CrossFit Kids have all the fun: laser beams for elbows, hands that hold up the sky and the dance moves of an Oompa-Loompa.
In this video, Kids Seminar Staff member John Brown explains how to teach the press series: the press, the thruster and the push press. That’s right: thruster before push press.
“Once we sort of set kids in motion with this explosive opening of the hips the push press is now just a shortened range of motion for the thruster,” Brown explains.
After teaching kids how to hold up the sky—i.e., the press—the thruster is broken down into four steps: bottom of the front squat, stand up, transition the elbows to the press position and press, then return to the front rack position. The last step is particularly important.
“Practicing it this way when you’re a kid solidifies those movement patterns. We don’t see crashing into the bottom of the thruster because this is the way they learned how to thruster,” Brown says.
Then, teaching the push press is easy: “Oompa-Loompa and press.”
Video by Again Faster.
10min 27sec
Additional reading: Throwing Down the Gauntlet by Hilary Achauer, published Nov. 19, 2011.