Hey Old Cityzens!

Phew!!! The CrossFit Open is OVER!! Well, not officially as you have until Monday night to get your scores in and Tuesday for Katie to approve them.. but BESIDES that.. The competitive part of the CrossFit Open is OVER!! Great job to everyone who competed. And not just to those signed up for the Open, but to EVERYONE who participated in the workouts on Friday. Luck of the draw on some of those workouts as sometimes we did one of the movements earlier that week, or it came up immediately afterwards. And that can be good/bad depending on how you look at ti. And I thank you for putting up with the programming – WOD and strength – as it’s a bit of a challenge – yet a welcome challenge – to keep steering you towards the lifting meet and keeping the wods varied in weight, movement, and time domain, and have you ready to excel in the Open. Now back to the usually crappy programming 😉

Hopefully you’re still in the competitive spirit as we have our in-house Oly Meet on Saturday from 1-3pm. Sign up HERE!

I might be jumping the gun on this, too, but I *think* there will be an upcoming blog post or Facebook live video that will give a little bit more detail about the event. Keep an eye out on social media outlets for that release of those events.

And I want to highlight a post on the Community FB page from David early last week – How to Cheat at HSPU. This was written in response to the standards set for the handstand push ups in “Diane” in 18.4 being “fucking bullshit!” (quoting myself quoting/mocking others). I’m not going to spoil the article as I encourage EVERYONE to read it, but right off the bat you see the truth smacking you in the face – you didn’t train properly. How many times did you normally count a rep as you kick up to extension while simultaneously fall away from the wall? How did that pay off for you a couple weeks ago? And what about bro repping yourself on that chin-over-but-should’ve-been-chest-to-bar pull up on Wednesday only to have it negated Friday? Uh huh.

I get that this is just exercise. Really, it’s exercise.. we’re trying to find the best exerciser in the WORLD, so why does this matter? Because you’re trying to master a new skill. And mastering this new skill will lead to mastery of other skills. And it’s pretty damn cool to be learning new shit as you get older. And doing a kick ass handstand push up will lead to a kick ass shoulder to overhead.

And if we were to turn that pic 180, is that a strong S2OH? NO!!

So get back to the fundamentals of HSPU.. no.. of PUSH UPS, of the air squat, of a strict pull up.

Chase after virtuosity day in and day out. Strive to do the common movements uncommonly well. It’s easy to want to chase the heavy weights, the difficult gymnastic movements, to press or squat what your workout wife/husband is lifting. But if you can’t do a near perfect air squat, or strive to perfect it every day, your back/front/OH squat/snatch.. barbell movement.. box jump.. WHATEVER.. won’t be as technically sound as it *could* be. Believe me.. I have a lot of “wants” (See the ‘Goals’ board by the fridge), and sometimes it takes a lot of pride to take a step back and reassess where I’m at and where I’m going to make sure I’m on the right track.

I highly recommend reading both of these articles, and saving the “Virtuosity” one to read monthly. I write this with a few people in mind, who are eager to advance, but need to ease up on the throttle. So many gainz – so many MORE gainz – could be made, if you worked on the basics. Take the time.

Ahh.. I’m starting to wax poetically and sound all nice and stuff. #whoamI

Let’s get back to the nitty gritty and see what’s coming up this week..

Monday – Snatch + OHS complex. Triplet will be a good chance to work on those fundamentals I mentioned.

Tuesday – Good morning accessory work and another triplet, another chance to work on some fundamentals. Bring your jump rope, too.

Wednesday – Double strength day with clean & jerk and some bent over rows. Couplet cashout will get you moving.

Thursday – Long day, no strength. It bears repeating – work on the fundamentals. Lots of bodyweight stuff with a little KB work.

Friday – Front squats, but don’t go crazy. And this KB and gymnastics couplet will have you working on some fundamentals.

Saturday – Oly Meet Y’alll!!!

Sunday – CLOSED. EASTER SUNDAY.

Alright.. I hope I got my point across. So let’s have a strong, fundamentally sound week!