Hero WOD III: Stephen

Third Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry member Corporal Stephen Bouzane, 26, was killed by an IED strike June 20th, 2007 in the Panjwaii district in Afghanistan. He is survived by his parents Fred and Moureen Bouzane and his sister Kelly.

We honored another fallen hero wednesday with a delicious ab/hamstring/lower back WOD. I sure I'm not the only one who had trouble sitting up in bed this morning.

WOD:

30-25-20-15-10-5 Reps for time

GHD sit ups or straight leg situps x1.5 reps

Supermans (x1.5 reps)

Knees to elbows

Straight leg deadlift 95/45

The GHD Situp is a more advanced movement, but is one of the best core strength building exercises out there. From the Crossfit Journal article on the GHD:

The lesson we’ve drawn from the GHD sit-up is that in spite of the primacy of hip flexors over trunk flexors, or the abs, in this sit-up it recruits the abs powerfully in two ways. First, the movement takes the trunk from hyperextension to full flexion, albeit with negligible load. (No crunch can match this range of motion.) Second, the role of the abs in this sit-up is powerful and largely isometric—i.e., they stabilize the torso from undue extension.

When coaching the GHD sit-up, we cue for the athlete to sharply extend the legs while coming up. The difference is obvious to everyone watching when rectus femoris kicks in. Those who have identified the GHD sit-up and other feet-anchored sit-ups as a source of low-back pain seem to always pull with the iliopsoas alone and never use rectus femoris. Those who’ve had problems with low back pain from GHD or roman chair sit-ups will find considerable relief by training to use the full complement of hip flexors in performing sit-ups.

USE YOUR LEGS! This will eliminate that pinching feeling in the lower back.

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