When people are training for optimal power output, they push themselves harder, faster, stronger, and longer. The mission is to kick your ass to be a badass.
But what most often happens is the brain and body hit a breaking point in their ability to recover - leading to a constant state of exhaustion. Instead of optimal power, you get overtraining, fatigue, decreased durability, and most likely injury. Is this sounding familiar at all?
While incarcerated, Fletcher Tholin discovered CrossFit. Watch his rehabilitation in this eight-part series.
In Episode 5, Tholin is seven weeks into CrossFit and he’s competing in his first Open competition.
As Tholin works, he explains he’s feeling happier in his life. And of course he’s spending more time at the gym—working on double-unders, repeating Open workouts and continuing to build relationships.
“Practice makes perfect,” he says after completing 50 unbroken double-unders.
Throughout the Open, Tholin’s competitive side comes out. At CrossFit Edwardsville in Glen Carbon, Illinois, athletes are watching the announcement for Week 3. Tholin says he’s hoping for something heavy. He gets his wish: a couplet of increasingly heavier deadlifts and box jumps.
“I feel like I gotta poop, man,” he says after hearing the workout details. “I don’t know if I’m nervous or if I really have to. I don’t know.”
After the announcement, Tholin goes head-to-head with fellow athlete Dan Williams—one of the stronger athletes at the affiliate. Many predict Williams will beat him, but Tholin proves them wrong by completing 133 reps and winning.
While Tholin gets stronger in the gym, he gets stronger in his perseverance to live a positive and happy life.
“CrossFit is the foundation that everything … is built on in my life right now,” he says. “CrossFit gave me the stable foundation to build the positive life that I’m living right now. It gave me hope.”
Video by Gary Roberts and Jordan Shalhoub.
14min 34sec
Additional reading: “Streets to Scholarship” by Andréa Maria Cecil, published Aug. 17, 2014.
This week's theme is personal growth and betterment, not only physically but in all ways. I've also included some swimming content by reader request.
We've had so many terrific interactions in our forum this past week. John Rusin answered questions on the second phase of his hypertrophy workout cycle, Andrew Read answered heart rate training questions, and Kris Brown continued his amazing coaching of one member's Olympic lifting training.
Many research studies over the years have compared exercise intensity (effort) and duration (length of effort), independent of the calories required to fuel them. From this we have learned that various outcomes are possible depending upon our effort expended over the time of our activity. Generally:
Other than a couple of minor scraps in high school and college, I had never been in a fight prior to studying martial arts. Getting hit wasn’t something I was used to when I showed up to kung fu many moons ago.
On Episode 377 of CrossFit Radio, host Justin Judkins interviewed two athletes who were at the top of the regional leaderboards in the CrossFit Games Open. Carleen Mathews placed first in the North West, and Christian Lucero was No. 1 in the South West. This episode was webcast on April 15, 2015.
2:18 Best in the North West, Carleen Mathews was also 17th worldwide, putting her in very elite company. The owner of CrossFit Saint Helens in Oregon said her Open performance has given her confidence as she prepares for the West Regional, to be held May 29-31 in Tacoma, Washington. Mathews talked about her work on the mental side of competition and offered advice on choosing a trustworthy coach who can help an athlete prepare for the tough CrossFit Games season. As an affiliate owner and competitor, Mathews explained how she finds balance in her busy life.
12:12 Christian Lucero talked about his results in the Open and described his athletic background. With the South Regional set for May 15-17 in Dallas, Texas, Lucero reflected back to the 2014 South West Regional, where he and several others contracted a debilitating case of the flu and had to drop out of the competition. He explained how last year’s unfortunate results motivated him in 2015. Lucero, a coach at Backcountry CrossFit in Littleton, Colorado, offered some insight into his training as regionals approach, and he said keeping things light and fun helps him prepare for the pressure that will come in less than a month.
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