Friday 11.16.12
Seven CrossFit Lessons that Carry Over Into Real Life
Courtesy of Life is A Plate
1) Finish. If you start something, finish it. (Unless it’s a bad book. No time for bad books.) No matter how tough the workout, no matter how tired you are, no matter what that little voice inside your head is yelling at you, FINISH. Finish what you start. In the gym, in your house, in your relationships. Don’t give up when it gets hard.
2) Take a Break. It’s okay to rest. It’s okay to take time off from the gym to heal a sore muscle or an injury. It’s okay to leave the dishes in the sink for an extra hour because you want to finish a book. It’s okay to turn down invitations to dinner parties if you want a night at home of if your plate is too full.
3) Go Easy on Yourself: You will have good days. You will have days so shitty, you’re imagining it over before it’s even noon. You will have days where you hit a PR on a mile run, or a lift you’ve been struggling with and days you can barely put one foot in front of the other. We are human. Each day is different than the last. What we eat, how we sleep, hormones, mood, life – they all affect us day-to-day and what combination one day can make for awesome achievements can shank you in the shower the next day (homemade shiv, natch.)
4) One at a time: When there’s a giant pile of crap to be done, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. I tend to run away or drink enough wine to not care how much stuff that needs to be done. However, if it’s before noon and that isn’t socially acceptable, I’ve tried really hard to internalize something a trainer once told me when looking at an insurmountable WOD full of squat-clean-thrusters. “One a time. Just do one at a time.” And you know what? You will eventually finish. The WOD. The laundry/dishes/deadline/cleaning/errands. Just in time for a new pile to accumulate, but it will end. I can promise you that.
5) You will say shit that you swore would never come out of your mouth: Case in point: “I watched your snatch today from across the room. It looked super clean!” “Clean up the family room or you owe me 20 burpees!” “Yeah, I’m an athlete.” “I climbed a rope.” “I ran 4 miles through 20 obstacles today. I can handle arranging my shoe walk-in.” “Please do not use the cat as a kettlebell”
6) Setbacks happen: Whether it’s an illness, surgery, or just a bad week, you will fall behind from where you are. It’s okay to take three steps forward and two steps back. It can be your lifting at the gym or your clean-eating regimen. A journey isn’t meant to be run on marathon feet. It’s a slow, steady, crawl with blisters.
7) Be Humble. There is always someone faster, stronger, better. As soon as you think you’re good at something, someone will smoke your ass. There will always be another mom more involved, calmer, sweeter to her kids. There will be another wife more attentive, another friend who remembers tiny details, another woman your age in the store who looks way more put together. But if you’re humble and you accept your place in the great world of average, the day will come when you will be The Mom Who Kicks Ass or The Friend Everyone Loves or The Chick Who Rowed a 1:42 500m. And with humility (since you remember oh-so-clearly what the bottom of the barrel looks like).
WOD
3 rounds:
1 press complex (heavy)
20 weighted box step ups (heavy)
3 turkish getups each arm
10 pistols each leg
