8/27/2017 2 Comments Don't Be a Cherry PickerMy eyes widen as I scroll through the calendar, stopping on Saturday (or, as our gym likes to call it: Suffer Saturday). I read it once. Then again. Then once more before I am convinced that the trainer at our gym is either very angry with us, or incredibly confident in us. “With a partner: Run 1 mile 100 burpee box jumps 80 double unders 60 push press 40 hang power cleans 20 pull ups 40 hang power cleans 60 push press 80 double unders 100 burpee box jumps Run 1 mile.” “Are you doing the workout on Saturday?” my friend asks. “I don’t know. That looks rough and I’m awful at most of those movements.” “No you aren’t! Come do the work out! I’ll be your partner!” But I am...I’m a slow runner, double unders skyrocket my heart rate, and I can’t do more than 3-5 pull ups at a time (on a good day). This is a workout that will test me physically, mentally, and emotionally, and I do not want to do it. And that is exactly why I make myself do it. “Okay, I’ll be there.” I made a decision a while back that I would not “cherry pick” workouts, or skip certain workouts because I don’t particularly care for their content. You might be wondering why. After all, people don’t generally feel badly for picking particular books to read or movies to watch. A person’s preference in entertainment, however, is based on interest; choosing to skip particular workouts is, more often than not, rooted in fear. Although human beings are well acquainted with the concept of failure, it still tends to generate fear within us that is difficult to overcome. Our best defense mechanism in these circumstances is generally avoidance. But what does avoidance achieve? How many times did Thomas Edison try and fail before he successfully created the lightbulb? How many times did Muhammed Ali get a black eye or bloody nose before he started winning fights? To how many publishers did J.K. Rowling send manuscripts of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone before someone gave the story a chance? It is quite certain that all of the failures that humans experience are difficult to handle, some more so than others, but if we hope to become better at those things with which we struggle, we have to actually DO them. In the process, that might mean experiencing some failure, but the great thing about being a free-willed, free-thinking species is that we can choose to ignore failures, or even learn from them, and try again. This is something I’ve learned quite well in my CrossFit journey, specifically in my seemingly eternal pursuit to improve my pull-ups. It took me two and a half years to get my very first, incredibly ugly, kipping pull-up and three years to get a strict pull-up. A few weeks ago, we did a workout called “Jackie,” which includes a 1,000 meter row, 55 barbell thrusters, and 30 pull-ups. I was off of the rower in less than 4 minutes (a decent time), and did the thrusters unbroken, allowing me to approach the pull-up rig at around 5:56. I grabbed the black metal above me and did 5, dropped down and did 3 more. I huffed and puffed uncontrollably, partially from anxiety, and partially from being utterly winded. I jumped up and did 2 more, but failed my third rep. I cursed. My heart rate elevated even more. I tried again, and failed another rep. “Stop getting in your head!” my coach yelled from across the room. Back up on the rig for another 2 reps, then single pull-ups until rep 22. I failed again. Walking away from the rig, I threw my hands up and said, “I can’t do it!” The coach saw me breaking down emotionally. “Come on. You’ve got this. Do one at a time,” she said. “No! I can’t do this! I’m done.” “Crystal, you are going to finish this.” It took me over three and a half minutes to do thirty pull-ups, and when I finished, I sat down against the wall and cried. The next time that pull-ups were programmed for one of our workouts, my heart sank. I dreaded it. But I went. The only reason that I was able to do them, slow as they may have been, is because I never skip a workout with pull-ups in it. Sure, I struggled with those 30 pull-ups, physically, mentally, and emotionally, but 3 years ago I would have done those pull ups with the strongest assistance band available. If I had skipped all of the workouts with pull ups in them, I would still be using that band. You don’t exercise for the joy of leaving the gym a sweaty mess. You exercise to see progress, in whatever capacity that means for you. Achieving progress requires you to face your fears head on, knowing that you might fail in the process, but doing your damnedest not to. Will doing so sometimes end in tears? Yes, probably. But tears wipe away easily. Accept that those tears might come, embrace the fact that failure is possible, and use both of these mentalities to help you face the same fears again and again. Only then will you achieve the goals you set forth for yourself.
2 Comments
Paula Benner
8/27/2017 09:49:39 am
Crystal- I haven't had the pleasure of getting to know you well yet since I'm fairly new to crossfit, but I look forward to the opportunity. Thank you for this! I did start "cherry-picking" and told myself not to. It's very good advice and you are such an inspiration. Keep on writing!
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Crystal
8/27/2017 05:15:27 pm
Thank you so much, Paula! I look forward to seeing you around the box! Keep at it!
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