Obviously there’s a lot more to rowing than just this, but here’s a little starter on rowing technique that should help you improve your rowing times. Just remember this pattern of movements: knees, back, arms, arms, back, legs.

With handstand pushups in todays WOD, I thought it might be helpful to do a little video demo of how to kip a HSPU. Up until recently, I couldn’t come close to getting one of these, but once I figured the kip out, I was able to bust them out no problem.

A few notes that I didn’t emphasize in the video:
1. Elbow placement is important, keep your elbows in! Don’t let them drift out to the side too much.
2. Your drive and power is going to start with your legs, do a BIG kick. If you don’t get it the first time, try a bigger kip (kick).
3. Press down as you’re starting your kip. You want as much force being pushed down so you’re able to get as much lift off the ground when that kip gives you that moment of weightlessness.
4. Doing very slow negatives (lowering myself from the top as slow as possible) really helped me build strength. Do 3 sets of 3-5 reps 3x week until you succeed if you still can’t get it.

Hopefully this helps!

As always, post questions in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Don’t forget to come out and support those competing in the CrossFit Football Tour This Saturday, February 18th!

There will be three exciting events:

1. CrossFit Football Total which tests the four primary lifts of CrossFit Football (Power    Clean, Squat, Bench, Deadlift)
2. MetCon Challenge
3. 225 Bench Press Open (voluntary)

This is a letter from Danica, who competed at the Garage Games this past weekend.  Danica has been training for less than a month at Atlas!  Proof to everyone that competing is for everyone! Don’t forget, after reading this, to sign up for the OPEN, and pick Atlas CrossFit as your team.

“I did not imagine that waking up at 6:45am on a Saturday, 5 minutes before my schedule alarm, would be the highlight of my weekend. But it was. It was like Fitness Christmas! In only a few short hours, I would be partaking in my very first cross fit competition. The Garage Games Series would be my maiden voyage in what I hope to be a lengthy career.

My fiance (who couldn’t attend due to a soccer tournament) wished me a sleepy “good luck, I love you, please come home in one piece” as I got dressed and raced down the hall with my paleo kits to our suddenly sluggish elevator, to another molasses slow elevator, to my car. I zipped out to the Meadow Glens Elementary School in Naperville to for the 8am registration. I was one of the first people there, and got to check out the equipment and facility before it was buzzing with over 250 people.

One of those people, was my dad. Now I’m fully functioning adult and all, but there is something super awesome about having your childhood hero there to cheer you on at your new found passion. Especially considering I was a wide-eyed newbie, and had next to no idea what was going on. But we asked a lot of questions, and got a lot of answers, from a lot of really friendly people. Big bonus.

So, I checked in, got my shirt, had my number written on both arms, and received my schedule for the day. I was expecting it to be written in some confusing blend of Hebrew and Pig Latin, but it was easy to follow. I had entered the beginner division and was is heat 7. This meant I had some time to watch the RX and Scaled divisions compete. My dad and I scoped out the competition and talked strategy. WOD 1 was as follows:

5 rounds for time:
10 burpees
Bear Complex (20lb sandbags for female beginners)
Lunges

I lined up at my station, met my judge, with through the motions and what he would be looking for, and did a couple practice runs (I had been practicing earler with 30lb bags). 3..2..1.. GO!!! And off I went like a bat out of hell on crack. I lost a little steam along the way, but finished in 4:55 and without a single “No Rep”. Not my best work, but I’ll take it! I finished 5th place in this WOD

After a recovery drink, some tuna, lots of water and stretching, I was ready for WOD 2:

For time:
Ground-to-Overhead (I could choose 75lb x 18, 45lb x 30 or 22lb x 62… to lift 1370lbs total)
500M Row

I chose the middle option, and with JJ there in person and Jennifer there in text, I had all the support I needed. I broke the 30 reps up in 10-5-5-5-5 and jumped on the rower. I rowed until my butt was on fire. FIRE. I finished at 5:05 and felt really good about it! My judge at the time told me I’d won that WOD, that I was the first to finish! I later find out I finished 5th, but either way I still feel I did great work!

WOD 3, what I’m now referring to as The Death WOD, was a last and final WOD for those who had scored high enough to participate. Being one of those lucky few was a double edge sword. I was psyched because this meant I didn’t suck at crossfit, but a little nervous because I left EVERYTHING I had on the floor in those last two WODs and was completely drained. Also, the beginner division went first after being the last to finish WOD 2. This compounded the suckiness because I had little time to recover. So did my competition, at least.

Here’s the WOD 3 break down. Remember that we are in an elementary school gym, so approx 50 yds long? On the side we lined up on, we had a medicine ball, two 45lb and two 15lb weights. On the opposite end of the gym was a sled. Now that you have the visual, here is what we needed to do for time:

Carry our weights to the sled in however many trips necessary
Push the stacked sled from one end of the gym back to its starting place
Broad Jump back to the other side of the gym
25 Wall Balls with the medicine ball, hitting a 10 foot marker
Run back and get your weights in however many trips necessary

I finished 6th with a time of 4:50 and I was not a happy camper about it. A combo of being totally wiped and a hiccup in the begining with my judge leading to a 3-4 second delayed start, I felt that it was not my best work by any means. Plus, my butt was no longer on speaking terms with me, it was in so much pain. I grabbed some water, took a walk, talked to my super fan dad about the day and felt a whole lot better.

I had just competed in and COMPLETED my first crossfit competition! Qualifying for the third round was really just the cherry on top, even if I wasn’t psyched about how I did. I finished in 6th place overall in my division and I’m honestly happy about it! I learned a lot about myself as an athlete, as a competitor, and most importantly the areas to improve for next time. Because there will be a next time. And I will be faster. And I will be stronger. And I will be in the top 5.”

Great job Danica!

Are you the fittest on earth?

Register for this years CrossFit Games Open and find out! Be sure to add Atlas as your affiliate and team!

I Am Fittest