Intensity does not always mean doing the workout as fast as humanly possible. Often we find that the individuals who finish the workout first have not done one of three things: 1, challenged themselves with appropriate weight or skill, or 2, rushed through movements without spending adequate time dedicated to technique and forming good habits. They have not committed to full range of motion.
These individuals still end up spent after the workout, often sprawling out on the floor, and talking about how intense the workout was. Your workout was not intense. You just did it quickly.
Let’s talk about range of motion.
Intensity follows proper movement patterns. In CrossFit, the goal is to re-teach your body to how move. Most of us come into CrossFit with years of being sedentary or working without a coach and consequently developing habits- how we walk, pick things up, squat, jump, even sleep, etc. Sometimes these habits are good and sometimes these habits are detrimental to our movement patterns. For example, someone who sits at a desk all day with slumped shoulders may come in to CrossFit with internally rotated shoulders and is then unable to put weight overhead properly without injury. Our job is to correct these habits and improve mobility and range of motion.
While this person may be able to throw weight up overhead several times into an incorrect position and finish a workout quickly, the workout will actually be more intense and beneficial if the person takes the time to work into the correct overhead position and build overhead stability there. Range of motion is directly related to the intensity of the workout, and intensity is directly related to results.
Range of motion means completing the fullest form of a movement. It means squatting not only to full depth, but standing back upright at the end of the squat before beginning the next one. It means straightening your legs after a push jerk before bringing the weight back down. It means doing the jump after your burpee. It means standing up fully before dropping the weight on the OHS. And if you accidentally miss any of these steps, it means re-doing the rep until you complete it to the best of your ability. That means if you commit to doing chest to bars, you hit your chest every rep or you don’t count it. It means getting your chin over the bar every time on a pullup. It means touching your toes to the bar. It means landing in a squat on a squat clean or re-doing the rep until you do.
20 Half squats done in 10 seconds is not nearly as intense as 20 full squats done in 10 seconds. If you come to the gym and complete half reps, or any movement not done to your fullest capability, you might as well stay home.
The best part about CrossFit is that you are not really exercising. You’re committing to re-learning movement, working on difficult skills that improve strength, power, coordination, balance, and mobility. The mental capacity it requires to focus, learn, and be patient enough to complete full range of motion on all your reps is more valuable than beating Suzy CrossFit in your wod.
Fore more on this, please read Logan Gelbrich’s article, “Exercise isn’t a thing” by clicking here:
http://www.deucegym.com/exercise-isnt-a-thing/