As you’ve probably noticed, we have begun to incorporate some more varied warm-up movements. Many of these are geared to loosen up your shoulders for the many pressing exercises that are part of the CrossFit repertoire.
Aside from the “Y, inverted Y, T, L, I and W” complex you should have tried by now, there are a few other stretches you may want to explore. The first one is called the Push-Up Plus. Note that you do not bend your elbows while doing this movement. This is ideally performed prior to the YTLIW complex.
If you’ve had physical therapy for your shoulder cuff before, you may be familiar with the Blackburn sequence. There are a few variations, but I prefer the dynamic version.
Lastly, there is the scapular wall slide. For this, you place your feet about 6 inches from a wall. Your shoulder, low back and butt should be against the wall. While performing the movement, the backs of your hands, wrists and elbows should all be in contact with the wall. I can personally attest that this is much harder than it looks!
Hopefully you will find these help you attack the pressing movements with more intensity. I look forward to hearing your feedback!
WOD – 4.16.09
Oakland SWAT Sergeant Daniel Sakai, age 35, was killed on March 21, 2009 in the line of duty along with fellow officers Sergeant Ervin Romans, Sergeant Mark Dunakin, and Officer John Hege. Daniel is survived by wife Jenni and daughter Jojiye.
“Danny”
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
24 inch Box Jump, 30 reps
115 pound Push Press, 20 reps
30 Pull-ups
Awesome post, Marcus! I’ve been loving the shoulder warm ups.
When I logged onto the CF main site yesterday and saw Sgt Danny Sakai’s photo and Hero WOD, I had to post it as our gym WOD. While I didn’t know Danny, he is indirectly responsible for changing my life. He was a passionate rock climber, and taught my (and Marcus’ and Helen’s) friend to climb, who in turn taught me. I’ve heard many stories about Danny, about his dedication to protecting and serving his community and his devotion to his wife and daughter.
I ask that we do this WOD in his honor and give it everything we’ve got in remembrance of a truly good man. Thanks guys.
3 rounds, and 30 box jumps… everyone keep in mind that i did 34inch box jumps!
3 rounds flat. 95# HPC instead of PP and 24″ BJ’s. That sounds dirty
Much harder than it looked for sure.
2 rounds and 15squats… I couldn’t handle the PP after those thrusters the other day.. but the squats and the BJs were an awesome combo!
Subbed 95# for PP instead of 115#, used 24″ box.
2 1/2 rounds exactly (got through 10 PP). Wow was that a brutal WOD!