Mental vs Physical
What makes the difference between being good and being great? When you start doing CrossFit, most people are nervous and maybe a little intimidated. After all, it is human nature to have a fear of the unknown. Especially at CrossFit Breaking Boundaries being that I don’t post the WOD ahead of time. The typical progression is you gain some knowledge, you get more fit, meet great people and learn cool moves and slang to talk to your friends about.
Mind over Matter
Do any of you finely tuned machines ever ask yourself, “What’s Next?” How do I take it to the next level? Simply put, one word “mentally”. That I know is a broad word and I chose that because it has to cover a variety of different aspects of your mental state. This is where it comes from where I say it separates the good from the great. In CrossFit you will suffer and if you truly want to get in better shape you will have to suffer along the way. We have all had the moments where we want to keep going, but our mind and the feeling of having a borderline asthma attack stops us in our tracks. This is the precise moment that your mind game has to change. If you can just dig a little deeper, push through that moment, the time where a “break” will come and you can get a small breather. I read a great quote from a considered “Elite” CrossFitter, Rob Orlando referring to the workout (WOD) Fran. He said: “If the question is, ‘How do I get from a five-minute Fran to a three-minute Fran?’…. you don’t need to be much stronger. You need to be more willing to hurt.” This couldn’t be more true and directly correlates to mental capacity vs physical capacity. The fact is, you can physically lift the weight, pull your body up, whatever the case may be. What stops us is our minds are pre-wired to make us want to stop when we do things that exert us to the extent CrossFit does.
Pushing Though
“PUSH THROUGH!!!!” Have you ever heard me say that? “Stay sharp!!!” This is when others are slowing down and we have to go faster!!! I don’t say those things just to say them, I say them to motivate you. Push through your fatigue and stay sharp because “nothing unravels an athlete like fatigue.” Others slow down because they don’t train their mind to make them go faster when they are tired. If you look at great athletes, not just of CrossFit, but other great sports teams, they train specifically “fourth quarter drills” or something along those lines. The reason for this is because how strong you finish can make the difference between winning & losing and finishing & quitting. Most of you are not trying to “win” anything by doing CrossFit, but when it comes to your own health, fitness level or finishing the WOD, are you winning?
Begin to train yourself mentally that you can can put more weight on, get that extra round in or just simply go RX and you too can achieve the Next Level.