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Why Setting Goals Isn’t Enough, According to Patrick Vellner

Setting goals is vital in accomplishing bigger things in life — this, we know to be true. In fact, some studies have suggested that people who write down their goals achieve them far more frequently than those who don’t. But is finding enjoyment in fitness all about goals? It can’t be. Otherwise, when our goals take longer than we want to reach, we’re unhappy; on the flip side, when we squash them and then have nothing to work toward next, we once again find ourselves unsatisfied. So, what’s the correct approach? CrossFit Games athlete Patrick Vellner has the secret: stop and smell the flowers.

In an Instagram post, Vellner explained how you can set goals and work toward progress and still find ways to enjoy the journey. In truth, learning how to have fun while you chase your dreams is imperative to your success and overall wellness. Here’s how he explains it.

In Crossfit we talk rather exhaustingly about enjoying the process of training. It’s a simple statement, but is sometimes harder to grasp than we would like. Things don’t always go well and frankly aren’t always fun, so where do we find our enjoyment? My brother @jvellner recently posted an article titled “The Goal and the Game” that shed some light on it for me (link in bio). Approach is everything, and simply setting goals is not enough. Even for those of us with the most clear cut goals it can become frustrating if we don’t make fast progress, or frankly even boring if we’re reaching our goals quickly and easily. Enter the game. It’s important to relax and have some fun while attaining our goals. Stop and smell the flowers, celebrate small victories, take on new and different challenges and share moments with friends. Make time for fun. It applies to all areas of life. Success is most fun when it is shared anyways. So don’t be in too big of a hurry to look up from your work occasionally and deviate from your routine, have a beer with some friends, just smile. Enjoy the game. Give the article a read If you’re interested. @jvellner relates the concept to his work in cirque du soleil, and life in general. #enjoytheprocess #thegoal #thegame #motivation #mindset #crossfit #crossfitgames #exerciseracing #findyourwhy #gamesbound2017 #reebokcanada #beanathlete #makeitcount #bemorehuman #proenergyfit @reebokcanada @hatlex_canada @forging_heroes @proenergynutrition @crossfit @crossfitgames

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Main image: Patrick Vellner/Facebook

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Patrick Vellner is Currently the Open Winner

The leaderboard could very well change in the coming days and weeks, but as of right now, Patrick Vellner can call himself the winner of the Open. It hasn’t come without a lot of hard work, and yes, the standings could fluctuate based on video reviews. But Vellner is (rightfully so) proud of where he’s at, and the 2020 competitive season promises to be a great one.

Check out his message on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4x6UfBJaBk/

BTW, Sara Sigmundsdottir is currently in first for the women, and by quite a leap, too!

Main image: Patrick Vellner/Instagram, picture by Johany Jutras

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Can You Handle This Muscle-Up Complex?

patrick vellner

If you’ve got muscle-ups down but could use some additional help building strength and practicing technique (couldn’t we all?), try this complex from Patrick Vellner, which will very likely totally kick your butt.

5 sets of
2 strict muscle-ups
5 kipping muscle-ups
1 strict muscle-up
https://www.instagram.com/p/BxAkE1Vjb2F/

If you’re not quite there yet, don’t panic. Muscle-ups can take years to conquer and improve. In the meantime, make sure you can do these five things. They’ll help you build a  strong and stable foundation for muscle-ups.

Main image: Patrick Vellner/Instagram

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Patrick Vellner Pulls Off Massive Yoke Carry

Accessory work is pivotal to any functional fitness training program. Yes, metcons and heavy lifting are important, but if you don’t supplement them with other kinds of work, you won’t see much progress. Patrick Vellner recently upped his fitness by throwing in heavy yoke carries. Really heavy yoke carries. 720 pounds. For 25 feet. With no belt. Behold.

View this post on Instagram

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This traditional strongman exercise is a total-body workout that challenges your balance, core strength, stability, and coordination. It allows you to move far heavier loads than you would with any other movement, thus exposing you to an entirely unfamiliar stimulus.

