Bring your A Game

This is as much a Contract for 540 Athletes as it is a Sign up sheet.  This past year, we saw a good showing at the HOA in Springfield, and a better showing at the CrossFit Games Regionals in Chicago.  Seeing the efforts and the athleticism displayed daily in the gym tells me that not only can we repeat the performances of this past year, but that we can eclipse them.

HOWEVER…..

This will NOT be easy.  Those wanting to contribute the CF540’s competitive accomplishments will have to do much more than just show up and get a workout in.  They will have to commit more of their time, effort, and discipline than previously given.  As the world of CrossFit grows and grows, so does the level of skill that we will continue to see at not only the games…. but other events as well.

So we will be posting this sign up sheet at both gyms for those wanting to sign up to be on CrossFit 540’s Competitive team.  By putting your name on this sheet, you are not saying that you are a badass athlete.  But you are saying you will train like one. 

Nor are you saying that you expect to become the best our group has to offer. You are saying that you will train like you want to be.

At our little gym, we have EXCELLENT QUALITY PEOPLE who come and give of themselves every day.  The people we have who go and compete are representatives of these wonderful individuals.  So those who put their names on this sheet should train daily knowing they represent more than just their selves, but our gym as a whole.

Do the AAB

Do the AAB wods.  They are designed for one purpose.  Competition.  Sometimes the general wod may seem like a more ‘conventional workout’ or a ‘better one’.  But its not.  It just focuses on different aspects.  Commit to AAB if you want to compete.  You will not lose your ‘cardio’, or your ‘lungs’.   Not only will you keep those, but you will also develop a better skill set, more speed, power, and drive than you had previously.  Our AAB consistent athletes have seen NO drop off in cardio-centered workouts at all.  What is more is that your trainers are committing considerable time and resources to making sure the AAB wods give us the best chance to competing with the best in our region.

Do the AAB

Do the AAB

Do the AAB

If you name goes on this list… do the AAB

Stop working out.  START TRAINING.

Showing up to train, means you approach the daily wod differently than you may have previously.   From the moment your name goes on the list, it is not about the fastest time, or ‘Rx’ing’ the workout, or doing a certain weight, or beating so and so.  It is about YOU getting better.  If that means you need to scale to work on technique, you scale.  If that means two a days to practice movements, so be it.  And it also means doing skill work until your blue in the face.  Remember, results for skill work never lie with heavy weight.  It’s always found in light weight (bar) skill work done again and again.  And done right.  Seek out the trainers.  Ask them for advice.  Download Videopix.  Record yourself.  Show the trainer. Take the necessary steps back so you can leap forward. 

DIET

TBH, this is probably the most important item on the agenda.  ‘you cant out train a bad diet’…. Sound familiar?  Problem is, many of us think we are eating clean and awesome when we are not. For example, lets say an athlete was eating very clean paleo.  TONS of veggies.  Lean meats.  NO GRAINS.   But for what they were trying to accomplish, (be a competitive athlete) it wasn’t right….  It wasn’t bad!  No, not at all.  But it wasn’t right. 

Now understand, every BODY is different.   But I truly feel the Zone keeps an athlete honest in eating in roughly balanced portions.   Not the amount of food on your plate mind you, but the balance between protein, carbs and fat.  It allows for a person to run cleaner and push the machine we call a body to a further stopping point.  Many times on a self-prescribed ‘clean’ diet, a person tends to put to much emphasis on either fats, carbs or proteins.  And being too consistently heavy on anything will take that Filthy 50 time a few minutes higher than it could be. 

Buuuuuut Coach….. its haaaaaard…… I don’t have the tiiiiiime…… its booooring….. I loooove ______(insert your favorite food)  Heck, go ahead and enter whatever excuse you have given yourself for as long as you remember.  Just know, we are giving you the keys to an engine that is more powerful than you realize.   You can keep hanging your hat on that excuse, all the way to the next time we do Fran and you get the same time….. As for the rest of us…….. PR’s baby.  PR’s

So I implore the members of our family to look into Zone and cleaner eating… and I SCREAM at the people putting the names on this list to do the same.  Remember, you are representing (in my humble opinion) some of the best people in Northwest Arkansas.  Do them proud.

TRAIN SMART AND BE DETERMINED

If you have a problem movement, or an injury, you either accept that as a deficiency, OR find a way around it.  Don’t let your self despair and become miserable.  Become hardened and driven.  Remember if you decide that failing isn’t an option…..then it isn’t.

Think about the movements that you struggle with.  Experiment.  Dwell on the physics of things.   One of the worst things you can do for yourself in training is to just continue to do reps the exact same way and never stop to analyze.  If you cant be stronger or faster than the next guy/girl, you better be smarter!:)

MOST OF ALL….. Continue to have fun.  This is all worthless if its not.  But I know that if you put your name on this list, you enjoy CrossFit.  You enjoy pushing yourself.  And you enjoy seeing the advancement of your fitness prowess through physical acts of competition.  Never let this stop being fun.  EVER. 

The only reason we are going to work so hard is because in our minds, Mr. Lombardi’s old quote rings true in our heads.  –“ I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.

To recap

-Be more because you represent the best

-AAB

-Diet

-Train Smart and Be Determined

BECOME MORE