WOD
AMRAP in 20 Minutes:
25′ Single Arm Overhead Dumbbell Lunge R-Arm,
25′ Single Arm Overhead Dumbbell Lunge L-Arm,
15 GHD Situps,
200 Meter Run.
Weights 50/35.
Tuesday Night Musings by Coach Jess.
The art of “Deep Practice”.
What is it, and how can we apply it to CrossFit? “Deep practice” is the act of practicing a skill until it is perfect, engaging and being present and focused on one single skill, for the purpose of excelling. We learn through deep practice by repeating, and immediately fixing mistakes, then doing it all over – again and again. During deep practice you should be making mistakes, and then correcting them. Deep practice can be applied to any skill we want to perfect – and in the sport of CrossFit, there are a lot of skills.
A “[s]kill is something you build by being fully engaged. It’s an active thing, not a passive thing. You can learn a lot more in a lot less time simply by making your practice highly targeted, and error-focused.”
As athletes – we (myself included) tend to say things like: “I’m not good at (insert skill here …) whether that is handstand push-ups, or muscle-ups, or even deadlifts. But have we taken the time to “deep practice” that skill? Have we spent days, weeks, or hours perfecting the tiny mechanics of the deadlift? Have we repeatedly kicked up onto the wall for a handstand push-up? Until we do this, can we really say: “I suck at a skill?” Or is it that we just haven’t taken the time to challenge ourselves with some deep practice?
I would love to challenge you, as athletes, to really deep practice a skill. To dig into the small mechanics of whatever you want to achieve in the box and focus on it with the intensity it requires. Keep a log and maintain it for a specific period of time as it will help you see the actual work you are putting into a skill to perfect it.
Ben Bergeron’s Chasing Excellence Podcast #044, Talent, Opportunities & Effort, was my inspiration and I hope that this can inspire you to really think about whether you have intentionally engaged in deep practice regarding any specific skills lately before you indicate a lack of ability to do them, and if not, that you do so going forward.
Thanks for reading.
Sincerely,
Coach Jess
