In Search of The Zone

Friday, March 2, 2012

Be sure to get your sectional workout scores input into the CrossFit Games website by 5pm on Sunday!

Mobility:
Want an advantage?  Here is a 10 minute video from Kelly Starrett about how to mobilize specifically for this workout, or perform the following:
Keg Drill, at least 2 minutes
Groiners, 1 minute each

Warmup:
10 Overhead Squats with PVC
Burgener Warmup with PVC
15 Wall Extensions
Sampson Stretch, 30 seconds each leg
10 Overhead Squats with Barbell
10 Power Snatches (75/45)
5 Squat/Split Snatches (75/45)

Workout of the Day:
Open Sectionals Wod 12.2

Proceed through the sequence below completing as many reps as possible in 10 minutes of:

30 Snatch (M 75 / F 45 lbs)
30 Snatch (M 135 / F 75 lbs)
30 Snatch (M 165 / F 100 lbs)
Max Rep Snatch (M 210 / F 120 lbs)

Movement Standards

This workout begins from the standing position with the barbell loaded to the starting weight. In the Snatch, the barbell goes directly from the ground to overhead in one motion without stopping at the shoulders. This can be a muscle snatch, a power snatch, a squat snatch or a split snatch. A clean and jerk is not permitted.

Additional Notes

Please be sure to watch the entire workout instruction video above for full details. Each rep will be counted once the athlete clearly shows control of the barbell overhead. The athlete must be responsible for loading their own barbell to the appropriate loads during the workout. The same barbell must be used for the entire workout and they may not receive assistance when changing the loads. Using additional pre-loaded barbells is not permitted.

CrossFit Games Open 12.2 workout instructions and demo – video wmv/mov

Come check out the madness of the CrossFit Games Arena, happening every Friday night from 5:30-8:30!  Big thanks to Chris Gosch for making this video from last weeks Burpee mania!

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All the PCFers in action this past week got me all pumped up!  You guys have made me realize I need to start registering for upcoming events to give my training meaning, focus, and gratification.  It also made me reflect on the reasons why I love to train in the outdoors.  I was brought back to In Search of Captain Zero by Allan Weisbecker, a novel I read last year while trying to learn how to surf in Costa Rica.  The author presents his lifelong relationship with the ocean, and the meditative state he encounters when surfing.  His deep connection and personal perspective of wave riding is something I have ingrained in my own personal value system, and the reason why I continued to surf after my trip.  Below are a few excerpts sprinkled throughout the novel:

“This particular day I was inhabiting that quasi-mystical state known in certain physical endeavors as The Zone, and which longboarders sometimes refer to as The Glide.”

“For all my talk of The Glide and its psychotropic effects, it is time spent within the confines of the sea’s emerald recess that represents surfing’s real nirvana-state: its place of secrets.  Not that the tube ride and the longboard Glide are mutually exclusive, quite the contrary.  The condition of mindless bliss engendered by perfect speed-trim is theoretically the same, whether accomplished up on the nose or some point further back.  One must simply adapt oneself to the prevailing oceanic mood, and rearrange one’s priorities.  In other words—the wave’s the thing.

What’s more, in tube riding, even the most frantic, maneuver-obsessed shortboarder tends toward the state of tranquility and grace—a melding of physical and corporeal stillness—that is the ultimate goal of any physical/creative endeavor.  One can almost see the tension, the aggression, dissolve as the realization sinks in that for some period of time—perhaps only a heartbeat’s worth—nothing need, or should, be done.  Relax, brother; all’s right with your world.

A true meditative moment is the tube ride, although it goes beyond that, because of the involvement of the wave—it is not strictly an inner experience.”

“…the essence of a meditative moment is the suspension of concerns with causes and consequences—the past and the future… ”

The above is how I view surfing and trail running, both of which are physical and creative interactions with nature.  The number one request I hear from people is to show them how to love running (these people obviously hate running) as if it were a technique I could teach.  My answer goes back to the above.  It is not a technique but a state known as The Zone, that relaxed state toward tranquility and grace.  That is how I feel when I am in the water or on the trail.  I cease to worry about the past or the future, and only concentrate on the present moment, and in that moment everything is all right.  I personally feel this state is easier to reach when you are interacting with nature, but it also happens when I crossfit…let me backtrack, especially when I crossfit.

So, get outside the gym, get some vitamin D and interact with your environment, get in The Zone, test your fitness, try something new, get after today’s WOD, and as always, have fun!

Backbone Trail, Santa Monica Mountains