Essential Body Shape Series, Part 1: Hollow Hold

Essential Body Shape Series, Part 1: Hollow Hold
by: Coach Kaitlin Most coaches, both in the gymnastics world and the crossfit world, teach hollow holds on the back with the legs, upper shoulders, head, and arms extended off of the ground. The most common mistake with this position is the allowance of a small arch in the lower back creating a space between the lumbar spine and the floor. Unfortunately this space is often difficult to notice.

This weekend, at The Outlaw Way Para Bellum Series Training Camp, I had athletes flip over to their stomachs and hold a hollow hold on their hands and feet, a little trick I took away from 10 year old gymnastics strength conditioning. Resting the feet against a wall or step, I had the athletes slide their hands out as far as they could from the wall while maintaining a hollow body shape. The goal is to have a perfect round shape from hands to feet. In this position you will be more able to fine-tune the body shape. The most common mistakes are a pike in the hips, broken shoulder angle, and sagging mid-section. Focus on squeezing the glutes and extending through the shoulders as far as possible while maintaining a rounded back. Performing the hollow hold on your hands and feet also gives the athlete a chance to drill the extended shoulder position essential to all other crossfit gymnastics movements

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 Study the differences between the positions below:

The goal is to have arms shoulder width apart, and not have any space between the shoulders, neck, and ears. In this position the athlete should be actively working to push the floor away.

Work on moving your hands further and further away from your feet to make your hollow hold increasingly lower to the ground. 

Tabata hollow holds anyone??

Kaitlin Hardy: Bar Muscle-Up Drills and Progressions

Mastering the Bar Muscle Up By: Dusty Hyland

Bar Muscle-Ups, Ring Muscle-Ups, Handstand Push-ups and any of the other Crossfit gymnastics skills are 40% strength and 60% technique. 

Understanding how to make each motion as easy as possible will not only increase your skill set, but also maximize efficiency to ultimately increase your WOD score. 

Beginner gymnastics drills can be used to teach kipping bar muscle ups. 

-Start at a front support on the bar with a pair of rings hanging down between your hands. 

-With your legs hanging straight down, measure the height of the rings so that with your hips against the bar and your legs straight, the arches of your feet can rest inside each ring. For safety, keep your legs straight for the entire drill, and be sure that your feet maintain constant contact with the rings. 

-With your arms straight, let yourself swing backward from front support allowing your feet and hips to rise. After reaching full extension, allow yourself to use your momentum to swing backwards and pull your upper body back to the front support starting position. 

-Gradually work on lowering the rings so that you eventually have to do greater work in returning to your starting position. Focus on pulling backwards and then up to the bar; this mirrors the final pull of a bar muscle up.

I'm Bouncing Off The Walls Again

The Mobility Doc himself, John Giacalone representing his Be Epic shirt.

MetCon: As many reps as possible in 7 minutes of,

Wall Balls (20/14)

*EMOM 5 Deadlifts (225/155)*

-Start with Wall Balls, then do 5 Deadlifts on the top of every minute.

-Score is total Wall Balls completed in 7 minutes

MetCon: For Time

100 Alternating DB Snatches (55/35)

Core: 3 Rounds, not for time of:

20 Alternating Single Arm Ring Extensions

10 Double Arm Ring Extensions*

*Sub Barbell or Ab Wheel Rollouts*

-Link above has a demo of both exercises-

Coach Kaitlin: Kipping Pull-Ups

On any gymnastics apparatus, head position is everything. If you throw your head back trying to do a back flip, your face will meet the floor very quickly! Where your head goes, the rest of your body will follow. You can use this principal to your advantage on kipping pull ups by driving your head as far forward as possible on the down swing, and as far back as possible on the upswing. The path of your head in relation to the bar should be a large letter C. At the very bottom of your swing drive your head forward between your arms and then use your momentum upwards and backwards to pull up on the bar. At the top of the bar, push your body backwards away from the bar instead of dropping straight down so that you have momentum to extend your head forward between your arms on the downswing. The bigger the swing and kipping motion the less work you have to put in!

To help with your head drive forward at the bottom of the bar, continue working on shoulder mobility exercises with your arms held shoulder width apart.

-Coach Kaitlin

Kaitlin Hardy: Taking your Handstands off of the Floor

While a WOD has yet to be programmed requiring athletes to handstand walk down the length of a balance beam pulling a 45 lb sled, or hold a handstand on the rings for the time equivalent of rowing a half marathon, I think all crossfitters know better than to ever be surprised by the next challenge (21-15-9 Ring Muscle-Ups + Ring Strict HSPU anyone??).

