Proper weights / reps / sets / time

Great work by everyone in the past couple of months !!!

Joe and Les both reached their goals in pull ups - Joe 15 Les 8 - Congratulations !!!

One reminder - leave your ego at the door.

If you choose a certain weight for the workout - keep it.  It stands to reason that the last round will be much more difficult than the first round - that doesn't mean drop the weight to make it easier.  If you chose a weight that was a bit too heavy (but not enough to destroy your form or get you injured), than suck it up and finish with the same weight. 

If you chose to do the advanced routine, stick with it.  Don't start with advanced number of reps / sets, than change it in mid-stream because it turned out to be far more challenging than you thought. 

I appreciate the fact you guys and gals want to push yourselves - but sometimes we bite off more than we can chew.  It's more a problem of trying too much too soon, rather than not doing enough.

That being said, pick a weight / set / rep / time that will challenge you and lead to failure at some point.  Burning through a workout because you didn't use enough weights, reps, etc does you no good.  Yes, your time was great but what did you get out of it ?  If everyone else is struggling through the workout and you whip right through it because the weights were too light, you've actually lost in the long run.

You have been doing this long enough to know what you can and can't do, what your limits are, what you are capable of.  I don't want you to lower your expectations, but I don't want you injured and I don't want you to change the workout in the middle. 

If I think you're going to heavy or doing too much, I'll tell you.  If I think you can do more, I'll let you know that too.  Trust me on it - I'm aware of what people can and cannot do, what they should or should not do.

Leave the ego at the door.

185

We talk a bit about setting goals and this week we are going to see if we have reached ones that have come to expire.

And since you guys and gals are setting goals, I'm going to set one myself.

When I was on vacation, I saw pictures of me that weren't very flattering (not including the red, sunburnt belly).  I was not / am not happy with the way I look - sure I might be muscular but I'm far from being "athletic" looking - too much fat.

I weighed myself this morning - a whooping 202.5  :(

So, I have set a goal - 185 lbs by June 1.  For every pound I'm over on that date, I will owe 10 Burpees.  That's right, 10 / lb - and I'll do them in front of class.

I do realize CrossFit is not about watching your weight, but all about performance.  However, I believe that dropping 15 lbs will absolutely help my performance across the board.  After all CrossFit IS about eating healthy as part of a fitness program (any fitness program is designed with diet in mind).

I will post my weight on the whiteboard so you guys and gals can keep track of my progress.

Range of Motion

Range of motion = going all the way up, all the way down.

As we learned last week, a 3/4 squat is a much different beast than a full, thigh parallel to floor squat.  You must use hip drive at the bottom to get out of the parallel squat.  Plus, it's safer on the knees to get to parallel than to stop at 3/4.  Same with air squats - it's much easier to do half-assed squats than to get to parallel and standing tall at the top.

Pull ups are much harder when you actually straighten your arms at the bottom.  Push ups are more difficult when you get your chest to the floor and extend your arms at the top.  Dips are more difficult when your arms get to parallel. 

Not only are we talking difficulty, we're talking about mechanics and accountability.  Practicing and using crappy mechanics leads to permanant crappy mechanics.  And then we have to fix your form - again.  It's my job to tell you that your mechanics are wrong, need work, or you need reminders.  But if you don't listen and correct them, then really what are you paying me for ?

And don't tell me that a person who does a 20 round Cindy with poor form did as good of a workout as someone who did 15 with great form / ROM. 

Be true to yourself - you will experience greater gains using full range of motion.

So, you wanna lose weight and get lean...

Check out this article....

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/17-reasons-youre-not-losing-weight/

I'm not going to tell you what you can / cannot eat - but I can make recommendations - and they are common sense.

1.  Eat fewer calories
2.  No Junk food - candy, pop, etc
3.  No fast food
4.  No processed food
5.  Workout - 3-5 times a week.
6.  Get enough sleep

There are others - check out the link above...

Mind over Body

I tell you guys and gals that when you say "I can't" you have lost the battle without ever fighting.  You have to believe you can accomplish the skill or workout that we throw at you.  When you have a negative mindset, when you say "I can't lift that weight / do that exercise / do that many reps / rounds, etc" then you won't - it's simple.  Negative "I can't" statements will lead to failure, before you ever start. 

Instead, tell yourself "I've never done that before but I think I can, I'll try it" or " I can do this, I did x before, this won't be hard".  You WILL accomplish the task before you.  Positive thinking does wonders for your physical abilities.  If you tell me you can only do x number of pull ups, I'll make you do x + 2 to prove you can do more and to stop being so damned negative towards your abilities.

Check this out....this is mind over body - and this guy accomplishes great things doing CrossFit

http://online.wsj.com/video/disabled-marine-keeps-fit-doing-crossfit/0390AB90-0A4E-4D6D-BE4E-005AAC467F5B.html