Motivation
Sports have a lot of great life lessons. Saturday night I went to a high school playoff semi final Lacrosse match versus Foothill High School and Saint Margaret’s. The goalie for Saint Margaret’s is one of our high school athletes and has actually been training with me since Mission CrossFit was operating out of my garage. His team played very well, executing on offense and coming up with key defensive plays at all the right times. Saint Margaret’s confidence continued to grow as the game went on. At half time the score was 7-4 in favor of Saint Margaret’s. By the end of the 3rd quarter Saint Margaret’s extended that lead to 14-6. This is where the character of some Foothill players began to manifest itself. Foothill had not given up more than 11 goals in a single game all year and had never trailed by so many. Many of the players continued to work hard. I was impressed by the sportsmanship most of them continued to exhibit. A few players however, had lost their cool and took very bad penalties. Penalties that I think they can learn a lot from. I believe they were selfish penalties. Meaning they had given up on the game and their teammates. Because of their penalties they left their team shorthanded on the field for 3 minutes. Like hockey they were major penalties and when Saint Margaret’s scored they remained in the penalty box and their team remained short handed. I could not tell what the coach was saying to his team. After all this was new territory for him and his team. They have won the CIF Championship 5 of the last 6 years. They did not know who to react in the face of such adversity. Sure, they had lost a few games this year but the games were close. How do we react when the odds are so overwhelmingly against us. Emotions were high, many players were seniors, this was the end of their lacrosse career, and it was not ending the way they wanted.
What is great about sports is not that it teaches us how to win or work hard. I believe it more importantly teaches us how to lose and never quite. I think many of the boys will learn far more from losing that game then having had won it. I watched Foothill at the end of the game. How the boys hugged and consoled one another. How their friends came out to provide their emotional support and how their family embraced them with love and affection. Family, Friends, and Love. When life hands us a crushing loss, those three things will make us stronger. Keep your priorities straight and never lose sight of what is truly important.
Strength
Overhead Squats – The hardest of the squats that we do. That is why today we will be working on technique by completing lots of repetitions at a lower weight. Pick at weight that allows you to have the best form.
Workout Strategy
Today is a testing day. One is to see how fast you can do 30 pull ups (5 minute strict cap). After you finish your pull ups or the five minute cap expires you will rest five minutes and then run 800 meters as fast as possible. Do not worry if you can not complete 30 pull ups in five minutes. If you can do even a single pull up then we are testing how many pull ups you can do in the 5 minutes. Do your best. If you can do even a single chest to bar pull up then I would like to see you do them and see how many you can complete in the five minutes. As for the run, we have run an 800 a few times over recent weeks. Today I want you to beet all those times. The amount of work we are doing in today’s workout is relatively low, so keep the intensity really high and push yourself.
| Workout of the Day | |
|---|---|
| Strength of the Day | Overhead Squats (OHS): 5 reps every minute for 10 minutes |
| Level 1:
30 Challenging Ring Rows Rest 5 minutes Run 800 meters *If you can do even 1 pull up then you need to do level 2. |
Level 2:
30 Pull Ups *Strict 5 minute cap Rest 5 minutes Run 800 meters |
| Level 3:
30 Chest to Bar Pull Ups *Strict 5 minute cap Rest 5 minutes Run 800 meters for time |
Level 4:
30 Chest to Bar Pull Ups Rest 5 minutes Run 800 meters for time * To be level 4 you must complete in a total time of 9 minutes. |
Get more awesome: 32 Hand Release Push Ups
