Written in the first person by:
Ronnie Teasdale
CrossFit Mean Streets is located in Downtown LA. Downtown LA is not a family friendly place. It is a place that even dogs have a hard time living in. Poor things have to wipe their butts on concrete. Our gym has a style that does not cater to the soccer mom. We are not a family gym. There is no “no-cussing” rule and on a daily basis we must get rid of random homeless people that come stumbling in, usually trying to sell stolen goods (this week, I had different guys try selling me some sort of construction chains, a “nice leather jacket”, weed, and “Oh you have a computer,…. I have a ter ter ter ter ma ma ter terma terma”).
Our gym is a gym where work gets done. Hard, dirty: work.
With that being said we are attracting a hefty supply of people who want to be athletic. Hardcore Competitive people. People that all want to know what everybody else’s times are and want to beat it.
We are happy to welcome the competition. As coaches who are competitive we love the heart. This competitive atmosphere is causing some inefficiencies though. And those inefficiencies will be addressed here.
Many of you have expressed your desire to be competitive at the sport of CrossFit. To this I say that I am seeing a trend that I must stomp to the ground before it gets out of hand. And this is the trend of putting your score in practice as a priority above all else.
I am here to tell you that the scores in your workout log mean NOTHING on the day of competition.
I know that our gym expansion just happened a few months ago. Which means most of our members are a few months old or brand new to CrossFit. But there is no excuse for short cutting standards because you want to go 1 min faster.
I see people not going down all the way on pushups. I see squat depths that are barely countable. I see jerks not being completed, box jumps without hip extensions, I see people trying to figure out shortcuts for every wod so their name goes up on the white board with the fastest time.
I yell, I scream, I stomp on people’s backs to get their chest to the ground. But I see that competition is driving this sloppy habit.
I have been to many CrossFit gyms to workout. And I see the same thing everywhere. But I go the distance, I make sure my chest is hitting the ground every pushup, I touch down with 2 hands on GHD sit-ups, I come up extra high on sit-ups, I take the extra half second to hold the top of the jerk, which on more cases then not can cost me the “win”. I do this weather or not I work out with people or not. ….But I would rather lose in a box because I was going above and beyond the required standards so that during competition I get zero reps taken away from me.
….. and, I get a better chance of standing on the podium when all is done, at 1st place. Because during a competition they WILL take reps away from you. There will be a judge watching every rep. And it will get in your head. You may not know what it is like to go to full range of motion and you will lose seconds off your time. And believe me,… it comes down to seconds.
Lets be clear. I am not talking about form. I know form goes out the window when a stop watch is involved. And I like that to a certain percentage. If you are using perfect form during a met-con,… then most likely you aren’t going hard enough. What I am pointing out here is standards. Every workout has them. We work on the honor system in this gym, …and its time to start seeing some honor. Chest to the deck means chest to the deck, every single rep… even if it takes you 45 min.
If you are not in this gym to be competitive but want to just get generally healthier this is for you also. Everything we teach is functional. It is functional to go all the way down in a pushup. No where ever will you find yourself having to push yourself up from floating in the middle of the air. It just wont happen. So whether you are here to compete or to live healthier, one thing is certain: Your life depends on how well you train, and short cuts will hinder you.
So this is a challenge. To do everything to the standards that we know are correct. To not count the missed wall ball shot. To make sure your feet get up on the box jump. To know that your chin must get above the bar on pullups. To thrust your hips to full extension at the top of every squat. To hold 1RM jerks for 3 seconds. To hold that kettlebell straight over head every swing. To make sure you can hear your chest hit the ground at the bottom of those burpees. To turn out at the bottom of muscle ups. To not count “almost”….Don’t let your self down people.
Weekend Schedule of Events:
-There will be no classes Sat, Sunday, and Monday
-Intro class is on Friday at 7:00pm
9-3-10
Warm Up:
2-3 minutes of cumulative L-sit hold
Skill
3 sets of max reps Ring Dips
WOD
Beginner:
100 scaled pullups
or
50 real pullups
Soon to be Badass:
75 real pullups
Badass:
100 pullups
Start the pullups with the clock. You get one minute to do as many pullups as you can. After the minute is up you are to run 1 lap (1/3 mile). Come back and you get 1 full minute to do as many pullups as possible in the next minute. After this run again,… and so on and so on until your number of pull-ups is completed.
……Oh by the way,… if you are wondering if the above posting was written for you,… it probably was. There should be no question that every rep you do counted.
CrossFit Mean Streets
Downtown LA…. Has Rickey the pirate lost his Hat?
Eyes are watching!!!