Cue Cards

     Hey everyone! How excited are you? It is Tuesday morning, and athletes are showing up to the Home Depot Center, getting ready for the CrossFit Games! If you're not keeping up with the epic throwdown that is about to occur, you should be. Almost 100 individual men and women, 50 teams, and 160 Masters are about to kill it this weekend. Alright, I'll settle down and deliver the ramble.

     So, I found myself reading through Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore's book: Basic Barbell Training (2nd Edition). I came across something that translates specifically into CrossFit, and that is the art of the cue... and I'm not talking about playing billiards.

     A cue is something we, as coaches, may yell out during the WOD or when you're preparing for a lift. We are not about to recite a dissertation, but we are going to offer one to five words to correct small problems we may encounter. However, making sure we are giving cues that make sense is what we have to establish beforehand.

     If I yelled out, "Heels!" do you really know what that means? Am I telling you to keep the weight in your heels for a deadlift? Are you being told to bring your heels off the ground for an explosive Clean? Or maybe I'm yelling because those stilettos have no business in the box. This is something we should be adressing during our warm-up, or when we are discussing the movements we are about to perform.

     Effectively, a cue should be something short that you can process and fix issues you may be having. Sometimes a simple two word cue can fix a whole hell of a lot. "Chest up" comes to mind as an outstanding universal cue. As coaches we're hear to set you up for success and make sure you are moving the efficiency of a McDonald's prep line (un-Paleo reference).

     Lastly, we deal with two different type of cues. Every example I've used thus far has been a "body cue", which of course is used to fix positions of our frames. However, there is also "equipment cues" and that refers to the piece of gym junk we may be moving. "Keep it close" can be a good cue to keep the bar as close to us as possible. Even when we talk about kettlebells we may scream out "straight up", which is a cue to make sure the bell is not canted.

     So, there's your brief ramble about the importance of cues. I'm sure you've heard these called out mid WOD, amidst the blaring music. So the question I pose, is what has been the most helpful cue that you have heard. Maybe we'll hear something new that we can all use. So listen closely, be efficient... and do burpees!


"With great mustache comes great responsibility"
     - Frosh (enjoy the video below)



3,2,1 GO!
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Yesterday's Training:

Weighted Dips 3-2-2-2-1-1-1-1
25lbs - 35lbs - 45lbs - 55lbs - 70lbs -  80lbs - 85lbs (fail) -90lbs
This was really fun. I don't know that I'd ever done weighted dips. Great test!

Sumo Box Squats 155lbs x 8 x 2 every 60 second with red bands

Deadlift 275lbs x 12 x 1 every 30 second with red bands

Weighted situps 90lbs x 2 x 20
That was ouch!... a good kind of ouch.

Day 102 Burpee Challenge / 5253 Burpees Total

*3511*