Doran may be a new face but he looks at the bar just like all the seasoned veterans.
The Perceived Place
So you started CrossFit, learned the basics, changed your diet. Mastered the kipping pull-up, or the snatch, or the muscle-up. Probably all 3. You and your butterflies endured the nausea and entered your first throwdown. You finished respectably in the middle of the pack. Cool.
More time in that CrossFit gym. Now a food scale. You’re hooked. Your family has banned the words “CrossFit” “gym” and “WOD” at the dinner table. You’re consistently RXing workouts, sometimes with the best times in the gym. CrossFit life is good. Carry on.
Until it’s not so good. That new, young kid seems unbeatable at runs. That strong beast can lift more then you, every time. You slip back to the middle of the pack. #$@&!!!!!
It’s not that you’ve gotten worse. In fact, you continue to PR, maybe not as frequently but from time to time. You’re still making gains, in strength, technique, wisdom. But the top is elusive. And it seems to be slipping out of reach.
There’s something about this next generation of CrossFitters. They’re younger, stronger, fitter, faster, and they’re passing you by. They’re making you look slow, weak, lazy. Old.
What to do? How does one handle this CrossFit fall from grace? I guess there are a couple options. Quit. Take your ball and go home. Change your focus- which is just another way of “quitting” because you disengage from the competitiveness of the daily workout.
Or you let it inspire you.
You revel in the accomplishments of this new CrossFit generation and wish it could have been you, starting in your teens, competing at the regional and international levels before marriage and kids take over. But since it’s not you, you become the loudest cheerleader in the stands. The one who brings extra chairs and ice to that throwdown.
You lead. You encourage using every pearl of wisdom you’ve gained from having a lengthy relationship and you use your vast toolbox to help those around you achiever their dreams.
You still work hard. After all, CrossFit is about being your best you. For 99%, it’s not about making it to the games or having the top time on the whiteboard, it’s about leaving a nice sweat angel on the gym floor. About laughing and group suffering with your best friends in the afternoons. It’s about camaraderie, like minded people, friends, and dropping barbells from overhead because it sounds cool.
Comparison with anyone outside yourself is saved for days with entry fees and scorecards. It does us no good to let the times on the whiteboard defeat us. Losing your perceived place at the top of scoreboard doesn’t mean you suck, it just means that someone else has pulled ahead. As long as your progress is forward, where you are in line shouldn’t matter. And if it does, then maybe you have issues that can’t be solved in a gym.
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