Ready for the Unknown: Preparing for the Known
I guess I may as well throw my poo stirrer into the pot (that sounds horrific in reading it back … sorry) and see if I can help some Games athletes avoid heartache and disappointment. In case you don't know me, I own Outlaw CrossFit and am currently the coach of Becky Conzelman, Brandon Phillips, Talayna Fortunato, Jason Hoggan, and the lovely Laura DeMarco (who is taking this season off due to the fact that my baby is in her belly). Yes, Becky and Brandon qualified for the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games over the course of the first two weeks of Regionals. This means I was at two Regionals in two weeks and I saw some controversial stuff, to say the least.
I was front and center for the Michelle Benedict thruster redo, a phantom "foot movement" that put Talayna (yes, we had slow motion video which proved she didn't move) out of Workout 2 somewhere roughly 20 pounds lower than she would have been, and, *hold your breath,* I was there for the A.J. Moore kettlebell swing upheaval that has got to go down as one of the craziest things I've ever seen. During all this I talked to many great people on all sides of the action, and I can hopefully share a few insights that will help coaches and athletes prepare for the Games.
I'm not going to share any opinions on things that have already happened. If you want to buy me a pint (Magner's, please) at the Games I'll tell you my opinion, but this is strictly to help – not hurt – the community. I do know that A.J. Moore is almost cartoonishly fit. He was everyone's man crush at the Mid Atlantic Regional, and I don't know if I've ever seen anyone play the sport as ferociously as he does. That being said, he would have owned the Games, and it is an absolute shame that we don't get to see him at the Home Depot Center.
A.J. and I struck up a rapport in the warm up area at some point on Friday. He and Brandon are teammates with 2Pood. Brandon wanted me to give A.J. a little good-natured trash talk. He is instantly likable and we had some fun little chats. While A.J. was warming up for the now infamous Workout 4, I made a comment to him about the kettlebell swings. I noticed that he wasn't all the way vertical with the bell and having just seen the judging at the South East Regional, I knew he'd have problems. I talked to him about using the "snatch style" swing and watched a few of his reps as a kind of pre-judge. Again, I will not comment on what happened after the clock started, but I will say this – all the issues could have easily been avoided.
I have enjoyed playing sports my whole life, but I am nearly obsessive about coaching them. My mind almost never meanders into playful dreams of vacations and riches, but spends most of its free time fixated on one thing – how can I lead my athletes to victory. Don't worry, I'm not a crazy guy wondering around muttering rep schemes to myself, but I will leave no stone unturned when it comes to a competitive advantage. I watch videos until my eyes water, track HQ programming trends like the stock market, study the patterns of other elite competitors, have entire years planned for my athletes, and most importantly, I never, EVER send my athletes into a competition unprepared.
If you are a coach and you send your athlete into a Regional level CrossFit competition without them knowing, having practiced, and completely mastered the movements and standards required for that weekend, then you are not a coach – you are a buffoon. HQ gave us the workouts so early this year that there should be absolutely no excuse for not being good at EVERYTHING. For instance, I saw numerous athletes completely uncomfortable with the standard of jumping to the rings on "Amanda.” Were you asleep during the Games last year? Becky doesn't even ask if she should jump to the rings anymore, because she knows I'm going to just laugh at her. I don't even think she'd know how to do a muscle up while being able to stand and hold a false grip.
Kids, I'll let you in on a little secret – this is a professional sport now. The Reebok people are wonderful and they may have the best intentions, but they changed the whole game. Ten-year endorsement deals, posters in Foot Locker, and a $250,000 first prize mean that you better have your shit straight. If you think Bill Belichick would send Tom Brady on the field without knowing some critical aspect of the game plan (or how to throw the ball for that matter), then you probably don't understand the sport and should go back to your personal training job.
I've been there for bad judging, silly standards, disappointment, and, finally, ecstasy. I drove eight hours from Ohio without saying a word because I watched Becky lose a spot in the 2010 Games on the last workout – by one point. I drove six hours from Jacksonville that same year with a smile on my face because Laura won a tiebreaker with the wonderful Leah Polaski and earned a trip to the Home Depot Center. Last weekend, I helped my fourth athlete, Becky Conzelman, in the last three years qualify for the CrossFit Games. She was an athlete who was referred to my gym because someone told her she'd be great at CrossFit, and I was the best person to coach her. Needless to say, that was the greatest compliment of my professional life and I take that sentiment very seriously.
