Author; JAMIE TOLAND
I have to believe that I’m not the only one who’s been there. My alarm goes off, and heading into the box to grind out another challenging WOD is the last thing I want to do. First of all, it’s early and dark and sometimes the other option of sleeping and staying in bed sounds a lot better. I always joke that working out is so much harder than not working out.
Part of the gift and the curse at that time of the morning is that our coaches have been posting workouts the night before, so we have the benefit of knowing what’s being thrown our way, but on the flip side, we know what’s being thrown our way. However, when the alarm goes off at 4:15 a.m., maybe I’d be better off not knowing that the workout is going to be thrusters and running or something horrible like that.
What I’ve focused on recently is that even if the workout is not something I have any desire to do, I’ve been pushing myself to get my butt up and head into the gym. I’ve been doing CrossFit long enough to have an idea what is going to be tolerable and what is going to make me rethink my life choices.
There really is no benefit in skipping the WODs you don’t feel like showing up for. In fact, it makes more sense to get in and do those because it most likely is a weakness you need to work on. You don’t have to be a Regional or Games athlete to know that working on weaknesses will make you a better overall CrossFitter.
Last week, we had a workout that was an 800-meter run followed by 21-15-9 of burpee box jumps and toes-to-bars. No way I wanted to do any of those three movements, especially at 5 a.m., but I was really interested in the strength portion that was programmed to start off the training, which was two reps of snatch every 90 seconds for 10 sets. Because I decided to suck it up and go in, I ended up hitting reps at just under my one-rep max for a set of two to end the strength part and then proceeded to do the entire WOD at the Rx level (which I don’t do that often). By doing both those things, I was in a great mood the rest of the day and got to work on two things that I am incredibly slow at: burpee box jumps and toes-to-bars.
The point is there are always going to be days that you just aren’t feeling it. In the past, I’ve used that rationale to justify taking a day off or getting more sleep. But what I’m starting to discover is that the more times I decide that I’m heading in Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday each week, regardless of the workout, I feel much better about my efforts and my mentality is becoming stronger as well as my body.
https://www.theboxmag.com/box-blogs/arent-feeling-11932