Working on your handstand in different environments and on different surfaces will force you to focus on correct form and body position. Once an athlete masters handstands on the floor and can perform handstand walks efficiently enough to Rx a gymnastics based WOD, they tend to develop bad habits just to get through the exercises. Practicing handstands on rings, balanced on weight plates, or even on a balance beam can provide a new challenge that will ultimately lead to better mastery of the skill.

Strength and conditioning programs created specifically for gymnastics require athletes to hold handstands on the floor, the balance beam, Men’s parallel bars, Men’s still rings, and Women’s low bar. Each of these apparatus require the athlete to work with their hands in a different position, gripping each surface slightly differently and purposefully inhibiting shifting of the body weight around on the fingertips to aid in balance. When the ability to move around on their hands to maintain balance, or even shift weight around between the palms and fingertips is taken away, the athlete is forced to focus entirely on maintaining perfect position and not deviating from maintaining tension in the shoulders and throughout the core. Essentially, there is no way to compensate for less than perfect form.

 

In the box, the easiest way to take your handstand off of the floor is to put it on a 45 lb plate resting on the floor. Kick up to a handstand with your fingertips resting over the edges of the plate and focus on holding a static handstand position as long as possible without relying on any weight shifting. It may help to have a partner grab your legs as you kick up and let you find your balance before you attempt to maintain the position on your own.

From there, get creative; hold a handstand with your hands facing outward and your fingertips over the edge on a 20” box, set up a pair of kettle bells to replicate men’s parallel bars, if you’re really feeling adventurous lower a set of rings and work towards holding a handstand on them!

-Coach Kaitlin 

Kaitlin will be holding her second class on Handstands at Steel Caliber Crossfit on Saturday 11/30/13 @ 11am and again on Wednesday 12/4 @ 7:30pm. We will be attending (Saturday) and hope to see you there. Free to members and $15 drop in for any non members at Steel Caliber.

Avoiding "Controlled Falling" by: Kaitlin Hardy

After 20+ years of gymnastics, my brain is hardwired to focus on perfect form and technique before I move on to the next progression of any skill. Crossfit athletes need to focus on mastering a perfect handstand before they can move on to handstand walks or handstand push-ups successfully.

In order to avoid the “controlled falling” method of handstand walks, gymnasts start by learning to shift their weight back and forth while holding a handstand against the wall. With your stomach against the wall, and focusing on perfect handstand form and technique, gently move your body weight left and right. To start, you don’t even have to worry about picking your hands up off of the floor, just focus on pushing all the way through your shoulders and maintaining your balance. You want to keep your weight balanced over your midline. Eventually you can work towards picking your hands up off the floor, then tapping your shoulders, and then finally bringing your whole arm up to meet your legs. It helps to keep your arms exactly shoulder width apart and no wider.

After you have mastered shifting your weight, you’re ready to start walking. The most common mistake that I see in the box is a tendency to forget thinking about the form that was mastered against the wall. I suggest having a partner stand behind you holding onto your ankles as you being to move forward so that you can work on learning correct technique from the get-go instead of developing poor habits.

A master handstand walker should be able to move forward, backwards, and to the left and right. The only way to have that kind of control over your movement is to maintain perfect handstand position!

- Kaitlin Hardy

Handstands 101: Kaitlin Hardy

cmxfit welcomes Kaitlin Hardy, former Parkettes Gymnastics Junior Olympic National Championships Qualifier, NCAA Division 1 Gymnastics Varsity Letter Winner at Cornell University, as a contributor. Handstands 101, a must read:

Handstands 101:

by: Kaitlin Hardy

 

A handstand is not a strength move; holding a handstand is about technique and body awareness. Crossfitters place a lot of emphasis on perfecting form in each of the Olympic lifts, but perfect body alignment in handstands, handstand walks, and handstand pushups rarely gets talked about. 

In the crossfit box, most athletes practice handstands with their back against the wall. But in the gymnastics world, athletes always practice handstands with their stomach facing the wall because this forces them into a better body position. Training with your stomach against the wall makes it easier to focus on the following points:

1. Your head should never be in a neutral position. Instead, you should always be looking at the floor space between your hands. Focus on pulling your head up just enough to see your fingertips.

2. Work on eliminating any space between your shoulders and ears. In order for an overhead squat to be successful, your shoulders need to be engaged to brace the weight of the bar. Apply the same principle when you’re upside down. Work on pushing through your shoulders as much as you can to make yourself as tall as possible against the wall.

3. Maintain a straight bodyline, with your wrists as close to the wall as possible, you should work to have your shoulders touching the wall, your stomach off of the wall, your hips touching the wall, and your feet about an inch away from the wall. Someone watching should be able to draw a straight line from your wrist to your toes.

Perfect body alignment on a handstand can turn the dreaded handstand walk and HSPU into your best exercise!