After he authored last weeks “Hydration Matters” post comes this next one about “Resilience.” Seems to me that Coach Jay is on a roll when it comes to pumping out good content. The rest of us better step up our games! In the meantime, enjoy:
This week I read four articles and had two conversations that related to one topic.
CrossFit improves the 10 attributes of your fitness better than any other program out there. But when I think of the biggest changes I have seen from CrossFit, they don’t relate to any of the 10 attributes, weight loss, or body composition.
What I see is confidence and resilience.
Those increases in strength and stamina have profound impacts across your life. Your increases in physical strength manifest as increases in emotional strength.
Being afraid to fail means you are afraid to live. You expose your vulnerability when you try something new. Every time we try something new, we risk failure. Vulnerability and failure are scary. In the box, however, we are constantly trying new things. Each time you attempt a PR, each time you try to get that first pullup or first muscle-up or that first double-under you risk failing. Frankly, all of us rack up considerable failures before we make that one mind-blowing success that keeps us coming back.
That success is what we remember, not all the times it took to get it.
We all know that if we walked away after one attempt at a snatch or a pullup, we would never get one. Your PR would be Zero. The coaches at CFG and our friends at the box provide the support we need to be vulnerable, make another attempt, to come back and try again, to succeed and grow. Those attempts are celebrated as successes.
So we try for more.
The strength to try, fail, adjust and try again until we get it right is what makes you strong in the box and in life.
Your physical strength inside the box gives you the confidence and strength to step up outside of it. When you can look at a big, scary guy and think (or say) confidently, “yeah? I can deadlift more than you weigh,” it will open doors that you thought were closed and opportunities you didn’t know existed.
The confidence to catch a heavy barbell overhead when any sane person would try to jump out of the way will enable you to catch life’s heavy burdens and stand up with them.
The endurance forged by a hero WOD provides you with the mental stamina to keep moving through a tough spot in your life. And few things are as hard and painful as Fran.
Every setback means you come at it again. It’s a habit formed at your time at CFG and one that will carry over into work, school, relationships… everything. Celebrate those attempts; embrace the suck; and support your friends as they work alongside you. That’s the benefit of CrossFit and your time at CFG.
-Coach Jay
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A. Weightlifting:
Overhead Squat – 12min to Heavy Triple
B. MWOD:
Squat Therapy
C. WOD:
4 RFT –
8 OHS
12 Hand-Release Push-Ups
*Starting at 1:00, perform 7 burpees every 2min
