So I almost started to drift off a bit when they asked us, "What is CrossFit?" Sigh. Constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity. Prior to the certification, I must have heard that statement 4,722 times, and recited it even more often. How could there be anything more to that concept? It's, like, three things. The words aren't even that big. Can we please get back to the push-jerk, because my dip-drive needs work.
Except just then, a funny thing happened. My brain started to actually listen to the words. Constantly varied. Functional movements. High intensity. Something in my head started to hum, and those words started to reshape themselves. And slowly, one piece at a time, my brain took those three simple concepts and redirected them to my attention like a hard-ass, tough love Wheel of Fortune puzzle conceived by Jon Gilson himself.
How "varied" are my workouts, really? Sure, I incorporate lots of different movements. I do an okay job with that - I work goats, I try new things, I use different tools. But how VARIED are my WORKOUTS? I always train the same days of the week. I always train at 6 AM, in a fasted state. I always train at Gold's Gym. I always train alone. I always spend one hour at the gym, regardless of how long the actual workout takes. Sound "varied" to you?
I thought I had this piece right, because the movements I program and the workouts I put together are pretty varied. But this weekend, I realized that you need to stress EVERY ASPECT of your training, in order to promote better general fitness adaptations. I am so comfortable with my early AM crew at Gold's, my Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday routine, my 10 minute buy-in, my Friday deadlifts. I need to get outside that bubble of comfort and go train with Samy's Savages, or arrange a play date with another CrossFitter at their gym, or go outside and do something in the snow. I need to try hitting the big lifts at the end of the day, and see how my body reacts to being well fed, but tired. What about doing a 2-a-day once in a while, or trying the 3-1 schedule for a week or two? There are so many factors - an infinite number - that could be "varied". And the more I mix it up, the more of a well rounded athlete I will become.
Day One was all about the nine foundational movements. Air squat, front squat, overhead squat. Press, push-press, push jerk. Deadlift, SDHP, medicine ball clean. Nine movements, from which an enormous number of OTHER movements are based. Now, let's look back at my workout log and see how often I work my air squat. I'll save you the time - the answer is, pretty much never. (And trust me, it ain't 'cause it's perfect.) Compare that to how much I'm working my Sots press pistol - pretty much every week.
What is wrong with this picture? Sure, I like to work the sexy stuff. Pistols are sexy. Double-unders are sexy. Kettlebell windmills are sexy. But all the time I spend on those peripherals is time I could be spending building my athletic foundation. I'm not saying there is no time for the sexy stuff, but they belong in the buy-in, or the cash out... not in the bulk of my workouts. The workouts belong to the foundational exercises - learning them well, working them hard and (for some), going heavy. And if I learned one thing this weekend, it's that working on my air squat and press is going to do nothing but good things for those hot, hot Sots pistols.
It is the constant, annoying, jabbing poke from my brain that still continues to this very second... "YOU ARE NOT WORKING HARD ENOUGH". And dammit, my brain is right. Let's take this weekend's Fran, for example. I scaled it WAY down... I wasn't sure about the weight, and the time limit, so I used 45# for my thrusters. Made sense to me, considering my attempt two weeks ago with 55# was littered with broken thrusters, and took me over 14 minutes to get through.
Except damn if I didn't do every single thruster in my first AND last set unbroken. That is 21 unbroken thrusters, then a set of 10/5, then a full set of 9. I finished this weekend's Fran with 45# in 5:00 and change. With 55# thrusters, it took me over 7:00 to finish the first ROUND.
What does that tell you? Did I magically get SO much stronger in the last week leading up to the cert? Ha. I wish. It just means that the last time I did Fran, I was seriously slacking in my intensity. Just one example of the fact that I am not working hard enough - and believe me, there were many more along those lines during the weekend. (The fact that my (cert-fueled) BTB tabata score was the same as my last (Gold's Gym) regular old tabata score is very, very telling.) Good news is, this could be tied back to "constantly varied", where I'm always training by myself with no one to push me, yell at me, compete with me. So while I need to ramp up the intensity on my own, I can also give it a jump start (and hit two "lessons" at once) by visiting CrossFit NH for a workout, or inviting Daigle up to LRF for some kettlebell work and a few rounds of Helen.
And finally I can tie all of these in together with the last big-picture revelation from the weekend... if you can't measure it, you can't manage it. I mean, I'm a business analyst in my day job. You'd think I would have figured that part out. But no - I mix up workouts, rep schemes, weights too frequently. I do stuff "for practice" and I put more stock in how it FEELS, not how it actually WAS according to the load, the distance moved, the time it took.
I will tell you this, though... if I'm going to be really pushing my intensity, then I'm damn sure going to make sure I've got something concrete to show for it. So I'm going to start repeating workouts now, calculating power, determining my real products of fitness. Let's start measuring in cold, hard stats all of these things my brain is telling me I need to do better.
In conclusion, while I did learn the finer points of the push-press dip and the effect of carbohydrates on insulin levels and all the other details that the certification so neatly packaged for me, what I came away with was something so much biggger than the sum of all the parts. I would even call it EPIC. Mix it up. Get back to basics. Work harder. Those three short and unassuming lessons alone have already made me a smarter athlete. And you can bet that the second I set foot back in the gym on Wednesday, they're going to make me a FITTER athlete, too.
3, 2, 1, GO.
19 comments:
>>if you can't measure it, it does not exist.
Huh?
