Its a timing thing

Or is it?

Timing, Technique and Strength..... oh my!


I sometimes wonder if I'm the only one that has some sort of crossfit dialogue going on inside of my head, off and on all day.
Depending on what the WOD is for the day I will think, work through my head and almost always google how to preform a movement better.

When I began crossfit I was  bombarded with so many new movements that I was  really just trying to learn and remember how to do them correctly.  Being a athletic person to begin with and competitive at that, I wanted to make sure I didn't get hurt, and at the same time I wanted to get a great time. This is where I think Kirkland Crossfit really excels cause even though I came in as an athlete they still made me scale all of the weights until I preformed them correctly..... Believe me even after a year I still scale a lot of the weights.

So this is when I decided to work on any movements, that I see as the bread and butter of getting a good time, that didn't require lifting weight. Why you ask??? Well it just seemed like as I observed the best athletes at Kirkland Crossfit get AMAZING  times, it was the pull ups, double unders, box jumps, burpees, push ups, hand stand push ups, toes to bar and knees to elbows to name a few that they would do at record speed. All of these movements require excellent timing!

So I embarked on a quest to improve these movements that took first and foremost timing, which in turn comes down to technique and then the strength and stamina to not rest.

Lets take a moment to talk about resting....

I remember early on Michelle telling me if I need to rest to count down...... 3...2...1 then GO! I took that advice and still use it. The other expert advice she told me early on was when you move from one movement to the other, no matter how tired you are just start. (think of your rest as the time it takes to get from where you are doing one movement to the next movement) I know some of you are thinking that doesn't make sense because you need to take a breath to get more in at one time. For instance, if you are doing thrusters and pull ups. Get your thrusters done and go to the pull up bar, don't think about it, just jump up and go! If you only get 10 in or as little as two and you feel like you cant go again. Jump off and use your 3...2...1 then GO again! Not taking a rest between movements was huge for me and my times!

So now back to the timing.

 Ive been thinking about this because my friend Jacqueline is trying to learn to do double unders. Not to mention I had two guests come with me last week to crossfit and they both struggled with double unders. Once you learn them and can become efficient at them they don't seem so bad and I actually look forward to WODS with them.

 I'm no expert but getting your own rope is important. Why?? because becoming familiar with how your rope feels is important. Having the right fit is also important. In learning double unders, understanding that the movement is in the wrists and not the shoulders was great advice.  Staying tight and narrow and finding a spot a head of me was helpful. I think what helped me the most was learning the jump...  It didn't need to be an over exaggerated jump. (that just makes you more tired, which = more rest, which = worst time) Just a little higher than a normal jump rope jump is all you need. That's where the timing comes in!! Learning the timing of your wrists turning, and the pacing of our jump. Thats when the magic happens! Once you get it and feel it,  they are not so bad.

I have been working on butterfly pull ups for some time now and can not get past doing 6 or 7 in a row because my timing gets off.  I believe I have the technique down and Ive been know to be able to do 100 kipping pull ups.( with minimal rest) So my strength is there. So its gotta come down to timing. I will continue to practice these until my timing is perfect and I can do more than 10 in a row. I love to watch those in our box that make it look effortless. I wanna do that!

This is one of the reasons I love crossfit. No matter how long you have been going, there is always something you can learn and get better at. All the while getting in better shape and living a healthier lifestyle