I got this little quote from a good friend of mine. I actually stole it from his website that is linked here. You saw him on a video on this page when he snatched a PR. A good dude all around and has a deep desire to learn and get better everyday.
Back to the quote. It is a good determinate of your current progress, not only in fitness but in life. It also takes a bit of self reflection and forces you to be critical of your current standing. I asked myself this question and was a little thrown off by the answer. I’ll give you the answer before i state the question because i want to hear what ya’ll think about it too.
Looking back, i think i have softened up a bit. More mentally than physically. I think i am actually stronger than i have ever been and in my mind that makes me more fit. With my recent exposure to CF again i am starting to doubt the fitness thing and have really realized how soft my mind has gotten. Well at least the battles it plays out while i am trying to get some shit done. I am hoping it is just the first week jitters and i will shake them off in the next couple weeks. Right now i fail at kicking my ass from 6 months ago.
So, here it is: “Can the current you kick the past you’s ass?” 6 months, 5 years, 10 years…
Lay it on me and thanks dave for the motivation.
Doesn’t Dave’s question seem to imply a certain domain? As in, can you kick your own ass at what? A max snatch? Fran? Rowing? etc.
Also, I think that someone with your or my experience in training is always going to be making trade offs. For example, in the past few months I’ve made at lot of progress at important things, my deadlift and front squat have gone up a lot, I PR’d my 5k row without rowing, my Nancy time got a lot faster, I did Fran in a weight vest faster than I used to do it without a weight vest, etc.
Nonetheless, if I went in the pool, I can guarantee that trying to do the swimming workouts I used to do would wreck me. So can I kick my own ass from 6 months ago? I think that in general, the answer is yes, but certainly not in swimming.
So where this leaves us, I think, is this question: Why am I training?
Am I training to be an awesome O-lifter? To win the CrossFit games? To have fun? To swim really fast?
While some of these goals do work together, I think that at some point, we all have to decide which particular one is the most important for us.
I’ll admit that I struggle with this question just as much as you seem to.
Russ,
I hate you for saying this out loud. I just did my half cindy and i really can’t get that though out of my head. “why am i training?”
Training FOR Crossfit sucks because you are training for the unknown. That just blows my mind. Think about it for a second.
Training for anything else is easy.
Hey man, i had just spent alot of time thinking about a similar topic this morning when a client of mine asked me why i did try to kick my own ass in everything i did, i replied cos i want to beat yesterday’s me. for the struggle to be the best i can be, i need to be better than i was yesterday. for me it’s that competitive nature, i wanna be better than … at … which can cross over into anything work, training, life whatever and it makes me work harder constantly striving to be better. for the guys that train with me i am that person so it makes those guys work harder and me aswell knowing that i can’t slack off cos then they’ll catch me. reflecting on this it seems very primitive, just trying to beat someone that’s better than me, but is it such a bad thing???
Good though, Dave. I was nice visiting with you at the USAW cert. Hope things are going well with you.
I love the quote. Domain or not, it’s a great gut check.
Yes there are seasons in our life when we train for somethings. I feel this quote speaks more to your mindset and overall life, more than Fran, 5k, 1RM snatch. Some may disagree, but that’s how I read it.
…the other dave
I think it is easier to train for CrossFit then competitive Olifting. Here is why…olifting it is known, you compete against guys your same size, there is no excuse. Either you win or lose, but you can not make an excuse that on that particular day you were beat because of your size. It is hard to actually be able to lift competitve loads in Olifting. Few people can come into the sport and be competitive without putting in years of effort. You have to earn it.
Russ, I hate to spoil your PR in rowing, but if you can PR in something without training for it…then your PR is not really that competitive in that particular sport and I would say your PR is worthless. This gets back to the whole ideal that CrossFit is really just a bunch of people training everything so they do not have to face putting all their effort into one thing and possibly failing at that one thing.
Stick with Olifting.
Hard to say really. The 3 months ago me was crushing PRs and CrossFit workouts. Problem was at the end of the 3 months what was the point, sure I was the top dawg at my gym but that can only push you so far. At this point I can out lift the old me O-lift heavy lifts doesnt matter, however if I had to comepete against the old me in a sectional regional type format I would lost because I had more heart 3 months ago.
pat,
you have a really good point. In crossfit you are trying to see who can randomly be better at random tasks. In weightlifting you are competeing against people working towards the same goal. Programming is certainly more important here.
POST YOUR HOT GIRLFRIEND LIFTING, dangit!! Im dying here…
Dutch, great comments from all. I have never competed in the games, o-lifting and such. But I have at the competitive gymnastics level. What it has taught me is this; as an athlete you are only as good as your most recent routine. Period! I stress that were talking about athleticism here and not the other value oriented characteristics that athletics brings. As an athlete, you have all the factors in your favor, age, genetics, experience, broad knowledge of athletic movements and commandment of these movements, and the experience of high level competition. The real question might be, do you want it? And if so, why? What motivates the desire that drives you back into the world of CF. Like we spoke about in the office the other day, hmmm. Thanks Coach.