Proper Hip Drive for the Olympic Lifts

Kettlebell swings are sooo much fun, right?! Right! However, they are not the answer to ALL of life’s problems. Kettlebell swings are an excellent exercise that we incorporate into many workouts (and are proven to make one’s butt look ghettofabulous), but this doesn’t mean that the mechanics of a kettlebell swing should transfer over to all the other movements we do in the gym . . . especially Olympic lifting.

Lately, I’ve had the sense that many people believe the hip drive on kettlebell swing (which is horizontal) is the same as the hip drive on the snatch and clean and jerk (which is vertical). We know that a horizontal hip thrust with a kettlebell gets momentum moving on the weight, but it doesn’t work that way with the Olympic movements. If you want the bar to travel fast over your head, it needs to move vertically. Why? Because the shortest distance between two points is a straight line (and that really IS physics) and we want that barbell over our head in the least amount of time possible. Who wants to be lifting a million kilos over their head for 47 hours?! No one!

On the other hand, kicking the hips forward will cause the bar to bang off your body, which then causes it to swing around you and you’ll either miss the bar out in front of you or it will go flying so far back and around your head that you won’t be able to hold onto it anymore.

Our goal is to maintain control of the barbell by keeping it close to our body through the whole entire movement. The only way to accomplish this is by moving the hips straight up and straight down and LIGHTLY brushing the barbell off your hips . . . NOT banging it . . . EVER.

Remember, the bar does what your hips do. Move them vertically so the bar will move vertically. Do it . . . you won’t . . . .

and to see the most perfect video ever that shows exactly what I'm talking about. Watch this...

http://www.crossfitinvictus.com/blog/2010/11/16/wednesday-november-17-2010/

Don’t ever let someone tell you that you shouldn’t video your snatch

Today is the day that I reveal my deepest darkest secret to the world:

I think I was born with a super power that allows me to view things in slow motion. It is called Slow-Mo Vision. Kind of like x-ray vision, but not really like it at all.

This extremely rare, seriously cool super power gives me a huge advantage when watching the Olympic lifts. It gives me an advantage because I can watch someone do a lift for the first time and know exactly what he or she needs to do to correct it.

I wasn’t aware of this super power until just recently when I overheard someone asking for critique on his lifts. His partner’s response was that the movement was too fast and he couldn’t quite catch what he had done incorrectly. I too was watching the lift and could see that the man pulled with his arms too soon.

Why could I see the technical deficiencies and this man could not? Slow-mo vision was the only logical explanation.

However, in the extremely unlikely event that I actually do not possess Slow-Mo Vision, I have also decided that I may be able to see things other people can’t because I have watched millions of lifts in my lifetime. Not only have I watched millions of lifts, but I’ve watched millions of videos of people’s lifts and been able to re-watch them over and over again until I figured out what was right and what was wrong about the lift. That very thing is why I have gathered you all here today.

VIDEO YOUR LIFTS

Not only does it take time to be able to critique other people’s form properly, but it also takes time to feel what you may be doing wrong in your lifts. The one thing that can solve that problem is to bring a camera into the gym and ask your bff (for example, every single one of you asking me) to video your lifts. You don’t have to record every attempt, but just get a few lifts on the camera. After you do that, replay your attempt and set the camera to either play it in slow motion, or play it frame by frame. That way, you can see yourself lift a lot slower and pick out faults a lot easier.

WATCH VIDEOS OF OTHERS

After you’ve seen yourself lift and assessed your own technique, go on the web and watch other lifters’ technique. Compare what you did the same and what you did differently than that lifter. These visuals will stick in your head for the next time you go to lift, I pinky promise.

Moral of the story is, if you video your snatch/clean/jerk technique enough and re-watch it enough times, maybe you too can have Slow-Mo Vision like me.

Least updated blog EVA

"You best be mentally tough nukkas" - Coach B (not really, but it'd be funny)

Don't worry, I have't forgotten about you all. I purposely have not updated this thing in a while because I was trying to get in the Guinness Book of World Records for the least updated blog in all of existence. I WON!

I recently decided that I am taking a break from Crossfit and am strictly going to focus on my Olympic Lifting. For the first time in 2 years, I am back on one of my dad's lifting programs ( Mikesgym.org It is the 12 week competition program) and I'm LOVIN it (Not a reference to McDonalds). Let me tell you why I decided to do this.

Here's the thing: I absolutely love crossfit; the way it makes me feel, the mental toughness it instills and the fact that it can knock me on my bumper (aka bottom) for a good 10 minutes, when I really only worked out for a total of about 5. However, I found that the constant intensity of crossfit style workouts was really starting to become mentally taxing for me (It absolutely had nothing to do with the fact that I may or may not be a little sissy girl). When working out became more stressful than fun, I knew that it was time to change things up a bit.

