There's a reason our coaches are going to make you squat below parallel - and it's NOT about competition

Especially coming out of the CrossFit open "season", there's always a lot of buzz about movement standards; below-parallel squats, full lockout overhead, opening your hips at the top of deadlift/box-jump, etc. etc. etc.

When we are participating in something like the Open, it's obvious why these standards matter - it creates a level playing field and expectations for movement that every athlete must follow - it makes the competition "fair". But the reason standards like these truly matter has NOTHING to do with competition and everything to do with movement quality, safety, efficiency, and ultimately, quality of LIFE. That's why CCF coaches are going to constantly demand that you achieve full range of motion during class and they'll constantly be working with you to hit the right position, even if that means you have to scale the weight or slow down.

Believe me, I get it, there are certain positions that are simply hard for many of us to get into. But that doesn't mean we stop and accept those limitations, we work through them. Sometimes it will take a LOT of work to unlock range of motion, but we must all constantly pursue that goal. With the exception of real injuries (which, of course, we will work to accommodate and would never want to exacerbate an injury), together we will establish much healthier, much stronger, and much more capable bodies by getting uncomfortable and forcing ourselves to establish proper movement quality - even when it limits your score/time in that day's WOD.

So remember that the next time you're frustrated or annoyed with a coach telling you to get lower in your squat, to stand up all the way before dropping the bar, to get your chin higher on a pull-up, it's not because we want your workout to "count" for some arbitrary competitive reason, it's because it's what will benefit your body the MOST in learning to move correctly.

This is really just my editorial commentary on an article that CrossFit.com recently published. I encourage all of you to read it! https://www.crossfit.com/essentials/crossfit-CMT-full-range-of-motion.

See you in the gym!