New Game Plan: "Moderate-elite Fitness"

My big training issue is that I am kind of a pussy.

Yeah, I said it.

I mean, I’m dedicated. I am really consistent about showing up every day, but I usually put in just enough effort to get me through the WOD. If JMez or one of the other "motivational firebreathers"  is there ready to shame-me-in-public for lifting “girl weight”, I might try a little harder. But not much.

My new goal is to try and break this cycle…which is not going to be easy as it requires a lot of discomfort. And to be honest, I think that I’ve been doing OK by just doing what I am doing.

But at the end of the day, what’s the point of being obsessively dedicated if I am not going “all in”?

AND it’s not cool to always be the guy who finishes last.

So a few nights ago, we were doing some profane number of HSPUs in a timed WOD. My knee-jerk reaction was to grab an abmat to place under my head to eliminate some of the range of motion – even though I am pretty good at HSPUs.

Dean was coaching that night and he pretty much snatched the abmat from out of my hands. Yeah, I gave him a little attitude (he can take it) but got through all of the HSPUs sans the abmat… albeit my time results sucked for the WOD because of the added difficulty. After the WOD, Dean advised me not to worry about the time so much and just to go for the added difficulty.

So last night, the WOD was 3 rounds of OHS (10 reps, unbroken) and a 400m run – an unsavory combination, coupled with kettlebell swings and burpees (equally hellish). My usual strategy would have been to go super light (68#) for that many OHS (to save myself for the running)…so I jumped it up a little (88#)…which was just heavy enough to be unpleasant for most of the reps and kind of nasty and unstable for the final few.

My comfort zone for kettlebell swings at this point rests at 53#. So I went with 70#.

To be honest, the heavier weight for OHS and KB swings was still manageable. Yeah, I struggled a little on the last few reps of each round of OHS, but that’s probably what was supposed to happen. I was still pretty slow compared to everyone else, but it felt good to basically “keep up” with the pack in terms of time, reps and weight.



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