CrossFit 14.4 - Toes to Bar and Other Random Physical Skills

If there's a kid out there somewhere that is dreaming of becoming a professional wall-baller...

Uh NO.  Pick a sport.

While competing in CrossFit workouts is fun (in a messed up way), the original intent of CrossFit was to make you better at performing in your sport of choice, possibly skiing, MMA, life...  I miss the days where the

Wallballs are simply a means of putting in work (mass x distance) and if you do it fast enough, you'll feel like you've made a terrible life choice.

I have no desire to be good at these random physical skills.  Toes to bar is one of them.  If you watch far enough (god help you) you will see me thrash my feet into the air to narrowly miss crushing my fingers with my shoes.  The concept of toes to bar is rooted in good intention.  Hanging leg raises are what helps build a solid core useful for moving large weight off the ground.  It's an accessory movement.

At no point do I want my accessory movements to be the main stage because I know how much they are not the center of my universe.  But like anything else in life, you get good at what you practice.  I am not good at these.  Should I be, that is the question for me going forward.

My thoughts on the open:  it's definitely a weeding process.  You have to be able to demonstrate you have your lactic acid pathways mastered ( I do not).  You need to have your bodyweight skills mastered (I do not).  Then basic strength lifts (again, I do not).  This year was the first time I've seen rowing in the open.  You can be really inefficient at this a 100 million different ways.

The more I do these kinds of competitions, and still retain a semblance of balance with work and family life, I walk away satisfied that in the context of everything that's going on in life, I'm not losing health and fitness.  In fact, in several ways, things have improved.  Outlook, approach, and options are all there.

There's nothing wrong with competing in CrossFit, there's also nothing wrong for really honing in on the things that matter to you.  I know without a doubt where I stand in the world of conditioning (it's what I view 90% of the CrossFit workouts to be).  I also know where I stand in the strength and endurance worlds.  How cool is that?  Throw yourself into something and come away with more knowledge of where you stand.  Paths to new goals open up as a result, and life can only get more interesting.