It’s an exciting time of year as we prepare our Empower team for the 2020 CanWest Games at UBC in June. So far we have 14 qualified athletes (2 more than last year) and if our scaled team qualifies we’ll have 3 more! Small as we are, we may be sending more masters athletes than any other gym!
With the CanWest Games becoming a CrossFit Sanctional event we fully expect the challenge level to increase. We expect to see at least one swimming and one track event if not more. Based on other Sanctionals we can also expect some form of obstacle course. There’s a lot of preparation to do between now and June and we’re lining up a wide array of training opportunities in support of this.
But at this Saturday’s team training I cautioned our competitors with this story from the 24-Hour War, the documentary available on Netflix about the rivalry between Ford and Ferrari. I’m sharing it here because the message is relevant to you as well!
Ferrari was a small, owner-run operation with limited resources. Ford, on the other hand, was a large, resource rich company that could afford the best engineers and technologies. Head-to-head the Ford GTO had a much more powerful engine than the Ferrari. And yet, for half a decade, the mighty Ford could not unseat the world leader Ferrari because they could not get a single Ford car across the finish line of the 24-hour LeMans race.
Ford had more horsepower but dead horses don’t win races. Ferrari’s focus on precision engineering produced cars that could go the distance. Ford’s faster cars, not subject to the same engineering rigour, started out strong but inevitably broke down as a result of inferior craftsmanship.
Our competitors have to get through not 24-hours but 3-days of CanWest competition. And to get there, they must first survive 3+ months of training. To put that in perspective, professional fighters usually have 6-8 week training camps to prepare for big fights. Because anything more would be too much to handle!
It’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of qualifying and training insanely to build the most powerful engine like an extended Rocky training montage but, if your body can’t sustain your training, you’ll never make it to the finish line. Better to do no extra training, stay healthy, and reach the CanWest Games with the fitness you currently possess.
I’m not against hard work but precision craftsmanship is where the real pay-off lies. Saturday, as we reviewed points of performance on the snatch in preparation for Isabel, Venom asked me if all CrossFits break down the movements as rigourously as we do. Perhaps not, but they are supposed to.
A stronger engine won’t help you if you’re broken. Prioritize excellence and you’ll get much farther with the engine you already possess! This is true for our competitors and it is true for you. Before you start worrying about speed and power, let’s train you to get your horse across the finish line!