I'll be the first to admit that gymnastics doesn't top my list of favorite training modalities. The allure of a heavy barbell or a fun strongman implement always seems to outshine plain ol' bodyweight training. After all, we all move our bodies around all day long. Is there really anything that special about gymnastics? Isn't it kind of basic?

Here's the thing: yes, gymnastics is, in a sense, basic. It's basic in the way that breathing is basic to survival, or in the way that learning to operate the brake pedal and accelerator pedal is a basic element of driving a car. It is absolutely fundamental, foundational. The ability to move your own body freely through space is at the base of any athletic endeavor, whether it be dancing, weightlifting, trail running, or rock climbing.

And so this begs the question: if you can't move you, what business do you have moving an external weight around? What business do you have loading your body up with heavy barbells and dumbbells? The greatest athletic irony of all is the athlete who spends his days training to squat with double his bodyweight on his back, but can't perform a full squat with his bodyweight alone, or who presses hundreds of pounds on a barbell, but can't move from prone to standing and back to prone with freedom or ease. Are you really a true mover if you can't control your own body through foundational human movements?

Base your training around what makes you better, not what's the most glamorous or garners the most Instagram "likes." You're never above learning, practicing, and refining the basics.

- Preston Sprimont

10/12/16 WOD

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  Hang snatch - 2,2,2,2

  
  

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  10 minute AMRAP

  
  




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  10 1-arm kettlebell swings (53/35)

  
  


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  10 sit-ups

  
  


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  10 cal row