January 1 found a 2011 CrossFit Games marathon plastered all over ESPN 2. January 2 found millions wanting what those athletes have. Strength. Abs. Confidence. Passion. Fun. January 3 was all phones ringing loudly at local CrossFit boxes around the world. Voices shout, “I want what the T.V showed me.”

Over four years ago we were lost in the crowd. CrossFitters stuck out like a sore thumb creating more looks and questions than good will and charm. Today I literally cannot go anywhere in my home town without someone stopping and asking me about CrossFit. Its beyond awesome. But with the spotlight comes integrity, and CrossFit integrity says Mechanics, Consistency, Intensity. There are things ever good beginner must know, and every good veteran will do good to review.

Trust your trainers

If your Coaches say something, anything, it is your job to listen. You may question them. In fact you are encouraged to do so. Don’t forget your eye during a WOD tells lies your body can’t handle. Their eye watching you day in and day out tells the truth.

Get good before fast

Even if you can keep up with 90% of the class your first day, it doesn’t mean you should. Our CrossFit drug is potent and it will catch you the 2nd day if you don’t respect it the 1st day.

Forget the clock and the RXD weight for know, it will come. Be patient enough to progress correctly and you will be rewarded with longevity and vitality. Move fast before you move well and soon you won’t move at all.

Exhaustion does not equal success

The grueling breathers make you better…..and addicted. As CrossFitters we feel like we are somehow cheating ourselves if we are not lying in a puddle of our own sweat after each and every WOD.

GOOD WORKOUTS ARE EVERY WORKOUT THAT MAKES YOU BETTER, NOT JUST WORKOUTS THAT MAKE YOU EXHAUSTED.

Mobility will always trumps strength

I know this first hand. Competitively bodybuilding left me very strong over the 10 years I did it. It also left me very immobile.

Recreational do-gooders lift things. Those of us who want fit and healthy and everything that comes with it realize their is no need to add strength to dysfunction. Get mobile, and get strong. One doesn’t truly work without the other.

You cannot out work a bad diet

When your just starting CrossFit give it a few weeks before you start worrying about your food. Stop asking questions and just listen. After a month of paying attention, begin the food change you so desperately need otherwise your results will eventually halt.

There are those genetically gifted, chances are, your not one of them

Just because Rich Froning can survive and thrive on peanut butter doesn’t mean you can.

This is about as common sense as it gets but we still look for proof everywhere so we can so we feel better about letting our guard down.

This of course doesn’t mean you can’t be like a CrossFit games winner, it simply means that to become one, or your version of one, you may need to do things differently than the top athletes do. If there is one thing concrete about all top athletes…nobody does things the same.

Experiment with everything, leave out nothing, condemn nothing, qualify everything.

Genetics are not your goat

Conversely to the above, genetics may make life harder, or easier, but that doesn’t mean your doomed.

Epigenetics is the expression of our insides. There is our genotype, the way you were born to be. And there is our phenotype, the way we make ourselves become.

We can be genetically disposed to carry more fat, but we still have to eat the calories. We can have the BRCA 1 gene that causes breast cancer, but it still takes eating sugar to make it grow. Don’t blame you genetics, blame your choices.

To look better, perform better

No matter the coolness of CrossFit, nobody would do it if you gained 30# pounds of fat. It’s safe to say many of us, maybe even the majority, enter CrossFit because they simply want to look better.

The stronger you are the more potential you have for losing fat, and gaining muscle. If you really want to change the size you fit into, drop weight fast, or even change your blood work for the positive…get fast, and get strong.

These guidelines will not always make you or I happy. These guidelines are not exotic. They are tried and true methods to keep you CrossFitting, and living better everyday. Stray, and pay the consequence, follow and reap the rewards.

Strength:

Banded Floor Press
5×8

For Time

7-Wall Ball
7-Toe 2 Bar
7-Swings 55/75
7-Rounds

Post weight moved and time to comments.