Yep, growth is coming!
Welcome to the fun part. Yes, you’re still getting sore, but not to where it feels like you actually might die during and after each workout. Now you know what all of the equipment and movements are called, have a really solid grasp of CrossFit’s 9 Fundamental Movements – dead lift, sumo deadlift high pull, clean, squat, front squat, overhead squat, press, push press, and the jerk.
By now you’ve also got a grasp of what midline stabilization is, what it means to both open and close your hip, where your posterior chain is and yes, most things you do for the rest of your life will now be “for time”. You know that spreading chalk all over the gym is for newbs and you probably have a hard time having a conversation that doesn’t involve talking about some aspect of your fitness or diet.
This is the fun part because as the title says, you’re about to really take off. It’s not until the basics are mastered that the real joy of adding weight, dropping workout times, and the subsequent physical changes in your body really begin to happen.
In this stage you’re going to see massive increases in the weights that you’re using, you may cut workout times literally in half, and instead of fearing the gym, it has now become a place that you look forward to going. You’ve got friends that are as interested in health, fitness, nutrition, and the ridiculous as you are and life is good.
You may start to be interested in competition and seeing where your real potential lies at this point – go for it! Competition is a great way to see where your strengths and weaknesses lie as well as a fantastic way to continue to live outside of your comfort zone.
Continue to focus on the basics here. Master them. Understand them on as many levels as you can and begin to see how each movement affects another. Start to see that an overhead squat is how you come out of a snatch, a deadlift is how you start a clean, and a front squat is how your finish one. By beginning to connect the dots between movements you’ll start to see the beauty behind the bigger picture.
If you haven’t already, this is the stage to really begin to play with your diet. You know what we’ve taught you about Paleo and the Zone, but now you’ll have the honest feedback from your workouts to analyze the results from personal dietary experimentation. You are now your own personal guinea pig.
Keep educating yourself, pushing your training, and focusing heavily on stretching, yoga, and mobility. The increased demand that you’re now placing on your system needs to be coupled with adequate rest, recovery, and support from some kind of healing modality such as acupuncture, chiropractic, and massage.
Ride this wave for as long as you can, it’s a beautiful time to be a CrossFitter!
Today’s Workout:
Skill Work:
Inverted Hang
Front Lever
Back Lever
15 – 12 – 9
Overhead Squats (95#/65#)
Burpees
