Check out this great blog (part 1) from one of our athletes Brian from his exciting experience out in the wilderness!
If ever you need a challenge outside of your local Crossfit gym, I highly recommend the Boulder Outdoor Survival School (B.O.S.S.) in Southern Utah. I was a student on the 7 day field course from Sunday, May 24 to Saturday, May 31. It was tough. Really tough. As the company website states,
“Welcome to Impact, the first phase on a BOSS Field Course. Our goal is to take you from a world of convenience and comfort and put you in a situation where you must go ” just a little bit farther” – past those false limits your mind has set for your body. During this phase, you will carry no food and minimal water – collecting only what, if any, you find along the way.
After Impact, you are given the following items to continue your journey: a blanket, a poncho, a knife, a compass, and some additional clothing. Watches, flashlights, tents, stoves, sleeping bags, and backpacks are not permitted.
Your destination on a BOSS Field Course is not a physical place; it can’t be plotted on a topographic map. Somewhere along the many miles of mountain forests, sagebrush flats, red rock canyons, and mesa tops of Southern Utah – somewhere between the thirst, the hunger, the exhaustion, and the sweat – you’ll discover the real destination: yourself.”
And was it ever true; while I learned some really great wilderness skills (e.g. creating fire, finding water, navigating, etc.), the greatest things I learned were about my personal mental, physical and emotional limits. I know now just how cold, hungry, thirsty and exhausted I can become. If ever faced with an emergency in the wilderness I know that I can drink from stagnant pools of (what looks like) water, can exist on nothing more than a handful of peanuts and raisins per day, can hike all day and night in the rain and hail and cold and heat and sand and can sleep frozen in a field with nothing more than the clothes I am wearing.
The goal was to push myself to the absolute limits. I recall stumbling blindly late at night as we continued to hike and the only way I could stay awake to keep my eyes on the person in front of me was to take my layers off…to keep me cold. My logic was simple – It is nearly impossible to fall asleep while hiking and frozen cold. I remember having trouble finding words (it literally took me about 20 seconds to find the word ‘Bandana’ in my vocabulary). I’ve been tired before; now I know what the word exhaustion really means.
Should we do a CrossFit Zone trip to Utah?
Stay tuned for Brian’s next blog!
Today’s Workout:
Buy In – 5 Shoulder dislocates x 3, bringing your hands in closer each set. 3 x Burgner Warmup. Practice shoulder press, push press and push jerk technique, working up to the weight that you are using in the WOD (4 sets of 5 reps).
WOD –
Elite: 3 Rounds
- 5 Shoulder Press (85/145)
- 10 Push Press
- 15 Push Jerk
- 100 Meter Sprint
Zone 3: Scale presses weight to 65/115
Zone 2: Scale presses weight to 45/75
Zone 1: Scale presses weight to 30/45
Cash Out – 10 Barbell rollouts x 3 sets
