So, I like to stay active, and that sometimes involves CrossFit. If you've never tried it for yourself, one of the hallmarks of this particular style of workout is that you're constantly doing something different. I've been asked to perform all sorts of new movements that I'd never considered before. Now, before you start questioning this, I've always been taught proper technique and form long before I had to actually perform the exercise with any kind of weight in my hands. So, it should be fairly safe if done properly.
That said, constantly having to do new exercises means that I routinely get coaching for the proper form for a movement. Even for things that I now take for granted, someone is always watching and calling me out if I'm starting to slip. It's not uncommon for someone to tell me to keep my chest up (so you don't put a heavy strain on your lower back). For someone as anal and detail oriented as me, that is incredibly helpful. I generally prefer doing things "the right way" anyway, but having it prevent actual physical harm to my person is even more motivation to get it right.
Regardless, a while ago, I was working on a hang power clean, which is basically an Olympic lift. Now, I'm not going to compete in the Olympics any time soon, but as you can imagine, it takes a fair bit of coordination to do properly. It is very easy to do that movement incorrectly, and you will either be incredibly inefficient or hurt yourself if you do so. As I was doing it, my coach spotted something I was doing wrong; I was using my hips to generate momentum in the horizontal direction instead of vertically. It sounds strange, I know, but just roll with it. I just wasn't pulling straight up, basically.
Now, I wasn't doing it completely wrong, but I was losing some power by doing it the wrong way. It's much harder to lift something straight up when some of your strength is pushing it sideways. So, he suggested that I pretend I was trying to hit someone behind me with my elbow. That mental image helped me understand what I was doing wrong, so I started trying to build in the muscle memory by doing what looked like really aggressive shoulder shrugs.
Remember, though, I'm the kind of person who can easily get something stuck in his head, so I found myself thinking about this even after the workout was over. And you can do that particular motion without weights in your hands, even if you're just walking around. So, I found myself walking to lunch and starting to throw my shoulders and arms around in the proper position. I actually didn't exaggerate it much, but I imagine it must've looked funny to anyone walking by.
Of course, that wasn't the only thing that I needed to work on. The second cue that my coach gave me was to try to bring my lower body straight up and down. He knows I've done a bit of martial arts, so he likened the path to the same one that an uppercut would generate. Basically, it's like a bounce to your step, only far more pronounced when you come up. You know what else is very easy to inadvertently do when you're mulling it over? Yup, a "bounce to your step." So, for a couple of days, I was walking around with occasional shrugs and a bounce to my step in order to try to get my technique for the hang power cleans right.
I sure hope I get the technique down right soon. I might start drawing funny looks if I keep bouncing or shrugging while walking.
That said, constantly having to do new exercises means that I routinely get coaching for the proper form for a movement. Even for things that I now take for granted, someone is always watching and calling me out if I'm starting to slip. It's not uncommon for someone to tell me to keep my chest up (so you don't put a heavy strain on your lower back). For someone as anal and detail oriented as me, that is incredibly helpful. I generally prefer doing things "the right way" anyway, but having it prevent actual physical harm to my person is even more motivation to get it right.
Regardless, a while ago, I was working on a hang power clean, which is basically an Olympic lift. Now, I'm not going to compete in the Olympics any time soon, but as you can imagine, it takes a fair bit of coordination to do properly. It is very easy to do that movement incorrectly, and you will either be incredibly inefficient or hurt yourself if you do so. As I was doing it, my coach spotted something I was doing wrong; I was using my hips to generate momentum in the horizontal direction instead of vertically. It sounds strange, I know, but just roll with it. I just wasn't pulling straight up, basically.
Now, I wasn't doing it completely wrong, but I was losing some power by doing it the wrong way. It's much harder to lift something straight up when some of your strength is pushing it sideways. So, he suggested that I pretend I was trying to hit someone behind me with my elbow. That mental image helped me understand what I was doing wrong, so I started trying to build in the muscle memory by doing what looked like really aggressive shoulder shrugs.
Remember, though, I'm the kind of person who can easily get something stuck in his head, so I found myself thinking about this even after the workout was over. And you can do that particular motion without weights in your hands, even if you're just walking around. So, I found myself walking to lunch and starting to throw my shoulders and arms around in the proper position. I actually didn't exaggerate it much, but I imagine it must've looked funny to anyone walking by.
Of course, that wasn't the only thing that I needed to work on. The second cue that my coach gave me was to try to bring my lower body straight up and down. He knows I've done a bit of martial arts, so he likened the path to the same one that an uppercut would generate. Basically, it's like a bounce to your step, only far more pronounced when you come up. You know what else is very easy to inadvertently do when you're mulling it over? Yup, a "bounce to your step." So, for a couple of days, I was walking around with occasional shrugs and a bounce to my step in order to try to get my technique for the hang power cleans right.
I sure hope I get the technique down right soon. I might start drawing funny looks if I keep bouncing or shrugging while walking.
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