The credit for this blog post goes to Coach Liz, who sent along a great episode of Ben Bergeron’s podcast “Chasing Excellence”. Ben is widely considered the best competitive CrossFit coach in the world, having trained the likes of Chris Spealler, Brooke Wells, Cole Sager, and of course Mat Fraser and Katrin Davidsdottir. Many of his podcasts deal with the mental and emotional aspects of achieving higher levels of fitness, whether that is in the competitive arena or the rest of us looking to PR our Helen times once in a while. This particular episode was about the difference between practice, training, and competing in the gym, and why each of these is just as important as the others.
Before I start into why I think this episode was really meaningful to me, and why it should be to you, let me define these three ideas.
Practice is when you take some time in your workout session to work on a skill that you need to develop. There is no pressure to do it quickly, or under duress. An example might be doing the Burgener Warm-up with a PVC pipe or empty bar before a snatch workout. The point of practice is to get a high volume of low-intensity repetitions in, in order to become more technically sound, more efficient, better.
Training ramps up the intensity level. In our Olympic Lifting class, training is happening when we’re doing sets of snatches at 75-85% of our max, and resting a limited amount between sets. When you hear “every minute on the minute, do 3 snatches…” that is training. Nobody is competing with you to do those reps faster than you. You are focused on getting better by using impeccable technique, and training under fatigue to improve your recovery time. The purpose of training is to get better FOR TOMORROW.
Competition is when all the chips are on the table. You have been practicing your skills, and training to improve your fitness level and incorporate your skills into workouts. Now it’s time to throw down. One obvious example would be actual competition – for us it’s the CrossFit Open, and the ESAC (next one coming up in October!) But another example might be our Wednesday benchmark workout. You know that a running workout might be coming up soon, and running is not your strength. So you log some extra miles each week outside of class, to prepare and shore up your weaknesses. And then BAM! – the WOD on Wednesday is a timed one mile run. Is this training? Not for you, man – this is competition, and you’re going to push that mile harder than you have before to guarantee a PR.
So, all of these are important, right? The problem that I get myself into, and I know a bunch of you do too, is spending too much time on one versus the others.
I spend a lot of time in the Competition mindset. I treat most workouts throughout the week as if the main point is to beat as many people in the gym as possible. Toward the end of a 20-minute AMRAP, my technique on kipping pull-ups and power cleans start looking like I should probably go through the On-Ramp program again, but I’m OK with that because my result is going to be a better score if I just keep pushing it. Is that your overarching mindset too? The issue with competing every day in the gym is that you get burnt out very quickly. You can’t maintain that level of physical output and strain on your nervous system for very long before your fitness level will actually start decreasing. The way Ben Bergeron put it cemented this for me: CrossFit Games athletes work out for 4-5 hours a day, increasing their fitness and skill level the whole time. Then they go to “The Games” and within the first two workouts they start breaking down – they’re fried from the competition, as they should be! They haven’t been working out constantly at that superhuman level – they spend a lot of time every day in the Practice and Training categories, working to get better for tomorrow – and then Compete once in a while to keep their edge and test themselves with benchmarks that they have set for themselves.
A smaller number of you may find the opposite to be true – you don’t spend enough time, if any, in Competition mode. You generally hold back a little bit, even on workouts you feel comfortable with. To use the one mile run example again, maybe you stay home from the gym that day and just jog a mile on your own and consider that workout done. The issue with adopting that Training mindset at all times, is that you’re missing out on Intensity, and working out with a high level of Intensity is what will create adaptations in your body that build your overall fitness – higher levels of Strength, Work Capacity, and Endurance, depending on the workout. Once again, we don’t want to live in that Competition world every day so that we can recover well, but once in a while you need to step into the arena and leave it all out there.
What we all need to get a bit better at is setting our intentions for our daily session in the gym. Is today going to be a Practice Day, a Training Day, or a Competition Day?
For a long time, we have centered our weekly WOD schedule around Wednesday, when we do a benchmark workout. That seems like a pretty good day to get into that Competition mode! Show up to the gym with fire in your eyes, warm-up really well with the intention of getting yourself ready to move well and move fast!
Your other days in the gym should focus mostly on Practice and Training. Practice time is when we’re warming up and work on a new movement, like Rope Climbs. Practice should center around getting some high-quality reps in, internalize and practice the coaching cues being offered, and improve your often-neglected areas of fitness – Balance, Coordination, Agility, and Accuracy.
Set your intention for most non-benchmark workouts to be in Training mode. There’s no reason to not move fast during Training and work at a pace that makes you uncomfortable, but where we don’t want to be is prioritizing workout results (time, rounds) over quality of movement. Take on the personal challenge of using impeccable technique during that couplet of Rowing and Deadlifts, and at least two positives will come out of it. Your technique will improve over time, giving you more capacity during a benchmark workout where it counts, and your recovery will be easier since you didn’t allow your back to curve over the course of 50 heavy lifts.
My double promise to you is that I am going to take these points on board during my own workouts, consciously setting my intentions appropriately and not Competing more than I Train and Practice. I will also help you set your intentions as we brief the workouts in class each day, identifying the Practice and Training opportunities that you have, and helping you to get fired up for Competition when it’s time!
Thanks for reading, and if you’re interested in Ben’s podcast that spurred this regurgitation of fitness strategy, check out “Chasing Excellence”, episode #14!
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