Success does not come easily. You started your CrossFit journey with the best of intentions, and with certain goals in mind. You signed up for your membership, you bought yourself some new workout clothes, and for a couple of months you stuck to your plan to go to the gym as much as you could; to eat right; to get sleep; and to take care of yourself better. But then. . . well life happened.
All of us occasionally feel overwhelmed with work, or at home, and this tends to place a roadblock in our newfound healthy lifestyle. Here are a few steps you can take to make your pursuit of fitness more attainable, and to get yourself back on track:
Every day counts, so come everyday
1. STRIVE FOR PERFECT ATTENDANCE: Your gym schedule should be a regularly occurring appointment on your schedule. At the beginning of each week, schedule your classes for when you know you can make them. Additionally, to the fullest extent possible, do everything you can do to keep your appointment with your health. In the event you can’t, do something, anything, to get moving (HINT: the extra credit workouts are a good place to start).
Ignore your weight scale, but don’t ignore scaling
2. SCALE THE WORKOUT: I know some workouts may seem intimidating, but remember, every workout can be scaled to your ability level. You can’t do pull ups, there is a scale for that; no muscle ups, we can scale that too; knee hurts from running, yup, we can handle that also. The point is simply walk through the door, and everything else will take care of itself. Along similar lines, in order to stay healthy don’t perform a workout outside the limits of your current ability level. While chasing a workout as written (RX) is great, you shouldn’t attempt to do a workout RX until you can perform the workout as written, under fatigue, while consistently moving well. Remember our mantra at CrossFit Prelude: Mechanically correct movements, performed consistently, before we increase the intensity. Scale the load, reps, or time domain, to increase your level of fitness safely. And by all means LISTEN TO YOUR COACH AND BODY!!!
“Hello. . . Hello. . .Is it Me You’re Looking For?”
3. PHONE A FRIEND: Unlike a big box gym, in our community we are supportive of one another. Our smallclasses make it easy to make friends. Just as you can’t hide from the watchful eye of the coaches, you can’t be a loner at CrossFit Prelude. The friendships and bonds you make help keep you accountable, and also increase your likelihood of keeping up with your gym attendance. Your friends, as well as the coaches, will push you harder; make the class fun; and keep you on track towards your goals. There are no strangers at CrossFit Prelude, because working out with strangers kinda sucks.
You don’t know how far you have come, if you don’t know where you have been
4. USE WODIFY TO TRACK YOUR PROGRESS: Wodify is a great resource to track your progress. It’s easy to keep track at the gym, on your phone, your tablet, or your computer. If you don’t know from where you came, you can’t game plan your future. More importantly, you will not have a clear concise roadmap to reach your goals. Additionally, if your progress is ever stifled, you can look back at the progress you have made to give you motivation to move forward. Progress is the best motivator. And you have, and will continue to make progress.
These are a few tips to keep you on track. Look out for our next article on goal setting to help you reach your goals.