This week at Next Level Crossfit we are covering up the class WOD scores. Hiding times, weights used, names, scores- all of it for the entire day and uncovering all results the day after. Why? ________________________________________________________ I had been wanting to do this for a long time. With the way coaches have been trading off programing, when my week came back around, I decided- THIS week was THE week to finally put covering scores to the test. In CrossFit, so much drive and push is gathered by competing against a fellow athlete in class. You may not be competitive at all, but most likely you are and dont want to admit/dont know it yet, or you are very aware that youve become more competitive as youve progressed and gotten better at this CrossFit thing-and you love the push! That is awesome! Thats what I love about CrossFit- the motivation to push yourself harder than you EVER would alone is what sets this type of training and fitness program apart from others. I think its human nature to be aware of anothers fitness level in relation to yours, see the competition, and push to be the best. *Friendly* competition, of course ;) How many times have you come in for class and immediately checked the board to see others times as a way to gauge your own potential going into a WOD (Workout Of the Day)? Or, have you ever been in the first class of the day (no one has done the WOD before your class) and the next day you see that your score is beat only by a little (a rep or two, or a few seconds, etc) ? Can you remember a time when the coach, right before the workout begins yelled out The time to beat is ____! ? ...So why are we covering the scores? Two reasons: 1) Is it limiting you? Sometimes its helpful to realize that you and another person, or group of people, are at the same level when it comes to your fitness. You and this person/people, usually get around the same scores in workouts, have about the same endurance capacity, near the same strength levels... so you focus on beating them or not letting them get too far ahead. They may be someone you are physically in class with, and so you keep an eye on their pacing, where they are in the rounds, how far ahead or behind they are on a run, stick with them during strength sets, OR they typically go to a different class time than you so you keep an eye on the scores they put up. Focusing on a single person to beat CAN put a ceiling on your fitness. If your only motivation to push is to beat that person, what happens when you finally do? Do you stop pushing? For all you know, they could be doing the very same- basing their performance and pacing off of YOU... and so, you are holding each other back. 2) Is their score your only source of fueling to give your all? Letting someones score motivate you to to do better or push harder can be beneficial. The possibility that they MIGHT catch you is the reason why we push. The fear of you losing is enough to drive you to work so hard and not let that happen, even if the difference is a second or two, a rep or two. Competitive nature at its finest! But if thats the ONLY way you are driven to push your limits, then there could be a problem. If the only motivation you have is doing better than one person, or even a small group, how can you excel when you train alone? If you are used to training with the same people in class, and always basing your push off their scores, then what will happen if you are taken OUT of that familiar atmosphere where you do not know any of the athletes? Say, in a competition, or visiting another gym? You will have no idea what the other athletes are capable of, how they train, if they are compatible to you or not- Being out of your familiar surroundings is a crucial time for you to be able to turn on your drive, without depending anothers performance. How would you be able to turn on that Beastmode button when ya need it? (Kind-of-reason-#3) If you give two athletes of the same fitness level one workout- the first one completes the workout, writes their score on the board, and then the second athlete comes in, sees the time, and does the workout... the second athlete has the advantage. With competitive people, thats just how it is. If you know your rival, after seeing their score you can easily estimate where you can beat them in a workout since you didnt go in blind like they did. A TRUE comparison is on an even playing field where both of you have the same amount of information at the starting line. This week, you got an even playing field. (The Lesson): You need to learn to push yourself just as hard regardless of where you measure up with other people. You can use the scores AFTERWARDS to see where improvements can be made. AND THAT IS WHY I WANTED TO COVER YOUR SCORES THIS WEEK. I am definitely not saying you should not compete with others. Its very important to rise to the occasion of competition, see your progress as you pass others, and feel the intensity of your will to do better rise when they pass you. I just hope that covering the scores will make you more aware of yourself as an athlete. As Nathan posted on Facebook earlier in the week regarding me covering up your scores, …she loves to play mind games. …if you find yourself relying on the results of others to determine how hard you will go, youre missing the point. Its ALL about pushing yourself as hard as YOU CAN GO. I do love playing mind games. YEZZZ! I do it often in my own training. One strategy I recommend to learn more about your own capacity level is to turn your mind toward your inner-dialogue. When you get to the point where you can do this, it will be so helpful. And example of what a conversation may be in my mind during a hard workout is : What percent effort are you pushing right now? And I think to myself, Im pushing 85%. Can you push to 90%? Yes Can you sustain this Yes/no and adjust my pacing to an appropriate level for the work and time in the WOD. You might notice that not only are you able to better recognize your capacity this way, but your mind is taken away from the discomfort you felt in your workout, because all you were doing was putting your focus elsewhere. You might be surprised by how much harder you actually can push when you dont focus on how much it sucks! Another way to figure out your own way of entering that deep/dark/sucky place in a workout where you truly feel you cant push any harder is to recognize the pain of muscle-burning and/or heavy breathing and then letting yourself know that ITS OK, you wont die. Once you recognize it, and reassure yourself, then going in and digging deeper into the discomfort is a decision you make. Sometimes, you just have to accept that you will not feel good for an X amount of time (remaining time in a workout when you decide to take your effort to that level) in order to allow yourself to enter the dark place and truly push with everything you have. Things like burpees, running, and rowing are where I mentally break down before my body has truly reached its max. So during these movements I make sure to do all the things I can to not let myself mentally give up. Yesterday, prowlers were a great example too. ;) Those are the moments where I turn all of my focus AWAY from the pain and completely on the movement itself instead. In running, I think about looking ahead, feeling the turnover rate of how fast my feet hit and leave the ground, mentally stroking my ego and saying, youre doing great, youre doing great, but you can push harder! saying things in my mind in a rhythm that matches the speed I want to travel, visualizing someone ahead of my Im trying to beat that figment or pretending that there is someone right behind me, about to pass me, asking myself if I can raise my pace by just 3%… Yesterday during prowlers I focused on looking at my feet and making sure they were striking the ground fast, and feeling the foot behind me pushing off the ground with power, not letting my focus go to how bad my legs burned. These are all very useful tools FOR ME. I learned a lot by not letting others psyche me out in a workout. By not always looking at the board. By just letting my feelings tell me if I was pushing as hard as I wanted to or not. To this day, I usually look at scores after. Hopefully this week has exposed the best qualities in yourself as an athlete, as well as shown you areas to work on. If you want to read a cool article related to this mental stuff, here ---> titannutrition.net/going-dark-training-in-the-suck/
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 21:11:04 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015