I saw this video and it got me thinking about how important it is to be good at the basic movements of CrossFit. So many CrossFitters get caught up with doing Muscle-Ups or Snatching or any of the other 100 movements you may find in CrossFit. I think it is vital before you get too carried away with chasing after these more complex movements, you are brilliant with the basics, the fundamental movements that CrossFit was built on. You have a great Air Squat, a solid Push Jerk, you have developed the strength to do strict pull-ups, your push-up comes from a perfect planked position and you understand how to control you mid-line. Your mobility allows you to overhead squat and you can easily sotts press without looking silly. I am sure there are other basic movements that can be added to this list but for the sake of brevity, this is what I initially thought of. If an athlete came to me and showed mastery of the above movements, I would feel very comfortable that he can flourish into an above average CrossFitter.
However, what we often see is CrossFitters that are so anxious to get past the “easy” movements and learn things they see from The Games or Regionals. These athletes have never mastered the basic movements and don’t understand that these movements all play a vital role in developing the more difficult movements we use in CrossFit. An athlete is dying to try bar muscle-ups but they don’t have an efficient kipping pull-up or C2B and have horrible shoulder mobility. There is only one way this can end….badly.
CrossFit can get overwhelming at times if you let it. There are so many areas in which we can all improve in. I often tell people that they need to make a list of what they want to focus on or else it is hard to improve in the areas they want. In my opinion, CrossFitters should pick 2 things that they want to get better at and they incorporate those two things EVERY day they workout. For example, an athlete wants to get better at Double-Unders and Toes To Bar. They would pick a number of Double-Unders they would hit before they can leave the box that day. Maybe that number is 50 or maybe that number is 25, depends on your skill level. Same thing goes for T2B, every time you walk under a pull-up bar at the box, you jump up and do a set of 3 or 5. I think a big mistake that CrossFitters make is that they work on something but don’t see it thru. They give up on Double-Unders after a few weeks of trying, not realizing that it just takes a little more time before they would have gotten it.
So, for this Christmas, make a list of the movements you want to get better at and then put the time in to get better at them.