cant wait to view the movie. great work guys.

much needed rest day. hitting a plateau at present and finding it hard to keep the intensity up.

nice birthing pose namaste

MUCH NEEDED!! I second what the rook said... hitting plateau and its hard to keep up the intensity.

Hi,
My name is ben and i just completed my first WOD today, being from Australia im a day behind in my sessions as i do it first thing in the morning, so i just do the previous days WOD. WOW what a session to beging with!! never thought i could do so many Pull ups/dips!!! just a couple of questions for you seasoned xfit veterans out there....
1. Do any of you stay behind and do anything extra after your WOD, e.g. extra weight training?
2. What time of day do you do the WOD?
3. How many of you out there have actually been to a crossfit certification? and how many have taught themselves the techniques, just by watching the exercise videos?

Cheers everyone, look forward to posting on here daily with my results!!

btw completed fridays session in 27mins substituting ring dips for bar dips at a ratio of 2:1..... very very sore lol

"the size of a small hippopotamus"

andy, youre out of control

that barbell looks like a dumbell.

#5 Kenno

Where abouts in Oz are you situated? Good to see another Aussie has seen the light.

In response to your questions:

1) I just follow the WOD, I don't have much left in the tank after doing the WOD so anything else would not be worthwhile. I am doing a 100 day challenge at the moment on various exercises I am poor in, e.g. burpees, double unders. So of course some extra practice doesn't go astray.
2) I vary the time so my body doesn't know what has hit it. So early mornings, midday, afternoon or late at night is fine.
3) I am going to the Cert in October at Crossfit Effects in Sydney. I also have been training a couple of times a month up at Crossfit Brisbane since February with Matt Swift. Depending on where you are in the country I can point you in the right direction. It is a lot better to get to an affiliate so they can explain the techniques required to perform the exercises. There is only so much you can pick up on video demos.

If you have any queries, shoot me an email and I will be happy to answer your questions.

Cheers,

Rookie

Don't tease us! We want the movie and we want it now!

Any chance I can get some advice on the proper form on Thrusters? I'm 6'10, I'm finding it REALLY tough to get down as far as needed.

Stretching? using lighter weights till I get the form?
Any advice would be appreciated.

hahaha - vid

Man, even for CrossFit, CF Balboa has some pretty high rates. Those are Petranek high! Must be the cost of living in Cali.

Hey Rookie,
Im up in Darwin so i think i will be lucky to find someone up here that has heard about crossfit let alone someone that can help with technique! lol
Do you anticipate any probs if i just follow the WOD and learn the technique from the videos? as long as im happy with my form before upping the weight?
Cheers

#11 Big Cheese
I have a buddy who's 6'5" and I swear to god looked like a crippled giraffe having seizures when he first started doing thrusters. Its naturally going to be a more difficult move for someone of your size. Its going to take time and patience but they'll come, just stick with it. Definitely stretch and use lighter weight, if any at all, until the form comes!! Just keep at it!

No rest for me today, hehe...

Got a couple of Oly bars, a whole load of bumpers, a 24kg KB and a couple of other toys getting delivered today...woohoo!

And a mate coming round for a day of playing with the new toys + other random training.

It's gonna be fun!

Kenno,

Make sure you start light. Especially with the OLY lifts (Snatch, OHS, Cleans, etc) before progressing to the rx'd weight. I was CFing for about 4-5 months before I could do the majority as rx'd. Get your form down and then you will reap the benefits. Download all the videos, watch and take notes and ask questions.

Good luck and welcome

re: the featured article.

Certification = Specialization. 'Nuff said, eh?

How has the "Certification Test" worked out for the fitness industry?

Big Cheese #11,
I'm 6'4" and long in the limbs, and the the thing that helped me the most was getting very flexible in the squat. Getting lower with my legs wider really helped me keep my torso in between my legs, keeping it over my hips without too much forward lean. I practiced lots of wide stance squats and prying my knees wide open to keep my knees tracking the toes as went deeper. Focus on quality reps. As I got more tired my hips loosened up. Hope this helps.
Matt

I think I qualify for "a small hippopotamus"...ummmm maybe a baby one compared to Welbourn.

No rest day for me. I have some make up stuff to do from the last two failed days to complete the WOD's.

I will be spending my rest day at bjj open mat. word.

Bmac, Johnny W, and Andy (the Cheetah never stretches)= Fuel, Air, Heat Source= Bad idea.

Dood, and JW is not THAT slow, I'm sure an hour glass would have worked.

kstar

#18
How have BA's worked out for the fitness industry,
or worse, for the nutrition "industry"

Curt J

Acing a certification exam will not accurately gauge a person's "authentic competence" at a job, unless that job does not require interaction with other people and only consists of answering multiple choice questions in a time crunch. People who rise to the top of their profession generally have experience, leadership, excellent judgment, and good people skills. As far as I am aware, the only test that exists that can accurately determine if a candidate possesses those skills is the Special Forces Q course, and something tells me that kind of certification test is not what Mr. Murray had in mind.

For most jobs, it's not what you know, but how you think that counts. What you know becomes irrelevant with the introduction of new technology/legislation/etc. How you think will keep you in business through the fluxes of particulars. Personally, I learned how I think from asking experienced professors "what would you do in this case"-type questions. I couldn't get those answers from a book, and I'm sure they'll serve my employer far better than a test score.

#24 LC

Well said, but IMHO you left a couple out. At least as it applies to the fitness profession.

1. leadership (roger that)
2. people skills (roger that)
3. knowledge
4. business sense
5. must be a product of your product

He looks like "The Dude"
Are white russians on the zone?

Education is always the choice of reformers, yet very few reforms ever work. The only ones that take hold are the ones that allow teachers to perform their jobs better. I completely disagree that a certification test would work. Who would write it? How do they decide what aspects to cover on the test? Who are they?

