What’s Your Goat?
Defending the “Buy-In/Cash-Out” model.
“You want me to do what? Before I workout? Ok, then you want me to do WHAT after I workout? ”
I hope I’m the only trainer out there that has heard this, but I doubt it. The “buy in/cash out” approach to skill development is growing in popularity with CrossFit affiliates and athletes alike. It serves both athlete and coach by allowing regular inclusion of seldom-used skills and practice for those skills that are on our “goat” list. It also allows regular practice for movements that an athlete has not yet mastered, or those movements that provide skill transfer to other movements.
The “buy in/cash out” model was something I first read about when I started stalking Melissa Byers’ blog “Byers Gets Diesel” over a year ago, although I’m sure it’s been around much longer than that. I began to program some of these elements into my WODs almost immediately.
The movements required by CrossFit are nothing else if not learned skills. Like any learned skill, practice makes perfect. The mantra of “mechanics, consistency, and intensity” is repeated at the CrossFit certifications, on the main site, and in the CrossFit Journal. We must master the skill of the movement before we can ratchet up the intensity required to maximize the results of the movement. Many of us do not come from a gymnastics or Olympic-lifting background; this is all pretty new to us. So we squat, and we squat, and we squat. We kip and we kip and we kip some more. We press, push press, split jerk, and then squat and kip some more. But what about those movements that require just as much skill and practice, yet aren’t included in our WODs as often? When do we practice them? How do we practice them? What about those movements we just suck at? When do we work on our “goats”?
By utilizing the “buy-in/cash-out” method, we are able to incorporate seldom-used skills into our WODs regularly, thereby rendering them “often-used” without requiring too much additional gym time. We include movements like light snatches, L-sits, handstands, plank holds and hollow holds, light or bar-only overhead squats, and even an occasional burpee for fun. These movements require plenty of strength and technique, but don’t always occur often enough for us to gain the maximum benefit.
Overhead squats are a great skill-transfer exercise with a host of benefits to core stability, shoulder strength and flexibility as well as posterior chain flexibility. Similarly, L-sits can be a great tool to highlight weaknesses in our hips, core and shoulders. Another favorite of mine lately is the Turkish Getup. This is a movement hardly ever used in a WOD on the main page, but certainly a movement that provides amazing core and shoulder strength and flexibility, two attributes essential to all CrossFit movements. I’m almost fully recovered from a shoulder injury, and Turkish getups are going to be my go-to exercise to make sure I don’t find myself injured again any time soon.
It is important to know how much is enough, and how much is too much. CrossFit WODs are tasking enough, and we don’t want to overload ourselves or our athletes by pushing them into what would essentially be 3 WODs in a row. Certainly a buy-in or cash-out of 3×5 overhead squats wouldn’t be prudent on a day where the WOD includes overhead squats. Likewise, heavy Turkish getups would be difficult to maintain in proper form on a day where we did heavy shoulder work, like a metcon with a few dozen push presses. We should do our best to juxtapose our skill work with our intense work for the day.
Then how much is enough? A light and simple triple set of 5 reps will do wonders for your muscle memory if incorporated often enough. Snatches, overhead squats, and cleans are all easily included do the routine if you keep the weight low enough. If the weighted items are kept to a skill-honing level, then it’s pretty easy to incorporate them often. Scaling the buy-in/cash-out weights is appropriate just as you would for a WOD. A 6-foot, 200 lb. fire-breather might get some great skill work with a few sets of 65-85 lb. overhead squats. However, a 105 lb. female who has been CrossFitting for 6 months would be overloaded for sure. It’s important to rotate the skills into the buy-in/cash-out with some sense of prudent caution.
Possibly most important of all, trainers should keep an eye out for those skills that their athletes struggle with the most during the WOD. Commonly referred to as our “goats”. We all have our “goats”, and this is the perfect time to take them head-on and beat ‘em down. For me, it’s full squat cleans. I struggle with form every time I do them. So I am trying to get them into my buy-in/cash-out more often. For my wife, Kerry, it’s box jumps. Not much slows her down these days, but box jumps will in a heartbeat. If we want to be better at everything, that should include our “goats”. CrossFit will increase your strength speed, flexibility, agility, etc. only as much as you incorporate those skills in which you lack proficiency.
Keep a list (mental or otherwise) of skill-oriented exercises handy for programming into your buy-in/cash out. If you haven’t tried this workout before you workout, and after you workout, I recommend it for everyone.
Now go get some, then get some, and then get some more.
By Bob Guere, CrossFit California City
