Step 2

I covered Step 1 in my 6-month journey in my first blog post here, so now I'd like to talk about Step 2, which has almost been more important than signing up for more individual instruction.

NO CHECKING THE WORKOUT BEFORE I GET TO THE GYM

Since I went to my very first Crossfit class, I've really enjoyed the fact that I could see the workout before I actually got to the gym. I thought it was crucial that I look at the workout and mentally prepare for it. My current gym posts the next day's WOD around 9:15pm - I was getting to the point where I would obsessively refresh the browser until the new post came up. Then, once I saw the workout, I'd make one or two of the below statements:

• "Oh my god - this workout is AWFUL!"
• "There's  no way I can do that!"
• "Oh no, burpees again? I'm definitely not going to that class."
• "But my legs are already sore! I can't go to class if they're doing squats!"

And on and on. Before I'd fall asleep at night, I would mentally go through the workout - trying to figure out my timing, how long it would take me to get through it, bargaining with myself over what weights to use, and basically just getting a huge dose of stress right before going to sleep! Far too often, I'd wake up already having decided that I wasn't going to the gym that day. Plus, to add insult to injury, the workouts that I usually felt were "safe" ended up being much more painful in reality than I thought! I was really starting to have a confidence crisis about even going to the gym in the first place.

So as I mentioned before, I really sat down and tried to figure out why I wasn't being consistent with my workouts, and how I could fix that. I came to the realization that getting myself all stressed out about the workouts before I even got to the gym was probably counter-productive. So I decided to try something new  - I wouldn't look at the workout until I walked into the gym a few minutes before class.

The first time I did that was March 28. I was TERRIFIED to go into the gym, but I had made the commitment to myself that I was going to go no matter what. When I saw the workout on the board, I was even more scared - this workout included two of my least favorite things (burpees and thrusters), plus one that I just can't do yet (double-unders). But you know what? 

I survived. 

And I felt proud of myself.

So yeah, it was pretty refreshing! Trying to take it one day at a time, my next scheduled class was the following Monday, and I didn't look at the workout ahead of time again. And I survived. The same thing happened on Tuesday, and Thursday, and the following Monday, etc. So I am now up to 7 total WODs that I went into not knowing what was ahead. There were at least 5 that had I seen, I definitely would have skipped. And while they weren't all fun, they all made me a tiny bit more proud of myself each time. 

So I definitely think this rule is working for me! I have now gone to the gym 3x/week for 3 weeks in a row, and the next step is to work myself up to 4 classes a week. And the only way I'm going to get there is by not chickening out before I even leave the house!