{"id":61078,"date":"2021-10-16T16:49:44","date_gmt":"2021-10-16T16:49:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/\/\/?p=61078"},"modified":"2021-11-22T01:13:19","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T06:13:19","slug":"the-10-commandments-of-crossfit-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/the-10-commandments-of-crossfit-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The 10 Commandments of CrossFit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Historically, the Ten Commandments set out the laws on how you should live and treat others in your community.<\/p>\n

One thing that makes CrossFit stand out as a training concept for the long haul is its sense of community. But, like with any community, there will always be problem behaviors. So here are ten commandments for CrossFit to guide your actions unto yourself and others.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness<\/h2>\n

Everyone loses count. Everyone can count to ten until you\u2019re in the middle of a WOD and your heart is pounding out of your ears<\/strong>. But there\u2019s a difference between thinking you\u2019re on rep seven of ten when you\u2019re actually on six versus repeatedly cutting reps or inflating your score.<\/p>\n

The latter method is not big, it\u2019s not clever, and you\u2019re only cheating yourself. Be honest. Got a low score? So what? Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and though you\u2019re at the bottom of the board in one workout, you could be triumphant in another. You\u2019ll never know real progress if you don\u2019t know where you started.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thou Shalt Be Concerned Only With Thyself<\/h2>\n

Irrespective of the last commandment, you shouldn\u2019t even know if someone\u2019s cheated or not. Why were you counting his or her reps? In an individual WOD it\u2019s you against yourself, so stop getting aggravated about what your neighbor is doing, and suck it up. If you were counting his or her reps, were you really putting full effort into your own?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thou Shalt No-Rep Thyself<\/h2>\n

CrossFit has clear and specific movement standards. If you physically can\u2019t achieve these standards, then scale as needed and work toward achieving them<\/strong>. If you can achieve them, then make sure you hit them. Every. Single. Time.<\/p>\n

Go to a competition with crappy technique and movement that misses the mark, and you\u2019ll be a sitting duck for no-reps and a low score. This goes back to being honest with yourself. Aim for quality of movement every time and you will make quick progress.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“In an individual WOD it\u2019s you against yourself, so stop getting aggravated about what your neighbour is doing, and suck it up.”<\/em><\/h3>\n

Sure, there are some less than stellar coaches out there, but unless you have the qualifications, have the experience, and can see your supposedly perfect technique,\u00a0listen up. And if they tell you to lighten the load, just do it. There is a reason, and that reason is almost always something that will benefit you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thou Shalt Not Walk in Front of Thy Neighbor\u2019s Platform<\/h2>\n

Picture the scene. You\u2019ve got a heavy bar in front-rack position and you dip, ready to drive the bar above your head – when someone steps into your line of sight. You get distracted and thrown off balance, collapsing on the floor in a heap of chalk and iron. <\/strong>Not fun. So don\u2019t do it to other people. If someone\u2019s about to lift or is mid-lift, wait until he or she is done before you step across the platform.<\/p>\n

Thou Shalt Tidy Up After Thyself<\/h2>\n

No one wants to clean up your sweaty AbMat or lug your equipment back to the corner for you. If you’ve finished with something, put it away. It\u2019s not hard.<\/strong> I mean, come on – you just made a big deal out of bench pressing 100kg, but you can\u2019t carry a 20kg plate back to the weight stack?<\/p>\n

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Almost as annoying as not tidying up after yourself is not getting your equipment ready to begin with. Everyone\u2019s ready to start the WOD and then you realize just as the coach utters, \u201cthree, two, one, go,” that you haven\u2019t got a wall ball. It\u2019s not just your own time you\u2019re wasting – it\u2019s everyone else\u2019s too.<\/strong> Read the board, watch the demo movements, familiarize yourself with the WOD, and get your equipment set.<\/p>\n

Thou Shalt Not Limit Thyself to CrossFit<\/h2>\n

If all you ever do is CrossFit, all you\u2019ll ever be good at is CrossFit. Which is fine, if that\u2019s your goal. But if you want to be a well-rounded athlete, and also want to avoid injuries, then it\u2019s well worth incorporating other forms of training into your schedule.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Yoga and Pilates will also give you gains in flexibility and core strength, both important for CrossFit, so don\u2019t brush them off before you\u2019ve tried them.”<\/em><\/h3>\n

Take yoga and Pilates. They may seem a bit soft to most hard-core \u201cmust sweat to be working hard\u201d CrossFitters, but like it or not, CrossFit is predominately a one-plane-of-movement sport. Everything is in the sagittal plane. By training your body in the frontal and transverse planes, you will recruit muscles you are not using often and avoid injury.<\/strong> Yoga and Pilates will also give you gains in flexibility and core strength, both important for CrossFit, so don\u2019t brush them off before you\u2019ve tried them.<\/p>\n

Honor Thy Coach and Thy Instructor<\/h2>\n

Think you know best? Chances are you don\u2019t. If your coach takes it upon him- or herself to give you a piece of advice, grasp it with both hands<\/strong>. These people have put in the training hours and seen more snatches than they care to remember. Listen to them.<\/p>\n

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Thou Shalt Encourage Thy Neighbor<\/h2>\n

This is not so easy on an AMRAP. But in team WODs or for-time formats, if you finish quickly, take a few seconds to catch your breath, swallow back the feeling of wanting to vomit, and shout words of encouragement to those still working away. All of us know that feeling of still having reps to do and just wanting the coach to shout, \u201cTime.” But just a few shouts of \u201cYou can do it!\u201d and \u201cFive more reps!\u201d can make the difference between digging in and giving up. CrossFit, after all, is nothing if it\u2019s not a community.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thou Shalt Leave Thy Ego at the Door<\/h2>\n

The two biggest causes of injury in CrossFit are ego and bad coaching.<\/strong> Whether it\u2019s RXing when you actually don\u2019t have the strength to sustain those weights with good form, showing off by doing muscle ups in between rounds of skill work, or going straight in at ninety percent of your 1RM from an empty bar warm up, it all amounts to the same thing – ego.<\/p>\n

“The two biggest causes of injury in CrossFit are ego and bad coaching.”\u00a0<\/em><\/h3>\n

Not only does it annoy the hell out of everyone else, but in many cases it\u2019s dangerous.<\/strong> Warm up gradually, scale where necessary, and save your playtime on the rings for after the class has finished.<\/p>\n

Thou Shalt Work on Thy Weaknesses<\/h2>\n

You love doing pull ups all day long and can handstand walk all the way out the door post-WOD, but you can\u2019t front squat more than a bar and a pair of bumpers. The likelihood is that if you dislike something, you\u2019ll be bad at it too. <\/strong>You can keep on doing those gymnastics skills, but if you neglect your basic strength work, you\u2019ll never be able to go far in CrossFit.<\/p>\n

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There is a huge range of movements within CrossFit for a reason – it challenges the body in many different ways. If you\u2019re a one trick pony, you\u2019ll soon be left on the merry-go-round while the other horses go play at the CrossFit Games.<\/strong> Allocate more time to working on and developing your weak points than you do playing around at the stuff you\u2019re already good at.<\/p>\n

Summary<\/h2>\n

Follow these ten commandments and your CrossFit experience is likely to be a more pleasurable and well-rounded one.<\/strong> Continually break them, and you\u2019ll likely find yourself less popular than seven minutes of burpees.<\/p>\n

Do you have any other commandments you think should be on this list? What do you think should be etched in stone on every box\u2019s walls?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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