Workout of the Day:
Four rounds as quickly as you can of:
12 x Deadlift
9 x Hang Power Clean
6 x Front Squat
3 x Push Jerk
15 x Pull-Up
(Set up one bar and storm through as quickly as possible. Suggested weights: Men – 135 to 155 lbs./Women – 95 to 115 lbs.)
Amazing Women, Amazing Athletes
Ladies, It’s Time We Talk
Written by CrossFit Invictus Charter Member Courtney Johnson
After Fight Gone Bad on Wednesday I sat down and had a chat with Lil’ Cheddies McBean. We were both griping about our performances. After a few minutes of our pity party however, we realized that we were being ridiculous. We were getting down on ourselves when we should have been congratulating each other on accomplishing a tough workout. After talking for a few minutes we realized that we’ve seen many other women go through the same thing lately. It seems as though most CrossFit men seem to take their performances, good and bad, in stride. But many of us women tend to be a bit tougher on ourselves when we don’t perform as well as we think we should.
In any fitness or athletic endeavor, especially one as intense as CrossFit, athletes go through periods of highs and lows. These periods can last for days, weeks or even a month or so. I personally have been experiencing a low for the past few weeks. We have all been there, and unfortunately, many of us have beaten ourselves up over it. But getting down on yourself does not help you bounce back; in fact, it does quite the opposite. A lot of us women feel pressure to be amazing mothers, wives, girlfriends and employees, and the added pressure of setting a new PR every day at the gym can be overwhelming. But just because you had an off day doesn’t mean you are a failure, and it doesn’t mean you aren’t improving. Sometimes, it just means you had a bad day and we need to shake it off and try again the next day.
We need to remember why we love CrossFit – because it has helped to make us strong and confident women. Unfortunately that confidence has been shaken for a lot of us at times, myself included. The whiteboard we have in the gym is meant to showcase others’ accomplishments and achievements, yet many of us come in, look at the board, and think, “who do I have to beat today?” I am 100% guilty of this; somewhere along the line I lost my perspective on why CrossFit is important to me.
A few months ago I was peaking and often found myself at or near the top of whiteboard. But then I had a few off days which led to a couple inconsistent weeks at the gym. Suddenly I wasn’t at the top of the whiteboard anymore. This was a tough pill for me to swallow, and I let it affect me.
When I look back on how my performance started to improve a few months ago, I can see that my goals were different. I had just started doing workouts as prescribed, so I went to CrossFit every day, not with the intention of being the best, but with the intention of pushing myself to achieve something I hadn’t before. The second I started focusing on just beating someone is when I started to not perform as well. I lost my focus.
I know I am not alone with this experience. There are a lot of women who have lost their perspective on why we love CrossFit and why we show up every day to put ourselves through tough workouts. We need to come together as women and remember what studs we are, forget about the bad days – they happen and will continue to happen. However we need to let go of the pressures we put on ourselves to be super wives, super moms, and super athletes. We are already super studs because we are CrossFit women. We need to come together as women to celebrate our achievements and put the “bad days” behind us.
Michele, Coryna (”Cheddies McBean”) and I decided that it is time for the Women of Invictus to head out for ladies night to celebrate our strength and beauty. On Friday, June 26 at 7:00 p.m. we will meet at CrossFit Invictus and head out for a CrossFit Ladies dinner party from there. Please RSVP on the whiteboard or to michele@crossfitinvictus.com. Please RSVP by Thurday evening so we can make reservations.
I know a lot of us having been talking about our frustrations with performance, injuries, mental blocks, and overcoming obstacles. It’s amazing what we can achieve with the right mind set.
Some of you have met Aly Willer-a fellow crossfiter…..I hope she doesn’t mind me sharing her story…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpYOcXZIPaA&feature=player_embedded
All you women are so amazing! No matter if your making a new PR or not you all are inspiration to so many women. You all are the reason that I joined Crossfit. No matter if your just starting out like I am or lifting crazy weight amounts like some others, we each are strong in mind, endurance, and have the will to push ourselves to that next marker. It’s such a great feeling watching everyone grow and add on that extra weight. But we all finish a lot more now then we started!
Thank you Courtney for the article. Wish I could join you but I will be visiting Jill-da-beast!
Well said Courtney. If I lived in Sand Diego, I would definitely be in! I find all the ladies of Crossfit amazing and inspiring. Keep up the good work and be proud. I know I am of you!!
Awesome post Courtney. I couldn’t agree more. I’m just happy I actually make it through the door, let alone the workout! As an added perspective to your post, it seems that negativity has a domino effect. I’ve had stellar workouts, and then will talk to another gal that thinks she did terrible, etc., regardless of her time, and then I start to judge my performance, the very one I was proud of not a few minutes before. Let’s have some awareness with each other. Even if it was the worst wod of you CrossFit life, shine the negative self-talk, give yourself and someone else a congratulations on the workout and move on.
Bummed I am missing the ladies night, have fun!!
I feel ya! With 2 jobs and full time school i barley have 2 hours to travel between jobs, but in all honesty, you women are one of the primary reasons i bust my ass to make it whenever possible.
umm, perhaps you all are in the mood for The Linkery friday night? Unfortunately, i do have to work. But we have a really big party room you all are welcome to!!
I’ll just wave from my kitchen while i make your amazing food.
