Friendly Reminder 3 – Integrity

“Test 3”
Tabata Squat
Max reps of Muscle-ups in 4 minutes

The Tabata interval is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest for 8 intervals. Tabata score is the least number of reps performed in any of the eight intervals. Begin time for muscle-ups immediately after the last 10 second rest interval. Test score equals Tabata score multiplied by number of muscle-ups completed.
Post score to comments.

Kit has UPS!
Kit has UPS!

Friendly Reminder 3 – Integrity

A note from Shane and the coaches:

I set out Tuesday night to write this beautiful post on the importance of integrity and how demonstrating integrity during a workout is directly related to demonstrating integrity in every other aspect of ones life. While I do believe there is a connection there, in the end, it just sounded to “preachy”, so I decided instead to get straight to the point.

The coaches caught A LOT of athletes shorting their reps of burpees during last Tuesday’s WOD.  We’re talking folks doing 17 reps of burpees when the set was 25 reps.  We called out some people and just stood by and observed others to see if their rep counting would improve.

You’ve probably heard it said before that “you’re only cheating yourself”, but in fact, you’re cheating a lot more than that.  You’re cheating your coaches, your peers, your mental toughness, your character, and you are cheating an opportunity to become a better athlete and a better person.

Integrity is not something that can be turned on and off.  It must be worked at and lived in the present in the flesh. Yes, it is just a workout, but if you are willing to lie to those around you who are trying to help you become better, and willing to lie to yourself about your own performance, and all of this pertaining to something as simple as exercise, you are probably willing to give yourself the easy-out in other aspects of life as well, or just quit when it becomes difficult. We’re willing to be that’s not the athlete you set out to be.

We, the coaches, challenge you all to hold yourselves to a higher standard.

Don’t count a squat that doesn’t reach full-depth, don’t count the wallball that doesn’t touch the wall, don’t count the chest-to-bar pullup that doesn’t touch your chest.  Keep yourself honest with every single rep that you perform when you walk through those doors, and see if you don’t begin to notice yourself becoming stronger in other facets of life as well.

8 Responses
  1. Craig H.

    Although I could personally care less about people around me cutting corners and “winning” in a WOD, I’ve never understood why they would choose to do so. Well written.

  2. MollyMo1982

    I agree, well written. Yes, it was frustrating on Monday when I did twice as many chest to bar pull ups because my chest wasn’t actually the bar. But I wasn’t getting any better at them by counting the failed reps.

  3. Chantal

    Interesting! This has never occured to me, and now I hope it doesn’t creep into my brain as an option when I am about to throw up from too many burpees! Thank you for holding such a high bar – that’s why I joined Roots over other boxes in the area!

  4. Sarah Silver

    Thanks for the encouragement. That said, I have been pondering this question: Is it better to push myself in the C2B challenge by using just one band, which forces me to work extra hard but only getting a couple of TRUE C2Bs -( but a number of super close ones- at least in my estimation) in any given round or use two bands where, honestly, the bands themselves are giving me the C2Bs and, although I’m breathing heavily, I am not necessarily getting any stronger. This is a serious question. Welcome any and all responses.

    1. Great question! It’s better to pick the method that allows your to do true chest-to-bar pull-ups WITH the full range of motion – where you chest does touch the bar every round. Now, it sounds like you just need a better scaling option! If two bands is too easy and one band does not allow you to do the work with full range of motion tell your coach and we can come up with a version that bridges the gap!

  5. Anonymous

    I think that if a coach notices someone has missed reps (or conversely, has done too many), it would be nice for them to point it out. For me personally, I have a tendency to ACCIDENTALLY miscount my reps, especially during a really hard WOD at 6:30AM when I’ve just woken up (or in the 6PM class after a long day of dealing with customers and my manager). I’ve tried the method of just restarting my count if I forget where I am, but it often ends up in me just recounting over and over and over (15, 16, 17… where was I again?… 1, 2, 3… 15, 16… where was I?). I find it especially hard during the olympic lifts, when I’m really trying to concentrate on good form – there’s a lot to think about! I realize I need to get better at counting, focusing, remembering, etc., but I’m really not trying to shortchange myself – a friendly reminder would be most welcome should someone happen to notice!

    1. Emily Moore

      I agree. I haven’t ever purposely shorted reps, but I have found myself not being 100% certain while counting. I have instituted a mandatory use of counters when there are more than 3 rounds in a WOD, and if I get confused in the middle of a set I just start again at the highest number I’m sure of (was that 15 or 16?…crap…15, 16, etc). So, I try to get it right, or err higher rather than lower, but If anyone notices I’m off, please let me know.

      1. Good point both of you! We COMPLETELY understand that missed reps happen. You’re right, in the heat of the workout moment, sometimes it’s too much to ask of our body to do work AND our brain to count reps. The blog post was really not aimed at instances such as that when we miss a rep or two. We’re talking about blatant and obvious shying of reps…such as doing 15 reps instead of 25 for ALL five rounds of a workout – from your freshest round – when counting is not challenging – all the way to your last.