We had several people in the gym hit their first ever Bar Muscle Up during 16.3 last week. On top of this we have seen some incredible performances to date from various members in our community. Even without athletes such as Katie Crowe-Tromello, Jose Cobian, and Joey Brinton competing due to various reasons, such as injury, we are still currently sitting 5th in So Cal. This is all so very exciting, but what makes it fun, well at least for me, is to geek out as to… why?
We have seen some shocking performances out of some of our favorite people. All of your improvements have put a massive smile on my face and your shout outs warm my heart. But I am not surprised in the slightest by all your accomplishments. After all, when I set out on this journey with you all roughly 48 weeks ago, I had a plan. I knew where I wanted to get the gym to and I wanted to create a system that surpassed ordinary CrossFit modalities because, let’s face it, just doing CrossFit wods alone do not make you better.
As a strength & conditioning expert, it is my duty to use my knowledge and expertise to help you all improve. So when creating this year’s programming, I did just that. You are all seeing significant improvements because I really focused on building a stronger over all you. Sure, doing multi-jointed lifts such as the squats, weight-lifts, and various power lifts make you stronger, but they don’t strengthen the smaller muscle groupings. To be successful in CrossFit and become stronger in general, you need muscle stability and overall muscular development. So when programming this year’s cycle, I threw in more strength & conditioning components. Like for example, I used the Overhead Walk to work on overhead stability and various planking exercises to work on core stability. In addition, when breaking down the gymnastic movements of CrossFit, I realized that we spend a ton of time drilling movements, but no time actually strengthening the muscles required to do those movements. This is why you saw the various rows and vertical press elements in the skills. Moreover, I began to see a ton of quad dominance in our athletes along with back and shoulder injuries. This is often due to an underdeveloped posterior chain along with a weakened transverse abdominis region and lack of shoulder girdle strength and mobility. So I started throwing in exercises to develop these areas, such as the bar roll outs, the glute-ham extensions, and the Y’s,T’s, and W’s to name a few. There have been a plethora of various skills that I have programmed throughout the weeks, and they have progressed based on the gym’s ability levels. Yes, we did not focus 100% on developing movements, such as Muscle Ups and stringing t2b together. We focused on getting strong enough to do these movements well. So when it came down to the Open wods, we were able to use the strength we had developed to learn these movements and become proficient in them. When it came to the wods, I made sure to rotate through the various energy systems, as previously written about a few months ago, changing the focus to them throughout the 3 quarters. Quarter 1 was about creating general fitness; quarter 2 we focused more on slow glycotic and fast gylcotic system style workouts; and quarter 3 we focused heavily on fast gylcotic and phoshagen system workouts to prep 100% for the open.
I know other competitors look at our blog all the time and attempt to try and replicate or beat what it is we are doing. But in all reality it is not rocket science here. I am ok with taking my time to develop all my athletes. I am preparing you all for life and the occasional CrossFit competition from time to time. We used the 2016 Open as a marker to test of progress over the past year. I would say we are doing pretty darn good. You have all had several pretty awesome experiences over the past few weeks. I look forward to programming the next 52 weeks, leading us into 2017 after the Open. Heck, I have already started to make changes as you have all witnessed. I will continue to make you strong. However, now I will begin to focus on developing your newly found skills further.
Precision CrossFit is a full-fledged strength & conditioning facility. What makes it special are three very important things. First, we have fantastic coaches, the best in the business as far as I am concerned. They know the plan and can see the end game. They have bought into our system and believe that they are better coaches because of it. I make it a point to educate them along with you all whenever I can because it is my duty. No one should be doing this stuff blind, asking themselves, why? Second, we have an amazing training environment. This is a huge reason why you are all setting PRs. You want to see each other succeed. It is genuine. Everyone wants to get better. This creates positive energy and makes the body react positively. Precision CrossFit is successful because of its members and the community we have all created. This community breeds success and not only accepts it, but is hungry for it. It is not about individualism; it is about togetherness. Because together we are one, always. Third, you all bought in and respected the process! Sure, it was hard for some, but you did it and now look at your progress.
Precision CrossFit, you are all the reason for your PRs. We layed out the pathway. You all chose to walk it. It is because of every one of you! Here is to the last 2 weeks of the Open.
Fitness-Strength-Community
WARM UP:
3 Rounds
10 Pass Through’s
10 Air Squats
10 Push Ups
Then:
Group Mobility
WOD:
Part A:
EMOM… (Row for Calories)
5-7-10-13-16-19-21-Etc
(Add 3 Calories each round.)
*Score = number of calories in last round completed.
Then:
Part B:
3 x 60 Cal. Row
*1 Min. rest.
Then:
3 x 80 Cal. Row
*2 Min. rest
**3 Min. rest after each section.
***Score = Total time
POST WOD MOBILITY:
Mobilize hips and body thoroughly. Take this time to aid in your body’s recovery.