I also disagree with his assertion that education programs geared towards a certification would improve. They would develop a definite tilt towards the exam, ignoring the development of well-rounded learners. No Child Left Behind will bear this out.

I agree with LC #24, I learned more from teachers and interacting with other students. Online education has a place, but so does traditional classroom education.

My BA says that I know how to learn, interact with people, and meet deadlines.

MY BA says that I studied something not because it would make me money, but make me a smarter, more educated, more knowledgeable human being, which is the whole point of a liberal arts education...its far from worthless.

Stumpf was on his game for that...

I'm going to run 15k tomorrow. I recalculated the distance from the last time this came up as the WOD and I'm certain that I was short at least a mile. I'm not going to feel right about it until I complete it as Rx'd.

I'll really enjoy the rest day after I finish this beast of a run. Shoes and shorts are laid out, iPod is charged. Going to get some shut eye and chase this demon at first light.

I need the rest. That Friday WOD was murdaaaaaaaaa!
Hey has anyone seen the article about how many calories Phelps downs a day.
Phelps is an eating Machine!!!

#29

Stumpf's always on his game.

Sorry here is the link to Phelps caloric intake. http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/08/13/the-michael-phelps-diet-dont-try-it-at-home/?mod=fpa_blogs

felt pretty fresh after work, ran 4.5 miles

Andy is always good for a laugh. Can't wait to see some more out takes.

Had planned to do one of the girls yesterday, but went climbing instead.

Did some general climbing routes and overhangs, then did some crossfit style climbing :D

100m climb for time (4x25m)
Time: 14mins 46secs (inc. time taken abseiling down)

Reckon I can shave a couple of minutes off next time, as I went too slow on the first climb.

Hillarious!!! Can´t wait for the movie.

Petter
Norwegian crossfitter and kettlebell juggler

#11

thruster is a compound move, it sounds like ur having issue with squat portion
learn air squats
try them with a box medicine ball, step platform at bottom of squat at appropiate level.
im helping a friend with the same issue try holding a pole or other fixed object for support and perform air squat.
mirror helps in nailing form.

click on exercise and demos
check out videos here
check out videos here
did i mention check out videos here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k45YlFHn6xs

since much of the other exercises are based on or around squat movement (snatch,clean, ohs, wall ball,dead lift, sdhp,kb swings, pistols.....) it would be good idea to get form and technique down early on this.

Taking a rest day tomorrow so made up my own WoD based on one we did a week or two back.

1000m row
30 thrusters, 80lbs
750m row
20 thrusters, 80lbs
500m row
10 thrusters, 80lbs

18:30

HAY KENNO,
1. SOME WOD'S TAKE EVERYTHING YOU GOT AND YOU WILL HAVE NOT MUCH LEFT FOR ANYTHING. SOME YOU WILL. THE NAVY SEAL SITE HAS A WOD THAT WE ADD SOMETIMES. SOMETIMES WERE ARE ON TRACK BUT MOSTLY WE STAY A DAY BEHIND. IF YOU DONT HAVE ALL THE EQUIPMENT TO DO ALL THE WOD'S (I.E. ROWING MACHINE) IT HELPS TO GET SOME PREP IN TO FIND A LOCALE TO DO. PLUS IF YOU START GETTING A GROUP TOGETHER IT GIVES YOU MORE TIME TO PLAN
2.AS FAR AS WHAT TIME, ANYTIME WILL DO. LOT OF PEOPLE DO IT WHEN THEY CAN IF THEY HAVE A CRAZY SCHEDULE. YOU KNOW, REST, SHOOT AT PEOPLE, REST HAVE PEOPLE SHOOT AT YOU, REST, BLOW SOMETHING UP, REST, YOU KNOW TYPICLE WORK WEEK.
3. COUPLE OF THE GUYS I HANG WITH ARE CERT. A LOT YOU CAN LEARN ON YOUR OWN. THERE ARE A MILLION VIDEOS ON THIS WEB SITE TO LOOK AT. THE HEAVY WEIGHT LIFTS BEAR SOME RESPECT AND IF YOU CAN FIND A GOOD COACH OR SEMINAR, CLASS ETC. TAKE IT. PRACTICE THEM W/ AN EMPTY BAR OR PVC PIPE.
CYL

#11:
I'm 6'7 so I can share in your pain a bit. Honestly the best thing you can do is work on that flexibility in your knees and hip flexors to do the full range of motion. One way I've been doing that is really focusing on the air squats when you're doing the CF warmup. Really focus on getting 3 sets of 10 good reps before every workout. That along has done wonders for my squatting flexibility.

Had to make up for yesterday...it was my rest day.
24/m/72"/180lb

deadhang/no kip pullups and bar dips(3-1)
50pu
150dip
40pu
120dip
30pu
90dip
20pu
60dip
10pu
30dip

50 min
And there is no way you can do 450 bar dips in the same amout of time that you can do 150 ring dips.

That's the problem with business, no professional standards to meet. An attorney, doctor and engineer all must pass standards tests and be declared a professional in their domain.

A guy goes to a 4yr school, buys a suit and declares himself a business professional.

#43
Don't take that article so personal. I don't think the author of that article was saying a BA is completely "worthless". But you must admit that just because someone has a BA does not mean that they are the best person for the job. And a BA definitely does not guarantee success. Then again neither does a certification!
I know of doctors and lawyers with more degrees than you can shake a stick at who are just in it for the money, They are not necessarily the best at what they do.

So just something to think about, here is a question for you?
Do you know what they call the guy who graduated last in his class from medical school?

