Domin Munnely

It’s been a while since I posted an article on my own training so will take some time to do that today.

“There is time for competition and there is time for training, don’t try to do both at the same time”. This was something said in passing by our Olympic lifting coach some weeks ago. Competition is pushing for maxes, going really heavy etc and training is the accumulation of those 10,000hrs you need for any movement to become automatic and optimal performance when IN competition.

Pure power shown from Chad Vaughn (2 time olympian – video attached)!

It really made me sit up and think about structuring my training more tightly so I could derive the most out of my olympic lifting sessions as I see this as the cornerstone of my training due to the massive carry over that it has to almost every other movement we have to do in crossfit e.g. is that 50kg overhead squat you have to do for 10reps going to feel more comfortable when you are snatching 100kg? Are you going to be more powerful when you have a 140kg squat clean? There are lots of other examples as to how the snatch and clean and jerk benefit so many other aspects of fitness. This is why over the past 3-4 months I have worked hard (at times too hard and way too eager to increase the weights!) on these two lifts and not just doing junk workouts that are not addressing my needs.

Today brought more practice on my drop snatches which are helping me get in a more balanced position when I catch the snatch. I was pushing this up too much over the past month so went light today doing the following – 1 full squat snatch, 1 overhead squat, 3 drop snatches (snatch balance), doing 5-6 sets at 50-60kg.

Here is a good video by Coach Burgener on this very topic -

Plenty of impressive training snatching going on in this Cal Strength vid -

Knowing that I have a snatch max test on monday I was tempted to do a heavy deadlift and muscle up workout but know that the deadlifts would make complete sh1t of my snatch come monday. I opted for the following -

25 GHR sit ups

1 muscle up

20 GHR sit ups

2 muscle ups

15 GHR sit ups

3 muscle ups

10 GHR sit ups

4 muscle ups

5 GHR sit ups

5 muscle ups

This was a www.crossfit.com workout posted up on the mainsite some days ago. Here’s a video from two of the top crossfit guys in the world performing the workout.

I finished in a time of 4.48mins for this wod. Keep in mind there is a big difference between doing muscle ups fresh and doing them tired. In workouts I never use a false grip on muscle ups as find it quicker with a true grip.

About 15mins after this I went into the following -

3 rounds of 5 pull ups, 10 press ups, 15 squats, 20 double unders – break 2mins, repeat twice more aiming to keep the time it takes you to do 3 rounds within 5-10secs. Finish times for me were 2.58mins, 2.54mins, 2.35mins. Double unders are like muscle ups – your’s might look great when you are fresh but when you start to tire we’re going to really see how locked in you have those movements and how relaxed you can stay under pressure. I find workouts like the one above a great way to keep your hand in on basic gymnastic movements and most people with these basics down could attempt this workout.

Get your gymnastic and olympic lifting movements down and you are going to be way ahead of the game when it comes to crossfit workouts. Keep ignoring holes in your game e.g. tight hips/shoulders, lack of basic strength etc and you will end up A) injured or B) frustrated with lack of progress. I still keep most of my workouts leaning towards crossfit football programming with a +30mins runs thrown in almost every week and light 20mins runs I have to do with clients almost every single day (at times twice a day).

Hope your own training is going well and let me know if you try any of the above workouts. Remember to post and share the articles. All the best.