To sub or not to sub- that is the question!

I have been called a "square" on many occations, and not always wrongly so. This means that I have been reluctant to substitute exercises and do WOD's that were not posted on the .com site. The exception being when I have been doing the programming myself, or following the expert programming of someone else, but then I have always strived towards actually doing the WOD's as perscribed!

These days however I find myself caught between a rock and a hard place! On the one side I want to follow the WOD's posted on the .com site. On the other hand I have to listen to my body in order to recover from the afore mentioned injuries. The last 3 days have been taxing that way! If nothing else I hope I will eventually become a better man for having to use the inside of my head and not just charge into the WOD's and tear something again??

Monday:
I had to come up with a combo of my own:
Overhead squat 50kg
HSPU
9/1- 8/2- 7/3- 6/4- 5/5- 4/6- 3/7- 2/8- 9/1
Time 11:48
Once again not a breath taking accomplishment, but nothing hurt afterwards

Tuesday:
The guilt of not having done Cindy on monday nagged me all monday and all tuesday, so I decided to go for it:
5 Pull Ups
10 Push Ups
15 Squats
AMRAP in 20 minutes
Score 17 rounds- every rep legit!
A far cry from my best performance, and I felt the need for improved cardio all the way through the WOD. My wrists and knee hurt like hell afterwards. For some odd reason though I felt like I had made up for the previous days "Cheat".. Wise or not? That remains to be seen!

Wednesday:
I saw the WOD on the .com site and immidiately felt an urge to do the WOD. It is a fantastic WOD and I have a strange love for squat cleans and ring dips, at the same time as I have improved my double unders dramatically, so I really wanted to hit this one hard.
However- my knees were killing me from Cindy the day before, so there was no way I dared do this one, and doing it half way was just not an option, so I decided on:

Deadlifts:
1- 1- 1- 1- 1-
100kg- 120kg- 140kg- 150kg- 160kg
I guess I should just be happy that my hip felt ok, but I still feel guilty for not doing todays WOD.

The need to be wise!
I am not sure if my current situation of having to nurse injuries have propelled me into the discussions I have been getting into lately, however I feel that I need to make a point!

I often meet people how are fantastic athletes and avid crossfitters, who seem to think that every single WOD is a competition, and the need to better past performances is the only objective. They will substitube exercises they do not completely master in a WOD just to make sure they are not slowed down during the execution of the WOD.
They will sacrifice technique in squats, deadlifts, shoulder presses, push presses, push jerks etc. just to make sure that the score/weight is better than the one they recorded the last time they did the WOD.
Needless to say the objective should always be to improve from one WOD to the next, and to evolve as an athlete, and I will be the first to cheer for a faster "Fran" time, and celebrate a new PR squat- I just dont think it should be achieved through a thick skull and some borderline lethal effort, but through a combination of improved technique and the increased strength that comes along with said techniqual improvement!

First of all the borderline effort, based on poor technique and a skull thick enough to stop a magnum (not to mention the instances where the reps are just not good enough to be counted!). will lead to a sudden stop in the athletes development, when no amount of stubbornness will get the athlete any further. The alternative being that the athletes seriously injures him/herself, which will make all progression impossible!
But there is an altogether more serious aspect that is not to be forgotten! CrossFit is about becoming a better athlete, and developing new skills, so sometimes you just have to take a step back, and use the WOD's to improve your skills!
If your squat is not flawless and the WOD of the day is to do squat sets of 3-often the way to a new PR is to use that WOD to improve your technique. and you may very well find yourself blasting your old PR the next time you give it a shot!

I am not trying to lash out at anyone, it just makes me geniunly sad when athletes with true potential loose themselves in the competition, and forget that in order to improve in the long run, you have to master the technique..

For now that is all, but I will be back shortly

Much love

Ps... keep an eye on www.crossfitsvea.com things are about to happen on that site... Call it a gut feeling:-)