Before you get to the Workout of the Day in your CrossFit gym, perform the following 16 foundational movements. They will build up strength, and lung capacity and prepare you for the day at the gym. Moreover, if you want some fun while doing exercise at home, you can click attractive hand and feet pics and post them on social media to get thousands of likes!
1. The Box Jump
Jumping from the ground onto a box is the most effective form of energy buildup.
Technique: Place your feet at a width of shoulders, lower down to a quarter squat. While rising up thrust the arms upwards and land on the box. Spread your hips and stand up.
You can also make it more effective by instantly jumping off the box or stepping down before the continued cycle of jumps.
Muscles worked: Calves, glutes, hamstrings, and quads.
2. The Clean
Determines your quick movement capabilities and generates whole body energy.
Technique: Place the bar on the ground, and put your hands on it while it presses against your mid-shin. Raise the bar as a deadlift placing your weight on the heels and protruding the chest. Remain above the bar by thrusting your knees backward.
Make a jumping motion as the bar crosses your knees and shrugs to raise the bar at its highest. Now slide below the bar and grab it quickly by squatting. Substitute the hand placement and place the bar on your shoulders in a front squat posture. End by putting the bar up.
Muscles worked: Shoulders, glutes, cores, hamstrings, traps, calves, and quads.
3. The Back Squat
The technique is an integral part of the strength program and a barbell is used across your trapezius muscles. The feet should be turned out and placed a bit more than shoulder-width apart.
Technique: With a big breath and big chest, move back your buttocks and squat under parallel. Drive your feet on the ground as you rise up to optimize the cue.
Muscles worked: Core, hamstrings, calves, glutes, and quads.
4. The Front Squat
Unlike the back squat, the bar is placed across the shoulders over the collarbones in a front rack posture.
Technique: With raised elbows, thrust up and maintain the correct bar position. Eliminate any rounding by tightening the cores. Crossing your forearms parallel to the floor placed in front of your body makes the move easy.
Muscles worked: Core, calves, quads, hamstrings, and glutes.
5. The Snatch
Requires advanced skills being an Olympic weightlifting cue.
Technique: Stand with feet hip distance apart and place your hands wide apart on the bar. Deadlift the bar from the ground with a big chest with arms in a locked position.
Use the power of your hips to raise the bar and drop down instantly after taking it overhead. Stay in a squat position with your arms locked.
Muscles worked: Shoulders, calves, back, core, quads, hamstrings, glutes, and traps.
6. The Split Jerk
Power-packed and quick to move.
Technique: Place feet apart at hip width with the bar in the front rack position. Stiffen the core with a deep breath, lower it a bit down, and thrust the bar above your head. Slide under the bar quickly spreading your legs in a lunge posture.
Muscles worked: Quads, glutes, triceps, calves, hamstrings, back, shoulders, and core.
7. The Handstand Push Up
Get in a handstand posture against a wall and try out different ways to do the move.
Technique: Lower your body so that your head touches the floor. Thrust away from the ground to a handstand. Close in your knees towards your chest while lowering down to use the power of your lower body.
Throw your legs up while you thrust off the ground using your hands and back to the initial handstand position.
Muscles worked: Triceps, shoulders, and cores.
8. The Pull Up
Effective and essential.
Technique: Hang with your hands putting the palms outwards in an overhand grip from a bar. With hands placed apart at more than shoulder width, use the power of your abs to press your traps together to pull yourself up. The chin should be above the bars.
Muscles worked: Chest, core, shoulders, and back.
9. The Muscle Up
Only advanced CrossFit members should try this gymnastic ring muscle.
Technique: You can use a false or regular grip though you need to hook the wrists into the ring for the former. This difficult position means less traveling distance as the arm lever is shorter.
Gain power by swinging back and throwing your hips upwards and pulling yourself above the ring using upper body power. Then get into a dip position by moving your head and chest through the ring. Get rid of the position using pure strength or kip from your legs.
The rings should be closest to the body for optimum control and strength.
Muscles worked: Triceps, shoulders, back, and core.
10. The Chest-to-Bar Pull-Up
You may need to utilize a kipping movement to thrust your body upwards for the chest to rest on the bar.
Technique: Placing hands apart at shoulder width, hanging from a bar. Use the power of your abs while simultaneously squeezing the traps to lift up and press your chest against the bar.
Muscles worked: Chest, shoulders, core, and back.
11. The Push-Up
An effective strength move can also be performed on the knees if using toes prove difficult.
Technique: Get in a plank posture with hands placed under shoulders on the ground. Keep the feet together and thrust your toes into the floor.
With a tight core and straight line, lower yourself downwards so that your chest presses against the ground. Keep the lower back straight and push back to the beginning posture.
Muscles worked: Biceps, shoulders, triceps, and core.
12. The Thruster
Great for working different muscles and joints of the body.
Technique: Start in a front rack position crossing your chest and drop in a squat with knees placed outwards and a big chest. Thrust the knees out to rise like in the front squat and use the power to raise the bar upwards. Now your arms should be locked above your head.
Muscles worked: Triceps, back, shoulders, core, calves, hamstrings, quads, and glutes.
13. The Push Press
A complete exercise for the whole body, it also utilizes the lower body to develop strength and energy.
Technique: Place the bar crossing your shoulders with hands gripping the bar and feet both at shoulder-width distances. Now thrust the bar above the head bracing your core and getting into a quarter squat while tightening your glutes. The move is ended with your arms above the head in lockout position.
The only dip in the move should come when you thrust the bar overhead.
Muscles worked: Hamstrings, core, shoulders, glutes, and quads.
14. The Pistol Squat
You need to be quite flexible, strong, and mobile to perform it.
Technique: Stand on a single leg while holding the other in front of the body using your hands. Firmly drive your foot on the floor and simultaneously squat down and backward. Ensure the glutes move parallel.
Muscles worked: Calves, glutes, hamstrings, and quads.
15. The Deadlift
A quintessential strength exercise.
Technique: Both regular and alternating grips (one hand towards the body directly with the other pointing away) can be used for this. Lock your core and with a big chest raise the bar from the floor keeping it closest to yourself.
Maintain your body above the bar by sliding the knees back and utilizing your hip hinge. To end the move, spread the hip while squeezing the glutes.
Muscles worked: Hamstrings, core, back, calves, quads, and glutes,
16. The Overhead Squat
You need to be strong and flexible for this one.
Technique: Like a snatch grip place the arms wider on the bar. The bar can be grabbed overhead from a squat rack or by jerking and cleaning it.
Place the feet apart at more than shoulder width and push your butt backward in a squat posture bracing the core and locking the arms overhead. Imagine bending the bar as your shoulders will rotate externally and secure in a stern position.
As soon as you pass below parallel, tighten the glutes while thrusting your knees outward to stand back the bar.
Muscles worked: Core, back, shoulders, hamstrings, calves, quads, and glutes.
