Sunday, February 27, 2011

The problem with being impatient

So as class was getting ready one person, who I'll name Eric (not his real name), was rolling out from the 515 workout asked me if he could join in for the first 15 minutes. "But," he said, "my problem is with weight, so could we work on that?" I shook my head and told him that class was starting out with PVC pipe, and only after that will we work on weight.

Needless to say, he didn't join in.

This, as a coach, is one of the biggest problems I face, the impatient client. Now, for the two guys that showed up, we went through the Burgener warm up, I figured out their issues (speed under the bar, not curling the bar, etc), we did drills that fixed the problem, and then worked from the hang with light weight. If they had issues I had them go back to the drills until they got that, then work from the hang again. Once they figured it out, I then had them do it at least five more times so that some sort of muscle memory was established (it was getting near the end of class). Both of them really felt like they "got it" for the first time, and were very, very happy. Now I imagine if we started adding some heavier loads at that time, they would end up lifting more weight then they were able to before class.

My point here is that all to often people think that if they have a problem with heavier weights then that's the only issue. It couldn't possibly be an issue with technique that would should up even on a PVC pipe. Or, more probably, they just don't want to work with a PVC pipe because that's boring. For some reason PVC pipe work really seems to alienate a lot of people, even though it's probably the most important type of work in establishing proper technique.

Now, if Eric's issue really was with weight, in otherwords his technique was spot on but his actual strength is the issue that's one thing. If that was the case then I would work on exercises to get him stronger in whatever's holding him up (e.g. shoulder stregnth, core strength, or leg stregnth).

But I've seen Eric snatch weight, and there are a few holes in his technique. Holes that could be easily fixed if he went back to the basics. But he doesn't want to, because that takes time and is boring. Unfortunatly, investing time in "boring" drills are really whats needed to fix a technique issue, especially if you have to undo the incorrect technique and relearn correct technique.

I've always been described as a patient man. I know that the desired outcome, in whatever life persuit, will come if I keep doing the right thing. It is this strategy that has served me so well in life, such as taking over a year in figuring out how to treat the pain in my hip (something that has been well documented on this blog). I say this because I honestly don't understand why people don't take the time to do things correctly. Sorry I know that this is just a case of some one simply not really wanting to work on their overhead snatch, but if that's the case why did they even ask for help? If your not willing to but the time and effort in I get that, crossfit isn't the number one priority in you life, which is fine (and probably very healthy in a psychological sense), but when some one asks for my help and then is unhappy with the answer or just completely ignores it it upsets me. I guess I don't like be discounted, I don't like it when people think I don't know what I'm talking about.

Before crossfit, I used to work out with a coworker named Matt. During our workout I would talk about random exercise stuff, lots of kenisiology and why exercise X is great for muscle Y. Later he told me that he was surprised I was actually right. I asked him why, and he said he figured no average joe could know that much, that I was just making stuff up to seem impressive. I think a lot of people have treated me this way, and I honestly don't know why. What I do know is that it bothers me when it happens. OK, rant off.

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