Wednesday, May 19, 2010
A CrossFit "mental health" day
So last nights WOD probably won't go down on my lists of favorites. 21-15-9 Hanging snatches and OHS. I've been learning all about the "regular" snatch for the last few weeks, and feel like I've got the hang of it, at the very least. But then the hanging snatch had to come into play and wreck all of the happiness and joy I had for snatching. I know CrossFit is great at exposing ones weaknesses and all, but DAMN! I felt like the biggest wuss on the planet last night. I only did the 35lb bar. I tried the 45lb one, threw it up over head once, and quickly psyched myself out of using it in the WOD. JDP told us to get our bars ready, and I just stood there, with my 35lb bar of wussiness in front of me. He looked at me, looked at the bar, looked at me again, and I shrugged. Meh. Yes, I was going with 35lbs. I finished first (6:14) while everyone else struggled with their heavier weights. It felt good to finish the WOD for a change. It felt good to yell "TIME" before anyone else. Yes, I used a light weight, but I'm claiming yesterday as a CrossFit mental health day. Sometimes it's nice just to finish.
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I wouldn't feel bad about using a lighter weight. There are two components to fitness that you might be confusing here: strength and endurance (there's a ton more, but let's just stick with these 2 for now).
ReplyDeleteThink about it this way. Your goal is to be able to use a certain weight for a certain amount of reps in a certain amount of time. One way to attack it is to grab the weight you want and try to get out the reps you desire within the time frame. This will likely mean you won't get the full reps (like everyone else). Another way to attack it is to use a lighter weight and get all your reps in during the time limit (which is what you did). Essentially, you're attacking the same problem from a different angle so you definitely didn't wuss out or anything. You just worked on a different aspect of your fitness.
I'm using this same approach with my muscle-ups. I want to be able to do 15 in 5 mins so somedays I'll just get 15 for however long it takes me. Other days I'll try to bang out as many as I can in 5 mins. My bodyweight is the fixed parameter (like the time limit was for you). Eventually, I'll meet in the middle like you undoubtedly will for your WODs :-)
It feels damn good to yell "TIME" first so enjoy that and don't feel bad about it. Sometimes, little victories like that are the pick-me-upper you need to keep motivated!
Keep up the hard work my fellow Spartan!