Saturday, June 19, 2010

Saving the world one snatch at a time



My sister in law is most likely stronger than your brother in law. And she has a perfect overhead position. Take notes on this, yo.



Ok ok... I have literally been threatened WITH-MY-LIFE by multiple people about not updating my blog. So, I pinky promised someone at my cert in Flagstaff this weekend that I would update it ASAP out of fear that he was going to take my blog off his bookmarks (and because I really think I may not live to see my 21st birthday if I don't).

No excuses here about the lackage (yes thats a word) of updates other than I've just been out trying to save the world one snatch at a time. .. no big deal.

I'll make this one short and sweet.

Today at the cert, Lisa Ray (the owner of Crossfit Flagstaff) had a GREAT cue about the overhead position in the snatch/ohs (they are the same). While she was trying to stop rolling her shoulders forward while the bar is overhead because of the strain it puts on the shoulders and because it is not an efficient position, she figured out that if she thought about how a waiter would support a tray overhead with one arm, it helped her to get in the proper position.

Proper position for the bar overhead:
  1. Arms slightly back behind the ears where the body is supporting the weight
  2. armpits facing straight ahead
  3. traps and lats pushing up on the bar
  4. arms locked out
  5. wrist slightly turned up
  6. crease of the elbow facing the ceiling
In other words, think about how you would support something overhead with just one arm. Would you roll that shoulder forward in a weird position? Or would you be applying all of those proper positions stated above? ( The answer is B) Now do the same thing with both arms overhead and your hands a little bit wider apart. WHALA! There's your overhead position!

This new position might feel a little funky, but if you practice it, you'll find that you can support much more weight, much more comfortably because your body is doing all the work and not your arms! And unless you do 47 thousand curls for the girls a day, your arms are so much weaker than your body. OBVSSS!!! (shorter/sassier term for "obviously". Must be said with an attitude)

Keep it sassy