1/26 Mental Toughness Thursday

Lunchtime ladies getting after those DB plank rows. 
We coaches get asked frequently how long it will take someone to do something as prescribed. Or how long it will take to improve in CrossFit. Our answer is always, "It depends." Not satisfying, we know. 

It really does depend though. It depends on your current level of conditioning, it depends on how consistently you attend classes, it depends on how much extra work you put towards skill development by taking specialty seminars, skill sessions or private training. It depends on how well you eat, how well you recover, how many hours you sleep. It depends on your lifestyle. 

However, our good friends at Beyond the Whiteboard, who are data geeks like us, have crunched the numbers for us. They looked at Fitness Level data from over 65,000 athletes over the past 6 years and analyzed it to see how long it takes to increase your Fitness Level. They found, on average, it takes 5-6 months of consistent CrossFit to improve your Fitness Level by 10 points. 

Of course, you need to be able to do the Fitness Level workouts as prescribed. Do you notice how many BTWB Fitness Level workouts we do every week? How many of those are doable by everyone? All of the Speed, Power Lifts, Olympic Lifts and Endurance workouts can be performed as prescribed by everyone.

​Many of the Bodyweight workouts such as 100 sit-ups or 100 burpees for time, 2, 3 or 5 min max reps double unders, can be done by most people. Even if you get ONE double under in that time you still did it as prescribed. It all counts. This week alone, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday's workouts all count to your BTWB Fitness Level. Next week, 5 of the workouts count toward the BTWB Fitness Level. We program these workouts regularly so that you can keep working on your BTWB Fitness Level. 

The BTWB folks found that improvements come quickly for new CrossFitters, and those of who who've been doing it for a while have a diminishing margin of return. They also found that improvement depends upon nutrition, sleep and recovery. 

New & Intermediate CrossFitters can improve quickly
When you are fairly new to CrossFit you can improve at a pretty quick rate. If you’re currently between 1-60, stay committed and consistent because you have a chance to raise your Fitness Level by 20 levels per year. In fact, on average, it takes 19 Months to improve from a level 50 to a level 80. In short, eat well and get to your CrossFit Affiliate a few times a week.

Advanced CrossFitters
On average, it takes about 5-6 months to improve your Fitness Level by 10 levels. This rate holds true until you get to Level 80. Going from level 80 to 90 takes over 8 months, on average, which is 45% longer than it takes to go from 70 to 80. To make Regionals, you need to be near a level 90.

Nutrition, Sleep and Recovery
​Nutrition and sleep play a big factor in increasing your Fitness Level. Although they might not have the same diets, it seems most advanced and elite CrossFitters pay attention to how they eat and sleep. 

The bottom line is fitness is a journey. It takes consistent daily effort. You may have breakthrough workouts, you may regress. Improvement, while an upward trending line, is never exactly linear. You will have ups and downs, your diet may go sideways. No matter what happens, just keep on trucking. Get back on track, get your ass to the gym, eat meat, vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Get 7-9 hours of sleep. Good luck! 

​Today's Workout 
As Many Rounds and Reps as Possible in 6 min of:
5 push ups
10 pullups
15 box jumps 24/20”
Rest 2 mins
As Many Rounds and Reps as Possible in 6 min of:
5 Dumbbell (DB) Push Presses
10 DB Plank Rows
15 DB Hang Power Clean 

Pick your load for the dumbbell work. This workout is inspired by Coach Glassman, CrossFit founder and #CEO. He thinks we should do more work with dumbbells. Watch this video to learn why he thinks this. What do you think?

Today's workout is testing our ability to recover between two high intensity intervals. Recoverability is important as it allows our anaerobic and aerobic systems to recharge. 

Do you recognize the first triplet? It's an explosive box jump variation of Cindy. How do you think changing the air squat to a plyometric movement changes the stimulus? Tell us in the comments. 

How do you think today's DB hang power cleans compare to the barbell ones we did yesterday? Inquiring minds want to know!