Heavier than you ever imagined…

NLP Invitational Event 2

For time or reps achieved in 10 minutes:

15 Back Squats from the rack (225 lbs/155 lbs)

followed by:

2 rounds of

6 Pull-overs

12 Burpees

40 Double-unders

followed by:

15 Deadlifts (225 lbs/155 lbs)

Max Fernandez 4:14, Richard Alvarez 4:38, Ronnie Teasdale 4:39, Sarah Rodriguez 7:26, Lisa Ryan 6:08, Lindsey Benson 6:27

Movement standards video for Pull-overs, burpees, and double unders.

Movement standards video for Back Squats and Deadlifts.

Pull-over video, youtube.

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One of my all time favorite books on weightlifting, strength, power, and ferocity is Dinosaur Training by Brooks Kubik.  Easily a cult classic, and discovered before I found CrossFit, reading it transports you to a place where moving heavy weight was common and expected, and the clang of metal on bar was the most welcome sound a true physical culturist could hear.  Man and woman alike would engage in back squats, heavy deadlifts, power pulls, power snatches, and power cleans with equal enthusiasm, and to buy in to their world was to accept hard work on a continuous, progressive basis.  The book was written as a form of protest against what Mr. Kubik called ‘chrome and fern land’, or what we call Globo-gyms.  One of the most memorable lines of the book went something like:

“Coach, how heavy should I eventually expect to go in the lifts?”

“Son, heavier than you ever imagined.”

Then it went on to describe mind-boggling feats of strength like 300 lb one hand deadlifts and guys full squatting 400 plus pounds at 70 plus years of age.  But the ‘heavier than you ever imagined’ line stuck with me ever since.  We don’t know our true, actual limits, even when we think we do.  155 lb thrusters for reps were unthinkable, along with 275 deadlifts for reps.  The original Diane, when I first saw her had me thinking, ‘There’s no f#cking way I’m going to do that.’  Then I watched Brett Marshall do it in 1:49.  The same thinking goes for a sub 2 Fran, and a sub 7 Helen, just a fews years ago it was considered impossible in CrossFit, and now those numbers are being seen more and more.

So how heavy can you go?  How fast can you go?  How much better can you get?  People, you can go heavier, go faster, and get better, fitter, and more powerful THAN YOU EVER IMAGINED.