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Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Snatch Work and Static Core 8-5-08


Still in Virginia with my cousin and went back to Liberty University to workout and got some coaching from Strength and Conditioning Coach Dave Williams on the Snatch.  Worked on my form for about 30 minutes.  Did the static core (face down) with 95lbs on my back for a minute.  Did both sides of the static core with about a 25lb sandbag on my hips for a minute each.  Then did face down static core for a minute with about 95lbs of sandbags on my back for a minute.  Then both sides of the static core with about 50lbs of sandbags on my hips for 45 seconds.  

I found it interesting that throughout the quality gym that we worked out in at Liberty University, on the mirrors in front of many of the 16 squat stands is the phrase "SET YOUR CORE".  I talked to Coach Williams about the importance of 'setting your core' and core strength.  He talked about how in each and every lift no matter if you are squatting, snatching, cleaning, pressing, deadlifting...whatever, that you should set your core.  Taking a deep breath and tightening your abs.  Thats the simple explanation.  HERE is a great article on the subject written by Kelly Starrett Coach of San Francisco Crossfit.  Interestingly Brand X Crossfit Coach Jeff Martin also made this exact same point when I got some coaching from him.    

When talking about core strength, Coach Williams knocked hard on a steel squat rack as he said this is how hard your core should be.  When I asked the best way to make your abs that rock solidly strong he replied "the static core" (aka the plank and side plank).  He went on to tell me about how much the static core has helped him when squatting 500lbs.  He worked up to the point where his training partner would stand on his hips while he was holding the static core.  My cousin has been pestering me for weeks now to implement the static core into my programming, and I've been ignoring him.  Coach Williams changed my mind.  I'm now going to add it to my warmup.   How can you argue with a strength and conditioning coach who walks the talk and has so much knowledge?  I certainly won't.      

3 comments:

Dan said...

**goes into plank instead of reading blogs**

TexasPatrick said...

Hey man,

How did you get the weight on you? And how do you do a side static core?

You're right, it sounds like a great thing to add into a warmup or as skill work.

JAK said...

I had a workout partner to put the weight on me. I think if you were using a sandbag you could put it on yourself for the side static core, but it'd take some real yankee ingenuity when you are facing down to get the weight on you by yourself.

The static core seems to most commonly known as planks. You can type 'side plank' into youtube and get a ton of results. There are a lot of variations to the side plank some good some not so good. Its done for time and progress up by adding the weight. Here is a link of one of the better video explanations I found from a quick search on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm1QxM9lehY