Olympic lifting and Crossfit both require mental toughness. HOWEVAA, in my personal opinion, the mental toughness required for Crossfit is completely different than the mental toughness required for olympic weightlifting.

Let me break it down for ya'll:

Crossfit: When we crossfit, we experience insurmountable amounts of pain throughout our whole body and soul. It's a competition between you and said "pain". Mental toughness in Crossfit means fearing the pain, feeling the pain, accepting the pain, and overcoming the pain.

Olympic lifting: When we olympic weightlift, we experience the fear of having to get under a heavy cuss weight. Stepping up to a barbell that is loaded with a weight you've never lifted can bring up all of your repressed feelings of self doubt and insecurity. Mental toughness in Olympic Weightlifting means believing that you are more of a badass than any one else on this planet. It means stepping onto the platform and allowing your self confidence to suck in all that doubt and insecurity and crush them into oblivion. CRUSH, I say! It's a competition between you and the barbell. Are you going to let that barbell beat you? or are you going to make that barbell your biznatch?

So, the point I am trying to make (even though I'm just kind of rambling on about biznatches and crushing and cussing and what not) is that I think that it's good to change up your training because you get to experience what it means to be "mentally tough" in many different ways. If you're constantly having to challenge your mind by forcing it to be all sorts of "tough", you become much more well rounded as an athlete.

Spend a couple months overcoming the pain that Crossfit brings about, and then change it up and force yourself to face (And crush) the self doubt and insecurities that weightlifting brings about. If that doesn't make you a better athlete and person, I don't know what will!! (other than maybe listening to some more Fergie).

PS. I just went back and re read this whole post and it is ALLLL over the place. Get over it.

these raps are getting ridiculous

Sometimes when I rewatch myself on these rap videos, I have to walk out of the room and ask myself why in the heck I just exposed myself like that to all of the world. But then I remember that ya'll asked me to do it. So it's your fault. I can't help that I'm a giver.

Here's the breakdown of what I meant in my rap.

#1: Think about your chest

I may have mentioned it before (I never remember anymore), but keeping your chest up is extremely important in the lifts. If your torso comes forward at all, (which it actually will most of the time due to inflexibility, but still try to think about keeping it as tall and proud as possible) that generally will put your weight on your toes making it extremely hard to stand up with the barbell. A tall chest makes for a much more stable position whether it be in a front squat or an overhead squat.

#2: Think about your elbows

Elbows turn around the same time that the feet hit the ground. I don't mean turn them around in a T-Rex/reverse curl kind of way. I mean getting the elbows high and outside (which is happening as you pull yourself down. Read on, and this will make sense), and down and around REALLY fracking fast. The faster the elbows, the more comfortable you will feel receiving that barbell. Elbows can be EVERYTHING on a clean. Every time you have slow elbows on a clean, God kills a kitten.

#3: Think about Britney Spears

This is one of those common sense things that definitely doesn't need any explanation.

#4: Pull yourself under the bar

Do NOT jump and drop under that barbell. Jump up (getting as tall as possible (ATAP)) and when you cannot possibly get any taller, IMMEDIATELY change your hip direction from going up, to going down by physically pulling yourself down and around that barbell. If you try to jump and drop, that bar is going to beat you down EVERY SINGLE TIME (I dont know why I'm really into using caps lock right now) . However, if you pull yourself under the bar, you can guarantee that there will be no crashing of that bar on your chest and you will receive it in a much more comfortable position.

Which leads me into my last point...

#5: Become one with the barbell

If you pull yourself under the bar, you know where it is in space and you can avoid having that barbell come up really high and smack you right in the throat or nose or forehead (we've all had it happen). Not knowing where the barbell is means that you are not in control of it. That bar WANTS to be controlled. It wants you to meet it wherever it is (since when did a barbell start developing personality traits?). So just do it, ok? Be more zen-like with that barbell.

What is mental toughness?

That is me during my workouts.

#1 I just got back from Switzerland. If you haven't been. Go. Right now.

#2 I never remember what I have written about on this thingamajig, so if I repeat things in my posts, get over it.

#3 I'm not going to say much in this post, I'm going to let my brother's letter do all the talking (he doesn't know I'm posting this. He'll probably be upset. I'm ok with that).

I was struggling a couple months ago with feeling like I was mentally weak. I saw all these amazing athletes around me that, during the hardest of workouts, never had one look of pain or struggle across their face. They appeared to be immune to the torture. I never felt that way when I was working out. I feared workouts. I feared getting under heavy weights. I feared the pain that was to be inflicted upon me via thrusters. Because I feared so often, I was certain that I had some rare, possibly fatal, medical condition.

