Practical Applications for Functional Movements

CrossFit's quick definition is constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity. Functional movements means useful! I've been putting my strength to good use lately with some outdoor projects. I started working on an edible garden a few weeks ago, which has so far involved weed whacking, tilling, building a raised bed, moving approximately a ton of dirt, and some digging and weeding.

At this point, I've planted a bunch of plants, but I'm not sure that I'm done yet. So far I've got strawberries, tomatoes, blackberries, raspberries, and grapes. I'm hoping to add a few more plants and maybe a couple of fruit trees if I can manage to clear some more weeds out of the area I've been planting. Still on my garden to-do list is installing drip irrigation, but since it keeps raining there's not a big rush.

It's also getting to be pool season, so with Jose's help I've been opening our pool for the year. This has involved quite a lot of hard work in the form of vacuuming and sweeping the pool. We had a pool cover on all winter, so mainly there was a buildup of pollen and dirt with a little algae growing. As I was sweeping, I was glad that I'm in such good shape due to CrossFit, because otherwise it would have been much harder.

Progress: Getting PRs and Coaching

I know that I've been quiet for the past few weeks since the Open, but now I'm back with an update and some deep thoughts.

With the Open over, it's time for a nice long off-season for me as I train, train, and train some more. I have a lot of technique to work on and some strength and conditioning to gain. I'm also continuing to work on my nutrition, with slow and steady progress towards healthier foods. April has been an excellent month for me so far, since I have written no fewer than five PRs (personal records) up on our monthly PR board. Those PRs are: 140# snatch, 210# front squat, 175# split jerk, 19 consecutive double unders, and 255# back squat (set today). I'm fairly certain that with a little more technique work, I can PR my clean as well, since I recently failed to PR my squat clean but was able to more or less power clean my current squat clean max. So basically, my training is going really well. I'm putting in a lot of hard work and it's really paying off.

That said, I recognize that I'm in a sort of honeymoon period with CrossFit, where I'm new enough to so many things that it's relatively easy to get better. Right now, the PRs are coming fast and furious, and I expect that to continue a little while longer since I have so many different skills to catch up on - for example anything requiring gymnastics. But at some point, PRs will become more difficult to hit, and eventually - hopefully many years from now - numbers will begin to decline. In the end, as they told us in the CrossFit Level 1 seminar, one of CrossFit's main goals is fighting off decrepitude. CrossFit, or any fitness regime emphasizing range of motion and functional movements, seems to be fairly effective at fighting off the effects of old age, but nothing can defeat old age entirely. But just because you may have passed your peak, doesn't mean you should stop trying. If you give every workout your best effort, then you will be the best that you can be.

Part of my deep thinking today is because of coaching. I've more or less finished my coaching internship and today I taught my first real class (apart from Open Gym). I don't have any regularly scheduled classes of my own just yet, but I was substituting for another coach this morning. Surprisingly I wasn't all that nervous, despite the fact that I'd never coached a real class by myself before or that ten people showed up for class! I had only met a couple of them before today, but everyone was really nice and class went really well. Both in class today and in other classes I've worked with as an intern, I've come across people who were disappointed in their performance in a workout. And I tell them what I tell myself: you did your best today, but maybe your best today isn't your best ever. It's okay to have days where you just feel off (mentally or physically), but don't let them get you down, come back and have a good day next time.