Make Everything Count

Have you caught yourself saying, "I have been working on this FOREVER, and I am just not getting better."  I sure have. 

Today I am going to write about a topic very dear to me: using your brain when you exercise.

Most of my training is done before the sun comes up, so I can understand the urge to treat a workout like a to-do list.  You showed up on time, and you are doing all of the work and if you keep doing that long enough the chalk will turn into fairy dust and you will miraculously figure out how to perfectly land an Olympic lift.  There are some movements that I have struggled with in the past that I just want to "get through" each time they come up, but this lack of progress has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.  When you shut down mentally to avoid something unpleasant, you also turn off your potential to learn and grow.

Mindless training leads to slow, accidental progress. 

It takes a conscious effort to overcome incorrect movement patterns.  If you cannot self-correct, then you need to find a coach who can help you, and you need to do what they say without argument. If you know better than your coach, then stop wasting their time,stop wasting your money, and go win the CrossFit Games.

I often find myself writing about topics that seem self-evident, yet most people need a reminder - myself included.  A few recent experiences have led me to decide that this is a topic worth writing about - that maybe it could help make us better.

On Wednesday, I was warming up my clean and jerks, and for the billionth time I was being slow and not at all aggressive under the bar.  For the remainder of the workout, my coach and I worked on that single point of performance.  Despite all of the times I have worked on that movement, I was able to make a significant improvement in a single workout by simply focusing. 

Today, a friend posted a picture of a torn hand. I inquired how her pull ups were coming along, and the response I got was too familiar:

"Oh Sam.... I wish I had more to report. Some days I feel like they are coming along and other days I feel like there is no way I have been working on them for almost 6 months :(I don't know what my problem is... Besides the fact that I also have a million other things to work on!!!! Ill update you if anything happens but for now I still only have 1 or 2"

I do not train with this athlete, so my only useful advice is that there is a solution to your problem, but you have to be willing to find it, and you have to be willing to do what it takes to fix it.

We are all working so hard, how could I possibly ask for more?  Because there is more there.  There is much more within me, and you never know how long you have to find it. Writing this sets me up for a reality check the next time I want to just go through the motions, but I am willing to man up and follow my own advice... because this is one of the solutions, and I am willing to do what it takes to fix it.

Eating for Performance

I am as guilty as the next person in asking the following question: "What is the ideal weight/body composition for competition?" 

 

Here is the answer: The weight/body composition that elicits the highest level of performance.

 

because CROSSFIT IS A SPORT JUDGED BY ACTUAL PERFORMANCE.

 

Props to all of my friends who do bodybuilding.  You guys work hard, and look awesome, but there are two big reasons why I could never do it (other than the fact that I don't have a boob job).  First, I think that really strict "dieting" is more horrifying than any CrossFit workout.  Also, I am relatively unmotivated by aesthetic goals beyond what it takes to feel good about myself and maintain a sex life.

 

During the summer, I put on a decent amount of weight because my only goal was to get as strong as humanly possible.  Even in that scenario, I was not eating a certain way to "gain weight," I was eating a certain way to facilitate muscle building.  As we get closer to competition time, the focus shifts to conditioning, and my diet will be one that optimizes performance in metcons (timed CF workouts)  Some weight loss and body fat loss will accompany this shift, but there is no goal weight, or goal body fat percentage. 

 

It is like preparing for a test by spending half of your time studying shit that you know won't be covered.  If you are too lean, or too fatty and you follow a diet that helps you destroy your workouts, then you will follow the yellow brick road to your final "ideal" destination. 

 

At the end of a competition, you don't get a critique of your body composition, you get a medal... or a "better luck next time."  

As I mentioned, I have been guilty of this too, because sometimes we find ourselves searching for an answer that is actually really obvious.  I am not going to tell you what you should eat, but maybe this will get you asking better questions.

 

Go forth and dominate.

The Myth of the Off-Season

Most sports have on-seasons and off-seasons.  During the "on-season", you do everything right, and during the "off-season" you can decompress and let loose - give yourself a chance to mentally and emotionally recover from the stress of dedicating yourself to a physically challenging task for a period of months.  

In CrossFit (as a sport), there is a myth of an 'off-season" but this is actually just jargon, and a lie.  We train differently throughout the year, but there is no fucking off-season if your goal is to get better as fast as you physically can.

If you want to refute this, "I took it easy this summer, and am getting ready to buckle down and train," you say... well don't be surprised if you are surpassed by someone who you used to beat on the reg.  If gradual improvement and fun is your goal, you can afford to take some time off, but If you want to get as good as you can, as fast as you can you are pretty much shit out of luck.  

Now, is it worth it to be the best you can possibly be when you finally reach your level of competition?  The answer for me is, yes.  That is why I am doing it. (PRIORITIES AND COMPROMISES)  My coach asked me almost a year ago what I wanted to get out of this, and my response was, "I want to see how good I can be."  Nothing has changed, and I know that for as long as I want to pursue that goal, it will take a year round commitment.  Last May, I was arguably one of the worst people to compete on a team at Regionals, but it was the pinnacle of my training and a great experience.  I sacrifice a lot to my training because I know for as long as I continue on this path, I will always be as good as I can be, and I absolutely love competing. 

So here is a shout out to all of my friends and teammates who are probably starting to feel like they have a few wires exposed as we are "entering the on-season."  Your dedication and hard work throughout the summer has not gone unnoticed.  I feel ya, and I am right here with you.