Movement and WOD integrity has been brought to the forefront in our gym.
Movement standards are created primarily to endure athletes build strength through a full range of motion that every human should be able to safely perform.
We do not want partial mobility and/or strength, so we do not do half presses or quarter squats. We want to be strong and be able to move through a full range and our joints, muscles, tendons, and skin should allow for it. I like to use the example of wanting to be able to move at 120 years old. We want to be able to perform basic, functional movements without assistance, so we can continue on living our lives. We will need to sit on a toilet (squatting below parallel), pick something off the ground (deadlift with proper hip and hamstring mobility and mid-line stabilization), put something above our heads (press/push press with proper external rotation of the shoulder and mid-line stability), and get off the ground (push-up/burpee, again, with proper external rotation of the shoulder and mid-line stability) forever. Once we lose these capability our quality of life decreases tremendously. Why do I train? I do not have competition in my future, so, along with my short term goals, I train to have the capacity for easy movements (no mobility or strength issues) and to stay injury free. I can carry these goals until I am 120 years old and do not have to compromise or change the way I train (only by degree).
I encountered a drop-in athlete at our gym while we were doing “Grace.” Grace is 30 ground-to-overhead with 135lbs as fast as you can. This person (I will no longer call him an athlete), has a reputation for not completing all the reps and then bragging about his time. I had another member secretly count his reps. I noticed during the WOD, he only fully locked the bar out overhead when he thought I was watching. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a ton of reps that were not locked out overhead, only because of pride and effort put forth, not because of mobility or strength issues. His workout ended as he called time at 2:43. A pretty amazing time for someone who weights 165lbs. He strutted around the gym discussing times with everyone and making sure everyone knew his time. I got the official count, and, with counting his half-assed reps, he managed to complete only 19 of 30 reps before calling time and bragging about it.
During WODs, I hold myself to the strict movement standards. It is cut and dry if a rep counts. For me, every rep must be legit and if I do not do it fully, I re-do the rep. If I let myself do partial reps, then when I get tired, I would end up doing partial reps every time. I have a zero tolerance policy with myself. If the weight is too heavy for me to correctly get in the reps in the WOD, I take weight off and do them correctly. I treat it as if there were a judge counting every rep I do and holding me to a strict pass/fail standard on every rep. If I don’t lock out the press fully or squat below parallel, I did not complete the rep.
Even if this makes you go slower in your WODs…who cares?!?! Through your ego out the door and take pride in knowing you did ever single rep ever single time! You will be better for it! Don’t be “That Guy!”