Congrats! Congratulations to everyone that crushed their old BaseLine WOD times last week. You've come a long way, fast! W00t!

CrossFit Games

It's CrossFit Games Season. If you're new to the scene, you can check out this Introduction to the CrossFit Games at the 2010 CrossFit Games Site

CFD will be sending a team to compete in the Affiliate Cup Qualifier -- which will be held alongside the Regional Qualifier, tentatively scheduled to be held on May 8th and 9th somewhere in Orange County. We'll also be looking to send a group to the Sectional Qualifier. If you're game -- let us know if you haven't already.

SouthWest Regional & Affiliate Cup Qualifier: May 8-9 (Tentative)
Location: Orange County, CA (Tentative)
California, Arizona, Hawaii
CrossFit Games Seeds (Individual): 4 men, 4 women

Sectional Qualifier
NorCal Sectional: March 27-28
Archbishop Mitty High School, 5000 Mitty Avenue, San Jose, CA 95129
California (North of San Luis Obispo County)
Regional Seeds: 20 men, 20 women

Range of Motion

Let's take a few moments to talk about this. CrossFit WODs are competitive - whether it's you vs the WOD or you against your buds. It's this competitive nature that drives the intensity of the workouts. Intensity here refers to power output -- how much work you can get done in as little time as possible. Maximizing power output requires athletes to move through the complete range of motion for the given movements. For example:

• Pull-ups: full arm extension at the bottom and chin clearing bar
• Squats: hip below parallel, extension at the top
• Push-Up: chest to deck at bottom, arms locked out at the top
• Overhead: Arms locked out

Moving through the complete range of motion / adhering to the arbitrary standard for the movement is also what allows you to compare your own performances and compare yourself against others. Thing is, in the middle of a WOD, it's really hard to tell if proper ROM is being achieved. Your sense of where your body is in time and space diminishes as fatigue sets in and your ability to listen to a coach goes out the window as well.

Missed reps happen to everyone. We accept some movement flaws under duress. We'll also accept limited range of motion or put in place as a scale to keep athletes safe. It's when ROM is tossed aside from the get go that grinds my gears. From a competitive standpoint, it invalidates scores. From a conditioning standpoint, it shortchanges the athlete. If an athlete never does a full push-up, they'll never will get good at doing full push-ups. On the other hand, someone that can bang out tons of good push-ups is never going to have a problem being good at partial ROM ones if we ask for them.

If the full range of motion is difficult, reduces the number of reps an individual can do - so be it. Adhere to the standard, do "less" reps and you'll be better off long term.