We have a few badass athletes at the gym, and it’s fun (though sometimes annoying) to watch them work out. They lift 225lbs like it’s nothing, they blow through 25 pullups in a single unbroken set in each of the 4 rounds of a workout, they throw around the 70lb kettlebells like they’re made of styrofoam, and they finish every workout with a time or a score that makes you question whether or not they’re human. In short, they make it look easy.
You want to be like that too (don’t we all?), and there’s no reason you can’t. The part that you’re forgetting is that they didn’t start that way. When Kevin started doing CrossFit (in December of 2009), he could only get 10 rounds of “Cindy” (his current PR is 26 rounds), Ray couldn’t do kipping pullups for the *longest* time, and Jackson even had to use a band! Casey and Lindsay also used bands to assist their pullups in the beginning, and now they both do muscle-ups.
But just because they can do it doesn’t mean that you should be trying it at the same weights or level of difficulty. When I’m watching freestyle ski jumpers I think to myself, “That looks like fun,” but I’m not stupid enough to go try it on the same scale. I’d be smashed into oblivion in one jump (it’s worth it to skip the advertisement and watch the video on that one).
The monsters at the gym didn’t start out comically strong and blazing fast, they began slow and weak like everyone else. They had to scale lots of movements, and they all finished their (scaled) workouts near the bottom of the pack for awhile. (I’m still nostalgic about when I was way better than Kevin.)
They followed the coaches instructions, and progressed slowly.
The speed at which you progress isn’t important; the fact that you are progressing is. Push your limits, but don’t push past them. If you don’t have control of a 225lb deadlift, then lighten the load and allow yourself the time to build the strength. If your chin doesn’t go all the way over the bar on every single pullup, you need a bigger band (or you need to pull harder).
You can’t become a superhero overnight, so stop trying. But you can be 1% better than you were yesterday, and I expect you to bust your ass every single day to make that happen. Every one of you can give 1% more than you did yesterday. Make that a habit in the gym (and in life), and you’ll amaze yourself at where you are in 6 months.
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I love this post, Tai. Well said. As the wife of one of these ‘badass athletes’, I stuggled for years knowing that I would never be the athlete that he is relative to my own peer group. After joining CFMC, learning and watching others demonstrate the concept that you shared in this post (and shedding lots of tears!), I’ve finally started to realize that the only person I’m competing against is myself. I can support him and be proud of him without resenting the fact that I’ll never be as good as him. It’s a great feeling and helped our relationship tremendously.
I needed this reminder. Thanks!