We are seeing huge improvements from all of you when it comes to the weight lifting and skills that we have been focussing on in this program. It is awesome to see everyone embracing the focus we have on technique because I realize some of you just want to come in get a workout done, get puffing and sweating and call it a day. Don’t get me wrong, it is great you are here to just work out. The biggest part of this is walking through the door. Our responsibility is that even if you just want to work out and get a sweat up we still need to make sure you are doing things properly. A) To keep you from getting hurt and B) To uphold the integrity of the program and what the rest of the members are doing during class.
Now to the main point of this post is during class you are all listening and you are performing the reps as needed for that particular wod. With focus on the skills part of our sessions we have been going through progressions and positioning with all of you and during class everything is looking good, But then two things happen that I want to address today:
Frist point: Some of you seem to forget the fact that the progressions and positions we teach you in class during a skills section will still hold true during a wod for time. Turning on the clock is not an invitation for you to just do what you want as fast as possible. The positions we teach are meant to be carried through in every workout you do. Example: Yes squatting to above parallel is faster than squatting below parallel but that doesn’t mean you should do that to get a faster time. For a healthy uninjured individual A Squat at our gym means hip bone passes below the crease of the knee and you come back up to full extension and the ankle, knee and hip. There is no grey area. This goes for all exercises. We do not turn on the clock for you to shorten the range of motion to get the fastest time of the day. We turn on the clock to give you accountability in performing full range of motion as fast as you can to the best of your ability. There is a huge difference. If you find it hard to reach full range of motion you slow the movement down and reach full range and if you can’t we give you a progression to help you reach full range over time. This goes for all exercises.
Second point: What we teach you about any exercise on a Monday is still the same if it was any other day of the week. Example: If you are struggling with push ups on your feet and we have helped you get a full range, chest to ground push up on your knees on Monday, you do not do half range push ups on your feet during the warm up on Thursday. You keep practicing knee push ups until you feel stronger and then we will help you with the next progression until you are strong enough to do full range push ups on your feet. It seems that some of you find it almost offensive to be told to take a step back and use a progression rather than your own version of an exercise. Our focus is on helping you become a fully functioning human being and that cannot happen if you don’t want to remember what we have taught you during the week.
Make sure you always take a step back and think about why we give you progressions and why we keep drilling positioning. I can guarantee you, it is not to see how pissed off we can make you, or to slow you down during the wod so you don’t beat your best friend using half reps. We want to help you that is it. full stop.
We take our job serious and I know you will appreciate it in the long run. Remember every time you don’t hit full depth on a squat a puppy dies.
Slow is smooth and smooth is fast, ergo slow things down and reach full range of motion.
Christian
Thursday
WOD: 5 Rounds for Time
400m Run
21 Back Squats 40/30kg
18 TTB
15 HSPU
