CrossFit Montgomery County

Yes, The WOD Is Going To Suck

This isn’t news – if you’ve done a WOD at any point in history, you know that it’s going to suck. It’s going to test your physical and mental abilities, and push you past your limits. You’re going to have to work hard and suffer, and nothing about it is going to be easy. From the time you hear “3-2-1-GO!” until the time you’re done, it’s going to just plain suck. There, I’ve said it. You already knew it, but I’ve said it again just to be clear. Is there any question about how much it’s going to suck? Does it matter? It’s going to suck – leave it at that and get past it.

Dave Barry once wrote about what would happen if a big asteroid would hit the Earth. He said, “Judging from realistic simulations involving a sledge hammer and a common laboratory frog, we can assume it will be pretty bad.” Yep, if a great big asteroid hit the Earth, it would probably ruin my whole day. But what I DON’T do is spend my days worrying and whining about the whole potential Earth/asteroid collision thing. What good would it do? Would worrying and whining about a celestial object hurtling at hundreds of thousands of miles an hour directly at my head change its destiny? Umm…no. So I leave it at that and I get past it.

When you’re in the middle of a WOD that sucks in a manner particularly offensive to you, I assure you that whining about it will do nothing to alter the level of suck that you have experienced and have yet to experience. My advice would be to quit bitching about how much it hurts and just get through it so that the hurting will stop. Taking the time to wax philosophical about how much the WOD sucks to everyone else currently suffering through the exact same WOD isn’t, perhaps, the most efficient way to end said suffering. It also brings your current level of morale down which makes getting to the end of your declared suffering even more difficult than it was a moment ago.

So in case I’ve missed the opportunity to be clear about this, let me assure you that regardless of the day of the week, the WOD planned for tomorrow, or the WOD that we did yesterday, you can always count on the WOD for today being full of things you may or may not be good at. If you’re bad at them, it’s going to suck. If you’re good at them, it will be structured in such a way that it’s going to suck. Accept it, get past it, and kick the WOD in the teeth. When the timer starts and the WOD is getting hard, let someone else do the whining – you’ve got work to do.

Today’s WOD:

“Squatzilla”

25 Overhead Squats [Men - 95# | Women - 65#]
50 Back Squats [Men - 95# | Women - 65#]
75 Airsquats

Olympic Weightlifting, Wrestling, Boxing, MMA, and a whole ton of other sports separate their athletes into weight classes. It makes sense too – putting two guys in the ring to see who’s the better fighter wouldn’t be very fair if one of them was a foot taller and 100 lbs heavier than the other (though it would be fun to watch, assuming you aren’t rooting for the little guy). Those sports need weight classes to keep things fair. So why aren’t there weight classes in CrossFit? I’m glad you asked.

It’s because CrossFit is the sport of fitness. Fitness is (very briefly) defined as your work capacity across broad time and modal domains. In other words, what can you actually do? Mother Nature doesn’t decide which tasks are assigned to which people based on their weight, age, strength, hair color, finger length, or anything else. If you’re hiking in the woods, glance to your left and see 2 cute bear cubs playing with each other, and then glance to your right and see the mama bear looking at you with a “wanna race?” look in her eye, it won’t matter what weight class you’re in – that bear is coming after you. I don’t care who you are, that’s just not fair.

Since I get made fun of for my doomsday analogies (“…what if you fell into a pool of molten lava, and then flaming boulders started falling from the sky…”), I’ll give you one that happens to everyone. You go grocery shopping and buy a ton of great food (all Paleo-friendly, of course). Beef, chicken, turkey, fish – dead animals of all kinds and tons of fresh veggies to go along with them. Laundry detergent, fabric softener, Cascade, toilet bowl cleaner, and 3 cases of water too. Now you’re home and you have roughly 279 plastic grocery bags and all that liquid to carry into the house. All that crap you bought weighs a certain total amount, and it isn’t going to magically become lighter or any easier to carry because you’re a “little guy” and aren’t good at lifting heavy stuff. Mother Nature doesn’t care if you’re good at something or not – you will still be presented with tasks to complete.

In CrossFit, we don’t discriminate either. Of course, we do everything we can to help you get stronger and better at things to increase that work capacity of yours, but ultimately a pullup is a pullup and a deadlift is a deadlift. If you suck at one because you’re a little guy or suck at the other because you’re a big guy, then you now know where your fitness falls short and where you need to improve. Complaining about it will not change the task (or the workout), and I can assure you that the degree of “fairness” doesn’t play a role when we’re programming the WODs.

Nope, CrossFit isn’t fair – and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Mother Nature doesn’t coddle you and neither do we. But while Mother Nature might send an angry mama bear after you just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, in CrossFit we’ll at least start you out with a teddy bear made of PVC pipe and slowly ramp you up from there.

Today’s WOD:

10 Rounds for time:

3 Muscle-ups
5 Kettlebell Snatches [Men - 53# | Women - 35#]
7 Overhead Squats [Men - 65# | Women - 45#]

“It’s not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what’s required.”

