Do me a favor, and before you continue reading, WATCH THIS VIDEO:

This video single handedly sums up my first few YEARS of CrossFit, and in a lot of ways, it still does.

When I first started CrossFit, I was a slightly above average athlete when it came to the basics, but as the movements got more complex, and as the weights  got heavier, I was horrible.

It was hard to draw that conclusion because as a young buck the gym life was my bread and butter…I wasn’t a conventional back and bis, chest and tris kind of guy, but I thought I had a SYSTEM for my workouts that put me on another level. So to find out my SYSTEM was WAY OFF…was a hypothetical kick in the balls.

*Note: The idea of having a SYSTEM is important, and is a hint of foreshadowing if you didn’t pick up on that…

My first experience with CrossFit was in 2009. A friend of mine told me about it before I got out of the military, and my first exposure was self induced. Thinking I was a know it all when it came to working out,  I would find the mainsite .com workouts, and try my hand at them at 24 Hour Fitness with very little clue as to whether or not what I was doing was “legit” or not.

Letting my ego get the better of me, I signed up for the 2009 regional competition thinking I would show up and destrominate the competition. Long, and painful story cut way short, I got my shit rocked, and finished 49th out of 100.

*Wearing Nike Shox back when Nike Shox were cool (Disclaimer: Shox were never cool…)*

Some may say at that time, that wasn’t too bad of a finish…but you have to understand that I was coming from a place where I THOUGHT I was way better than that. So again, the realization of not being on a level of my own expectations was hard to swallow.

After that competition I actually quit CrossFit for a year, and went back to my old ways of training, because it was my comfort zone.

It wasn’t until a year later I actually got into CrossFit gym as an athlete, and that was when my SYSTEM started to improve. I had coaches, I was around like-minded athletes, I was able to identify weaknesses, and rather than being ashamed of those weaknesses, I found ways to try and improve them. 

In 2011 I had been doing CrossFit for almost a full year, I was Level 1 certified, and I wanted to have ALL of the exposure to CrossFit that I could. Any seminar offered by CrossFit.com was something I wanted to be a part of.

I signed up for Greg Amundson’s Goal Setting seminar. Why? Because it was a thing, and I was THAT into CrossFit that I felt it was just another element to add to my growing resume of CrossFit experiences.

Greg Amundson is revered as one of the original CrossFit fire breathers. He was an athlete under Coach Glassman, and has been around since “the beginning”. 

The seminar was something like $150, and I remember my initial thought of it was disappointment. I came away feeling like I had wasted my day listening to a guy spew quotes from a season’s worth of Full House Episodes. I didn’t let the meaning behind his words actually sink in until about 2 years later.

In 2013 I went to a CrossFit competitor’s course with Matt Chan, Chris Spealler, and Eric O’Connor. One of the final lectures they gave was about the mental aspect of a competitor, and the mental aspect in relation to one’s performance in CrossFit. Obviously there were parallels to other life scenarios, but this was the first time I actually let it sink in with application to MY CrossFit. Matt Chan used a lot of the same stories, examples, and anecdotes that Greg Amundson had used, but this time I actually appreciated the simplicity of the messages, and was more receptive to the concepts they were preaching.  Their teachings shaped the way I approach my own mental game, and have influenced the conscious effort I make to apply them to my situations.

The key take aways from both Amundson and Chan were: Perspective, Spirit of Leadership, and of course Goal Setting. 

Perspective:

This is a big one, yet it is so simple. Having an understanding of where you WERE, where you are NOW, and where you WANT TO BE.

This PROBLEM with this idea is part of a bigger picture.

A bigger picture that I have dubbed as The CrossFit Curse.

As a brand-noob it is very easy to walk into a CrossFit gym for the first time, a little intimidated of course, but also with a certain level of optimism that new athletes will often have.

Typically I find a new athlete will want to push the envelope a little faster than I will allow them in the beginning.

They see athletes around them doing all of these cool and crazy things, and they want to hurry up and do ALL OF THE THINGS so they can be cool and crazy too.

Then when they finally get their chance to try some of the cool things, they realize they aren’t as good as they thought they were…these moves aren’t as easy as they look…or in my case, they might be a lot worse than what they thought they were.

