Deadlift
5-5-5-3-3-3
7 Rounds for Time
80% of that days 3RM x 8 Reps
followed by
30 Sec air dyne or Rower for Calories
Score is total time and calories
There is so much wrong with this picture… Anyone who wears a singlet and a golf glove while holding an iron on a putting green, gets my vote for enjoying life. I think we should host a golf tourney in which we all wear these. Del Paso Country Club might consider this a dress code violation! I'll see what I can do!
Golf? Why should a CrossFitter care and how does this relate?
- Golf – Alignment? Check! Stance? Check! Practice swing? Check. Let her rip! SHIT! Why the hell does that happen? You ran down your mental check list, listened to your coach, Why the hell did that ball slice? If you are a golfer you may know what I am talking about. It takes years to hone the skills to feel a slight mistake and make minor corrections that pay off in a big way when carried out over 18 holes. It is simple! You opened your hips too early and cast the club to an "outside-in" swing plane… Net result? You slice the hell out of that ball. Not a golfer? Did I lose you yet? Read on!
- CrossFit – Alignment? Check! Stance? Check? Organized? Check! Let her rip! SHIT! Why the hell does that happen? You ran down your mental check list, listened to your coach, you didn't early arm pull, you didn't lose your organization… Why the hell did you miss that power clean? It takes years to hone your skills to feel a slight mistake and make minor corrections that pay off in a big way when carried out over an entire WOD!
I can literally cut and paste the same concepts and principles related to the mental check list for both golf and CrossFit. The parallels are limitless. One small mistake and it can cost you big, especially when it gets exacerbated over a 20 min AMRAP or a 250 yd drive.
Anyone who feels they are trying to improve their PR's needs to focus on your technique and practice. This will lead to greater success and improvement during all your workouts. The best part is… they will build on one another and carry over in to other workouts. Stay tuned, I will be running a whole series of posts on how to better improve and attack your workouts. Hopefully these are hitting home with our average member.
1. Focus on your warm-up
2. Mental Check List
3. Stay tuned – What does an elite CrossFitter think of during a workout vs an average CrossFitter?
Shem
Thanks Chris, good post. That guy sure looks like he’s wearing a bike spandex singlet, that must be super uncomfortable on the old sleigh bells if he’s swinging a club that big.
Ron Gates
This is by far the best blog ever posted in the history of EAST SAC CROSSFIT. I am too emotional to continue.
Justin Riley
Travis asked me to post the link to our old nutrition page which is no longer actively linked in our navigation menu for reasons I don’t want to get into. Anyway for those of you who were looking, here it is:
http://crossfiteastsac.typepad.com/crossfit_east_sacramento/zone-nutrition.html
Justin Riley
I can tell you from my perspective, I see average CrossFitters focusing on how miserable they feel and finishing the WOD as fast as possible with no regard for technique, strategy, or movement standards. They are in a state of what I call “Survival Mode.” Survival Mode is expensive because movements become inefficient. Also those who are being judged or have integrity will have to repeat incorrect reps.
I could write a book of examples of how this is displayed and how it plays out to less effective workouts that actually end up taking longer, and probably shouldn’t even be counted for anything because movements weren’t performed correctly. See video part, Too Fast To Care, on
http://crossfiteastsac.typepad.com/crossfit_east_sacramento/2011/11/dont-be-that-guy.html
On the other side of the spectrum, elite CrossFitters rarely notice how miserable they feel during a WOD, there is plenty of time in the day to think about this later. Their thoughts are consumed with technique and strategy too much to think about how bad it feels. They constantly analyze their pace and how each movement feels. If a movement feels “off,” they are thinking about how to make the next one better and making the correction. If a movement is incorrect, they repeat it. Their focus rarely if ever shifts to just trying to survive to the end. Survival mode is reserved for the sprint through the finish, last 30 seconds of a workout that doesn’t require a lot of technique.
Moral of the story is… if you want to go faster, reduce the chance of injury, and get more benefit from a WOD, treat the WOD like a chess match instead of a fight or flight near death experience. Slow down to do things right, and you will actually go faster because you’re more efficient. Focus on how your movements feel instead of how your lungs, heart and stomach feel. Think strategy and pace rather than frantically trying to finish fast. Repeat incorrect reps that do not meet movement standards. It is really common in the CF Games to see the best athletes start off a WOD in dead last and then pass everyone on the last round of the workout. In 2010, we saw Annie Thorisdotter no-rep herself on a Toes to bar that her judge said was a good rep. That my friends is fucking elite.
Be a seasoned veteran, not a rookie.
Scott
Justin: thanks. I feel so much better now.
Scott
So anyway last week at one of the warm ups included thrusters. I did focus on getting the movement right and I’m guessing I got it 70% correct. I happened to finish first; anyway I was watching the other people, and out of 7 or so only one person was doing them correctly as near as I could tell (Jamie McP. — nice work!). Since it’s not my place to say anything I didn’t.
Seems to me the warmups offer the opportunity to get the movement correct, and an opportunity for coaches to step in.
Ingrid K.
Coach Blake did a great job of emphasizing the importance of good form on the WOD this morning. We had “warmed up” with the heavy deadlifts and he reminded us that bad form on the sets of 8 would not be allowed and that the time to move fast was on the rower. Thanks for the great Coaching Blake and for the awesome rowing tips Cort.
CFES is too legit!
-Ingrid
Justin Riley
Thanks for the feedback Ingrid, and well done Blake.