“Don’t say “I can’t”. Say, “I presently struggle with.”
-Tony Horton
I’m not sure why I should be surprised. I mean, I’ve been doing CrossFit for over 12 years now but still, wow! Just wow! I recently did a 12 minute workout that left me with ALL the feels that it still shocks me to think about, although now my feelings are to just laugh about it. But during, and especially after, when I analyzed those 12 minutes, it really made me think about the life lessons I learned.
Lesson 1: Underestimating Your Abilities
So I went into this workout feeling a little cocky. It had a movement I had only ever done once before (Jump rope Cross-Overs) but I’m a jump rope queen! I mean, not to toot my own horn, but I was in jump rope club as a kid and I can crush me some double-unders. Well, double-unders my friend are not the same as cross-overs and I clearly underestimated my abilities. So, just like life, really assess where you are at when you’re facing challenges. And really be truthful about where you’re at, otherwise it’s only going to hurt you!
Lesson 2: Warm Up & Practice
So once you accurately assess your abilities, make sure you warm up appropriately! Take some time to practice and prepare for your upcoming challenge. They’re not going to magically appear during the middle of a workout when you’re already tired.
Lesson 3: It’s Not Your Jump Ropes Fault
Just because you suck doesn’t mean it’s the jump ropes fault (no my jump rope is not suddenly the wrong size). So stop being in a victim mindset and accept that it’s your fault for your struggles.
Lesson 4: Learning New Things is Exhausting
When you’re learning something new, it will be exhausting. Even so much so that when you do other activities, even ones you’re used to doing regularly, you’ll be exhausted doing those from the exertion you had doing your new activity. So keep that in mind when you are embarking on learning new things and give yourself grace for other areas of your life.
Lesson 5: A Change of Scenery Goes a Long Ways
180 degrees. That’s how much I changed my position during this 12 minute workout and it honestly helped. It gave me something new to focus on, it put my body in a different space on the floor, and it mentally helped clear some of the frustrations I was having. I think this can be so true in life as well. If you find yourself stuck, then move. If you find yourself down in the dumps, go outside. If you find yourself anxious, give yourself a river or mountain to stare at. Whatever the feelings you have, changing your scenery could help.
Lesson 6: Don’t Let Your Emotions Control the Outcome
It’s important to not only laugh, but really focus on not letting your emotions control the outcome. Denial, frustration, anger, embarrassment, whatever you may be feeling is OKAY! It’s normal to have these feelings. The important thing is you don’t feed into those feelings. Don’t listen to the negative Nelly in your head. Instead, reframe your thinking. Try tactics like:
- Repeating: “I’m not tired, I feel outstanding” during a hard workout.
- Smile. Forcing yourself to smile can actually trick your brain into feeling happier.
Lesson 7: One Foot in Front of the Other
Regardless of your emotions, the actions to take is just put one foot in front of the other. I tell myself during really hard workouts, “the only way out is through”. I know myself well enough to know I won’t quit, so now I just have to get through this workout. 200 pushups during our infamous CrossFit workout, Murph, is still so daunting. I know it’s going to take me a REALLY long time. But through the years I’ve learned, one little pushup done over and over again will eventually get me to those 200 pushups. So just put one foot in front of the other. As Dori from Finding Nemo said, “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”
Lesson 8: Learn from Others
If you have time before a challenge to reach out to others that have the skills needed for your challenge, then reach out to them. You might be surprised how excited someone is to help you. They get it, they’ve been there and they know the feelings you’re having. So, not only will they probably have helpful ideas to get you through it, but they’ll also just make you feel better by feeling normal about your emotions you are experiencing. Don’t be embarrassed, just ask!
Lesson 9: Choosing Hard
I love double-unders. I love to do them, I love how efficient I am at them, and heck, I admit, I even love to show them off. But after this workout crushed me with cross-overs I told myself anytime a workout popped up that had double-unders I needed to sub it out and do cross-overs instead. So I went from having a workout I know I’d be one of the top times in at the gym, to being dead last. Not as fun. But, I know that if I choose to do the hard things now during practice, I’ll be even better when the competition comes. So just like I told my six year old daughter yesterday at her judo practice, don’t choose the easy opponents to go against, choose the hardest ones as they’ll prepare you the most for your upcoming tournament.
Lesson 10: It Doesn’t Happen Overnight
This workout I did was a few months ago and so now I’ve had a few months of practicing cross-overs, but I still kind of suck. And I can get frustrated but I remind myself, it doesn’t happen overnight. I’ve been doing CrossFit so long that it’s easy for me to forget how hard it was to learn pullups, how much extra time I spent in the gym practicing bar muscle ups. I forget the feeling when I first started going Rx with my handstand pushups. So remind yourself when you are learning new things, it will take time! But the nice thing is, the time will pass anyways so you might as well use it making yourself better and more prepared in life.
Lesson 11: Growing Pains are Better Shared with Friends
As soon as my workout was done I sent a video of myself doing the cross-overs to my swolemate (that’s CrossFit slang for gym best friend :)) and she made me feel so much better instantly. First she laughed at me and then shared similar stories. Even just the act of sharing with her made me feel better as I wasn’t hiding behind the negative emotions but turning my situation around to be funny and educational.
Lesson 12: Prepare for the Unknown
One of my most favorite lessons I’ve learned over the years from CrossFit is it aims to build you into a human that is prepared for the unknown. What the heck does this mean? Well let me share a personal anecdote.
I was three years into my CrossFit life and rather obsessed. I had a rocky start though because of shame and embarrassment for how out of shape I was and the fear for it exposing that in front of people, which is a story for another day. Thankfully though, I kept at it and I had reached this new level of fitness and a healthy mindset. I seriously felt like I was in the best shape of my life at 28 years old. Then I found a lump in my boob. Yup, there it was, from the fittest I’d ever been to bald and fighting for my life. It sucked, life threw me a punch and I wasn’t prepared for it….or was I?
I’d just spent the past three years of my life in full on suffer fest. Miserableness. Have you ever done Fran (a famous CrossFit workout)? I’d spent three years mentally and physically pushing my body beyond what I thought it was capable of. I’d spent three years thinking I was just getting back in shape but I was truly preparing myself for a fight against cancer. All those workouts, they added up to this stronger (not just physically but mentally) Kelli that I am not sure I even knew existed.
So for ten months during that cancer fight, I relied heavily on that mental training that I developed from every little workout. It helped me get through the unknown of what was ahead of me with my cancer battle. For those ten months it was a constant unknown of how would I feel today, how well is my body fighting this cancer, how long will I be doing this, and so on. It was an emotional roller coaster and it was exhausting. But through my previous three years of CrossFit training I knew I could handle it. I knew how to suffer physically. I knew how to mentally handle challenges. I knew that as silly as it sounds, CrossFit really did prepare me for this surprise life test. And I’m forever grateful for that.
What’s your favorite lesson you’ve learned during a challenge? I hope today’s Elevate Livin’ Life E-newsletter helps you conquer some of the challenges you have ahead of you!
Thanks for reading along,
-Kelli
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