Written by our Head Coach for safety and consideration for Murph 2020!
“As we get ready for Murph tomorrow I wanted to share something on why we are asking you to check your ego at the 
proverbial door and strongly consider scaling your workouts, as we begin adding implements that we have not used in 2 months. Below is a great write up from the Active Life Rx crew on ‘WHY’ we are asking this of you. Please enjoy.
“As gyms begin to re-open doors to their membership base, it’s important to understand how this temporary shift in training that many of us experienced, can expose us to increased injury risk as we make our return to normally scheduled CrossFit programming. Reintroducing load, volume, and intensity in a progressive, controlled manner is going to be paramount for the safety and health of our athletes.
While many of us have missed the high-intensity style workouts that we have become accustomed to in CrossFit gyms, establishing a protective workload, especially in our barbell and gymnastics based movements, is going to be a
priority during the first 5-7 weeks of training once your gym re-opens.
We often run into movement-based injuries when we do “too much too soon, after too little for too long.” Essentially, when we perform an activity that exceeds our tissue’s capacity, it’s
not uncommon to have a resultant increase in sensitivity or injury. In any return to sport protocol, the ultimate goal is to prepare the body and certain tissues for the stress that will be placed on them. For example, for a pitcher who has undergone a UCL repair (AKA “Tommy John” Surgery), we understand the amount of stress that the tendons, muscles, and ligaments of the elbow need to tolerate to prevent re-injury when throwing a baseball 90+ mph. This stress is very well documented, and as such, protocols are developed by reverse engineering from the terminal goal and understanding expected tissue healing times.
As we draw a comparison to what we are seeing in the CrossFit space, we will find that many of us have not spent time hanging from a pull-up bar or performing any sort of barbell movement over the past 6-8 weeks. In those 6-8 weeks, you have not lost the “skill” of buttery pull-ups. You have not lost the “skill” of performing hang power cleans. Rather, what you have lost the capacity, strength, and endurance of those tissues that are stressed most
when performing these movements. Placing the same amount of stress on those tissues 8 weeks ago will have drastically different effects on your body than it will now due to the lack of stress and resultant positive adaptations of those structures.
OUR FIRST 6-8 WEEKS BACK IN THE GYM SHOULD PRIORITIZE:
• Movement quality
• Progressive volume accumulation
• Tempo and isometric exercises for tendon and joint health
• Positional tolerance and endurance”
* If you ‘like’ this too soon, I’ll know you didn’t read it.