Today’s WOD:
Push Press 5×3 at 80% max
then
3x800M run
What makes us safe at the gym? Technique. What makes us faster at the gym? Intensity (technique too!). When it comes to a workout, which do we place more importance on? Neither.
Let’s go ahead and review technique. Technique is the safest AND most efficient way to accomplish a task. Whether it be moving an object through space (barbell, kettlebell) or moving yourself through space (pull-up, push-up, running). Why do we care about technique, don’t we just want to post the fastest time of the day? Of course we want fast times, those are our markers of progress, but solid technique standardizes our workouts and makes them repeatable (read: duplicatable, comparable).
Now I know people might be thinking, “what could you possibly be talking about, I just did a Diane (deadlifts, hspus) in under 5 minutes. I know what I’m doing.” And yes, that’s a great time, but did you touch your head to the ground on every rep of your hspus? Did you do that the last time you did this workout? Is Diane even the same workout when you touch your forehead vs. doing a hspu to an ab-mat? I say no. They are inherently different if for no other reason than one is harder than the other. Now, how do we compare workouts to each other that are spaced out months apart? Well, get full range of motion on all your movements and you know that those workouts are the same. What I mean by that is if you are capable of going forehead to floor and up on every rep of hspus in Diane, do it that way. You are standardizing your workout, thereby making it repeatable and measurable in a tangible fashion. I know that makes the workout harder, but do you want to be average or excellent?
Phew. That took up a lot more space than I thought it would. Rather than continuing my dissertation here, I’ll talk about intensity and power output tomorrow and how it differs/relates to technique.