Virtuosity

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

“In this 2005 open letter to CrossFit trainers, Coach Greg Glassman discusses the importance of virtuosity, defined in gymnastics as “performing the common uncommonly well.

“Unlike risk and originality, virtuosity is elusive, supremely elusive. It is, however, readily recognized by audience as well as coach and athlete. There is a compelling tendency among novices developing any skill or art, whether learning to play the violin, write poetry, or compete in gymnastics, to quickly move past the fundamentals and on to more elaborate, more sophisticated movements, skills, or techniques.

“What will inevitably doom a physical training program and dilute a coach’s efficacy is a lack of commitment to fundamentals. . . . “It is natural to want to teach people advanced and fancy movements. The urge to quickly move away from the basics and toward advanced movements arises out of the natural desire to entertain your client and impress him with your skills and knowledge.

But make no mistake: it is a sucker’s move. Teaching a snatch where there is not yet an overhead squat, teaching an overhead squat where there is not yet an air squat, is a colossal mistake. This rush to advancement increases the chance of injury, delays advancement and progress, and blunts the client’s rate of return on his efforts. In short, it retards his fitness. . . .”

And so it is with this in mind, kids, that we will be re-dedicating ourselves to performing our movements and workouts with virtuosity as our primary goal. For some of you that have gotten proficient at performing certain movements with a respectable amount of weight, but with less than ideal form, you're going to need to check your ego at the door and commit yourself to re-learning the movement with proper form and waaaay less weight. 

This happened to me with double unders. After a year I was able to do 30 straight, but I was having to jump 3 feet high and kick my heals to my butt to make it happen, and then I would be physically wiped out after I hit 30. Once I re-commited to learn it right, it really sucked for a couple workouts as I couldn't do more than 3-4 in a row correctly, but now I'm up to 50 straight and with way less effort and faster recovery.

So embrace the suck factor and get it right. You'll be glad you did and you'll finally become the person your dog already thinks you are ; )
 

Virtuosity in action...

WOD
Strength
Bench Press 65%, 75%, 85% of 5-5-5+ (many as you can over 5 reps)
then…
20 Min Ladder:  
Situps
Pushups
Squats
Burpees
* Do 1's of everything, then 2's, then 3's, then 4's…get as deep as possible in 20 minutes