Bracing Sequence

     The bracing sequence one of the most important aspects when lifting weights in order to stay safe.  It is crucial in non-weighted movements as well, but not doing it is likely to do less damage than with weights.  Some of you have probably heard the cues before in the gym (abs tight, squeeze your butt).  What we are talking about is protecting the spine as we conduct all of our movements.  Stability throughout the body stems from the core (your spine/abs) to your extremities (arms and legs).  The heavier the weight, usually the harder it becomes to stabilize (due to the lack of ability to brace) and you end up in a compromised position and possibly miss the lift. 

Here are the steps to bracing -

Squeeze your butt - Stand up and squeeze your butt together as hard as you can.  You should be able to feel and see your pelvis drive forward.  Doing this ensures that your pelvis is neutral when moving.  In between reps, reset at the top by squeezing the butt again.  Your butt should be sore after doing Tabata Squats if you are doing them correctly.   Not doing this is the primary movement pattern fault to causing butt wink (reversal of the spine at the bottom of the squat).  Butt wink is not ok...ever...it creates sheering across your spine which can lead to all sorts of issues in the low back area.  Its like squatting with your knees in, you could probably get away with doing it for thousands and thousands of reps, until you can't and you end up hurt.  Remember, you're designed to live pain free for 110 years. 

To the left - Good Squat.  To the Right - Butt wink.  Butt winking is not attractive and NEVER OK!

Pull Rib Cage Down - This is meant to keep your spine neutral and to create a flat back.  Doing this and squeezing your butt prevent you from over-extending during squatting, Olympic lifting, deadlifts, and anything over head.  So if you are one of those people going into a standing arch rock during the overhead press, we are talking to you. 

Belly Tight - Getting your belly tight involves breathing and squeezing your abs.  It is designed to lock in your pelvis and spine so that they stay neutral throughout the entire movement.  You can't move with your butt squeezed, so the abs take over when you initiate movement.   With your butt squeezed, take a big breath of air and exhale.  As you exhale squeeze your abs tight.  Next, inhale using diaphragm (belly breath).  If you are lifting heavy things while doing this, you need to hold your breath through the movement.  As soon as you breathe you'll lose that spinal position.  You can breath in between reps while you are out of tension.  So for example if you are doing a heavy back squat: Brace, get set, do 1-3 reps.  When you need to breath, do it at the top/start position.  Take time to repeat the bracing sequence before going for more reps.
      When we start to add metabolic conditioning (running/rowing/burpees/jump ropes) in the same workout with weightlifting, we are challenging your ability to brace your spine and breathe.  So maybe you can do 21 KB swings and 12 pullups no problem.  But can you run 400m and do that 3 times?  and how fast and efficient are you?  When you are metabolically taxed you have no choice but to breathe with your chest and neck.  This is why it is important to reset yourself after a cardio movement.  Control your breathing so you can use your diaphragm before lifting weights again.  This will result in you being more efficient which = faster times on the scoreboard.

Head Neutral - For the last step you need to center your head over your shoulders.  Think about aligning your ears with your shoulders, hips, and ankles.  Avoid neck wrinkles.  It turns out that there are a lot of movement sensors that come out of the neck that send messages to your muscles in order for them to move the correct way.  When you bend your neck, you are literally cutting of the messages.  Think about a garden hose on full blast and then your big brother pinches the hose together in the middle.  Some water will still come out the end, but you won't be getting nearly the amount that you should.  Same thing with the neck, when its pinched back, your muscles will still move, but you won't be getting the full amount of effort that you need.

Since all of our movements focus on the efficient transfer of energy/power from your core to your extremities, bracing is foundational to being safe as well as being a rock star in gym.

Scaling

I hope you all enjoyed de-load week as a break from lifting heavy things. We saw a lot of improvement on snatch form this week and you should be patting yourself on the back for the work you’ve done. For those that came on Friday and participated in the trial run of Crossfit for Hope – you guys did a tremendous job pushing yourselves through that gauntlet. There were a few questions about scaling workouts throughout the week so I wanted to talk about When/How/Why to do it as a refresher.
How to Scale Scaling can be done by either:

•Limiting the amount of work to be done - for example only completing 3 rounds of a workout that is prescribed for 5 rounds
•Reducing the weight of the movement – Using bands for pullups/using lighter weights on a barbell
•Substituting a certain movement for another – Substituting toes to bar for knees to elbows.

When and Why to Scale Scaling should be used when:
•Form breaks down as a result of weight/exhaustion – It takes a long time to for athletes to be able to consistently perform perfect repetitions of a movement. Even the professionals make mistakes from time to time. A good rule of thumb to follow is that no more than 10% of your reps should be poor. Anything more than that and you need to consider scaling the movement. Otherwise you are putting yourself at risk for injury.

•Injury or mobility issue hinders good form of a movement – Pain is a lagging indicator that something has gone wrong in the way you move (this is not to mean general muscle soreness). If you are feeling pain during a workout you need to either change the way you a moving, scale the weight, or substitute the movement for something else. If you feel pain – tell a coach right away.

•The amount of rest needed to perform the workout vastly outweighs the amount of work completed - This is called the work-rest ratio. Crossfit workouts are designed to target specific metabolic pathways in order to make you more fit. Take for example a workout like “Fran” (21-15-9 of thrusters and pull ups). The workout is designed to target the Glycolytic pathway. The elite athlete will complete this workout in around 3:00 minutes and your average athlete should be between 6-7:00 minutes. Understanding that not everyone can Rx this workout in that average time frame, we use scaling so that they can. Overtime, we work on reducing the scaling and getting closer to Rx. This is a good reason for why you should be recording your WOD scores and 1 rep maxes every day you workout.

    

     The graph above shows the three metabolic pathways. An example of The Phosphagen pathway (1:3 work rest ratio) is an attempt at a 1x Rep max lift. The Glycolytic Pathway Peaks at about 40 seconds before rest is required and has a 1:2 work/rest ratio. An example of this would be “Fran”. An example of an Oxidative Pathway (1:1 work rest ratio) would be going on a 5K run.

     Crossfit finds that targeting the Glycolytic Pathway most frequently leads to stronger, fitter athletes. Crossfit works because it is measurable, observable, and repeatable. Sound familiar? Step into a 6th grade science class and you’ll learn that this is called scientific method. If you don’t track your workouts, then you aren’t accurately identifying whether or not you are getting better. If you aren’t becoming a better, healthier, stronger person then something needs to change in order to achieve your personal goals. Scaling a workout should not be used as an excuse to skip out on hard work. It should be a mark for you to progress from. If you’ve been doing Crossfit for several months and are still using the same band on pull-ups you used when you first started, you need to test yourself by trying a lighter band – and if you haven’t made progress in months then we need to take a look at why and make a new plan to get back on track to achieving whatever goals you have.
      Lastly, there is no shame in not performing a workout as Rx. Sometimes our competitive nature can push us into doing something we aren't ready for. Strength and skill in these movements and workouts take time, devotion, and hard work. The key is to know your limits and constantly to be testing yourself. Crossfit workouts can be extremely humbling, and its all about finding out what you suck at and trying to suck less at them the next time around. Do these things and you'll be on your way to being stronger and fitter. Feel free to post questions or comments below.

- Coach Rick