Focus on Quality, not Quantity

Focus on Quality, not Quantity
Written by Ben Middleton

No matter how long you’ve been doing CrossFit, from the start we all made noticeable gains in our fitness. For example, a first “muscle-up”, hitting a 20lb PR on your back squat, or even completing a running distance under a time you had thought you would never achieve. It has to be one of the greatest moments in the world!

What do you think brought you to those moments so quickly? Or why do you think it all happens at the start? It happens because the movements and stimulus are new to your body, so there are always huge gains in the beginning. It is also common because people do not know what they can do or how to push; and once they figure it out, they make gains each session. However, it also comes from quality and your own responsibility in your mechanics, and we must learn to maintain and increase our quality of movement.

A lot of the time back home in New Zealand, I have come across some eager beavers who absolutely love CrossFit (which I am super glad about) but tend to forget the purpose of it. CrossFit teaches you how to use your body correctly, safely and effectively, develop body awareness and body control (which can, of course, be displayed in our everyday lives), and of course get a great workout out at the end of it. I tend to come across this during coaching. After I explain the workout, demonstrate movements correctly, and ask if anyone needs help, I always make the class individually practice at least three to five repetitions of each movement. The reason I do this is so I can observe technique and safety. However, if you are practicing three to five repetitions prior to the workout, fresh, not fatigued, please do not convince yourself that you can choose a much heavier weight or more advanced movement just because you feel great. This is because halfway through the workout, fatigue kicks in, you are tired, unfocused and technique is shot out the window.

For example, let’s look at the strict handstand push-up (a great example for me personally). During warm up repetitions, our shoulders are fresh and we are able to establish a strong, rigid midline position. During the workout, once your shoulders have eventually blown out of steam, it is just trying to get down, and back up with no thought of quality and safety. For me, I struggle with this movement mainly because my shoulders are not strong enough to continue high-volume during a workout to maintain good positions and safety. Of course I want to get stronger at this movement just like anything else, but am I being very wise if I am defeating the purpose of this movement? No. This movement is not just about pushing up and down and growing strong shoulders; it is also about developing a skill and learning to engage your core, glutes and maintain a good neutral spine while upside down. So the best thing I can do before I workout is to grab a blue mat to put under my head to raise the level a little so I can still maintain good form, good positioning, engaging the right muscles and making my movement better. When the day comes that I no longer need that blue mat because I can maintain all these positions, I will advance to the next stage or progression of the movement.

Quality reduces the risk of injury

The more stress on muscles and the less stress on joints, the better! This will relate with blog posts about tempo-training as well. In addition, slowing down a movement to focus on quality is a huge benefit to yourself because you will notice where you are going wrong and why your coach is telling you to either keep your chest up or your back flat. Shifting the loading to the muscles, not joints. Connective tissue takes a while to strengthen, so while focussing on quality you can develop good muscular strength around the joint, which will give that connective tissue some rest. Not only will the quality of a movement help reduce injury, it will also help increase strength gains and it will reduce plateau and increase adaptation.

An example of how to achieve strength gains while focusing on quality is by looking at the bench press. How many of you typically try to ‘bounce’ the weight off your chest to make it easier? If you were to focus on quality of this movement, you will notice that you will be weak in the bottom position of the bench because of the constant ‘bouncing’. It is better to focus on quality to lighten the load and apply a tempo to increase strength in those weak points.

10,000 good reps, or 10,000 bad reps?

Quality should always be your first priority. Intensity can only come once consistent and correct mechanics are performed. Develop awareness and body control by giving yourself an opportunity to “feel” which muscle groups are activating to keep your body in the correct position. After thousands of repetitions performed in the gym, your body will develop neurologically to the way you move. Whether it being in Olympic lifting, gymnastics or even running, you will develop a neurological pattern. If your thousands of reps are bad, you must take the time to go back to where you started learning the movement and progress with correct mechanics to develop good technique.

Bad technique is amplified when we move “for time”

When we take a workout such as “Diane”, which consists of deadlifts (225#/155#) and handstand push-ups with a rep scheme of 21,15, 9 between both movements, we are looking at moving a large load fast and explosively, and moving quickly and efficiently on our handstand push-ups. Of course this workout is designed to be somewhat heavy and this is where egos get in the way and look to complete the workout as prescribed. Moving a load which is much too heavy to move at a quick pace is where form starts to break down (rounding backs, lack of tension in the midline, etc) and the workout has also lost its purpose, which is “fast and explosively” and NOT “slow and steady”.

It is the same idea with handstand push-ups; if it is a movement that you struggle to perform at least five reps at a time, look at scaling the movement by placing a blue mat underneath your head to raise the level. Or, if it is strength that you are trying to build, even an L-seated dumbbell press will be a great solution for you.

We all want to perform every workout as written on the board, but if we can not do so safely and effectively, BE PATIENT! Do not rush yourself, even if your best workout buddy has fifty more pounds on the bar than you, and you really want to beat him. Remember to take the time to focus on the quality, because one day you will have fifty more pounds on the bar than him.

In the future, if you are struggling to choose a correct weight or are needing an option to scale a movement but are unsure of what to do, please do not hesitate to ask the coach of your class.