Answer: They call him "Doctor"

Mike,
Way to devalue your opinion by throwing that homophobic pejorative on the end. Brilliant.

not every ba is worthless but i think mine is. everything i learned in college happened outside of the classroom. now, i could have studied harder, learned more and spent less time at the fraternity houes, no doubt. but i didn't and still "earned" a degree. anyone can make it through college with minimal effort. all it proved was that my parents had the money to send me there.

i don't know if certifications are the answer though. it works for cpa's because their business is largely code-based, right/wrong, black/white i suppose. i'm a creative in an ad agency and standardized testing would be meaningless in my profession. it's not what you know - it's how you think and problem-solve in a way that will motivate consumers to take action.

I've got a BA in international politics. I'd like to see the certification test for that. How do we apply metrics to soft-sciences? Accounting, yeah I get it, the numbers and data points are right there, in black in white. Now, how do you establish a 'correct' or 'incorrect' data point for a well reasoned argument for or against the expansion of a Free Trade Agreement?

More concerning is cultures where standardized testing and uniform standards are prevalent. At some point the test becomes the overall goal of the education. Look at many asian or european countries where young adults exhaust themselves mentally and physically trying to eek out every point possible on that state-mandated exam. The metric gets so monolithic that it starts to impinge on the ability of the student to think outside of the pre-defined lines.

Long story short, I think it's hard to apply hard metrics to a lot of subjects and material we cover with a B.A. A lot of the subjects, if you tell me there's a right or wrong answer, I'll do my darnedest to prove you wrong, regardless of it's status as the 'right' answer. Judge me by the efficacy of my argument, and to do that you need to hear me out. A number on a paper isn't going to cut it.

The argument can be made that well the AP tests essay evaluation system, or some sort of thesis grading systems could be utilized. I would contend this is instituted conformity to a small degree. "Coldbore's thesis is 67% percent convincing, well reasoned, researched, and effective." Thanks, but no thanks. Now, if you excuse me I'm going to go take my BA out of it's frame and just sit around and smell it. It smells like individually -quantified excellence.... and I love it.

As a hiring manager who was required by HR to always give the nod to the person with the Bachelors degree especially for supervisory roles, I would welcome this change.

I learned from experience the person with the degree often was not a better employee. I was forced to pass over people with real leadership skill because of this.

I will not say that liberal arts education is worth a certain amount or not, but requiring a BA degree for a job that has nothing to do with the job role seems not only arbitrary but somewhat discriminatory to people who may not have the resources for that type of education. Compare that to a trade certification, you know a certified welder or mechanic is very likely to be able to do the job right away.

You don't need a degree to be a "smarter, more educated, more knowledgeable human being" (as was posted above) what is to stop anyone from learning outside the classroom.

I am an NSCA CSCS but I would not have been able to sit for my test without having a degree. That makes no sense to me.

If your view on a liberal arts education, getting a BA is strictly to assist in the job market, then it is inadequate. The purpose of the BA is to say you are educated and that you have the competency to learn more. It doesn't mean that he has skills and is more qualified than others without a Bachelors, but it will get his foot in the door.

The Bachelors is for its own benefit. It is true you have some schools with questionable credentials. It is also true that a school with regional accreditation is no guarantee that it is top-flight. However, if a school provides a quality education and the professors have proper credentials, then the regional accreditation serves as a seal of approval.

If I recall correctly, Harvard is not regionally accredited, but it by no means display its lack of educational value. However, a for profit, exclusively online University that is regionally accredited that offers on MBA without the requirements of a GMAT or GRE scores should be suspect.

If you offer certifications for every profession possible, regardless of earning a bachelors, those who score highest will be those who earn bachelors, versus those who don't. If anything, the market will value those with earned bachelors over those who didn't even more.

The question should not be whether or not to practically discard the bachelors, but what type of educational philosophy (QBE or OBE) is embraced by the school.

While I agree a degree does not necessarily tell you anything about someone's ability to perform well in the real world. Education is what the individual makes of it, you can go to the best school in the world and not learn a thing, but if you are highly motivated and want to learn you can accomplish a lot. Some people just have the curiosity to learn, and for them college is a wonderful place, I know from my personal experience it changed my life. However, people with no real interest in the education process, might find college to be a complete waste of time and for them it probably is. For them, college is a hurdle en route to a job and if viewed as such will of course not be of any intellectual value. I am not saying there is anything wrong with that viewpoint on life I'm just saying it goes both ways. So yes you can't judge someone by their degrees, but it is the person not the degree that makes college worthwhile. Just my two cents...now I have to study!

I spent my junior year of college in Russia and they have a system that is much like the one that Mr. Murray advocates. They still use university degrees rather than outside certifications as their measure of competence, but all subjects are taught to a very rigid standard that changes little between universities. Result: they are very, very strong in subjects in which competence can be objectively evaluated (science, math, languages), and very weak in subjects in which it cannot (humanities and social sciences). Their students in the "soft" fields are intelligent and can answer any question with rhetorical flourish, but they aren't encouraged to think on their own; rather, they just regurgitate the crap their professors shove down their throat every day. Trust me, this is not what we want to emulate here in the US.

Mr. Murray fails to see that we already have certifications in most areas where it makes sense to have one: bar exams, medical boards, CPA, mechanic, etc. Some of these are mandatory for you to work in that field (lawyer), others are optional (electrician). Requiring validation of a 4-year BA in English literature by a 14-hour CPA style exam that anyone can sit for is a stupid idea. This is basically what they have in Russia, and it results in robots rather than independent thinkers.

I agree that there are plenty of tool-bags out there with 4-year degrees, but we live in a free country and it's the employer's responsibility to figure out whom they want to hire. Mr. Murray writes, "a bachelor's degree tells an employer nothing except that the applicant has a certain amount of intellectual ability and perseverance." That's actually a pretty important attribute for anyone in a position of decision making and/or leadership. That's why the military requires 4-year degrees for commissioned officers; we don't care what your major is, it can be classical piano and we'll still take you.

