“Finishing Last” is an editorial series by Christina Crumpecker, MD. Check out Christi’s Featured Athlete profile here. 

Finishing Last: Reasons Why I Can’t Go to CrossFit Today

I’m the girl who spent months stuck in Fundamentals classes. I’m the one who took week-long “breaks” from the gym.

I had every excuse in the book for not making it to CrossFit Memorial Hill for regular classes. And it’s not that I didn’t want to go or didn’t like the place; there just always seemed to be something getting in the way. So I wrote a list of that stuff and made plans for how to address it. That has helped me turn the corner and get myself in to the gym. Maybe you’ll see something familiar here.  Maybe you have something to add. Maybe you’ve never been affected by any of these reasons for not making it to CrossFit, and if so, good for you!

But I think most of us have at least one reason in common for not walking in the door today…

3. Muscle ups and double unders

Nope. Can’t do either one. They’re not even on my short list of goals. When I see a WOD that features one or both of those movements, I think this is not for me.  I will probably never be able to do either of these badass skills. Guess what?

Many of athletes at the gym can’t do them.

It‘s fine to have these movements as goals, but realize that you can be successful  in CrossFit without being able to do either. Even if that’s what the WOD calls for, every movement is scalable.

Every. Single. One.

Typically, scaling options are offered by the coaches right up front. But what if you can’t even perform the scaled skills? When I first came back from knee surgery, there were some WODs in which I could not participate in a single part. Know what the coaches did?

Made up a workout for me, right there on the spot, like it was no big deal.

So just because a WOD has movements that you can’t do, it is you ALWAYS possible to scale it into something you CAN do. I still can’t do a single pull-up but I can do progressively more difficult ring rows every month. So no matter what the WOD is, just show up and you will get a great workout.

“Finishing Last” is an editorial series by Christina Crumpecker, MD. Check out Christi’s Featured Athlete profile here. 

Finishing Last: Reasons Why I Can’t Go to CrossFit Today

I’m the girl who spent months stuck in Fundamentals classes. I’m the one who took week-long “breaks” from the gym.

I had every excuse in the book for not making it to CrossFit Memorial Hill for regular classes. And it’s not that I didn’t want to go or didn’t like the place; there just always seemed to be something getting in the way. So I wrote a list of that stuff and made plans for how to address it. That has helped me turn the corner and get myself in to the gym. Maybe you’ll see something familiar here.  Maybe you have something to add. Maybe you’ve never been affected by any of these reasons for not making it to CrossFit, and if so, good for you!

But I think most of us have at least one reason in common for not walking in the door today…

2. There are few familiar faces

Sometimes I go to the gym and recognize almost no one. Not too long ago, I didn’t recognize anyone. It’s tough walking into the gym those days. In spite of the warm welcome from coaches, in spite of the smiling faces ready to introduce themselves–if you are at all shy, it’s still really hard.

But it gets easier every time you do it.

You find something in common with the athlete standing next to you: you are wearing the same socks, you both work night shifts, you share a love of tattoos. You introduce yourself and work out side by side and then those less familiar faces become good friends. And then there are the coaches. It’s easy to get used to the one or two coaches that you initially have classes with. But the rest of them want to know you, too. The first several times I got a call or an email from one of the coaches, I immediately felt worried: Did my monthly payment not go through? Did I break something at the gym? Was I not getting better fast enough? Of course not.

They were emailing and calling to offer encouragement, to answer questions, to give advice.

It took me several months to get over this and recognize it for what it was. An offer to connect, recognition that maybe they haven’t since your face for a while and want to make sure that you’re okay. A welcoming, an open invitation to just show up.

“Finishing Last” is an editorial series by Christina Crumbpecker, MD. Check out Christi’s Featured Athlete profile here. 

Finishing Last: Reasons Why I Can’t Go to CrossFit Today

I’m the girl who spent months stuck in Fundamentals classes. I’m the one who took week-long “breaks” from the gym.

I had every excuse in the book for not making it to CrossFit Memorial Hill for regular classes. And it’s not that I didn’t want to go or didn’t like the place; there just always seemed to be something getting in the way. So I wrote a list of that stuff and made plans for how to address it. That has helped me turn the corner and get myself in to the gym. Maybe you’ll see something familiar here.  Maybe you have something to add. Maybe you’ve never been affected by any of these reasons for not making it to CrossFit, and if so, good for you!

But I think most of us have at least one reason in common for not walking in the door today…

1. I have no time

CrossFit is more than just an hour-long class; it involves getting there, participating, mobility work and showering before you are publicly acceptable again. That’s nothing to sneeze at. It’s a lot of time when you work a full-time job, or have a family, or both. It cuts into free time for other hobbies, and especially for introverts, takes away from the “down time” you need to recharge. We each only have 24 hours in the day, and we all know that has to include a healthy amount of sleep.

How do you allocate the waking time?

I have a calendar that lists all of my work and social obligations. Included on this calendar are my CrossFit workouts, at least 3-4 times per week. I had initially set my goal at 5 times per week, but that just wasn’t realistic with my schedule and consistently failing to reach my goal left me discouraged and less likely to go to class at all. So, 3-4 workouts it is. When other opportunities come up during those planned workouts, I just say no. I’ve even left the office to go to CrossFit and returned to finish work later in the evening. I’ve said “no” to happy hours more times than I can count.

I’ve had to make some hard choices and sacrifices, but I have never regretted a WOD.

It’s like the financial concept of “paying yourself first”—I prioritize my time so that CrossFit is my way of paying myself first with time allocated for my health and fitness, before almost everything else. I work 60 hours per week. It’s not easy. I find a way to get there. You can, too.

I’ll be honest: I’ve failed…a lot. I’ve failed in business, relationships, nutrition, and training. I’d always heard the same tired platitudes that “you learn the most from your failures.” Eh…I never did.

Until I became comfortable with failure. For me, CrossFit was a space where I could practice failure and learn that it’s OK. Ever scraped your shin on a box jump? I bet you think a lot more about the importance of accuracy and explosiveness now. There was a time, early on, when I couldn’t help but PR. Everyday I walked in the gym, my Clean and Jerk or Back Squat was at least 5 pounds more than the last time I did it. But then I learned failure.

There’s a reason we have 1 pound plates…PR’s become hard. Failure occurs more than PR’s at a certain point. But, know what? That’s OK. My wife still loves me, my friends still want to hang out, I can still be fit.

For all of us, the CrossFit gym is a very safe environment to experience failure. More important than getting back under the barbell is the realization that comfort in failure extends to our entire life: career, relationships, education. It’s this “failure comfort” that shows you the things you never though possible. And shows you that attempting the impossible and failing is OK. The people that loved and supported you before failure will love and support you after.

So let’s start celebrating PF’s as much as we celebrate PR’s.