Mondays are pretty easy WODs ...
6 Rounds for time of:
400m Run / 25 lateral jump burpees
Ever done the "Tillman" workout from CrossFit Football? A fun filled adventure of 7 rounds of 7 deadlifts @ 315#/a full gasser/15 pull-ups. You rest 45 seconds between rounds. Last year I did this WOD and I wanted to quit in round #3... and I did. That was the first time I ever quit in the middle of the WOD. Just ask Hemi, I think she witnessed it. One week later and I went back after it and got it done in no time. For some reason we all might think about quitting during a workout. Why is that? Why do we keep at it even though we hate it and we are miserable?
I started CrossFit training over four years ago. In that time frame, I have only quit in the middle of a workout once. I figure I have done over 500 workouts in my short CrossFit career. I've quit once, but I have wanted to quit in at least 498 others... and yet I finished them all (some in not very spectacular fashion). I guess for me, there is a satisfaction in finishing such a hard task, both mentally and physically. It is especially rewarding when you finish better than you thought possible. The end is my reward. Why miss out on the best part?
Have you ever quit during a workout? Have you ever thought about quitting CrossFit? What is it that keeps you going during an exceptionally heinous workout? Post your experiences and thoughts to comments, I know they are some fine folks out there that may need your comments to encourage them to stay the course ahead.
-BD
August 16, 2010 - 6:59 pm
Have I ever wanted to quit a cross fit work out? Yes.
When we do a week where it seems like all we do is burpees. a week where all we do is pull ups. a week where all we do is snatch. A week where all we do is all the above.Yes I want to quit…. but I don’t. I’m, usually the last in my group. the oldest in my group, the weakest in my group. But I don’t quit.
If I quit i don’t hear kenton and bulldog urging me on. If I quit I don’t have Mish and Squirrel cheering for me to finish. If I quit i DON’T HAVE A DAY WHERE I AMAZE MYSELF WITH WHAT EVERYONE HAS DONE AND HELPS ME TO DO. If I quit I just go back to pretending I am fit, and that what I do are work outs. I never quit a fight, and Cross Fit is a fight. every time I put on my little five fingers I fight my mind that it’s to hard and I am to old and slow, and fat, and some one in by the white board with a smile a greeting, ands the excitement anticipating 3,2,1 go!!!!
do I ever want to quit a work out ? Yes right up to the time the cross fit family starts to cheer me on.some one come and does the last stretch of my run with me, and does some burpees with me, or offers me some water as I’m laying there nearly dead on the floor.so yeah, I want to quit. but I’ll be back tomorrow. I;ll quit later when I’ve finished the wod and theres nobody there who gives a @#$% about any one but themselves.
August 16, 2010 - 8:45 pm
Three quotes from the late, great Jim Valvano (Jimmy-V) that I love, and say all that is needed about crossfit, and about life:
“How do you go from where you are to where you want to be? I think you have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal, and you have to be willing to work for it.”
“To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.”
“”Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.””
August 17, 2010 - 6:32 am
Bill, your mental attitude is what makes you so successful at what you do…finishing what you started. Yesterday I heard what the WOD was before I went, and seriously thought about not showing up, but I know I will not get stronger if I do not work on my weaknesses, and that keeps me going. Quitting runs through my mind often, but I tell myself “just think about one rep at a time”
August 17, 2010 - 10:20 am
Quitting during a difficult task is dangerous and can be a very slippery slope. I believe it can be habit forming. I have persoanlly experienced that habit take shape in my own life. Giving up can become easier and easier each time you do it.
Quitting or giving up can also be accomplished in various ways.Some of them you can even get away with and no one will ever know but you and there in lies the danger.
The obvious case of quitting is not completing the task at hand in the company of others. The workout calls for 125 burpees; you get to 78 and shut it down. For some that can be an easy decision but for others it is not an option simply due to their own personal sense of pride. They continue griniding through the workout simply for the sake of completion but maybe more so that they are not seen by others as failures.
In my short Crossfit life (7 months) I have finished every workout I have started. In the beginning I scaled some workouts but always finished them. However I have \"mentally quit\" on several occcasions. Those workouts where you have a goal in mind and at some point you do the math, realize you can\’t possibly make your goal. You wind it down and come in on a glide . You finish the workout so no one else knows you quit but if you tell yourself the truth you know you quit. Is that as detrimental as out and out giving up? I don\’t know but I never feels as good when I\’m finished.
We are all going at this for different reasons. It is part of what makes showing up at the gym every day enjoyable but it seems to me that the one common goal we all have is finishing. I can honestly say that some of the best inspiration I have received has come from those workouts where I witnessed somone really gut it out. Their time becomes irrelevant at that point. The accomplishment came from accepting the pain and grinding it out. One of the coolest quotes I have heard from a crossfitter came from one of those videos and the guy said, \"Crossfit is about becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable\"
That segment that B-Rob posted came from Jimmy V\’s speach at the ESPY\’s (a week before he died). It is one of the best motivational testimonies I have ever seen. If you can find it somewhere I would recomend watching it.
August 17, 2010 - 3:37 pm
I get the feeling alot, yesterday as a matter of fact, as hot as it was and me not being very hydrated made me want to quit after 2 rds.. Will I quit no, I have only quit on 1 workout from what I remember and it was because my lower back was shot and couldn’t bear the pain anymore. It was a Deadlift, kettle bell, and run wod back in the day and the running just made my lower back tighten up horribly.. But since then I have worked on that so I dont run into that again. When I first came to CrossFit I hated squats and was very weak in that category! Now I have a love/hate relationship with them, more love then hate of course. It was sad when I could Bench press about 100lbs more than my max squat at one point. If I would have known better I would have focused more on the muscle groups and lifts we encounter in a everyday life. So I can suck up my pride and say I have gained in all aspects of CrossFit other than my Bench
Its a new way of life and fitness, and I plan on doing it for the remainder of my years.
August 18, 2010 - 6:19 am
My new CF life has been short – one month as of Monday. I have wanted to quit about 1/2 way through each WOD – but I haven’t. The people at CF are the most awesome part (well and my clothes fitting better too). CF has spilled over to other parts of my life – new found confidence, happiness, friends, and overall better health. I come from a family were both my parents and numerous other reletives are severly obese – CF is helping to save me before it gets out of control for me too. Don’t quit – tough it out – the result is so worth it all. Thanks CF family.
August 18, 2010 - 10:11 am
giddy-up Horse Chick!!!