A good front rack position will greatly improve your front squat & ofcourse, your clean. Here is a PNF drill on how to improve your shoulder range in the Front Rack Position.

 

Today we are talking about an issue that is very common with alot of CrossFit Athletes; shoulder impingement syndrome.

Impingement syndrome is a sign of shoulder inflexibility or overtraining. If an impinged shoulder injury is not treated quickly, it can easily turn into bursitis or a rotator cuff tear.

This video is about the very basic knowledge of shoulder impingement syndrome.

Here are some Rotator Cuff Exercises.

Here are some Scapular Flexibility Exercises.

Today I’m posting about trunk stretching that you can do it before your WOD.
Some of us are already familiar with these movements but some new Aeoners may not know.Use these drills before your WOD’s to assist in your lumbar & thosasic spine mobility, as well as your hips.

Please check this out and hope this would help you!

There are three major ways of stretching which are static stretching, ballistic stretching and PNF stretching (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation).Static stretching is a relaxation stretch that is to extend muscles and joints with deep breathes in which make the stretching muscles to relax rather activate.

Ballistic stretching, on the other hand, is a dynamic stretch that is to activate whole body and stretching muscles in which increases body temperature as well.

PNF stretching, however, is completely different to static and ballistic stretching. It uses a reflex mechanism (neuromuscular reflex) that significantly activates the muscle and nerve at the same time.

I recommend that you can do Ballistic and PNF stretching before workout because:

• They activate muscle and nerve in order to make you ready for the WOD.
• They increase body temperature as a part of worming up which peaks performance and prevents from injury.
• They improve blood circulation to muscles.
• ＊Please do not bouncing too much while you ballistic stretching, sometimes may lead to muscle tear.

On the other hand, I recommend you to static stretching after workout because:

• It is to relax fatigued muscles and reduce core temperature.
• It removes waste substances in fatigue muscles such as lactic acids.
• It may reduce and minimize DOMS (Delay On Set of Muscle Soreness).
• ＊Please do not static stretching just before a power event such as Olympic lifting, may reduce maximal force.

To improve hip joint flexibility, in order to get perfect squat, I recommend you to stretch before and after WOD.
Here are some of my recommended stretches that may improve your squat posture!Remember, Ballistic (Dynamic) and PNF stretching before training & Static stretching after training.
Please do this before WOD with warming up.

Here is some basic static stretching for hip joint.

Please do static stretching after work-out !

Please remember after workout do cool down with static stretching.

Today I am going to show you hip flexor stretching by using rubber band.
Hip flexor is one of the core muscles which regulate core body stability and hip joint movement.

As a physiotherapist we often see tight hip flexor patients or athletes who have chronic lower back pain. Because tight hip flexor puts extra mechanical stress on the lumbar spine and its vertebral discs while you lean trunk forward.

Here is good stretching of hip flexor that you can at the box!

Post-Warmup, try out some PNF stretching (Hold Relax Technique) of your Hamstrings. This stretch will give your hammies more range, hopefully allowing for deeper, stronger & more efficient positions while training!