October 16 2019

Class at 5PM and 6PM Today

“Yeah, but I scaled.” --- I’ve heard this phrase so many times from so many people and every time I hear it I cringe at the fact that someone is missing the point and the opportunity to give themselves credit for something they worked hard at to complete.  We scale the workouts for all different reasons; Weight, skill levels, injuries or maybe we’re just not feeling good enough to go all out that day and need to just go through the motions instead of killing ourselves while not at 100%.  Never are we scaling so that we can beat ourselves up about it as soon as we're done and completely destroy any hope of getting anything positive mentally or physically out of the workout at all.   The truth is most of the time I’m choosing loads and time frames that work so that the whole group, at all levels can safely walk away challenged but also satisfied that they got a good workout. What you need to keep in mind is that every workout has a purpose and a stimulus that we are trying to achieve and that the reason we scale is to maintain that purpose, safety and stimulus.  If a workout is built for you to get a lot of work done in a short period of time and the load you use (just so you can do it as it was written) slows you down from a sprint to a walk you have now changed the stimulus, missed its purpose and most likely made yourself feel bad about your performance.  The same thing happens in a workout that is meant to be done with more challenging loads at a slower pace, to cause strength adaptations.  If you decide to go too light and fly through it, causing very little strain and therefore very little catalyst for change, again you missed the point.  Do either of these things enough times and not only will you will become pretty unfit but most likely you'll get also pretty discouraged because you are never allowing yourself to feel like you are getting any better.  This is not me telling you to go ahead and scale every single workout to your "perceived" abilities and then lie to yourself with positive self talk about how awesome you are.  All I'm trying to say is that if you measure your success in the workout with the effort you put in each day and not by some made up number on the board or the score of the person next to you, you will get much more out of not just the workout but your overall experience in the gym. So instead of finishing your workout and driving home thinking about how you are a bad person because you couldn't do the workout the way I wrote it.  Just ask yourself; Did you work hard? Did you move well?  Did you feel challenged? Did you survive? If you did all that, than it was a success.  Those are the things that make you better day in and day out, not under or overshooting things just to keep above some imaginary line you've drawn in your head. That immediate period of time after you complete a tough workout (and they're all tough) you have a choice to either downplay your achievement ("Yea, but I scaled" - "I used to lift more" - "I should have been faster" - etc...) in your own head (or out loud) or to recognize that you did your best with what you had for today (which is most likely more than you had yesterday) and to take note of how that feeling of accomplishment makes you feel so that you will continue to strive for that feeling workout after workout.  Those moments after a workout your body is pumping endorphins at a much greater rate than most likely any other time during the day so I believe the thoughts that you decide to introduce to this dopamine kick matter a lot. If you use this time to recognize all the things that you overcame to even make this workout happen, all the movements you were able to do that the majority of the population couldn’t even imagine doing and how far you’ve come since you started, whether it’s the weight on the bar, a skill you never had  that you do now or just simply finishing under the time-cap you will be setting a positive mindset of growth, accomplishment and confidence in your ability to get things done that I believe is incredibly beneficial in and out of the gym.  The exact opposite thing happens if you are instead using this time to fill your head with negative thoughts about how you aren’t good enough or should've/could've done better and that exact mindset will again carry over in everything else you do and you'll never feel good enough to push a little harder, attempt new things or recognize any improvements. So leave your ego (big or small)  to the side, work with what you have at this very moment, forget about where you think you SHOULD be or where you think you once were and watch how closely the way you think effects the way you feel, act and grow.

Conditioning:

5 Rounds for Time of: 

 

18 Pushups

12 Pullups

9 Deadlifts 155/105

6 Hang Squat Cleans  155/105

Strength: 

5 Climbing Sets of: 

1 Strict Press + 2 Push Press + 3 Jerks