Range of Motion

I took this post from one of my favorite CrossFit bloggers, Freddy Camacho at CrossFit One World in Cali. This is a great read for those (like myself) who always want to kill the WOD and post a great time. The intensity King CrossFit athletes bring day-in and day-out is awesome as long as you don't sacrifice full range of motion. So if you hear one of the King CF trainers barking at you for not going low enough on a squat or not opening your hip on a box jump or burpee, we do it so that you can get the maximum benefit from your workout.

Range Of Motion

Yesterday the topic was competition and how it is what drives Crossfit. Competition is what drives up the intensity. We aren’t talking about intensity as in the funny faces you make, how loud you scream, how much you sweat, or whether or not you meet pukie at the end or during your workout. We are talking about your power output. The amount of work you are capable of doing in the shortest time as possible.

A huge part of achieving maximum work (Force x Distance) is to move in the full range of motion (ROM) of the movement. We accept some flaws in your movements when you are “going for it.” The occasional chin not getting over the bar during a pull-up.... The bar not totally overhead on a press movement....The hip not below parallel on any squat movement.....Or how about the push-up not chest to deck or with the arms not fully locked out. That shit drives me crazy when I see it! A few missed reps is gonna happen even to the most elite of Crossfitters. Also, sometimes the ROM in any given movement might be tinkered with for scaling purposes.

If you are throwing full ROM out the door right at the beginning of your workout so that you can get a better score, you are cheating yourself. This is even worse if you are posting a time on the board and ten times worse if you are bragging about your time. In those cases it is worse because you are cheating those who look at your score. I haven’t seen this happen too often at our gym, but it does happen. You can look at some of the athlete profiles that were posted on the Crossfit Games site as an example. The scores some people claimed for benchmark workouts were insane. I looked at some of the profiles and just figured, “This guy/gal has to be the next Crossfit Games Champion!” Some of those athletes didn’t even come close to placing at their own regional qualifiers. Now this may have happened for a number of reasons, but someone holding you accountable to full ROM can really change your end result.

So how do you focus more on your ROM during a workout? You may not even realize that you are missing full ROM. Your One World trainers are always barking at you guys and gals when you are missing your reps. The problem there is that you have your workout ears on. You are hearing us, but you aren’t hearing us. It’s hard to process what someone is saying to you when you are in the round of 15 of Fran and you just want to curl up in the fetal position and die. Want an eye opener? Ask someone to judge your reps during a workout. You have your judge count for you. Your judge will not count any weak ass reps! The judge will tell you when you are done with the required amount of reps. Also, try filming your workout. I have filmed almost every Fran workout (and many others) I have ever done. This benefits me twofold. First off, I arm chair quarterback myself and strategize for the next time. Second, if I see the reps were bad, I toss the workout out. It keeps me legit. Try it sometime.

There is a formula for a good strength and conditioning program. Technique first, then consistency, and then ratchet up the intensity. I challenge all of you in Crossfit One World Land to turn down the intensity just a tiny bit and concentrate a bit more on full range of motion. The payoff in the long run will be huge.

Courtesy of CrossFit One World.