Unilateral Press and Wall Balls

Unilateral Press and Wall Balls I have found several strength-based exercises that have helped my competitors improve in all aspects of CrossFit. The main reason is that these strength-based exercises are unilateral, while many of the weightlifting exercises in CrossFit are bilateral. Let me go onto say that nothing can replace the barbell for true strength. But, some of these unilateral strength-training exercises can help improve the big lifts by reducing muscular imbalances, asymmetries, and the risk of injury. If you notice, one common thing with almost all of these exercises is that they are all bilateral movements. This means you are using both sides of your body at the same time. By doing this, you do run the risk of compensation patterns, since no one has a totally symmetrical body. Over time this can lead to more muscle imbalances and compensation patterns, possibly resulting in pain or injury. Single Arm Strict Press: Vertical pressing movements like push presses teach your chest and shoulders to work in unison with your hips and core. Now, do this with only one kettlebell and dumbbell and see how much your core and shoulders have to work even harder to press the weight above your head. By always pressing a heavy bar above your head, you can cause many compensation patterns to happen during this movement. By adding in some one-arm overhead presses, you challenge each side of your core, shoulders and chest to work harder to press the weight. Get both sides of your body equally strong and watch your overhead press personal records increase. Single Leg KB Deadlifts: A strong posterior chain for a CrossFitter is as valuable as gold. To perform heavy Olympic lifts, you need to have some strong hamstrings, lower back, and glutes. By adding in one-leg deadlits you balance out your posterior chain muscles in order to help increase your Olympic lifting, conventional deadlifts, and even box jumps. By cycling in one-leg deadlifts, you also place less stress on the lower back and hips, which can help increase your training volume of the posterior chain, without overtraining. Strength WOD A1. 3 x 6 1 Arm DB Strict Press A2. 3 x 8 1 Leg KB Deadlift Workout of the Day (WOD) 300m Row 25 HR Push Ups 15 Wall Balls (30/20) ]]>