Forgotten Fitness
We just finished a good round of Annie here this week and it brought some thoughts to mind. First, what a great WOD. Very non-intimidating, but a real challenge once you get into it. Beyond that, I love this WOD because of the heavy reliance on double under proficiency to post a good time. The double under highlights some of the forgotten aspects of fitness. Coordination, agility, balance and accuracy. These are what some call the learned or practiced physical skills. Meaning the ones that are very neurological in nature and improve as your body gets better at sending those neurological signals (as opposed to something like stamina which occurs more through physiological adaptation of muscles and energy use and delivery systems). These general physical skills often take a back seat to more popular aspects of fitness like strength and cardio/respiratory endurance. When Annie shows up all of a sudden we wish we had spent a bit more time with coordination, agility, balance and accuracy. Don’t get me wrong, we practice these skills in other movements, but I don’t think any rely as heavily on them as the double under. As CrossFitters we want to be proficient in all 10 general physical skills (this link from CrossFit LIS has a great little breakdown on them). Find your weaknesses and systematically eliminate them.
Here is a great article from the CF Journal about Greg Amundson, one of the early CrossFit monsters, his battle with double unders, how they kept him out of the CF Games and what other surprising things improved in his work and fitness life once he became proficient at them. Yes, you will have to subscribe to read it. You should be subscribed already-it is the best $25 you can spend (have I ever said that before?).
AM Class
“Elizabeth”
21-15-9 reps of:
Clean 135 pounds
Ring dips
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PM Classes
Happy rest day!
15:40 w/ 115lb cleans (down from 21:33 this past September, a 5:53 PR!!)
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