Goats and goals

I thought after 3 years of doing Crossfit I had heard of all the crazy acronyms and lingo by now: AMRAP, GTOH, WOD, Rx, C&J, C2B, CTB, EMOM, BW, etc. etc. etc.

Then a few weeks ago the coaches started talking about GOATs. Goats? Seriously? Like skin-the-cat style some kind of movement called kill-the-goat?

No, turns out in Crossfit lingo, ‘goat’ refers to a movement that you suck at. Why? No idea. But apparently going after your goat and working on it is a thing.

So last week I worked on one of my goats – pistols.

My trouble with pistols is that I simply just fall over when I try to get up. Having a plate under my heel helps so that’s what I’ve done in the past but the coach said my ankle mobility was fine and I just had to learn to lean forward more when coming up and made me use a light kettle bell as a counter balance.

And a goat mask.

Just because Crossfit is totally normal.

Having worked on my pistols I started thinking about my other goats a bit. I still have a lot as I’m one of those slow-and-steady-wins-the-race Crossfitters, not the go-hard-or-go-home kind. My kind benefits from not getting injured, but of course doesn’t benefit from fast improvement just because I’m just very, very cautious.

I’m not willing to throw all caution in the wind and become reckless but I have decided to jot down some goals so when I do work out, I remember to not just cruise but that there are targets I’d like to reach. Just because I like numbers and stats and getting stronger and better at all this Crossfit stuff.

So here are some of the things I’m aiming for:

Double unders (unbroken)

• Goal: 100
• Current situation: 62

Pistols

• Goal: 5 each leg
• Current situation: 1 each leg

Pull ups (kipping)

• Goal: 15
• Current situation: 10

Handstand push up

• Goal: 1
• Current situation: 0

Push ups

• Goal: 30
• Current situation: 16 (I had no idea so I just dropped down and did 16, after 15 my left elbow starts flying out)

Free standing handstand hold

• Goal: 10 seconds
• Current situation: 3 seconds

Ring dip

• Goal: 1
• Current situation: 0

Back squat

• Goal: 100kg
• Current situation: 92.5kg (last week I failed 85kg so a 100kg will be a looooong way off 🙁 )

Overhead squat

• Goal: 5 x 35kg
• Current situation: bad

Deadlift

• Goal: 120kg
• Current situation: 105kg

Clean

• Goal: 60kg
• Current situation: 50kg

Shoulder to overhead

• Goal: 60kg
• Current situation: 50kg

Snatch

• Goal: 45kg
• Current situation: worse than the overhead squat situation

Helen (3 rounds of: 400m run, 21 Kettlebell Swings @ 16kg, 12 pull-ups)

• Goal: 10:30
• Current situation: 12:30

Jackie (Row 1000m, 50 thrusters @ 15kg, 30 pull-ups)

• Goal: 9:30
• Current situation: Haven’t done it with pull-ups

Fran (21-15-9 reps of: thrusters @ 30kg, pull-ups)

• Goal: 8:00
• Current situation: 10:09

Grace (30 Clean & Jerks @ 43kg)

• Goal: 5:00
• Current situation: Haven’t done it with more than 35kg

Goats and goals. Time to start chasing.

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