I am not a genius and I don't have a "super secret system" that makes my athletes better than any others. I am not a supplementation guru, and I don't really understand the hormonal effect of four ounces of kale. However, I do make damn sure there is nothing left to chance. Not only will my athletes know what to expect, they'll have done it a million times. I heard a young coach yell at an athlete who was failing on muscle ups. He said, "Figure out a way!" He basically wanted the athlete to try to perform a movement she was completely unprepared to perform, and thought by yelling this phrase it would allow her to grow magic muscle up wings that could help her fly over the rings.
I don't want to oversimplify this, or be a jerk. But someone other than me, five minutes before the event, should have told A.J. his swings may be an issue. If he'd known they were, was told how to correct them, and could have practiced, it would have been a non-issue. Even if the judge was extra harsh, maybe he'd only have lost 20 reps instead of the unbelievable 60 he did lose. He shouldn't have had to "figure out a way.” He should have simply been able to adjust to a standard that, while extreme, was well within the scope of his experience.
طرب توب
Posted at 8:22 AM PST on January 19, 2012طرب
عرب توب
اغانى
طرب نت
اغاني
تحميل اغاني
شات مصري
دردشة مصرية
شات الحب
سعودي فله
شات صوتي
thsnsk verr good
Posted at 7:22 AM PST on January 13, 2012شات بنات مصر
شات
دردشة مصرية
شات مصري
شات بنت مصر
دردشة
منتديات
شات مصرى
دليل مواقع
شات الحب
العاب بنات
للتوزيع فى مدونات اتصال على هذا الرقم 00201277876151 او الاضافه على الماسنجر Basem.vip@live.com
I like the writing style, break it down very well, and your blog is very interesting. Awesome stuff! book report writing | Admission essay writing | thesis writing
Posted at 10:58 PM PST on December 15, 2011Thanks very good
شات الحب - دردشة مصرية - شات حب - شات - دردشة الحب
Posted at 11:27 PM PDT on August 5, 2011The only thing I'll say about the AJ's judge at the regionals is that she did her job. She was fair and impartial to every single person she judged - bar none. She would have no-repped her mother if the standard wasn't met. She upheld the standards and, in the face of harsh, unkind, and unsportsmanlike conduct from the crowd (which lasted long after the event that evening), persisted in her judging of AJ to the end. I thank Rudy for his comments about the pre-event swings that AJ did and the rest is left to chance. So far, I haven't seen AJ complain about the event, only those who were/are not really in the know. As for Rudy's comments about coaching, he's spot on - a little obnoxious during events wiht all his yelling - but spot on nonetheless. Thanks, Rudy, for a great post.
Posted at 4:35 AM PDT on July 2, 2011- Steve
Convenient author oversight #3: I spelled wandering, "wondering". Idiot.
Couple things... Not really sure how writing a piece about having athletes prepared for standards and possible harsh judging has any correlation to ego. If you send athletes to high level competitions without being prepared for the standards that have been laid out, if they have been explained clearly, you ARE a terrible coach. I am also certainly not saying I am some sort of genius (as I actually said in the article), but I am saying that I make it my job to have all of my athletes prepared for what will be expected of them.
Not sure what the comment about Becky being a near Olympian has to do with being prepared for competition, but if you click on her name there is a video that HQ posted months ago where they interview her about nearly going to the 2004 Olympics. I most certainly did not omit that fact, and I frankly don't know why you think that's pertinent. If you're trying to say she would have been great without me you're absolutely right, but luckily I got the pleasure of being her coach and again, I will never take that for granted.
The judge (who is most certainly not what this article is about) is from my gym, and I'm REALLY not sure what this has to do with anything. AGAIN... Not talking about the standards or the judging; simply commenting on how to make sure situations like this don't arise. I guess maybe you didn't read the whole article?
