I’ve started posting a ‘Skill of the Week’ on the whiteboard. The purpose of the ‘Skill of the Week’ is to gradually introduce fun and useful exercises that can be practiced and incorporated into your warm up or cool down. These exercises may not always be functional in the sense that they move large loads long distances quickly, hence they may not be incorporated into workouts. These skills will transfer over into other exercises and everyday life by helping to develop the 10 components of complete fitness: Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, Stamina, Strength, Flexibility, Power, Speed, Agility, Coordination, Balance, Accuracy.

For example, last week’s skill was the L-sit and its progressions on both the paralettes and the pull-up bar. The progression begins with the tuck: elevating your feet off the ground by bringing your knees up to your chest, so you are curled up like a ball. This builds hip and shoulder strength and flexibility, balance, and core strength. When you come in to the gym, practice the skill of the week as part of your active warm-up until you have mastered it, then move through the progressions at your own skill level.

This week’s skill is the Double-Under and jump rope progressions. Jumping rope is a great warm up activity, and the many variations will help develop speed, agility, balance, coordination, and stamina. Double-Unders are sometimes programmed into CrossFit workouts, such as the named WOD “Annie.” Here are some links to get you started; check out all of Buddy Lee’s instructional videos at www.crossfit.com, under “Exercises and Demos.”

http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_BuddyLeeIntroJumpRope.wmv

http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_BuddyLeeIntroDoubleUnders.wmv

Practicing the “skill of the week” will introduce you to some of the countless exercises and skills you can learn from CrossFit, will improve your overall fitness and performance, and will give you a new set of goals to work towards. Enjoy!