This past Saturday, we had three teams compete at CrossFit Lakeland’s Thanksgiving Throwdown. After every competition that we’ve had people participate in, I write a glowing post about how proud I am of their performance and, more importantly, how proud I am of the integrity with which they carry themselves.
Tonights post will be a bit different.
That does not mean that I’m not proud – because I am.
Beyond words.
We had a 6th place finish, 4th place finish, and a 3rd place finish. And they ALL competed in the RX division.
In the face of some adversity and also some enormous pressure to perform when the heat was on, they all came through brilliantly.
Which bring me to the meat of this post: integrity in training.
Heather sent me this article a few weeks back and I’ve been waiting for the right time to elaborate on it: https://www.tabatatimes.com/training-integrity/
Inevitably, at every local competition that I’ve ever had the pleasure to coach athletes at, I can’t help but be amazed by a few peoples attitudes towards their judge when they hear the call of “No Rep.”
You don’t here that often around the box – I am a fan of other ways of getting people to meet the standards that we have set forth. Alas, that is a topic for another day.
I think that the standard that you hold yourself to, without a coach having to nag you, says far more about your character than me yelling ‘no rep’ ever will.
My favorite part about the daily leader boarding that takes place is how mad people get when someone gets beat because “he didn’t do all the reps” or “she didn’t meet full range of motion.” All I can think is: the Open is coming back around.
Look within yourself and take inventory of your performance within the box:
– Do you hit depth (hip crease BELOW top of the knee) with every squat?
– Do you fully lock out your arms, hips, and knees at the top of every press?
– Does your chin make it over the bar with every pull-up?
– And my personal favorite – do you hit full depth on the squat and then hit the target height for every wall ball that you do?
If you answered ‘NO’ to any of those questions, do you count those reps anyways?
If you strive to click the ‘RX’ button, shouldn’t you first be able to answer ‘yes’ to all of those questions?
Even if you could care less about clicking RX, or beating someones time, shouldn’t your integrity matter?
Just something to think about before your next workout.
After all, the Open is right around the corner. Oddly enough, those that answer yes to the above questions somehow always find themselves at or near the top of that leaderboard…
To Heather, Stephanie, Tim, Vince, Justin, and Mike: thank you for keeping CFG’s integrity streak intact this weekend. It means more to me than any other measure of success, podium or not.
…but you all did friggin’ fantastic in that regard too!!!!
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A. Weightlifting:
15min to 1RM Hang Clean and Jerk
*From the HANG. Must be split jerk & no press outs!
B. MWOD:
Kneeling Overhead Box Shoulder Stretch – 3 x 30s
C. WOD:
3RFT –
Run 400m
10 Hang Cleans (95/65)
*Notes:
1. 15min time cap
2. RX+ will do 135/95