Competitions and CrossFit

I’m a pretty competitive person in general but I am not a fan of doing competitions.  I get myself all worked up, get a stomach ache for days and frankly it hurts, the next day you wonder where the truck is that ran you over and backed up over you.  You push yourself harder than you would on a daily basis and you learn a lot about yourself.  At these competitions I rarely win and I like to win.  There are always those that are better than you and there are always those that are worse and sometimes you are dead last but at least you know where you stand.

Why would I keep doing them?  Mainly because I love the adrenaline rush, the camaraderie of the team and the CrossFit community.  Beyond winning, everyone there wants you to do the best that YOU can do.  It’s one big team.  You can always feel it.  It’s palatable.

Yesterday in the final team competition the last task was to lunge with a 70 pound axle bar (fat fucker) over your head.  Let me tell you, it was not easy.  One of the women was struggling hard, dropping it without making the distance.  The crowd gathered around her cheering her forward.  Time was running out and she didn’t have anything left, yet she never gave up, drawing strength from the crowd.  It’s amazing to see, no one cared that she couldn’t do it they just cared that she was trying and giving everything she had.

If we could pull this from the competition and translate it into the real world, think of how much better off we would be as a society.  Instead of belittling people and pushing them down, why don’t we pull them up?  Cheer for little victories because in life it’s all about the little victories.

Freedom

“Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”~Janis Joplin I am at a place in my life where I am faced with absolute freedom.  I have no plan, no idea what is next.  I keep telling myself I should …

Perfection, no thanks!

Posing naked for photographs can be a very humbling experience. It has the power to crush you or empower you. Since I am all about empowerment I chose power. The power comes from acceptance of who I am and how I look.

 

In the Crossfit world there are superior bodies. Young athletes with their bodies sculpted like a marble statue. There is this goal in front of you, this desire to be them. To be as strong, as fit, as lean, to be as young. I have finally accepted that I’m not perfect. That is impossible, perfection can not be a goal. It doesn’t exist. Our flaws are what make us real and what I realized is, I like being me.

 

I like my bald head and my freckles from too much sun. I like the scars I have earned from living in this sharp world. I have also realized that I like being strong, I like being fit, and I don’t mind the fluff that covers my muscles. I will continue to eat clean and push my body but I have learned to be comfortable in it. It’s mine, it’s taken me through 40 fantastic years, it’s bore me two beautiful children and it’s strong as shit, almost as strong as my will.

 

What I want is for others to find this in themselves. To find acceptance in their own skin. I want others to treat themselves well and attain the goal of health, not perfection. Comparing ourselves to others only leads to disappointment because we are not each other. We are our own special creatures, each individual unique. Love who you are.

 

 

Working Wounded

This past weekend I had the privilege of judging a Crossfit® competition.  If you have never seen a Crossfit® competition, they are demonstrations of ones physical prowess.  People push themselves to their limits, running, jumping, lifting weights or their own body weight in timed heats.  They are grueling events with the participants cheered on by the crowd.  What made this particular event exceptional was the participants themselves.  The working wounded.  These men and women are severely wounded veterans, amputees and adaptive athletes.  These athletes do not allow their physical limitations to hold them back, in fact they have the ability to push harder than a lot of able-bodied athletes I have seen.

The human spirit is amazing and was shining strong at Crossfit Rubicon in Vienna Virginia on a beautiful fall morning.  The second annual Working Wounded Games, nearly doubling in size from the first year gave the opportunity to these warriors to show their stuff.  The workouts were scalable to the athletes abilities but don’t let the idea of scaling fool you.  Athletes without their legs were scaling 6 foot walls and making it look easy.

Steph Hammerman, an adaptive athlete with cerebral palsy, drug a weighted sled behind her, each step a struggle, but pushed on with the crowd screaming encouragement as she crossed the finish line.

I stood amongst a sea of rowing machines as the warriors pulled out the last workout, 8 minutes to burn as many calories on the rower as possible without the use of their legs.  The seats were made immobile and the athletes saddled up.  3..2..1..GO!  The hum of the rowers was drowned out by the roar of the crowd as the athletes were cheered on to pull as hard and as fast as they could.  My athlete, Izzy,  had her service dog with her and the dog laid on my foot as I encouraged her master.  The excitement in the room was palatable yet the dog remained calm while keeping an eye on her owner through the entire 8 minute workout.

Pull, pull, PULL!  8 minutes was up, athletes were exhausted yet smiling.  They had done it.  They finished what they had started that day and we were all a little better for it.

You never know how strong you really are until you are tested.  Those tests, no matter how challenging are beautiful.  Not beautiful in the sense we know as in a flower but in the sense of spirit and of perseverance, of over coming that challenge before you and being stronger for it.