My brother Casey got his degree in physics which basically means he knows everything. Therefore, I burden him with all of my questions about life, liberty and the pursuit of chocolate. I wrote him an email asking him, as an olympic athlete, what he thought it meant to be "mentally tough". The letter he wrote to me seriously changed my life. I am not saying that I am mentally tough by any means, but I at least have a better understanding of how to go about becoming a better person each day. I read this letter almost everyday and it has gotten me through many times of self doubt. It is long, but I promise you won't be disappointed if you read the whole thing..especially if you feel like you may have the same medical condition that I had a couple months ago.

"First, you need to decide what you are going to do. This may sound like a simple step, or like you've already done it, but let me tell you, it's the hardest, and most important step in being tough. Once you make the commitment to do something, then almost nothing can stop you. This is why it took me so long to decide to come back to lifting. I knew once I committed, nothing was going to stop me from achieving my goals, no matter what the costs, or how much workouts sucked, or how badly my body felt.

So with you, you have to really really really decide that the Crossfit Games are what you want to do. Once you decide this, the process will be easy. When you commit, it's easier to block weaknesses out of your head, and workouts will seem like steps forward to your goal, rather than burdens. When you commit, I really believe you can do anything. Really take this decision seriously though, because if you only "half" decide you want to do it, or do it for "fun", then you shouldn't even worry about Regionals, and just train whenever you want to and not care about how a workout goes. If you decide to do it for "fun", then you can't be bothered by any performance at Regionals or any meet, because you decided not to take it seriously.

Now, either decision in your case wouldn't be a bad one (in my opinion), just make sure you stick to your choice wholeheartedly. I read a great book recently, and it talked about how when someone commits to something, they should do it all the way, and be satisfied with whatever the outcome. So if you commit to the Games and start training as hard as you can, you have to be comfortable with the possibility that you may succeed tremendously, or fail miserably (in terms of winning and losing). The important thing is that you committed, and you did everything you could to make it happen. Trust me, if you do that, the thoughts about winning and losing seem to almost disappear. It's about overcoming yourself, and pushing yourself to become greater than you were the day before, that's what really matters.

I'm reading a great book right now, and while I don't agree with a lot of points (it's an atheist book that talks a lot about being selfish), it has a lot of great points about pushing yourself to your highest potential. He talks mostly about pushing yourself in terms of knowledge and creativity, but I think a lot of it applies to life as well. Basically, every decision you make should be a conscious one in becoming a better person. Every decision you make has meaning to it, and you pursue a better self constantly. The friends you choose, the people you surround yourself with, the food you eat, the books you read, the television you watch, how much sleep you get, everything should be a stern decision that makes you go in a better direction than the one you're headed towards. Surround yourself with people who want to make themselves better, and who in turn push you to make you better.

One of the big points in the book is the "will to power", which basically means that when you conquer yourself and get rid of everything that has once held you back, you can "will" yourself to do anything. This is really difficult to achieve, but think about how much it could help if you just strive for it. If every time you have a bad day, or feel a negative emotion, or have a bad workout, you "will" yourself out of the poor mindset, refusing to let it beat you down, and just continue your journey in becoming the best you can be. I'm not saying you can be like this every day, but the important issue is that you are truly DOING it. You'll slip up, you'll still have bad days, but as long as your moving forward, and not letting yourself continue to slip, then there's nothing you can't do.

Mental toughness for me has always been hard to explain. I've never really thought that I was mentally tough, but the reason why I was successful in meets is because I KNEW what I was capable of. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to quit lifting, or give up, but I didn't because I committed to what I was doing. That was one thing Mom and Dad taught us that is invaluable; to never quit. When you commit to whatever it is in life, make sure it's a positive direction, and just don't quit. Fight with all of your being to achieve what you set out to, and know that you're becoming a better person because of it. So even if you have a bad day, or hate Crossfit, or lifting, or school, or whatever it is, you can still have the confidence that what you're doing is making you better in some way, and that is a beautiful feeling.

A lot of this may not seem like it pertains to mental toughness, but when you think about it, what does that mean anyway? Toughness means you fight through pain, or discomfort, and continue striving forward. But why would you do this in the first place? It seems against our nature to put ourselves through pain and discomfort, so why bother? The answer is this; because we are committed to making ourselves better, committed to be something greater than what we currently are. Think about the people who are tough, the one thing they have in common is that they've committed to something. Whether it's becoming healthy, smarter, a better parent, or a Crossfit Games champion, they decided it was what they wanted, and they didn't care how hard it became, or what obstacles showed up, nothing was going to stop them from following through with the decision they made.

