Is your footwork letting your CrossFit lifts down?

This week I wanted to touch on one of the most fundamental and basic pieces of weightlifting that can have the biggest effect on the overall position and execution of the movement. This is footwork!! 

90% of all failed lifts can be put down to poor footwork. When thinking of weightlifting if your feet aren’t moving in the right direction or your meet are moving too much in the wrong direction then it becomes a lot harder t be able to receive the bar in both the catch position from a clean or in the overhead position from a snatch or jerk. So the two points I want to start on are your starting position and your landing position. 

• Starting position; this is also called power position. The idea is that your feet are directly underneath your centre of mass, being your hips, which can create the most rapid generation of force and vertical drive. Your feet must be directly underneath your hips for the clean, deadlift, snatch, push jerk, box jump and double unders. The idea of being able to generate vertical power comes from the feet being directly under your hips. 
  
  
• Where your feet need to move to, to be in a better landing position. This is where the feet will be slightly outside of the hips directly underneath the shoulders. Now this is a natural position for you to land. One of the things when learning weightlifting is that you may feel that your feet move too wide. Really try to teach yourself that your feet only ever move to the same width, but it is the moving back of the hips in this landing position that enable you to move underneath the bar in both the receiving position for the snatch and jerk and the receiving position for the clean. 
  
  

Below are my top 5 tips to help you improve your footwork in your weightlifting movements:

1. Set up so that your toes are on the edge of the matt or on a line and as you practice your warm up reps make sure your feet don’t move forward or backwards from the line, starting from your jumping position or your landing position. 
   
   
2. Move to your squat stance and then using a piece of chalk, draw on the outside of your shoe on both sides to give you a guideline as to where you would like your feet to land. Checking that your feet are inside or on the lines will keep you on track and help you with your landing width. 
   
   
3. When practicing all your weightlifting movements in the warm-up, stop and check where your feet land in the catch position and adjust them to where you want them to be BEFORE you stand up to full extension. 
   
   
4. Try and practice the snatch balances – 5 minutes before you arrive every day with a broomstick, the sheer repetitiveness of the repetitions will help you to build a better movement pattern.
   
   
5. Invest in some weightlifting shoes, these bring a wider and elevated base for your foot providing you with increased mobility in the ankle and calf and more stability in the knees, midline and overhead.