Amanda resting on the bar while Cat rests by the box:
How do you rest during a WOD? Do you wander around taking a liberal amount of time when you drop the bar or set the weight down? Do you go get water, or step outside? Do you sit on a box? Do you move so far away from your equpiment, that it’s a good 10 seconds before you even come back to it? The desire to stop grows with each passing second of every WOD. The voice in your head growing louder to tell you to quit, finish or slow down. It is part of the challenge in CrossFit. We get intense but back off sometimes when it’s too much. It’s the intensity that drives the response, the adaptation, the improved fitness; but it’s also the intensity that drives that “suck factor” to a whole new level.
There is a strategy in how you effectively rest in a WOD. Active rest such as slowing your pace on a row or air squat can mean not stopping or gassing yourself later. Staying on the equipment, such as holding the bar in the rack or the hang, or maybe racking it on your back can save seconds and even take less effort than to drop the bar. Consider that every time you drop a heavy bar from the rack position that’s one more clean to get it going again. Other methods like resting on a top of a box jump help as it can allow you to jump off and hit the ground and instantly rebound into a new string of jumps. Stopping just short of failure on a movement can actually lead to a better performance. Have you ever failed a pull-up or handstand push-up and spent more time “waiting” to get your strength back instead of stopping one rep short, giving it a quick rest and going again? Staying close to your equipment is by far the easiest one to do. Force yourself to keep your hands on the bar, or stand over it. Give yourself a short count and pick…it…up. Don’t wait, just go.
There are many types of strategies, but the thing to consider is simply having one. It can mean the difference in a PR but most importantly it will yield a greater intensity and power output which = more progress and results. Now with all that said, if you are needing to rest or drop the bar and it’s at risk of injury, then DROP the bar and rest!
Congrats to Moe on getting a couple ring dips yesterday:
Sectionals update:
We are going to kick off training for those who are interested in competing in this year’s Sectionals after Turkey Day weekend. We have 12 of us who are in from SnoRidge: Lucy, Rona, Moe, Michelle, Rob, Don, Mark B., Jeremy D., Pat, Jeremy O., Sean and I. If you are a reasonably experienced CrossFitter and you are interested, then please get with Michelle, Moe or myself ASAP.
Saturday we spent some time talking about competing in CrossFit, with some insights and observations from those of us who have done it, either via competition or judging. It was a great discussion on the topics of what to expect, how we will train, skills assessments, nutrition, competition strategy and preparation, lessons learned, and more. We just scratched the surface but it was a great talk that allowed us all to begin thinking more about what lies ahead. The biggest emphasis though was on remembering to have fun. Sure everyone always wants to do well, but having fun should be a priority. Right now the details and dates and format are all unknown. We don’t even know that there will be a Sectionals for us to sign up for, but we are preparing based on what occurred last year.
What that means is we will have a time slot or two set aside for those athletes to prepare them for Sectionals. These will be outside of the normal class schedule. It will be specifically for the purpose of allowing for skill development, strength development and better conditioning on advanced WOD’s and movements. It’s going to be hard training as well as intense training. It will also be one hell of a ride.
If you aren’t interested in competing but would like to know more about volunteering to help or possibly judge, then let us know too. There are always lots of people needed to help pull off these events and it’s a great way for us as a box to show our support to the greater CrossFit community. Last year we had several people volunteer for Sectionals and we would love to see it again!
Rob wrote a blog post on this very topic, check it out: “Sectionals Philosophy” on CrossFit Dad’s Blog