Spec-ta-cu-lair workout today guys. Your ultimate chance to show off all your high-skill gymnastic movements you have been working on so hard. Or an ultimate day to see what your CrossFit journey can bring you, down the line of training & practice: NATE
The workout today consisting of Ring Muscle ups, Handstand Push-ups and American kettlebell swing. The kettlebell swing was the movement that most of you were able to do today, but those other two are a bit further away for the bigger part of the Verftet athletes. So don´t feel bad if you have to scale nate, 90%+ of the people have to do this.
Unfortunally, we cannot always spend all the time we want on practicing the muscle ups or the Handstand pushups with you. These movement take specific skill training and lots of hours to master, time we like to spread out over years rather than weeks. But why are these movements so hard. I mean, a heavy and pretty clean is also a very hard movement to master, but it somehow feels closer than the ring muscle up does for some of you. Why is that?
Well, than we have to look at the difference between absolute strength and relative strength. In absolute strength, we mean your strength in general and in moving objects other than yourself: How heavy can squat a barbell, how heavy can you deadlift a sandbag, how much weight can you press overhead. While in relative strength, we look at your strength compared to your bodyweight. You can for example deadlift 200kg: your absolute strength is pretty high! But if your bodyweight is 160kg, than your relative strength, your strength compared to your bodyweight, is a lot lower. Somebody who can lift that 200kg deadlift but weights only 80kg, has a lot higher relative strength than someone who weights 160kg, while both guys have the same absolute strenght (they can both lift 200kg´) In weightlifting movements, squats, cleans & presses, absolute strength is more important. You just want to lift as heavy as you can. Gaining 2kg to clean 10kg more is definately worth it. But in gymnastics movements, your relative strength is more important. Being incredibly strong isn´t as usefull if you also need to be incredibly heavy to have this strength. Having a 40kg weighted pull-up is worth a lot more if you weight 80kg instead of 160kg, because that 80kg guy is pulling 50% of his bodyweight, while 160kg guy pulls 25% of his bodyweight. Hence: 80kg guy is relative stronger and will have a lot easier time doing pull-ups or ring muscle ups. And that´s why that ring muscle up feels so far away, even if you are already really strong. You can be really strong, but it must still hold up when we compare it to your bodyweight. Therefor: lighter people tend to be better at gymnastic movements, while a bit heavier people are in general better at exercises with weights. In CrossFit, we like the middle way, being good at both! Which category are you?
In Nate today, we gave you Dumbbells if the HSPU was a bit too much. This is to create your strength, you need for your HSPU! We make you strong & we make you sweat (so, weight goes down). In time, also you will be doing your HSPU, just be patient and train your ass off. We have a nice week coming for you to do this, so we´ll see you at the box. Sleep well!
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