10 Lessons from 10 Years of CrossFit
A whole decade! I must have learnt a few things that could be useful, so here its goes, in no particular order.
1) If its not fun, it won’t stick
So we all know consistency is king, but how do you be consistent? Discipline doesn’t come from a lifetime of talking yourself into it things you don’t enjoy.
It’s about finding something that’s fun, that you do enjoy, that you know makes you feel better when you’ve done it, and the occasional little pep talk to stop being lazy and actually do the thing that makes you feel good.
2) Eat your veg
Sometimes this fitness stuff is so stupidly easily to understand, its not about the next wanky berry extract that will increase performance or make you live longer. Just eat some greens. Do the simple stuff first
3) Community matters
Your tribe is your vibe. Find likeminded people, it matters waaaay more than you think.
4) Be openly competitive
A rising tide raises all ships. I love petty goals, I love beating my mates by 1KG and letting them know about it. Make competition fun. See its role in making everyone up their game. Competition is about bringing everyone up to a higher standard, be open about it.
5) Sleep
I know, you’ve heard this one before. But it’s the one thing that makes everything in life better. Good moods, recovery, gains, longevity… keep the list going. The simple stuff makes a difference.
6) People overestimate short term potential and underestimate long term potential
Can you get quick results? Hell yeah, but, like a watched pot that doesn’t boil. If you keep looking for progress, you often don’t see it. Then over the long term, many people stick around because they feel good day to day, and like the social. Then a decade later… you find that you’re stupidly fit.
7) Motivation comes in waves
When things are going well, ride the wave! Go off the program, max out, do the extras, get the gains. When things aren’t in your favor. Maintaining fitness is way easier than getting it in the first place. Over the long term, there will be periods where you want to do the bare minimum to hold on to some fitness. I’ve been here loads of times. Over a long enough time frame, these maintenance periods with low motivation, just doing something is enough to give you a base for when you get back at it again. Ride the wave. Don’t force it.
8) Lifestyle Factors make a big difference
The people that often get the best progress, have low stress, good routines and habits, sleep well, and eat with consistency and precision. Do your best, then manage your expectations around what’s realistic in your life. For some people its about giving yourself a break when you have a lot going on. For others its about seeing an opportunity to throw yourself in when things are in your favor.
9) Morning vs Evening
You can only change your natural rhythm so much. I would love to be a morning person. I see people are more consistent. They are awake and energized for the day ahead. They are also made this way. What they don’t tell you is how 8pm comes around and they’ve crashed and burned and you wouldn’t be unable to get a conversation out of them.
Evening people, try a morning or 2, but if you feel sleep deprived all day, the tradeoff isn’t worth it. There's other ways to make a routine stick.
For me, after a day of work, getting to the gym and training is an off switch. I train with more intensity, and yeah, I’m less consistent, but I’m more effective. Circadian rhythms are a big deal, and you should be aware of individual differences and know what your body is best at.
10) It doesn’t get easier, you just get better
Every year I convince myself that I haven’t made as much progress this year. Reliably I prove myself wrong. Black and white scores show me otherwise.
If you’re doing this fitness thing right, every time you get fitter, you make the challenge a little harder, and then at times you don’t feel like your making progress because you are always in a state of finding that threshold of your abilities. Finding the things you are not able to achieve. This, finding that point of frustration, and training at the threshold of your abilities, it makes you feel like you are not making progress, and you will inevitably make progress because of it.
I have been frustrated with my slow progress for 10 years now, and its paying off.
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