Next Order of Business - Strength

What's the difference between someone that's been crossfitting for 3 years that places somewhere near 200 in the open within their Region and someone that who has only been crossfitting for 1 year and made it to the Reginal level? In the most basic form...STRENGTH. This shouldn't lead you to believe that strength in and of itself with get you that far as that would be just as preposterous as having an elite marathoner make it, but is possibly the most important portion. Surely gymnastics, skills and an assortment of other tasks are extremely neccessary but muscle endurance would likely be 2nd which is easier to train once the strength is already under your belt.

I'd be willing to bet the majority of athletes who participated in The Open would agree that their primary deficiency was the ability to to more work in a shorter period of time than others (people, yes this is the ultimate goal FYI). This is most likely because you muscles couldn't keep the work up as long as needed, not because you didn't want to continue.

In my experience the last couple years, as my strength has continued to go up (body weight with it) my general fitness has also. RX'd metcons are not an issue, it's more fun to lift when you are lifting more, and having strength goals has assisted my respect for proper nutrition. This all sounds great but I have noticed a few draw backs, stuff that I used to crush like "Angie", "Cindy", and "Annie" are no longer my preference due to the fact my body weight has gone up faster than my ability to control it. This is something that is continuously getting better, just being aware of the trade offs that can come up when exercising a "Strength Bias" Crossfit regime is important. When we experience this we have to trust that Muscle Memory will override our issues as you work on them.

I bring all of this up because I believe NOW is the best time to get yourself on a Strength Bias plan of some sort. Most of us have are recently done with The Open and as I'd stated in last weeks blog, it's time to have Goals in mind to increase your overall performance going forward and when envisioning the 2013 Open. For myself, it's a 10-12wk Starting Strength Program that also includes a Saturday morning Oly sessions to test our Snatch and Clean & Jerk. This is a Monday/Wednesday/Friday strength routine and the Oly portion is to put our gains to actual "work". We will do the occasional metcon but right now lifting heavy and eating (or drinking if you're going GOMAD) a ton is the objective as the muscle memory will return when it enticed to do so.

Some may oppose the idea going on a gainer at this time as "Beach Season" is quickly approaching! Why, because you've been working so hard to trim the unwanted fat with hope of a better chance to attract the opposite sex (how many beaches do you midwesterners see on a regular basis not including pseudo beachs like WWW!?)? I hear you loud and clear as its a familiar theme that's gone through my head many times in the past(and present as yes i'm single) but it all comes down once again to those damn goals. I will tell you this very important fact; "you will not get the strength gains you desire as fast you desire them without eating like someone that already has that strength".

Humbling fact i know, but I hope you can digest that and follow the reasoning behind it...YOU NEED MONEY TO MAKE MONEY!!!

-Garrett


Disclaimer: most if not all above is something I'm preaching through this blog to myself about, its on the web so you
get the pleasure of assessing it for yourself also ;)