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Mission CrossFit in Livingston, NJ is hosting their second annual fundraiser for Spectrum Works next weekend. Last year, the event attracted more than 200 people and raised more than $10,000 toward Spectrum Works, a non-profit organization that gives individuals within the autism spectrum the opportunity to learn skills in a regular work environment with the possibility of obtaining employment.
CHALK UP READS
Last Thursday, after Open Workout 17.5 was announced, Dave DeGroot had one thought: “Oh boy.” The couplet of thrusters and double-unders called for 350 reps on the rope, more than the 47-year-old had ever done in a single workout. Had it been a normal challenge programmed at his gym, CrossFit 808 in Honolulu, Hawaii, he would have scaled. “But nope, it’s the Open,” he thought to himself. “I have a goal: Rx everything.”
A day later, DeGroot finished the final double-under of 17.5 at 37:26, last in his heat. Though disappointed at first, he looked at the big picture once he caught his breath. “A couple years ago, I couldn’t do double-unders, and 95-lb. thrusters would leave me gasping,” he said. “It’s good to keep that perspective.” For DeGroot, a CrossFit Games Open competitor since 2012, that perspective spans six years and 30 Open workouts. Each year of tests, he said, has provided an opportunity to grow.
“The Trouble with Triplets” by Mike Warkentin, CrossFit Journal
If you get 2 rounds of Nate in 20 minutes, you’re likely missing the point. The triplet calls for max rounds of 2 muscle-ups, 4 handstand push-ups and 8 kettlebell swings. When performed by a skilled athlete, it’s a challenging test of conditioning in the range of 20 or more rounds. But if you take 20 minutes to grind through a total of 4 muscle-ups, 8 handstand push-ups and 16 kettlebell swings, you’ve turned a conditioning test into work on gymnastics skills, with 2 irrelevant sets of swings to break things up.
This is not to say it’s stupid to struggle through Nate. Developing athletes can find pride and motivation in putting “Rx” on the board, and sometimes the struggle is worth it. But only sometimes. I’ll let the Founder of CrossFit Inc. explain the rationale behind the conditioning triplet.
“Ideally the elements chosen are not significant outside of the blistering pace required to maximize rotations completed within the time (typically 20 minutes) allotted,” Greg Glassman wrote in the 2003 article “A Theoretical Template for CrossFit’s Programming.”