From June 24th to July 5th is “Dead Period” for High School athletes. This is a time in which their coaches and staff have no contact with student athletes. While many kids take this time to hang out with friends, eat Twinkies and play video games, some kids choose to work hard instead.
This year was our first of what we hope to be many years for hosting a Dead Period Training Camp. I think the guys would agree that it was very hard work but, without a doubt, worthwhile. In just the short 2 weeks of working Monday, Wednesday, Friday, each of the boys saw big improvements in agility, strength, flexibility and speed.
Fortunately one of our members is Roy M. He is a competitive power-lifter and is a huge fan of CrossFit. Not only has CrossFit Combustion helped Roy to be a healthier, stronger version of himself but, he believes in it so much that he encouraged some friends from Independence High School to come to our Dead Period Camp.
While CrossFit is a General Physical Preparedness Program (GPPP) what we have found is that it will also make most athletes in most sports better at their sport while not necessarily training toward that sport only.
Essentially, the fitter one becomes, he or she will improve at his or her sport just by doing CrossFit. It works over and over again. That was the experience of these guys too. They each learned many movements and lifts: Pull-ups, dead lifts, squats, power cleans, snatch and lots and lots of Prowler pushes, just to name a few. The explosiveness and speed that they gained in such a short time was jaw dropping.
We really put the camp together on short notice. However, after it started we continued to get a great deal of interest in what we were doing. We will absolutely continue to host camps like this one. If we can help young athletes get better at their sport and take the opportunity to sing the praises of good nutrition…CrossFit Combustion will be there!