I’m trying to remember how my form was when I first started
CrossFit. Truthfully I don’t think it was great. I remember going to my level
one and being told to lock out my pull-ups, push ups, and my KB swings. So from there I took more time to learn
the form and study. I remember every night waiting for the WOD to come out on
CrossFit.com, then looking up every movement to make sure I did it right.
Now a days I am still studying and still learning so I can
excel in my WODs and my over all performance. Anytime I Oly lift or work on
barbell movements, I focus on perfect form. I either have some one watch me or
I video it to look at and critique myself.
I bring this up now because where I am working out, I see
terrible form all around me. I am working out in a gym that was transformed
into a CrossFit Box. There are about 30 rowers, 2 pull up racks, 10 platforms,
KBs, DBs, box jumps, sleds, climbing rope, and even turf. People can come in
and WOD/ workout / oly lift, what ever they want. There is no coaching going
on; besides a guy telling his buddy something that he thinks looks better. I am
not saying its all bad, I have seen a few that know what they are doing. I have
tried to help some people and usually they come back with an excuse like flexibility,
or they look at me like I am crazy. There have been a few that have come up to me and asked for
help. I think that's great, I tell them I do not mine helping them before or
after my workout, just not during.
What it comes down to is you have to educate yourself. You
have to educate yourself so you don’t get hurt, so you can maximize you
workouts, so you can be efficient, and so you can become a better athlete. This
pertains to everyone. Just because you have been crossfiting for 4 years does
not mean you know everything. You still have to study; you have to evolve with
CrossFit. No one is happy with staying where they are. I know I am not.
Do what it takes to educate your self and learn why we do
these things. Watch videos, read articles, a great thing about CrossFit.com is
they give this to you. They even give you tips from the big dogs. Every day
there is a video of some one doing the WOD, they talk about how they are going
to attack the workout, and then they give feedback and the end. The information
is out there. All you have to do is spend a few minutes a day and you will
learn a lot.