- Sir Winston Churchill

A good point there… Then again, that guy was known for his great quotes. I’m sure he was known for more, but being the history ignoramus that I am, I don’t know what that might be. That’s ok though, because Churchill didn’t know crap about CrossFit, and being the complete CrossFit nerd that I am, I definitely have him there. Anyway…

In my opinion doing your “best” is noble and all, and it sounds great when you’re complaining about how much you hurt after a WOD, but what if a ten-minute Fran is less than what was required? How about if the requirement is to walk to the next town because you ran out of gas on a deserted road in the middle of nowhere (read: Ohio – the state without a cell phone tower within 100 miles of the Interstate), and the next town happens to be 15 miles away? If you did your “best” and made it 14.9 miles before you were too tired to walk anymore, you still don’t have any gas. Do you think you could have made it that extra 0.1 mile if your kids were in the car?

Yes, satisfying physical requirements are important, but how about the mental requirements? I submit to you that if your daily aspirations end with “put shoes on the correct feet,” or “aim kinda toward the toilet,” then you’re setting the bar too low. The fact is that you are capable of more than you ever thought possible, and until you test the limits of your abilities you will never know what you are capable of.

Just remember that you are a CrossFitter, and “good enough”, isn’t. Expect more from yourself than society does, work harder than you did yesterday, and reach your potential.

Why? Because mediocre sucks.

Today’s WOD:

5 rounds for time of:

5 Handstand Pushups
10 Pullups
15 Wallballs
20 Burpees

Ever get that “just got run over by a bus” feeling? Ya gotta love it. In this photo we see a few CFMC members after the Tabata intervals yesterday holding a position called the “supine breathing plank”. The position isn’t all that hard to get into, but the warm-up for it is hell.

Time for a little benchmark fun today! In “Elizabeth”, your hips must go below parallel on each clean, and your shoulders must go below your elbows on each ring dip.

Today’s WOD:

“Elizabeth”

21-15-9 reps for time:

Squat Clean [Men - 135# | Women - 95#]
Ring Dips

HEY WEIRDO!!

When you’re in the middle of a set of wallballs or thrusters and you hear me yell at you to get your chest up, get your elbows out in front, to drop your hips lower or to stay on your heels, there is always a reason. It’s not just because it looks bad, or because it’s not “proper form” – aesthetically pleasing movements, while beautiful to watch, have little to do with aesthetics and everything to do with safety, efficacy, and efficiency. When a movement is executed in a mechanically sound fashion, it looks good to whomever happens to be watching. When it’s executed with too little attention to detail it ends up looking, at best, a little weird. That weirdness is inefficiency in all its ugliness. So next time you hear me send you a verbal cue via airmail, keep in mind that I’m not just being a jerk – it’s because what I’m telling you will help you get better, and that’s the whole point, isn’t it?

For further reference, read this article by Jon Gilson of Again Faster. I’m serious – read it now.

Today’s WOD:

Push Jerk 3-3-3-3-3

-then-

Tabata intervals (20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated 8 rounds) for each of the following:

• Box Jumps
• Knees to Elbows
• Kettlebell Swings
• Burpees

How I Got Here (continued)

After the second Level 1 Cert I continued working out, training people, teaching classes, and just doing all the CrossFit things I love. I wanted so badly to open my own box that I began entertaining the idea of getting my now defunct affiliate (CrossFit Rampant Fitness) going again, but this time for real. I spoke to a couple of people who might be interested in helping me get it started how I envisioned it, and before I knew it we were looking at spaces and pricing equipment.

We found the perfect space (where we are located now) and began the road to getting the paperwork done so we could move in. Once we finally got the go-ahead, we started getting the box ready immediately. The next two weeks saw me at the gym painting, scraping, cleaning, and generally working my tail off for about 16 hours a day to get the box up to muster with the help of my girlfriend (pictured at her Level 1 Cert this past weekend in the third picture down right behind and to the right of Jenni Orr) and my two partners. Friday September 18, 2009 around 10 or 11pm we put together the rowers (the last thing that needed to be done) and went home to rest up for opening day the next morning.

Now we’re just over 4 months old and have a fantastic group of CrossFitters who come in to brave the WOD each day. Most days I still find myself at the box for 16 hours planning, writing, managing, etc., but when you find something you love to do you never have to work a day in your life. That’s how I feel – I love this place!

So there you have it. Any other questions?

Today’s WOD:

Deadlift 3-3-2-2-1-1-1

-then-

As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of:

7 Med Ball Cleans
7 Pushups

How I Got Here (continued)…

The article said everything I had been trying to write, only it said it far better than I could have. I found that I had not only agreed with everything it said, but that I actually learned something! I was hooked, and began to look forward to visiting the CrossFit site several times each day to find out what else I could learn. Hour after hour, day after day – there was always something to read, something to watch, something to practice, and something that would make me a better trainer.

