A year of Crossfit, and what it's done for me!

[WS6]

On this one, I could have pushed my elbows down instead of up, at my sticking point, and retracted my scapula a touch more, as well as gone down about 1" further. I have no way of knowing how "low" I am though, with no feedback working out alone.

[Scorpion]

On your bench, your descent was too fast. Unrack, bring the weight to a good position over your sternum, then bring it straight down under control and press it back up.

On your squat, you hit parallel. Since you aren't competing, your depth is fine. I noticed your right knee track a bit inward when you hit your sticking point. Be mindful of that. It might help you to bring the hooks one notch higher too. You used a bit of energy just unracking the weight.

[WS6]

On your bench, your descent was too fast. Unrack, bring the weight to a good position over your sternum, then bring it straight down under control and press it back up.

On your squat, you hit parallel. Since you aren't competing, your depth is fine. I noticed your right knee track a bit inward when you hit your sticking point. Be mindful of that. It might help you to bring the hooks one notch higher too. You used a bit of energy just unracking the weight.

Thanks! Yes, I felt the knee. I should have been pressing out a touch more. The hooks are too far apart at my gym. If I had gone one higher, re racking would have been a real bitch. I chose the lesser of evils in my mind. My bar path and bar speed vs. bar location during the lift are absolute crap, imo.

Thanks for bench advice. It remains my worst lift both in power and in my ability to properly perform it best, in my opinion. I've always struggled with it.

[joffe]

Thanks for bench advice. It remains my worst lift both in power and in my ability to properly perform it best, in my opinion. I've always struggled with it.

It's probably a lack of full body tightness more than anything else. I see you're hooking your shoes behind the feet of the bench, you would probably be better off getting those feet well planted and using leg drive to get some good tightness in the whole body.

Here's an excellent video guide from strongman competitor Brian Alsruhe to help fix your bench:



Following 2 parts that for some reason the forum doesn't allow you to embed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-V7WhYct1U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuGsGdwb5TM

[Eurodriver]

Full disclosure, I am a Crossfit trainer.

To me it sounds like you discovered what discovered a long time ago. Top level Crossfit Athletes don't just do Crossfit as we know it today. There are a lot of shitty Crossfit gyms out there now says, and some good ones. Even when you program good stuff, you can only cram so much into a one hour session, and with the huge influx of people interested in Crossfit gyms, you have to create workouts that cater to the lowest common denominator, which is why many gyms offer customized programming for more advanced athletes.

Crossfit has changed over the years because of this influx. The workouts that would be appropriate for an advanced level athlete are dangerous for a beginner, and workouts that are safe for a beginner won't stimulate an advanced level athlete.

Most Crossfit gyms lack a strength component to they're programming, which is a critical flaw as everything is strength based.

I use Wendler 5/3/1 for my strength training and I program all of my workouts with a strength component and a conditioning component. I also work in some body building stuff at the end. This makes for a well rounded program, which is what Crossfit is based on and where it really came from.






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Yo homie,

What gym? I'll be back in your AO in like 6 weeks for good. I could use that CF life.

[Digital_Damage]

On Bench,

get further under the bar to un-rack, should be about 3-4 inches further under it. Being that far out will require you to unroll your shoulders, and your path gets wonky because you are aiming for the rack not for the lift.
Flatten out your feet so you can drive with your feet and hips.


On squat,

little hard to tell but that looks like a quad dominate (close) squat position, should be able to get far lower. Squeeze your butt as hard as you can and let your toes naturally point, will help with mechanics and keep the knee from tracking in. Depending on the length of your femur you might want to think about going lowback. Otherwise not bad.
If you are going for max lifts you should think about widening it up a bit and use your hips, ham and glutes more, larger groups are you friend. Going just below parallel is perfectly fine in wider stance.

[WS6]

On Bench,

get further under the bar to un-rack, should be about 3-4 inches further under it. Being that far out will require you to unroll your shoulders, and your path gets wonky because you are aiming for the rack not for the lift.
Flatten out your feet so you can drive with your feet and hips.


On squat,

little hard to tell but that looks like a quad dominate (close) squat position, should be able to get far lower. Squeeze your butt as hard as you can and let your toes naturally point, will help with mechanics and keep the knee from tracking in. Depending on the length of your femur you might want to think about going lowback. Otherwise not bad.
If you are going for max lifts you should think about widening it up a bit and use your hips, ham and glutes more, larger groups are you friend. Going just below parallel is perfectly fine in wider stance.

You're right on the squat. I seem to have preferred a more narrow base. I tried low back, but favor higher. Maybe something fundamental needs to change.

Bench. You said a lot of the same stuff that was in the video previously posted. I'll give all of it a try! Technique is absurdly huge on bench, I've learned.

Ty for observations !

[Ironman8]

WS6,

What you described in your CF experience really doesn't surprise me from someone who has a prior history of lifting. CF gets a lot of people who've never touched a barbell in their life and, as such, see huge gains in the first 12-18 months. Me personally, I played college baseball and have lifted since high school. When I first did CF, I was a little deconditioned and made some gains in the first several months but stalled out...and my gym was very much strength focused over the typical CF programming. When I left, I did a dedicated strength program (5/3/1) and saw all my lifts jump measurably within a few months. Back squat jumped 45# and I actually hit 405 at ~190 BW. Still working on reaching my old PR of 500 back in college. But it goes to show that a focused program beats a generalized program any day of the week.

Regarding getting lean, if that's your goal, then you should think about changing something in your diet if you've been doing the same thing for 10 years and not seen results. Can't say much more than that without knowing what you've been doing...

[WS6]

WS6,

What you described in your CF experience really doesn't surprise me from someone who has a prior history of lifting. CF gets a lot of people who've never touched a barbell in their life and, as such, see huge gains in the first 12-18 months. Me personally, I played college baseball and have lifted since high school. When I first did CF, I was a little deconditioned and made some gains in the first several months but stalled out...and my gym was very much strength focused over the typical CF programming. When I left, I did a dedicated strength program (5/3/1) and saw all my lifts jump measurably within a few months. Back squat jumped 45# and I actually hit 405 at ~190 BW. Still working on reaching my old PR of 500 back in college. But it goes to show that a focused program beats a generalized program any day of the week.

Regarding getting lean, if that's your goal, then you should think about changing something in your diet if you've been doing the same thing for 10 years and not seen results. Can't say much more than that without knowing what you've been doing...

I can get lean or bulk mostly at will. I simply noted that crossfit with no changes did not get me lean, while I can do my other programming (my training) with my current diet and get lean. My goal right now is to squat 405 (check) and bench 315 (needs work!). However, as summer rolls around and it's warm enough to jog, I may well drop a few % body fat . Getting ripped isn't hard. Benching is hard, lol

[Ironman8]

I can get lean or bulk mostly at will. I simply noted that crossfit with no changes did not get me lean, while I can do my other programming (my training) with my current diet and get lean. My goal right now is to squat 405 (check) and bench 315 (needs work!). However, as summer rolls around and it's warm enough to jog, I may well drop a few % body fat . Getting ripped isn't hard. Benching is hard, lol

I hear ya. Bench isn't my best either.

Regarding jogging, maybe think about doing higher intensity intervals or actual HIIT if you're planning on doing it before/after your strength session. If you do go the low/slow route, separate the strength session from it as much as possible (6-8+ hours apart) to avoid the concurrent training effect. Look up "concurrent training" if you aren't familiar with it. With your goal of continuing to increase strength, I would at least be aware of the effects.