Pushing the Envelope
Saturday, August 18, 2007 at 10:18PM 
CrossFit is predicated on driving the margins of our individual training experiences ever outward, bringing new levels of speed, strength, stamina, and power into the fold.
Sometimes, this pursuit becomes difficult, causing stagnation, laziness, and lack of focus. Driving yourself to the brink of unconsciousness day after day can cause even the most stalwart of athletes to rethink the sanity of our programming.
Recently, I’ve fallen victim to this line of thinking, replacing consistent CrossFit programming with a steady regimen of squats, power cleans, and weighted pull-ups. Although these exercises have considerable utility, I’ve allowed them to become an excuse to avoid the pain of twenty-minute metabolic efforts.
Evidently, I just need a little motivation.
In the name of driving the margins outward, regaining my love of the game, and (hopefully) beating my beloved in our sport of choice, Samantha and I are having a contest. Inspired by this month’s showdown between the top guns of the Santa Cruz crew, we’ve decided to go head-to-head in every WOD for a month. Lest we go soft on each other, the loser is required to provide the winner with a crisp $100 bill.
The Rules:
- Each WOD victory, determined by the appropriate metric, is worth one point, and the person with the most points at the end of a 31-day period wins.
- We will follow a 3-on/1-off schedule, performing the CrossFit Boston WOD.
- When no CrossFit Boston WOD is available, we will use the most recent WOD from CrossFit.com.
- All WODs must be done as prescribed for our respective genders.
- Any voluntary withdrawal from a WOD will result in a two-point penalty.
- Strength workouts are won by the athlete who lifts the highest average percentage of bodyweight across all required repetitions.
- Thursdays and Saturdays are non-competitive (unless agreed upon by the competitors), as we’ll be training Olympic Lifting.
Either Sam and I will come out the other end as better CrossFitters, or we’ll be single. We'll post the daily WOD and our commentary on the newly-created 31-Day CrossFit Contest Page right here at Again Faster.
If you’d like to join us (and be held accountable for your results, which is why we’re doing this in the first place), find a worthy competitor and follow along. Be sure to let us know you’re in by posting to the comments for this article and putting your results on the Contest Page every day.
Be warned—if you’re in, you’re in. The battle starts on Monday.
Me and Sam after a hard day of climbing in Red Rocks outside of Las Vegas, NV. She's smiling because she didn't know we were going to have this contest.
Reader Comments (5)
Very cool idea Jon. It's great to have someone to push you like that. I am jealous!
Scott Kustes
Modern Forager
Scott,
Thanks! Sam pushes the envelope every day, so it's not hard to find inspiration in her CrossFitting!
By the way, I like your site. You seem to eat much better than I do. We'll be by for dinner at 6...
Best,
Jon
Jon,
Once again, you have show your amazing creativity and drive.... It's a great thing being able to say I know you! Seriously, even after 10 years of doing my passion - personal training and now CrossFit, I still turn here for new ideas and inspiration!
Thanks and Train Hard! But I'm betting on Sammy - you go girl!!!
Thanks, John!
Samantha will be happy to know she has your support! Hopefully our paths will cross again soon, my friend, and I'll disabuse you of your unrealistic outlook on our competition ;)
Best,
Jon
Thanks for the vote of confidence John! I'm going to need it especially after a tough loss today during the filthy fifty, I was hoping the double unders would stop Jon, but he's a beast :)