"Cardiorespiratory endurance, stamina, strength, power, speed, flexibility, agility, accuracy, balance and coordination: you're as good as your weakest link.”
Greg Glassman ( founder of CrossFit ) So the Open is over. 5 weeks of intense, uncompromising workouts with plenty of success stories, the odd disappointment, many highs, some lows and the occasional splash of colourful language. The Director Of the CFAM Intramural Open is on his third recount so we have to wait just a short while longer to find out which team has topped our inaugural competition. Rumours of a tie and a live assault bike face-off are circulating but that’s all to be confirmed... Whilst the Open is exceptional at taking us way outside our comfort zone and forcing us to try new things, it also has an even more important habit of brutally exposing our weaknesses. This exposition, although annoying, is exactly what is needed to progress our fitness. CrossFit reflects the best aspects of gymnastics, weightlifting, rowing, running and more. It’s fun, it’s challenging and the fitness we seek will allow us to be better at EVERYTHING. No matter how long you have been CrossFitting there is always going to be something more to learn and improve on. This helps keep us training and showing up for class and enables us to keep getting results. This is a great time to reflect. Look back at when you first started CrossFit and take a look at how far you have come. It's also time to set a few goals. A goal shouldn’t be ‘going RX’. It should be specific to you and measurable. It could be developing a new skill, being able to perform a certain number of reps unbroken or it could also be to lose some body fat. It could even be to compete in a competition. The Open is over but it’s lessons don’t have to be. “No, it doesn’t ever get any easier. You wouldn’t want it to either.” Greg Glassman
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Today is a non-whiteboard day. In other words although we will be completing our workout as normal (which happens to be the benchmark workout ‘Annie’) we won’t be recording anyone's times on the whiteboard.
The intention here is to remove the perceived ‘pressure' of the whiteboard, particularly for those of us still working on getting or improving our double unders. We will still work hard, we will still do our best but today, it will be only you who knows your time and scaling options. As Coaches, we use the whiteboard to relay the structure of the class, the intention of each workout and at the end of each day it provides valuable feedback which enables us to identify strengths and weaknesses across the gyms which can then be used to help focus on skills or weaknesses in future classes. Although the whiteboard can add a healthy rivalry and motivate us to work harder and thus get fitter, it can occasionally have a negative effect on our performances and therefore achieving our long term fitness goals. For example we may see that 'Sally' used 25kg for her Thrusters in the 3.30pm class and because I’m as fit as Sally I better use 25kg too. When perhaps 25kg is 5kg heavier than your Coach recommended to ensure that YOU achieve the desired stimulus of the workout. Or maybe 'Jim' beat me on Tuesday and I see he got 127 reps in the 5.30pm class. Right, I better beat him today or everyone will think he is fitter than me. So mid-wod maybe a few of your Wall Balls fall a few feet short of the target or you are a foot above parallel in your Wall Ball and instead of no-repping yourself, you decide to rationalise with ‘ I bet Jim didn’t no rep himself’ and continue on.... We don’t want someone else’s workout score to influence your decisions as neither of the above scenarios is going to help you or your Coaches improve your fitness. The whiteboard can do weird and wonderful things with our competitive minds and how we approach each class so let's try today's workout without it. Remember Kids, a whiteboard can’t judge whether you are getting better or not, only you can do that. PS: Sally, Jim and all incidents portrayed in this post are fictitious. No identification with actual persons is intended or should be inferred and any resemblance to a real person or persons is entirely coincidental......or is it? |
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April 2024
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