ATTENDING THE CrossFit Level 1 this weekend at Roots?  Click here for local information.

Backsquat Week 4,
then,
8:00 on/4:00 off/4:00 on/2:00 off/2:00 on of:
200m run
10 wall ball
10 push-up
Do not start over each round! Pick up exactly where you left off. Score is total rounds completed over 14:00 minutes of work.

Press, Push Press, and Push Jerk – Know Them.

The press, push press, and push jerk are three of the nine foundational movements in CrossFit.  We have done one of those three movements at least once per week every week for the entire existence of CrossFit Roots.  And, we think it’s really really important that you know and can distinguish between the three.

Why you ask?  Here are a few reasons…

1. You will move better.  If you know exactly what movement you are trying to perform then you will absolutely do it better.  When you are fatigued, tired, and strained in a workout then is not the time to be thinking “which one is the push jerk?”

2. Know your fitness method.  You are a CrossFitter.  No, we don’t expect you to tattoo Roots to your arm, tag the walls of a big box gym with “ellipticals suck”, kill your own animals and grow your own food, and watch every video ever to be posted on the mainsite (although we wouldn’t criticize you if you did!) BUT we do expect you to know the basic mechanics of the movements we do on a weekly basis.  In the same way you can’t consider yourself a real cyclist or mountain biker unless you know how and can change a tire, you can’t consider yourself a real card carrying CrossFitter if you don’t know the difference between a press, push press, and a push jerk.

3. The lifty won’t always be there.  I know what some of you are thinking.  I don’t need to know the movements because I don’t care that much and the coaches will always tell me.  Imagine if you refused to learn to get off the ski lift and depended on the lifty to stop the lift every time you came up the lift.  And then one day, the lifty didn’t help you out and you fell on your face attempting to exit the lift or, even worse, headed back down the mountain.  What does that look like in the CrossFit world?  It looks like you going on vacation and trying to do travel WODs on the road…not knowing the movements means you either do the wrong movement and get frustrated or worse you decide you don’t know what it is so you won’t do it.  We don’t want you to be dependent on the lifty – we want you jumping from the chair lift before it gets to the top!

4. Safety.  There is also a safety element to knowing the lifts.  Mistaking your max push jerk number for your 1 rep push press number means trying to put a ton more weight over your head resulting in a bad workout or less safe situation.  In the squat world that could mean trying to front squat your back squat loading.  No good.

So, check out these videos and know your press, push press, and push jerk!  

Press, Push Press, Push Jerk Tri-Panel.

Press, Push Press, Push Jerk Progression 
This video shows the functional progression of moving a load overhead.  When the athlete is fresh (or with a light load) the most efficient way to move the bar is to press it overhead, as the athlete begins to fail, they incorporate the dip/drive to move the barbell overhead, and finally, when the load is the heaviest or the athlete is most fatigued, they dip/drive the bar from their shoulder but that alone doesn’t allow them to press it overhead so they dip back under the bar to catch, receive, and stand.