Week 3 brings our focus to the importance of Movement to the CrossFit Culture. What’s important and why? Keep reading!
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Mechanics, Consistency, Intensity
What do these three things mean in relation to your CrossFit workouts? The quick answer is that it’s the acronym to remember for nonstop progress in the gym. MCI teaches you to value longevity in your fitness. So let’s break down what each component means and how you can apply it to your workouts.
Mechanics -the foundation of the pyramid. Mechanics create the structure of movement and dictate the safest, most effective way to complete the movement. This is all about quality of movement. The higher the quality, the higher the level of fitness over the long term.
IF you currently cannot perform (insert any movement) with excellent mechanics, the path forward is more deliberate practice with reduced loads and speed. IF you can complete (insert movement) with great mechanics, how consistent can you be across multiple reps and sessions? Which brings us to the next layer on the pyramid.
Consistency -is the ability to meet the standard of the movement and apply good movement patterns even when there’s variations in equipment, rep count or weight loads. Your first rep and your last rep should ‘look’ similar, even under fatigue. Once you have achieved this, it doesn’t mean you don’t need coaching but it does mean you can add in the third layer of the pyramid.
Intensity -relates to scaling/customizing the workout to accommodate your fitness level in order to maintain the stimulus of the workout. Our coaches are there to help you understand the stimulus for each workout of the day and scale the workout so you can experience intensity. As your fitness ability improves, you may notice you’ll scale in different ways or not even at all.
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Range of Motion
To achieve our fitness goals and maintain a healthy life, we must strive for and train at full ranges of motion. Whether that means pull ups or squats or burpees, putting our bodies through the full range of motion is critical to getting maximum benefit out of our training and workouts. As you get more familiar with the exercises you should know the ideal full range of motion. You also become aware of your own movement and any limitations or shortcomings in your ranges of motion. Which brings us to the last point on movement.
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Working on Weaknesses
Our overall health and fitness will be limited by our weakest link. For some, this is the range of motion in the squat and mobility restrictions. For others, this is the strength of certain muscles. And others are limited by nutrition and lifestyle choices. We place a lot of value on working on our weaknesses because these are the anchors that hold us back from what we are capable of. Everyone has a weakness and can be actively working on improving it. It’s part of CrossFit Culture!
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How to practice these principles in the gym
- Become aware of your body. How you move, your habits and tendencies
- Move with intention, every single rep. From the warm up to the cool down, be intentional
- Ask a coach how to train your weakness
- Work on your weakness daily
- Don’t be intimidated by intensity. If you have the mechanics down consistently, lean into intensity. Add weight, move faster, rest less.
- Be a student of movement. Watch people in class and try to emulate high quality movement
- Most importantly, move with intention outside of the gym. You’re only working out 1 hour out of 23. Sit with good posture, stand, walk, stretch, pick things up, and all other life’s tasks with quality movement, because it matters!
Culture Month – Week 1 – Community
Culture Month – Week 2 – Mindset
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