The last thing I'm going to say is that while all of this seems draining, and challenging, it also has to be fun. Commitments can be joyous, they don't have to be discouraging and hard all the time. I committed to being a husband, that doesn't mean it's a burden. It's challenging, and tough at times, but I love every minute of it because I DECIDED that it was what I wanted to be. So take comfort in knowing that no matter what decision you make, or what direction you want to pursue, it's going to be amazing because it's your path, your decision, your direction. There's beauty in the successes and the failures of your journey. Soak up every ounce of it and know that you're becoming a better human being. "

Paralysis by analysis

This is what someone's face looks like when I tell them to snatch.

It is universally known that the Olympic lifts are 87% more complex than physics and 73% more complex than women. I have grown up around the lifts (obvs) so at first it was hard for me to understand why people were having such a hard time performing a snatch or clean and jerk. In the beginning, alls I wanted to say was “Just snatch it. All you have to do is jump the bar over your head. It’s so simple!“ That’s when I began to notice that the look on someone’s face when I asked them to jump with a barbell in their hands was very similar to the look on a teenager’s face when trying to teach them how to drive a manual…blank (insert your age discriminatory joke here about how I’m so young I probably got my license last year). So, what is it about the oly lifts that makes them so darn complicated and hard to execute, especially in a crossfit style workout? Answer: there is way too much to think about and that creates, as my dad says, “paralysis by analysis”.

Chest up, back tight, weight on the heels, pull back, stay over the bar, jump hard, hips vertical, keep it close, pull under, aggressive turn over, meet the bar, stay tight and stand. Technically, those are all the things you should be thinking about as you are performing a snatch or a clean. However, unless you are a robot or are in the matrix and can see/perform movements in slow motion (if you can, please contact me immediately), thinking about all those things at once is impossible.

Now, let’s stop talking about how difficult life is, and start talking about the solution. The best thing for ya’ll to do is get to know yourself as a lifter. Think about all the cues that have been thrown at you while performing a lift and find the one that makes the most sense to you. Find the one cue that helps to bring everything else together. For example, when I am lifting, all I think about is keeping my chest up. This makes me set my back tight in the starting position, I don’t raise my butt up too soon off the ground, I keep it closer to my body and I am in a much more stable position when I receive the bar. All of those things allow me to have a successful lift and all I thought about was keeping my chest up! Isn’t that great?!

Now that you know another secret about lifting, go and experiment with it. Think about one cue at a time until you find the one that helps you to perform a beautiful snatch.

The end.

To all my fellow grasshoppers

Hokay so, (I don’t know why I always have the urge to start my posts out like that)

First, I have to say that we started an Olympic lifting club at Invictus and its pretty much the coolest thing ever existing. I tell all my clients, especially my girls, that I get super emotional every time I watch them lift because of how much they’ve improved. Nevermind that I am extremely emotionally unstable, I am just so impressed with their new abilities to move like Olympic weightlifters. What I mean by that is, there are those who are new to the sport of weightlifting and are not comfortable with throwing a weight around, so the movement tends to be a little slower, a little more hesitant and a little more muscled. When someone starts moving like an Olympic weightlifter, they really start to understand what “speed” means. They’re unafraid to move fast under a bar because they’ve started to trust in their technique. THAT, my children, is a beautiful beautiful thing.

However, we all know that getting to that place of trust and comfort takes a while. I see so many people getting frustrated with their olympic lifts. Listen (no,seriously, listen up), I know that this is the greatest sport ever and I know that we all have this undying passion for the sport and the desire to be amazing at it, but by NOT mastering the sport right away, it only makes us respect the sport that much more. Think about it this way: say you're craving chocolate ice cream with peanut butter SOOO bad that you could kill a baby kitten just to get it. You live right next to Cold Stone so you could just walk over and get it. In other words, immediate gratification. BUUTTT what if you lived 7 miles away from Cold Stone and your only means of transportation was a trash can on three wheels cause the 4th wheel was flat. That would make your journey much longer and much harder, but by the time you got to your destination, that ice cream, my friends, would taste DAMN good... sinfully good.

So, next time you're down about your oly lifts, just remember that nothing is quite as amazing if you don't have to wait for it and if you don't have to put tons of sweat and tears into it. Respect the sport of Olympic Weightlifting. Respect that its H-A-R-D. Respect that you have to be up in the gym just workin on your fitness..much like how Fergie explains it (she was talking about oly lifting). Respect that it makes you "junk yard dog tough" (as my dad says). Respect it..and it will respect you, young grasshoppers.