Mastering Movement
Back in 2005 Greg Glassman wrote an open letter to CrossFit trainers concerning fundamentals, virtuosity and mastery of movement. He stated,
“It is natural to want to teach people advanced and fancy movements. The urge to quickly move away from the basics and toward advanced movements arises out of the natural desire to entertain your client and impress him with your skills and knowledge. But make no mistake: it is a sucker’s move. Teaching a snatch where there is not yet an overhead squat, teaching an overhead squat where there is not yet an air squat, is a colossal mistake. This rush to advancement increases the chance of injury, delays advancement and progress, and blunts the client’s rate of return on his efforts.”
Everyone sees a heavy snatch and multiple muscle ups used in elaborate, complicated WODs and immediately wants to give it a shot. What nobody wants to do in work on their air squat for 20 minutes. Refining every last detail; chest up, feet forward, knees out, etc. Fundamentals are often overlooked but need to be considered in every training opportunity you have.
A great way to define movement foundations is developing a movement hierarchy or progressional map to see which movement or skill should be mastered before advancing to the next. Glassman gives common example of air squat into overhead squat into the snatch. Before moving load explosively, master the positions of moving load slowly. Before moving load at all, master moving your own body weight. An example I like to use is the handstand push up. Everyone wants to get inverted immediately and try to kip off 4 ab mats with an arched back just to get their reps in and say they did HSPUs. Fundamentals should always come first. Can you hold a hollow position just on the ground? How is your overhead mobility and positioning? Have you mastered a pike hold? Perfected your kick up to inverted? Wall assisted handstand holds aren’t a problem? Start with strict handstand push ups.
Fundamental movement development has the highest return on investment regarding your fitness. The best tips and tricks to advance to the next level will never amount to hammering the basics. Every training session strive for virtuosity; do the common uncommonly well.