Everyone is doing just wonderfully in my Friday class. I’m very very proud of all my students for continually stepping up to the plate to meet the new challenges I throw at them, that are often not only of a different degree than they are used to, but of a different kind. Once or twice a year I really try and mix it up and innovate the class to point it in a new direction, to territory that has hitherto been uncharted to the students, and each and every time they rise up to meet the challenge.
The difficult part for me is thinking up new stuff after having taught the class for almost a decade! The fact that I can, and do it on a regular basis really underscores the amazing thing about doing something like Crossfit or Martial Arts (which I believe, by the way, are spiritually closely related) in that there is always a challenge, as I said above, of a wholly new kind, not merely of weight or time dimensionality. The runner may run faster or longer, but rarely does he encounter a challenge that requires him to learn new skills or move his body in an entirely new way. Day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year, martial artists and Crossfitters do these things. We return to the well time and time again and always end up refreshed and reinvented, time and time again.
I try and log the workouts and keep track of results as much as possible, although it’s just in the last six months, after starting Crossfit, have I realized what a powerful catalyst it can be for positive change in a class or an individual. It’s easy to live life one day at a time, but this is how animals live, without thought or regard to the place from where they’ve come. If we know where we’ve been, chances are we better know where we are, and we better know where to go. Without the proper context, our present is not a reliable guide of where we should travel. Plus, it’s ever so satisfying to look at what once seemed impossibly difficult, and say “that’s easy”.
As an example of how much the class has evolved, let’s compare two classes two years apart, starting with March 30, 2007:
Tabatas (if you don’t know, Google it):
- Freestyle punches/kicks on focus mitts
- Situps with a 1-2 punch
- Mountain Climbers
- Push-ups
- Focus mitt work (second partner)
Ie Chin Chings:
This was an ‘Ie Chin Ching night’. This is not a bad workout, but it is fairly primitive. The class had not yet moved to the 90-minute format, and at this point I was not enforcing movement standards (a move for which I’ve received much derision. I can’t afford to care, as it is too important to let others’ squeamishness get in the way of what is objectively, verifiably correct.). Therefore, were the push-ups GOOD push-ups? who knows?
I am not keeping track of results or time at this point either, leaving the students with no context for their past actions. Were they getting better week after week? Who knows, as there was no empirical evidence either way. Therefore, what notion did I have about whether or not my class was effective at its objective? None.
The current paradigm shift in the class occurred on January 16, 2009, when I started keeping track of the workouts in earnest (in an orange Staples college-ruled notebook). From that point on, I believe that I hit on a baby bear “just right” formula. Let’s fast forward to two years after that 2007 class, to March 27, 2009:
“Kung-Fu Fight Gone Bad”:
With a partner/coach/cheering section. Three six-minute rounds, consisting of:
- 1″ Burpees
- 1″ Squats
- 1″ Sit-up
- 1″ Sumo-deadlift-high-pull (kettlebells of varying sizes)
- 1″ Push-Press
- 1″ Rest
There is no hiding the far greater sophistication in this workout, which takes 18 minutes, compared to 20 for the 2007 Tabata workout. Although I still use Tabatas a great deal, they no longer comprise the core of the class. In fact, I would argue that I am trying to not fall into the same ‘core workout repeated week after week slightly changed’ trap that I did in the 2007-2008 season of the class, a habit I got from the conditioning classes that I originally took part in as a student. In contrast to 2007, The workouts before and after this one were completely different.
The variety, equipment and range of motion of the workouts has increased as well. We concentrate on fundamental movements as much as possible, and we move more weight farther than ever before, and no longer concentrate on ‘filler’ or ‘peripheral workouts’ (at least when it’s avoidable. We can’t exactly do deadlifts!).
There is only so much that words can tell you about a workout. A sterile description of what exercises we did that day cannot communicate the vast change in attitude that has occured over the past few years. The students now attack workouts, trying to beat their previous personal bests. They now never know what to expect when they get in the door (except a good workout), a phenomenon that I believe just enhances the workout. They now know exactly where they stand in comparison to where they stood before, a powerful motivator, because I keep track of them, because I care about each and every person in the class and their progress.
In some way, I’ve given even more responsibility to to students. Since I keep track of them, they know that there’s a number somewhere in that orange notebook that represents their ability on a given workout, and that next time that workout rolls around again, they have the obligation to try and beat it. It’s a uniquely human trait to have the drive to do this, and what I’ve taken from Crossfit is at least a nacent idea of how to tap into that need for improvement that seems to be one of the many sin qua non for being a martial artist.
Another reason to keep track of workouts is that we occasionally lose sight of things we have moved away from, but which held significant value. Looking at that class two years ago, I’m struck by the volume of Ie Chin Chings, terrific isometric bodyweight exercises, which are great tests of endurance, and more importantly, willpower. I’m not sure I would have realized that if I hadn’t logged that workout back in 2007, and I feel compelled to make a note to myself to do more of them in class.
I have encountered my share of negativity for teaching the way that I do, and I accept that doing something different often invites such criticism, chiefly among which states that what I’m doing doesn’t constitute “Kung-Fu”. To those who say such things, I could only reply that perhaps they should look up the meaning of the term 功夫 (gōngfu), a literal translation of which yields the term “human achievement”, an accomplishment reached by virtue of great effort.
By that standard then, what I do is the essence of kung-fu.
I do the best that I can to
set out in front of the students
achievable, incremental goals
so that through great effort
they can surpass their limits
and achieve difficult but
significant things.
As for you, naysayer, What have you done that’s kung-fu?
