So here's something I've been struggling with mentally of late...I have some of my own ideas, but opinions and input are certainly welcome.
I watch a lot of TED talks. For those of you who may not have been exposed to TED, it stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design...you can check their website out over here. Essentially, TED gets a bunch of really smart or really inspiring people to give talks at TED-sponsored or TED affiliated events, and then records them and gives them away for free under the concept that these ideas are all worth sharing.
One recent talk I watched was given by Kathryn Shulz and was titled "On Being Wrong". To begin making her larger point on error blindness and the risks of wrapping ourselves up with being right all the time, she asked the audience a profound question: "What does it feel like to be wrong?" The answers from the audience were about what I expected, reflecting a general negativity, embarassment, unpleasantness, etc. Then things got interesting...because the audience answered a different question than the one she asked. It feels embarassing or bad to realize that you are wrong...but right up until the point at which you are exposed, it feels a whole helluva lot like being right! Be sure the watch the whole talk at the link above for her Wylie Coyote analogy...
So what does any of this have to do with Cross Fit, self improvement, or anything else we write about on here? Not much on the surface...but then I got to thinking. Let's start with the following quote that every high school and college athlete has heard ad naseum:
"Give me 110%!"
It was screamed at me by football and soccer and track coaches from the time I was in 8th grade and while I knew I should always be working hard, I never really knew what that meant until I started doing Crossfit in my mid-30's. Sorry coaches....I was a little dense.
Anyone who has done CF style workouts for any length of time knows what it feels like to go 110% in a workout. You show up for the workout energized, pissed off, or otherwise motivated to leave a hole in the world by the time you're done. Either you wake up the next day with rhabdo or you suddently and explosively discover why so many Crossfit boxes have 5 gallon buckets laying about...your boy Ralphie shows up. Others will doubtlessly say otherwise, but it is my heartfelt opinion that you don't get better by giving 110% every day. You get injured, or sick, or loose your desire, or a whole lot worse things by giving 110% every day. You get better by giving 100%...plus just a tiny bit extra in repetitive fashion. You improve through consistent hard work that makes last week's 110% this week's 100%. If you want to show up every once in awhile and have a real barn-burner WOD offset by good nutrition and recovery, I think that's awesome. But doing it every day simply isn't sustainable. What is sustainable is going like hell until there's just a few drops left in the tank...and then coming back and doing it again tomorrow. This post over here from Crossfit Montgomery County sums it up pretty well.
So, how do we know? Let's make the "On Being Wrong" connection now. The issue lies in the fact that for the regular "Joe Public" Crossfitter, the guy that does a morning WOD and heads to the office to sell insurance, or the gal that stops in at lunchtime before heading back to write more software, 80% effort feels an awful lot like 90% and 90% effort feels an awful lot like 100%. Until you are called out in front of the whole crew by the coach, or your name sits next to that crappy time on the big board, something less than full effort feels just like we're working at full effort. Most of us can tell half speed from full speed, but we can't easily tell 95% speed from full speed, particularly in the heat of the moment with heart pounding and sweat dripping while we're on the clock. Couple that with the evolutionary tendency to take the path of least resistance/least energy expenditure and tsk, tsk...what to do?
I've started my thinking process on this topic studying contrasts in my own life. What do I mean by contrasts? My opinion of a good workout has dramatically changed over time...and it changed in leaps and bounds the first time I did a Crossfit style workout. Does the end of my workout today feel more like I'm tapped out, or does it feel like I used to on the good ole' Nautilus machine in college? I've started narrowing the contrasts as my frame of reference expands: Did todays workout feel like my first Fran or that tentative, sub-par effort at Cindy a few weeks back? If you don't come to CF from a fitness background pick another analog. Does it feel like you mowed the lawn twice or somebody mowed you? Does it feel like you took the stairs to your office or like you decided to take the stairs to the top of the Empire State Building?
I'm well aware that there are scientists who can hook me up to all sorts of machines and, over time, tell me what 100% is for me in calories and VO2 max statistics. But that means little when the clock starts and you've got to get through the Filthy 50 while almost, but not totally, killing yourself. I know I should see progress over time, and I know that at the end of the day, when the scores go up on the big board, it doesn't matter that Sally got 7:15 and I got 8:30 (yes the women frequently take my lunch money at the box I work out at)...what matters is that I own that 8:30 and know it was the best I could do that day.
So let's have it. What tools do the rest of you have for judging a good workout? How do you know when you've hit the proverbial nail on the head? And doesn't 90% effort feel almost exactly like 100% some days?
Today's Training
AMRAP 15 minutes
5 KB Swings 24Kg
7 Box Jumps 24"
9 Med Ball Cleans 20lb
I got 7 at the buzzer.