All in all, an interesting idea on Mr. Murray's behalf, but I think its utility is marginal at best. And did he ever think about the fact that if Microsoft did what he proposes, there would be a couple of million people in China and India who would pass the "gold standard" test and work for a fifth of the salary of an American? That would be a GREAT way to "make opportunities wider and fairer".

I have to admit that I have been back and forth on this issue for quite some time. At my last workplace I had multiple coworkers with master's degrees who lacked so much common sense that they genuinely appeared to be stupid. Despite the fact that they had all this education, they were unable to figure out things for themselves or advocate for themselves when needed. At the same time the least educated person had the best abilities and on top of that she helped build the servers in our computer lab as well as troubleshoot problems as needed. All she had was a high school diploma.
As far as me, I have what's considered a useless degree in itself: a liberal arts math degree. But since i spend so much time tutoring it has definitely served me well. As far as pushing everyone to go to college I don't really agree with that because there are definitely some people that are not cut out for it. But in the interest of giving everyone a "fair chance" we're supposed to push them to enroll in some sort of post-secondary institution regardless of their intellectual ability. For these individuals a certification type education would most likely serve them better in life.

Education is only as good as the combination of the individual being educated and the material being taught. 99.9% of what the average person needs to know to be successful in life comes from a high school curriculum (unless you went to high school in Alabama or Arkansas). Most people get through advanced algebra and geometry in math classes; the basics of anatomy, phisiology, and chemistry in science classes; and advanced grammar and comprehension in English classes. Almost everything else is an 'art' and cannot be graded on an accurate scale (in the eye of the beholder...). Probably the weakest area of the American primary education system is our world history requirement.

The college system started with great intentions, but quickly became more of a money-making institution. In my opinion, only medical professionals, lawyers, and teachers should require a more advanced formal education than high school. In that same respect, however, I believe that high school graduation standards should be way higher. It isn't like kids don't get taught the difference between how to use 'their', 'there', and 'they're' in a proper context in their primary education. Some just don't retain anything anything beyond the examination. All of the basic classes I had to take in college for my degree covered the exact same material I learned in high school. I even took CLEP tests for most 101-level courses, and still had to take the actual course at the college in order to get credit for something I learned when I was 14 years old.

Having an education system based on certificates instead of degrees would definitely be more applicable towards what they will actually DO at their jobs. Regardless of how much education one has, he or she usually tends to be able to recall information they have an interest in or use on a continual basis, and the rest is forgotten over a relatively short period of time.

How many people know the formula for determining the circumference of a circle, what a Serf is, what the pancreas does, or what a gerund is? It is all stuff we learned in the eighth grade (or the third year in a masters program in Arkansas)...

As many people have rightly pointed out, even the best certification exam falls short in quantifying things like charisma, work ethic, general reasoning ability. But exams also, and most importantly, can never test moral attributes. I've noticed over the years that a good and kind person, who likes and is liked by people, and who knows how to think clearly and work hard, will probably succeed in any task thrown at them from life's hopper. Furthermore, over the long run this person will be far more successful and a far greater asset to the company than someone else who may have scored much higher on, let's say, the CPA exam or bar exam, but who is deficient in charisma, work ethic, or, God forbid, ethical makeup.

Unfortunately, as any HR person or industrial-organizational psychologist will tell you, distinguishing between those folks is much harder than it seems, because despite years of research and millions of dollars invested, quantifying qualities like "work ethic" and "moral standards" is virtually impossible.

Also, while I applaud the egalitarian philosophy behind a suggestion of certification exams, in practice such a system would have serious problems. Most of these problems have been pointed out above, but I would like to add that the phenomenon of cultural bias in exams is one that is very real and very difficult to avoid.

But in the end, businesses will never have a "magic bullet" to solve their hiring difficulties. Because life punishes specialists (as we well know), the well-rounded candidate who is a good person will always succeed over the candidate who simply attained a superior score on a test. There will never be a substitute for doing your hiring homework in a business. Unless, of course, your business is competitive test-taking.

#12
Those prices at CF balboa are way higher than the cost of living in Cali. Balboa is home to wealthy people and trust fund babies, so I guess thay can afford it. Yikes!

Oh, and I loved the video. "Time you with a sundial" and "BW of a small hippopotamus"...wow. And the small, unhappy child at the end lent a certain surreal aspect to three large men talking smack at the BUDS O course :)

This is a little off the subject, but has anyone else been a little disappointed with the coverage of the Olympics. They are not televising any of the weightlifting competitions, at least not where I am at. I mean I know everyone has Phelp's Phever, but there is so much more to the games than swimming. I haven't seen any of the Judo either. I hope we can see some of the Tae Kwon Do. At least I have been able to stream a lot of it on the Internet.

Thanks for letting me bitch a little...

Pretty cool video, can't wait for the rest.

How do I send a picture of myself doing a handstand at a cool place? Let me know so I can send it please... Thanks

#45,
The word "gay" is sometimes used in non-sexual contexts, to mean "rubbish" or "stupid." Some view this as homophobic, though others cite it as an example of the evolution of living language, pointing out that some who use it do not intend it to have any relation to the meaning of the word as homosexual.

I guess I will start using terms on a more archaeic level like "E-Gad," and "Narf."

Though i do agree that the value of a degree CAN be overrated it doesn't mean thats always or even usually the case. Besides, if you truly want to improve American education at its roots, bring back civics class in elementary and teach people early about the rather complex democracy they'll soon inherit. Conservatives (like Murray) managed to do away with civics a while back and our country has suffered from greater political apathy/ignorance ever since. Intellectual wannabe's like Murray's AEI and other right-wing think tanks feed off of narrow-minded specialists in our society who are less able to step back and look at the big picture. It simply behooves them to advocate a less well-rounded education. The less people recognize their failed policies as they are, the better off they will be.

The title of this rest day article could be read as a call for high school kids not to bother going to college. That's not what the article actually says, but why let the facts get in the way of an attention-grabbing headline...