Posted at 1:43 PM PDT on July 1, 2011I'm pretty sure you were talking about me as that "young coach who was yelling at an athlete who was failing on muscle ups."
I didn't say "figure out a way," I said "find a way." I wasn't implying "geez I hope you figure out how to do these weird muscle up things that we've never practiced." I was trying to encourage her to dig deep and remember what a phenomenal athlete she is. It's a cue we use to help our athletes push themselves to levels they didn't think they could go. I said it when that "completely unprepared" athlete finished WOD #1, #2, and #4 in 5th, 4th and 4th place respectively; and I say it to all of our athletes. Perhaps if I climbed under the rope separating the competition area from the spectator area, and been able to coach her face to face I might have come up with something better to say, unfortunately I decided to follow the rules instead.
So while I'm sure everyone enjoyed this incredibly ego-tastic article and we all get that you've coached some phenomenal athletes to the games; why don't you stick to the positives about becky and brandon instead of trying to make others look inferior.
Posted at 5:52 PM PDT on June 30, 2011Another convenient author oversight: Becky Conzelman was an Olympic caliber athlete well before she found Outlaw.
Posted at 1:28 PM PDT on June 28, 2011Good points on the AJ issue, but let's keep the overall ego in check
One aspect of this issue includes comments (on other boards) about how an otherwise stellar athlete can get tripped up by a fundamental movement (such as a kettlement swing). The suggestion is that this anomoly indicates that foul play or unfairness was present. I believe the performances of Jason Khalipa and Miko Salo prove otherwise. In 2009, a year after he was proclaimed the fittest man on earth, Jason nearly DNF'd on a run, and in 2010, a year after he was proclaimed the fittest man on earth, Miko was undone by double-unders. If it can happen to them, it can happen to anyone.
Posted at 6:41 AM PDT on June 28, 2011Convenient author's oversight: The judge at the heart of this matter is a coach at his box.
Posted at 5:03 AM PDT on June 28, 2011Thank You!
Posted at 2:10 AM PDT on June 28, 2011I just finished competing in the NorthEast Regionals and honestly think I got more "No Reps" than "Reps" during the KettleBell Swings. It killed me mentally,physically & spiritually. It ripped open my hands and destroyed my chances to move on to the final day.
After my heat, I was wrecked and received lots of "tough breaks", "you got AJ Moored" etc BUT the biggest help came from my fellow athletes that told me that they had been prepping themselves for the KB standard.
I realized that I had dropped the ball....I did not study the standard. When I saw KB Swings in that WOD, I think I just said "beautiful...that is all mine!" and totally blocked out the "new standard".
Here it is: It doesn't matter whether I saw others not hit the standard and not get a "No Rep"...I can not control others. I am glad my judge was a great judge (Mikah..if you are out there, Thank You!). What matters is I DID NOT DO MY HOMEWORK! I did ignored the standard and did not study up. And instead of moving on to Day 3...I learned a gianormous lesson that will make me a better athlete, a better coach and a better competitor in 2012!
It is not just about work output...it's about perfect work output. We are CrossFit. We have Standards.
I respect your commitment to your athletes. Keep it up and good luck.
Posted at 9:22 PM PDT on June 27, 2011And you're right about knowing the standard and being prepared for it, but if the standard is so nearly impossible to meet that it cant' be done by doing the actual movement called for, which is why I think so many people were doing the snatch style or gripping by the sides of the handle to press it up, then maybe that shouldn't be the standard in the future.
Posted at 12:56 PM PDT on June 27, 2011Good article especially on being prepared. And while I don't want to get into the whole AJ thing (again), and there are a lot of "what ifs" regarding the whole thing that could have prevented it or minimized it, I do want to just point out that I remember seeing the few reps he did for his judges prior to starting to make sure they were all on the same page with the standard. And for a second I nervously held my breath thinking that I didn't know if they would count those, because one or two of them had about a 10-20 degree tilt to the bottom of the kb at the top of the swing. But the judges nodded yes, they were all fine. Just one of the reasons what happened after the clock started that made the whole thing so frustrating.
Posted at 12:36 PM PDT on June 27, 2011