One of Many Thoughts

Monday, July 16, 2012

The week’s programming HERE, including the SUP-WOD on Saturday!

Mobility:
10 Wall Extensions
10 PVC Dislocates
Hip Mobility on Box, 90 seconds each

Barbell warm-up:
2 Power Clean and Push Jerks EMOTM for 10 minutes

Notes:  These reps do not need to be touch and go.  Heavy weight, but perfect form!

Workout:
4 rounds for total working time of:
5 muscle ups
20 burpees
7 deadlifts (315/225)
Rest  ½ : 1

-20 minute time cap-

Notes:  The rest is half the length of time it took you to perform the previous round.  If it took you 3 minutes to perform round 1, you will rest 90 seconds before round 2.  Do your best with the math;)

Cool Down:
Row 300 meters
3 position Wall Extensions, 30 seconds each
Pike Stretch, 60 seconds

Watch the final event from the CrossFit Games here, remember, this is after three days of competition! (Fast forward to around minute 9 if you want to just watch the final heat of each).  HERE‘s another nice video about the Sport of CrossFit and THIS and THIS is just cool watching the 60+ Master’s athletes kick ass.

 ***********************

The CrossFit Games have finally come and gone, and you know what that means!  No, not cookies and ice cream…time to start training for next year (if you aren’t already)!   And I’m not just talking to the elite level athletes either.  The Games season provides us with a great training tool and framework for focusing on long term improvement.  When you think about training for the beginning of the next Games season (February), it is a lot easier to take a step back NOW and work on your issues.

If you weren’t around for the beginning of the 2012 season, the CrossFit Games starts with something called the Open Sectionals.  This is a competition open to any individual in the world, where you are judged in your home gym and ranked worldwide.  We had over 70 athletes sign up and get ranked this past year from all experience and athletic levels.  For some the experience was thrilling, while for others it was a more sobering experience.  Watch videos here, here and here.  Whether you will be a returning competitor wanting to see how much you have improved or a first time athlete wanting to know where you stand on the world wide stage, this is something you can all train for! 

Focusing more on short term success and feeling anxious to improve quickly is normal.  We have all been there:  you get into a good training groove, start seeing improvements and then something goes wrong.  Your wrist starts to bother you, or your shoulder feels a little inflamed, yet you don’t want to stop training because you’re finally seeing improvements!  Learning how to deal with these moments is an important part of the process.  Continuing to work through pain or reinforcing poor technique instead of fixing the problem now is what will lead to a larger breakdown or plateau in your performance over time.  Spend some time trying to figure out what caused that issue to arise in the first place.  Is it poor technique, lack of proper warmup, a past injury or poor nutrition/hydration and recovery practices?  Maybe you don’t have any real mobility or technique issues to deal with, but need to get stronger!  Whatever your situation, we must make smart and consistent decisions based on long term success.  Our goal as athletes should not just be to perform well in the workout today, but to remain consistent with our training and improvements over the long term.

This is just one of many tools that plays into the long term thought process, but I want to encourage all of you to think about participating in the Open Sectionals next year.  While it may seem so far off at the moment, it will be here before you know it.  Will you be ready?