Well Rounded

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I was having a bit of a chin wag with CF West’s new coach Jason H and we were talking about bygone days at the old HQ here in Santa Cruz. I had just spoken with Greg Amundson and since Jason is also an old friend of Greg’s (Greg and I used to take Jason’s class), I was filling him in on the latest news. That got us to talking about old CrossFitters and WODs and such and we both agreed that Greg was the hardest charging CrossFitter we have known.

Now, no one has been around quite as long as Jason, so that meant a lot coming from him. What made (I am using the past tense, but Greg is still training and very active in CrossFit) Greg such a great CrossFitter, probably the best in the early days? It was several things:

Greg was very well rounded. He wasn’t the very strongest, but he was pretty close. Other people were faster, but Greg was quick, especially with weight. Certainly he had good technique, but not the greatest. He was just good at everything.

Greg, and here is one of his greatest strengths, just attacked his weaknesses. When he identified a weakness, he really went after it. He was relentless about it. He could not stand having a chink in his armor. And he was imaginative about it. If he felt that running was holding back his Helen time, then he didn’t just go jog. He ran hills towing a tire, he did timed sprints, he read books about running. And it was this attitude, this attack your weaknesses attitude, that gave him his well rounded ability to be good at everything. And that, especially back in the day, is what Crossfit is all about.

Greg also had a certain tenacity born of real determination and great stamina. He really pushed a WOD. Greg just didn’t stop. He gave a kind of juggernaut impression. And because of his well roundedness he didn’t have to grind to a stop when confronted with a big weakness (like I do with ring dips).

It all ties together.

Thoughts? Please post to Comments.

Workout:

10 Rounds

100m Row

2 Clean and Jerks 185/135#

Post WOD and score to Comments.

golden

May 24th, 2009 at 9:10 am

“Greg just didn’t stop. He gave a kind of juggernaut impression”

So, if I am reading correctly, I am the next Greg Amundson and CF star?

samrad

May 24th, 2009 at 9:10 pm

I guess that is one way of looking at it. Not exactly what I was thinking, but you go right ahead, Golden.

Cliff

May 24th, 2009 at 9:11 pm

I think I have a tough time identifying the weaknesses that I really need to attack… Hmmm… Let me try to clarify that: I think that I am good at living in denial of my weaknesses so that I don’t have to attack them. Does that make sense? I would actually appreciate other trainers talking to me more about what they perceive as my weaknesses. I think it would be harder for me to ignore that way. So, there it is, I’m laying it out there guys: tell me what I suck at (and how to make it better). Don’t worry, you can’t hurt my feelings.

May 24th, 2009 at 9:56 pm

cliff, are we limited to your weaknesses at crossfit or life as well?

May 25th, 2009 at 7:17 am

I don’t get it, weaknesses in life? I’m sorry Golden, you must have me confused with someone else.

Jason "J-Dogg" Highbarger

May 28th, 2009 at 2:16 pm

I’m always thoroughly impressed by the quality of posts on here by Sam , Jocelyn and everyone involved.

…I remember back when Aundson was training at CFHQ. As Sam had stated, Greg always had an outstanding work ethic and always attacked his weaknesses. He possesed insatiable drive and unparalleled discipline. Greg was was at one point unsatisfied with his score on Fight-Gone-Bad (FGB) and so I would meet him at the gym once a week at like 5:00 in the morning so as he could do FGB. We would take different approaches so as not only to simply get the best score, but to garner the best possible affect from the stimulus. Sometimes we would strategize the reps so as to get a specific score, such as 29 on Wall-Ball and then, regardless of time left within the minute, pause and prepare for the next station in the rotation and task at hand. Other times we would just throw out strategy altogether and attack every station to the fullest capacity, trying to accrue as many reps as possible within each element and then just suffer the inevitable “collapse” that accompanies such an output. (Both yield a powerful adaptation to the human body for which should be explored.–Something for which I will write about at some point in the future.) He willingly subjected himself to this and would do so with no one there to cheer him on or congratulate him after. He would just go in there and do it because he needed to get better at it.

…I remember, (sorry, Greg ol buddy), on one occasion Coach Glassman telling Greg Amundson to “never let anyone see you do that until you clean it up”, speaking in reference to his OverHead-Squat. So, Greg methodically started implementing the OverHead-Squat into his daily warm-up routine. Through his tenacity at attacking this “weakness”, Amundson developed one of the nicest and most structurally solid OverHead-Squats anywhere.

…There was another obstacle that somewhat stifled Greg Amundson a bit. (I wouldn’t share this story, but Sam said Amundson himself tells it as I do, so I thought I would share it with all of you.) When Greg first attempted the Bachar-Laddar at the old CFHQ, he got to about the third rung up, screamed like a little girl, (didn’t know a man could make a sound like that, really), and then dropped to the ground. This was somewhat perturbing to Greg and so, several days a week, Greg would go into CFHQ at 4:30 in the morning (yes, thats *4:30* in the morning), drag out the crash-mats and attack the Bachar-Laddar, just as he would do with all his weaknesses. He did so until it no longer was a challenge and he could ascend and descend it multiple times facing either direction while wearing the weighted vest. …That for which once stifled Amundson became easy for him. Yet another testament to his focused and driven nature, and his relentless attacking of his weaknesses. …How many of us have woken up, restless and unable to sleep due to an unsatisfactory “Fran” time, (or any other manner of horribly unpleasant business that makes us writhe in agony on the floor afterwards), got in the car and driven down to the gym at 4:30 in the morning to attack it and strive for a new “PR”, or to work on the things that we suck at?

One of my friends and clients who plays for the NY-Jets developed the same powerful discipline and work-ethic as Amundson, and it has served him very well. …He didn’t always have it though. He didn’t have it in high-school. He developed it mid-way through Junior College and continued to hone it over time as though a weapon. Through this he overcome many obstacles. Obstacles that would have stifled many.

…We may not have been born with a drive like Amundson’s, …nor even have had it as of late, …but we can all develop that razor-sharp focus and relentless work-ethic, just as Michael Jordan did after he was cut from his high-school basketball team, and apply it not only to our training and nutritional discipline, but to our lives as well. ….Every one of you has that capacity within you. …Sometimes it’s simply a matter of endeavoring to develop it to a sharper degree.