Why did I program the longer metcons? Well, I guess because I worry. Maybe I worry too much. Great, now I’m worried that I worry too much.

But seriously, I worry that I avoid the things that I suck at, and gravitate towards things that I’m good at. I feel good and accomplished at picking up heavy things. I feel pretty good doing short metcons. I feel like a tall awkward overweight goober on longer metcons. I usually laugh at the end of a longer metcon and say things like “Good thing I’m strong, because I’m sure not fast!”, but I’m not satisfied with that really. I thought that adding in some longer metcons would make me get better at longer metcons.

It’s funny, because that’s pretty much what you said to me when I was trying to plan out the programming. You don’t remember actually saying that because you weren’t actually there. I like to have imaginary get-togethers with people when I’m working on solutions for things. I sat down with you, Krista Scott-Dixon(from stumptuous.com), and the Gubernatrix (from gubernatrix.co.uk) at my kitchen table. We did some shooters and talked about my pull-up goal. You all reminded me to keep some heavy lifting in the schedule, so I tried to program two heavy work days a week. Gubernatrix reminded me to work on skills, you and Krista warned me to eat enough food, and you did say something about the long metcons. I offered the reasons above and you still weren’t sure, so I promised I’d readjust if I felt like I was overtraining or just plain sucking. There are lots of five-round metcons that I can scale back to three rounds. The imaginary you was alright with that, or at least willing to let me give it a try and learn. If the real you still has reservations I’m 100% open to hear them!

This is just so awesome to hear. First, thanks for giving the program a shot, and for reviewing it in such detail here on your blog. Second (and most importantly), congratulations on your success! Those are some serious strength gains, you should be really proud of your efforts.

One question, however… why, after this approach (picking up heavy stuff + short, intense met-con) worked SO well for you, would you return to long, punishing met-cons on a regular basis???

Best of luck to you,
Melissa