MidState CrossFit Lift Off

Oct 3

General Physical Preparedness

General Physical Preparedness can be defined as a preparatory phase of training that is intended to provide balanced physical conditioning in endurance, strength, speed, flexibility and other basic factors of fitness. In other words, it can be considered all-around fitness.

Gabby and I put to the test what we program each and every day here at MidState CrossFit this past weekend. Most athletes here at MidState CrossFit would consider this General Physical Preparedness (GPP) to mean running some long distance, or performing at your local CrossFit throw-down, but it is much simpler than that. What we train for at MidState CrossFit is to be able to lift our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Or all the groceries at the same time. If there is an emergency, MidState CrossFit provides you with the power and the will to spring into action. It could also mean playing in your local club soccer league or racing in a Spartan. For Gabby and I, it meant health, fitness, and rock n roll.

On Friday, we drove 6+ hours to the San Clemente State Beach, set up camp, got on our bikes and did a 6.5 mile bike ride into the Ohana Musical Festival. We do not ride our bicycles, we are not bicyclists, we own bikes, yes, what we ride is the Assault bike, and not every day. We then watched the gypsy herself Stevie Nicks perform a duet with Eddie Vedder. We then got on those same bikes and rode into the night another 6.5 miles. We completed this loop 3 times. 13 miles a day, dancing, decent food options, sleeping in the back of the Tahoe. Waking up, doing it all over again. 12 bands and 32.5 mile ridden, being a fit hippie has its perks.

This is what physical preparedness looks like for us. Being able to say, yes, Let’s do this! Heck yeah, I’ll go on that hike, freak yeah I want to go to that place, do that thing, or perform X random feat of strength. Fear of the unknown is fine but knowing you are physically capable is the key to having the opportunity to experience life. In the words of the famous trainer Mark Twight who trained the actors for the movie 300; “CrossFit produces a ‘ready state’ from which more advanced or sport specific training becomes very efficient.”

I bring all of this up because often athletes will come to us with aesthetic goals. Those goals are wonderful and an athletic, toned body is a healthy one but it does not paint the entire picture. It takes time to build your dream physique. So change that mindset while continuing down your own path, are you able to do stuff??? If the answer is yes, then do we have a cool first step for you? It is October and MidState CrossFit Lift Off is here. For the next three weeks we will be getting the gym ready for our biggest party of the year. The schedule is as follows.