91720 Tolerate- Cope- Thrive
MetCon//
12:00 AMRAP
5 Pull-Ups
10 Thrusters
20 Unbroken Double Unders
Wearing masks sucks. Sometimes when it comes to the conditions we work-out in —heat, cold, rain, humidity etc.— I can be quick to write it off as “not that bad”. It would be completely dishonest and discouraging for me to do that with masks. They suck! 3-layer paper masks suck, gaiters suck, shields suck, and even our little half shields suck. They suck so bad that some of you might even be asking yourselves, “is it even worth it?”
I think it is certainly worth it to commit to something so beneficial that the circumstances don’t matter, and I really think if you’re reading this, you feel the same way. Doesn’t make it any easier though. And this blog post won’t make it any easier either, sorry.
Wearing a mask to the grocery store is an annoying inconvenience. Wearing a mask on heavy day is a little more uncomfortable. Wearing a mask for conditioning is like working out on the face of the sun. What is just an inconvenience in everyday life, becomes a very real and intense physical challenge when we exercise hard. You know as well as anyone that as the challenge becomes more physical it really becomes a mental challenge more than anything. If you’ve spent any significant time in CrossFit, you know that your body is far more capable than you think and that the greatest adaptation we experience is between our ears.
With all that said, my first piece of advice in dealing with the mask, is to temper your expectations while you adapt. When you’re chocking down your own hot breath and are desperate for air, you just can’t move the speed you might want to. Slow down dude! Take this opportunity to focus on movement quality rather than speed. It’s something most of us should do regularly even without a mask. If the score on the board is more important than your movement quality, you forfeit all entitlement to complain. And I’ll say you’re coping really well if you come out of this whole thing with a better squat!
Also, if you can temper your expectations and be willing to take a couple steps back, it should feel no different than when you first began CrossFit. When was the last time— Pre-masks— that you were truly humbled by a WOD? I can’t say for certain because I haven’t ever had to adapt to conditioning in a mask, but I really think we can adapt. Crappy thing is, it takes time, and we’re impatient. Be patient, endure. If CrossFit became tolerable and eventually you were able to thrive, the same should happen again in a mask.
Yah ok, Wednesday’s WOD was 30:00. Stupid long, sorry. We typically train hard 8-20 minutes. That leaves a lot of time to benefit from all the other reasons you come to Harvest. Buds! Whats more important than buds? When you’re sucking back unnecessary amounts of your own carbon monoxide, and tempering your expectations, remember that right after the WOD, you get to catch up with your buds and commiserate together like usual!
Ultimately though, I’m reminded of a lesson I constantly need to learn over and over again. Brian Cain, a great sports psychologist that I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with introduced me to a concept that I try to return to often. He simply says, “Act differently than how you feel.” It’s probably the hardest thing. My mood and my attitude are greatly dependent upon my circumstances. I’m not suggesting any of you be disingenuous. You despise fake people as it is. But what kind of life are we living if our happiness or joy is dependent on our circumstances. Because good luck finding Joy during a pandemic/race war/firestorm. Our attitudes and ambitions need to rise above our circumstances if we want to see any sort of victory in our lives.