“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…

7. I’m scared to try (and fail)

True story: even before I had my most recent knee surgery, I couldn’t do a box jump. Or I should say, I wouldn’t. I mentally just could not get myself there. For right now, I have a physical excuse that prevents me from trying, but not for much longer. I’m going to be the girl who practices jumping to a single plate, then two stacked plates…until I finally get there.

It may take me a while. But now I’m looking forward to trying.

It’s a goal I have set for myself for this year, and slowly moving that direction is one of the things that brings me in the gym every week. I didn’t always feel this way. Going to CrossFit seemed like an overwhelming opportunity to embarrass myself—from not knowing which one is the slam ball, to dropping an empty barbell on the floor my first day, to still not knowing what hang power clean (is that even a thing?) means exactly. Not knowing how to get my body to do it correctly even if I know what it is.

But I’ve learned that you can ask anybody and they’re happy to tell you, even show you.

And you will see people constantly try and “fail” at CrossFit –a new snatch PR, a string of double unders, a higher box jump. This is a perfectly acceptable and even embraced part of the culture. It’s working your weakness. The only way to get better is to keep trying.