Shoulders of Giants

No, this blog post is not going to be about the massive development of my shoulder muscles, especially due to the handstand push-ups we did tonight. Instead, it is going to be more motivational and inspirational in style, reflecting on some of the more psychological benefits and lessons learned from Crossfit. But first, the workout...

AMRAP, 20 minutes:
3 Hang power cleans (155# RX)
6 Handstand pushups
9 Box jumps (36")

I did 65# on the HPCs, due to the fact that for the warm-up, I tried 75# and teetered a little bit. Balance issues. Handstand push-ups I've always been able to handle, although I put my down jacket as a light layer between my head and ground (I'm not quite there with touching head to ground every time, which is RX'd). Since I usually use a 20" box for the box jumps, I upped the height to 24". All said and done, I finished 13 rounds + the 3 HPCs + 1 last HSPU! That's right, I want it on record that with 4 seconds left on the clock, I ran to the wall to get that one last HSPU!

I felt much better about this workout than the workouts from last week. More focused, even though life seems to be pushing and pulling me in all different kinds of directions. Too many balls juggled before me. Despite how good and proud I felt after the workout, I didn't really feel all that great going in. We recently had a new addition to our gym - a stellar former college athlete named Deb, who has incredible strength training and is really focused on learning the movements and proper form. It's a little intimidating to go into a workout seeing her scores, times, rounds, and/or loads.

After class, I had a brief discussion with another client, Doug, who just recently joined the Crossfit community 2 months ago and has made great strides in health and fitness improvement. He was also amazed at Deb's number of rounds (13 total, RX'd!), and he had done the same weight as her, but completed fewer rounds. Doug commented that he finally felt like he was improving, but got discouraged by comparing himself to Deb.

I reminded him that Crossfit is not about competing and besting other athletes at the gym. It's about competing against and besting yourself. That's why we have benchmark WODs. Yes, I admit that part of the atmosphere when you do a  WOD is to compare yourself and try and beat the person working out next to you. But when the workout is over, the "mini-competition" is over. What matters is that you do better than you did previously on that particular WOD or movement.

I also told Doug that it's not abnormal to feel that way. Honestly, I felt the same way going into the workout - "why even try if Deb is already so great? I'm never going to beat her." Terrible, negative thoughts. What we have to remember is that there is a lot to be gained by surrounding yourself with exceptional, phenomenal athletes. When they work harder and achieve, you work harder and achieve. Maybe you'll never be on the same playing field, but it's invigorating to be in a training environment with hard-working, determined, persevering people. As Isaac Newton became famous for saying: "If I have seen further, it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants." Rather than be envious or discouraged by other athletes' strength and training, I hope to learn from their technique, training strategies, diets, etc.