The facts about the dollar value of a college education are there for all to find out from the many studies done. A sample found on the web:

"The report titled "The Big Payoff: Educational Attainment and Synthetic Estimates of Work-Life Earnings" reveals that over an adult's working life, high school graduates can expect, on average, to earn $1.2 million; those with a bachelor's degree, $2.1 million; and people with a master's degree, $2.5 million. Persons with doctoral degrees earn an average of $3.4 million during their working life, while those with professional degrees do best at $4.4 million."

The whole system does need reform; from entry to course-work to testing. But if you're in high school, and even vaguely interested in going to college, GO!

Mr Murray does not seem to understand why Universities (the only institutions that can grant degrees in Canada. Colleges that offer degrees here do so under the supervision of an accredited university.) exist. They were created to produce researchers and academics who would add to the world knowledge base, not give people Bachelor degrees that would improve their chances of getting a job in the real world. BA, BSc, B anything else is a screening tool for universities. They take in a lot of people who they know will never go beyond that education level, or possibly not even attain it, hoping to get a few people who have what it takes to go all the way. They want people who can attain that PhD, do original research or study and add to the worldwide knowledge base (and get the university grant money as well.)

If all you ever get from your post secondary studies is a Bachelors, you're a failure from the academic world point of view, you haven't reached the goal they want from you. That you may have gained enough education to make it in the “real world” is inconsequential and not the universities goal. So Murray’s rant against the BA, while it maybe relevant to the business world will not sway the universities as they don’t care.

I also have to agree that having a bachelors (I have a BSc in Physics and haven’t had to calculate the efficiency of a heat engine since I graduated) says (or should say) more about one’s ability to adapt and learn than whether or not one has the specific unique job skills to run a widget factory.

“Certification is for insects.”
-With apologies to Robert Heinlein.

I disagree with the title of the article more than the content; "For most people college is a waste of time."

For most teenagers this is a first experience living outside of their parents home. The college environment provides opportunities for structure, learning, self expression, social interaction, and much more freedom of choice all without the confines of parents. That transition away from the nest with others in the same situation has great value.

Now is a college education and testing of that education valuable? Depends on the student, the school, and the profession.

In my mind a BA has become the baseline that a high school diploma was a generation ago. The same arguments could be applied. Only the rich folks could spare their kids in the fields and send them to high school 100 years ago.
I think a technical degree is worthless compared to a BA. I work in a computer field, surround by folks owning Computer Science BS degrees. I am forever proofreading reports and explaining metaphores to them. Basically their BS is a HVAC certification from a fancy school whereas I have a education covering the basics that they missed out on. All the BA ever got me was a foot in the door, the rest I proved once I got there.

25/M/170/5'9"

As RX'd

0:00

:)

#62 Neil:

I am not sure college was intended to be, or is successful at being a halfway house, providing kids with a parent-free environment to learn about life in. Regardless of whether someone decides to go to college or jump straight into the work arena, life is going to happen, and most people will learn its lessons. I have seen the same ability to handle the 'real world' from people coming out of college as I have from kids straight out of high school.

In fact, much of someone's ability to handle life better usually can be assessed with how old they are. Everyone goes through their "drinking like it was being outlawed the next day" phase. Everyone struggles to manage their money at first. Everyone has to learn that authority extends beyond mom and dad. Whether this is learned in college, or after leaving the home to get a job, it usually happens at about the same age for most people.

That is, unless you live with your parents for an extended period of time (living in the basement while working at Sams Club)...

College - not a waste of time, unless you bag it. Much like any endeavor, you get out of it what you put into it. If you treat college like CrossFit and go for it and try to do your best in every course, take hard courses, take a full course load each semester and strive for academic excellence, then perhaps your degree will mean something. If you don't put out, then go ahead and waste your time and money. Will college make you a better ________? (you fill in the blank) The answer is an unqualified yes. However, just like CF isn't sport specific, most college majors and courses aren't going to make you an expert in any particular field either. As for taking a qualifying professional test, that's just going to weed out those who can't test and those who just don't have the academic G-2 to make it in that particular field. Just because you pass the bar exam doesn't mean you can lawyer, it takes time and practice to actually "do it."

Video - Look forward to the follow on videos. Also, congrats to Andy Stumpf on his recent selection for a commission. I think he pins on ensign in a few weeks. He's been a SEAL operator for years now, has several bronze stars, a purple heart, and will make an outstanding naval officer. [BTW - College didn't get Andy the commission. I don't know Andy very well, but what I do know about him is that his hard work, incredible natural intelligence, and innate leadership got him his commission. He's going to run circles around the other ensigns.]

Oh, regarding the comments about rates. If Balboa can charge what they charge, then that's great. Keep in mind that no matter what an affiliate charges, they'll either make it or not depending upon the value and service they provide and not on the fee they charge. Also, depending upon overhead costs, failing to charge enough also dooms the business to failure. Keep in mind that the affiliates are running a business and people are in business to make money. There's nothing wrong with that. Don't knock the pricing until you understand the program that affiliate offers. Some affiliates charge way less, but they may offer far less. Some charge more because they create more value for their CrossFitters. Unless you have a full picture on what is offered by a particular affiliate, best to keep uneducated comments to yourself.

There are a lot of comments on here about education and I have not read all of them. I am studying for my masters degree right now at Iowa State University, and yes although it may not show what I am capable of in the workplace it definately shows that I am willing to be molded into something that a company can use. With degrees it shows that you put some work (I say some cause not everyone works hard, or has to for that matter) and you should be rewarded for it.

I was always taught that if you work hard you will be rewarded instead of sittin around waiting for someone to do it for you.

