During crossfit training, there are various functional movements which take place when doing the exercises.

When performing the exercises, it is essential that correct form & posture are kept to avoid injury.

I am going to go through 3 of the basic crossfit movements and how it is very important to maintain good form and technique. These 3 movements are a foundation from which a lot of the crossfit movements are built from. Muscle tightness/ joint stiffness could lead to the techniques being done incorrectly, this could lead to injury.

1- Air Squat

 

During the air squat movement, the athlete will sit back towards their heels and should maintain a flat back. This should result the back and lower legs being maintained in a parallel line, with the hips and knees bending/flexing an equal amount to achieve the movement.

Faults which can occur with an incorrect technique include:

• Flexing the lower back instead at the hips and knees. This can result in lower back injury.

• This increase in flexion of the lower back can occur when the athlete cannot flex the hips or ankles enough. Therefore to achieve the squat movement, the athlete would need compensate by bending at their back excessively.

• Taking weight on the front of the feet instead of through the heels. This can happen when the gluteal/buttock muscles aren’t activated enough.

• Rolling in at the knees instead of keeping the knees directly over the toes. This can occur when the athlete has inadequate gluteal/buttock or knee strength. This can result the rolling in of the knees and can lead to knee injury.

2- Deadlift

During a deadlift, the athlete needs to bend forward at the hips and knees again maintaining a flat back posture which will minimise the chance of lower back injury. As with the air squat it is essential that the movement is achieved with flexion of the hips and knees.

Faults which can occur with an incorrect technique include:

• Flexion of the lower back. When then trying to pick up the weights, this can cause strain to discs of the lower back resulting in injury.
• Rolling in at the knees when bending forward to pick up the weights resulting in injury.
• When standing back up with the weights, if the weight is held too far forward in front of the body instead of up against the legs this can result in lower back injury.

3- Press

With a press movement, the athlete will hold the weight bar across the shoulders with their wrists and fingers extended back supporting the bar. In a fluid movement, the knees are bent slightly and the bar is thrusted upwards overhead resulting in the elbows being locked and shoulders extended supporting the bar.

Faults which can occur with an incorrect technique include:

• Reduced elbow flexion and wrist extension will result in the bar not being fully supported across the shoulders. Reduced mobility in the wrists or elbows could affect the starting position.
• When lifting the bar up overhead, the bar needs to be lifted directly up vertically, not incorrectly in a forwards arc. If this is done incorrectly with weights on the bar, the weight of the bar could result in the athlete losing balance or toppling forwards. This will most likely cause injury to the lower back and/or shoulder as the athlete tries to control the weight which is too far in front of their body.
• At the end position overhead, the elbows and shoulders need to fully locked and extended I order to support the weight of the bar and weights. If this doesn’t occur, it could cause the athlete to lose balance as they wouldn’t be in a stable position. This could then result in injury, particularly to the shoulders an lower back.

In summary even though crossfit incorporates basic functional movements, injury can still occur if the athlete has pre-existing limitations in joint/muscle mobility. This would result in a compensatory movement somewhere else in the kinetic chain which could cause problems.

When starting training program which incorporate the above crossfit exercises, a few tips I would advise include:

• Adequate warm up of the joints/ muscles to be involved.
• Assessment of potential problematic joints/ muscles or areas with previous injuries.
• Training with a plastic pipe before moving onto using weights. Only progress once form/technique is 100%.

If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to call 011 064-5670 or enquire online