FYI: Thursday’s, (tomorrow), 8:30am class is cancelled, so that I can take Tami to the Doc in Denver. Thanks, Cal
Why You Shouldn’t Be Cherry Picking
by Seraphina Schinner
A gym member recently let me in on some interesting observations of hers. She concluded that some people tend to skip certain days at the gym when the CrossFit workout includes things such as running or burpees, or overall longer and harder workouts. Some athletes tend to ‘cherry pick’ when they want to come in according to the workout.
Here is the thing; every athlete in the gym comes in for a different reason. Some clients are here to lose the baby fat, some are here to prepare for some fitness test as a part of their job, and others just want to be fit for whatever life throws at them. Regardless of your reasoning for being here, every single workout is going to benefit you in some shape or form. Nonetheless, I completely get it. In fact, I used to be just like this. I was very concerned about what others thought about my performance, so when wall balls and rowing showed up in the programming, I wouldn’t come in, in fear that people would judge me based on my poor performance during the workout. I only came in on days where I was good at that movement, which meant that I got really, really good at the things I liked or was good at, but come a time with any kind of running or deadlifts, I performed horribly.
The problem with this is that most people don’t realize that the things you hate may just be the things that are best for you. For one, it can build mental fortitude. Pushing through a workout and reaching that point where you want to quit can actually benefit you. If you hate running so much, and choose to skip those days at the gym, running a 5k for a fundraiser or running away from a gunman is going to suck. Sure, these things may not happen everyday, but that is the point of CrossFit; constantly varied movements to prepare you for the unknown, the unpredictable.
Another reason why you should do the things you suck at are because it is going to benefit you as an athlete. In other terms, you will be a fitter, stronger, and faster CrossFitter. For example, after running a 400, I can immediately walk into the gym and rep out 15 unbroken hang cleans. If you were to ask me to come in and rep out 15 wall-balls, that would be a different story. For me, I find wall balls much more metabolically taxing and fatiguing than hang cleans. Being able to utilize your cardiovascular system efficiently in both aerobic and anaerobic met-cons is going to help you through any metabolically taxing movement (thrusters anyone?). In addition, knowing that you’ve been practicing your goats (things you suck at) help make the movement seem a lot less intimidating mid-workout!
Why was Dave Castro able to crown Rich Froning and Camille-Leblanc-Bazinet the fittest on earth in 2014? Because he, along with the CrossFit community, was able to define fitness. Fitness means being able to adapt to various situations, using both your body and other objects to perform the task at hand. As quoted by Matt Chan, former CrossFit Games competitor: “Fitness is life. Anytime you find yourself saying, ‘I can’t do that,’ you have a hole in your fitness.” Fitness can mean being able to run 10 miles, or deadlifting 300#, or balancing on a rail, or doing a weighted pistol. All these general physical skills we focus on in CrossFit, (accuracy, balance, strength, power, flexibility, etc.) are what make you fit. If you skip muscle-up day, simply because you can’t do one, how do you expect to get one? How do you expect to become more coordinated, understand the gymnastics kip, moving from global flexion to global extension? How will you ever understand the hip drive, or what it’s like to do 5 muscle-ups after running a mile, completely out of breath? How will you ever understand that motion of getting from a dead hang to over a wall or a bar?
We test you athletes in all sorts of ways. That is why I like to program short workouts, long workouts, interval workouts with short rest and long work periods, or vice versa. These workouts are training you for every possible type of aerobic and anaerobic situation you will be in. But like I said, I get it. I hate those long, boring, 20-minute workouts that just seem to never end. The only way to get better at them is to DO them!
Next time you see a movement you hate, or a time domain of a WOD you’re just not in the mood for, just come. Ignore what your time or weight is on the white board, and ignore the people next to you going RX. Just do the WOD, and I guarantee you will reap the benefits.
Warm-up: ½ Tabata > Medball Clean, Active Shoulders, GPU’s. Stretch
Strength: Front Squat/Squat Clean
70% 3+3×1 75% 3×3+1 80% 3+3×3
WOD: 12.1
7 min AMRAP
Burpee
Icing: Shoulder Mobility