When I started using CrossFit as my fitness regimen in late 2007, it was just starting to grow. That year, to compete in the CrossFit Games, you just had to show up to the ranch in Aromas and say "can I play?" Since then, CrossFit has seen exponential growth and the sport of CrossFit has become so competitive that professional athletes and world record holder weightlifters have tried and failed to qualify for the Games. But the more things change, the more they stay the same. Fast forward 11 years, and although many people picture the CrossFit games when they think of CrossFit, it's not about the Games. The entire point of CrossFit, then and now, is to give people a fitness methodology that truly makes them stronger, faster, more flexible, and well... fitter. The goal is to create a holistic fitness that serves as a foundation of health and longevity as well as a springboard into any athletic endeavor you can think of.
So as the title proposes, "why sweat the details". In other words, if your squat technique
isn't very good, why should you care as long as you're showing up and moving some weight around? There are many ways to answer that question. But I'll give you my perspective after nine years of coaching people at CrossFit Initiative. I feel strongly that there is a very close relationship between good movement and health. The better someone moves, the less likely they are to injure themselves. Good movement also indicates adequate flexibility and good proprioception (awareness of your body parts' position in space). Both are critical when you're falling, about to run into something, trying to pick something up, etc... Essentially, the better you move, the more healthy and capable you are. These earned traits will serve you well as you age.
One of our members is over 70 years old. He does pull-ups, climbs the rope, rides bikes, does the olympic lifts (and does them well). He focuses on trying to move as well as possible. And it is keeping him healthy and active at a time in his life when many people are either dying or have become completely immobile. He is not only active, but he's capable of handling himself physically by moving his body weight around and moving external objects with adequate force.
We sweat the small stuff because the small stuff matters. It's the foundation to the big stuff. And at the end of the day, we must all ask ourselves why we do what we do. Do you workout so that you can check that chore off the list today? Or do we workout and train to accomplish something and to make our lives better? If it's the latter, then pay attention to the little things along the way. They matter.
Comments