CLARIFICATION.
By
Danelle, getting ready to PR in her deadlift!! Congrats Danelle!
After yesterday’s post we had a few people ask exactly what we meant by “an open source gym”. My apologies for not making that clearer, especially to any member that happens to have a smaller, less awesome dog than River. An “open source gym” to Eric and I means that we prioritize the information we get firstly by how effective it is and lastly, by who said it. If CrossFit HQ sends out a memo stating that all squats should be done with toes pointed in and we find that not to be very effective, we won’t do it. If some no-name student at a gym in North Dakota shows us a way to deadlift more effectively than we have in the past, we’ll adopt it. From the first Intro that you’ve all done to the day-to-day teaching, you’ve heard us preach “performance first” over and over again. The same thing applies to the information that crosses our desk. “ Will it safely enhance the performance or wellness of our athletes?” is the first and most important that we ask with any and all ideas that we come across. That is what we mean by an “open source gym”.
Today’s Workout:
5-3-2-2-1-1-1
Split Jerks
4 Comments
December 1st, 2009 at 11:48 am
Nice work Danelle! Way to pull through under the spotlight
December 1st, 2009 at 12:59 pm
In that case, time to stop swinging kettlebells to overhead, but to stop at eye level instead. Detailed argument to follow.
The Claw
December 1st, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Interesting input Jim. Bring some info and I’ll definitely read it.
The thought behind the American KB Swing (AKBS) vs. Russian (RKBS) is tied fundamentally to our goal in CF: Increased work capacity over broad modal and time domains.
The AKBS, obviously, has a fuller range of motion and necessitates a much higher rate of velocity to propel the projectile (love that word) up above your head. CFJ #25 is a great read on this topic.
In essence, I think they are 2 different movements (similar to a regular pull-up and chest-to-bar). I don’t think one should replace the other and both can play a key role in our training.
Maybe you’ll see some RKBS’s in the not-so-distant future…
December 1st, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Eric, I saw that article this morning. I see the point that overhead is harder, which is probably why I don’t like it.
I think the main advantage with the shorter swing is that one can do many more consecutive swings. I think using American style on something like Filthy 50 would be too brutal, but might work with shorter swing.
I like your idea of considering both to be different exercises.
The Claw