4 Rounds for time:
10 Power clean, 155#(105#)
3 Rope climbs
Post times to comments and BTWB
Your third installment of intensity, this time courtesy of Miranda Oldroyd. . . and a few opinionated comments from me.
Over the last two weeks the word intensity has come up quite a bit in my weekly blogs. Two weeks ago I addressed the method behind the madness that is Verve’s programming. Our goal is for every athlete that walks through Verve’s doors to give 100% intensity from the warm-up, to the workout, through the cool down/ post WOD. Last week, with the help of an awesome article by James Hobart, this blog addressed the concept of volume in training. Who needs it, who doesn’t, is it better to work out for two hours at 60% intensity when working out for one hour giving 90% intensity would have yielded better results. Now I want to bring up another buzz word that I think goes hand in hand with intensity. . . consistency.
Have you seen this meme going around? I saw it posted several times from Facebook to Instagram. I get its message and I find a lot of truth in it. However, I don’t think either of those things are as difficult as doing them consistently. We can workout and we can eat healthy. . . . but if we do it for a couple of weeks and then we go on vacation, and then when we get back and it’s Memorial Day weekend and all the BBQs, and then. . . . . all the “and thens” continue to put very large gaps in our consistency. And it’s the consistency in both intensity and monitoring what we eat that really gets us our results.
Several months ago a verve athlete came up to me after a class and asked if they could have a few minutes of my time. In a few minutes time this athlete wanted me to give them “a couple of quick exercises” they could do to give them six pack abs. Their goal was to look like Brad Pitt in the Fight Club. Seriously, I get it. Who doesn’t want a six pack like that, but it’s beyond important for everyone to know there are no quick exercises any one can do and suddenly develop a six pack. Paul’s blog yesterday hopefully started to shed some light on the fact that there is no quick way to achieve these aesthetic looks. It takes time, it takes some sacrifices, and it takes a great deal of precision in your diet. Oh, and it takes intensity. (I feel like you saw that coming)
I want to tag onto Paul’s post with an article posted by Miranda Oldroyd several weeks ago, “I Only Look Like This Because of Good Genetics. . . “. This is an amazing post that highlights several misconceptions about Games athletes/ highly competitive athletes, how they train and why they look the way they do. This information is coming from a women who is a Games/ highly competitive athlete and happens to be so many people’s #WCW when they describe how they want CrossFit to make them look. I would highly encourage everyone to give it a read (click here), because I am going to skip to her 5th and final misconception. Miranda is going to drop a truth bomb that will absolutely blow more than a few people’s minds:
Misconception #5 – You have to train like a Games athlete to be “fit” and to look good. More is better.
Truth: There are 3 things you need to see amazing results from training (CrossFit or otherwise), and it’s not steroids, or more volume, or amazing genetics. Here it is…
- You need intensity. You need to GO HARD in your workouts. And you need to stop thinking that 45 min EMOMs and Chippers are the key to the goods. You need to take off the weight vest, and stop adding weight until you start seeing times that would rival Regional level athletes. Until then – go faster.
- You need to eat better. I didn’t say less. For many of you (women especially) it might even be more. One thing you can bet is that Games athletes eat to perform. You should do the same thing. You need to weigh and measure your food and have some sort of tracking system that works for you. Use that information to tell you whether or not you are on the right track, then keep making tweaks until you get it right.
- This one is the most important…and you’re not going to like it…. YOU NEED TO BE CONSISTENT WITH 1 AND 2 FOR A LONG ASS TIME if you ever want results that actually stick. I am no scientist, but it is my belief that you can change how your body responds to training and nutrition if you keep reprogramming it over and over again for years.
Is training difficult? Yes. Is eating right difficult? Yes. But the hardest part is doing them consistently. Create your goals. Rally a friend to make you accountable, set yourself up for success. Come to the gym and don’t worry about how many workouts you need to do, worry about crushing just one, and I mean crush it real good. Go home and have a complete, balanced meal, AND THEN. . . rinse and repeat, a lot.
