Crossfit Challenge & My Own Challenges

The above video is a taste of Crossfit challenges. The one above was last Saturday and was held at the new Seventile Miles Rock branch of crossfit, Crossfit Rocks, which is run by Doug Armstrong, who was a previous member of Crossfit Brisbane. The main guy in the video is Matt Swift, who is the owner and main trainer of CF Brisbane. He walks his talk, as you can see.

I couldn't go along to have a look, as I had Cheryl's 50th birthday party to help organise. Apparently it was a great day and very successful. Lisa Stokes competed in the challenge, as part of her preparation for the upcoming big event at CF Brisbane on 7th March. She placed 8th overall in the women's division, out of 29 competitors, and considering she's just returned from injury, had a fantastic result! Lisa is a great inspiration for CF women (considering she's only be doing CF a short period of time), and is one hell of a strong athlete! I'm pretty sure she trains at least 5 days a week in Crossfit, and if you've seen the workouts, that's pretty impressive.

The Crossfit challenges, from my perspective as a beginner, look pretty daunting. You can start competing once you can initiate correct form and technique of your main skills, i.e. pull-ups, deadlifts, squats, etc. You don't have to be a seasoned Crossfitter. Like the training, competitions are scaled to the individual. You're not competing against others, it's more about competing with yourself and seeing what you're made of.

Needless to say, competitions are not in my sights this year. It's more about building my skills, strength and fitness without injury and correcting my muscular imbalances, so that I can do what I want to do and function at my optimal level. I have to admit though, the more I train in CF, the more I want to train. You definitely start to get an itch for it.

I've noticed lately in quite a few blogs, there seems to be a current theme where people are having difficulty with motivation and direction in their training and overall 'fire in the belly' feeling, as Hannah described it recently. I've been thinking about that lately and the reasons why. My conclusion is, last year saw such huge growth and achievement for most of my fellow bloggers, that recapturing that drive is proving difficult. I think 2009 took alot out of all of us, and once you hit such high goals and aspirations, how do you trump that?

I have to admit that I'm going through the same thing. The strange thing is, as I've said in recent posts, my nutrition is going great and my exercise is slowly increasing, but I just haven't felt the same 'WHAMMO' feeling, like I had last year.

However, I know why...majorly different plans have been put in place, requiring a total shift in paradigms for me.

Last year I trained hard, continuously 5-6 days a week for the major part of the year, with a week's break in-between programs for recovery. I had a set plan all written out and worked out for me. I had a weights/cardio program that was progressively scaled to keep things challenging and all a nutrition program all worked out for me as well. Keeping track statistically was very easy, because the workouts were set for a period of time, i.e. 4-6 weeks, then a new program incorporated. I knew exactly where I was in the scheme of things and where I was heading.

This year everything has changed (except my nutrition at this point in time). I've started back in martial arts (Wing Chun at present) and am now doing Crossfit training, as well as trying to incorporate regular running sessions, and then hopefully start to do more martial arts specific training which is more physically challenging than Wing Chun (where training is heavily geared towards upper body/shoulder endurance, being a close distance fighting system).

With Crossfit, you can't plan sessions like you do at a gym. Crossfit incorporates a 'cross-section' of training modalities. The definition of Crossfit by founder, Greg Glassman is..."Crossfit is a strength and conditioning program built on consistent and varied, if not randomised, functional movements executed at high intensity." *There are 3 fitness standards. The first is based on 10 general physical skills, i.e. cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, flexibility, power, co-ordination, agility, balance, and accuracy. The second is "about performing well at any and every task imaginable". The third is based on the 'three metabolic pathways' or engines, a) Phosphagen, b) glycolytic, c) oxidative. 1st pathway is centred around high-powered activities lasting around 10secs. 2nd pathway incorporate activities lasting up to several minutes. And the 3rd pathway, oxidative, incorporates activities lasting in excess of several minutes. So CF fitness as specified in the 3rd standard is all about 'metabolic conditioning' and "how and why we do cardio".

Anyway, I find this stuff fascinating. But back to my own challenges....because the way I am doing training is so different to last year, and is more 'intuitive', requires alot more flexibility and lessens my ability to plan right down to the last detail (which is what I love to do), it's really messing with my head.

Theoretically, I know what I need to do. I need to be patient! Not one of my virtues. I need to build up gradually and listen to my body, because this isn't going to happen overnight. In fact, to really see results, I need to give myself 6-12 months, consistently training in CF to really understand what this Crossfit thing is all about.

By concentrating in Crossfit it's going to improve my results in other areas of my life...martial arts, army and overall fitness. As Wendy said yesterday, I don't need to do specific running training to improve my running and times. Just by concentrating on training a min. of 3 times per week in CF, my improvements will be a given. She gave me an example of when she first started out as a swimmer and did triathlons. After 12 months and not doing specific 'running' training, just training in CF, she slashed her running times. Of course if you a triathlete and marathon runner, you do need to be doing specific training for your training modality.

The problem is, I'm in a place I haven't been for some time...a complete beginner! And when you're starting out at something she can't help but develop the 'monkey-mind'. Inherently, you know what you need to do...just follow the goddamned program!! But as a beginner, you start to do things to totally confuse and sabotage your efforts. How do I know this? Cause that's what goes through the minds of alot of people starting out in Ideal Bodies online. Instead of following the recommendations and program, they change it a little, but for some reason still expect the results. Isn't that the definition of 'insanity'? BTW, this ability by beginners to totally get themselves befuddled and not trust in the process, is applicable to all skills and areas of life. It used to happen with students starting out in martial arts too.

But here I am, a beginner, going through the same things. Though, I have an advantage - I recognise my folly, so after talking to Wendy yesterday I feel much better, and that monkey-mind has been quietened for the time being. I'm happy to keep training as I am and trust in the process. I'm looking to the people who have done it and are doing it, and this is what I need to do if I want to experience success, not only in Crossfit, but in all areas of my fitness.

Anyway...this is where I'm at. I am loving Crossfit at the moment though, and have decided to train again tonight, even though I'm sore and have torn open a blister. Luckily no pull-ups, but I still have to be able to grip the bar. I'm sure I'll be fine.

*information and quotes are taken from the 'Crossfit Journal', featuring 'What is Crossfit', dated Oct 2002.