- July 17, 2024
Because the Whiteboard Told Me To
“You are responsible for shaping and choosing the environments that will ultimately shape the person you become and the destiny you have.”
— Benjamin Hardy, Author of Willpower Doesn’t Work
Being stuck halfway through the completion of a difficult endeavor has a name: Mediocrity.
How many of you find yourselves in such a position?
Most trainees are just misguided or clueless. They simply fail to choose the correct path to foster growth.
This is where I often hear, “It’s what’s on the whiteboard” (or in the present day, “what is on the app”). Deviation from anything else is considered hearsay for the day CrossFit WOD.
So what are you supposed to do?
As the saying goes: “Know Thyself.”
First, look inward and ask yourself what you want out of training. Health, high-level skill, endurance, competing, or to look good naked—these are all viable and fantastic identities in fitness. I don’t want to call them goals because once you reach a goal, your north star starts to fade. By creating an identity of a trainee that is training for [insert identity from above], you’ll know the movements and outcomes you should be attaining. Sure, you can add more as time goes on, but that’s where we get to advanced training.
My goal here is to share with you the basis of the system and my views on which program track you should follow in the context of performance and muscle gains.
Each individual has their own unique ways of achieving their goals, and individualization should be embraced fully in the context of group fitness. So in layman’s terms:
Individuality based on what you can or cannot do.
Let’s take a look at a sample workout:
7 min AMRAP
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, …
Double Unders x 10 (multiplier)
D-Ball Over Shoulder
If you see double unders or the volume of double unders as your main issue, let’s address that.
Let’s say you can do one double under as a repeatable effort, i.e., two singles then one double. I would suggest performing the workout as follows:
1 Double Under
1 D-Ball Over Shoulder
2 Double Unders
2 D-Balls Over Shoulder
And so on for 7 minutes.
This allows you to work on a skill in a rep range that is more manageable than 2x or even 3x single unders.
Let’s look at another example. If you can perform repeatable efforts of double unders each set but lose all repeatability when the number gets too high, then keep the double under number fixed each round based on your capacity. Let’s say you can do 10 double unders. Then you could perform the workout as follows:
10 Double Unders
1 D-Ball Over Shoulder
10 Double Unders
2 D-Balls Over Shoulder
10 Double Unders
3 D-Balls Over Shoulder
So, we have presented two different strategies for you to work on skill without having to regress: 1. Reduce the volume to get a “win” on the workout and perform a higher skill throughout. 2. Maintain repeatability of effort to maximize the volume you complete in the workout.
This approach addresses health, higher skill training, and endurance.
In conclusion, understanding your fitness identity and individualizing your training approach is key to breaking free from mediocrity and achieving your desired outcomes. Whether you’re aiming for health, skill mastery, endurance, competition, or aesthetics, aligning your workouts with your personal goals and capabilities ensures sustainable progress and fulfillment. Remember, the journey is as important as the destination. Embrace the process, stay consistent, and celebrate every small victory along the way. Your fitness journey is uniquely yours, and by knowing yourself and tailoring your training, you can truly thrive.