Bad reps will put you on Santa's naughty list

There are a few dirty terms that coaches use to describe certain athletes. I’ve already introduced you to what we mean by WOD shoppers. These people avoid workouts because it has a movement or two they dislike or because it looks “tough”. Unfortunately, the WOD shopper never improves at that movement and continues to hamper their development.

Today we look at a term I remember first reading about a couple years ago on Maximus Lewin’s blog. The dreaded stopwatch whore is so blinded by ego, they care more about the time they post on the whiteboard than they do about the quality of their work. She will do wallball shots without a squat and still fall under the mark, or he will half-ass his pushups by never touching his chest to the ground nor coming to full extension at the top.

From Max’s post:

How many of you guys out there are ’stop-watch whores’? You put out a sub 3 minute Fran but half of your thrusters you didn’t push your head all the way through, and 10 of your butterfly pull-ups were technically over the bar but not really?

I feel that true excellence in CrossFit requires excellent form, regardless of speed. In some ways I am more impressed with a middle-of-the-pack athlete with HEART who does everything right, than a Firebreathing animal who cuts corners to make their blazing times even hotter. Of course what I really love to see is blazing intensity with excellent form. We want virtuosity!

CrossFit stresses that one must first learn proper technique and then can one increase speed and/or intensity (often seen as the weight used). Sean posted before about our emphasis on mechanics, and there is a reason Intrepid athletes are routinely complimented on their excellent form at competitions.

Keep your focus on quality. Please don’t be so quick to sacrifice form and technique in order to shave seconds off your time, add reps to your Tabata score, or finish 1 sec faster than your closest competition. Each rep we perform is a data point that gets integrated into our muscle memory that over time shape our movement patterns.

Along with this also comes proper scaling. You can read my earlier post on the subject, but just know that your trainers have your best interests in mind when we select your weights for a workout — even if it’s not the almighty “Rx”. Likewise, the whiteboard is a useful tool when harnessed properly, but it becomes pointless if beating someone else’s time is your sole focus — with technique and proper range of motion thrown to the wind.

I ask you to keep this idea in your mind in future WODs. Did you really get your chin over the bar for that pullup? Was that truly 10 reps, or might it have only been 8? Check your ego and keep yourself honest in workouts and you will be rewarded with constant improvement. Are you a stopwatch whore?

WOD 11.14.11

Banded Deadlifts 7×2

4 rounds for time:

• 5 bodyweight deadlifts
• 100m sprint