Champions exist in each and every one of us. The challenge is how do we bring our inner champion out. The first thing in addressing how to create a champion is your attitude. We will start with the reactions to WOD 12.1
Last week, the CrossFit Community, in particular, those who were ready for a grueling open wod, were blown away when Dave Castro and his little evil smirk announced "Open's WOD 12.1 is...... (smirk) 7 minutes As Many Reps as Possible of......... Burpees" (cue the evil laugh) . And of course the shit began. The shit talking on how unfair it was, how wrong, how angry people were, how stupid it was, I can't believe this would be the first WOD. Are you kidding me? It was all over facebook, all over the opens page, all over the internet that this was the stupidest workout ever... at least that's what I saw....
Then there was the other side of it, the true analytics, the people who instead of reacting, created a different outlook in their head, those who said.. "Fuck yeah. let's do this!!" It may have not made sense at ALL, but when there was a deeper understanding of what it was intended to do, then it was realized it was an AWESOME first work out. We looked at it not as what the fuck, but as another challenge, another WOD, a chance to prove to ourselves that it was something worth "fighting" for, something to look at our brethren and fight for every last rep but encourage them all the way as well.
And now that it's over, we can look back.. with certainty and say.. yeah that was an awesome workout! The intent of the workout, to bring 55,000 people together for one cause, one moment, one 7 minute time period.. worked like a charm. You see as soon as the whiners, complainers and people who were bitching the most, shut their mouths, accepted it wasn't going to change and just did the workout, then things got a lot better.. props went out to people all over the world, and the competition ensued.
Here's something I have found in common throughout my time with CrossFit since 2001. the workouts ALL kick your ass if you just decide it's time to go to work. Period. It doesn't matter if they wrote 7 minutes of air squats... it would be up to YOU to make the decision to accept it as what it is and move through the 7 minutes with whatever attitude you want.
You see, attitude plays a huge role in performance. Once you have a piss poor attitude towards ANYTHING it starts to poison your body, your mind and even worse your soul. What you tell yourself when you first see something, essentially your first impression, becomes so ingrained in your subconscious, that it takes WORK to get over the first negative thought. Positive thoughts and looking at things different will start to change the way you feel.. it goes back to the saying. "Change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change". I have seen this time and time again with athletes.
On a daily basis, you are presented with opportunities to be better than yesterday to look at how to overcome an obstacle rather than see it in front of you. Here are a few things to consider as you look at how this might affect you:
What are your thoughts when you hear "Today we are doing Fran"? (what was your FIRST reaction)
What do you do say to yourself when you see a workout that contains your weaknesses in it (lots of them do for me, so I always look at them as opportunities to grow) ?
If something goes wrong during your day, how do you approach it, with anger and frustration, or do you let it roll off and allow it to not affect your focus and determination?
Here is something I just wrote to my "Games" team and athletes as they were challenging the system:
"You can choose to ignore what I'm saying, or you can become a professional athlete and listen." Let me add to it that we as CrossFitters have a different mindset. We have purpose, we have drive, we have ambition. We face adversity with the greatest of ease. I don't care if it's your FIRST day in CrossFit or your 3000 th day. You have something in you.. you sought out the difference for a reason, to be pushed, to figure out how to overcome adversity not just inside the box, but outside the box as well. You are overcome with challenges each and every day and how you handle them inside the box is a good representation of how you handle your shit outside the box. When you allow your fear or your negative "what the fuck" talk control you, or even allow it to affect how you think, it will completely change how you feel about something..
You ask why i am writing this now, and why am I so adamant about attitude? Well, because tonight they release WOD 12.2. And here's what we will probably see... the people who bitched about the burpees, will probably bitch about the WOD tonight because it will have too much of this or not enough of that, or that's horrible because of this... You see what I'm getting at? People who are inherently whiny will inherently whine... Fine.. go whine, but PLEASE do it to yourself so the rest of us who just want to destroy a fucking workout can do so... We need positive energy for the opens, we need to help each other focus and strategize. We need empowerment and excitement. It's going to be a bad ass workout no matter what. If it has handstand push-ups in it, (my personal weakness) I will suck it up and say alright Buttercup.. hope you trained enough and if not.. just get what you can done.
The question now becomes what will YOU do when Wod 12.2 comes out.. what will you think, what will you say, will you roll your eyes or will you suck it up and go with it? Your attitude is the most powerful determinant of performance over your physical conditioning. YOU have the power in you to not let the workout affect you. YOU have the energy in you to get through whatever is thrown at you. YOU are part of a community that encourages growth and optimism.
You are a CrossFitter, a true champion, a member of a community that knows how to overcome adversity.
You are a CrossFitter, a person who laughs at challenge, takes it head on and cares not about the result but only gives it your all.
You are a CrossFitter, a warrior, an athlete who is using your body to battle it out against others.
You are a CrossFitter, someone who knows that even though it is going to be tough will come out on the other side.
You are a CrossFitter, one that knows no limits, knows that quitting is not an option, and knows that attempting and failing is better than never attempting at all.
You are a CrossFitter, you are powerful, you are strong, you are intense.
You are a CrossFitter......Go with it, Challenge yourself and kick ass on WOD 12.2!
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