Accept the suck

November 3rd, 2010

Bigs headed under 300#

We found ten points to live by in the CrossFit community. Do you agree? Which is the most/least important?

1. Have fun – Whether it be in CrossFit or your favorite sport or shopping with grandma, make sure you try and have fun. Honestly, you can do CrossFit just about anywhere with anyone or by yourself. You choose to come to us for a reason, because we’re awesome.

2. Show up on time – Actually show up early and leave late. Foam roll, stretch and get rid of all that junk in your lower back and shoulders. Showing up late will only cheat you out of a sufficient warm-up. Without a good warm-up, your chance of injury increases exponentially. If you show up early you have two options, cheer on the class that is finishing or start warming up.

3. 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 nut 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 alltheshityoulikeFit. 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.

4. 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 a poser. Grandma doing jumping pull-ups and thrusters with a PVC kicked your ass 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 lbs or 50 lbs deadlift as long as you put forth the effort and don’t sandbag.

5. 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?

6. 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.

7. Eat good food – The short answer is eat Primal. If you don’t want to eat like that, just eat meat, some fruit, vegetables, little starch, no sugar, no grains. 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?

8. Count it – Tracking your workouts matters.

9. Be nice – CrossFitters are notorious for making fun of people who go to globo gyms (present company included). People achieve their personal fitness goals in their own ways. 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 squat machine or that girl on the elliptical. If someone made fun of you and then said CrossFit was the way to superior fitness, you would tell them to go F themselves.

10. Get involved – CrossFit is more than just an hour of working out. We are a family and you can get as involved as you like. Just like anything else, you get out what you put in.

WoD

Filthy Fifty

For time:
50 Box jump (24/20)
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings (yellow/white)
50 Walking Lunges
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press, (45/35)
50 Back extensions
50 Wall ball shots, (20/14)
50 Burpees
50 Double unders


11 Responses to “Accept the suck”

  1. Max says:

    LMAO! I love it. – Point #3 is don’t complain. The WOD is the Filthy Fifty. Accept the suck!

  2. LJ says:

    Bigs, that’s awesome! Way to go!

    A knee injury 4-5 months ago forced me to do a lot of research about diet so I have to side with #7 (Eat Good Food) as the most important. Although everything else is extremely important, what you eat is 75-80% of being healthy and successful, which causes everything else to come together. Eating better will put you in a good mood, which will accomplish #1 (Have Fun) and #9 (Be Nice). It will likely lead to the lack of whining (#3) and because you’re in a better mood you’ll be more inclined to listen to your coach (#5). Plus it will be easier to give it your all (#4). You’ll have more energy when you eat right, which leads to less stress, in turn assisting you to show up early (#2). When you’re early you’re more involved (#10). Failure (#6) will still occur, however you may have to push yourself to a new level in order to find it. That leaves us with Count It (#8). When eating right, if you chart what you’ve done over time you will improve faster than if had you been eating garbage.

    They’re all important, however if I had to pick, I’d only rename (#3) Don’t Whine to Live Life with Less Stress and Worries – or something to that affect.

    PS: I love the “alltheshityoulikeFit” line, classic!

  3. Ryan Anderson says:

    This is a call out to Ron A, and Andre, you two have received spots in the NLP competition. Check the website, for details, as you guys will need to register on friday! TEAM OCC!!!

    • Andre says:

      SWEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      Bummed I will miss one of my favorite WOD’s tomorrow but after this week my body is screaming at me to slow the heck down.

    • Josh "Bigs" says:

      I should have placed my name on the waiting list Damn.

      • Ryan Anderson says:

        email nathan holiday and get put on it, at the rate the lists are changing you might be able to get a spot!

  4. Ron A. says:

    FCUK YA! I’m so stoked that we’re able to get some spots, thanks for following up Ryan. Let’s get some two-a-days going, and really work on the essentials for this NLP comp!

  5. Kiki says:

    Justin just got this email from Lamar. It was sent out to other affiliates/athletes. Saturday keeps getting better and better…going to be a lot of fun:

    Hey guys,

    I have setup a team training day for this Saturday @10am with Justin from OCC and some of his athletes, Max and Paul from South County, Gabe Subry (24th at last year’s games) plus some others.

    This is going to be a fun training day. Most likely some heavy lifting followed by a team wod.


    Lamarr Smith
    Next Level Performance

  6. Chris Worden says:

    Great post! All very true stuff.

    Good photo above, too. I love the guy in the background shrugging for the guy who is pulling 300. Too good!

  7. Ron A says:

    I’m in like Flynn! Foot and shoulder are feeling better. I did a WOD at Cactus crossFit last night and felt great. So I will be there Saturday down at NLP!