Being better...

Here’s 5 simple rules to follow. Not only for CrossFit but in life…

No Quitting

No Whining

No Bragging

No Excuses

No Cheating

But, we can go deeper into things that will make you a better CrossFitter:

Quitting?   I don’t know what that is.  You come to my class, you finish the workout.  Period.  The only exception is if you get injured and are physically unable to continue, and even then, I will be the judge of that…did I mention, I’m a Sports Medicine Physician?

Don’t whine – It’s okay to cry, just make sure that we can’t see or hear you and remember to clean up your tears when you’re done. Maybe the song that comes on isn’t your favorite, in the immortal words of Josh Everett “If you need music to motivate you, go find something else to do”. Be careful of asking me to change the song, I might just put on Miley Cyrus’ Party in the USA on repeat. I’m your coach, not Mix Master Mike. You have a task to accomplish, so do it. Yes I know that every workout is hard and I know that you hate running and I know that the bar hurts your delicate hands, but there comes a time when we have to put up or shut up…or both. CrossFit is constantly varied, so the odds are that you will see some workouts you hate. That’s why it’s CrossFit and not allthestuffyoulikeFit. When you come to CrossFit, be ready to work. Come prepared to face all those pains and things you hate head on. Accept the suck.

Bragging has no place in CrossFit.  If you hit a PR, or totally kick butt on a particular wod, or nail a skill for the first time, celebrate in whatever way you want, but don’t brag.  The definition of bragging is to talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's achievements, possessions, or abilities. The key word is excessively.  In those examples, you should be proud, and you should talk about it, but show some restraint.

No excuses.  I have heard all kinds of excuses as to why someone was sub-par.  If it is random, fine.  If you didn’t eat right, or are coming back from a vacation or injury…those are reasons.  Reasons are different from excuses.  Reasons are rational explanations given for thinking in a particular way or for doing a particular activity. They are basically logical justifications in accordance with some motive. While excuses are an attempt to convince oneself or others about the difficulties involved when a promise is not kept or there is lack of progress, or simply, when something is not done.  An excuse is a reason that attempts to excuse your behavior. It occurs in a very special situation -- where you believe you should have done one thing, but instead, you did something else.

No Cheating.  We have all lost count of reps and guessed as to where we were, but to blatantly shave reps is just plain stupid.  The only person you are hurting is yourself.  No one cares what your time on the whiteboard is, except you.  And believe me, if you cheat...people know, and they throw your time right out, and ignore it anyway.  If your time is a few seconds off from the CrossFit Games athletes on "Karen" or any other benchmark wod then people will know.  Never think that someone isn't sitting in the chairs counting your reps for every movement.  If they find out you cheat, everyone will know.  That respect is almost impossible to get back.  If your goal is competition, there will be someone counting your every rep.  All of a sudden you won't be the athlete, we thought you were.  That is not fair to your team, or Crossfit Iconz.  At some point, you have to take this seriously enough to have bad times, and just freaking get better.  That's what we are all doing is getting better...and it happens quicker without cheating.

Give it all – More than strength, speed, flexibility or endurance, effort is what matters most. I don’t care if you’re Joe Thruster with a sub 3 minute Fran, if you half-ass a workout, you’re being a wuss. Grandma doing jumping pull-ups and thrusters with a PVC kicked your butt because she gave everything she had just short of a stroke. Times and weights matter, but they fail in comparison to effort. Keep pushing yourself to your most extreme limits. I don’t care if you have a 500 lb or 50 lb deadlift as long as you put forth the effort and don’t sandbag.  We are asking you to leave every ounce of energy on the floor. Your puddle of sweat or that nauseous feeling you have is what we are looking for. Remember INTENSITY = RESULTS. You are the only one who knows how hard you are pushing, but if you leave the gym and feel like you didn’t exhaust yourself in the wod you didn’t go hard enough. CrossFit is about pushing yourself through uncomfortable and into the miserable every single day. You have to dig deep inside and accept the fact that it’s going to hurt but it’s going to make you better.

Listen to your coach – We are here to help you get more fit and accomplish your goals. When we say things like “you’re lifting with your back, use more hips” don’t act surprised when your lower back is sore. When we tell you that the foam roll and lacrosse ball works, we aren’t just being sadistic. We tell you to rest because you need rest, just as we tell you to get in the gym more because you need to be in the gym more. If you want to get better at something, you have to practice it, plain and simple. Yes there are some of you who are naturally good at some things, but why not get better? Why not be the best? Our goal is for you to accomplish your goals.

Fail sometimes – The unique thing about CrossFit is that the only way to achieve excellence is through failure. The strength portion of our workouts are designed to where you may fail at a set. If you don’t fail you aren’t trying hard enough. CrossFit is an environment where no one will laugh at you or put a permanent letter in your file for dumping an overhead squat. Don’t be afraid to fail, there’s always next time. Pushing yourself to fail is more of a mental thing than it is a physical thing. We have conditioned ourselves to think that failing is bad and therefore don’t push ourselves in fear of failure. Take that fear away and see what you can accomplish. I just got one of the worst Rx times in a wod, because I programmed Farmer’s carries at almost half my bodyweight.  Farmer’s carries have always been a weakness for me, and I failed …again.  And again, and again, but I finished, and damn did it feel good.

Eat good food – The short answer is eat Paleo. If you don’t want to eat Paleo, just eat meat, some fruit, vegetables, little starch, no sugar, no grains, and no dairy. If you’re low on energy, then you’re not eating enough. I remember a lot of people starting off on Paleo complain of low energy then proceed to tell me that they didn’t eat anything all day because they didn’t know what to eat. Is it that hard to eat meat and vegetables these days?

Count it – Tracking your workouts matters.  When you don’t count the reps on your workout, you lose valuable information that will keep you accountable for your progress. Make sure to record as much information as you can. Write down what you ate for the day. Everyone has those days where they ate like crap and had a crappy workout. Those are the hardest days to write down, but those will provide you with the best motivation to get better.

Be nice – CrossFitters are notorious for making fun of people who go to globo gyms. People achieve their personal fitness goals in their own ways. Some may like the pace of a spin or Pilates class and some may like the intensity of CrossFit. Instead of pointing out their propensity for douchiness on the elliptical, try introducing them to CrossFit. You’ll get a better reaction and won’t come off like a jerk. You were once that guy on the bicep curl machine or that girl on the eliptical. If someone made fun of you and then said CrossFit was the way to superior fitness, you would tell them to go F themselves.

If you can just do some of these things, you will start to progress faster as a CrossFitter. 

Thanks for reading,

Coach Tony