In the past few days, I’ve come to some brutal realizations. Specificity of movement is real!

In my mind, I think to myself “yeah I could pop off 100 push-ups, pull-ups, and sit-ups without thinking about it”. Maybe at one time that would be true. Today wasn’t that day.

Don’t get me wrong, I teach intense yoga classes 3 days a week, I do my own practice on top of that, and I do Olympic weightlifting. I honestly try to stay on top of things. But since my recent commitment to upping the percentage of CrossFit into my life again, it is a rough reality.

I strained a latissimus dorsi, aka “Lat”, more than a month ago. So, I’ve been resting and not doing pull-ups or similar movements. I added a metcon with some pull-ups in it and it was like starting over again. Not easy at all. 

I also did a Tabata sit-up interval. Now, I’ve always been able to do sit-ups for days. I also do a lot of ab-related work in yoga. So I thought, this would be an easy addition that would get me some core work. The first two intervals went well. Then the wheels fell off. I would be afraid to admit how few I did all together. Boat pose and similar movements are super awesome and I highly recommend what they do for you. But they aren’t the same. 

Specificity of movement has a large role in our lives. Yeah, you might do lat pull downs for days, but if you aren’t swinging a sledge or chopping wood, you might find the “suck”. I will say, there is carry over for a lot that you do. The more you vary what you do, the better you’ll adapt to a different movement. But if you get stuck in only one pattern, you might have some issues.

Constantly varied should be your mantra if you want to function in life. Vary the time domains from a 1-minute max out for reps to a long 30-45 minute grinding WOD or cardio interval. Do heavy lifts, gymnastic movements, and sports. Vary the time of day you workout, vary what you wear, vary everything! Then you’ll always be ready.