Clean and Press 1-1-1-1-1
This is strict shoulder press. Once the load is racked you must do a strict knees and hips locked press.
Sometimes there are no words.
So I ended up following a link from one of the sites that Hubie posted and it led me to a New York Times article titled
"God's Workout"Just some thoughts.
In both personal experience as well as on a grander scale (media) I have grown very tired of the romanticized Crossfitter. Although I appreciate the simple fact that even bad publicity is good publicity it strikes a chord with me because I hate to see something that I and so many others care so deeply about to be stripped down to what is normally reflected in most of the articles I have seen in the mass media. Crossfitters are very often described as these cavalier adrenaline junkies who throw caution to the wind and will settle for nothing short of pushing themselves to their own demise.
"The CrossFitters are not always so admirable. If you hang out long
enough on the site, you’ll stumble on a garish cartoon clown called
Uncle Rhabdo. This is one of the network’s mascots — a hideous figure,
often shown vomiting — who suffers from rhabdomyolysis, a dangerous
condition in which damaged muscle tissue enters the bloodstream. He’s
disgusting. The clown is worshiped only half in jest by the CrossFit
crowd, which can see exercise-induced injury as martyrdom to the cause.
In a 2005 interview, Glassman said of CrossFit: “It can kill you. . . .
I’ve always been completely honest about that.” We may joke about it but I do not know a single Crossfitter who looks at injury as any kind of martyrdom to the cause. Playing hurt is one thing. Injury is another. Any intelligent person knows the difference and I have noticed Crossfit has a habit of attracting intelligent people.
Do we push ourselves? Absolutely. Is it mindless or without caution or preparation? Absolutely not. Crossfitters are realists. We are honest with how our bodies work as well as how the world does. No one ever mentions in an article about the countless thousands of hours worth of reading on the CF Journal. Or the attention that is put into our mantra of "Movement, Consistency, Intensity" Or the length to which we will scrutinize our diet for peak performance and injury prevention. Or the countless physical therapists and physicians within our ranks that testify to the safety of the program.
Can Crossfit hurt you? You bet your ass. So can most physical activities as well as life in general. It has been said that Crossfit mimics human evolution. In many ways it does. Every time someone tries this out without putting in the required time and effort to learn the required skills, or lacks the patience to build up slowly, I will guarantee you Darwin is looking down with a grin shaking his head. It is usually ego that bites people. Not the program. It is the deficiencies in the individual and that individual's disregard for those deficiencies that led them to their fate. This program at its peak is about intensity. At its base is preparation. We train not seeking injury but to come close enough to identify its possibility. Sooner or later life will find your weak points for you if you do not look for them yourself. And any intelligent Crossfitter knows when he or she is in sight of them.
People want a quick fix when it come to health and fitness and they want it to be comfortable and mindless. Crossfitters are the people who have realized that does not exist. At least not for the level we want to be at. If we have inside jokes or camaraderie that seems strange or odd or cavalier to you do not form your opinion until you have clawed well below the surface of that. Believe me there is something much deeper there. And it is not romanticized. It is real.
We do not think we are invincible. In fact we know without a doubt we are not. Which is exactly why we do what we do. We know that control and safety for the most part are the illusions that they are in life. We control what we can control and prepare for what we know and do not know. Our cavalier attitude goes no farther than this...I am not invincible nor indestructible. One day I will not be here. I don't know when, why, or how but it is a fact. But be it a workout, a mugger, diabetes, dessert, bad economy, mountain, heart disease, sticks, stones, fire, brimstone, raging river, city streets, dog, or insert obstacle here. You better come at me with everything you have because I am giving you back everything I have got. If it is not enough then so be it. I will leave nothing on the table and while I am here I want to be able to do that in everything I do and be able to come back for more whenever possible.
When you scratch far enough below the surface I think you will find that is what matters most to us.
