State of Fitness Address 21–1
The State of your Fitness
I can’t tell you how excited I am to be writing this. When I clicked through my iCloud folder to bring up my past SoF documents, I noted something that was simultaneously sad and exciting. Over the last year, I’ve only had the opportunity to write one other SoF address. Normally I get to write these once a quarter. Not only did we make it through almost an entire quarter without interruption—we finished the 2021 CrossFit Open! More importantly, we have grown stronger and more resilient as a community!
To speak a little further on that final point: Last week, we had two new members come in for No Sweat Intros. One was a walk-in and the other was scheduled. Both of them independently told me and our coaches that they couldn’t believe the welcome they received upon just stepping through the front door. Multiple members said hello, introduced themselves, and struck up a conversation. I cannot tell you what this means to us! As a gym, if we are known for one thing, I want it to be that we are welcoming.
I asked you all a few weeks back to revisit one of the four Expectations Of You during your time at the gym. One of those is Be Nice, aka learn names and say hello to your classmates. You all have done that in spades; thank you! Coincidentally, another of those expectations is Take Care of Your Gym, aka clean up after yourself. Knock wood but I believe we have been doing an excellent job of this, as well; because in the midst of a pandemic, we have avoided any outbreaks. Again, thank you!
Ok, on to the numbers. You lifted just north of a thousand reps at 1041. That includes Snatches, Cleans, Jerks, and Deadlifts. You also unilaterally utilized your legs for 1474 reps of body-balancing goodness in the form of Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats (RFESS) and Cossack Squats.
You CrossFitted for an average of 12:55 and built up your Maximum Aerobic Power utilizing two of our shortest MAP intervals for a total of 4.9 hours (24:30/session) straight time!
To top it all off, you also successfully navigated the 2021 Open.
This is pretty damn impressive!
Now how did we get there? This cycle was all about starting anew. While it may feel like a lifetime ago, many of us were coming back from the #townathome programming. This consisted namely of bodyweight and dumb bells movements over a relatively lengthy time domain. Not quite the same as snatching a heavy barbell. With that in mind my goal this cycle was to reintroduce the barbell to you in a safe and effective manner. That meant a number of things.
The first and probably most foreign to our gym, Rate of Perceived Exertion or RPE. RPE is a method of auto-regulation. In simpler terms, it is a method of intensity that allows you to push to your level of comfort for that particular day. I figured this was really the only option. Normally we start the cycle with a test and end with a test. It would have made no sense for me to ask you all to set a maximum effort lift on your first week with a barbell in your hands in nearly a year. That would have been a recipe for disaster. Instead I wanted you all to “feel” your way back into the lifts. I love percentage work. I think it helps keep us honest; and when you don’t have a mature training age, it helps keep you on track. Using percentages when you’ve had an unplanned vacation(quarantine) from the gym would likely have led to more concentration on what you couldn’t do/used to be able to do vs what you are capable of in that moment. I think RPE worked out very well. It allowed you to concentrate on the lifts and listen to your body vs think about the numbers on the bar. In addition, I saw multiple PRs before we even hit testing week. I love it! That means that what used to be a 10 is now a working set because you allowed yourselves time to recondition your body.
The second was complexes and position work. Complexes offer a number of benefits. For one, they keep you from outrunning your ability. Also, like RPE, you normally won’t have a number in your head that you feel you have to hit when working with a complex. Because a complex is often less than our 1RM, it helps to keep the intensity manageable, which is important when building ourselves back up. Complexes also increase our time under tension (TUT). This is a sneaky way to bump up the Hypertrophy in our training while staying within our class time. And of course, they help highlight the different positions of the lifts. There is almost no better way to learn/fix the lifts than to spend time (probably more than you like) in the uncomfortable positions of that lift.
Finally, we also worked with a little bit of tempo. Just like the position work, tempo work allows us to slow down the lifts and really nail the movement patterns while also giving us a bit more TUT.
All in all I think it really paid off. There were PRs set during regular 9/10 RPE training days, PRs set during the Open (what!?) and PRs set during testing week. You guys did an awesome job listening to your bodies and taking care of business when you felt good. Didn’t PR? Don’t stress! It doesn’t mean you didn’t have a good cycle or that you aren’t improving. Gregg Everett of Catalyst Athletics recently posted this: “It’s critical to distinguish possessing an ability from demonstrating it in a specific test. Never allow a single day to determine the assessment of an entire training cycle.” “There are many ways to gauge progress; technical proficiency, confidence, strength outside of one lift, execution of other abilities.”
Remember, stress is stress—so a bad night of sleep, a problem at work, an argument with a loved one.... any of these could derail a training day. So keep your head held high and concentrate on the things you succeeded at. Even more importanty, remember what you were coming back from!
Now for the CrossFit. Our goal here was simple: Metabolically condition you while prepping for a somewhat-known Open. I say a known Open because we knew the implements that were in play this year were more limited than in years past.
Each day had a theme, but maybe you had already figured that out. Monday was for the glutes and unilateral movement. Early in the cycle, the goal was increased volume for your booties due to the shortened class time. Once we moved to the full 60:00, that shifted to include DB work in preparation for the Open. Tuesday was for upper body pressing and pulling. Given the amount of time and volume devoted to the lower body during Monday and Tuesday’s lifts—and Monday’s WOD—I wanted to make sure we didn’t leave your upper bodies behind. Wednesday was skill and machine specific with HSPUs and rowing. Saturday’s concentration was on the Snatch and Overhead Squat, and the usual higher skill movements. Since the Snatch is the most technical lift in our arsenal and all of us had been away from it for some time, I wanted to make sure we got more than one touch on it during the week.
Next up, Technique Thursday. The concentration here was midline and Pull Up work.
Then, MAP Friday. As mentioned at the top, we completed our two shortest MAP interval cycles. :90 and :60. This was no coincidence. My goal is always to finish our MAP cycle with the most intense intervals just prior to the Open, because the Open should be the most intense workouts of your year. MAPs at this duration are all about pacing, riding the line of repeatability. The Open shares a very similar feeling. Go out too hot and you’re doomed! I heard some of you say in regards to an Open workout or two this year that you were treating it like a MAP. This was music to my ears. Learn how to pace and your longevity in this sport will see no end.
Now for a quick preview of things to come.
Our next cycle is the first of our off-season. This means bumping up the volume for some summer muscle pump, working on our positions within the lifts, bringing a little more variety to our WODs, and starting at the beginning of our MAP cycle.
Gains will be made, sweat will be shed, and PRs will be earned!
Thank you all for being you! Until our next SoF address. Stay Rooted.