Random Thoughts from a Restless Mind

The image is as clear in my mind as if it happened last weekend. There I am sitting at the kitchen table, the catalogue of courses and extracurricular offerings at the college I was about to attend open before me, my Dad reading a magazine nearby. Having long ago decided on a pre-med curriculum my classes were for all intents pre-chosen.

What amazed was all of the non-academic offerings. There was literally everything you could think of. I checked off water polo, the outing club, and some other exotic activity I can’t remember now. Oh yeah…did I mention that I was a recruited football player and that I would start my college career a week early when I reported for camp?

Dad looked up from whatever it was he was reading and chuckled. “You can’t do everything. You’ll have to choose.” Pretty simple, but awfully powerful. Once upstream choices are made the universe of downstream possibilities is changed, so part of Dad’s advice was to prioritize which choices you make when. In my excitement at the discovery of all the options available at my tiny little college I’d forgotten about higher priority choices I’d already made: be pre-med and play football. My world like yours and everyone else’s would be bound 24/7/365. Goodbye water polo. So long Outing Club. I’d be lucky to find time for a beer.

It’s like that in CrossFit, too. CrossFit is fun. Getting better at stuff is fun. Stronger, faster, leaner…all fun. There are all kinds of cool things to get good at, too. I mean, the snatch? Right? What’s cooler than a silky smooth snatch?! You know the answer to that one: a really BIG silky smooth snatch! Heck, one-armed KB snatches aren’t even the coolest thing you can do with a KB. Don’t even get me started about C&J, Turkish Get-ups, Pose running, all that awesome mobility stuff Kel talks about, and come on, there’s something called Virtual Shoveling. All of the CrossFit FB pages, Youtube channels and Instagram stuff is exactly like that catalogue on my kitchen table so many years ago.

In my mind I see my Dad nodding, see the wry smile on his face. You can’t do it all. You’ll have to choose. Everyone has to make choices. Listen to Rich Froning on Julie Foucher’s inaugural podcast talking about choices this year. Heck, go back a couple of years and read what Julie wrote on her blog about CrossFit and school. There are important choices you’ll have to make upstream from your CrossFit choices, and those upstream decisions will alter the menu for your CrossFit choices.

Need a job? Hopefully you have one then. Best not only show up to work but also be at your best when you do. You might need to consider some of your CrossFit choices in light of how they might affect you on the job. Got a family? Hopefully your family life is happy, makes you happy. Best show up and be your best there, too. Sure, being a better version of you through the work you do in the Box might make you better at home, unless getting fitter means not being at home.

In the gym it’s more of the same. The snatch is really cool and all, but is it deserving of the amount of attention and time we devote to it at the expense of say a better, safer kipping pull-up? You’ve decided to do CrossFit and there are simply some things that you have to do well before you move get a big snatch. Become CrossFit fit, for example.

Once you’ve made other, bigger choices (job, family, etc.) how much CrossFit you can do might be less than the amount that would allow you to expand much beyond core CrossFit. The WOD. Maybe a little supplemental strength work. Skill work that makes you better at common movements. Mobility in an effort to injury-proof yourself (so you can be your best at work and at home). If you live in SoCal I understand how irresistible the whole virtual shoveling thing is, but maybe a better back squat might be in order first.

CrossFit is no different than my old-fashioned college catalogue; it’s different only in degree for athletes seeking fitness and those seeking fame and fortune. In a universe bounded 24/7/365 you can’t do everything.

You’ll have to choose.

Posted by bingo at July 19, 2015 12:06 PM