Coaches Corner- December 2016

From Strangers to Family

This month, CFJC owner and coach, Lara Sturm took on this edition of Coaches Corner.

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about our members and how we are like one big family. I’ve been thinking about how a group of people can come from pretty different backgrounds and ages and meld into a close-knit community. How did that happen?

I think it drives from a similar mindset, qualities and values that we have in common. These are values that are ingrained in what we do at CFJC, and make what we do so much more than just a group exercise class. We are a group of like-minded people.

I may be completely wrong – but I think most will identify themselves with the following:

We each have a little bit of renegade in us even though it may not be readily apparent to others. We have something in us that drives us to do our own thing even when it doesn’t fit other people’s view of ‘normal’ or what we can do.

In the line of renegades: have you seen this video? I stumbled on it – I just liked the song – and the I got chills as I sat watching it.

We want to be better than yesterday. The desire to improve over many aspects of life drives us. This is not that you are an unhappy person per se, but you strive to be better. You are not striving to just be better at push-ups or running, but to actually be a better person.  Important to this idea is knowing that you are not already perfect. You have to be humble enough to know that you are a work in progress, and you can get just a little bit better every day or at least suck less.

There are some people that are okay with where they are, or they just don’t have the fire in their belly to push to be better. You have to have that fire to work hard under intensity when it would be so much easier just to stop. We push through. We persevere and get it done. We keep learning about ourselves; we are students of life.

Here’s a great book about Mastery that you will get a lot out of. Written by George Leonard in 1992, before CrossFit really existed… but yet it applies to CrossFit, lifting, life, etc…

We like structure and accountability. Having a plan in place and getting direction helps us get better. Knowing that someone will know if we come in or not drives us to come in and get it done.

We like being in a place where people know us. OKAY so it’s like a line from Cheers, but it’s so true. It feels like home at CFJC, and sometimes I find myself just sticking around to chat and talk to the people there. As social creatures, we want to be in a place where people know us and ‘get us.’

We use workouts for mental health; it’s not just physical to us. We are all busier than ever with more responsibilities than we probably would like, but for that one hour you have to focus on what you are doing. That focus is a necessity; one that keeps us moving well and getting through the workout, but that focus also keeps the other parts of our life out of focus for the moment and helps us deal with stress.

Pushing through something hard gives us a sense of accomplishment and lifts us up. I call it barbell therapy! Here is an article that outlines 13 ways that exercise benefits our mental health.

I hope I have got you thinking about what holds us together! What are your thoughts? (comment below!)