CrossFit Athletic Group

I can't exactly tell you why I have the urge to write about Carvin, but I am going to start and see where that takes me...

Ugh, on second thought, that's probably not the best way to start a post. Let me marinate on it for a minute.

Actually, that was less than a minute. This picture gave me a good prompt.

This picture is Carvin ducking. Ducking from what, you ask? The rain. Harmless rain drops on a warm Summer day at the Champions Club. Let's begin this post with a multiple choice question (circle all that are true):

Carvin is outside doing pull-ups and it starts to rain; what is his reaction?
a. duck from the rain
b. run into his car and take cover
c. ask to do his pull-ups inside
d. I do not believe Carvin was actually doing pull-ups, but rather procrastinating at a pull-up station

A case could be made for all of these to be correct answers, but as odd as it sounds, duck from the rain was the only thing he did, and only as a brief reflex, before reaching back for the pull-up bar to continue. Next time this happens I can imagine Carvin trying to Happy Gilmore the raindrops in his continuing quest to build toughness.

...........

I'm a little bit stuck coaching Carvin and here's why: on one hand, he really is missing hip extension and his foot lags while he runs, and on the other hand I know that the one thing Carvin absolutely needs right now more than couch stretch and Pose drills is to build confidence in his body - more particularly, his body's ability to recover.

Carvin was part of the track team I coached at Mott for three years, and while I didn't spend as much time with him as I did with other kids, I do know he had a tendency to depend on coaches for almost everything. This is, I think, where I come from whenever I used to label him soft; his hamstring hurts: go see Chris; his hurdles weren't feeling right: go see coach Michelle; his handoffs didn't go well: go see Shannon. And the odd part about this is it's not particularly a bad thing! Being coachable and seeking instruction like he did is absolutely essential for development.

And so is independence.

Lagging is still not okay to do when backpedalingThe reality is Carvin is part of a... /checks roster... good Lord, 40(!)-person track team, and that's just the boys. If he doesn't get it after a few chances, he won't get invited in for a private session or get a website post written about him hoping to spark a fire; they'll just recruit over him. At some point young fella is just going to have to do the damn thing!

...........

There is a big, BIG part of being hurt that is a learned habit; Mr. Curtis went from having a permanent limp to being able to walk 19 out of 20 steps normal in the span of 2 minutes. No mashing, no hip capsule or calf stretch, just one of those, "Look man, this limping thing is not okay, can you try not doing that?" conversations. The mobility tools we have can sometimes make us oversensative to aches and pains, when really they just need to run their course.

There is also a big, BIG part of learning a new skill that has nothing to do with the coach; Pitt - one of the Rookies at 9 am - was about as opposed to doing somersaults on his first day as it is possible to be. On his second day he said, "Chris, watch this, I've been practicing at home," to which I said, "If you're about to show me a forward roll I'm going to lose my shit." And he went right ahead and rolled head-over-butt in a heavyfooted bliss on the blue mat. Sometimes what's needed is more reps, not more teaching.

The difficult part about this is knowing when reps are needed and when teaching is needed, or when an aching spot needs to be fixed or needs to be given time to heal. But this is where the athlete-coach relationship comes into play. As Carl Paoli said, beginner athletes tend to be dependant on coaches for everything; intermediate athletes tend to strive for independence from their coaches; advanced athletes tend to be interdependent with their coaches.

I think I'm at that "interdependent" stage with Mr. Carey, Bubs, Cecilia (finally!), Luke, Aaron (finally, finally!!), Dillon, and Jessica, and I also feel like I'm on the right track with literally everyone else in the gym. More time and focus on that is the only thing between the rest of you and that stage. I am really confident it will come, and I'm even more confident that if you give your body a chance to figure things out for itself, you'll be surprised how quickly it will adapt. Even in the month or so Carvin's been back and we've been emphasizing that area, he's said he's felt like a "new athlete."