I just started doing CF and I have to say.... Damn. Substituting regular dips for ring dips at a 3:1 ratio I was only able to make it half way through the workout before I couldn't do anymore dips. I took me 50 min and I stopped after 120 dips. I look forward to improving and being able to complete the whole WOD in a faster time. I'll keep the fight up out here in Afghanistan if you keep the great work outs coming.

I have a BA in English literature with emphasis in professional and technical writing. Earning my degree is basis for a financially rewarding and fulfilling career and will assist me moving on to do something I feel is more fulfilling; coaching people in CrossFit.

Like with anything else, the results of your education are what you put into it. Set your own personal goals and go for them, and an education is an excellent foundation and often necessary basis to accomplish them.

And rest assured, even though I can type as fast as I can think (at least I think I can), I still make grammatical, punctuation, and yes, spelling errors. Plus I love slang much more than 'proper' English. I am very fluent in redneckeeze, especially on proto-redneck Scotch nights. ; )

as rx'd
24h0m0s

rats, I want to bike today does not count as a workout

I work with people that have little to no college, and a couple of us have our degrees; we all do the job well.
What a degree does, imho, is give the degree holder more options in life.

Shoulder Press
152 x 3
152 x 3
155 x 3 (pr)

3 rounds
100 M run
10 OHS, 115
3 Muscle ups

9:15

Ok,
Making up for lost time and tried to combine two WOD.
50 pull ups
50 Ring dips
50 Double unders
50 Situps abmat
40 PU, RD, DU, SU
30 PU, RD, DU, SU
20 PU, RD, DU, SU
10 PU, RD, DU, SU

38:50

Didn't do the back extensions since I surfed for 3 hours yesterday.

Vic

M/27/6'/220

#11
i am not that tall but train with a 6'4" and a 6'7" my flexibility and range of motion sucked when switching to cf approx 5 months ago. i can't stress enough how much proper stretching helps preparation and recovery. atleast for myself. You should do the cf warm up exercises especially overhead squats with just the straight bar. if balance and core become an issue use a broomstick to get down form and range of motion and slowly move into the 45pnd barbell.

I noticed that the article "Written by" Matt Hunt on the Affiliate blog (August 12) has now been linked to the very same article "written by" Roy Williams. So who REALLY wrote it? Do we have a plagerist amongst HQ staff?

Kinda ironic that this was posted 1 week earlier:

"Reminder: Double-check to make sure your blog is giving credit where it's due. We're still seeing cases of "borrowed" words and videos from not only CFHQ but between affiliates. It's okay to share but not okay to steal. If you use the words/photos/videos of another affiliate (or CFHQ), make certain that you clearly give proper credit with a simple "courtesy of" statement. Otherwise, it's just like you're the weight hanging off the pull-up and yet claiming to have done the work. Be honest."

Its been said here, I've been saying it since I graduated, and I've heard others repeat it over and over: Having a degree just lets employers know you are trainable. I can't tell you how many fellow LEO's I've met that are English or math majors. Hell, I went through training with a lawyer, but we all had the ability and desire to learn and be great, most of us atleast....there are turds everywhere.

Degree = foot in door

A BA is to education what four years at a “globo gym” is to fitness. (Who the hell knows?) Four years of doing CrossFit and a great "Fran" time is not the same as four years majoring in the elliptical trainer—even if you have great “grades” on the elliptical.

Today is my 1 year CF anniversary and I am having a hard time trying to consolidate my thoughts because I have so many things to say but I will try to be brief...

First I want to thank Coach and Lauren for giving me the gift of CrossFit! It has been an amazing year! I was the typical "I thought I was fit until I tried CrossFit" person. Little did I know I'd go from doing 1 pullup a year ago to 22 consecutive. I got a muscle up 9 months into CrossFitting. I have dropped over 4 minutes off my 5K time. I completed an Olympic distance triathlon in 2:55 with strictly CrossFit training and 8 weeks of CFE (my longest training session being 1 hr 15 min duration). I am 10 lbs shy of deadlifting 2xBW. I can push jerk bodyweight. I feel stronger and leaner than ever before! And I am only gaining momentum! There is so much more I want to accomplish and I know I can by continuing to follow this program!

I have gotten certified and affiliated and am training others who are getting amazing results in every aspect! So THANK YOU for sharing this with us free of charge and making certification and affiliation so affordable! It is truly a gift!

i just happen to be an accounting major, and will be graduating next semester. for those of you who think accounting is black and white.... thats ridiculous. i could just as easily say that being a brain surgeon is black and white 'cause alls you have to know is where to cut.

as for changing to a certification based style of learning... thats almost retarded. first of all....WE HAVE IT ALREADY. if you want to be a cook, mechanic, nurse(medical), carpenter, plumber, HVAC installer, MILITARY OF ALL KINDS(charged with protecting our nation), stunt man, computer repair, salesman, bartender, olympian ETC. guess what? you can without a degree. but if you want to go into the business world, having the flexibility of literally hundreds of professions, and in the future have to make decisions to lead a team to making profit for a company, GUESS WHAT? stop whining and go to school. people want to know more than your cert test. if i was hiring someone, what would i know about them if all they had to do was pass a certification? nothing. im actually shocked there is any support whatsoever for this argument. i enjoy the "globo gym" metaphors just like everyone else, but the problem is they arent true. education is not worthless, and it is certainly not worthless to get a general education.

Just saw the interview with Michael Phelps' mom and story about him growing up. ADHD kid...whoulda thunk it. For anyone who has gone through that or perhaps, have children of their own that struggle with either the disorder, being bullied, not finding their place, this story is incredibly uplifting. Having a son that "doesn't fit in", I found this incredibly, incredibly heart-warming and encouraging.

"For Most People Work is a Waste of Time"

His ROM was TERRIBLE at the CF Games.

