Ever fight with a smurf?

I have not been in a fight with a smurf, but after a weekend filled with painting my bedroom a certain shade of blue I feel like I have smurf blood all over my hands, legs and yes, even in my hair (embarrassing). Don't worry, this is not a post about my incredible abilities to fight off a much smaller individual, nor is it about my inability to keep myself clean as I paint a room. It is about functional movement.

As I was painting, up on a ladder, standing, squatting down, and even laying on my side, it made me thankful for my ability to perform functional movement easily. Is it because of crossfit? I dare say yes. As I was rolling the walls, it reminded me of a familiar movement - a thruster. I was able to roll high and squat down to roll low, then back up, back down, so on and so forth.

Let's focus for a second on the squat and it's functional importance. There was some conversation earlier last week about all of the squats we do. I thought this would be a good time to discuss the importance of the squat. It is one of the most basic and functional movements that humans use for accomplishing numerous daily tasks. Sitting and rising from a chair, picking up and setting down a box or squatting and holding the position for prolonged periods in order to retrieve a file from a drawer or paint the trim are all common examples of squat patterns. Squat patterns in life are varied, which means the squat patterns within a workout should be varied. Whether we are doing weighted front squats, wall balls, thrusters, air squats, or the numerous other variations of squats, we are improving our every day life.

Great job to everyone Friday evening. 3 minutes does not seem long until you are continuously doing 20 jumping lunges and sprinting 100m. But way to hang in there and stay strong. In the picture, Ryan and Sam are crushing the lunges. Great job guys. I do want to point out Ezra in the top left hand corner of the picture. I wonder which crossfit move he performed to get onto the ledge?