The Doc Recommends: CrossFit Open 19.4 Warm Up

Warm Up

• 2 minutes diaphragmatic box breathing
  • Find a comfortable place to lay on your back. You can either bend your knees and place your feet flat on the floor or bend your hips and knees to 90* and place your feet flat against a wall. The focus of your breath is to move air into your lower abdomen by raising your belly toward the ceiling. Breathe in through your nose for a count of 4, hold your breath at the top for a count of 4, release your breath through your mouth for a count of 4, and hold your breath at the bottom for a count of 4. Repeat this breathing cycle ten times.
  
  
  • The goal of this breathing drill is to calm the nervous system and prepare your mind and body for a top notch performance. This is a great time to repeat an empowering word or phrase or visualize your perfect performance. The control of your breath will extend into the rest of your warm up and workout to help you pace and combat the extra surge of adrenaline.

             

• Flow – Use this flow series to continue to focus on your breathing while waking up your body and mind.
  • 3 rounds:

                               8 reps per position I, Y, T (face down on bench, can add light weight)
                                8 scapular pull up
                               10 alternating bear roll
                               10m crab walk

• Warm Up – Move through each round with intentional controlled movement. Bring awareness to your body position and begin to increase your pace.
  • 3 rounds:

                              10 beat swing (progressively bigger each round)
                              10 barbell good morning (increase load each round)
                              3 snatch grip high pull + 3 muscle snatch (increase load each round)

• Primer – Time to get sweaty! Increase your effort after each round to adequately prepare your muscles and nervous system for the demands of the workout. Rest to recovery after completing the primer.
  • 3 rounds:

                              3 C2B
                              3 power snatch
                             :20 bike (tough pace)
 
Cool Down

• Do not neglect your cool down! This “simple” part of the workout can make or break your recovery. Take time to get control of your breathing. A 5-10 minute rest walk after your workout is a signal to your body it is safe to come back to a resting state after the stress placed on it.

 

• Be sure to hydrate! A pinch of sea salt and a squeeze of lemon in your water will help you reabsorb water and minerals to aid with muscle recovery. Chiropractic adjustments, stretching, and revisiting the box breathing from the warm up are also excellent recovery tools. All of these modalities help shift the body into the “rest and digest” portion of the nervous system to help you have the best recovery possible.

 
Recovery Mobility

• Forearm flexion and extension – 1 min each direction/side
  
• Banded lat stretch – 1 min/side
• Supine banded hamstring floss – 10 floss followed by 1 min hold/side

 
Please reach out if you have any questions. I am happy to help! Don't forget to check back each week for a new warm up strategy for each of the CrossFit Open workouts.

Good luck, have fun, and leave it all on the floor!
 
-- Dr. Nessa