CrossFit Will Make You Quit

CrossFit is like gravity.  It works whether you believe in it or not.  Unlike gravity however, you can avoid CrossFit and most people will.  Why?  In a world where everyone says they want fitness, why on earth would they avoid doing a program that will make them fit?  Because CrossFit is hard. 

So what?  Lots of things are hard.  Running a marathon is hard.  Heck, running a 10k Sun Run is hard.  Yet lots of people do these things.  But those things are hard in a predictable way.  And there is a comfort in that.  CrossFit’s constantly varied programming continuously confronts you in new ways revealing unexpected chinks in your armour.  CrossFit never lets you get comfortable with one flavour of discomfort.  It demands you to become psychologically resilient enough to be able to take on the unknown and unknowable.  As advanced as you might be in some aspects of fitness, CrossFit will find a way to reveal fitness domains in which you are still a rank novice.  It is brutal on the ego.

But you’re not here to look good, you’re here to get fit, aren’t you?  Fitness happens beyond the threshold of your competency.  If it doesn't stretch you, it doesn’t change you.  It is the workouts that make you feel the most incompetent that challenge and change you the most.  But most people have no stomach for that level of daily confrontation and quickly find an excuse to drift back to their comfort zone.  I did.

When I tried and tested CrossFit for 3 months back in 2005, I was astounded by how effective it was compared to my previous training.  I’d been a fitness enthusiast for almost two decades by then.  I’d done my personal training and strength and conditioning certifications.  I was a level two NCCP coach for the Olympic sport of judo.  I attended the annual coaching conference at Douglas College.  I understood periodization, energy systems, muscle fibre types, zone training and yet, nothing I had learned prepared me for the dramatic transformation CrossFit training produced.

In three short months of CrossFitting alone at home in my garage gym, my deadlift went from 150 to 350lbs.  Every time they programmed deadlifts; I had to run to Fitness Depot to buy more plates!  And though I had never run more than one mile in my life, after three months of CrossFit I was able to run a 7-kilometre snowshoe race on Mount Seymour alongside a triathlon friend of mine.  “What are you doing for training?” he wondered.

CrossFit worked.  It delivered fitness results beyond anything I had imagined.  So, what did I do?  After three months of CrossFit, left to my own devices, I drifted back to other fitness modalities like kettlebell training and body building.  Why?  Because they were so much more comfortable than CrossFit.  I still looked at the CrossFit programming daily.  Occasionally I’d even try a workout if I felt up to it.  But mostly I drifted back to my old ways of training covering my cowardice with rationalizations.  It wouldn’t be until 2008 that, fed up with injuries and determined to get ready for the World Judo Championships in Brussels, that I recommitted to following the most effective training protocol I had ever experienced. 

It required a looming international competition and potential ass whooping to motivate me to make a return to CrossFit’s daily helping of humble pie.  So, I can understand why people avoid CrossFit.  It takes something to show up for the WOD.  It’s also why I am so impressed by the Empower members who show up every day to receive their daily dose of hardship.  Kudos to these resilient, tough-minded individuals committed to their fitness.  I know how bad it sucks to get your ass handed to you day after day so hats off to you for your perseverance!  These are people who refuse to quit.

But as a coach, I have also observed that some folks can find sneaky ways of quitting on themselves while still showing up for the workout.  There are some people who can find an easy path through the WOD.  It manifests in many ways.  Maybe they find a weight they are comfortable with and stick with it forever, never challenging themselves to progress.  Or maybe they find a movement progression they can perform easily and then avoid all other options or variants that might increase the challenge.  If you are finishing the workout in half the time it took the rest of the class, it is a sure sign that you are missing out on the intended dose of discomfort.  If this happens to you, ask your coach how you can make the WOD more challenging for you so that you can get the same fitness benefits as your classmates.

Bruiser once explained to HeeHee that using the Rx weight was necessary to avoid backsliding.  We must be careful here because the Rx is a ceiling, not a floor.  It is not appropriate for everyone, and athletes are best to work at the difficulty level appropriate to their current fitness.  Even Rx’d athletes will sometimes need to scale due to illness, injury or fatigue so, I do not recommend rigid adherence to the Rx, but I do agree with the general spirit of Bruiser’s recommendation.  You do not want to backslide on a skill.  For example, once you have a pull up, I do not recommend using the banded pull up option anymore.  Perhaps scale the reps but do not retreat to easier versions of the movement.

One thing that defines the CrossFit character is a person who seeks out, rather than avoids hardship.  Most people will quit.  They will seek out something easier.  Or at least more comfortable.  A more predictable form of challenge that they can master and feel competent at. And I totally get it.  I don’t look forward to my daily CrossFit ass-kicking anymore than the next person.  I didn’t fall in love with CrossFit because I love the suck but because I love the results. 

I’ve witnessed firsthand what happens to people who quit on their health and fitness and I do not want that flavour of hardship in my life because that suffering is 24/7.  For me, quitting on CrossFit is quitting on my health.  If I have to suffer one hour each day (and honestly, most CrossFit workouts are 20 minutes or less) in order to enjoy 23 pain-free hours a day, that seems like a bargain.  CrossFit keeps me strong and fit and healthy.  It keeps me free of medication.  Free to enjoy my life outside the gym.  Free to participate in any activity I want to because of my base of fitness. 

Quitting CrossFit would be quitting on myself.  Quitting on my family.  So, here I am, twenty years later, still showing up to embrace the suck.  CrossFit will make most people quit but you don’t need to be most people.

Monday

Warm Up
8 min AMRAP
25ft Samson Lunge
1 ground to standing climb
25 single unders

Tech
DB Walking Lunge
Rope Climb
DU

WOD #1
10 min AMRAP
25ft Front Rack DB Walking Lunge
1 Rope Climb
25 DU

WOD #2 (on the lifting platform)
1 min Each:
Deadbugs
Shoulder Pullovers
Egg Rolls
Windshield Wipers
Rocking Chair
Table Raises
Hands & Knees Rock
Bird Dogs
Full Body Rocks
Crosscrawl March