Hey Brian Mackenzie,
Thanks for the response to my post yesterday. I will accept I haven't seen near as much running footage as yourself and am sure that I have much to learn in the mechanics area. My post made sense to me from a physics standpoint but maybe I am misinterpreting what you are saying. As a runner myself I would be interested in hashing it out with you further in person, perhaps at one of your certs in front of some video tape.
Again thanks for the reply. One of the things I enjoy about crossfit so much is this opportunity to create open discussions in order to drive the learning forward.
Phil

#76...fitness, much like college education, is all what you make of it. whether it is four years of fitness/training at a traditional gym or four years doing crossfit, you get out what you put in. i love the underlying ideology of of crossfit, but it is not the be all and end all of fitness (nothing is). i do agree that a BA is not what it used to be (much the same how i think traditional gyms are flawed), but four years of hard work in a classroom, gym, or whatever location you desire is priceless. its the work that counts, not where you do it or who you do it with.

M/48/152

Did Monday SU/Back-Hip ext./Thruster/PU, details there.

17:09

I have a BA. I went to a liberal arts college. I learned how to think in college.

My mother thinks I learned how to throw a frisbee and eat yogurt in college.

YMMV

The problem isn't with the BA, the problem is with the people who are hiring people solely based on their BA.

#83, Lucas, writes,

"fitness, much like college education, is all what you make of it. whether it is four years of fitness/training at a traditional gym or four years doing crossfit, you get out what you put in."

I think the author's point was that most undergraduates don't put much (other than time and money) into getting a BA and don't get much out of it, in the way of preparation for future employment. The vast majority of the "profits" go to the colleges themselves, not the students.

Similarly, for the (competent) student willing to put a great deal into his or her preparation, it does not necessarily follow that that effort needs to go into getting a BA. (An incompetent student can work hard, get a degree, and still be incompetent.)

To extend the analogy, if one attains fitness, it should not matter whether he or she did it by way of a home gym, a globo gym, or the Harvard gym. And if one is not fit, all the affiliations and credentials will not change that fact.

In all honesty, College was a mix for me.

I have a BFA in Jazz Studies, and a double minor in composition and arranging. I spent 4 years honing my skills in music for a career that peaked while in school. I was so deep into my love for music i forgot about taking care of myself. in the 4 years i was there, i gained the freshman 15, sophomore 30, junior 25, and the senior 30!

When i left school and finally had realization in seeing what kind of shape i was in.. it was the discipline i gained in my practice study habits that i applied to my health and nutrition studies.

So I learned to work hard, but at the same time, it took college to get me to a point i should have never been too. The work habits i learned in study and diving into music where applied to fitness and helped me stay on track to losing almost 200lbs and getting certified by many organizations including crossfit. that also lead to my new career and has brought much more fruition than music did.

So for me it was good and bad.

hari, i agree with you here as i agree with much of the author's points as well. i just did not fully understand your intial analogy to crossfit. i did not intend to be combative.

I have a variety of opinions on the subject of higher education, formed by a variety of experiences relevant to today's topic.... I'm working on my third grad degree, my profession of physical therapy has a national exam, one of my grad programs was almost entirely on line and I'm an associate professor in a State University in the Northeast US.

A few of my opinions include:
1) My life is far better because of many of the liberal arts classes I took. (Which I only took because I was required to. I did not have the wisdom or understanding to know that literature and music and philosophy courses would bring me alot of happiness when I was 20)
2) The PT exam proves that you know how not to hurt/kill someone, my friends tell me that the CPA exam will keep you and your client out of jail, nothing more. Certification exams cannot measure a person's ability to be an effective, ethical professional.
3) On-line programs cannot develop the writing, public speaking and discourse skills necessary to be an effective leader. Interaction with classmates and teachers is much more effective.
4) The cost effectiveness of an undergraduate education is horrible because our generation is coddling our off-spring. Five year undergrad programs, semesters abroad, palatial buildings, student wellness centers and beautiful dormitories all cost money. Our students are paying for these "frills" for 10,20,30 years. The QOL for my undergrad experience was horrible but it only cost 22K in the 90's.
Thanks for listening......

Having burned four years studying English, it seems to me there are nuances of modern literature that were taught over my time in college that I might not have learned via self-study or in a certification class, certain aspects of which might be difficult to convey knowledge of in a standardized test format.
But then, having gone to grad school for economics, I would have greatly appreciated the chance to bypass tuition and instead just study independently for a cert.

"Zing"

3 Rounds

25 Dips
25 Walking Lunges
25 Sit ups
25 Push ups
25 Back Extension
25 Push Press 75#
25 Jumping Pull ups
25 High Pulls 55#
25 Squats
25 Double Unders

Get wet on a rest day

Just finished yesterday's WOD. Tore a callus too. Sweet!

Semper Fi!

From Ottawa, Canada.

Just finished a quick workout while doing BBQ in the backyard. Seen that workout yesterday on the blog and thought that it would be fun. Felt great and barely had to take a "breather".

100 jumping jacks
75 squats
50 pushups
25 burpees Time: 7:58

Fran Rx's 8:41
30 60#DB Swings 1:31

No rest for me...now I'm more sore than when I started.

1st Muscle Up - Today!

It took 3 days of practicing the "false grip"

The education I received in college asked me to answer questions to things I did not agree with. Nutrition was a joke, and the professor lacked anything that would have made her an expert in the subject... Much like most RD's today who can only talk calories, and know very little on the affects of balancing hormones and really how little food is needed to maintain an athletes performance, or how to incorporate fat at a level that is supposed to be unhealthy… I aced tests to PE and Exercise Science classes based upon information that was long outdated, and weak. I did it so I could pass! I’ve been certified by the who’s who in fitness because it was what I was supposed to do. I thought being a CSCS or just having a BS in Exercise Science was the answer to me getting my foot in the door…
It is all bulls&$t, and none of it concerns those who I deal with on a daily basis. Mark Rippatoe solidified all of this in his relinquishment of his CSCS… at least for those of us that have had it with this industry.
I talk to students every weekend who are being taught to train long and 3 sets of 10 with 2 minutes rest between for strength & conditioning. All this in order to get a degree in Exercise Science or the related fields.
A degree tells people one thing… You were wiling to work hard! That is it.

