You may wonder from time to time why we have integrated skill work in our classes (handstands, ring support/dip, L-sit, etc) when our warm ups, strength movements, and WODs take up so much time already. Jim Bathurst wrote an article in the Performance Menu about the importance of bodyweight skill integration into our programming. He says that, back in the day, all strongmen (and women) could ‘move a mountain of iron’ and control their bodies in various gymnastic balancing acts that we could attribute to Cirque du Soleil performers today. Somewhere along the way, handstands, planches, pull ups, one-arm push ups, front levers, and iron crosses were cast aside and forgotten.

What we may not realize is the weightlifting and bodyweight exercises both challenge your body’s ability to create muscular tension and full body coordination in a singular task. The tension you need to exert in your trunk in a handstand is not all that different from the tension during a back squat.

The down and dirty is this: working on handstands, pistols, and levers will add mad weight to your lifts!

By the way, the Tabata Challenge began today and here are the preliminary results:

• Anna 15
• Brian 13
• Elisabeth 13
• Viviana 11
• Becky 10
• Jake 16

WOD 02.02.10

Snatch 5×3
3rds:
15 Box Jumps (high)
12 Push Jerks
9 Power Cleans