I was watching a Rich Froning interview lately and he was asked to give one piece of advice to someone who is just starting out in Crossfit. His answer, which he went on to expand on, was simple - “Have fun with it!”.
I’m going to divide Crossfit in to two very distinct and very different things right off the hop here. I’ll save blurring the lines for another blog some other time. One part are those people who do Crossfit “as their sport”. Just the same as someone might say they’re a hockey player, or baseball player or triathlete. The other, much larger, part are those people who do Crossfit to get and/or stay healthy. Continuing on in the blog will have benefit to everyone but it would look different if we are the people who “do Crossfit as a sport”. Again, another topic for another time.
For the vast majority of us, we do Crossfit to be healthy. We do it to fight off disease. We do it to stay functional in life. We do it to feel good. We do it to look good. We are not trying to compete (we may do a local competition once a year for fun) and don’t have any goals that are “competition focused”.
I’ve talked in blogs before about letting the gym be a happy place, being present and things along those lines. Our hour in the gym should be the best hour of our day. It is “your” hour. Absolutely spending time with your family and friends throughout the day should be enjoyable and amazing but they aren’t solely for you. The time in the gym is. You can be selfish and in that hour, it’s all about you. The time should be a stress release and not something we stress about.
I, understandably, all too often while coaching see people hanging their heads, or slumped shoulders and shaking your head “no” after missing a lift or not doing as well as they thought in a workout. They aren’t pleased with themselves or their efforts. As a coach, this breaks my heart! You are here! You are getting your fitness on. You are sweating with a group of friends. Enjoy it! It’s your hour. If you miss a lift or don’t do as well as you think you should, so what? Make it enjoyable and don’t caught up in your head about any of that. Again, you’re here. Enjoy it!
We need to have things to work for, and to have goals. We talked in the last blog about staying accountable to those goals. I assure you, reaching your goals will be a whole easier and a whole lot more rewarding if you have enjoyed the process. If we have a goal of adding a bunch of weight to our deadlift and we pass that goal only to realize we wrecked our back along the way; is it worth it? If we want to run a marathon and spend countless hours training at the expense of quality time with people you love; is it worth it? If we reach our goals in the gym at the expense of a bunch of other things; how rewarding are they going to be when we get to “the finish line”?
Enjoy the process. Have fun with it. Relax. It’s ok to miss a lift. It’s ok to have a day where things don’t go right. Make your training time the best hour of your day!