Lessons Learned and Born Anew

Thursday, May 17th, 2012

Warm up and Mobility:
Row 500 meters
Shoulder Prep

3 to 5 rounds of:
5 Handstand Kick ups
10 Pistols
5 second Hanging L-Sit or Tuck sit
3 Strict Pull ups

21-15-9 reps for time of:
L-pull-up
25 pound Weighted back extension

If you cannot perform L Pull ups, perform strict pull ups.
Substitute 45 lb bar Good Mornings for the weighted Back Extensions.

Cool Down:
2 minutes cumulative hanging L-Sit (if not performed in WOD)
otherwise, 400 meter jog
2 rounds of 30 seconds each
Quad on Wall
Samson Stretch

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Let’s talk about this . . .

The L-Sit is a staple of any good gymnastic core strengthening program, and is a perfect expression of CrossFit’s idea of midline stabilization: The line that unifies spine and pelvis into a single element while the rest of the body is moving. The L Pull up is considered the ‘cleanest’ of our pull ups, because not only are you stabilizing the midline like a m#ther f#cker, but you are doing it at the same time as you are performing a strict pull up.

In this workout, if you cannot perform L Pull ups, you will perform them strict, and perform hanging L Sits both in warm up and cool down. Add in loaded back extensions or good mornings and you’ve got a combination that promises increased core strength, not to mention rock hard abs!

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I was busy spectating our awesome PCF Team (and working on the tan) over the 3 day Regional Comp and didn’t work out at all. When I came back and did the double under/Snatch WOD I realized, terrified, that the snatch and olympic lifts are perishable skills, and have to stay sharp with constant practice! What a concept. I pride myself on technical skill with movement, but had neglected that most basic of training rules: Practice this shit, often, and with absolute concentration. I hadn’t snatched in months and I paid for that dearly.

Tonight at Track night was another humbling experience, as the 800 meter x 3 with 2 minutes rest was something I was looking forward to doing, since it’s one of my hated weaknesses. I wanted to pace myself instead of busting out the gate hard, and although I did better at keeping it slow, I knew nothing about the nature of pacing: That although it should feel sustainable in the beginning, you should be pushing harder as the intervals continue, and my hard lesson was RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) is NOT equal to time on the clock at all. Heartbroken at first, Track Master Frank talked me down and I am born anew.

 My message here is, your staff has been doing CrossFit for many collective years, and we are continuously growing and learning and changing ourselves.

Any great teacher or coach or mentor is always a student at heart. CrossFit is a blessing to us, in that we couldn’t possibly hope to master every movement, every workout, every modality, every method and question, given several lifetimes of training. We can only get better and better, and that promises continual improvement for our the one lifetime we do have.

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