This Shit Has Got To Matter

Sterling sent me a video of Nicole Carroll lecturing about nutrition and that is what she said about the kind of commitment you need to live in the Fit zone. You have to want it badly to stay with it. It has to matter to you. I think that's also true of Crossfit. You walk up to the board and look at the WOD printed there. Holy Shit, you say. What the hell are HSPU?, you say. Then you get into it and it starts feeling good. The body is working hard and you are pushing past the edge of your comfort zone, breathless and painful. Bang! You muscle the weight up. Bang! You do it again. Dust some chalk onto your hands and knock out your pullups.

When I get to this point, it’s difficult to hear with the blood pounding in my eardrums. I walk past Sterling and we grin and high five. He’s doing handstand pushups. This shit matters to him. I grab the rings and lean back into ring rows. Coach Clark is working beside me and he’s snapping his body up to the rings and pounding them out. I dig deep and pull myself up to the rings with power. He brought his game and I owe it to him to bring mine too. This shit matters to him.


When it gets to this level, there is no difference between us. I hear grunts of exertion and defiance in their shouts. Men and women. It’s primal. Each person is challenging their limitations and giving it everything they have. I think I understand why we call each other fire breathers.

I’ve added a third workout to my week. For two months, I’ve been coming twice a week, allowing myself to grow stronger and recover between sessions. Sometimes that’s not even enough. One hundred and fifty air squats took me seven days to recover. I actually fell out of a chair when I tried to stand up. Flat on my ass. Now that I’m recovering faster between WODs, it's time to up my game. I’m getting close to doing a full Kipping pullup. I mean to do it in the month of June. This shit matters to me.


5 Rounds

5 - power cleans 135lb
5 - pullups
10 - HSPU
rest 60 sec between rds

5 Rounds
10 - box jumps
10 - pushups
10 - ring rows 2 rds, then one arm row with 60lb
10 - single arm push press (5 per side) 35lb