Author Archives: Coach Panda

I love articles like this. I just wish they would ask me for a quote seeing as I went to all that trouble to name my gym “Virtuosity.”

One of the big faults in the Overhead Squat is that people follow an incorrect line of action. They neglect to send their butt back and down when initiating the descent. Therefore in order to fix this I recommend the Seated Overhead Good Morning. Start seated on a bench or low box with the bar in the overhead position with a snatch grip. A narrower grip will be more challenging and can be utilized for deeper stretching. Keep the knees out and the shins vertical to the floor. Lean forward at the hips, rolling to the front of the sits bones. Keep the shoulders active and keep pulling the bar back. Try to drop your chest between your knees while stabilizing the bar overhead. Return to an upright seated position. Do a lot of reps of this. You can also perform box squats with the bar overhead.

It’s so important to breathe properly. More and more I am seeing people that do not breathe properly and the dramatic effect it has on their performance.

Like with any physical endeavor, proper mechanics are essential to good performance. Likewise, mobility of the muscles and joints involved in respiration is crucial to success.

Faulty breathing patterns and habits create a lot of physical problems for many of our athletes. Therefore, I think the next step is to schedule a breathing workshop. Maybe 2 or 3 hours spend on just learning how to breathe and applying that to some constantly varied functional movements executed at high intensity.

I found that placing a light jumpstretch band around the athletes knees is a great way to get them to both externally rotate and initiate the knees back. Place a band around the knees of the athlete and stand in front of them pulling the band gently towards you. The athlete should be deadlifting something light like a kettlebell (a barbell will run into the band on the way up). Pulling the band forward and in will cause the athlete to push their knees back and out to resist the band. It’s a great two-for-one.

I have know for a long time that people hold the bar incorrectly overhead. More recently I started putting together that holding the bar incorrectly negatively affects the shoulders. The other day when people were overhead squatting, I made them use a thumbless grip. This caused everyone to extend their wrists and press their palms up toward the ceiling and into the barbell. This also facilitated the external rotation of the shoulders. People’s overhead positions were immediately improved by this. It’s such a simple fix. It’s amazing. It is also extremely helpful for the BTN push press and the snatch balance where the elbows must be pointed down for a good line of action with the bar.

Watching this TEDtalk really helped solidify in my mind the awesomeness of the work I do and the work that’s being done by people that are important to me. Posture is not only important for physical health, but it has a wonderful ripple effect on hormonal and emotional changes to the individual. With a minimum effective dosage of 2 minutes, you can affect a change mood and self-perception that is accompanied with an increase in Testosterone and a decrease in Cortisol. Just that alone makes me feel even better about using my standing desk and makes never want to stop using it. Additionally, over time you can eventually become that more powerful individual. Maybe a 2 minute warmup in a power pose is what we need before WODs?

Been taking some of my own medicine lately. I’m tired of sucking at bodyweight movement, so I have been doing the bodyweight warmup (or variations thereof) that I prescribe for class.

2012.09.06
1500m Row

3 rounds of
10 Banded Pull-ups super strict
10 Dips
10 Lunges
10 V-ups
10 KB swings
Jump Rope

Clean & Jerks
Up to 3 at 165lbs

3 rds
10 Bent over rows 95lbs
5 Press
5 Push Press 95lbs

P-Bar walks
Handstand holds
Ring swings
P-Bar swings

2012.09.07
3 rounds of:
10 banded pull-ups
10 banded HSPU
10 assisted pistols
10 ring rows
10 ring push-ups
10 assisted pistols

MetCon
5 rounds
AMRAP 1′
5 x 24″ Box jumpovers
10 KB swings, 32kg
5 x 24″ Box jumpovers
5 Thrusters, 95lbs
1min rest

Completed a full round each time.

Need to keep up with the upper body intensive stuff. I need to keep up and increase this volume in order to get my upper body functioning at a higher level. I also have to keep working the pistols and handstands because I feel like I have lost a lot of my basic gymnastics base…but it’s coming back slowly.