CrossFit Open Wrap Up with MisFit Athletics
On this bonus episode of the MisFit Athletics podcast, the “Goon Squad” recaps the first phase of the CrossFit season, the CrossFit Open and look ahead to Quarterfinals which kick off this week.
There Are No Rules to Healthy Eating
As CrossFit athletes, we learn that the foundation of health is nutrition. When the methodology first was introduced, the Zone Diet was the prescription. That has changed over time and while I am a proponent of healthy eating (hence, the origin of LIFEAID), there is a lot to consider when it comes to diets versus lifestyle with nutrition.
"You don’t learn from following the rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over."
—Richard Branson
How to Say 'I Don't Know' with Confidence
When Orion and I started LIFEAID, there was a lot that we didn’t know. We had never started a beverage brand before! If we tried to build the company without acknowledging those blind spots and seeking the answers to those questions, there is no way we would have made it to the 10 year mark as a brand.
Screw Business as Usual
One of the things I love about Richard Branson is that he doesn’t care what anyone thinks. He leads his businesses with conviction and is celebrated for it (as he should be). In this book, Branson argues that people, communities and the planet are perhaps more important than focusing on profit in business.
HindeSight | No. 59
By: Megan Schrader |
We all have egos.
What affects our ego, how our ego presents itself and when it rears its ugly head will, however, vary from person to person. In the gym, our egos can either result in displays of confidence or cockiness. What often differentiates the two is simply the outward reaction of a person either to their own performance or the performance of a competitor. (Note: I’m using the term competitor loosely, as I’m not necessarily talking about competitive athletes. While it may be a competitive athlete, it’s more likely to be as basic as the person next to us in the gym who we feel we stack up against.) A cocky CrossFitter is going to be that guy or girl walking around needing to outwardly prove themselves for their own self-assurance. Does everyone recognize how well he or she did? If not, they’ll boast about it and circle the conversation back to their own performance seeking out praise.
They will make comments about edging out their competition, or off-handedly remark that "it really wasn't that hard" ... knowing full well it was hard—in fact, it sucked.
Maybe their performance isn’t what they expected and they didn’t get the fastest time or the most reps, now the opposite will be true. They’ll get upset, they’ll sulk in the corner, and they’ll usually stay quiet when it comes to conversations regarding performance. They don’t have anything to talk about because in their eyes, they failed. At the root of our cocky person are deeply rooted insecurities regarding their self worth and value.
What about confidence? Confidence is essentially the opposite of cockiness. The confident CrossFitter doesn’t need to outwardly prove themselves via their performance. This man or woman understands this one key fact:
Self worth isn’t attached to the scores, times or weights posted after a workout.
After all, it is just a workout. If they win, it will feel good, there’s not denying that. But if they don’t top the leaderboard it’s not the end of the world, and they won’t try to offer up excuses for why they didn’t perform at the top. If the confident CrossFitter gets edged out, they won’t necessarily feel threatened by whoever beat them. It might sting a little to be beat, CrossFit is inherently competitive and nobody enjoys losing, but they won’t take this to heart or let it raise questions about their worth.
We will all have moments of cockiness because we all have egos that enjoy having the spotlight shining on them. In a CrossFit setting, we bring out everyone’s competitive spirit, whether it be little or massive. The way we harness that spirit and how it shapes the way we view ourselves will be difference between falling victim to perpetual cocky moments or the rare, occasional cockiness. At the end of the day, 99% of us are not professional CrossFitters. We don’t have endorsement deals or sponsorships, and our performance doesn’t dictate how much money we bring in annually. We’re doing this for fun and because regular gym workouts “didn’t do it” for us.
So if your workout makes or breaks your day, start asking yourself why?
Why is it so important to you? The answer may just surprise you, help you reassess your training priorities and create new goals.
Live well!