Virtuosity

The term virtuosity is defined in gymnastics as “performing the common uncommonly well.”

How does this apply to CrossFit and what we do in classes?

When starting anything new, or developing a skill, there is a tendency to want to skip past the fundamentals and get to that higher level movement or practice more elaborate, exciting techniques as soon as possible. This can inhibit success, prevent progress in the future or even cause unnecessary injury. 

The handstand hold event in this recent online CrossFit Games is a great example of virtuosity! It is way more exciting to skip past the ability to do a handstand hold and move right on to movements like handstand push-ups, handstand walking and handstand walking obstacle courses. And yes, sometimes we actually have the ability to get by without a solid foundation and be relatively successful with those higher skill movements. But what happens when these “simple” foundational movements come up in a competition or class? Are you able to do them and do them well? If you watched any of the athletes complete in this event, you could see that some could and some could not!

Creating a solid foundation is important for growth and progress! I want you to consider this when you come into classes, no matter what the movement is! It may be an air squat in warm-up or a PVC in an overhead squat workout. Creating and developing a solid foundation and proper movement patterns will set you up for success! You don’t always need to be going for the heaviest weight or hardest movements!

Coach Caileigh