About 6 months later (in April 2008) I attended a Level 1 Cert at HyperFit in Ann Arbor, MI, and met Dave Castro, Tony Budding, Adrian Bozman, and Jon Gilson. Holy crap I came back SO fired up about CrossFit I couldn’t hold it in. I became downright evangelistic about CrossFit and knew my life was about to change.

Fast forward a bit, and after tons of WODs and an improvement in my fitness I never thought possible, I had an opportunity to attend another Level 1 Cert. Late November 2008 at Blauer Tactical in Virginia Beach, VA, I met Pat Sherwood, Chuck Carswell, Jolie Gentry, Thomi Gill, and even chatted with Dave Castro again who popped in on day 2 to say hello.

To Be Continued (again)…

Today’s WOD:

21-15-9 reps for time:

Overhead Squats [Men - 95# | Women - 65#]
Knees to elbows
Burpees

How I Got Here

One of the most common question I get asked by prospective members is, “How did you get into CrossFit?” Not wanting to leave anyone out, I’ll hit the highlights for you. I was a personal trainer since around 2000, and from the beginning always questioned how bicep curls and calf raises helped someone get better after they left the gym. Obvious as it is to us now, I simply didn’t know back then because I had been taught to how be a trainer by personal training entities like the NASM, NSCA, and of course the other globo-gym trainers I worked with. I embarked on a campaign to describe this need for practical fitness by starting roughly 79,482 articles (and even a book, I believe), but never was able to finish any of them – halfway through an idea I would come up with MORE ways that single-joint fixed-path-of-motion movements were probably not the best solution for someone trying to stay out of the nursing home or avoid unnecessary knee surgery, and needed to write them down immediately. The result was a hard drive full of article fragments and not one complete thought in the bunch.

Then I was introduced to Parkour a few years ago, and fell in love with the idea that there was something fun and cool that people could enjoy doing and actually develop a more more practical fitness along the way. I started taking my personal training clients to the playground and making them traverse the monkey bars and climb over walls on big plastic pirate ships – they felt like idiots but at least I had fun!

Then on the American Parkour website, I came across a bunch of links to Jesse Woody’s articles that were published in the CrossFit Journal. Dying to learn more about how to creatively jump over stuff, I followed the links. I found the famous “What is Fitness?” article, read it, and instantly knew that my future lay with CrossFit.

To Be Continued…

Today’s WOD:

Power Cleans 3-3-2-2-1-1-1-1

Entertainment or Fitness?

Ah, the Globo-Gym: neon lights and floor-to-ceiling mirrors, book holders on the ellipticals with a wide variety of magazines to choose from, fruity music on the PA and cardio equipment with TVs and internet access, and trainers having people squat with 14 pounds on their backs BUT DON’T GO BELOW PARALLEL!! There are people wandering aimlessly (lots of them), they stop to pick up a shiny toy to play with, stand on the wobbly air pillow, and climb into the new contraption that promises to be more fun than the old contraption. It kind of sounds like a commercially-owned grown-up playpen to me.

If entertainment is what you’re looking for, go see a movie, drive a go-kart or play mini-golf. If it’s fitness you want, you are going to have to do more than catch up on emails on your Blackberry while you stay in the “fat burning zone” for 45 minutes on the recumbent stationary bike. Sorry.

At CrossFit Montgomery County you learn what to do, how to do it, and why you should be doing it. You learn how to move like humans are supposed to move, and you learn that you’re capable of much more than Men’s Health or Cosmopolitan say you are. You learn that community is more important than iPods, and that real results don’t come without a lot of sweat, pain, and sometimes blood. There are plenty of places to go if you want to be entertained – your gym shouldn’t be one of them.

Get yourself into the workout, kick it in the teeth, and be proud of the sweat angel you leave on the mat after your latest PR. That’s what it’s all about. Playpens are for infants.

Today’s WOD:

“Murph”

1 mile run
100 Pullups
200 Pushups
300 Squats
1 mile run

You may break up the pullups, pushups, and squats any way you like.

Housekeeping

Here are a few important things that will affect you at CFMC:

1. CLASS SCHEDULE CHANGE: Starting next week (1/25/10) there will no longer be Tuesday or Thursday morning classes. When the demand for them goes up I’ll put them back on the schedule, but for now I’m going to take the time to stay fresh. MWF morning classes will still go on like normal.
2. BLOOD DRIVE: Check out the details page about our Blood Drive to benefit the victims of the earthquake in Haiti, and then sign up to donate blood on the registration page. After you’ve done that, tell everyone you’ve ever met about it and send them to registration page so they can sign up too!
3. NEW TRAINERS: If you haven’t already heard or don’t already know, there are a couple of new trainers around. Mike and Brett will be around as their schedules allow, so look for them, say hello to them, and make them feel welcome. Then, beat their WOD times every chance you get! They will have profiles up on the website sometime this week so you can get to know them better.

That’s about it for now. Keep working for your first pullup, muscle-up, handstand pushup, or 2x bodyweight deadlift…it’ll happen!

Today’s WOD:

“J.T.”

21-15-9 reps for time of:

Handstand Pushups
Ring Dips
Pushups