Mastery. Not to be confused with the Masters division. Mastery of CrossFit is something that is challenging to write about because it is an ever-evolving stage. Much like the martial arts most people who have been training and training consistently in CrossFit for over five years have a very solid grasp on all areas of the game and then realize that the real learning has just begun.
This is the stage you enter when your understanding begins to evolve and the idea of self-expression starts to take over. Stealing from the late, great Bruce Lee at this point of the journey you stop doing the techniques and start “expressing” the techniques.
My squat clean is started out as Andy Petranek’s squat clean, then it had a little bit of Becca Borawski and Jeremy Jones’s squat cleans mixed in with it. Cill added her touch to it, so did Zeb and Eric. Now it’s mine. Now it’s a combination of everything that the above people have taught me coupled with my own ideas of how it should be performed, coupled further with my own physicality. Now instead of trying to do a squat clean, I’m working on expressing myself through my own.
Sound hokie? Maybe so, but it’s what happens. Mastery of a movement includes not only understanding the basics of the movement but also understanding how to break down and instill those basics to someone else, understanding how those basics can be applied to other lifts, and finally, understanding how those basics get applied to outside sports and the human experience at large.
At this point you can pick out who’s lumbar region is weak, who’s over developed their chest, and who really needs to work on their mobility – all from how they bent down to pick up a box of juice at the grocery store.
In the gym, long gone are the days of five minute time drops on ten minute workouts, P.R’s over five or ten pounds, and radical physical changes. Mastery is where a CrossFitter spends his or her time wallowing in the beauty and elegance of the nuances of a movement, and in seeing the hidden message behind the programming of a workout. When performing a flawless snatch is far more rewarding than getting a 20 pound P.R with crappy form, you’ve moved out of adulthood.
At this stage of the game it’s time to delve into the deeper levels of human movement. Begin to study how movement effects the body, how movement or lack there of effects human health and the propensity for injury. You’ve put your time in, you’ve had your battles in the trenches – keep training, keep thinking, keep studying and applying what you’ve learned to your life.
The game doesn’t end here folks, as a matter of fact it’s just beginning. Keep enjoying the ride and the life that you’ve built around strength, health and wellness.
Today’s Workout:
Skill: rope climbs
Teams of 2-3
2 Rounds for Reps:
4 Min row for max calories
4 Min max rope climbs
4 Min wall climbs
*only one person works at a time and they must take their shoes off for wall climbs!
