“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” -Bruce Lee
I recently shared this quote with one of my personal training athletes. It’s application in Crossfit, or exercise in general is very broad and easily applied to everything we do. Being consistent in movement is one of the most important and easily overlooked aspects of our training. If we cant replicate our movements from one day to the next, or even one rep to the next; how do we ever expect our movement quality to improve?
I’ve talked about it in my classes quite a bit in reference to dreaded wall balls. We need to be able to replicate every part of the movement if we want to make the movement as efficient as possible. Our squat needs to be the same; feet same distance apart, feet same distance from the wall, range of motion the same and so on. The ball needs to be thrown with the same “thrust” each time. It should hit the wall at the same spot every rep. It should come off the wall the same way every time. It should be received the same way. And then it should start all over. Exactly the same, over and over and over. A “wall ball” is a simple movement. Yet, even in this simple movement consistency is key. Think then, how much more important “consistency” is in the complicated movements within CrossFit. For example, a muscle up, a clean, jerk or snatches.
We work on consistency through the major part of the movements in warm up. Getting the nervous system primed for the activity to be performed. Get the muscles warmed up and ready to do work. In every aspect of a movement, our goal should be consistency. Repetition of the same thing over and over means it will become a learned motor pattern and it will happen automatically. We don’t need to think about walking because when we were learning to walk, we did the same thing over and over. Now it’s an autonomous thing. We want that same thing for all our movements within Crossfit. If we can eliminate having to think about half of the “technique points” of a clean and jerk, we have half as much to think about being consistent on for that lift. Continue this practise and very simply, we improve.
In order to improve, we need to keep even the small things consistent. Look at your hand placement on a barbell. The same width apart and at the same point on the bar every time. Use a landmark on the barbell. For example, I know if I grip the barbell with my thumbs fully extended parallel to it, I like my thumb tips to be at the start of the knurling when fully extended. This way, I can quickly grip the bar in the same way every single time. This same “consistent set up” can, and should, be thought about with our feet, hips, back, shoulders, arms, and so on for everything we do.
We have also talked about consistency in effort. Let’s look at bench press for this example. If we are doing bench press at 60% of our one rep max. The bar should descend to our chest at the same pace as if it were 100%. This is consistency in set up, is repeatable, and recognizable by the nervous system. When we move well and the same every single time, then whether we are doing working sets for reps or a one rep max, our body recognizes and knows exactly how to move most efficiently and “defaults” to that pattern. For the ascent of the bench press, we want the power to be the same every time. This means, our speed in the “up” portion of the bench press is going to change. Since we are applying the same power “up” to our 60% as our 100%, velocity will change. By doing so however, the body knows when it’s time to press, it’s time to press with full power. Nothing changes from light to heavy.
As we continue with our training, lets keep consistency at the forefront of our mind. Apply it to every aspect of your movement. From the big things, right down to the small things. Being able to replicate movements as light loads sets us up for success when we attempt to move heavy ones.
Stay consistent, my friends!