a power snatch or deadlift -> hang power snatch or deadlift->hang power clean -> push jerk to get the bar behind my neck onto my traps.  Basically, the more tired I got, the more work I had to do just to get ready to start the set.  So that was pretty cool/awful.  I started with an empty bar, and just kept going up by 20#.  I thought it was too easy at first, until I could barely muster the will to get the "full" bar onto my shoulders for the last set. Not having a rack, I haven't really done much work with back squats until now, so this was a nice warm-up into "heavy" work sets.

Unfortunately, I mis-timed when I would do the workout, and had to share the weight room with our high school freshmen, who were getting a bit better at moving around the room (and using the craptastic single-muscle isolation machines I so loathe), so I ended up having to wait to use the pull-up bar at the end of the first few rounds.  Given that I knew flowing from round to round would be problematic, I opted not to bother timing it, and just go for form and function on the movements.  I felt pretty damn good about the depth of my squats, and thanks to Kelly Starrett's mobility WoDs, also managed to keep my knees out and active during EVERY one of my 75 squats, and that felt AWESOME.

Total weight: 4625#  Not bad for my first time back squatting with a barbell...ever?  At least in recent memory. Which is probably a bad thing, but I'm actually really happy to have finally gotten my feet wet with it! ;)

Find and read this book repeatedly --->

Coach Rip is *the man* when it comes to barbell techniques.  They don't call him the Iron Samurai for nothing.