AMRAP 15 minutes:
5 thrusters (115/75)
10 bar facing burpees
15 toes-to-bar
A (Perfect) Storm is Brewing
One of the reasons I have always liked CrossFit is because I feel that I’m at home with my people. The people I workout with in class and on the road understand me and my approach to health and fitness. I like being around these people because I gain momentum, support, and encouragement to fuel my fitness and nutrition goals.
I feel this at Roots every time I workout. I’m immersed in the CrossFit cult (yes, I said cult), I feed off of other’s successes and PRs and that motivates me toward my own goals, and I’m reminded to embrace the fanatical side of my journey to better my health and fitness.
Lately I’ve heard how a number of Roots athletes have become embarassed by their fanatical approach to fitness and therefore it has waned – and their results and goals have suffered because of it. A friend or colleague took a jab at your tupperware Paleo lunch, someone made fun of your pursuit to get a strict pull-up, or they saw the CrossFit Games and commented to you, “well you’ll never be able to do that, you know.” Their comments struck a chord with you and in turn, you backed off of your goals – the ones that meant something to you.
You know what – screw those people.
While the rest of the world may tell you you’re crazy, we invite you to embrace the part of you who wants more out of life through CrossFit. You want a faster Fran time for no other reason that you just want it – awesome! You want to PR your back squat so it’s double your bodyweight – great. You want to get a strict handstand push-up so bad you dream about it – well then let’s do this. Or you dream of a day when you could eat Paleo consistently for 30 days straight – yes, you can do it.
And that’s what September is all about.
Over the past few months, a perfect storm of coaching experiences, research, and events happened at Roots that has led to a new and exciting path going into the fall.
The coaches have collaborated and learned from each other in a variety of new ways. We’ve talked about what has worked and what hasn’t. Individually, each coach has explored and researched different elements of CrossFit and strength and conditioning. And we’ve seen first hand the strengths and weaknesses of our gym’s athleticism as a whole play out over the summer through Cool Cruel Summers, workouts, and benchmarks.
The product of this is a September you won’t want to miss.
In the month of September, we want you to get fanatical about logging your workouts. We want you to crave the knowledge to know if your workouts, benchmarks, lifting numbers, and skills are getting better. This is how you begin to achieve your goals in and outside the gym.
Over the next four days we’ll lay the foundation of the following month. We’ll cover:
– Updates and a revamp of weekly programming at the shop
– Results logging and tracking
– Progress analysis through planned benchmark and skill benchmark retest
– A method to log and track your workouts
Be sure to read the blog this week.
I love this post! I get grief nonstop at work for my fanatical dedication to my workouts and my ongoing pursuit to eat paleo. I hear the “you don’t have any fun”, “you’re gonna hurt yourself”, “it’s dangerous”, and “you’re obsessed”. Heck yeah I’m obsessed! Every time I beat a previous PR my heart soars, it’s addictive and I will not quit no matter what the commentary. It gets my head right so my body can follow. Thanks Roots for inspiring me!
Having been to lot of crossfit gyms when it comes to logging I find that self reporting systems don’t work well. Even in gyms where the clients write their own scores on the whiteboard (I hate this) usually no one does over time. The two I have seen that work are ones where the whiteboard is replaced by a monitor and results are put in by a coach or everyone is encouraged to self report on the spot, or one where a picture is taken of whiteboard by coaches and it gets sucked into system (social wod) for everyone automatically. I don’t know if sugar does this but the more automated the more people will use it.
Haha, so what you’re saying is, the less effort a person has to put in of their own the more likely people will use it? Can’t argue with that, but more than likely a person who needs more convenience than being able to type a few numbers into their phone (that they’re typing on all day anyway) won’t be setting any goals that would need tracking.
Sugarwod on your phone, a community computer at the front desk, or a shelf full of notebooks still can’t eliminate laziness. There has to be some self-responsibility by the athlete. If it matters enough to them, they will make it a priority, and if it doesn’t, they won’t. We’re daring you all to make it a priority.
This right here is what gives Roots its reputation as the best shop around, that you all as coaches are constantly observing each other and the athletes and making measurable changes to help everyone improve. You all are awesome. I’m excited to see what lies ahead, and just wanted to give you a shout out for exemplifying this central CrossFit philosophy of measurement, observation, and repetition.
Great post. I am proudly crazy!