We hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend.  Tuesday’s workout is ”Nicole”–As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of 400 Meter Run followed by Max Pull-ups.  Your score is your total number of pull-ups.  Kipping pull-ups are sometimes an elusive movement for new CrossFitters, but we’ve recently seen some big gains from Amanda T. and Mikey D. and some of our other new members in getting the kip down.  It’s a movement that can be broken down into a few steps (swing from the hips; drive your knees and pull at the back of the swing; push back from the bar hardat the top of the pull).  When we’re working on breaking down complex movements like this, it’s important to occasionally take a step back and make sure you don’t get too ‘lost in the sauce.’  When learning a new movement, the first thing you want to ask yourself is “what is the goal of this movement?”  A pull-up, in its simplest form, is getting you from hanging under the bar, to having your chin go over it. A clean is getting a weight from the ground to the rack position quickly. Take the time to define what it is you are learning before diving too deeply into technical minutia. Once you know where you are headed you can start cleaning things up. But don’t do it all at once. Focus on one or two things at a time. It’s pretty hard to go into a complicated movement with eight rules on your brain. If you do that, the chances are your attempt will be over before you can check off all eight. Think about and practice one element first (heels down, heels down, heels down…). Once you have that one down, then add in another element (chest up, chest up, chest up… then better spine position, etc….). Pretty soon, you’ll get the whole thing down solid.  This is what’s called “practice.” Remember, it’s only when you’re presented with a “test” that you have only one chance to get it right.  At BrewCity CrossFit, we’re training for life, and when you’re training for life, there’s always another training day.  At least until they cart you away in a pine box.