How did today’s wod go for you? It was a particularly painful one! In case you are reading this after the fact and need a reminder, our daily wod today was:
4 minutes ON, 90 seconds OFF x 6 Rounds
200 m Run
20 OH DB Lunge
10 Single Arm Devil Press
AMRAP Wall Balls
I know! Good times, right?
Making your way through todays wod with any number wrote after your name earns you bragging rights. So, well done! What I want to talk about today is not something new to us, but it is carrying on with the “mindset” and mentality theme through the last couple of blogs. Last week I talked about “just because you can” and how we (almost all of the time), want to make sure we are adjusted accordingly for the workout in order to achieve the desired stimulus.
Today I want to talk about “pain” in the gym. Not “hurt or injured” pain, but that pain that goes along with discomfort. Something like that you felt around round two in todays workout and knew you still had four more to go. I want to talk about two choices we have when it comes to that discomfort. The choice to deal with the pain of suffering or the choice to deal with the pain of regret.
Now before you give up on me right here because you say “well, I would never have any regret about not suffering more”; bare with me. While you may be in the gym for no other reason than to drink coffee after the 7am WOD (anyone...? Anyone? Haha I’m only joking, team!), the truth is we don’t know when that extra push and digging a little deeper into the pain cave may help.
Take our current world events for example. CoVid-19. Our best hedge against the virus - against any virus, is good health. I have wrote more than one blog on how the further our needle points “fit”, the further it has to go to drop to “well” (or “normal”) and then even further before is starts getting towards “sick” (or “unhealthy”). Chris Spealer, a former CrossFit games athlete who now owns at affiliate in Utah, shared his story about his experience getting CoVid. Chris is obviously a very healthy and fit individual with his needle pushing near the very top of the “fit” gauge. Chris went for a 5 kilometre trail run one day. He completed the run with only one issue. His time was slower than expected and he couldn’t figure out why. Started coughing a day or two later, got tested, and had CoVid (he has now made a full recovery). I understand that not everyone’s story will be the same. However, if we can push our needle further towards “fit” so we have a larger hedge against sickness, who wouldn’t want that?
That is just one specific example. To maybe make that stroke a little broader and hit a few more people. How about ten, twenty, forty years down the road. While we may be in great health right now, who knows what even tomorrow will bring us. An accident where we need to be able to fight to survive. A terrible chronic disease diagnosis out of no where that we want that big hedge on the “fit” side in order to be able to battle against it. The more fit we can become today, the better prepared for tomorrow we will be.
See. Coming in to the gym and choosing the “pain of suffering” doesn’t mean we are doing so to be a superstar athlete. It doesn’t mean we have to go to the point of puking behind the dumpster out back. What it does mean, is that you are prioritizing your health right now because you don’t want to deal with the pain of regret down the road. The “could have”, “should have” and “would have” of maybe not putting forth your best effort on any given day. I get it! Not every day has to be your best day. When we are able and ready however, make sure that you are giving that effort today for the you of tomorrow.
Chose the pain of suffering. Not the pain of regret.