This is where I see new athletes get discouraged, get burnt out, and get down on themselves for not being where they perceive they should be…

But that isn’t the main issue…there is a BIGGER issue…

Something happens that is really weird, and hard for me to wrap my brain around…

The athlete recognizes their deficiencies, listens to their coach, and works to improve those deficiencies. Yes, they will still fail every now and then, but THEY ARE STILL IMPROVING!

Granted their failures may outnumber their improvements, but in spite of their progress,  that athlete is STILL NOT SATISFIED…This blows my mind…

For Example: They couldn’t get their chin over the bar for a pull up…so they work hard, and figure out how to get their chin over the bar for a pull up…But now suddenly, 1 isn’t good enough because now they are upset they can’t link more than 1 at a time…so they work and figure out how to get a 3-5 in a row before they start failing…but that still isn’t good enough….and now they are upset they can’t get 6-10 in a row…all the while forgetting the fact that used to not even be able to do 1….It is a vicious cycle…

It is very easy to get caught in this trap with CrossFit. No matter how good you are at something, you always want more, and almost immediately discredit your accomplishments along the way, or lose sight of how far you have actually come. 

It happens to pretty much everyone at some point in their CrossFit “career”.

The key takeaway to remedy this habit is to understand INFLUENCE VS CONCERN.

The influence refers to things that are within your scope, or within your game.

The CONCERN represents things that are outside of your scope, or outside of your game.

The aspect of perspective is recognizing the difference between the two, and putting energy into the things you have direct influence on.

This is the foundation of establishing a positive SYSTEM for yourself, so you can appreciate the point A, the point B, what it took to get from point A to point B, and what it will take to get from point B to point C, because you have an entire alphabet to focus on. 

It is OK to be hungry and want MORE, but not at the expense of discrediting or FORGETTING where you started, or where you came from in the first place.

Control what you can control, influence what you can influence, and appreciate the process. 

Spirit of Leadership:

Again, this is an idea that can carry over to things outside of CrossFit, but we are going to keep it CrossFit related.

The kind of leadership I am speaking of is PERSONAL leadership, not so much group leadership.

If we are agreeing that it is a YOU vs YOU mentality, you had better be good a leading yourself.

I love the wolf analogy about whichever hypothetical wolf you feed, will be the wolf that survives and thrives.

The application is the same when you approach your workouts, your mindset, your fitness habits, etc. 

Think about how you act when you are in the gym, or working out.

What message does your body language give?

What message do your words give when talking about the task at hand, or your abilities relative to the task at hand?

To cite an example from the seminar:

“I have good news and bad news for you…the good news is that we are doing 100 burpees today…the bad news is that we are doing 100 burpees today…” Which wolf are you going to feed?

I understand that some people are actually motivated by negative self talk, or even self doubt. That way, if they set themselves up for failure in the beginning, they are positively surprised when they actually succeed.

An interesting concept with that idea is try to imagine if ANY negative thing you say about yourself would INSTANTLY manifest…would you still talk about yourself that way?

The spirit of leadership goes along well with perspective.

It is attitude.

Fix your attitude, and the rest takes care of itself. 

GOALS:

This is a big one.

As the saying goes: “A goal without a plan is just a dream…”

I can support that concept.

On a deeper level. There is another quote that says, “Losers have goals, winners have SYSTEMS.”

I can also accept that.

It is easy to say what you want to do, what you will do, or what you are going to do…but actually having the measures to make those things happen is what separates the accomplishments from the dreams.

Basic goal setting 101 says your goals need to be specific and concise, expressed positively, have a time frame on when you will accomplish them, and it must be something that inspires direction and dedication. This is only half of the battle.

I had all of those things when I was working out BEFORE CrossFit…but when it came to me performing at CrossFit, my SYSTEM was not efficient. I saw those problems, and changed my system to facilitate what I wanted.

If your system is not working for you, or if you aren’t enjoying the process, it is time to reevaluate your purpose. 

So WHY am I going off on this tangent? 

Mainly because 17.2 and 17.3 have put some people in a pretty crappy spot. 

Yes, there were some HUGE accomplishments and firsts for 17.2, but the overwhelming sentiment from the open participants was disappointment.

