Mr Miyagi returns!

Old school!
Can anyone guess who the guys in the picture are?

Way back in April I wrote a piece about the violent extention of the hip, and drew some rather bold comparisons to the movie "Karate kid".

I have decided to repost this piece, bacause of the simple fact that the essence of the piece I wrote still very much applies, and even more so after the Manchester certification- where the truth behind the words became stunningly clear.. Please enjoy:

Focus Daniel-san!

You have probably all seen the Karate kid movies (or am I getting old?).

Mr Miyagi takes Daniel under his wing and teaches him one technique. Through the movie Daniel discovers the essentials of the technique, and step by step begins to master it. At the end of the movie Daniel, who has now graduated to Daniel san, is put to the ultimate test, and finds that in the moment of truth, all he has to do is focus really hard and use the technique mr Miyagi has taught him, and he will save the day, get the girl, and drive of into the sunset!

Would'nt it be fantastic if Crossfit worked the same way? Would'nt it be fantastic if coach would give us one single move that would work magic in virtually everything we do? Imagine how easy it would be. Every time we would find ourselves in some sort of trouble (in our workout) all we would have to do was close our eyes, and remember the moment when coach shared his wisdom. We could then open our eyes, and from the pureness of knowing that we had the answer to all the riddles that cause us distress- execute the move coach had told us- and save the day!

The truth is that coach has given us a move that will make virtually every exercise easier! It is a move that will save the day, and make the predominant part of exercises you find in the crossfit regimen, easier!

Ladies and gentlemen I present to you- The violent full extention of the hip!

It is as simple as that. When you do squats, kettlebell swings, overhead squats, kipping pull ups, snatches, jumps, sprints, push press, split jerks etc. the list goes on and on forever and ever. The one thing you will find that these exercises all have in common is the violent full extention of the hip..

It is fantastically easy to forget where you need to focus. Instead of putting full focus on the bare essentials, you start to waiver off in search of the next big thing that will give you an edge, improve your time, allow you to use greater loads, post better scores! You start to read books by obscure authors (No names, but there are a few I have my eyes on) who claim that their way is the only way. These books will tell you to focus more on things like grip, a different stance, a different breathing technique etc. In your pursuit of perfection you begin to follow the advice put forth in these books, but for some strange reason, the gains made are minimal, and they have more often than not come at the expense of other exercises!

When from the beginning all you had to do was focus on the basics- ie. the violent full extention of the hip!

Im not saying we should stop our pursuit of getting better, and always striving towards increasing our performance. What I am saying is, that until we master the basics, there is no need to focus on anything else.

Before you begin to worry about getting an edge, build a Crossfit foundation to stand on, and let that be your base camp, when you begin your climb towards the top!

I hope you enjoyed:-)

Today I have taken it easy, and put my focus on technique, trying to take baby steps towards full recovery. So I did the following WOD:

5 rounds of
10 Deadlifts 85kg
10 Push ups

Then I did:
3 rounds of
10 K2E
10 GHD sit ups

It actually felt really good, and nothing hurt more than I had expected, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for tomorrow.. I did'nt time the workout, since I wanted to focus on technique, and being such a sucker for time, I knew I'd rush through it if I set the timer..

I would also like to share another fantastic accomplishment with you. My better half, Jenny, weighs 58kg, and she got a new PR today. She nailed a 127,5 kg deadlift!
She is absolutely amazing, and I am as proud as she is.. It feels like there are some pretty awesome achievements in the making..

Until next time, much love

Mads