Ability

     Good morning fitness fanatics! Glad you could join me in another fabulous ramble... that's right... I said fabulous, what are you going to do about it? With that out of the way, it's on to the important stuff.

     So today we talk a little about our ability, which goes with the discussion we had about scaling a few days ago. I know there is this great drive we have to do everything as Rx. I'm not going to lie, it's a great goal, and par for the course. But, like we've talked about before, it may not be the best thing for us.

     Let's take for example the "Hero WODs". These things are just tough, whether its Rx or scaled. They are programmed to destroy most human beings. Let me use, as an example, the Hero WOD Arnie, which is as follows:

with a 2 pood kettlebell:

• 21 Turkish get-ups, Right arm
• 50 Swings
• 21 Overhead squats, Left arm
• 50 Swings
• 21 Overhead squats, Right arm
• 50 Swings
• 21 Turkish get-ups, Left arm

     So that sounds pretty bad, doesn't it? Look, I can swing the 70 lb Kettlebell. I can even go so far as to perform a Turkish get-up AND a one-arm Overhead Squat... albeit probably just one at a time. As much as I would like to tackle Arnie as RX, I damn well shouldn't!

     Why am I scaling, even though I have the ability for Rx? Well, for one and most important, injury! A WOD like that would make me into 10 gallons of pain in a 5 gallon bucket. I could chip away at this WOD and others like it, but I don't see the benefit.

     In CrossFit, we preach all about form, consistency and intensity. This is the natural and safe progression for getting better. We can't do a move without first knowing how to perform it. We can't include intensity unless we then are able to perform the movement well. If we skip any of these steps, we're just asking for injury.

     I would like to make the claim that there is a fourth part to this progression... Load! Once we are able to move well, perform movements consistently, and then go fast we can start upping the weight. I don't want anyone to really increase the weight until we are routinely able to go as Rx. Once we reach that point... over Rx is right up your alley.

     Listen, all I'm saying is stay true to sound form and everything else will follow. Once you hit the sub 4 minute Fran... lets take it to a 135 lb thruster and weighted pullups, but don't jump straight to that. Work hard, check your ego at the door... and do burpees



CrossFit Dahlonega Three's Company Promo from CrossFit Dahlonega on Vimeo.

3,2,1 GO!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yesterday's WOD:

Rest Day
This is officially a rest week! Nothing wrong with that, I've heard of many athletes doing this. Hopefully all the rest and recovery has paid off... I think it would have been a lot worse had I been hitting up WODs and lift feeling like dog poo. Ready to start back up soon!