Varied Not Random

[@williamblood2553]

Pat and Boz, I found CF during pandemic with first workout being Murph (May 2020) and fell in love. I’ve programmed a hero wod every week since with mostly scaled weights/movements but finally Rx’d Murph this year! Can you guys speak to the mental impact of exercising, specifically when completing tough/challenging workouts like hero wods? I know it’s part of the reason I adopted CF as my primary fitness regimen to help combat the stresses of work and life. Appreciate anything you can share! Keep up the good work in our community, thanks!

[@beckjacob]

I try to program one Hero workout per month in my training, usually on the 22nd of the month to also honor the 22 Veterans per day who take their own lives.

[@tas1424]

They're mental conditioning more than they are physical. Massive recovery time and a higher risk of injury as form degrades. It reaches a point where the physiological benefits plateau at which point it just becomes a 'beat down'. In reality, they don't ever need to be programmed, but if done for commorative reasons, they're probably OK every couple of months.

[@RobertBourgault]

Possible topic. Should gyms with multiple coaches be coaching different times and classes or stay to a more set schedule? At our gym we have 6 partime coaches with vastly different backgrounds and experiences. Should the owners be scheduling coaches to teach diffent classes so the clients can perhaps learn new ways of doing skills, or is it better for them to have a set coach? Having been to Power Monkey Camp 4 times now (thanks for the plate Boz) i have vastly different knowledge than some of out early morning coaches, but have never coached some of the early morning athletes.

[@laurengraham5475]

I love that you're thinking about this (I don't have the answer). As an athlete myself, it's been very helpful to have a consistent coach who has gotten to know me and my relative strengths, and weaknesses, and what cues work well for me...but I sure would hate to miss out on specialized knowledge like what you have. You almost need to keep a file on each client so that each coach can get to know the client and provide meaningful personalized coaching even if they don't work with that client often, while the client also benefits from having different coaches provide different cues, tips, etc.

[@beckjacob]

Watching this prompted a thought/question for both of you. As an almost 53 year-old moderately fit garage gym crossfitter, there are some skills that I have stayed away from as I've aged. The two primary skills that come to mind that I avoid are handstand push ups and handstand walks. For reference I have only been dabbling in what I'll call "basic" CrossFit (i.e. haven't developed bar or ring muscle ups, double unders are still an every day work in progress, and because of previous shoulder and back injuries and mobility constraints I don't/can't put a lot of weight overhead). My question is, given all the factors I mentioned, is there any real benefit or necessity for people in a similar state in life to worry about handstand push ups and handstand walks, or can I clear that mental hurdle that I'm somehow cheating myself by not doing those skill movements? One last note, I do regularly practice handstand holds, perform wall walks, and I do have a couple of workouts in my catalog with very low volume handstand push ups (like 1-3 at the end of every round in a 5-round workout).

[@tas1424]

My two cents: There are some movements in CrossFit (the sport) that only need to be done for competitive purposes. When in real life, even in the days when humans lived in caves, have we ever needed to be inverted and walking on our hands? For those who are able, handstands can be an impressive skill that can develop balance. However, you can build more than enough shoulder stability using barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells etc. and your balance will be perfectly fine for 'real life' through squats, lunges, etc. There are a whole host of other movements I could lump in the same bracket. For health and longevity, you're better off doing your pull ups strict, for example. Many (most?) people don't have the prerequisite ROM in their shoulders to kip safely.

[@greggerardo8312]

Has anyone looked at one of the newest Hero WODs, Buriak? Are the M/F weights correct?