Monthly Mindset – August 2020

affiliate • Aug 14, 2020

How do you measure Improvement?

This may seem a little silly, as you may think this is a pretty obvious question. You see improvement when your lifts and reps go up or your times go down. If you answered like this you would not be wrong, but you are also approaching the question in a very black and white fashion. What happens when the question is no longer black and white, but is more of a charcoal, or pewter, or graphite, or smoke? I know I could have just said gray, but listing colors is more fun.

Let me explain a scenario to you. Roughly five months ago you did Fran at the gym. Let’s say that you logged an Rx time of 5:34. Last week you did Fran again to check your progress, and you logged an Rx score of 5:40. Did you improve? If we go by the classic definition of improvement stated above, then no. But we need to look deeper into the specifics of your situation to determine if that is actually the case. The main component that is often overlooked is how did you feel? And don’t just say terrible. I know that already, no one feels good after doing Fran.

If, on the first attempt, you felt like you were going to die and failed several pull ups and your thrusters were iffy on depth, but on your second attempt all of your reps were solid, and you were walking around pretty quickly after completing, then you likely improved. Your technique was better and you had no failed reps, so you likely are stronger now, more skilled, and have a better idea on how to pace yourself and save your muscles from fatigue.

Another marker is heart rate. If your first attempt had you at 180 bpm and about to have a cardiac event, and your second event was a much more manageable 140 bpm, then you are more fit as well. You did the same amount of work, in basically the same amount of time, but were more efficient from a cardiovascular perspective. This is improvement!

You should also consider body composition as well, especially since this a bodyweight workout. One thing people tend to overlook is how much you weigh with regards to completing benchmark workouts. A couple further scenarios:

  1. You gained 15 pounds of muscle between the two Fran workouts. The second time you completed the same amount of work at a heavier body weight (which makes bodyweight movements more difficult). That would be an improvement!
  2. You lost weight between the two Fran workouts. Now based on the first scenario you may think that this would result in a decrease in performance, and that may be the case. But in this case you need to look at the weighted movement. You will hear me say “mass moves mass,” and what this means is that larger people tend to lift heavier weights (just look at Olympic Weightlifting). If you lost weight, but were still able to do the thrusters at the Rx weight, you may in fact be fitter because it is harder to move that load at your lighter bodyweight. For a purely weightlifting workout (say DT), maintaining a similar time with a lighter body weight is an obvious improvement.

What all of this goes to show is that there really isn’t a clear definition of how we measure improvement at the gym. We have some pretty decent guidelines, but it really comes down to a case by case evaluation of the specifics of the two performances. Your mindset this month is to focus on these more obscure definitions of improvement. Try to notice and quantify the little improvements on your day to day workouts, because with time, they will add up to large improvements in your fitness.

Previous WODs

By affiliate 02 Nov, 2021
Finally on our tour of the macronutrients are Fats! Another term you might be familiar with that is similar is Lipids, and the distinction is that lipid is a broader term. Kind of a square-rectangle relationship if you will. While fat has been the villain in the past, it is making its way back into ... The post Nutrition 101 – Fats (November 2021) appeared first on CrossFit Hakkapeliitta.
By affiliate 02 Nov, 2021
We have a couple new members we would like to introduce. If you see Tony or Mike at the gym, please welcome them! Here is a little bit about them, and what brought them to CrossFit Hakk! Tony DuPont Tony has lived most of his life in the UP, outside of about 6 years affiliated ... The post October New Member Spotlights appeared first on CrossFit Hakkapeliitta.
By affiliate 02 Nov, 2021
Before we get to the definition, I want to finish off the remaining three defining characteristics of foundational movements: Universal Motor Recruitment Patterns – How similar are the movements? Functional movements have tremendous carry over and skill transfer to other functional movements, and by training functional movements you will get better at other things. For ... The post Functional Movements Part 2 (October 2021) appeared first on CrossFit Hakkapeliitta.
By affiliate 02 Nov, 2021
Things just keep getting better – this is biggest committed club of the year so far with 24 of our members attending 15 or more classes in October! Here are the members that made it in October! Renee Hiller Angela Price Katie LaCosse Rochelle Spencer Clint Johnson Amanda Hoffman Sharon Colbert Aaron Persenaire Hannah Soumis ... The post October Committed Club appeared first on CrossFit Hakkapeliitta.
By affiliate 04 Oct, 2021
Here we have our Committed Club members (attended 15+ classes) for September! Renee Hiller Katie LaCosse Rochelle Spencer Hannah Soumis Joanne Coponen Moira Tracey Sunit Girdhar Julie Jalkanen Sandi Mattson Michelle Miller Gerald Huffman Amanda Hoffman Gavin McBride Kartik Iyer Angela Price Sharon Colbert Nicole Heinonen Dana Norman Tanya Kangas Kim Dunnebacke Clint Johnson Laura ... The post September Committed Club appeared first on CrossFit Hakkapeliitta.
By affiliate 19 Sep, 2021
Wow – where has the summer gone?! Here are some very belated celebrations for member accomplishments in the back half of the summer… First – our committed club members for July! Remember – committed club status requires attending at least 15 classes in any given month. Here are the members that achieved this in July: ... The post July and August Committed Clubs and 100 class Milestones appeared first on CrossFit Hakkapeliitta.
By affiliate 03 Sep, 2021
We say that Crossfit utilizes functional movements, but what does that really mean? Plugging the word “functional” into the Google machine gives two definitions, the second of which I like better: “designed to be practical and useful, rather than attractive.” However, this is still not good enough for us in Crossfit and therefore, we have ... The post Functional Movements Part 1 (September 2021) appeared first on CrossFit Hakkapeliitta.
By affiliate 03 Sep, 2021
August Post: Nutrition 101 – Carbohydrates Continuing our macronutrient discussion From June, we will delve into Carbohydrates this month, affectionately referred to as Carbs. Much like protein, carbohydrates are composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms, however, they do not contain nitrogen atoms. Their primary role in humans is to serve as an energy source ... The post Nutrition 101 – Carbohydrates (August 2021) appeared first on CrossFit Hakkapeliitta.
By affiliate 03 Sep, 2021
Katie Kozma Katie is originally from Hesperia, MI (a small town in the lower peninsula), but now resides in Baraga. She decided to join CrossFit because she was looking to restart her fitness journey and she decided to complete a Spartan race and thought CrossFit would be the perfect thing for training. Her favorite part ... The post New Member Spotlights! appeared first on CrossFit Hakkapeliitta.
By affiliate 13 Jul, 2021
What is Intensity? When looking at the definition of Crossfit, we are presented with three distinct parts. Constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity. We discussed “constantly varied” in March, and now we are going to tackle the last part – intensity. And you can probably see where we will be going after that… ... The post What is Intensity? (July 2021) appeared first on CrossFit Hakkapeliitta.
More Posts

Stop missing out

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. 

Start My Free Trial Today
Share by:
Wodify Iframe