For the past 7 years of running CrossFit gyms, one of the best questions I love to get from CrossFitters that have been to other gyms and have been in the game a bit is this.
“How do you guys do CrossFit here?”
What this shows me is the the person has some understanding that gyms can be widely different in focus and approach to teaching people this CrossFit thing we do. Glassman (the founder of CrossFit for you newer folk) would say in his old videos that you can spot CrossFit with your eyes. While a small gym might not use the name or a trainer might not say it, CrossFit is identifiable just by watching someone train! Even with the very unmistakable look of CrossFit there are endless variations of it. When you get into programming classes for a large gym, structuring the program for the daily experience is a multidimensional beast…like straight up string theory level stuff.
While there are gyms that focus on prepping everyone for the games. Where weekly you see muscle ups, handstand walks, tire flips, max snatch or chain squats and banded deadlifts. There are gyms that also program mostly what would look like boot camp classes. Where russian swings, wall balls and running are the most common movement and the shortest workout of the week may be a 35 minute amrap.
I’m not here to say either one is better than the other. I am just saying that each one is different and each one is meant for different people. The CrossFitters that stick around in the long term will develop their own style of training. Whether it be thought out and made or just created as a byproduct of being a part of different gyms and becoming more “cultured” we will say.
The honeymoon phase of CrossFit is the first 1.5-3 years of CrossFit, obviously this time frame is a little different for everyone depending on your background, what gym you go to and when you started CrossFit. Us old school prebok CrossFitters may have had a longer honeymoon phase because we did so much wrong… I mean….. “Different” back in the day. We learned as the brand grew and more specialist helped us understand better how to blend and build the different aspects of the sports we wanted to use.
Towards the end of the honeymoon phase we will start to develop a definite taste for how we like to do things. Depending on how your gym structures things, this is where the later years can stay fun and fresh versus old and stale. I feel that our programming here at Outlier CrossFit is not only great for the hypothetical end of honeymooner but also for the person just getting started in CrossFit because our programming is pretty well rounded and there isn’t really anything we shy away from. A lot of CrossFitters will have some sort of injury just like anyone with a recreational sport they practice. Whether it be some mild tennis elbow from doing Cindy and trying to beat your PR from 3 years ago, your achy hip that gets angry when you try and max out your clean and go for that last lift 2 or 3 or 7 extra attempts, or that achilles that gets a little emo from doing Annie while you listen to your country music a little too loud. What most people know but don’t realize is that the strengths that you learn about through your CrossFit journey can give you a good insight into what movements will be what gives you an injury and can really mess with your longevity in your gym.
Some people have the body type that is meant to move really heavy things for a few reps and keep the cardio and high rep count wods on the mild to medium side. Where their friends on the other side of the class might be able to do metcons all day and recover fine but once you have them do a few sets of 90% squats their body becomes useless for two weeks. Remember that while we may not all be beautiful or unique snowflakes. You can at least be a regular M&M or a peanut!. Figuring out what your body has tolerance for and it does not is key for the long term. It can be hard at times but it can really help.
With some of the more veteran members that I work with we have been focusing on modifying the class wod and choosing days that they give a real try and which days they kinda “sand bag.” Now I know “sandbagging” is a very dirty word in most CrossFit gyms…. But sometimes it’s necessary. There are days where you may know if you go to hard on a work out it may aggravate something in your body that you don’t want to hurt. But if you just put the foot on the brakes you can still get a good workout with a much lower chance of bothering your injury! This is also a good approach because the less aches and pains you develop and have the happier you will be with your fitness!
So what’s the takeaway from all this? Is it to modify everything however you want and make up your own stuff? NO! It is to talk with your coach and be open to modifying/adjusting certain workouts. Be selective when you go full tilt and be ok with finishing a little farther down the scoreboard then you’re use to. Discussing these modifications with your coach will help make sure you are still getting a well rounded approach. (It is easy for us to put things aside and leave out key parts of a program because it isn’t our favorite. The coach will challenge you to still push past your comfort zones but in a smarter way and help you understand why we program certain things the way we do and make sure you get the most out of it. Learn how to take care of your body and remember that this CrossFit thing is meant to be a life long fitness journey. How you approach your routine may be different than how your training buddy who you started with 3 years ago does. Find what works for you!
So as always, train hard, be smart and don’t take this CrossFit thing too serious!
Coach P