Excuses, Excuses, Excuses

By Jen


I had every excuse to not go to CrossFit today. I’m not very creative, unless it has to do with excuses. I can think of every reason not to do anything.

I’m taking the day off from work to take care of projects around the house. With the many busy weekends lately, the house has become a victim of neglect. I’m hosting Thanksgiving so it’s time to get my butt in gear.

Since I don’t have to rush to the office I planned to start my Monday at CrossFit. This way I can get a little more rest between the WOD and BJJ tonight. But, when I woke up, I had every excuse to skip out.

• My allergies are acting up – I won’t be able to breathe properly.
• I have soooo much to do today – I should get a jump start on the list.
• I’m really tired; maybe I should let my body rest.
• Logan needs to wake up at 6:30. If I go to CrossFit I won’t be home in time to make sure she wakes up to her alarm.
• I have a backlog of TV shows on the DVR to catch up on.

The list of excuses goes on and on, and yes, they get weaker and weaker with each one.

The guilt set in and I made my way to CrossFit. I wasn’t feeling it, but figured showing up was the right thing to do. I confess I didn’t push myself as hard as I could, but I showed up. I’m wondering, is that enough? If I average 3 CrossFit WODS and 3 BJJ classes a week, can I really give 100% of myself every day?

I’m proud about what I pushed:
• The warm up included ten minutes of sets of 5 pull ups, 10 pushups and 15 air squats. I decided to try kipping the pull-ups since the repetitions were low. I’m only able to get 2 consecutively, but I tried. I decided to use the purple bands on the last few sets.
• I RX’d the push presses at 65 lbs – this was tough for me. These were my least favorite part of the WOD.

What I know I could have done better:
• RX the overhead Kettlebell swings at 16kg – I dropped down to 12kg
• Run faster
• Faster burpees

I’ll work through my list now and will head to BJJ tonight. Hopefully I’ll be feeling stronger so I won’t have to work so hard to come up with more excuses. But, I still wonder, on those days when I’m not feeling it – isn’t it enough to just show up?

Training Partners

by Jen

Patner WOD at Crossfit ATP

I’ve been thinking about how others affect my BJJ and Crossfit training. Here are a few of the roles that I play.

Healthy Competitor

Last Friday night at CrossFit I was near a girl who consistently finishes the WOD (Workout of the Day) faster than me and lifts heavier than me. My personal challenge to keep up with her played a big factor in my finishing the brutal workout in 15 minutes. I wouldn’t have been as motivated to keep going if not for the dose of healthy competition.

There are a few healthy competitors in CrossFit and I’ll continue to station myself by them for each WOD -especially on those days when I’m just not feeling it. In BJJ, I'll continue rolling with them with the goal of strengthening my game.

Mom
Rolling with a new person in BJJ, and even more so, rolling with my daughter, kicks my maternal instinct into overdrive. I don’t want to squish them, I don’t want to hurt them, and I don’t want to discourage them. I know, I know – I’m not helping anyone if I’m not giving a fair fight. That won’t prepare them for competition. I’m working on it.

Partner WOD's in Crossfit can turn me into either Mom or a Healthy Competitor. Depends on the partner.

Funny thing is that oftentimes, the people I mother quickly surprise me by turning into healthy competitors. My daughter included.

Weak Girl
This is the one I have to fight the most. I’m no longer allowed to say that the guys are too heavy or too strong, but that's a hard habit to break. Again, working on it.

Student

This is a role I like to play. There is still so much that I need to learn and perfect. Everyone I train with has their own strengths and I believe that I can learn something from anyone.

Rolling with Marcelo can make me feel like a ragdoll , but I know when I'm doing something right because he lets me do it. The opportunity that I have to roll with a black belt as often as I do is so valuable to me.

Run Your Own Race
Perhaps, I should try running my own race more. What does that mean?

Actor Danny Thomas, once told his daughter, Marlo, " When thoroughbreds run they wear blinders to keep their eyes focused straight ahead with no distractions, no other horses. They hear the crowd but they don’t listen. They just run their own race.."

Wouldn’t that be better? After all, aren’t I really doing all of this to better myself? With the exception of competitions, should it matter how I compare to others?

PS –Our CrossFit facility was mentioned in a recent local news story – check it out.