Back to the Basics...

What do you see in this picture? 

Some may see this as a potential advertising photo for Mossy Creek Crossfit, while others may see this as an  opportunity to talk about our great Bx programming.  Lastly it could be seen as a vague attempt to achieve sponsorship by Rogue Fitness. 

While all three of these would be good guesses, none would be the right answer. 

This image signifies a return to the basics for me after some recent humbling experiences.  I couple the experiences with a podcast that I have listened to called "Chasing Excellence" from Crossfit Coach Ben Bergeron.  While I have referenced a couple of his products throughout the life of this blog, this podcast really hit me after my experiences, and a few conversations I've had with our MCF athletes.

This past week we completed the Hero WOD known as Murph.  Most in the Crossfit community know the meaning of this workout, but it is one that was both created by, and named after Lt. Michael Murphy.  An individual that was killed in action trying to provide help for the men serving with him during Operation Red Wings in Afganistan.  During Hero WODs like this we find ourselves working a little harder and complaining a little bit less.  For me, I found that I wasn't where I needed to be.  My mindset wasn't right, and I had not put myself in the right position with training to be successful in this workout. 

I found myself in the gym as an athlete picking the workouts that I wanted to do, ones that accentuated my positives, and leaving the workouts that surrounded my weakness in the rearview mirror.  The image at the top of the page is my mental reset.  A return to the focus of foundations and to instill a mindset to make the remainder of 2019 my time for growth and development in the community of Fitness. 

Now, I started this post with a question for you, and now you may be asking a question yourself...what does this whole post have to do with you.  In a moment of transparency, I noted something I think is common to us all.  We desire to get better and get frustrated when we don't see the progress that we think we should see.  We like to do the fun stuff, and leave the not so fun stuff to others.  And we like to compete, during class and on the whiteboard. 

I love doing kipping pull-ups, I really do.  For somebody my body type, gymnastics movements aren't always the funnest of movements, but once I started being able to string together 2 kipping pull-ups, I found that I needed three.   Once I completed three I needed four.  Once I completed...and completed...but then I couldn't do more...why?  Once I was able to perfect the kip, I failed to ever focus on the basic (strict pull-ups) because I wasn't good at the strict option, it wasn't fun.  However, we need to master the basics before truly move forward. 

Each workout has an intended stimulus.  Sometimes that stimulus is simply practice, a need to correct technique, while others are all out war (see previous blog post of this topic).  This stimulus is different for everybody and at times that means we ask you to go below the Rx weight, rep scheme or prescribed movement to ensure you reach that intended stimulus. 

Missing the intended stimulus can put you in a negative training environment.  Once that has the potential to set you back in your overall level of fitness.  A training environment that can cause loss in good movement pattern and technique, or simply put you in position to get injured.  This means we may have to work with you to correct a technique, providing further instruction into the movement pattern, or simply provide encouragement to resist the temptation to look at the WOD before coming in to the gym for the day and avoiding the stuff we don't like to do.

As coaches, we look forward to working with each of our athletes to reach the intended stimulus of the workout.  We do  so in an effort to know that you go home after the workout, with the greatest gain in fitness.  Sometimes we don't always see the breakdowns in ourselves until its too late, or somebody is there to help us see them.  As coaches, we are looking for opportunity to help you grow and develop in all areas of fitness.  We are not simply looking for options that allow you to complete the workout, we are looking for options that can help you grow into the you possible.