There was a decent amount of upset athletes thinking they could have done better, should have done better, or needed to do better.

Again, I understand those feelings, but the level of discouragement I saw in some was enough to warrant this pep talk. 

The Open is meant to be a fun time. It is meant to bring the communities of CrossFit athletes together. It is meant to bring out the best in athletes on a global level. 

However, every year without fail, the CrossFit Open also has the power to bring out the UGLY side of competition, feelings of defeat, feelings of inadequacy, and feelings of, “this isn’t fun anymore…”

My message to that, is KEEP IT ALL IN PERSPECTIVE.

Appreciate the open as 1 step in a longer journey.

This is a journey with no set destination, but a more so a journey with the opportunity of milestone after milestone of personal achievement.

The keyword being PERSONAL.

The Open is a great opportunity to face your weaknesses, or learn about weaknesses you didn’t know you had. It gives you the blueprint of what to work on, and my role is to help you establish a SYSTEM that will help you get where you want to be so your weaknesses will no longer be weaknesses.

That is the true take away.

So now that we are faced with 17.3, we are presented with a similar scenario from 17.2.

17.2 was a very short workout for those that did not have T2B, Pull Ups, or Bar Muscle ups. 

17.2 was a lot of “looking up at a bar doing nothing…” for a lot of people. 

17.2 left a lot of people feeling defeated. 

17.3 has the potential to do and be the same kind of workout for some…

17.3 is CTB pull ups and an increasing snatch ladder.

Enough with the dumbbells, finally we see a barbell in the open! 

You can find the standards and videos here:

https://games.crossfit.com/workouts/open/2017

https://project6-drupal.s3.amazonaws.com/cfg_open2017_event_17_3-9sbqi8712bdhsy6344dbs.pdf

Castro’s clue at the beginning of the week was this:

I saw a lot of guesses on what it might mean, but my favorite guess was that it meant this week would be a week to “shuffle” up the leaderboard.

Notoriously, weeks 3-4 of the CrossFit Open in years past have been weeks where the workouts get harder, or more technical in an effort to start weeding people out. This is no secret.

The open is designed to highlight and expose weaknesses. 

Do what you can if you are going RX. 

If you are not going RX, then appreciate the fact there is a scaled division, and give the scaled version everything you have! 

There is no shame in scaling these workouts. 

They are measurable, they are progressive, and they encompass the VAST MAJORITY of CrossFit Open participants. 

If you don’t have CTB pull ups, or aren’t even close to getting your first, you will be doing the scaled version of this workout. 

If you aren’t very good at CTB pull ups, or aren’t very strong when it comes to snatches…this will be another short workout for you (8 minutes, or less). 

What I need everyone to understand is:

THAT IS OK! 

There are only 2 more workouts to go after this! Let’s take on week 3 with a full head of steam!

I look forward to watching you all continue to accomplish what you used to think was impossible. 

Stay positive, stay motivated, and let’s do this! 

Saturday is game day, and I have a heat sign up sheet so people can put themselves in a time slot that works for them without having to stand around for hours waiting at the gym. Do your best to sign up if you can, and please let me know if you need help with that.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wwj_FJhtseMwMF2Zvq2VKNpeaWzsbTe-qe7eZMj43ls/edit?usp=sharing

As always, I will need judging help early on, so anyone that come and help out would be greatly appreciated! 

Here is Rudy’s strategy video from The Outlaw Way:

vimeo.com/207848715

I will be running heats of 4 at a time, and there will be adequate space for everyone to lift safely. 

I have the last heat starting at 1212pm, but I don’t see the action going much longer than that. 

Our week 3 sponsor is McClellan’s Brewing Company. They are hosting our 17.3 after party, and offering everyone from the gym $3 pints, and free soda. They have a full food menu as well, so even if you don’t plan on drinking, come hang out with us after! I will plan on being there around 1pm, but will post updates if plans change!

Shout out to United Lifters for making some pretty awesome memes for this workout since it highly favors the weightlifting types! 

Also, this is another one of my favorite CrossFit videos. The process is real, the transformation is real, and it is something that is different for everyone, but can speak to anyone on any level. 

If you read this far, thank you….that’s all I got for now….