As many rounds as possible in 12 minutes of:
10 Chest to bar pull-ups
10 Kettlebell swings, 32kg(24kg)
10 Box jumps, 24″(20″)
Post rounds to comments and BTWB
To be virtuous or not to be? A question for you to answer. By Courtney “the song bird of our generation” Shepherd
Yesterday during the morning and afternoon classes I brought up the idea of fighting for virtuosity in our overhead squats. I said that as coaches, making athletes move well is our goal. We use movement progressions to re-enforce good mechanics in a warm-up. We use verbal, visual, and tactile cues before and during workouts to continue to address mechanics. Before workouts we bring up scaling options that will allow an athlete to preform at their optimal intensity and maintain mechanics, including dropping weights, reps, rounds, or possibly altering movements all together. All of these are ways we try to keep athletes progressing forward, getting stronger, and staying safe and injury free. The problem is that’s it’s not enough for a coach to want these things for an athlete, the athlete needs to want this for themselves.
When I got home later in the day, by happy coincidence I came across an article that hit this concept home for me. In Box Magazine, Abi Reiland wrote “Understanding What Coaches Can and Can’t Do: Take personal control of your progress and experience by knowing what to expect from coaches and what things are your personal responsibility in the box.“ (Click here for full article)
A coach. . .
CAN: Offer instruction on movements. A good coach will carefully instruct athletes on technique and progressions, and provide corrections continuously.
CAN’T: Force perfection every time. In the middle of a workout, although coaches will almost always observe and correct, it’s up to each athlete to take the fundamentals he or she learned and apply those to a workout.
CAN: No-rep you on slack standards. As a coach walks around assisting with standards during a workout, he may make you aware that your reps are not what he wants to see. A coach will offer the appropriate correction and watch until you’re able to apply or modify.
CAN’T: Hold you accountable for every rep every day. One or two pairs of eyes on an entire room of athletes won’t catch everything. Practice ethics and give yourself the benefit of the full exercise by sticking to standards and counting only the reps you know you should.
CAN: Give you options for modifications. CrossFit is scalable in so many ways that coaches will typically cover a number of options for modification and potentially give specific instruction to those who might have unique challenges.
CAN’T: Know exactly how hard you’re working. Coaches can tell whether something is easy or impossible, but the middle ground is more difficult to determine. So it’s up to athletes to know when a modification is too easy or when Rx is just too hard. Push yourself to progress.
CAN: Program workouts to help you progress. The best gyms will give you great programming specifically designed to help you progress in overall athleticism.
CAN’T: Require attendance and mandate extra exercises. Because every athlete is unique in his or her strengths and weaknesses, there may be some areas that require extra attention. And it’s up to athletes to tackle the workouts that address their weaknesses and put time in to skills they struggle with.
CAN: Provide guidance in case of injury. When an athlete makes a coach aware of an injury, he or she will often receive a modified workout or some suggestions for substitution.
CAN’T: Read your mind or serve as a substitute doctor. Coaches can’t know what’s bothering you and how much it hurts. And coaches are NOT doctors or physical therapists, so in the event that you’re experiencing pain, it’s important to address it with a professional health-care provider.
As a coach we need to provide you a safe environment to workout. We need to provide you with good coaching. We need to be a part of keeping you moving well and avoiding injury. . . be a part of. As athletes, we need to take responsibility for our actions that may interfere with these goals. This includes not keeping coaches informed about injuries. Coaches ask, we need to communicate with them. There are times we cannot be in the gym for a long time and/ or lose consistency. Verve is happy when athletes return but returning needs to be done with some easing back into WODs. It’s not always feasible to return to doing the same things we did before we left. We need to scale appropriately. But what if we don’t know what appropriately is? Again, a time to talk with a coach. When workouts are introduced the intent of the workout is discussed. Athletes are given ideas of time frames, weights, and ways to scale but if we are still unsure, better to ask the coach then struggle through a workout.
“Coaches provide CrossFitters with the tools they need to achieve peak performance. However, it’s up to each athlete to put what he or she has learned into play. Coaching is imperative in keeping athletes happy, healthy and successful, but where coaches lack control, athletes must hold themselves accountable. Take personal control of your progress and experience by knowing what to expect from coaches and what things are your personal responsibility in the box.”
Virtuosity is doing the common, uncommonly well. We may never be perfect but in working towards perfection we can reach virtuosity. Strive to be virtuous.
