Do you remember when you first started CrossFit? It was so different, it was new, a complete break from the same old boring gym routines. You looked forward to it everyday because it was a different workout, and the PR’s(Personal Records)!!! The PR’s fell like rain! Every time you did a movement it was a 20# or more PR. Life was good, and you’ve never had so much momentum. The results spoke for themselves, you noticed a change in how you looked, how you felt, and your overall attitude was better. It was like a drug, you wanted more, you started working on your nutrition and the results were pouring in.
Fast forward a year or two and those days seem like a distant memory. Those PR’s, when they come are small 5# wins, or seconds shaved off a benchmark workout. Going to CrossFit has become routine. The workouts are still different, but it’s still “going to CrossFit”. You’ve done all the benchmarks, you know where your strengths and weaknesses are, and you know enough about the program to recognize a brutal workout(or one that will be particularly difficult for you.) By this time you’ve faced the “cherry picking” dilemma, the one where you check the workout ahead of time, and if it’s something you don’t like or struggle with, then you “workout at home”. It’s totally natural, call it self preservation if you will, we avoid the things we know we will struggle with. We have all done it. Usually around this time your nutrition has started to slip too, and when asked you say “I need to get back on it.” But your motivation doesn’t seem to be there, you’re missing the “why.”
If you’re shaking your head yes right now or muttering “exactly” as you read this, then you’ve hit that burn out point. The good news is I’ve been there. I’ve gotten burned out on CrossFit, and I own a dang CrossFit gym! Don’t worry there is hope, not all is lost, I know how to help you get past it. My advice is not what you would think, it’s not to spend more time in the gym, it’s to spend less time in the gym. You might be familiar with Greg Glassmans famous “World Class Fitness in 100 Words” but often overlooked is the last line “regularly learn and play new sports”. That means get out of the gym and use the fitness that you’ve built! He’s not only giving you permission to stay out of the gym, he’s prescribing it! Sign up for a race, or ruck, or dodgeball league. Take your family out west and go hike a mountain. You’ve spent all this time building your fitness, now go use it! Pro tip: if it doesn’t scare you at least a little, then it’s probably not difficult enough.
Now you’re training can have meaning again, there is a clear purpose and goal in front of you. You’re going to CrossFit to train for climbing that mountain, you’re going to CrossFit to train for that marathon. You’re going to CrossFit, and you’re excited about it. Let me clarify: I’m not saying you should sign up for a marathon and only do CrossFit to train for it. I’m also not saying you should quit CrossFit and only train for the marathon. What I’m saying is use the fitness that you’ve built in new ways. Continue to reap the benefits of regular CrossFit training, but add in some specialty training for your event. Maybe instead of going to CrossFit on Saturday, you go run with a marathon training group, or you go to Red River Gorge and hike to prep for out west.
I know I am probably more than a little biased, but CrossFit is the best training methodology for all around fitness. But life isn’t lived inside those 4 walls of your CrossFit gym, it’s lived outside the gym, with people you care about, making memories that last a lifetime.
Announcements
The Open starts next week!!! Register at games.crossfit.com
Make sure to look for “Ft. Wright CrossFit” as your affiliate, Note the “.” after Ft
Friends and Family Week is this week, bring that someone in your life that needs a little extra push!
Parent/Kids Class this Sunday 10/6 at 12P
Trick or Treat at FWCF 10/19: 5P-7P.
We are looking for someone to do face painting, if you know someone please let Stephanie know!
