Tuesday 4.5.16
Crossfit Toys 101 Series
Moving Big Weight
Are you over a year into your CrossFit journey? Feeling like you’re hitting the big boy/girl weights? If so, you have probably thought about buying some lifting accessories to aid in your gains. In this article, we will talk about the most common lifting toys that crossfitters eventually acquire during their fitness venture. Keep in mind, these are not essentials. These are accessories for the intermediate to advanced athlete.
Olympic Weightlifting Shoes (AKA Lifters) – Lifters are a special type of shoe made for Olympic Weightlifting (e.g., snatch, clean, jerk). These are different from the shoes most of us wear for CrossFit. The difference in these shoes is that they have an elevated heel, hard and flat sole, and a snug fit around your foot. There is a purpose to each of these features. The elevated heel increases your hip and ankle flexibility, so you can get deeper in your squat, while maintaining good position. This does wonders for people with tight hips and ankles. The hard and flat sole in the shoes is meant for maximal force transfer during lifts. Even our Nanos or MetCons have some sort of give in their soles, but lifters don’t, so the athlete is able to transfer force more efficiently with lifters. Finally, most lifters will have some sort of added strap over the laces to secure the foot more snugly in the shoe. We don’t want our feet to have any wiggle room when attempting to snatch 200lbs overhead.
When to wear lifters – The trend that I tend to see when athletes buy their first pair of lifters is they wear them every time they lift. That’s not bad, but I do think it’s important to lift without them on occasion. I especially think it is important for athletes who have limited hip and ankle range of motion to lift WITHOUT lifters at least 70% of the time, so they can focus on improving their mobility. Once hip and ankle mobility are where they need to be, then they can wear the lifters more. What we don’t want to do is use lifters and then not work on improving hip/ankle mobility, because then the lifters become a crutch. And that’s no bueno.
Weight Belt – There are a variety of weightlifting belts – leather, synthetic material, Velcro – but they all serve the same purpose. Weight belts are used to increase intra-abdominal pressure to better stabilize the core and create a safer environment for the spine during heavy lifts.
When to use weight belts – I would recommend using a weight belt only after you have been lifting for at least a year. This way, you have plenty of practice tightening your core during lifts. Remember, a strong core is much more important than that extra 10lbs the weight belt may add to your 1RM. Once you have been lifting for at least a year, adding a weight belt in can be beneficial to your lifts. The general rule that I use for myself is to only belt up at 90+% of my 1RM. On occasion, I may use the belt for high reps at 85-90% of my 1RM. Even if you use a belt, it’s still important to train your core during lower percentage lifts without it. Again, we don’t want to end up using weight belts as a crutch.
Wrist Wraps – These are used to provide support to the wrist during heavy lifts overhead. They are very useful in max effort lifts or high repetition overhead lifts. There are a few different styles of wrist wraps, the most common being cloth wraps with a shoelace-like string attached at the end. This design lets athletes loosen and tighten the wraps without re-wrapping. Another popular style is the Velcro wraps. These tend to be stiffer and provide more support. However, they require a bit more work to readjust.
When to wear wrist wraps – Similar to weight belts, I recommend only using wrist wraps when you are working at or near your max load. There’s no need to wear wrist wraps when you’re warming up (unless you have an injury). Remember, we want to build strength in our wrist flexors and extensors, so don’t break the wrist wraps out until you absolutely need it. In addition, similar to the lifters, we don’t want to use wrist wraps to hide mobility and flexibility limitations. For many athletes, the front rack position may feel uncomfortable – this is due to poor mobility in their upper body. So the solution to this is to work on improving thoracic extension, shoulder flexion and external rotation, and wrist flexibility. We don’t want to use wrist wraps as a crutch (see a theme forming here?).
Knee Sleeves – These provide extra support and compression to the knee joint during various exercises, primarily movements that involve large range of motion at the knee. You may see many people wearing these during back squats, front squats, cleans, snatches, and even split jerks. There are a few different types of knee sleeves. The most common is neoprene sleeves – most crossfitters have Rehbands neoprene sleeves. They provide a good amount of support and are easy to slip on and off. The only downside is they may start to smell after a few sweaty training sessions, and washing them too often may cause them to lose their elasticity.
When to wear knee sleeves – Personally, I only use knee sleeves if there are high volume front squats in a workout. I also recommend using them if there are high volume lunges, where the knee must touch the ground. This way, there is some cushion between your knee and the ground. Again, in similar fashion to the other items in this article, knee sleeves are not to be worn all the time. It is important to first build foundational strength around the joint and learn proper squatting mechanics before using knee sleeves. Like the others, we don’t want knee sleeves to be a crutch.
There you have it! Four of the most common weightlifting accessories you will probably purchase as you continue in your fitness journey. I would like to re-emphasize that these items are probably not needed until you have been weightlifting for at least a year. Remember, building proper foundations is key. All the accessory toys come after a solid base has been built. And these are not to be used all the time – we never want to become dependent on any of these items. Happy lifting!
FOUNDATIONS
A. Every 2 minutes for 12 minutes: 5 push press
B. 3 rounds for time:
10 box HSPU
20 sit ups
30 box jumps (24/20")
GPP
A. Every 2 minutes for 12 minutes: 1 strict press + 2 push press + 3 push jerk
B. 3 rounds for time:
10 strict HSPU
20 T2B
30 box jumps (24/20")
COMPETITION EXTRA
A. 3 sets of:
2-4 skin the cats
50 ft HS walk
40 UB double unders with 10 double under penalty for breaks
ENDURANCE
Row 2k
200 double unders
Run 1 mile