Rest day... for my body anyway
Well I had to work a 12 hour shift today and I have a Pscychology Management test tommorow (probably shouldn't be blogging right now) so working out was...well..."out" for today. But I did do some mental gymnastics. The question "When is a workout just a workout?" was posed on the GSX blog and it got me to thinking. Workouts used to always be
just workouts before Crossfit. How I perfomed didn't make me feel better or worse about myself. I was never ever anxious about workouts. I didn't lay awake at night going through workouts in my head. I never knew what it was like to feel my heart racing as I stand looking at the bar BEFORE the workout even begins. And I certainly never mentally berated myself about my performance after a workout was done. I was just happy to get in and out of the gym as fast as possible. Get in and workout my legs or shoulders or whatever "day" it was, log my cardio minutes (or hours) and get the hell out was the routine. Doing Crossfit certainly changed how I think about working out. Quality and performance DO count to me now.... maybe a little too much at times. The longer I do Crossfit the more I find myself fretting over my performance. If I don't hit a PR, if I'm weaker in a lift this week than I was last week, if I can't do it bigger and better every time I tend to..well it's just unacceptable. I guess you could say I expect a lot of myself and I think there are times when I need to step back and put things in perspective. I've come a long long way. Last year in June I was still using the bands for pullups, I could barely do a 135lb deadlift, 45lb thrusters killed me as did burpees and cleans, snatches, and the like were COMPLETELY foreign to me. Also, some days are not going to be great days. You're going to be sore and tired and maybe just not mentally there. No one, including myself, is a robot and we are allowed days when we are just getting in there and putting in the work, pushing ourselves no matter how much it hurts, no matter how sore, or stressed we are and knowing this will not be a day we PR but this
will be a day we get stronger. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is not every workout is a contest, not every workout is a statement about who you are as an athlete. Some workouts are just workouts.
2 comments:
Great post Vanessa! Very well said. Miss you girl! I hope to get up to FW soon... :)
Thanks Carla! Miss you too! We need to get together for another workout and more RIBS!
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