The Sub 5 club

We all want to be a part of the sub 5 club, the over 500 club, and whatever other "norm" club there is within our different circles of CrossFit.


For instance, Fran, the lovely couplet named WOD which has the athlete performing 45 Thrusters and 45 pull-ups in a rep scheme of 21-15-9.  I am aware of the sub-3 min and sub-2 min club, the sub 3 min club are mostly comprised of Games level athletes, who perform the workout flawlessly and with what appears to be little effort.  And then there are the (and I say this with such envy) freaks of CrossFit who can perform the WOD in a sub 2 min time domain, which inspires just about everyone.  The last time I checked, I spend more than 2 min brushing my teeth and flossing in the morning, let alone getting that much work done in such a short period of time.

The same holds true in the Olympic Weightlifting realm and the Powerlifting realm.  There are the athletes who can Clean and Jerk and Snatch well over 2 times their bodyweight.  Then you have the Powerlifters who deadlift and back squat 3 times their bodyweight. 

All in all - this can create a whole lot of envy in one individual.

First and foremost, come to terms with what you can do.  Secondly, figure out what you want to do - I think this is the most difficult part for the majority.  There is so much done in the sport of Fitness which is CrossFit, that our minds have difficulty processing that we need to start somewhere.

For the majority of the CrossFit population, they just want to be fit.  When we have achieved our initial goal of being what we each define in ourselves as being fit, we start to really take a look at all the aspects of our training and begin to narrow in on what our next goal will be.  Don't take this the wrong way, it is not meant to say that people will start just Olympic Weightlifting or Powerlifting (although that can happen).  Whatever the next goal is, say a Games Level Competitor, people start to take a different path than what they originally set out to do, even if it is just as small as changing their mentality to increase their intensity.

Photo Courtesy of http://www.ericgove.com

Polonius:This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell, my blessing season this in thee!

-Coach Tony