Nice post Court, you’re even getting mama J responding now! I second your words, be more confident in our abilities, and we’ll perform better, go farther, move faster, because we think we can!
How many women (outside of CrossFit) do you know who can do one pull-up ? Nevermind 100 in a row for Angie, be proud of yourself and everything you have accomplished and continue to strive for more.
(Sorry I’m missing ladies night too:()
You girls kick ass! I’m always amazed by the times & weights you girls put-up. It’s healthy to be critical of your performance and push your limits …it’s counter-intuitive when you fail to reward your accomplishments. The playing field is level and it’s a pleasure competing against everyone one of you ladies! Even though you all kick my ass on a daily basis
Courtney-
This is an excellent post. I appreciate your thoughts on this topic. I don’t know if you are dead on with one fact though. I myself suffer from what you talk about. I don’t think that this is just a woman issue; I think there are plenty of men out there who suffer from what you have spoken of. Especially the men of Invictus. Lots of us are law enforcement and military, and special programs in those branches (EOD, Divers, Rescue Swimmers, SEAL, [?]).
I personally beat myself up daily-ish. I look at the board and know who has set the bar for me that day, and count how many people I blasted that day. I don’t like to be bottom of the list. I sprint the “warm-up” run, just to be the first one in. this happens for a variety of reasons-poor body image, competitive nature, fear of failure, fear of not-”leaving it all on the mat”, and also for some (chauvinistic as it is) being bested by a woman.
Crossfit’s motto is “forging elite athletes”- nobody here wants to be forged into a mediocre athlete, Globo has that all wrapped up.
I aint not sports psychologist, but if you are here and dedicated, you are doing something right. I would love to talk about this all day long, but this is really a case of you need to know that you are doing excellent, and that is a general statement. All the men and women I see here at Invictus leave it there at the gym, you are all doing an outstanding job.
I hope there is somehting here that can help someone out. Maybe I am the only man who has this problem, I hope this is not the case. Sometimes knowing that you are not the only one with an issue is beneficial.
thanks to all who read this
Great post! Very timely- I have talked to a handful of women in the past few weeks about this very thing. A great way to gain perspective is to be active in other things. Whether it’s hiking, yoga, running, swiming or other sports you cannot deny that CrossFit makes you stronger, quicker and allows you to recover faster. I play soccer on the weekends and my teammates could give a crap about my Fran time. They don’t care that my back rounds during a Dead Lift or that my ring dips suck! They just want me to mark up and run my ass off! When I get thrown into the wall by the goalie I don’t talk smack, I calmly let him know that “I can do this all day if he wants to”. HA!
Wow! Katie, Christina and Tabitha look beautiful in that picture. So strong and determined!
I just have fun every day. I’ve never been an athlete (shocked, are you?), so I don’t have that competitive “gotta beat the best” drive. Beating my previous times and weights is nice, but I don’t get too upset if it doesn’t happen. I’m really happy with what I’m doing.
I REALLY like the no time component for the WODs this week. Not having that pressure really kept me focused on my form. Thank you, CJ!!
Everyday I’m both impressed and humbled by the effort I see put forth by the women of Crossfit Invictus. It inspires me to work harder. Everyone has their reasons for joining Crossfit and the number one reason that I joined was because of the competitive aspect of it. This aids me in pushing myself to my limits and if we stopped measuring progress by keeping track of times and weights I would not enjoy it nearly as much as I do. There is nothing like achieving a new PR but it will not consistently happen every day. I know this and I don’t let it get me down when it doesn’t happen. My goal is to walk away from the gym each day knowing that I gave it my best for that given day.
Awesome Kenny G!! You rocked it today, nice work
Great post Court..although I am new to CrossFit and look forward to improving, I have a long, long way to go before I look at the whiteboard and feel like I can even come close to the other CrossFit studs. I do, however, get down on myself all of the time for not being able to lift more weight or go faster, instead of just enjoying the process and the challenges that come with the WODs. Looking forward to Friday!
Courtney this is the best post ever!! I am in for Friday…:)
I will be out of town the whole week, I hope you do this again cuz I’d love to go. I’ll see you all when I return!
I am late on reading the post but wanted to tell you, Court, how great it was. As I am just beginning, I haven’t really experienced the competitive component yet. I have found the environment you and all the other women create is a wonderful blend of encouragement and challenge. I have loved my last few months at CrossFit because of how you all approach the WODs and how you cheer each other on.
I am super bummed that I will miss the dinner on Friday. But hopefully there will be another one in the near future.
Hello Courtney – Just wanted to say thank you for writing such a wonderful article. I CrossFit in Saskatoon-Canada. You put in words what I have been feeling and going through for a while. I thought I was the only one and was beating myself up for being so negative but after reading your article and the responses I feel better – knowing that I am not the only one who feels that way and also bcos it has made feel like I am not a loser. I needed some words of encouragement and your article and the resposes gave me that and even though they were not directed at me I still feel encouraged and I sincerely thank you for writing this piece. If I could join you on Friday I would but unfortunately I cannot
– Enjoy your evening.
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Thank yo so much for this article! The ladies at CF Austin struggle with this daily!! We are so hard on ourselves when we do the littlest things wrong. It is good to be reminded of why we love CF and what it has done to make us who we are!! Thanks again and hope you enjoyed your ladies night! Tristy-Crossfit Austin