Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Wednesday Form: L x W

"men of honesty who wanted sense...men of sense who wanted honesty...and lastly, those who had neither sense nor honesty." -Benjamin Franklin

The lowly rectangle. Requires 2 simple elements to exist...a Length AND a Width. If, for example, I ignore width for length...it's not a rectangle...then I'd just have a line! If I ignore both, then I'd just have open space!

Of course, you can see how this applies to Exercise. The 2 simple (not really) elements of exercise are Distance (moving body far) AND Time (moving body fast). CrossFit description of being at the right place and on time.

It's worth it, really worth it, every so often to step back and look at every exercise. And CF encourages everyone...yes, everyone, even the "advanced" folks. Really look at the exercises/movements. Sensibly and honestly. And think, how have I gotten complacent? How have I not refined this? How have I fallen into the trap of going through the motions?

In other words, ask, "How can I 'Find my rectangle.'"

5 comments:

Wakinyan4 said...

Being of simple engineering mind I have endeavored to put some thought into the question you posed, "How can I find my rectangle?" The first step would be to define the time in seconds, I suppose. Once I know seconds then I can determine distances by having someone time me doing a specific exercise while covering a distance in the prescribed time ex. walking lunges. I could theoretically determine the length and width by moving laterally (we will call that the "x" direction) for a prescribed amount of time and then moving at a right angle to "x" for a prescribed period of time, (we will call that the "y" direction). Now I have x,y coordinates for a set time. You could then lay out the coordinates and easily determine the area of the rectangle, or in other words "the space" you can function in. You could then periodically go back and redo the procedure to see if those coordinates changed. If they got greater, then you could assume your fitness improved, if they became "less than", then you could assume your fitness level declined! I like it, it makes perfect sense. You get another cookie!!

Bob said...

Johnnie,

It would only work if all things were equal in both tests. Stride length, how far your knee goes down, weight, etc.

Matt_D said...

Hurray for math! For many exercises, I see Distance as a Given. D = inches from top of movement to bottom back to top (ie, think full pushup or squat). The distance is a given # of inches (specific to the person)...no negotiations.

Fitness, then, can be a couple things. For some CFers, it can be an increase in D. Cfers learning to squat will see a definite increase in how deep they go...and that's a fitness achievement.

For other CFers, they have their max distance, so it may be how many of those distances (standard) they can complete across time (ie, in 2 minutes)...w/o compromising that distance...(ie, don't count it if it doesn't count).

(Oops just saw BFs...yeah, what he said.)

How about a Holiday Cut Out Cookie for the 12 Days in July workout?!

James A said...

I know some people who couldn't find their rectangle with both hands!

Adam R said...

I'm pretty sure mine is a polygon of some sort, perhaps a rhombus?

Post a Comment