Sometimes the biggest battle in your WODs can be getting over your mental barriers.
What separates the elite CrossFit athletes from their competition? Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t just athletic talent. At the upper crust of our “sport of fitness”, all of the men and women are ultra-fit. The workouts are won or lost on the ability to overcome all mental barriers to optimal performance. This means managing and harnessing pre-WOD anxiety and effectively blocking out the voices in their head telling them to slow down or rest so they may catch their breath. These elitists have perfected the ability to stay focused on the task at hand regardless of their physical duress.
For example, some of you may always automatically scale the weight prescribed for the workout, assuming that it will be too much for you and you will not be able to finish if you don’t lighten it up. Others begin a WOD with the attitude that they will purposely hold back, because they feel the exercises are bound to be really taxing. But the truth is, once the WOD starts, you may come to realize that you can do it, and do it faster and heavier than you thought!
When this happens, what you need to come to realize is that it wasn’t that you weren’t strong enough to do it before, but rather that you had ASSUMED you weren’t strong enough. Once you start pushing yourself, you’ll likely realize you are stronger than you ever thought possible. That will in turn cause you to push yourself in many other aspects of CrossFit, and in your own life outside of the gym as well.
You may find that CrossFit is all about bursting your comfort bubble. You need to abandon your reservations and face your fears.! Don’t be fooled into thinking that this kind of bubble-bursting move is going to be remotely easy. Bursting your comfort bubble does not need to be as extreme as tackling weights that are super heavy, or pushing yourself until you vomit. It can be as simple as switching your grip during pull ups, or adding 10 pounds to the bar for your next WOD. Most importantly, don’t let the fear of failure or the difficulty of your chosen task be your guiding force. Appreciate your struggles, bask in your victories and learn from your defeats.
Today’s Workout:
Buy-In – 5 minutes of double under practice; get a new PR!
WOD – “Press It”
Shoulder Press 1-1-1-1-1
Push Press 1-1-1-1-1
Push Jerk 1-1-1-1-1
* begin each set with the bar and slowly work your weight up before starting the 1 rep max sequence
Cash-Out – 2 sets of 100’s
