Hitting your weaknesses.. For real this time!

5 Aug 2009

So we all have weaknesses and we all want to address them. The crazy thing is that most of the skills needed to make the said weakness not a weakness any longer are olympic sports or at least something close to it.
Think : Olympic Lifting (everyone is weak at that, look at your world qualifying total for your weight class), gymnastics (all of it!). I would go on but those two alone are enough to keep you busy for the next couple decades.

It is funny to think about how most Crossfitters go after gaining these skills. One day they will work on Handstands, the next day they work on the snatch, the next they focus on their pose running. My question is, did they really get any better at any of it? maybe, but only marginally if that.

I would recommend finding a focus. ex: This month i want to be able to hold a free standing handstand for 30 sec. Make sure it is quantifiable. Work with that focus in mind ALL month, every day! If you don’t accomplish your goal by the end of the month, go for another month. it will be worth it in the end. Once you have gained competence in the given skill periodically come back to it to make sure you don’t lose the skill you have already accomplished. See how this works?

This month get a goal and stick with it. Post yours below and we will all keep you accountable. For extra accountability i will be asking everyone how it went at the end of the month.

p.s. I snatched 97 today! 100 is right around the corner…

14 Responses to Hitting your weaknesses.. For real this time!

Ginger Calem

August 5th, 2009 at 5:58 pm

Hey Dutch!

We’ve done month-challenges in our box and it’s been a lot of fun. For June everyone had to pick one thing they wanted to accomplish by the end of the month. Things ranged from a muscle-up to 20 consecutive kipping pull-ups to even 3 dead hang pull-ups. It was great to see everyone supporting the individual goals. We’ve also done nutrition challenges. In fact, we have another one coming up which they don’t know about yet.

Anyway, I totally agree with this train of thought and think these goals are the way to go.

Ginger Calem (and William)

CrossFit Georgetown

Ben M

August 5th, 2009 at 8:20 pm

Would practicing the snatch 5 days a week and the handstand 2 days a week be too ADD?

Ryan P

August 6th, 2009 at 4:41 am

nice work dutch! you’re real close to that 100 kilo goal!

dutch

August 6th, 2009 at 6:42 am

Ben,
So long as you aren’t over training i think you will be fine. I would, however, recommend picking one to focus on rather than trying to get good at everything at once.

Thanks Ryan.

Dave,
Its bulgarian. I snatch and Clean and jerk everyday. I squat sometimes.
Everything is heavy, everyday.

dave

August 6th, 2009 at 7:57 am

haha, i didn’t even have to ask! congrats on your snatch! do you find that you have to do anything different for your joints when you’re going heavy that often? i have the joints of an old man (knees) that always start acting up when i do a “lot” of o-lifting. looking forward to hearing how the strength work goes.

dutch

August 6th, 2009 at 8:05 am

Dave,
Funny you should ask…
It is super painful but apparently there is some adapting that will take place. For me its my shoulders. Knees have been good but i have been there too. Try strengthening your hamstrings (GH raises, good mornings, SLDL…)

David Nichols

August 6th, 2009 at 8:40 am

I have dedicated August to pistols and handstand push-ups. After reading this blog, I know think I might need to stick with just pistols.

For everyone out there, a small complement to Dutch…

Had a 17 year old high school softball player stop by last week to try out a class. She has been doing a local sports conditioning program (Velocity) and said she does cleans all the time and she knew what she was doing. I was very hesitant to believe her, but I said okay and asked her how much weight she uses. She answered, “I don’t know. They are like this big.” as she gestures in the air. So I grabbed the 35# bar and put it in her hands. It was horrible from the get go. I have some footage of the before-and-after. The before had no hip extension, no shrug, but had a very strong reverse curl. After a quick explanation of what a clean looks like, what you are trying to achieve with a clean and the 3 steps we were going to take to teach her to clean (20 minutes) she was cleaning 85# with ease. Full hip extension, shrug and a quick decent under the bar (pony tail sticking up!).

The point of this story isn’t centered around me one bit, but around the knowledge I gained at Dutch’s O-lifting class @ CF Seven. Not only did I become a better o-lifter, but more importantly I became a better coach. My eye got better, and my understanding of cues got better.

I highly recommend his class to everyone out there, no matter how experienced you are.

Thanks Dutch for the new arrow in my quiver!

David Nichols
CrossFit Denton County

dave

August 6th, 2009 at 10:12 am

glad to hear i’m not alone on that! i will give the hamstring work a shot. is the adaptation a months long process? i started to feel pretty beat down after about 5 weeks.

as for my weakness…i perpetually suck at HSPUs. i started to get ok at them and then gained 20lbs (on purpose) so they’re a bitch again. think i will put in my extra work on those this month.

Tristy

August 17th, 2009 at 9:11 am

Dutch…love reading your blogs and am really looking forward to your seminar on Saturday at CF Austin!! I love the idea of setting a goal to work on. Wes had us do that, but I didnt’ take it as seriously as I should have. Now, I am on it! Kips, here I come!!

Dutch Lowy

Hitting your weaknesses.. For real this time!

14 Responses to Hitting your weaknesses.. For real this time!

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