Constantly Varied For Life…

WOD, 12/16/10:

FIRST:

15 minutes to work your way up to the heaviest 3 rep back squat as possible.  Once a three rep max is established, if time permits, continue at max load.

THEN:

2 rounds with no rest of:

2 minutes max kettlebell swings (1.5/1 pood)

2 minutes max toes to bar

2 minutes max squat snatch (75/55)

Post total reps to whiteboard.

We live on a dead end street.  No one ever drives down it but the people that live on it.  Each day, at 7:02,  I blindly back out of my driveway, coffee deprived, with the assumption that no one is cruising down my street.

Not today…

Today, I was almost T-boned by some women in a bright red Toyota Solaris.  I was pissed…how dare this stranger be driving down my street, at my departure time without any warning??!?!?

This story is true…ridiculous, but true.

How many times in life do things change when we don’t want them to?  Just last week, I had to attend four days of secondary education professional development to learn a process that the board of education will decide does not work and we will execute in two years.  But, until then...I’ll continue to teach The Scarlet Letter the best I can and I’ll march on.

Life changes all the time.  A major focus at CrossFit is to train people to survive in the real world, hence our functional movements (deadlifting, squatting, pressing, etc..).  If our lives are always changing (despite the discomfort that this causes), why shouldn’t our workouts???

The three pillars of CrossFit are 1.) functional movements 2.) high intensity 3.) constantly varied

All too often we assume constantly varied to mean we don’t squat two days in a row, or do pull-ups every Thursday, and while this is true to some degree, there is more to it.

Guess what??  Sometimes life demands that we perform the same movement multiple days in a row (pressing boxes over our heads, deadlifting immobilized geriatrics, squatting to the toilet), so there has to be a bit more to this constantly varied component of CrossFit…

How about today when we made you all squeeze together on one side of the gym to perform your clean and jerks? Or yesterday, when you had to run outside for five rounds in the freezing cold? Or when you have to edge your way onto the pull-up bar amongst other sweating athletes?  Or (my new favorite) you have to manipulate yourself around the deck guys that park their trucks on our running route????

Yes, it all seems quite annoying. But so is the lady driving down my street at 7 am.  And so is the new never-be-enforced data teams at WHHS.  And so is your husband, mother, boss, etc, who changed their mind yet again, affecting your life.  But guess what folks???

Such is life.

It is always changing.  We must expose ourselves to a variety of stressors (in our workouts and daily lives) to make ourselves more equipped to conquer it, and enjoy it along the way.

So, I suppose I should actually be thanking those deck guys with the trucks…

Maria F. is looking RIPPED! Keep up the good work!

Keith working at maximum intensity during today's WOD.

8 Responses for Constantly Varied For Life…

  1. Jim lapia:
    December 16, 2010 02:23 am

    Looking good keith, miss the morning crowd but soon as the summer comes around and it starts getting hot I will be back to mornings. But even in the winter I still take my shirt off

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  2. Maria:
    December 16, 2010 05:28 am

    LP – Great Blog so true! At first, I read it as life sucks and thought to myself that wouldn't be in LP blog…so what does that say about my attitude towards change…

    Actually change is good, makes us stronger in all aspects of life, and teaches us how to cope rather than freak out (unless you have to take DATA on everything you do).

    Just ate my eggwhites

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  3. Brian W @ CFNH:
    December 16, 2010 06:33 am

    "…deadlifting immobilized geriatrics…" Wait a minute – have you been watching me trying to get out of bed in the morning?

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  4. Mike Dalton:
    December 16, 2010 07:24 am

    When Heather and I were on our honeymoon, the dive boat was supposed to leave at noon. We got to the dock and the boat wasn't there. We asked the deck-hand what happened, and he said "Dis is Belize, mon; tings change!" A valuable lesson.

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  5. Frank:
    December 16, 2010 08:16 am

    Workouts start the 27th…cancel your plans to use your cheats on those holiday desserts!

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  6. Chris CAP:
    December 16, 2010 11:41 am

    So are the weeks being extended as well, or will the last points post remain the 20th????

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  7. Jess L:
    December 16, 2010 01:11 pm

    Haha…a suburban mom's holiday workout:

    I just dead lifted a case of Bordeaux off the front porch from UPS/wine club…

    Then I used a snatch to get Evelyn's new kitchen for Xmas up on top of all the boxes to hide it in the basement….that thing was heavier than I thought!?

    Sprinting up & down stairs with baskets full of laundry & usually a kid or 2…

    Etc.

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  8. Coach K:
    December 16, 2010 07:35 pm

    Haha! Great comment Jess…my favorite is the sumo deadlift high pull of the grocery bags over the baby gate and then again onto the kitchen counter.

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