First thing’s first…according to Ruth you need cute knee-high socks. You’ve got those right?  Good, check that off the list, and now we can get the good stuff to help you prep for today’s snatches.  The other day Kelly Starrett from San Francisco CrossFit and upkeeper of the Mobility WOD blog posted some useful ways to prepare for the extreme positions we find ourselves in a snatch (that’s what HE said!).  Take a look at his clip below:

The goal is for you to complete these stretches prior to today’s WOD, but for many of you (especially the morning crew) that might be a tall order.  Just try to show up 10-15 minutes early if you’d like go through the positions and better prepare for your snatches to follow. 

Chad Vaughn, Team USA Olympic Weightlifting hopeful and creator of OlyAthlete.com, also has some helpful tips for obtaining a better rock-solid squat position that will pay dividends as we progress in our snatch and continue to work on pulling ourselves under the bar quicker.  In a recent post he says:

To accomplish this, lets first get an empty bar, in front squat position and go down and pause in your normal bottom position. Then, let yourself go deeper into what you believe is your rock bottom position. Next, push your knees forward, swaying your whole body forward from the heels to the mid foot. This will free up some flexibility and allow you to get even a little lower. Finally, let your hips relax as much as possible and get even lower. You are now closer to your true rock bottom position. Do this for overhead squats and back squats as well. Don’t get me wrong I am not trying to tell you to squat with loose hips or a loose lower back but if you never loosen up and allow your body to go there you will never begin the process of going there more and more often with very light weights so that rock bottom, loose position can begin to tighten up(meaning you can now hit that position without making your body loosen) and then strengthen so you can begin to go there with all of your squats!

Sometimes we have to relax into new positions, like a lower squat, and we often find this new range of motion is weak range of motion.  But the good news is that the more we work at it the stronger we’ll become in these positions and we’ll be able to stay tight and eventually hold the positions loaded (i.e. catching a snatch at the bottom of an overhead squat position).  Enjoy the mobility work today and be sure to check the Mobility WOD website (linked above) for tons more ideas.

WOD 11.03.10

Snatch 3×3

4 Rounds for time:
30 Double Unders
250m Row