On to the next one...

So two nights ago I was able to Rx a metcon – even though it wasn’t an epic-nightmare-kind-of WOD, I was still pleased with my performance that night. I definitely feel like I have made progress in my endurance and overall athleticism over the past few months.

Last night we did clean & jerks. My progress in this lift…as well as some of the other strength training exercises that we do (snatch, over-head squat, etc.) is not as noticeable.

It’s not really a strength issue for me. I know that I am strong enough to jerk/snatch/squat more than I am currently.

I think that my problem is more of a mental thing than physical.

When I watch some of the more advanced athletes attempting these strength exercises (with very heavy loads) – or any of the WODs that we do for that matter, they seem to be much more confident and deliberate than I am. They seem to pick up the bar already deciding that they will execute the lift.

I am much more cautious. Everything that I do in the box is controlled. My kipping pullup does not have the same momentum because I lower myself rather than push myself off of the bar. I lower myself slowly during a squat, depriving myself of any bounce at the bottom. And my jerk is a press -- a slow, controlled, push off of my shoulders. Even my benchpress is slow and controlled.

So when the coaches instruct me to be more aggressive, I think I know exactly what they mean…and what I need to do. But even though I have been doing these routines for many months now, I am still not very comfortable with throwing a weighted bar over my head.

So now that I have achieved some success at my ability to get through some these WODs (Rx’ed sometimes even), I think I need to dedicate some time to conquering some of these mental challenges that are dogging me. All I can imagine is that the more familiar I become with the movements, the more confident I will be with them…so I plan on showing up at the box more on Sunday afternoons…