Do you know why we make workouts that have scores?
It has much less to do with competing than you might think.
The reason the workouts have scores is so that they are ‘measurable and REPEATABLE’. It is NOT about beating someone else at the gym that day or seeing how you stack up amongst everyone else in the world that did the same workout.
(Damnit Steve!)
It is so you can see how far YOU have come.
If you are competing against anyone, it is yourself of yesterday.
By repeating a workout that you did 6 months, 12 months, or more, ago, you get to see how far you have come. You will be reminded of why you put in the work and sacrificed the time.
Research has shown that when we obsess over milestones and goals in the future, or when we are always trying to compare ourselves to others, we are very DE-motivated. All we see is how far we still have to go, notice how much someone else beat us, or fume when someone we usually best got ahead.
Very few people can thrive for years always being caught up in the ‘chase’. That path leads to burn out and frustration.
What has been proven to be much more motivating and positive: to constantly be reminded how far you have come.
The progress you have made is tangible. It is proof that you have been doing something right. It is direct evidence that you have control over the outcomes.
This is one of the primary reasons why we repeat workouts. It takes much more planning and organization to find the right workout from the thousands in the ‘codex’, but it is worth the effort because…
Repeating the workouts allows you to see how far you have come.
BUT you must do one thing to get the benefit…
YOU HAVE TO LOG YOUR WORKOUTS!!!
At CFJC we enter your score into ZenPlanner as part of our end-of class ritual. Please note: Not every CrossFit gym has a system for doing this and of those that do, not many log your score for you. But we know how important those scores are, so we just do it!
We log your workouts so that you can look forward to beating that score some day. We log your performances so that you can look back at this score and say ‘wow, I have really come a long way’.
But here’s how you can even get more out of it:
- After class add copious notes about how you felt, how you broke it up, how you scaled etc.
- If the system is down after class, or you left before the coach collected your score 🙁 enter your score through your ZenPlanner member app.
- 3-4 times per year (at least), go back through your training data and look back at how far you have come.
- When you see a workout that you have done in the past coming up, look up your old result ahead of time, and make an effort to do the workout that week.
Write Your Story
Every day of training is a day when you are living the story of your life. Make sure you write that story down to learn the hard lessons and remember where you came from.
Your future self with thank you.