Main image: Patrick Vellner/Instagram

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Spice Up Your Programming With This WOD From Pat Vellner

Sled pulls and double-unders: two things you’ve probably done before in the box. There’s nothing like switching it up and surprising your body with something new, though. This WOD from Pat Vellner has a couple of twists: vertical pulls and double-unders with a heavy rope.

Heavy double-unders force you to work a little harder to get that rope around your body twice. Vertical pulls are a whole different story from the horizontal ones you’re used to, and they provide an extra spicy core workout.

Of course, if using a heavy rope for your DUs isn’t really on your radar right now, you can do regular DUs or even single skips. Work on your technique with a little help from Khan Porter.

Our three best tips?

  1. Keep your body relaxed.
  2. Don’t kick your feet forward or backward.
  3. Only jump as high as you need to.

If you’re shopping for a new speed rope and don’t know where to start, we can help. Here are three of our top picks!

Will you try this workout at the gym?

Main image: Patrick Vellner/Instagram

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Pat Vellner Talks About the Injury That Almost Took Him Out of the Games

Did you know Pat Vellner injured himself during the Games? Probably not, considering he made one heck of a comeback to finish the week in second place. However, the Battleground event had him on the floor and coughing up blood. He shared the scary story on Instagram.

Favorite Moment #3: Battlegrounds Blunder. Yes, I’ve seen all of the Internet remixes of our fall. I must admit, they are hilarious since @mathewfras and I are both ok. The internet is a magical place. This is another moment that on the surface might not seem like a great one, but stick with me. I made A mistake on the cargo net, my hands ended up dangerously close to the black line (which means a no rep) and I had to scramble a bit coming over the top to stay in bounds. I ended up in an awkward position and i hooked my heel when I went to drop off the net. I fell really hard and winded myself pretty good. In the moment I was focused on just finishing the event and feeling sorry for myself later. I had some sand and blood in my mouth which made the run back delightful. When I hit the finish I rinsed my mouth to find out where the blood was coming from and found it was only there when i coughed. Bad sign. I was swooped up by the medical team and spent the next hour being assessed and continued to cough up some blood so I was taken to the hospital for a CT scan. The results came back that I had bruised my left lung in the fall. Bummer. I had a lengthy discussion with the medical staff. They are amazing and no one wants to cut our competition short but our safety is their concern. I was allowed to conditionally compete, a similar situation to 2016 after tearing my bicep. At best my lung capacity is a bit reduced and I’m sore, at worse the bleeding continues and high exertion causes more damage. Bottom line was if they saw any more blood I was out. This made me really appreciate every bit of time I spent on the competition floor from then on. It’s a privilege to compete at the games and we often get caught up and forget to appreciate it for what it is. This event really changed my outlook on the competition and made me take it one event at a time. It was oddly calming. In the end I survived, and I’m proud to be an example of resiliency if nothing else. No more blood, I’m still a little sore and haven’t exercised since the games. I’ll get to it. I’m gonna try to spend less time with the medical team next year. ????? #medical #realMVP #battlegrounds #crossfitgames

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Freaky? To say the least. We’re glad to hear Vellner made it through the events safely, and can we just talk about how resilient he is? To not only make such a huge comeback following the crit, but also get through the remainder of the competition while coughing up blood, is pretty impressive, if you ask us.

Main image: Patrick Vellner/Instagram

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Leaderboard Surprise: Mat Fraser Isn’t in 1st!

There’s a universal law many of us have come to accept: when Mat Fraser shows up, he dominates. Such was the case with the Open, when he ranked first by a landslide. He’s currently in the lead for Regionals, correct? Well, not quite.

You might have noticed there’s an “All Regional” tab on the leaderboard, which compiles all of the athletes into one ranking – a feature not previously offered. If you apply this to Regionals, you’ll make a surprising discovery: Mat Fraser is in second, after Patrick Vellner.

