Leave Your Ego at the Door
One of the most popular sayings in CrossFit is, “Leave your Ego at the Door.” It also happens to be one of the top rules at CrossFit Central Houston, and our February “Rule of the Month.”
But what does it mean?
I read a quote recently in BoxRox Magazine that I think captures the sentiment behind this rule pretty well:
“While wanting to be the best at something always comes with great intention, it should never be prioritized over caring for your community or listening to your coaches.”
Here are some of the top ways that we see egos getting in the way of community and listening to coaches:
Reluctance to Scale: Scaling is not your enemy. It doesn’t mean that you’re lesser than, or a weak person. Our programming is challenging - and it’s supposed to be! It’s designed for the elite level athlete. Not necessarily the fittest athlete in the class, or even the fittest athlete in the gym. It’s designed for the fittest people in the world. We do this so that you always have something to push towards, a new goal to set, something to work on. We expect most people to scale most workouts, most of the time.
Safety and Stimulus are the most important components of any given workout. Not whether or not you went RX.
You can think of it as, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” Just because you CAN do a 95# thruster, doesn’t mean that it’s the correct weight for “Fran,” which is a benchmark workout that should feel like a sprint. When explaining the workout stimulus, the coach might say something like , “this should be a light weight that you can do at least 15 reps unbroken.” As tempting as it may be to choose that RX weight because you CAN accomplish a rep or two, if it’s not a weight that you can accomplish, in this case, 15 reps unbroken then it’s not the correct weight for you for this workout. It takes putting the ego aside to select a more appropriate load, even though you might be able to (slowly) accomplish the workout as RX.
Sacrificing Safety for Load. Imagine is deadlift day. You’ve managed to make it through almost the whole workout using a particular weight, but as you fatigue, the coach is telling you that you need to reduce the load because your midline position is starting to become compromised (i.e your back is rounding). However, you push back because you’ve already done 3/4 of the workout with this heavier weight, and don’t want to put a lighter load next to your score on the whiteboard at the end.
Our goal is to get you fitter…not just today, but for the long haul. Hopefully for the rest of your life! If you’re injured, you’re not getting fitter. Is one workout really worth a potentially serious injury? Or even a mild injury if it impacts your job and family outside of the gym? It’s hard to see that in the heat of the moment, which is just another reason why your coaches are here. Let us be that guiding voice of reason, and we think you’ll be more thankful in the long run for a healthy body than one score on the whiteboard.
Shaving reps or shortening range of motion. Of course YOU don’t ever do this :)…. but other people might. Here’s a secret: it doesn’t happen very often, but it does happen occasionally. And your coaches notice. However, more important than the coach knowing is that the athlete knows. No one actually cares about your score in terms of whether or not you were the first one to finish, or the last. But people do care about fairness, so they care when people claim to do something that they didn’t actually do. And how can you be proud of a workout when you know that you didn’t actually do it correctly?
Having scores and other people around you doing the same workout is motivating because it encourages you to push yourself. However, if we let the ego take over, sometimes it can go from “doing MY best” to prioritizing “winning” at all costs.
“10 is close enough to 12.”
“That wall ball was close enough.”
“My squat is probably deep enough.”
If you’re not sure, don’t count it. Not sure if this is round 4 or 5? Go with 4. Is a coach constantly telling you that you need to get your head through the window on those push press? Then slow down every time you get to a push press in a workout and make sure you’re emphasizing that full range of motion. After all, anything worth doing is worth doing right.
The ego isn’t all bad. It’s helpful in competitive settings. It keeps you pushing through those burpees even when you’re tired and your brain is telling you that it would be nice to take a little rest. It helps us stand up for ourselves and have some confidence. Our goal is to find that delicate balance between the ego and humility that sets you up for the most success, both in and out of the gym.