“Helen”
3 Rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
21 KB swings, 24kg(16kg)
12 pull-ups
Post times to comments and BTWB
Do not feareth the “no rep”, but do not giveth of the “bro rep”, Games Open commentary brought to you by Courtney Shepherd
Well folks, we are 1 week down and approximately 24 hours from the start of week 2. And just like in years past, the first week has already brought us drama, debates, and scandals. Some of you may instantly know what I’m referring to and some of you may not. . . either way I’m bringing it up. In the first week of the Open a team of athletes was penalized for “cheating” during 16.1. Why do I bunny ear the word cheating? Because I think it’s a harsh term, so let us instead refer to their actions as taking the short cut. What was the short cut? This team of athletes used small change plates that added up to 45#, thus making the bar sit lower to the ground, and thus giving them a shorter distance to jump over during their bar facing burpees. I’m not bringing this up to debate whether or not is was malicious, or the fault of the team versus the fault of Crossfit, I’m bringing it up for the sole purpose of discussing integrity.
In the middle of this debacle a comment was posted on social media that said “. . . . I don’t get it. I did the workout RX and got a score of 18. I worked so hard for a chest to bar pull-up. I would rather have fewer honest reps than more shameful ones.” Again, please no one comment that I am making you feel shameful, that is not my intent. I just thought that this was a powerful comment that internally is shared by many. Over 300,000 scores were submitted for 16.1, and I guarantee there are more than we would care to admit that have a “shameful” rep count to them. It is unfortunate but it is true. The Games is a big deal and this level of competition can lead some folks to seek out the short cut and partake in the bro rep.
There are several types of athletes in this world. There’s the type that sees work and does work, and there’s the type that continually asks “does that make it easier?”. The type that sees work and does work is the type that is perfecting their craft. What makes it easier for them? Their improved technique that came from hours of practice. These are the work horses, ready to accept any challenge because they have trained for it. The athlete that sees work and begins to ask about all the things that might make it easier is not preparing for the challenge, they are preparing for the easiest way to get out of facing the challenge. This is the athlete that wants the short cut. I am a firm believer of the phrase “work smarter, not harder”, however if we only spend our time training to get through the work “as easily as possibly”, what happens when there is no easy way? What are we prepared for then?
There was another social media comment about the cheating scandal, someone said “. . . if Rich Froning had gotten caught doing this, people would praise it as a great workout strategy.” Ah, the old Rich Froning is god argument. I don’t know Rich, we’ve never chatted, but I have seen the man workout a few times and let me assure you, he is not seeking short cuts. Rich Froning is not looking to find a way to take a few inches off his bar facing burpee jump in order to crush the competition. Rich just simply trains his butt off to move through the entire workout faster and better. He doesn’t want to win because he is the only one that figured out how to short the work, he will win because he works hard and knows he can.
My point is this, you don’t need to seek the short cut. You need to put in the work. The team that got penalized would of had an amazing score following the 16.1 guidelines. They are a group of amazing athletes and their team would have been in the top 5 in the region, without a short cut. But now they sit in 18th place. Now they sit in a hole they will spend the next 4 weeks trying to dig themselves out of because they feared putting in the work. They didn’t want to meet the challenge.
We can short the work too by giving bro reps rather than no reps. What’s a bro rep? Saying to ourselves or the athlete we judge, “well that was good enough, I guess I’ll give it to you.” Like if a wall ball gets high enough but never actually hits the wall. I mean, it’s practically a rep, you did the work getting it up there so I guess I’ll count it. No. Just no. Folks, this is the integrity piece I mentioned earlier, I’m not in this to get a score made up of a number I didn’t work for. And if it turns out that someone else’s number is better than mine, that someone else put in more work than I did, then I guess I know what I need to work on for next year.
The Open brings out the best and the worst in people. We see amazing acts of athleticism followed immediately by sad acts of gaming the system. The goal at Verve is to showcase the athleticism, to applaud the accomplishments, and laugh through the humbling moments. So put in the work and earn your reps. As the saying goes, “don’t wish for it to be easier, want for you to be better”.
***Everyday Warrior will be at Verve this Saturday during the 11am WOD. Following the workout they will be presenting Sarah DeVito with donations towards helping her fight her battle with cancer. Please join us for the event.
