CrossFit Athletic Group

With Mr. Kuiper doing this round of programming, he started us out with the classic benchmark workout Cindy, which has come up somewhere around 27 times in the Champions Club history (more probably if I check the pre-website days; off the top I know we did it at least twice in Summer 2010). As it turns out, we had two Champions Club all-time records broken today.

At the 4:30 session, Bubs hit 26 + 5 as rx'd, which beat Erika Banet's 25 and change from Summer 2019

Then at the 5:30 session David Saporito hit 32 + 5 + 6 as rx'd; in the Summer he got 30 rounds and change, and in 2015 Fecht was right around that also, but tonight's effort puts him comfortably at the top.

Just a few notes, first on range of motion and movement quality. I have no hesitation calling both efforts "rx'd"; pull-ups were chin over, push-ups were not resting on the ground, and squats were hitting a med ball. But like I have said before, I view the real "rx" for benchmark workouts being intensity. Both of them had this for sure. It is also my opinion that it is nearly impossible to hit 100% of movement standards when operating at top speed; if every rep is good then the intensity and speed was not truly maxed out - especially considering how many reps are in a workout like Cindy. There were surely pull-ups that might have been chin slightly under the bar, or squats not quite standing up all the way, or push-ups that didn't quite get to full extension. Still, Bubs and Sap were right there with every rep.

Secondly, Cindy is one of those workouts that makes compare-to record keeping difficult because the movement standards are a moving target. As we get fitter our pull-ups get higher and push-ups get stricter; as we get more flexible our squats get lower. And if comparing your own scores are tricky, then comparing to someone else is even more so. What's the solution here? I have no idea. That's why it's important to know what your pr is on this day. If you feel like you performed to your abilities on that specific day, then you need to be good with that; the other people around you and your previous scores are there to give you that extra little boost (10-20% ish?) that you wouldn't get on that day if you did it by yourself.

Third(ly?), Cindy almost always comes with her cousin, Mary, when posted on the main site

"Mary"
Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
5 handstand push-ups
10 pistols
15 pull-ups

I always believed that I needed to earn the right to do Mary instead of Cindy, and I held myself accountable to that. Workouts like Mary, Murph (with a weight vest), and Maggie provided alternatives to that were designed to be more difficult alternatives, but really could be much, much easier minus the intensity.

Do 30 rounds of Cindy and then talk about doing Mary.

Do a sub-30 Murph (straight through) and then wear a vest.

Do Candy unbroken and then consider doing Maggie.

The most simple way of improving is to keep doing the same thing you're already doing, only better. And then better again. And then better again. And then when the margins of improvement are so slim that it depends on factors outside of fitness or sport (equipment, competition, weather, etc.) then go ahead and consider yourself graduated.

So with that being said, I consider Bubs and Sap graduated from Cindy. If it comes up, I'm cool with them either doing it strict or (preferably) doing Mary.

Great work you two, and everyone else who was at the sessions. The effort was great all around!