I've been Crossfitting off and on for about 3 years now. During that time, I've also been super ADD about my fitness and health goals, so focus has not been my strong point. About 9 months ago, I moved to San Diego, and it only took me about 4 months to stop being a chicken and join a new Crossfit gym. (I also joined 2 different running clubs, ran 1 half marathon, joined a yoga studio, joined Tri Club, etc. etc. etc.)
Recently, I came to the realization that being ADD wasn't helping me achieve anything - in fact the scale was going in the opposite direction, I was becoming a much slower runner, I felt out of shape, and in general, my health felt like it was getting worse. So I've decided that I am going to pick one thing to focus on at a time, and try to get really good at it. I had a chance conversation with one of my coaches at Crossfit, and told her exactly that, and she brought up a really great question:
What do you ENJOY doing?
She went on to explain that even though Crossfit is her career (and she is an accomplished Crossfit Games athlete), that sometimes she just has to take a step backward and remember that she is working out for FUN.
After thinking about it, I really do think I enjoy Crossfit more than the other workout endeavors I've done in the past. Lifting heavy things is so much more sastisfying (and takes far less time!) than running several miles very slowly. And the feeling that I get after finishing a tough WOD just can't be beat!
So having made this choice, I decided to sit down and really think about why I have been so inconsistent with Crossfit over the last several years, and how I can change those road blocks to make it easier on myself. I'll go over all of these little road blocks in more detail later, but the first one makes sense to talk about now. I haven't seen progress because I haven't been consistent.
To prove this to myself, I went back and looked at the last several months and noted how many classes I've been to each week. My membership up until how has been a 3x/week membership. Numbers don't lie, but they did tell a kinder story than I was telling myself:
The WHYs on my inconsistency vary:
- Crazy weeks at work (there was a two-week stretch where I really couldn't leave the house to attend classes as much as I wanted to)
- I was too sore to go back to another class
- Travel (work and/or personal)
- I didn't want to go for the workout they happened to be doing that day
- I didn't want to go for the workout they happened to be doing that day BECAUSE it would have negatively impacted something else I was trying to do at the time (i.e. made my legs sore, and I had a big run the following day)
- I was scared of the workout that was posted
- I didn't think I could do it
- I felt too slow/weak to "fit in" during the workout
- I didn't think anyone would notice I was missing (no peer pressure to show up regularly)
- I just didn't feel like it
So my first step to tackle this inconsistency was made at the suggestion of the coach I mentioned before. I changed my membership to include one small-group class per week. So now, on Tuesday afternoons, I am meeting with the same 3 people to do a personalized workout with the same coach each time. That little change has helped a LOT already, and I've only done it twice so far! Just having the coach check in with me at the beginning of that class to see what classes I had been to so far that week is enough motivation to keep coming back. With this new membership, I can come to unlimited regular classes during the week, but my goal right now is to work my way up to an average of 4/week. This membership will take me through September 3, which is convenient because that is when my travel schedule for work starts to get a little crazy. LASER FOCUS until then should hopefully improve my fitness and my health!
So, here's to an awesome 6 months of CONSISTENCY and hopefully RESULTS!
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