"Oh my gosh, this is going to suck so much!"
"Dammit! I hate burpees!"
"Squat snatches and squat cleans can go "f" themselves!"
These are just a few sentences that are often said and that I have often heard when it has come to becoming a better CrossFit athlete or a better athlete in general (reference the first quote for the generic reasons and for all athletics). Many, if not the vast majority of, athletes in their particular sport will mutter something in regards to how awful the next set, workout, movement, training stimulus, etc. will be almost every day within their training regime. Why?
For the sake of specificity, let's look at the CrossFit athlete. CrossFit is defined as "constantly varied functional movement performed at high intensity" and provides a definition of fitness as "increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains" (www.crossfit.com/cf-info/what-is-crossfit.html)
All too often in the CrossFit world/community, complaining can often be heard. Is this complaining bad? Not necessarily. Even the best athletes in the sport of CrossFit complain. My question is "why?".
I have been a part of the CrossFit community for what will be 3 years this March 2014. Over these 3 years, I have encountered a lot of developments in the CrossFit world and I have watched it grow ever since I viewed the documentary "Every Second Counts" in 2009. I have also listened and been influenced by the workouts and movements that "suck". Did I fall into this trend of not being happy about the "suck"? Of course. It wasn't until recently I discovered that thinking a movement or workout "sucked", was not conducive to my training. By thinking that something was going to "suck", my mental mindset was already put into a negative spiral downward. Once I had this epiphany, I started noticing a huge change in my developments as a CrossFit athlete.
"Burpees suck!"
This is a phrase almost everyone in CrossFit is used to hearing. However, the pros of performing burpees (high volume, for speed, etc) far outweigh the cons. The burpee is one of a select, exceptional multi-joint movement that uses your own body weight to develop coordination, improve anaerobic capacity, aerobic capacity, lactate threshold, and a true command of one's body weight. Are they easy? For some, yes, for the vast majority, no. However, it's a movement that most, if not all, CrossFit athletes despise. How can one despise a movement that is so beneficial to body and can aid in developing so much anatomically and physiologically? The clear answer, and I'm sure a lot of people would agree, is that they require a lot of work. Movements that require a lot of work aren't favored by CrossFit athletes because we are all about EFFICIENCY. How can you make a burpee efficient when all the movement is is falling on the ground and getting back up? DO THEM. That's how an athlete becomes efficient with burpees. By doing them. Yes they are hard, however, they will ALWAYS be a part of The Open, Regionals, and The Games.
Therefore, whenever a workout is composed of high volume or high speed burpees, the movements look tough, or the overall workout seems incredibly difficult, EMBRACE IT. Welcome the workout/movements into your life and into your training regime. You need to perform the movements you are bad at so to become 85-90% efficient across all modal domains and excel in your sport of CrossFit. Embrace what is going to "suck" and just perform. Just say "looks like fun" and do the workout. I have learned this and it is something I'm going to be implementing into the program I'm currently following. Being an athlete in a particular sport is fun. CrossFit is my sport. I plan on having some fun and staying in a great mental mindset. I challenge you to do the same.
For the sake of time, I needed to keep this relatively short so I apologize if this conclusion seems abrupt.
EMBRACE WHAT "SUCKS"
No comments:
Post a Comment