MOBILITY – prep your shoulders for the shock and awe campaign of 15.2!
This heavy band shoulder work is a great first stop to open those shoulders up and bias external rotation.
Often, you’ll see athletes internally rotate and bend the elbows on the loading up/arch body position of the kip.
This is no bueno– it means they have lost tension in the shoulders and are finding it elsewhere, and the kip has to rebuild that tension on the upswing. This is like slamming down into the bottom of a front squat and losing torque in your hips– if it’s a heavy squat you’ll probably do some gross stuff to get out of the hole.
Take care of your shoulders now, open them up so that the arch body position isn’t beyond your maximal range of motion and you might just survive 15.2!
This light band work with full extension overhead will do wonders to prepare you for that fully loaded position at the bottom of your kip!
And this lax ball smash and floss on your lat will unglue those gross tissues in your armpit 🙂
MINDFULNESS – consider the thought gap and the last time you reacted without creating that gap
A lot of folks are pretty bummed about 15.2– full pullups are tough and boy is this brutal if they aren’t yet in your wheelhouse.
But rather than reflexively lashing out at CFHQ, did you stop and consider why you are mad? 15.2 is a repeat of 14.2 and that means you’ve had literally one year to get those pullups under your belt.
Why haven’t you? Is Castro a jerk for expecting athletes to improve on fundamental pulling skills? Maybe a jerk for other reasons, but not for this instance.
And beyond CrossFit, can you think of an instance where you immediately became defensive as a result of someone’s legitimate expectations?
It’s so easy to push back against a high bar rather than pull yourself over it. Sometimes, it seems like we’re afraid that we might actually do it. But you can’t doubt yourself before you make the attempt.
Trust that you’ve done the work, put in the hours, and bled the blood necessary to make headway on your problems.
Stew on this as you do some box breathing!
See playlist for box breathing resources
Like this post if you are doing some mobility prep for 15.2! You’ll need it 🙂
Comment below with your thoughts on the thought gap 😛
Eugene H Kim 