Toombs Tuesday

Today your blog is brought to you by your favorite jokester Chris Toombs, focusing on a very serious lesson some of us are learning the hard way. Don’t be a “go hard”, until you can go hard properly!

Less is More!

A little over one year ago I was very close to quitting CrossFit. I had reached the end of my “beginner gains” and had reached a long stretch of no PRs, injuries, strains and a general attitude of just going through the motions. I was not having fun. After telling Landon I needed some time off, I took October 2015 until February 2016 completely off from CrossFit.

To be honest with myself, I was an idiot training the way I was. All I really knew of CrossFit from the start was from the games – people whose only job it is to train, eat, sleep, and train again. If you weren’t puking, bleeding or injured you weren’t trying.
Fast forward to the beginning of this year. After some time off to get my head (and body) back together I got back with Adrien and explained to her why I wasn’t having fun anymore. We talked about goals – why I was frustrated with my progress and what they could do to help me along.
I pretty sure she put it something like this: “You aren’t going to the games, deal with it.”
OK, Maybe not that brutal – but the point was made and noted. I needed to take care of my body first and let the gains come as they may.

Starting this year I have started to take a new approach to CrossFit. Where before I used to always do RX, I now back it down and often. Named workouts are regularly done below RX. Strength percentages mean nothing to me now, I only go off feel and only go for a PR on a “good day”. I’ve taken a balanced approach to food and CrossFit and as a result I have hit a 40# Deadlift PR, a 10# Front Squat PR, a 5# Jerk PR, a 15# snatch PR, a 20# OHS PR, etc. CrossFit is fun for me again.
Bro, we get it.

Believe me, I’ve been called a sandbagger occasionally for what I’ve scaled to in workouts but it is for the better. My form has drastically improved as has my mental game during workouts. Doing less weight does not make things easier – it just means you have to go faster or perform more reps – there is no escape. Most of us (read: all of us) can benefit from intensity and better form. When it comes a time when you need the strength – you will have the skills to back it up.

The other night this new approach showed it has started to pay off. The workout called for heavy overhead squats, followed by “Nancy” – 5 rounds of a 400m run followed by 15 Overhead squats at 95#. I’ve done this workout RX several times but I’ve always finished around 19:00-20:00 minutes. I finished unbroken on the squats and with a time of 17:00 minutes – an over 2:00 PR. If not for the base I’ve been building with my form, food and intensity over the past 8 months this would not be possible.

Try something new in class for a month – one day a week you will do a workout at a weight/height/skill you find very challenging, the rest of the week back it down to something you consider “easy”. If you work out with enough intensity, your “easy” days should be the toughest workouts of the week. Don’t be surprised when you starting hitting PRs again.