Flexibility, Mobility, Stretching.  All of these are incredibly important for overall health in your life, and very important in CrossFit.  That’s why in every class, we’re looking for more ways to twist and contort your body to make you as limbur and as flexible as possible.  I know you all know just how miserable the first air squat of the day can be.  It’s not fun, and many times miserable.  But as you warm up they get easier and easier.  That’s why we’re always warming up your joints, muscles, and ligaments, it’s easier to complete movements when you’re warm and less likely to injure yourself.  Flexibility is defined as the ability to maximize the range of motion at a given joint.  Many people go into the doctor for lower back pain, and what’s the doctor say?  Stretch your hamstrings.  Some people have shoulder pain, stretch your pectoral muscles and latissimus dorsi muscles (full disclosure, I googled the spelling on that).  So stretch! Stretch a lot!  When you get to class early, grab a band, PVC, or some weights and stretch out what’s ailing you.

Finally, a GPS that isn’t vague.  Strength is strength.  How much weight can you apply force to to move in a certain direction.  Defined as the ability of a muscular unit, or a combination of muscular units to apply force.  Throughout each week, we throw in some strength work which is an obvious attempt to help you guys get stronger.  Dead lifts, 5×5.  Overhead Squat, 5-5-5-3-3. Strict Press, 5×5, etc. etc. et cetera.  The thing is, you can’t just have strength alone to succeed in CrossFit and many times, in life.  We’ve all seen that guy or girl come into a gym who is yoked out of this world, and put up some amazing weights.  Very impressive, no doubt.  But add some speed to that workout, maybe a run in between and put a time limit on it, chances are that body builder will be crippled before round 1 is over.  Even if we’re not working on specific strength movements and adding weight each set, in our WOD’s where we’re moving the barbells, dumbbells, or wallballs, you’re going to be building your strength by doing those movements at high intensity.  Our goal at Gorilla CrossFit and any CrossFit gym, is to build all around great athletes who can work harder, longer, and faster than someone who trains specifically for one event.

The second “General Physical Skill of Fitness” is Stamina.  The ability of body systems to process, deliver, store, and utilize energy.  This sounds a lot like Endurance, so what’s the difference?  ”Derrr… I think they really only had 9 GSP’s and 10 just sounded better.”   Well hold on there Tiger, the way I see it,  stamina is the ability to sustain a long stressful effort.  Endurance is the ability to exert yourself for a long period of time.  Still, what’s the difference?  Someone who can complete the filthy 50 in 23:00 minutes may have greater endurance than someone who completes it in 45:00.  But at the same time, both people require stamina which is the specific pace at which they can complete the workout.   So the person completing the WOD quicker, has better stamina.  Thoroughly confused?  Athletes need stamina to finish the WOD at the same pace they started at, or close to it.  Both need endurance to complete the WOD at all.  So why does it matter?  Every time you come into class and complete a WOD, you are building your stamina to complete the next WOD faster.  So push yourself, to go faster, work harder and rest less in each and every WOD.

Cardiovascular/Respiratory endurance: The ability of the body systems to gather, process, and deliver oxygen. 

You guys probably already know that we work on “cardio” in every class.  Thats the first thing that newbies say about CrossFit, is that they have trouble catching their breath, and their “carido” is sh*t.  Luckily this is something that your body adapts to pretty quickly.  In most athlete of the month posts, people have been saying, “keep coming, and keep working hard.   You will eventually be able to catch your breath and keep up with the WODs.”  Your first couple weeks will be rough, but as you keep coming in, your respiratory endurance WILL get better.  This isn’t just for newbies though.  If you have been coming in for a while, and you feel like you have the lungs to keep up with most WODs, DONT STOP! Keep pushing yourself to go harder, take less water breaks, and try to get more work done in a shorter period of time.

Get ready to Learn!

We are not giving away any trade secrets here.  This is simple common sense stuff for you guys to think about and consider.  These are the things that we are trying to get all of you Gorilla’s better at in each and every class. Over the next ten posts or so, we’ll spotlight one of these skills and talk about how important they all are.

One of the coolest parts about tracking your progress or writing your workouts down is looking back and seeing how far you’ve come.  It’s tough to look at your “now” self, and compare to your “then” self, because now, you’ve found other things that you’re trying to conquer.   Many times you forget just how far you’ve come.  There are note pads in the front office if people would like to start tracking their WOD’s and lifts and store them in the tubs provided.  Check out this photo below from the not too distant past.  Can anyone imagine David using a band for his pull-ups in a WOD??? I know I can’t.  He’s a prime example of how hard work and dedication really does pay off (many times in the short run!)

We’re not just a bunch of emotionless, competitive meatheads grunting through a WOD.  In fact, I would bet that you could walk into almost any CrossFit gym in the world and find a similar person.  Let’s face the facts: CrossFit people are good people.  You can’t be an overly prideful person and stick with a CrossFit gym.  Everyone and we mean everyone, no matter how fit you are, gets a reality check and humbling experience in CrossFit.  An overly proud person just doesn’t return.  Everyone has to work from the bottom up, there are no shortcuts and that’s just hard work.  You have to be a hard worker.  You also have to enjoy the presence and successes of others when your workout regime always involves classes with others.

We see this everyday in our gym: Good people.  Saturday’s class was no different.  We did a partner WOD in which Lance and Brian were fighting through the WOD, chipping away at every movement.  Still, Lance and Brian were coming up behind everyone else in the WOD (this just happens..some days it’s your WOD and some days it’s someone else’s) Lance and Brian went to finish their barbell run while everyone else was finished with their WOD and guess what?  The entire class who was finished with their workout went out and ran with them.  GOOD PEOPLE.  We love the support.  No matter where you are in you fitness journey, CrossFit and its people will support you.  Thanks Gorillas!

If you haven’t met or heard of Rick by now, you must be living under a rock.  This guy landed at Gorilla CrossFit near the first of the year and hit the ground running.  He represented Gorilla at the CrossFit TNT Affiliate cup in February, finishing in the middle of the pack after less than a month of training.  Rick has over a year of personal training experience under his belt and if you couldn’t guess,  has been lifting heavy weights since he was born.  I heard he dead lifted 135# at 6 months old.  Could be rumors, but I doubt it.   Rick is always trying to prefect his form to be the most efficient by asking questions, studying videos, and practicing.  He also takes full range of motion (squat below parallel, head touch the ground/ab-mat on handstand push-ups, arms locked out over head, etc.) very seriously.  If you’re looking for someone to help you with form, range of motion, or encouragement, this is your guy!Even Carter is impressed with this dude! 

Pushing the prowler is fun!  But we want to see you guys pushing yourself in class too!  Keep working, keep moving, just don’t stop until the WOD’s over.   You’re not always going to have that person in class who really drives you to go harder, so learn to compete against yourself and push yourself.  Self talk is huge when you’re in the midst of misery.  Tell yourself you can do it, tell yourself you can keep moving, to just jump up one more time, or put your hands on the ground one more time, and then do it!