Why Didn't I?

It's the beginning of round 4 and all I can think about is my burning lungs, my weakening muscles and the 3 full rounds I still have left to complete. As I pick up the dumbbells the two 'fitters next to me are already finished and hitting the run. 1-2-3-4-5, ok stop, legs tired, lungs can't keep up... rest is good, just a couple breaths and I'll get back to it.

Sound familiar? It does to me, almost like a broken record playing in my head. This one just happened to be playing on Sunday. Don't get me wrong, this WOD was another one of Ricky's "fun" little metcon concoctions and I worked my ass off to finish in the time that I did. But as I lay there panting and squirming on the ground I can't help but wonder, why didn't I push harder? Sets of three to five reps at a time on the last round? Seriously? It's the LAST ROUND!! Git 'er done!! What good are three rest breaths anyway? I'm still going to be gasping for air and now ten seconds slower.

Obviously we all have a limit to what our physical abilities can achieve, but I believe it is a lot higher than what most of us think it is. I believe that our minds hold us back because that is what we have trained them to do all our lives, to avoid discomfort in all possible scenarios. And that is exactly what a CrossFit workout puts our bodies right in the middle of. There comes a point in every WOD where you (by you, I mean me) CHOOSE to stop and rest knowing full well that you can still do another one, two or even ten more reps. Why? You're scared. The certain discomfort you will experience if you do just one more rep isn't worth it to you. Besides, after the rest you have to do the reps anyway, right? Wrong!

Let me ask you, what do think would yield better fitness results? 100 burpees that have to be completed in 8 minutes or less or 100 burpees that you must complete throughout the entire day? It's the same amount of reps, shouldn't both give you the same results? The obvious answer is no! I don't know much about the physiology of the body but I do know one thing. At rep 62 when your legs start feeling like jelly and your lungs are three breaths behind, yet you keep going, you are pushing your entire body past the point of discomfort. And it is only at this point that you can achieve anything more than mediocre results.

I want more than mediocre results and I know you probably do to. The trick is learning how to be stronger than that fear of discomfort. It's kind of like being scared of the dark basement, each stair you take gets you closer to the scary figure in the corner. And when you finally reach the bottom, there wasn't a monster waiting to take you was there? Well I am on the second stair and every hair on my body is standing on end. Hopefully tomorrow I can muster up the courage to take another step and maybe someday I will get to the bottom and realize there was nothing to be scared about after all.