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Integrating the Olympic Lifts with CrossFit
Greg Everett
| March 3 2009 |
Training: General
One of the questions I’m asked most frequently is how to integrate Olympic weightlifting with CrossFit training. The lift’s appearance in typical CrossFit programming is often inadequate or unsatisfactory for many athletes. In addition, I’ll be arguing here for learning of the lifts outside standard CrossFit programming until a reasonable level of proficiency is reached.
Greg Glassman once (at least) commented that the Olympic lifts are not remarkably complex movements, maki......
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The Olympic Lift Starting Position
Greg Everett
| February 28 2009 |
Training: Weightlifting
Before we continue, let’s first establish what exactly we’re talking about.
Most importantly, we need to understand this: The purpose of the starting position (and first pull) is to allow an optimal second & third pull.
If you take away only one point from this entire article, it should be that one. If you don’t understand that, none of the following details explaining or describing the starting position will matter.
The second pull of the snatch and clean is the ......
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Quick & Dirty Plate Rack
Greg Everett
| January 28 2009 |
Equipment
Plate racks are a rip-off. There, I said it. They require minimal, relatively low-quality steel, and aren't exactly remarkable feats of engineering. Instead of spend money on expensive plate racks (most of which aren't that great anyway) that could be put to better use buying... plates... we threw together some simple racks that can store both a full set of bumper plates and the metal change.
The following is a simple guide to doing the same yourself. Keep in mind the thickness of our plates......
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The Prodigal Chain
Greg Everett
| November 30 2008 |
Training: General
This is a historic issue for the Performance Menu—as far as I can recall, this is its first biblical allusion. This of course has nothing to do with the content of the article itself and knowing this will in no way contribute to the reader’s understanding. But it both entertains me and gives me an easy introduction.
The point is simply that as of late, the posterior chain gets so much attention and credit, and the loyal, reliable anterior chain seems to be regarded with disdain, o......
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Attitude Adjustment
Greg Everett
| October 30 2008 |
Editorial
I do my best to fly under the radar (phrase and advice supplied by Eva T years ago)—to do my thing, do it as well as I can, and let the rest slide off my back. Unfortunately I appear to be a drama magnet and have found it impossible to escape. The particulars of my own struggle are not important for this article—the point is that even doing my best to avoid it, it surrounds me. It pervades the fitness and strength & conditioning industry, the flame oxidized by the cheapness of wo......
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Breathing and Breath Control for Olympic Weightlifting
Greg Everett
| April 1 2008 |
Training: General
Breath control is critical for increasing and maintaining the structural integrity of the torso while under heavy loads. The supporting musculature is alone inadequate—in order to adequately stabilize the spine, the abdominal and thoracic cavities must be pressurized. Additionally, we need to create as broad of a base for the torso as possible—the rationale for this should be obvious if one considers the structural integrity of a pyramid versus an upside-down pyramid. Drawing in the ......
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CrossFit Criteria
Greg Everett
| February 29 2008 |
Training: General
This whole CrossFit thing is getting big. Thanks to the interminable wisdom and foresight of one Robb Wolf—a kind and generous man as long as you don’t ask him if he’s a runner—I was personally introduced to CrossFit in its public infancy. At this time, the finer details of the theory were still developing rapidly around the very solid yet rudimentary foundation. Gone are the simple days when the affiliates list on the website was only an inch long and prospective clients......
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Building A Lifting Platform on a Slope
Greg Everett
| September 13 2007 |
Equipment
You want an outdoor weightlifting platform. Maybe indoor space is limited, or maybe you just want to boost testosterone with 20-rep squats in the sun. But for some silly reason, the folks who built your facility were concerned with water drainage and the area in which you want your platform is sloped. Sloped weightlifting platforms, it turns out, don't work well.
I ran into this problem when building a weightlifting platform for NorCal Strength & Conditioning. Overcoming the slope t......
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Modifying a Sled for Use on Cement
Greg Everett
| September 13 2007 |
Equipment
Pulling a metal sled on a cement surface is problematic for two primary reasons: first, the skids will eventually be ground away leaving you with an entirely useless piece of equipment, and two, the neighbors don't appreciate the sound of metal scraping over cement for extended periods of time.
Instead of spending money on a new sled, spend $10 and 30 minutes on some aftermarket modification to allow the use of your current sled on the cement.
You will need:
A sled
A stri......
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The Olympic Weightlifting Squat
Greg Everett
| November 15 2006 |
Training: Weightlifting
The squat is foundational to the Olympic lifts as a position, a movement and a strength exercise. Without a well-developed and consistent squat, neither pulling technique nor pulling power will produce entirely successful Olympic weightlifting. The great natural physical variation among athletes dictates that there will never be a universally perfect prescription for body positioning, but irrespective of this variation, the fundamental principles remain consistent. Continued reliance on them wil......
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