Friday, April 29, 2011

What is wrong with this picture?

I'm sure her intentions are good but who can tell me what's wrong with this video? A free pound of bacon goes to the first person who can point out 3 problems with this video.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Let's talk weaknesses


Well this was an interesting week. I barely had any time to train because I had to do Ruck Sack marches Tuesday and Thursday and I find if I go to the gym after rucking 10 - 12k with 50 pounds on my back I'm wasted the next day. The adrenals have finally succumbed to years of beating them down and I have to be really careful not to overdo it.

You may have noticed that I am just following the Crossfit.com WoD lately. I'll stick to that doing their workouts a day behind. The past year I have been so obsessed with strength that I would barely call what I have been doing CrossFit. It worked for a while but I find that my endurance while performing at a high intensity has suffered. True I have become stronger but to be completely honest, for the little bit of strength I have gained in my squat, I'm not sure if the trade off was worth it. Before leaving for Basic training two years ago I was making wonderful gains following the Main Site and I'm pretty sure I'd be just as strong  today if I never followed a strength bias and just stuck to the main site and ate a ton of good food.

I'm going to follow the main site with a slight bias towards working on weaknesses. I am still going to dedicate a day every week to improving my squat as that is the single most important exercise there is to building total body strength. Also I am going to concentrate more on my particular weaknesses. Not spending time on my weaknesses was my undoing this open sectional. I attribute my mediocre performances not to lack of conditioning or strength, but to having one skill in most of the workouts that I have not developed. First it was double unders, then it was box jumps, and  this week it was wall ball. I know what I have to work on for next year and i plan on going into the sectionals with no glaring weaknesses. It is frustrating being held back by being under developed in a particular skill when you have tons of gas in the tank. There were times on Saturday when I had no rep called three times in a row because my aim was terrible. This will not happen again.

All in all the sectionals have been a great learning experience so far. As frustrating as it has been I have learned that having a huge gas tank won't get you very far when you keep tripping on your rope or can't aim the wall ball. But it's ok. I know exactly what I have to do to become closer to the athlete I want to be. This was my first year competing next year will be completely different.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Let's talk competition

Sometimes the judges and spectators can be the heaviest burden you'll have to bear

CrossFit Games open Sectionals. WOD 11.4
Complete as many rounds in ten minutes as possible.
60 Face to bar burpees, each burpee starts facing a loaded barbell and finishes with a jump over the bar
30, 120lb overhead squats
10 muscle ups

Let's talk a little bit about competition.

As I have stated before, I have been doing the CrossFit Games Open Sectionals. Up until today I have been very disappointed with my performances. It seems as though I have been playing mind games with myself.
Every WOD up until today I have come out of it wondering why I couldn't push harder when I know I was capable. How come I haven't pushed as hard in competition as I do working out on my own?

I strongly feel that when you choose to compete in your sport, it becomes an entirely different beast altogether. You suddenly have a massive group of people all cheering for you who who all expect a performance from you. They know what you are capable of.
But they will all witness your shortcomings as well. The fear of letting them down can cause one to hold back. It can make you afraid to give it your all and suddenly crumble. So you hold back, because giving a strong performance somehow seems better that giving it your all and falling apart.

This is a tough hurdle to overcome. I think almost everybody we competes at any level has experienced the exact feeling I am talking about. Some call it fear of failure, some call it wrestling with your inner demons. It's that voice that says everybody here is going to see you fall apart and it is the loudest voice you will ever hear. The scary part is that not a single person in the arena can hear what it is saying to you. Seasoned veterans can see it in you though.

4 Weeks in, I was finally able to single that voice out in the crowd and tell it to shut up. I decided this morning that I was going to perform to my best. I voiced my my intent to the universe and turned out what is to me an incredible performance. one full round and 14 burpees. Sure I feel that I could have done better. Everybody feels that way after a WOD. But no matter what I placed on the leaderboard, my biggest victory was over myself.
Caveman2.0