Leg day? really? I thought we were past that?

21-15-9 reps for time of:
bar facing burpees
95# hang power cleans
toes-to-bar

results: 5:42

I had an interesting conversation with a member today about toes-to-bar in the above wod and what part of the body they work. Her hands were pretty torn from yesterdays pull-ups, so I told her to take the toes-to-bar right out of the wod and she was pretty confused when I just took them out and didn't "sub" anything for them. Let me tell you she ended up having a great workout and she was able to have a certain level of intestity only attainable from a well programed wod. I know this changes the entire wod, but hear me out 1) the wod just got metabolically tougher  2) people forget that we don't train body parts or even muscle groups in CrossFit WE TRAIN SYSTEMS.

Yes, after you do an abundance of squatting your legs are going to hurt, hence why people associate squats with "working the legs". But a Back Squat is one of the best FULL BODY strengthening tools you can do, it taxes the body in every way, if you do more than 5 reps at a heavy load, they also tax you greatly metabolically. This is the basis on almost every movement we pick in CrossFit. Ya if you are deadlifting and you fail your 1RM attempt because the bar wont budge off the ground you probably have to strengthen your low back and if you can get it past your knees but can't lock it out you probably have to strengthen your hamstrings, grip strength and/or upper back. There is merit to this and there are plenty of supplementary exercises you can do to benefit yourself in a dead lift. That being said, this method of training is VERY sport specific to the 1RM Deadlift. If all you are training for is a 1RM deadlift, go ahead and spend your time on these supplementary exercises. However, for a CrossFitter, it's almost a waste of time, your weaker body parts will become stronger without the supplementary exercise, it's almost a hinderance to do these because you will be overtraining or if you do these instead of wodding or strength/power training you are going to lose a part of your fitness. I'll say it again, the CrossFit program doesn't train body parts we train body systems. In crossfit we are less concerned with what part of your body is weakest and more concerned about what part of your fitness is weakest: Conditioning, Strength, Power, Speed, Flexibility (to name just the crucial ones) Your body will fall into place and become equally balanced just by doing CrossFit. We can dig deeper and deeper into this topic and talk about it forever but as a competitive CrossFitter, Elite Athlete or somebody who is trying to stay in decent shape the biggest adaptation happens in the WOD and the movement, not in what part of the body is being trained.

example: how often do we train Abdominal flexion in crossfit, 90% of crossfit movement is hip extension. Are CrossFitters abbs weak???? hell no. The magic is in the program. Believe in it.

**Disclaimer: I don't claim to know everything, I just read a lot of books and websites, and I've applied these theories on myself and others in the gym for a few years now. I'm still learning and I am pretty open minded, these are just my thoughts.