Not a week goes by that I don’t receive some sort of info on “exercise and the brain” from one of our athletes, friends or community members.  Links to the New York Times  referencing alteration in brain chemistry after heavy lifting, cutouts from local newspapers and other magazines which discuss recent research in high intensity exercise and reduction in the risk of Alzheimers, health newsletters from various hospitals that advise being proactive in hitting the intensity in your workout because of the connection to improving brain function, and even anecdotal reports from family members saying that “CrossFit workouts result in clearer thinking after each session.”  This goes ON and ON… and DO keep sending in the articles.  Keep telling us your truths.  Most important- keep up the hard work because it has positive affect on YOUR brain and it helps you in myriad of other ways.  But we already know that you come in for the fun and the heavy weights.

Shoulder Press 5-5-5

Push-Press 3-3-3

Push Jerk 1-1-1

Today we’ll spend the entire class working on all 3 lifts in the pressing series of our 9 fundamental movements. You’ll do lots of warm-up and skill work and when the technique has been reviewed and practiced, you’ll have three sets to build to a heavy 5 rep strict press. Then, three sets to build to a heavy 3 rep push press. And lastly, three sets to build to a heavy 1 rep push jerk. Athletes with competence in all these lifts should be able to press more load as we progress through these lifts for 2 reasons. Reason #1: each lift inherently allows the athlete to lift more load via more power produced and then the ability to drop under the bar on the jerk. Reason #2: there are fewer reps per set as we progress from strict press, to push press, to push jerk! Technique is the focus today, but that doesn’t mean we won’t get heavy relative to our individual abilities!