Yeah, I see your point. Edited in the body of the post - that's not entirely what I meant to say. In summary, I need to get better at tracking and comparing cold, hard stats (like weights and times). I'll often judge improvement by saying this week's 120# squats "felt better" than last week's 120# squats, but that's not very meaningful in terms of evaluating real progress.
Good luck on your CFit Radio debut! I'm sure they'll pick your brain on all aspects of the cert. and how it makes the concepts of Crossfit just click.
Great post Melis
I did my cert about 2 weeks prior to your coming down for the KB cert, both at Guerrilla CrossFit. I took 2 keys items from my cert: I need more work on the 9 basic movements; I finally got the madness behind the programming. To work on the 9 basics, I decided to do a 16 week cycle from Catalyst Athletics (http://www.cathletics.com/). I'm at the end of my 6th week and have really boosted my ability to handle the bar.
Great post - very thought-provoking.
Not only do we need to work the foundational movements, we need be smart about them. I do air squats almost every day. At least 30 - 50, usually as part of my warmup/buy-in. But do I really concentrate on how I'm doing them? No. So are they really doing me any good, other than just getting my muscles warm? Apparently not - I have form problems with my back squat that I could probably directly trace to sloppy air squats. So I need to tighten those up.
As far as varying your routine, I have a suggestion - have children. :P Just kidding. My exercise routine is extremely varied, because I'm trying to grab WOD time at soccer parks, swimming pools and basketball courts. I worked out at 10 AM on Sunday, at lunchtime yesterday, and will probably get some time at about 7:30 this evening. All in different locations with different resources available. It's great for variety, but hell on structure. Somewhere in the middle of you and me is probably ideal.
Sometimes the simplest concepts are the ones that we constantly forget about, and therefore become the most eye-opening once we are reminded of them. Thanks for the reminder!
I've been struggling with multiple injuries over the past month, and I think it's time to get back to basics, as I dont think I ever spent enough time on them to begin with.
It's so tempting to jump into the 'show-off' movements before really drilling the air squat, etc. It's like practicing scales on a piano, when all you really want to do is play Fur Elise.
Jenn - you are the second person in the last 10 minutes who has suggested having children as a way of introducing variety into my training. I absolutely see your point... although I'm betting the approach of, "Hey honey, I'm ready to start thinking about kids... because they would do really great things for my CrossFit training!" is likely to get me divorced.
Yes, but think how easy your labor would be! You'd be the envy of all the other moms who used their pregnancy as an excuse to be a couch potato for nine months. ;)
As long as you're not like the octuplet lady, who was apparently doing delivery AMRAP....
Thanks for another great post :)
"Work on the basics" is a phrase that probably can't be repeated often enough. It's so damn easy to forget.
Glad you had a satisfying/rewarding experience at your cert :)
Nice point in how easy it is to forget what CVFMPAHI actually means.
I'll have to remember to go back to this post after I am done with my SS cycle and I'm getting my butt kicked by more than the strength lifts.
Much of that mirrors my cert experience from last weekend. I may have the kids to keep my routine plenty varied, but the group setting definitely gave me a lesson in intensity. Seeinga fire-breather like Jeff Tincher (or in your case, perhaps Chuck Carswell) workout is an education in intensity in and of itself.
Learning and relearning so much at once is indeed far more than the some of its parts. Connections appeared where I hadn't seen them before. It was as if my understanding of fitness, training, and diet went from a simple Flatland, where I had things neatly grouped into comfortable boxes, to a three-dimensional world, where the possibilites extend in every direction.
Good deal Mox, and congrats on the Cert. I'm thrilled you've volunteered me to do Helen with you by the way ;)
Just kidding, I'd love to hit that with you.....actually.....How about cindy? As that was the WOD I actually had planned for thurs. Although, its not as "sexy" in Byers terms without the inclusion of the Pood.
However, Seeing as you just got done ranting about working the basics (Pullups, pushups, air squats) Cindy would be a perfect place to get started :)
These verification words are giving me epilepsy "acialidi"
You've got the gift of blog. You never fail to educate, entertain and put a fresh coat of lipgloss on that which has gotten old and stale. You rock!
Congrats on your Level 1. I was informed I needed to get caught up on the haps here. Love the Blog. I probably can't sport the EMS warmers but you said it right... cool as hell. Haven't had the chance to listen to the CF Radio segment, but I'm sure you knocked it out of the park.
Next time I see ya'- implants or no implants - it's chest to the deck, Sister. haha The folks in the Dirty South think your work is BadA$$.
Later,
CC
so true, intensity is the key. and I bet that you kicked that shit in the balls when you were in front of Crossfitters rather than the peeps at Golds. Its called the next level, harness that in everyday training and you will be golden.
I'm glad you learned a lot at the cert, I'm anxious to get to one sometime in the future, I think it will put me in a great place training-wise as well as it did you.
Great post Melissa and has reminded me that I need to up the intensity - have been getting a little slack of late I think. Love your work!
Very well put! I'd have to agree with so much of the thoughts above, your blog is always very interesting to read.
This article reiterated some fantastic points about getting back to the basics. We all need to hear this message from time to time.
Keep blogging, we'll keep reading!
Semper Fi,
John
Be careful what you wish for Melissa. I train with a power-meter, and the little bitch is relentless. Ease up just a hair; it tells on you. Ease up before your interval is over; ditto. Think you rode hard? Well you better have. Power doesn't care if it's hot, cold, what your HR is, how fast you go, where the wind is, how steep the hill is. Power is power, and when you download the data and email it to your coach, it can be your biggest cheerleader or a dreaded narc.
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