Why do you do your current regimen and what do you hope to get out of it?
My answer (copypasta from gchat):
so i think the big thing
is i really enjoyed
the SS experience
with getting stronger regularly
12:59 PM and seeing aesthetic results
i was in marathon shape before
<6 min mile
~9min pace for 26 miles
i think that's reasonably good
but i felt super weak
and not athletic
and i think my personality is like
gravitating towards the extreme
aka i will either be purely endurance
1:00 PM or purely strength
i don't really like being in the middle
of like
decent at everything
aka my personality is completely at odds with CF
me: ok so health and aesthetics are also concerns
like
i don't wanna be 300lbs @ 30% bf
and squat 800
i think i look reasonable
like
1:04 PM better than marathon shape imo
1:18 PM me: anyway in conclusion
i'd say it's
that i want to compete in weight/powerlifting
with the side requirements
that my health isn't adversely impacted
1:19 PM and also i maintain the ability to do pretty much any physical activity i want
And Matt's answer:
Matt: i think it can all be boiled down to: they're hard
at the end of track club, i feel more tired than i felt doing anything
1:26 PM doing lots of sprints back to back is really really hard mentally and physically. i can barely breath, my muscles are burning and it results in me just wanting to be better
it also has the added benefit in helping me out in almost any sport that requires running
1:27 PM rock climbing - it's hard. it takes, strength, technique and patience to get better. it's a sport that allows you to explore the world in wide open, beautiful spaces
it also has metaphorical benefits,-- "getting to the top," "overcoming challenges"
1:28 PM it's a very unique sport that is fun to improve at
CF - again, fucking hard. im always dead at the end of workout. getting better at CF will make me in better shape generally, which is nice
1:30 PM what i'm saying is that i get more utility out of doing things that are hard
Matt: emotionally
Matt: i feel good about myself, am more confident in general
this is not physical utility
this is general Matt utility
1:31 PM now, why do I want to get stronger? well, i like doing all these hard things, but i also really like improving at them
to improve at CF, track club (and , to an extent, climbing), i need to be stronger
however, it's the slowest improving factor
so prioritizing it for a bit makes sense
unfortunatley for me, gaining this weight is gonna screw me for climbing
but i'm willing to take that
1:32 PM so basically, i want to get stronger so i can get better are doing hard things
Matt: cause when i do hard things, i feel really good
What about you guys?
I enjoy physical challenges, which goes hand in hand with playing and learning various sports. I'm often curious about just how good I could be at x, y, or z if I devoted a good portion of my time to it. This originally stemmed from wondering how good I could get at playing golf if I was able to teach myself to be a scratch golfer. Could I be a nationally ranked amateur? Would I have some slim chance of making it on some tour?
ReplyDeleteThis curiosity has since been focused on the "sport" of CrossFit. While I'm still curious to see what my golf potential is, I don't think delaying that pursuit for 5, 10, or 15 years will really make that much of a difference. I started CF as primarily a conditioning program, I wanted to be in pretty good shape, whatever that meant, look pretty good, and feel good. CF has prepared me to perform a broad range of physical tasks like hiking and backpacking. I appreciate that I can probably accomplish most physical tasks I'll be faced with given the level of strength and conditioning I've derived from CF.
Rewind a few months ago and I found myself wondering just how good I could be at this CF thing if I really dedicated some time to it. Along the same lines of my golf "career," I'd taught myself to be pretty good at this competitive exercising thing and I want to see how good I could get. I don't need to be a competitive Crossfit athlete in order to hike more or backpack more or go mountain biking. Sure I'll be stronger and faster if I reach my ultimate CF potential but I don't need to be able to do 30 unbroken muscle ups to address 99% of the physical challenges I'll face outside of CF.
I guess I'd be lying if I said I didn't care about seeing how I stacked up against other crossfit athletes. I'm not interested in investing the time required to be a say top 10 CF games athlete, but I am interested to see how far my technique, dedication, mental fortitude, and intellectual/analytic capacity can take me in this endeavor.