So I am not one to visit the doctor’s office when I’m not feeling so energetic and my usual pumped self … I just believe that the body has the ability to heal itself when given the proper nutrition, fluids, and rest. However, some things just don’t have the ability to heal properly on their own like a broken leg or bronchitis. They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, so I guess that makes me stubborn just like my father. After weeks of putting up with a terrible mucous filled cough I finally decided to make a trip to the doctors to seek alleviation. Just as I was dreading, the doctor prescribed medication that I was required to take twice a day for a series of 10 days. I HATE taking medicine! Pills, syrups, rubs, sprays, creams…. Just plain hate it. Now, if I saw fit to take the medicine once a day for only 5 days I wouldn’t reap the full benefits of wellness in the desired amount of time.
Just as a doctor prescribes medication, as your coaches at CrossFit Leicester, we prescribe a level at which we strive for you to perform each and every movement in a workout. So when you step up to the board at the end of the WOD to give your coach your score, how do you know if you completed the workout “RX” or “as prescribed?” Let’s take a workout for example: Every minute on the minute for 12 minutes of 5 wallballs- a 9Kg ball for guys and 6Kg ball for ladies, 6 clapping pushups, and 7 overhead walking lunges with a 30Kg plate overhead for guys and 20Kg for the ladies. In order to complete this workout “RX”, each and every movement must meet the set standard with the weight prescribed at the number of reps prescribed. With the wallball weight prescribed, the hips must descend below the top of the knee in the bottom of the squat and the ball must touch the 10ft target. If the ball weight or the height of the target is modified, the workout is no longer completed “as prescribed.” Clapping pushups meet the standard when a plank position is maintained throughout the entire movement and the chest is in contact with the floor in the bottom of the pushup. While explosively driving weigh through your palms, hands will release from the ground clapping underneath your torso and then return back to the start position. Once again, if the movement is modified in any way, such as pushups from the knees, the workout is not Rx’d.
Now don’t be discouraged if you can’t do the workouts Rx…..yet that is. It’s simply a goal or target to strive for. One of the benefits of the CrossFit program is that it is infinite in the sense that there will never be a point in your training where you will feel like you’ve “arrived.” There is always some area that needs improvement. If you’ve mastered pull-ups, work on chest to bar pull-ups. Once you’ve got those down to a science, work on those muscle ups and then the training doesn’t end there. As CrossFitters, our goal is to become well rounded individuals… so keep at it. To be good at anything, you’ve got to be willing to put in the time, effort, and hard work. Just remember, it’s all a process.