Last week we did 2 workouts back to back that really tested your grip strength. Some of us were surprised at how quickly it went and how much of a toll it takes when it fails. However, grip strength is bigger than your ability to hold on, a strong grip is the best way to prevent injuries in the elbow and the shoulder. When we have a weak grip, the muscles used have not been trained and therefore won’t do their job when performing tasks like cleans or pull-ups. Because we do so much bar work on a regular basis that taking the right steps to ensure that we are staying safe is the ultimate priority.
When we are performing repetitive movements incorrectly we are putting ourselves at causing irritation or even damage. In our cases, as CrossFitters, we see a lot of athletes develop tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis), which is an irritation of the tissue connecting the forearm muscle to the elbow or golfers elbow or climbers elbow. The medical term is medial epicondylitis, which basically means pain on the inside of the elbow and forearm.
If you have ever had either golfers or tennis elbow, grip strength might be the reason why.
Warm-up
Spend 2 minutes in Z1
Then, 4 min AMRAP of
10 push-ups
10 ring rows
:20 HS hold
Mobility
Quick shoulder mobility
Strength
A1. HSPU’s – 5 sets of 4 to 8 reps
A2. Rope climbs – 5 sets of 1 to 2 accents
* make both of these strengths hard. No need to rush this strength so use it as an opportunity to get better and stronger in 2 very difficult moments.
Heavy gymnastic strength day. Those who can and want to get better at gymnastics should really take care in picking the correct progression for each movement. Those who simply are not interested in working in either one of these movements can do a seated DB strict press and a hand over hand sled pull or rope pull-ups.
WOD
“Social Setting”
150 DU’s
30 manmakers (50/35#)(40/35#)
One manmaker is a squat thrust, push-up on the DB’s, row left hand, row right hand, jump in and complete a squat clean thruster. Here make sure we are getting back into a good position to squat clean. A lot of times we accept crappy foot placement and rounded backs. Take the time to do these correctly, good form is only going to help you stay efficient and safe.
Oh boy. Mental fortitude day. Who wants it to be done more.
