THE AVERAGE OF 5

Have you heard that saying?  "You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with"?

There is anecdotal evidence that it applies to all facets of life - wealth, opinions, intellect, and body composition.

But maybe it applies to movement as well.

In general our community moves FAR better than 6-7 years ago.

Back then this CrossFit thing was all new, while we still had a fairly broad spectrum of members, there were a lot more gung ho alpha types that were only interested in heavier, faster and more, no matter the cost.

For a while, I used to dread programming a deadlift day, to the point where I actually WOULDN'T program one, as the lack of personal responsibility from some people made it too hard to coach them safely.

So we got rid of them.

The idiots, not the deadlift days.... 

Now it's not like that at all.  A round back is a rare thing.

Because no one is competing for the biggest lift any more per se, they are competing with themselves to move better and lift properly.

Of course, any time a women lifts triple digits, or a guy breaks that 200kg barrier, many of us stop and acknowledge the awesomeness, but hard work is what's recognised more now, no matter the load.

We have less people shorting reps because we have no one doing it in class.  A few years back, there was always one or two because too many people had their idea of progress tied solely to how fast they were going.

More people are making smarter choices with scaling, understanding that the secret to getting better is not to rx all the workouts, but to create a workout each day that allows optimal progress for THEM.

And I'd like to think the culture we have here helps as well. No one is impressed by someone who just wants to go fast and loose with no care for virtuosity.  So natural selection tends to keep them away from here, and leaves just the hard workers.

Good on you folks, keep being average... this is the kind of average I like....