How do you go about getting better at specific movements

[monimck]

Hey there lovely people

I (26F if that matters) am fairly new to CrossFit (currently in week 6) and I have a logistic issue rn

Due to work and uni I can’t go to classes more often than 2, sometimes 3, times per week. I still attend my boxes beginner classes which makes scheduling a little harder.
Anyways I’ve improved greatly at different things but there’s some movements/exercises id like to work on outside of the classes since I don’t want to wait for those to be part of our WOD.
Currently that’d be double unders, wall walks and push ups. My box does not have “open gym” time but I have the time and space to practice all of those at home.

Here’s where I’m stuck now: should I just try to improve my technique on these or create a WOD style home workout?
Or does it not matter anyways? I’m kinda at a loss without a trainer telling me what to do lol

(Also sorry for weird grammar errors - English isn’t my first language)

Thank you so much for all and any input

 

[kaitlynturner]

@monimck If you have the ability to do all of that at home and have at least some variation of the movements where you don’t need a coach and it’s more a capacity/efficiency issue I would do this.

Pick a movement to focus on for the day and do specific practise. Let’s say wall walks. Do a set of 2-3 wall walks, rest until recovered. Do 4-5 sets of quality reps that are under your threshold.

Then build a little EMOM style workout with again an appropriate amount of volume. So could be like

2 walk walks
20 air squats
EMOM for 10 minutes.

That way you’re practising the skill you just acquired with interference.

Eventually you could do alternating skills that you’re working on so build to 3 rounds, 1 min between rounds of

Wall walk
Double unders
Push ups.

Hopefully that makes sense. The key take away is to build in quality practise of the reps. As one of my coaches recently said athleticism is not a race. What they meant by that is you should only put your skills against the clock when you have the skill to a level you can do it against the clock.

 

[autism]

@kaitlynturner This is some good advice right here. Work on the skill, then as confidence builds challenge yourself to do the movement under fatigue.

For push-ups, some kind of program that ramps up progressively could be the way forward. A bit like the "figher program" for pull-ups.

 

[monimck]

@autism Oh a ramp up programm is a great idea, I didn't think of that yet, thanks!

Pull-ups is on the list of things to work on after I got these down.. not too thrilled for that haha

 

[monimck]

@kaitlynturner thank you so much for your answer, I was thinking in the same direction but since I'm so new to all that stuff I was feeling unsure about it. I'd probably use the jump rope as a warm up with regular jumps just so I get properly used to it before attempting to perfect the double unders as well.

Your trainer put it really well imo. When I do a movement for the first time and then have to use that in the WOD I tend to get too confused at some point. it's always safe and scaled but I'll take my time practicing correct form and execution before putting the time pressure on myself at home

 

[huns14]

@monimck To quote Mat Fraser, moments after winning the 2017 games, “I keep doing the movement until I’m fucking good at it.”

That gave me such a good laugh. Just keep practicing your weaknesses. Make EMOM’s or something.

20 min EMOM:
Even minutes: 10 reps/attempts of something or 30 sec of attempts
Odd minutes: other weakness

If you want, you can also throw in cardio like on a 3rd minute or something to elevate your heart rate. Or add in a fun movement you’re good at so you don’t get discouraged. Get creative and have fun with it. As your coach for a little direction, they will be happy to help

 

[monimck]

@huns14 sounds like a solid plan, thank you

Thankfully I don't get discouraged too easily, but I do tend to get stuck in my head at some point

 

[dawn16]

@monimck Don’t know your schedule, but when I first started I would go to the class I normally went to, and then would either stay after if I had time or go to the 5am and work on skills.
Always do your workouts with intent on moving through a skill well. Rxing a workout and doing sloppy movements and only getting 1 rep of something who’ll hinder progress. For example if bar muscle ups are in a workout, don’t do rx and spend 20 minutes trying to get on the bar. Do scaled and spend the workout doing banded muscle ups until that skill has been mastered with intent on moving well thru the movement. Master the small skills leads to mastering big skills
Even with just 3 days a week, it takes time but slowly you’ll build progress. 3 days a week for one year and you’ll definitely be on a totally different playing field

 

[monimck]

@dawn16 I usually attend the latest classes tuesay and Thursday (19:30-20:30) and occasionally early morning class on Friday (07:00) so I can’t really stay afterwards. But don’t worry, not only do I not intend to do/try anything that’s out of my skill/strength/ability range, my trainer would also simply not let me lol
If we’re not performing a movement well enough we get scaled down either way.

 

[lindalee1456]

@monimck Everything you will ever need to work on in the physical realm will require a combination of volume, intensity, and frequency

For skills I like high frequency, low intensity, moderate volume

For strength I like high intensity, moderate frequency, moderate to low volume

Aerobic endurance I like high frequency, high volume, low intensity

Fatigue resistance or muscle endurance I like moderate levels of all three

Are your struggles skill based? Then you need to practice often. Are you too weak for a movement? Stimulate the body with a heavy weight/resistance then give it time to respond and grow. Add intensity before more volume. You have the skill and strength but after a while you just get too tired? Simply do more of it every time you work on it. Do a workout with 20 reps this week 25 reps next week, 30 the week after and so on

Every single thing we do can be improved by manipulating volume, intensity, and frequency in the right ways