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“Balancing Act”

BALANCING ACT (PART I)

Most Crossfitters and fitness enthusiasts are familiar with the 10 General Physical Skills compiled by Jim Cawley of Dynamax and adopted by Crossfit for the early definitions of fitness:

  • Cardiovascular Endurance
  • Stamina
  • Strength
  • Flexibility
  • Power
  • Speed
  • Coordination
  • Accuracy
  • Agility
  • Balance

This is a very elegant list that really details the exact ingredients anyone doing Crossfit programming should keep in mind as they program.

Unfortunately, some of the physical skills take a back seat to more glamorous skills.  Balance may just be the most ignored skill of the bunch.   This is exactly why we need to deep dive down into this often overlooked (but possibly most important) physical skill.

When you think of Balance in this list what do you think of?  Standing on one foot with arms out wide with eyes closed?  That’s cute, but that’s the shallow end of the pool in my opinion.  Maybe you think of more functional capabilities, like being able to STICK the landing during burpee broad jumps, or being able to walk 100m on your hands?  These all have their place, and are all definitely related to Balance, but when I hear Balance in relation to fitness, I think of something I believe is far more important:

If Balance is ignored she will start to hint to you quietly to pay attention, if you continue to ignore Balance she will yell at you with seemingly out of nowhere pain and injury.

A body in Balance is one where the muscle groups are working optimally in sync with other muscle groups.  When you think of Balance you should think of your degree of Muscular Imbalance (in addition to how well you stand on one foot).

Muscle Imbalance can come in many forms and Muscle Imbalance can be caused by many things…

So over the next few articles we will discuss how we as Crossfitters combat the various forms and causes of Muscle Imbalance so that we can achieve competency in the tenth general physical skill of Balance.  Keep practicing that handstand, but we aren’t going there with Balance this time.

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