Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The final frontier....

I am not a trekkie, nor have I gone barking mad and begun searching for extraterestrial life- I simply stole the heading from a text message I got from Martin Altemark, of CrossFit Uppsala, yesterday- after I had shared my result for the 5K run with him.
The final frontier is exactly what running is! The 5K took me a staggering 23:36 min- and if images of Forrest Gump running in his braces in the early parts of the movie are passing by your inner eye, then you are about right on what my 5K looks like!

I am still in the process of getting the POSE running to work for me, and on the shorter distances, it has done miracles, but for distances such as the 5K I am back to grinding every step- going heel to toe, with every possible fault you could think of... In the future I promise to give more attention to getting the form right. I have even been thinking about going to Santa Cruz and doing some more POSE running with Shari Keener- she is a fantastic running coach, and worked miracles on my short distance POSE in no time. If you are ever in her neck of the woods, make sure to look her up!

Well- after admitting to my short comings on the run, it is time to pick up the issue I brought up in yesterdays blogg- Who is more impressive?
I completely agree with virtually everyone who left a comment on the subject- the sub 4 fran from the athlete who follows the main site WoD's is a far more impressive achievement than the sub 2 fran from the guy who has been training specifically for the occation!
I am not saying that the sub 2 fran is not impressive in the sense that the guy is putting out a fantastic amount of work in a very short period of time- I am just saying that if you are training for the unknown and the unknowable, preparing for a single WoD is counter productive, and a complete opposite of everything we preach and prepare for!
What baffeles me is that I find myself arguing this very point at least a couple of times a month, with both avid crossfitters, and athletes with little or no exposure at all to CrossFit- still we all agree right of the bat:-) You have no clue how happy that makes me!

The question I would like to raise today is one that was brought up on a very well written blogg immidiately after the certification in Copenhagen- and it is a very legit question! Should we in CrossFit use the abmat or not? Should we try to isolate the abs in our sit ups by doing frog-style-sit ups?
Why should we and why should we not? After the question was raised I have been checking up with a bunch of the people I would like to consider authorities on CrossFit- and I have gotten a couple of good answers, but now I would like to hear what you think?

Until tomorrow, much love

Mads

5 comments:

Richard said...

Tjo gubben.

Jag anser att den som kör efter dagens WOD och bemästrar Fran på sub 4 gör en större prestation än den som tränar grenspecifikt och tar henne på sub 2.

Men å andra sidan, vad vet jag? ; )

Trevlig Midsommar om vi inte hörs innan.

/Richard

Bear said...

Ok, du vet väl vad jag tycker men om det dyker upp besökare som inte kan svenska:

From the description I got on why you should use the abmat (for isolation) it is, in my mind, totally useless. When I do sit-ups I use EVERYTHING I CAN, even swinging my arms like a crazy monkey. Come on, let´s be functional about this.

Bear said...

Och roligt skrivet om löpningen. Jag lider med dig, men det är bara att nöta...men inte allt för ofta :)

Martin Altemark said...

Själv spenderar jag idag med att vara full, men jag är tillbaks på bandwagonen imorron.

Vad gäller abmaten står uppsalamaffian tydligen ganska enad. Poängen med isolering av just en muskel när annan isolering förkastas (med hyffsad rätt!) faller på meningen med att stärka EN muskel när den inte är starkare än den vekaste länken - i det här fallet höfböjaren som avlastas.

Men jag har ju heller inget 6-pack på magen. Kanske just därför? :-)

Bear said...

Amen det har ju jag ;)