Traditionally, the Ten Commandments set out the legal guidelines on how it is best to stay and deal with others in your group.

One factor that makes CrossFit stand out as a coaching idea for the lengthy haul is its sense of group. However, like with any group, there’ll all the time be drawback behaviors. So listed below are ten commandments for CrossFit to information your actions unto your self and others.

Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness

Everybody loses rely. Everybody can rely to 10 till you’re in the course of a WOD and your coronary heart is pounding out of your ears. However there’s a distinction between pondering you’re on rep seven of ten while you’re really on six versus repeatedly slicing reps or inflating your rating.

The latter methodology shouldn’t be huge, it’s not intelligent, and also you’re solely dishonest your self. Be trustworthy. Bought a low rating? So what? Everybody has strengths and weaknesses, and although you’re on the backside of the board in a single exercise, you would be successful in one other. You’ll by no means know actual progress for those who don’t know the place you began.

Thou Shalt Be Involved Solely With Thyself

No matter the final commandment, you shouldn’t even know if somebody’s cheated or not. Why had been you counting his or her reps? In a person WOD it’s you towards your self, so cease getting aggravated about what your neighbor is doing, and suck it up. For those who had been counting his or her reps, had been you actually placing full effort into your personal?

Thou Shalt No-Rep Thyself

CrossFit has clear and particular motion requirements. For those who bodily can’t obtain these requirements, then scale as wanted and work towards reaching them. For those who can obtain them, then be sure you hit them. Each. Single. Time.

Go to a contest with crappy approach and motion that misses the mark, and also you’ll be a sitting duck for no-reps and a low rating. This goes again to being trustworthy with your self. Goal for high quality of motion each time and you’ll make fast progress.

“In a person WOD it’s you towards your self, so cease getting aggravated about what your neighbour is doing, and suck it up.”

Certain, there are some lower than stellar coaches on the market, however except you will have the {qualifications}, have the expertise, and may see your supposedly excellent approach, pay attention up. And in the event that they inform you to lighten the load, simply do it. There’s a cause, and that cause is nearly all the time one thing that can profit you.

Thou Shalt Not Stroll in Entrance of Thy Neighbor’s Platform

Image the scene. You’ve obtained a heavy bar in front-rack place and also you dip, able to drive the bar above your head – when somebody steps into your line of sight. You get distracted and thrown off steadiness, collapsing on the ground in a heap of chalk and iron. Not enjoyable. So don’t do it to different individuals. If somebody’s about to raise or is mid-lift, wait till she or he is completed earlier than you step throughout the platform.

Thou Shalt Tidy Up After Thyself

Nobody needs to wash up your sweaty AbMat or lug your gear again to the nook for you. For those who’ve completed with one thing, put it away. It’s not laborious. I imply, come on – you simply made an enormous deal out of bench urgent 100kg, however you’ll be able to’t carry a 20kg plate again to the burden stack?

Virtually as annoying as not tidying up after your self shouldn’t be getting your gear prepared to start with. Everybody’s prepared to start out the WOD and then you definitely understand simply because the coach utters, “three, two, one, go,” that you simply haven’t obtained a wall ball. It’s not simply your personal time you’re losing – it’s everybody else’s too. Learn the board, watch the demo actions, familiarize your self with the WOD, and get your gear set.

Thou Shalt Not Restrict Thyself to CrossFit

If all you ever do is CrossFit, all you’ll ever be good at is CrossFit. Which is okay, if that’s your objective. However if you wish to be a well-rounded athlete, and likewise need to keep away from accidents, then it’s effectively price incorporating different types of coaching into your schedule.

“Yoga and Pilates may even provide you with positive aspects in flexibility and core power, each essential for CrossFit, so don’t brush them off earlier than you’ve tried them.”

Take yoga and Pilates. They could appear a bit delicate to most hard-core “should sweat to be working laborious” CrossFitters, however prefer it or not, CrossFit is predominately a one-plane-of-movement sport. All the pieces is within the sagittal airplane. By coaching your physique within the frontal and transverse planes, you’ll recruit muscular tissues you aren’t utilizing typically and keep away from damage. Yoga and Pilates may even provide you with positive aspects in flexibility and core power, each essential for CrossFit, so don’t brush them off earlier than you’ve tried them.

Honor Thy Coach and Thy Teacher

Suppose you realize finest? Likelihood is you don’t. In case your coach takes it upon him- or herself to offer you a chunk of recommendation, grasp it with each arms. These individuals have put within the coaching hours and seen extra snatches than they care to recollect. Take heed to them.

Thou Shalt Encourage Thy Neighbor

This isn’t really easy on an AMRAP. However in group WODs or for-time codecs, for those who end shortly, take just a few seconds to catch your breath, swallow again the sensation of desirous to vomit, and shout phrases of encouragement to these nonetheless working away. All of us know that feeling of nonetheless having reps to do and simply wanting the coach to shout, “Time.” However just some shouts of “You are able to do it!” and “5 extra reps!” could make the distinction between digging in and giving up. CrossFit, in any case, is nothing if it’s not a group.

Thou Shalt Go away Thy Ego on the Door

The 2 greatest causes of damage in CrossFit are ego and dangerous teaching. Whether or not it’s RXing while you really don’t have the power to maintain these weights with good kind, displaying off by doing muscle ups in between rounds of talent work, or going straight in at ninety % of your 1RM from an empty bar heat up, all of it quantities to the identical factor – ego.

“The 2 greatest causes of damage in CrossFit are ego and dangerous teaching.” 

Not solely does it annoy the hell out of everybody else, however in lots of circumstances it’s harmful. Heat up steadily, scale the place obligatory, and save your playtime on the rings for after the category has completed.

Thou Shalt Work on Thy Weaknesses

You’re keen on doing pull ups all day lengthy and may handstand stroll all the way in which out the door post-WOD, however you’ll be able to’t entrance squat greater than a bar and a pair of bumpers. The chances are for those who dislike one thing, you’ll be dangerous at it too. You’ll be able to carry on doing these gymnastics abilities, however for those who neglect your fundamental power work, you’ll by no means be capable of go far in CrossFit.

There’s a enormous vary of actions inside CrossFit for a cause – it challenges the physique in many alternative methods. For those who’re a one trick pony, you’ll quickly be left on the merry-go-round whereas the opposite horses go play on the CrossFit Video games. Allocate extra time to engaged on and growing your weak factors than you do enjoying round on the stuff you’re already good at.

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Observe these ten commandments and your CrossFit expertise is more likely to be a extra pleasurable and well-rounded one. Regularly break them, and also you’ll probably end up much less widespread than seven minutes of burpees.

Do you will have every other commandments you suppose must be on this listing? What do you suppose must be etched in stone on each field’s partitions?

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Picture 1 courtesy of Shutterstock.

Pictures 2, 3, & 4 courtesy of CrossFit Empirical.