.png)
Triple A: Adrenaline, Atmosphere & Attitude
Hey Vic City,
In 17.3 we finally got to move a barbell again. There was no easing back into things either, we took on the squat snatch, the most technical of all movements. Not only that, but we loaded it up!
For many of us we got up to a load that we don't usually do, let alone in a WOD. In Olympic weightlifting competitions, athlete's only have to perform three snatches, and that is usually over the span of 10-20 minutes. In the Open all of us were guaranteed only 8 minutes to get as far as they can through 18 snatches at 65/95 and 15 at 95/135, not to mention the 39 chest to bar pull-ups. We were able to earn bonus time as we successfully completed the rounds. Even though the time limit steered us away from 3+ minute breaks between lifts, like in your standard Olympic lifting event, many members were able to lift new maxes, or something extremely close to their previous best. Not only did this happen at the first weight, it happened at the second, third, and fourth bars too! Hitting a rep at that fourth bar was after 72 previous chest to bars pull-ups and 45 prior squat snatches.
You might think how is this even possible? I would attribute it to one, or a combination of three things - adrenaline, atmosphere, and attitude. During the Open, and other CrossFit competitions, these three factors often can elevated one's performance beyond what they thought was capable. However, it is also possible how these can lead to negative results too.
If you are getting ready for a WOD, and you have a bad attitude, and you don't have confidence in your abilities, you are going to go out and prove yourself right. You might not think it effects you, but if you believe the weight is going to be too heavy, you are going to find any excuse possible to not lift it. It's satisfying to prove others wrong but when it comes to your own beliefs, you are extremely likely to settle with what you want to believe. Attitude can obviously work the other way too. If you believe you can lift it, you are more likely to try, and even if you fail, as almost everyone did at least once, you will pick yourself back up and give it another 100% effort.
Atmosphere, too, can be something that we can control to a certain degree. If you love hearing people cheer you on in the middle of your workout, it would make the most sense to find a way to get that environment for your optimum performance. Two athlete's that did incredibly well on this workout, but have two different ideas of an ideal atmosphere, would be Coach Caleb, and our good friend, Lucas Parker. If you were here Friday Night, you could see Caleb feeding off that energy to lift those heavy barbells at the end of the WOD, even when he was over 20 minutes deep of solid work. If you were here last year when Lucas did the WODs at Vic City, you still probably didn't see him do them. His preferred atmosphere was one that included very few people. It just depends on what works best for you!
Thirdly, adrenaline is a hormone that increases breathing and blood circulation. Both breathing and blood circulation are two very crucial factors when it comes to exercise. The more we can breath and the more blood we can get to our muscles, the better we can perform. Usually adrenaline rushes occur during the body's fight or flight response to stress. Therefore, having some nerves (stress) prior to the workout is a good things, it cues your body to fight. At the end of the day that is all we are doing in the Open, just fighting. We are fighting for our best effort, for the top time or score, and every pull-up and and every snatch!
Great work on 17.3, set yourself up for success, and don't forget to submit your score by Monday at 5 pm - the earlier the better to avoid computer issues.
See you on the leaderboard.
Adam
Training Monday - Tuesday
Warm-up: 3 x 30 single unders (or jj), 10 double crunch, 10 pushups
Skill: HSPU progressions - 5 x 4-8 reps E90s
Kip or Strict
WOD: Dead stop
This is a rotating EMOM workout where the goal is to get some exposure to movements we haven't yet seen in the Open. Choose manageable reps and weights to complete to keep your movements smooth and accurate. No score for this wod!
Rx: 5 cycles through, rotating EMOM:
1. 10 Deadlifts (light to moderate weight)
2. 8-16 Wallballs
3. 8-16 calorie row
5. Rest
TG: Scale movements and weights as needed