improvement and entertainment

there have been some experiments happening lately. tests of the effects of consequences and self image. a warmup of throwing medicine balls at 13′ targets where the weight you choose determines the amount of hits you have to score, and any misses must be atoned for. and what was initially designed as a “tag team” style workout turned into an interesting study in incentive. an active phase (row for meters, box jump, airdyne for calories, whip smash, pullup) paired with a static hold (FLR on rings, slosh pipe overhead hold, Ring support, Tuck hang, and wall sit, respectively) the player completes the active round and then must immediately hold the static for equal time. if time is achieved the player graduates to the next task; if it is not, the goalpost is moved (reduced by 20-25%) and the player must repeat the test.

the goals were reasonable and the incentive was strong enough, and as of yet no one has had to repeat a task, although there were some very tense moments. it led to joking around about the idea of “if you aren’t failing you aren’t trying hard enough”, because how much can you know about yourself if you have never been in a fight? in all seriousness it was a useful day, both physically and psychologically, experiments are interesting, but the work must be done – our goal in improvement, not entertainment.