A post shared by Patrick Vellner (@pvellner) on

True, Fraser did finish first in three of the events. However, his 81st-place finish in Event 1 was a bit of a setback. While Vellner never finished first (or second, for that matter), he had one advantage over Fraser: consistency. At his worst, he finished 15th (Event 6).

Does it matter all that much? At this point, not really. You know what they say, though: functional fitness is about being good at a lot of things — not being awesome at one thing. If Vellner can keep that consistency, the Games should go very well for him.

Main image: Mat Fraser/Instagram

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The Elite Are Ready for Regionals!

Regionals. Have. Arrived. Week 1 kicks off with the East Regional, Europe Regional, and South Regional, and it’s safe to say the athletes are ready.

East

Europe

South

See ya soon regional ?? #6days #2018 @redbull

A post shared by Camille Leblanc-Bazinet (@camillelbaz) on

Good luck to all the competitors!

Main image: Jared Enderton/Instagram, photo by Amie Jindra

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This Clean Complex From Patrick Vellner Helps Build Time Under Tension

Patrick Vellner blew us all away with his performance during the Open — particularly with his heavy clean during the 18.2 live announcement. Now we know how he’s gotten so good at Olympic weightlifting: really challenging complexes. Here’s one he tackled for the clean and jerk.

A post shared by Patrick Vellner (@pvellner) on


Here’s one more he did with the snatch. We had started to count how many reps it was, but gave up in the middle. Watch and you’ll see why.

A post shared by Patrick Vellner (@pvellner) on

Complexes are helpful for learning how to maintain speed and technique when you’re feeling fatigued. Will you try these at the gym?

Main image: Patrick Vellner/Instagram

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18.4 Score Submissions Are In — Here’s Your Leaderboard Update

Another exciting week has passed in the Open, and the leaderboard is updating with all of the last score submissions to be entered in. Mat Fraser isn’t playing games, because he’s once again in the number one spot, followed by Alex Vigneault, Willy Georges, Patrick Vellner, and Jean-Simon Roy-Lemaire.

A post shared by Mathew Fraser (@mathewfras) on


The women’s leaderboard saw one big change, welcoming Brooke Wells into fifth place. Cassidy Lance-McWherter is currently in first, followed by Kara Saunders in second, Carolyne Prevost in third, and Annie Thorisdottir in fourth. (We’ll see her compete at the 18.5 live announcement with the other two Dottirs!)


With one event left in the Open, athletes and spectators alike are eager to see who will be standing at the top, at the end of it all. Stay tuned!

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See How 18.3 Changed the Leaderboard

It’s here! It’s here! The submission deadline for 18.3 has passed, and it kind of feels like Christmas. Or our birthday. We can’t quite tell yet. Either way, we’re excited. As expected, the leaderboard for the CrossFit Open has changed drastically since we last reported to you. It’s still shuffling around a bit but currently sitting in first place for the ladies is Cassidy Lance-McWherter, followed by Kara Webb, Carolyne Prevost, Mekenzie Riley and Camille Leblanc-Bazinet. Not far down the leaderboard, we see other very familiar names: Annie Thorisdottir in sixth, Katrin Davidsdottir in ninth, Jessica Coughlan in 11th and Sara Sigmundsdottir in 21st.

To nobody’s surprise, the leaderboard for the men saw a major change once Mat Fraser entered his score, and he’s currently ranked first. Behind him is Alex Vigneault, George Sterner, Willy Georges and Jean-Simon Roy-Lemaire in fifth. Patrick Vellner is not far off in eighth and Mr. Richard Froning, Jr., is in 19th. BTW, special shout-out to Josh Bridges, who FINISHED the darn thing. Yes, that’s right. The workout Dave Castro thought no one would be able to finish, Josh Bridges finished it. And if the leaderboard is accurate, he did it in 13:59.

He did it with one second left, people.

A post shared by Josh Bridges (@bridgesj3) on

We expected no less from you, Bridges.

Main image: Camille Leblanc-Bazinet/Instagram