You actually practice it!!
Some of the coolest milestones that people really love to hit in CrossFit are the gymnastic movement firsts! Whether it be your first pull up, hanstand push up, pistol etc etc etc… There is something very special about being able to move and control your body in a way that you have never been able to before. Getting your chin over the bar for the first time, spinning that rope around you for two full revolutions or supporting on top of those rings for the first times makes grown adults scream with joy on a regular basis! So let’s talk about the key to success for these movements!
Most of these movements don’t require any special skill, tool or extended time to learn. The two main ingredients is desire to achieve the skill and regular practice. The person that wants to progress their pull ups and fights for every rep, whether it be on a kneeling scaled pull up, a banded pull up or maybe on negative rep practice, this person will progress more than the person that drops off the bar 3-4 reps before they really need to. Pushing your muscles into the phase of failure is where a lot of progress is made. I have seen all sorts of people build into pull ups using every method possible. They wanted to progress and they made sure to make regular effort.
The regular effort doesn’t and shouldn’t just be while you’re in the classes. There is nothing wrong with showing up a little early or staying a little late and grabbing a pull up bar, set of rings, spot on the floor… and practicing those pulls, dips or handstand push ups. Doing a few days a week of a little extra credit work can fast forward the progress on these skills. Typically we have one or two opportunities to do pull ups in the classes between met-cons and strength events. Adding 3 days of 3 sets of 10 reps is adding 90 pull ups a week to your body! Hopefully these will be a mixer of kipping practice and strict to develop the different aspects of the move that we want for a crossfitter. Either way, adding that repetition will make a much larger impact in developing yourself then just doing the work that is only prescribed in the classes.
This thought process applies to any of the gymnastic moves. Show up 5 minutes early and stay 5 minutes late. If you would like to have some solid structure for how to approach this movements we have our Hybrid program that we offer which has extra gymnastic work Monday-Friday that is built around the work in the classes! Talk to one of the coaches if you are interested! Say no to scaling gymnastics movements and getting cracking on progressing to your next level! There is no reason why you can’t do most of them rx’d! For everyone the journey is different, for some it may take longer for some not so much. It is possible if you spend the time and put in the elbow grease!
Want to build a new skill?! Check out this pistol tutorial with myself and coach Vlad and get working on leveling up and getting that new skill!
Coach P