[rs-columns]
[rs-one_half]
[rs-box_content style=”basic_block” txt_color=”#000000″ bkg_color=”#ECECEC” brd_color=”#636363″]
Skill
[rs-divider type=”solid” brd_width=”1″ brd_color=”#636363″/]
More rope climbs today! On Tuesday we saw some firsts, which is great. Let’s see some more today! Our skill session will be some discussion and demonstration on different climbing techniques. For those who are new to it, we can’t stress enough the importance of using your legs to get up the rope, rather than focusing on pulling with the arms. We’ll work on that today to get you ready for the WOD!
[/rs-box_content]
[/rs-one_half]
[rs-one_half]
[rs-box_content style=”basic_block” txt_color=”#000000″ bkg_color=”#ECECEC” brd_color=”#636363″]
WOD
[rs-divider type=”solid” brd_width=”1″ brd_color=”#636363″/]
Complete as many rounds as possible in 25:00 of:
8 Handstand push-ups
8 Box jump, 30″/24″ (step down only today)
1 Rope climb
[/rs-box_content]
[/rs-one_half]
[/rs-columns]
[rs-space space=”30″/]
[rs-image img_url=”https://www.crossfit-evolve.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Hero_ChrisFalkel_th.jpg” link=”” alt=”” width=”” height=”” class=”” type=”img-rounded” border=”default” new_win=”no” margin=”” pos=”center” wrap=”no”/]
U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Chris Falkel, 22, of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, was killed on August 8, 2005 by enemy small-arms fire in Deh Afghan, Afghanistan. He is survived by his parents, Jeff and Dianne Falkel.
We love “CrossFit Saved My Life” stories. You can find them all over the place. People find CrossFit and it helps them through tough times: substance abuse, divorce, obesity, health issues, low self esteem, accidents…you name it. Well today I’m going to share about how CrossFit saved my life just the other day. OK, well it probably didn’t save my life. It was closer to a “CrossFit Kept Me From Going To The Emergency Room” story. Of course this is all speculation on my part, but I think you’ll get the gist of it.
So on Saturday evening I went out for a quick mountain bike ride. One of the my goals that’s written on the 2014 Goal Board is to use my fitness outside of the gym at least once per week. I’m doing just OK with that goal, how are your goals going? Anyway, so I was out for a ride on a trail close to town, which is pretty mellow technically speaking. There was a lot of mud, more than I expected, and it made some areas that are usually pretty benign a little more challenging, but nothing crazy. There was a section that’s a bit uphill and there are some large rocks mixed in there. A little bit of speed is important at this point to get over those large rocks while going uphill so I got after it. What I didn’t anticipate was some deep mud right in front of the rocks. So as I go through the mud, it pushes me to the side of the trail, and when the muddy tires hit a rock, rather than going over it it kicked me right off the downhill side of the trail. It happened so fast I wasn’t able to get my feet unclipped and I landed with a thud about 5 feel down a small drainage, and all I heard was an “ughhh” as my body took the brunt of the fall. So I’m lying on my side, feet clipped into the puddles, head downhill, bike uphill. It was one of those wrecks where you just lie there for a bit, and move your arms and legs one at a time to see what’s OK and what’s not. Somehow, everything was in one piece, and really, nothing was hurt at all, just a little beat up. I got myself up and back on the trail, laughed out loud with some choice words mixed in, and I continued with my ride. I haven’t eaten shit like that in a very long time. It was an epic crash.
So as I went on with my ride, I was amazed that though I was sore, I wasn’t hurt. Most of it was luck, I avoided the rocks that were in the area where I fell, so that was fortunate. I also didn’t get bitten by a rattlesnake lying in the brush. Again, lucky. So I kept thinking about the wreck for the rest of the ride, and I started to wonder that if I didn’t train the way that I do, would things have gone differently.
We’re asked often about how CrossFit could possibly help with endurance sports. Most would agree that mountain biking and road biking are considered endurance pursuits, and I would guess the vast majority of those who do endurance sports do little to no strength training, at least the folks I know who are endurance purists. So when we talk about how CrossFit, with the use of weighted objects and barbells regularly, can help with those sports, often we don’t consider the unanticipated aspects that can happen: a big wreck, being hit by a car, stepping awkwardly while on a trail run, slipping on ice in the driveway, grabbing an object that’s about to fall, getting in a fight with a mountain lion while out on a hike (hey, it could happen). I think most would agree that if you’re strong, and you have some muscle mass, and your skeletal system and connective tissue is stronger through weight training, you are better able to handle these unanticipated events than someone who doesn’t train that way. It’s impossible to prove, but it makes sense in my mind.
The rest of my ride was uneventful. Not only was I grateful that I didn’t get hurt, I was also happy that my bike made it through without any major damage. It would have sucked to taco my front wheel and have had to hike the bike out a couple miles back to my truck. But hey, I CrossFit, so my training had me ready for that too!
