The most useful accessory

Like all other sports on the planet, Crossfit comes with it’s own myriad of “stuff” that any self-respecting crossfitter “just has to have”.

Wraps, grips, guards, tape, minimalist shoes, oly shoes, ropes (of the skipping kind), foam rollers, strength bands, lacrosse balls (that they don’t play lacrosse with) and clothing with the word “crossfit” emblazoned across it.

I have all 99.82% of the above products. I’ve also got a drawer full of the long socks that one usually associates with people who crossfit, however to be fair I had those well before I took up Crossfit. 😉

Now all of that “stuff” does come in handy – my wrists thank me each time I wrap them when I have to lift a heavy bar above my head and my palms thank me for the protection of some strapping tape when the “people in charge” decide that it’s death by pull ups day BUT in the end it is just “stuff”.

The single most important thing to possess when taking up crossfit and life in general (in my humble opinion) is free ..

Confidence!

Do you remember when you went on your first driving lesson?

Well I certainly do. I spent the entire hour just steering the car while the instructor controlled everything else from his side because for the life of me I couldn’t get the “balance” point between the clutch and the accelerator and I’m pretty sure the driving instructor was scared I was about to do permanent damage to his vehicle.

Even when I finally passed my drivers test I had my Mum or Dad follow behind me when I drove anywhere, just to make sure I didn’t crash and die. These days I don’t give a second thought to driving regardless of the vehicle, it’s just something “that happens” because it’s second nature. I have confidence in my ability to drive.

That same thing happens when you learn any new skill or push yourself (even just a little) outside of what is your norm ..

This morning for example I did squats (a lot of them) because my coach said I’m weak, well that’s not exactly what he said, but the outcome was the same he put me on a strength program.

During the warm up sets I’d walk up to the bar, pick it up, squat (repeatedly) and put it back on the rack. Simple. I knew the weight was well within my capabilities and as the saying goes, “I had this”. However as the weight went up my demeanor changed. No longer would I stride directly to the bar and get straight into the set. I’d hesitate. I had allowed a tiny seed of doubt to grow, which in turn led me to query my ability.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t physically strong enough to lift the extra weight, it was that was unsure as to whether I could ..

When I got to the heaviest weight that I had to lift I finally got annoyed with the constant can I/can’t I conversation going on inside my head.

I looked in the mirror and scolded myself ..

“Julz! You can bench this sh*t, pick up the dam weight and squat it!”

Not sure what I’m going to do to motivate myself when I’m squatting more than I can bench press. But I guess as the advertising execs proclaimed about Pantene – “it won’t happen overnight, but it will happen”.  I’ve still got some time up my sleeve to think about it. 😉

Till next time