CrossFit Citadel

Episode 365/365: Project Completed; 10 min Squat Test

"Hey Leopards,

Today’s mission rounds out the 365 mobility project cycle.  About 15 months ago, I thought it was a good idea to begin a serious discussion amongst some friends about better positioning, movement quality, and improving mobility.  I thought that creating 365 videos on the topic would be ambitions and good start.  I told one friend on that first day (BMac from Crossfit Endurance).  We just hit 1.1 million unique users in Google Analytics, covering 201 countries (North Korea is still not supple.  I will try harder.)  You can imagine that the whole thing blows my mind.  Over the course of the last few months I have learned a few lessons to say the least:

1) Athletes need to be treated like athletes.  Tubes of foam are for children.  Mobilization tools for athletes need to be legit.

2) We’ve got to keep  mobilization within the context and language of the movement we are trying to change.

3) Humans are hard to kill.  We have enormous capacity to heal and change.  Anywhere, anytime, anyplace.  We can probably fix about 80% of      our business ourselves.

4) There are no days off.  Fifteen minutes a day is more than enough time to deal with your crap.  But you need to do it everyday.

5) Programming to the movements of the day drives the relationship between cause and effect for athletes. Daily, topical, specific mobility  interventions allow for dynamic programming for large groups and meaningful use of time.  Test and retest progress and position.

6) Prioritize Motor Control through well performed movement first.  Then mobilize second.  Much of the pain and dysfunction with which athletes deal is a result of crappy movement.

7) Never go in the pain cave.  Leopards don’t live in caves. Pony up.

Performance is the only metric that really matters, because good mechanics and technique is never a compromise .

9) You should never sit down.  Ever.  Don’t you even think it.

10) People are clever, smart, and greedy.  Empowering athletes to deal with own crap before it becomes critical is the way of the future. And they can do it.  Tying changes in behavior to ego (everyone likes going faster, being stronger, and hurting less) always works.

11) We have so much untapped potential.