"CrossFit Total"

Back squat, 1 rep
Shoulder Press, 1 rep
Deadlift, 1 rep

Please post your totals to comments.

Compare to 13 Aug 08.

For all of you who have recently graduated from the Elements program and so are new to us, you may not be familiar with the CrossFit Total. The Total is an assessment of your current strength level. It is the analog of Fran or Cindy measuring one's metcon abilities. A great article on this in detail can be found here.

As a refresher to all, here are the rules:
1) You get 3 lift attempts per exercise.
2) These attempts are made using weight amounts that you set.
3) You count the highest successful weight amount that you lifted per exercise.
4) The sum of those 3 numbers is your Total score.

Everything seems smooth until one starts thinking about how to figure out the weight levels in #2. That's where warming up is critical. First, after one's general warm up, one should rehearse the motions with a PVC pipe. Then pick a very low weight to use as a multiple rep warm up under load. If one's highest squat on record is 100 pounds, try 10 reps in the 20-40 range. Then add a little weight but cut the reps down to 5 or 3. The idea is not to tire oneself out but to just get the body into that groove.

When it is time to go for the official lifts, pick a weight that you are certain you will complete as you only get 3 attempts. In the case above where the highest weight was 100, try one at 90-95. This should serve as "insurance" against your having a bad day today (or against the stars being in fantastic alignment, giving one an incredible day when 100 was managed).

If that went well, try to estimate how much more could be added. If you managed to just barely get it up, go for 95-100. If the weight flew up, consider being more aggressive. If the first attempt did not go up, use the same logic in reverse - fail by a little? Cut 5 pounds off and try that for your second. Fail by a lot? 10-15.

Do the same for the third attempt - remember how the previous successful lift went and adjust accordingly. This may be the one where you find yourself reaching for a number even you barely believe!

Finally, by all means log these scores. Much like picking up Cindy rounds or dropping your Fran time, watching your Total go up over time can be a very rewarding indicator of your hard-won strength gains here at CrossFit. Plenty of people have walked out of CrossFit Totals just beaming at their results. Come on in and get some of that!

Good luck!

Day 19 - bring it!