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cherry picking wods, crossfit, crossfit camaraderie, crossfit community, crossfit motivation, crossfit on your own, cubcrossfitter, exercise excuses, Olympic weightlifting, perils of crossfitting alone, problems of crossfitting alone, wod alone
Couple of days ago a curious question came my way. Why is my blog called cub crossfitter?
Cub here denotes a beginner. Someone who is finding his feet in this beautiful fitness module called crossfit. Someone who is coming of age as an athlete.
So, here is the deal. I don’t belong to a box (a crossfit gym). I haven’t experienced the camaraderie that this great community brings along. Not because I am some antisocial psychopath, but because I have to drive great distances to get to a box.
For those who don’t know much about crossfit gyms. Here is what happens, no matter how fit or fat you are, at a crossfit box you are an ATHLETE. There is something called a WOD (workout of the day) which all the athletes irrespective of their gender, caste, creed, colour and sexual orientation attempt together. The crux of it they put in the work, suck up the pain, suffer and succeed together.
Usually workouts are time (where you race against the clock) or task based (finish a certain amount of work). The ones, who finish first, motivate the fellow athletes, and it’s true the folks who finish last get the loudest of cheers.
I am sure it would be great killing a WOD in a box. Much like a pride of lions. Hunting together, with their eyes firmly fixed on the prize. The prize you ask? To push past previous PR’s (personal record) finish faster, grow stronger and emerge fitter day after day.
I crossfit all ALONE. Most days my body is my barbell and my bedroom is my box. I have realized crossfitting alone has its fair share of glitches. Here are some purely personal problems of crossfitting alone.
1) There are no cheers on the sidelines. Cheers that choke the monkey chatter in your mind and push you to perform at your peak.
2) No words of encouragement, no high fives, no pat on the back when you hit a pretty PR.
3) There is no community to cushion you when your motivation sags or when you post mediocre scores.
4) The days you walk in and you feel like there is nothing left in the tank. You can’t feed off the energy of the box.
5) You tend to ABORT A WOD midway; I have been guilty of doing it twice. I doubt, if that really happens in a box. Even if you zone out, the fellow athletes bring you back to the task at hand.
6) Complex craft like Olympic lifting needs a Coach. It can’t happen in your bedroom. Unless you want to wreck yourself with mediocre mechanics and poor form.
7) Sometimes you cherry pick the workout, the programming patterns, play to your strengths and forget about your weakness
8) You miss one too many workouts.
Yes it must be great to strive and sweat with a group whose goals are similar to yours. But just because a box is at an obscene distance from where you stay shouldn’t be an excuse not to train.
So yes, I am going to WOD alone. Till a box comes nearby or till I open my OWN. Bottom line, this cub is going to kill every WOD that comes his way.
PICTURE COURTESY: crossfitonthehill.com, crossfitrevenge.com