My Costume . . .

Halloween is over, it's Sunday evening and by now, most of the kiddies are asleep, time to release a revelation about this evening.



I find it oddly amazing that we don a costume, and once wearing this costume, our demeanor changes.  Whether you are a child or a adult, your persona changes.  You take on a character, you become more aggressive, more demur, shy, whimsical, silly, etc.  Think about this really hard for a moment.

What changes when you throw on your costume for CrossFit?  I don't often wear a suit when I workout, I put on a different set of clothes, a different pair of shoes, definitely a different pair of socks (unlike a certain Marine I know), and definitely a different shirt.  My attire changes, and with it, my attitude.  I am not the incredible hulk, I get that, but the rage, the defiance, the relentless and unwilling attitude to give up come pouring out of me like a bubbling, hot cauldron.  What is stoking the fire is time, and the more time clicks away, the hotter it gets and the more I begin to boil!  You see, I want to finish faster, I want to finish first.  I care how others did, but I don't care how others did.  There is no comparison against others, there is only a comparison against oneself.

I call the comparison against yourself the true test.

Did you lift more weight today than yesterday?  Maybe yes, maybe no - maybe today wasn't a day for weights . . . .but did you lift better?

Did you run/row/ski/swim/bike longer/faster than yesterday?  Maybe yes, maybe no - maybe today wasn't a day for this. . . . but did you do better?

Did you make every rep better than the last today?  Did you make every rep count?  Did you push yourself?  Can you look at yourself in the mirror and say that you accomplished something today?

That's what counts the most - that last sentence, it's not a matter of what I think, it's a matter of what you think.

Movie Time!!

Take a look at 2006's Invincible with Mark Wahlberg.

Vince Papale does not have a lot going on in life.  Job gone, wife files for divorce, all he has is a bar gig and some friends to play football.  Now his friends helped push him to try out for a professional football team.  But inevitably it was he who went out on the field, he who ran the patterns!  He played injured!  And in the end, it was *Spoiler Alert* he who made the team.

This is a little bit of an extreme example, but it works, strip someone of their regular garb, throw them in a costume, and they come to life!

Next time you throw on your costume, throwdown!

"If human beings had genuine courage, they'd wear their costumes every day of the year, not just on Halloween"
                -Doug Coupland


-Coach Tony