Hari #87,

Today and several times in the past (esp. “A Thought On How to Score Non RX'd WOD's In the CF Games” of 7/5/08 and related rest day comment #42 on 7/7/08) you have spoken of attaining fitness. I submit to you that one does not attain fitness any more than one attains today's topic, wisdom. This goes to the governing principle of CrossFit: work capacity, and not a certification level nor even longevity. Certainly whatever one attains in wisdom, one can go further, and the same may be true of fitness.

Recently I came upon this definition by one of CrossFit's own:

>> Possession of adequate levels of strength, endurance, and mobility to provide for successful participation in occupational effort, recreational pursuits, familial obligation, and that is consistent with a functional phenotypic expression of the human genotype.

Kilgore, J. L. and C. M. Rippetoe, “Redefining Fitness for Health and Fitness Professionals”, J. Exercise Physiology online, vol. 10, no. 2, April 2007.

This, too, is a definition of a threshold by which one could attain fitness, if only one could settle on the tasks.

Coach is on to something the exercise physiologists seem not to have recognized. One can measure fitness, but never attain it. The first prong is by work capacity, and the second prong fails because of the definitional problem. One can have physical power, but never attain it. Under Coach's paradigm, whatever you are capable of doing, you can train to do with less of a sweat, or equivalently, after doing it, have more in reserve or quicker recuperation.

A related problems lies in the prescribed CrossFit exercises. As you have noted, work is equivalent when reps and loads are interchanged appropriately and mathematically. This is not true, however, for muscles or even mechanical things. It is only true in a region where the thing doing the work is operating according to a linear model. This is a statement about the model, and not the thing in nature, neither muscle development nor a hydraulic lift, for example. As I understand muscle development, a certain breakdown and repair must occur for muscle mass, and presumably power production, to increase. Significant breakdown won't occur if the load is too light. On the high end, both muscle and machine can be crushed if the load is great enough. By this method, we can show that everything in nature is nonlinear.

Surely analogies hold for cardiovascular and respiration capacities.

So the thing that CrossFit addresses with its WODs is the right balance of enough of a load that is not crushing. As for going further, maybe in CrossFit of Tomorrow the WODs will specify the weight, the reps, and the altitude.

Like Ginger Rogers doing the same thing as Fred Astaire, only backwards and in heels.

#97, Jeff Glassman,

You've refocused my thinking. Thank you.

Re Murray’s Waste of Time,

Surely the American education system is in a shambles. The Bachelor of Arts degree has by default become little more than a diploma from a remedial high school. Murray’s idea to reduce the BA degree to a certification is to follow the failed high school path to equivalency certs and the GED.

The BA signifies something rather different than a level of knowledge. It’s more like hazing. It shows the willingness to apply oneself to a mental task, and to attain it. It shows the student has overcome any tendency toward that fictitious disease, ADHD.

What seems universal about universities is that they have changed the ancient tradition of teaching how to think into indoctrinating on what to think. Debate is no longer de rigueur. It has been replaced by the socialist arts of slogan chanting, and anti-American/anti-GOP placard design. We don’t need a certification in left wing puppetry.

Murray first eliminated from this thesis the schools with vocational content, e.g., engineering and science, then graded the other schools on a vocational standard: the ability to earn money. This is neither logical nor fair.

Even in engineering and science, the BS (but never the BA) only proves one may be educable. The MS shows that the holder might be ready technically to make an immediate contribution to a developmental team. The PhD shows that he is technically qualified to lead a team.

When the BA is by certificate, we’ll just suffer that many more intellectual wannabes forever lost in ennui, the dropout’s feeling of failure and inadequacy. Case in point: Dennis Prager. He plays at the PhD level with pain, which he assuages with a thick ointment of university criticism. That should have faded from his id long ago. If you missed it, don’t whine. Go back and get it.

Prager might take a lesson from another uncredentialed philosopher, Eric Hoffer, proud longshoreman whose calm self-esteem came from what he was, not what he failed to be. Still, both are quite readable. The message is, don’t follow Murray, but be content in what you have accomplished, even if it’s not sheepskin.

So set some goals and pursue them. Don’t just look to getting the bar lowered. It won’t be satisfying. It doesn’t work in CrossFit, either.

Two solutions to the secondary education problem are either (1) abolish public education, or (2) restore a meaningful curriculum, rather like today’s AP path or optionally truly vocational, and institute teacher subject matter competence.

#59 Mike,
Just because you classify it as one thing, does not change the overwhelming connotation of the word "gay." If I say you are a "n-gger" but insist that I'm using it in a non-racial context to simply call you lazy, does that completely remove the racist undertones? I think not.

sammy lugo's ducati

15:23

While BA's aren't worthless, in most industries they aren't respected because there are SO many people who coast through college regurgitating whatever crap their professors throw at them.
Most larger corporations weed these people out using a combination of Behavioral interviewing and Temp to Hire programs.
I have been working in IT, at a company regularly in the Fortune 250 for the past 10 years. At no time have we hired a person based on their college of choice, degree or the letters after their name. Even industry certifications hold little sway in the hiring process. We look for individuals who can communicate clearly and effectively; who know how to utilize their resources to attain a goal; who are motivated and who are self-starters. If you don't posess the skills or the drive to learn it and do it, intillectuals need not apply.
I would rather hire one person with good intuitive and learning abilities then 10 certified or degreed people who think that learning is at an end for them.

This just reminds me of what a professor of mine told me years ago:

BS degree.........self explanatory
MS ...............More of the Same
PhD ..............Piled Higher and Deeper