5.26.11 Persistence Trumps Talent: CrossFit Like Charlie Brown & His Kite

We have the tag line "Persistence Trumps Talent" on a website banner photo because it resonates so strongly with everyone.  No one is an expert at everything and CrossFit is about being component not an expert in the 10 Fitness Domains: Accuracy, Agility, Balance, Coordination, Cardiovascular Endurance, Flexibility, Power, Stamina, Strength & Speed.  So as a CrossFit athlete we can do anything we set our minds to and that is where persistence comes into play.  Because we all have strengths and maybe we are even experts in some of the 10 domains (for me - Cardio Endurance!) however in order for us to become competent in the other domains and become better CrossFit athletes we must be persistent in our training and do the things we do not like to do.  Get out of your COMFORT ZONE!

For me it was always the pull-up and push-up, but now I look forward to WOD's with those exercises, yeah I am not fast but I can now do them and I still have a ways to go on improving form & speed.  Last week my deadlift showed progress so my persistence is starting to pay off. This week we did Hang Cleans on Saturday, Hang Power Cleans on Tuesday and today Hang Power Snatch. Can you say out of my comfort zone and into my hell house?  Good news I actually liked the Cleans for once and could feel, not all reps, but it was there at times, the correct Clean.  Snatch well still a work in progress but parts were good and I felt so much better than before.  For me, I am going to add in my warm-up more snatch PVC practice.

So train like Charlie Brown and his kite.  How many times does Charlie Brown fly his kite and failure happens?  Too numerous to count. He runs into a tree and is carried off as a Warrior, his kite is blown up & destroyed in the sky or he flies the kite in the middle of winter and both Charlie Brown & the kit freeze.  But you know what .... Charlie Brown will always continue to fly his kite no matter what happens to him or his kite.

Isn't this how you should CrossFit train?

5.17.11 Do As I Say, Not As I Do

This statement can be over used and maybe not taken to heart, but everyone should be Doing what they Say & Saying what they Do.  In other words Practice What You Preach.

I was reminded of this yesterday and for me sometimes I do need to be hit over the head with a baseball bat or barbell to have it sink in.  Monday WOD Deadlift 1X7:  As coaching I noticed some difficulties developing around the 3rd - 4th  round with 2 athletes.  Same comment to both, prep yourself as approaching the bar still upright, tight core, breath control, weight in heels, then go to the set position & once set LIFT do not wait around down there thinking the bar up, just GO.


Both athletes made the next rounds look like the weight had gone down vs. up, this continued until they reached their max, which was also a PR for both.  Later that afternoon as I was preparing to attack my achilles heel, the dreaded deadlift, stretching out my lower back after a Sunday of heavy gardening and thinking it is time to move beyond my lowly deadlift max, not even = to my back squat max.  So how do I approach the bar on lift #1 through lift #7?  Just like I told my fellow athletes earlier that day and guess what, I finally felt like I was controlling the bar, so much so I increased my max by 15# and now I can actually start to see a 1.5X body weight max deadlift in my future.

Say = Do, Do = Say

5.8.11 Mothers' Day & Heroes

This day is reflective for me since it has been 14 years since my Mom passed away and as always my first words after waking up are to wish her a Happy Mothers' Day.  The morning was sunny and beautiful a perfect setting for a fun group CrossFit WOD at the box.  The team work amongst the partners and the teams was stellar, especially the group bonus air squats at the end.  Camaraderie filled the air which reminded me of an article I read this week by a Navy Seal, Lt. Cmdr. Greitens .  The personalities of a Navy Seal and a CrossFitter are fairly similar.

Excerpts from Greitens article in the WSJ:  "Some men who seemed impossibly weak at the beginning of SEAL training - men who puked on runs and had trouble with pull-ups - made it." "Some men who were visibly afraid, sometimes to the point of shaking, made it to."  "Almost all the men who survived possessed one common quality. Even in great pain, faced with the test of their lives, they had the ability to step outside of their own pain, put aside their own fear and ask: How can I help the guy next to me?"  "They also had a heart large enough to think about others, to dedicate themselves to a higher purpose."

How many times have you felt like a Seal in training based on the above?  Puke bucket after Cindy - Thinking I will never get a kipping pull-up - Looking at a box jump as if it as tall as a mountain.  However what I see every day within the PUSH511 community is that no matter how bad someone is feeling they are always calling out to their fellow CrossFitter.

One of our workouts this past week was Michael, named in honor of Michael McGreevy who died in 6/05 at the age of 30. Michael was a Navy Seal who died when his helicopter crashed in the vicinity of Asadabad, Afghanistan.  Ironic timing for the workout based on the Navy Seals doing their job at a compound in Asadabad a few days earlier.

Always remember the Heroes during your workout and CrossFit like a Navy Seal!

5.1.11 Mind Over Matter

We train our bodies to learn proper technique so we can perform exercises more efficiently and safely resulting in faster times/higher loads/more reps.  But some times we forget one key item, the large space between our ears.  A positive, can-do, attitude will get you a PR, without one no matter how hard you train you will come up short.

Last week within one hour I experienced this reaffirmation with two people who have/are dealt/dealing with cancer.  One of our members is 5 years cancer free, we were talking about the impact the radiation and chemotherapy has had on him physically, good to know so we can help him on his technique but as talking with him those were minor items the critical component was his strong will not to let anything keep him down.  As this conversation ended a friend of mine stopped in, who you would never think just a few weeks ago had a double mastectomy, gone through two rounds of chemo and now getting ready for radiation. As we spoke, there was no negativity in her words.  Both these people are thankful for the great progress medicine has made and can be certain the surgeries, chemo, and radiation all were key ingredients for where they are today, but I think the main reason is their Mind over matter attitude.

Figure out what is holding you back on reaching a certain goal, may not just being more flexible or an old injury but the space between your ears.  Take the Power of your Mind to reach your next goal.  I know I am going to work on my aversion to inversions, because that is all in my head.