stu·pid·i·ty noun behavior that shows a lack of good sense or judgment.at the end of the day, i am as susceptible as the next guy to peer pressure and the need to "keep up". i spend a lot of time acknowledging that its not healthy, and unnecessary, but i'm human. and competitive. and clearly, not very bright.
It's your body. Tell it what to do. ~Chris Powell
every year for the last 3 years, or since i seriously got into this whole "gym ownership" thing, i have fallen prey to the hype of the crossfit open. me NOT being an affiliate has zero bearing on the pressure i feel to participate in this ridiculousness. and dont get me wrong, its INTERNAL pressure. absolutely no ones fault but my own. the buck definitely stops here. which makes the stupidity part WAY more relevant.
why do it? its a measurement, like any other. it gives me a baseline of "where do i fit" in the grand scheme of overall fitness - or at least that is what you would think. HOWEVER. what i have found every year, is that there is a MAGIC BAR that keeps getting raised while i'm not looking. or maybe its that everyone on the planet is getting fitter faster than me. who knows. but DAMN. the movement of that bar keeps me feeling like i need to stay in the game. so i do.
and i hurt myself. every. stinking. year. i mean, what the fuck. its like the crossfit gods decide to rollout the 1st workout with my weakness in mind. no matter what it is, its in the first workout. somehow that shouldnt be true, and yet it totally is. so every year, i bust my ass week one, trying to prove something stupid to myself, and i jack something up. then i'm absolutely miserable for the next four weeks, working out hurt, and pushing myself beyond all sense.
“Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.” – Lance Armstrong
FOR NO REASON. whatsoever. aside from the no sense part. and i honestly can not figure out why. i disagree wholeheartedly with the scale and scope of the open. i find the difference between rx and scaled to be a slap in the face to intermediate athletes everywhere - of which i am. as are the vast majority of my crew at SiB. some are borderline RX, but for the most part we are strong scaled/intermediate people. which is SO AWESOME. it's what i consider the sweet spot for people of a certain age, with real jobs, kids and obligations, who work out for an hour a day most days.
for most of us, the "rx" label is one we use to see if we are making progress on our tuesday/thursday weight workouts. but it has no meaning in my gym. there are no rx athletes or scaled athletes. just athletes. just people doing their best, striving to get stronger or faster or fitter. and yet somehow, every year, the crossfit games accomplish little more than making everyone feel like they are impossibly getting FURTHER from success. im not sure how that works, but that what it feels like to me.
“Be patient and tough; some day this pain will be useful to you.” – Ovid
so this year i managed to pinch a nerve and possible pull some shoulder/back muscles week one. on the toe to bar. clearly not my best movement. and so for the last 4 weeks, i have been modifying my normal workouts during the week so that i could still get a "score" on the open. because i am RIDICULOUS. literally 3 fingers on my left hand have been mostly numb for weeks. its been hysterical trying to figure out what would hurt and what wouldnt. and why in the world would i not even CONSIDER not finishing? its not like im winning. or even on the same planet as those women who ARE winning. so whats the freaking POINT??
Our own physical body possesses a wisdom which we who inhabit the body lack. We give it orders which make no sense. ~Henry Miller
anyone?
what is it that makes us need to continue to prove ourselves? i can promise you that not ONE person at the studio would have thought any less of me if i didnt continue. as a matter of fact, most of them think im totally ridiculous for NOT stopping. and they are completely correct. i think. which is my problem. even though i'm hurt. even though my scores werent great. even though it was super difficult to make myself do them. i did it. does it matter in the grand scheme of things? nope. but it matters to me. and i dont even really know why. except im competitive. and i expect alot of myself - maybe too much. and i think perserverence is a hugely important life skill.
If the body be feeble, the mind will not be strong. ~Thomas Jefferson
in the end, i still think the open is ridiculous. i think the standards are dumb, and the disparity between rx and scaled is insulting to most normal people. but somehow it still sucks me in. which is probably why its a worldwide phenomenon. if i disagree so strongly with it and yet still participate, i can only imagine how the people who love crossfit feel about it. those guys are geniuses!!
so here i am, 5 weeks later. so RELIEVED that the open is over. with a years supply of icy hot and a lidocane patch. somehow KNOWING that i absolutely, in no way, learned my lesson.
Any workout which does not involve a certain minimum of danger or responsibility does not improve the body — it just wears it out. ~
Norman Mailer
