Routine...Good or Bad?

A couple of interesting things happened to Alicia and I at Church yesterday morning.  The first one happened as Alicia drove up and was going to park on the north side of the road in a place that no one ever parks.  I told her we couldn't park there, and when she asked why, I replied, "Because no one ever parks here."  The second one happened on our way up to communion.  Alicia was the first one up to the communion rail and started to go to the left side.  Without even thinking, I whispered (too loudly by the way) "Alicia!" and pointed to the right.  Yea, you guessed it, that's how the fight started.  As I thought about the two situations I laughed to myself how both reactions were based out of routine.

As parents and educators we use routine all of the time to maintain discipline.  But the question that begs to be answered is do our routines ever stifle growth?  Are the routines we use in place for our comfort level or are they there because that is what is best for our kids?  Don't get me wrong, I think that it is absolutely necessary to teach our kids the importance of good habits...brushing teeth, washing hands,cleaning up after themselves.  But often times routines lead us down a road where new ideas have no chance of being discovered.

It comes as no surprise to many of you that I use CrossFit methods in determining the programming of our gym.  One of the basic tenets of CrossFit is Constantly Varied, Functional Movements done at High Intensity.  So by using that definition we don't have a predictable routine that we follow.  Sure we may do a similar warm-up every day or we each may have a certain routine that we follow before we lift something heavy, but when you walk in on a Monday morning you have no idea if it will be bench press, snatch or a combination of body weight exercises.

Next time you catch yourself doing something just because that is the way that you have always done it, ask yourself, "Is this the best way?"

Workout

Warm-up x 1
Push Press 3-3-3-3
Perform a total of 20 seconds in a L-Sit between sets


Then...
5 rounds for time
7 DB Push Press (40/20)
7 Box Jumps (24/20)
7 KB Swings (44/26)