What should i do to get better?
Most CrossFitter’s are a product of their first box (unless they had a negative experience). They will take on the methodology of that box, the coaching, the programming, the community and they will find it very hard to change and embrace another affiliate if they drop in for more than a week or if they move home and need to find a new gym.
I have been in CrossFit for just over 13 years and have had visited a decent amount of box’s in that time but been able to call 3-4 my gym including Three Flow. I can see little bits of them in me but of course now Annie and I own one it’s very much created in the vision of how we believe CrossFit should be performed and that forms how I look at our sport.
In our 8+ years of owning Three Flow the most common thing we see in our sport is members wanting to do more training, I think this first become a thing when the Froning IV film was released and everyone saw what he did and basically wanted to replicate that – ignoring the fact that he had built a base of strength and conditioning for years. We now know that if you want to make it to the Games you need to be a full time athlete, training at least twice a day (for many hours), have your sleep, stress and nutrition dialled in and have a whole team behind you so you can just concentrate on your training – look at what Mat Fraser did to achieve greatness. However, I have also seem members just aim for Regionals (now Quarterfinals) and it’s still a focus to do more because ‘I don’t have muscle ups’ or handstand push ups or lift a heavy bar etc etc….
In my many years of this sport and having made my own mistakes I can honestly say that the secret to success for 90% of all those that do CrossFit is to priortise:
• Sleep - get as much as you can
• Manage Stress
• Dial in your Nutrition & Hydration
• Regularly practice Mobility, Stability and / or do your rehab or prehab
• Consistency - highly underrated and this means months and years.
CrossFitter’s are a bit like Triathletes (I did 7 years of triathlons before I discovered CrossFit), we will buy or try anything that is shiny and new!
If {insert your favourite athlete} is doing it then you will give it a go, more than ever people are trying anything that an athlete endorses or the heard on the latest Huberman / Joe Rogan podcast or looking around for another program to do along with their current gyms programming.
I honestly believe that for those aiming for the Quarterfinals we don’t need to do more training, we need to perfect the above bullet points. Imagine doing more volume but having poor mobility or flexibility? I’ve often said that the majority of us already have the ability to lift the weight we are striving towards but our issue isn’t strength it’s mobility/flexibility or technique.
Doing an ice bath won’t fix your overhead position nor will taking the latest supplement / wearing the newest Nano’s/Metcon’s - by all means have a crack at Infra Red Sauna’s, Zone 2 training and Ice Baths but I believe you should make the above bullet points your main focus.
One of the easiest ways to get great advice on how you can improve is go chat with your coaches. There are a vast array of options for you to overcome any issue but if it’s mobility for example the problem is that it’s boring! We get no instant satisfaction from mobility but if we did an extra workout or strength session we’d feel the effect of it immediately in our muscles or lungs and therefore we’ll tell ourselves that it’s getting us closer to our goal. More often than not those that chase their target in this way end up injured. At Three Flow we have a coaching team which has years of experience in not just CrossFit but endurance sport, power lifting, weightlifting, gymnastics, many sports, personal training, physiotherapy, soft tissue therapy and probably important; are Mum’s/Dad’s, work full time jobs and understand what’s it’s like to have a goal and try to manage it within their life.
I’m going to be blunt here, a lot of people don’t ask some coaches as they don’t want to hear the answer, they prefer to go outside their gym to find something or someone (who doesn’t see you day in, day out) to enforce what you want to do.
For myself, I do give members specific programs to achieve their target but it’s balanced alongside the gyms programming and I have designed it to manage your load during that cycle. There are days or parts of a cycle where you can go harder or push it if that days programming suits your skillset or you feel great but over a week, weeks and months you cannot ‘go hard’ or max out every time – it’s the quickest way to get injured or develop poor technique. I’m all for pushing yourself and having fun with mates in the gym but it should be done under the right circumstances.
I also cover the bullet points and while stressing I am not a life coach I am able to advise you on areas where I am qualified (nutrition, soft tissue - biomechanics/mobility/rehab, training/load management/PT and strategies to be consistent with your training).
Post CrossFit Open is a great time to check in with your goals and set out what you’d like to work towards but please do this with a coach – or if you’re truly not happy, try another gym. It doesn’t work to mix programs and cycles but ask yourself, if you’re not achieving your goals – did you honestly follow the guidelines set out by the coach, are you absolutely on top of your mobility, nutrition, technique, sleep, stress and are you carrying an injury or overtraining which has caused by a breakdown of one of these points? Coaches do what they do because they love helping people, there is nothing that gives us a better feeling than seeing people’s faces when they hit that goal. I am lucky to have been witness to many of these occasions and it fuels my fire to try to do my very best to help everyone get to where they want to be. It’s a partnership between you and the coach/coaches and communication and understanding kicks this off. So if you have a goal please reach out to us, there are many ways to get you to where you want to be but first, have a think about these bullet points and when you do speak to us, let’s see how we can help in these alongside the physical goal in mind.
• Get more Sleep
• Manage Stress
• Dial in your Nutrition & Hydration
• Regularly practice Mobility, Stability and / or do your rehab or prehab
• Consistency
Thanks for reading.
✍🏼 : Coach Craig
