HOW YOU DO ANYTHING IS HOW YOU DO EVERYTHING
The title of this blog post is a quote from T. Harv Eker, author of, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. I saw it, a while back, painted across the wall in a gym I was visiting. The moment I read the words they resonated with me. I filed them away in a dusty corner of my brain-housing-group waiting for the right opportunity to share them with the UNLEASHED.
How You Do Anything Is How You Do Everything
That is a powerful statement I’d like to attempt to put into its appropriate physical and psychological context.
In its physical sense it is rather straightforward. The manner in which we routinely maneuver our bodies through space, i.e. without thought and relying only on habit, be it under load or otherwise, will have a direct impact on how we move our bodies through space, deliberately. In fact, the impact is immense. So much so that if our habitual, un-weighted movement patterns are grossly dysfunctional it will be nearly impossible to move correctly when done deliberately. It gets exponentially worse when we are under load.
This facet of human movement and our somatic nervous system greatly influences my programming and the manner in which we train. Lets take a look at two un-weighted exercises, the Push Up and the Ring Dip, and their impact on pressing weight overhead. At first glance the three seem unrelated, or are they? When we do push ups we ask you to extend your shoulders while engaging the serratus anterior in order to achieve scapular abduction. When we have you do ring dips we ask that you ensure you achieve full lock out of the elbow joint and “set” the shoulder joint with slight external rotation of the arm. When an athlete fails to perform a Push Up or Ring Dip to standard, either due to physical limitations or laziness, I know long before I ever observe their ability to lift a weight that they are not going to achieve a strong and mechanically sound lock out overhead when performing the Strict Press, Push Press, Push Jerk, or Jerk. When doing Push Ups we want you to engage the serratus anterior (achieving scapular abduction) because that translates into stronger upward rotation of the scapulae when pressing weight overhead. When doing Ring Dips we want you to lock out the elbow joint, fully, because it translates into a stronger lock out when hoisting weight overhead. Further, we want you to perform a slight external rotation of the arm while locking out the dip because it proximates the humeral head to the joint capsule thereby increasing stability. If you fail to do any of the above due to physical limitations, relatively speaking, that is easy to fix. If it is due to laziness, it is a much more difficult road. Regardless, the way you do your Push Ups and Ring Dips is the way you do your Jerks. HOW YOU DO ANYTHING IS HOW YOU DO EVERYTHING.
In a psychological sense, it may be more esoteric, though I believe the impact is greater. When training my Marines, I was always looking for better ways to do it. I wanted to be able to closely replicate the psychological stresses that they would be facing when we went down range to locate, close with, and destroy the enemies of our nation. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t shoot at my Marines, Gunny Highway style, with live rounds. I learned, however, that PTing the ever-living hell out of them – I mean really taking it to them…right up to the brink of physical collapse – and then forcing them to perform difficult tasks and solve complex problems was one heck of a substitute for the stress caused by bullets whizzing past their heads. And you know something? The more often I physically tormented them and forced them to work together and accomplish a task while on verge of complete and total physical failure, the calmer and more efficient they became. Soon, they were simply unflappable. I mean a freaking nuclear bomb could have gone off in their midst and they would have kept their cool. I watched them do amazing things day-in and day-out. The simple fact is what we do everyday may not be life threatening (though you all did sign a death waiver) but it sure as hell is a challenge, and one that is not easily achieved. It takes a certain kind of person to be willing to face off against, day after day, unbeatable foes: time and weight. Sometimes the time domain gets the best of you. At times the weight gets the upper hand. Once in a while both combine and just crush you completely. The manner in which you handle that adversity is the same way you will find yourself handling stress and adversity in your day-to-day lives. No matter how well or how poorly you are doing, keep your cool. Look at the bigger picture. The end game is not the WOD, or how many reps you did. Nor is it how long it took to complete it or how much weight was lifted. The end game is much bigger than that. Composition not completion. The manner in which you react to the stress of a workout is the same manner in which you will handle stress in your daily routine. HOW YOU DO ANYTHING IS HOW YOU DO EVERYTHING.
The CrossFit Open begins this Thursday 27 Feb. We will perform the 2014 Open WOD on Thursday evenings at 2000 and Friday evenings at 1730. On Thursdays I will have the live announcement playing. Immediately following the live demo WOD we will get to it.
Listed below are the few minor schedule changes as a result of the 2014 CrossFit Open:
1) There will be no 1815 class on Thursday 27 Feb, and 6, 13, 20, and 27 March. The 1815 class is being replaced by the 2000 CrossFit Open WOD.
2) The On Ramp will run from 1830-1945 on Thursday 27 Feb, and 6, 13, 20, and 27 March.
3) The WOD during the Friday 1730 class on 28 Feb, and 7, 14, 21, and 28 is the 2014 CrossFit Open WOD.
If you are considering participating the 2014 CrossFit Open – do it. It is a fun and exciting way to test your current level of fitness and to get motivated for achieving future training goals.
We will be holding our 2d Annual Athletes Unleashed Spring Feast on 26 April 2014. Plenty of more details will follow. Until then please save the date in your calendars and plan on bringing a friend or two. We had an absolute blast at last year’s Spring Feast.
Please continue to provide us with feedback and suggestions – your input is valued. If there is a demand for something we will meet it. You guys are the most important part of our organization. Thanks for choosing Athletes Unleashed, Inc. We love love love training you!
Coach Robby and Jen
