CrossFit Oakland

Good work and congrats to everybody!!!Impresive second effort by Shira!I think thats the first time ive seen someone be able to lift a weight on an immediate second effort for maximum.Congrats to Lightfoot for breaking the push jerk record as well.

I'm definitely shooting for 186 (which would be both the CFO record and 1x bodyweight).

Franklin has stated he is going to go for 210 (1x bodyweight). Hope he gets it on video or does it at CFO.

Push jerk last night at Gold's gym (I quit, but my membership's good til Nov, so I'm using it still).

185 for 2
190 for 1 - PR

bw 210#

I wish I could come during the week, but I'm a musician/night owl and can't wake up for a 7:00am class. lame, I know, but true. See y'all Saturday.

Max,

After our conversation this morning I was thinking about competition quite a bit. I like your ideas on competition, but I've got a few of my own that are slightly different. In the spirit of how the crossfit.com site is run, I'll share them here :).

Competition is one thing, competitive environments are something very different.

Since I MUST live in a competitive world (working, surviving walking down the street in an urban environment, etc), when I am engaged in activities by choice, I prefer not to be in a competitive ENVIRONMENT. That is not to say I don't compete....I just choose to compete only against myself. I prefer to compete against myself in a restorative environment. Unfortunately, I am easily influenced by my surroundings, so if I am in a competitive environment (ie a room full of athletes competing against each other) I feel forced into competition against all parties, and that is stressful, not emotionally restful. I could be called overly sensitive, but oh well, that's the way I am.

I would guess that most people's indoctrination into physical fitness occurs when they are children and in school, and that is a highly competitive environment. If you are at all sensitive at that age, and many are, your approach to physical fitness, particularly in an organized setting, may be negatively influenced by residual feelings.....more so if you haven't participated in any organized fitness since your school years. Sometimes running up against icky emotional feelings generated from the past gets in the way of a person keeping up a healthy fitness program.

I do think it is quite possible, however, to have an environment where some people are supported to compete against their own barriers, while others are encouraged to compete in other manners that may benefit them (ie against others, against the clock). I'm sure that creating that kind of environment is an art and not a science, otherwise more people would be able to do it (in the workplace and elsewhere).

Anyway, I recently read an interesting article about a study that poses the idea that, in general, men prefer competitive environments to women. Here's a link: http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/~hal/people/hal/NYTimes/2006-03-09.html

Just something to think about. Everyone can succeed in their quest for physical health, but not everyone will succeed using the same path.

:) See you Tuesday!!

Joanne:

I think we are on the same page. Note my post says "You can compete in many sectors: against yourself.." being the first and most important one.

I am not naturally athletic. I have a tendancy towards being fat, weak, slow and clumsy. I have had to fight, and fight hard for every iota of athleticism I have, and I am so thankful to CrossFit for showing me the way to improve far beyond what I would have believed possible.

I was the kid who cut gym class because it was an emberassment, could not do a push-up or pull-up to save my life, picked last for all teams, etc.

I know I am never going to be top of the heap, but I do enjoy competing and to quote myself again, I try to be "goal-oreinted without attachment to results". It's nice to win, I guess, but I really enjoy the increased intensity and performance that comes from competion more than winning.

I think the article you posted a link to actually supports the hypothesis that women should be more eager to compete than they are, not less.

"The authors summarized their experimental results by saying, "From a payoff-maximizing perspective, high-performing women enter the tournament too rarely, and low-performing men enter the tournament too often." The low-performing men and the high-performing women are both hurt by this behavior but, in this experiment at least, the costs to the women who did not choose the tournament when they should have exceeded the costs to the men who should have avoided the tournament."

It is my contention that despite advances in the last century women are heavily descriminated against, it is just much more subtle (being told competition or being strong is un-feminine, etc.).

I think it is fear of losing and emotional confusion between games and more serious situations that causes people not to want to compete. So "Suck it up Buttercups" and get out there and beat the clock, your best times, each other, anything you want, but do try to improve and don't be afraid to fail!

Howdy Max,

We are absolutely on the same page.

It's just that you enjoy competing in a gym environment and I don't.

I interpreted the article not to mean that women "should" enjoy competing more, just that in general they don't enjoy competitive environments more, despite their apparent "illogic" (using profit maximizing payoff models and the fact that they are denying themselves more money). But that's nothing new. Women have been known to do all kinds of illogical things when judged by models developed by men.

I GREATLY appreciate the encouragement, and I'll drive from Sacramento at 4:30 am on Tuesdays to get to class (now THAT drive is competitive!), but I still view my time at Crossfit as a sort of hideout from the competition I face in the rest of my day....I will push myself and encourage others, but I have NO interest in trying to have a better clock time than anyone else in the room and I have very little interest in being in an environment where competition is the main focus.

But I do LOVE this crossfit program and I couldn't have stuck with it these past two years if it wasn't for my wonderful classmates. It has often been the highlight of my day. I think it is because I know they are competing with themselves alongside me, which helps push me further, rather than competing directly with the clock or those around them. It may be a subtle difference, but it is a big one.

Of course, all that goes out the window when Vanessa is around...with her "your pink panties are showing" comments :).

I also interpreted the article to mean women enjoy competing less than men and think there is probably something inherent in our genetics which makes men more (at least overtly) competitive. However I think this tendancy has been exaggerated by faulty cultural opinions. JMHO.

Just wanted to say I love the quote "being goal-oriented without attachment to results." I've been doing that for a while and have never heard the concept phrased that well.

I think that women tend to be far more competitive than men but tend to be less verbal about it. Feminism has us all thinking that competition is taboo, and that if we participate we are somehow aiding and abetting a sexist, male dominated paradigm.

In general, I think that women's relationships with each other could benefit from honest discussions around competition in athletic pursuits, career, and family... Talking about it, as men do SO naturally diffuses its power to turn an environment toxic...

A healthy dose of competition not only provides nice fodder for conversation, but is also a good impetus to help us push ourselves to the next level. Nothing drives me to work harder than witnessing seeing some of the amazing CrossFit women in Santa Cruz knock out a WOD in record times with the prescribed weights--it makes me push harder because damn-it if they can do it so can I!

Leo: I have to attribute that quote to the source Brad Huggins, an unknown genius. One of the many things he has said to me that stuck with me the moment he said it.

Nicole: yes indeedy.