CrossFit Athletic Group

I have yet to do the Rookies post yet, but one of the most impressive so far has been Caleb Pittenturf (aka "Pitt"). I already gave him a shout on Carvin's post (I think) about figuring out how to do somersaults on his own... actually, that was probably Mr. Kuiper's GOOF post. I'll have to check. Either way, the gangly lad reached another milestone today: his first kick to handstand. The only help I gave him was letting him know that when I said "put a mat up against the wall" I didn't mean to literally stand the freaking thing up and lean it in a sad, drooping mess.

One of the things I've been asking myself recently is whether the athlete in question needs teaching or practice. If they need to be taught, I'll intervene. If not, the environment needs to be set up where enough mess-ups can be done in order for learning to happen. In this case, after we did mobility ay the 9 am session I told Pitt to go and practice handstands for about 5 minutes. That turned into 25 minutes of self-guided reps, getting a feel for what got him closer to the wall and what didn't. No amount of words from me, or anyone for that matter, could hep Pitt learn better.

Great work youngster!