Coach's Rant: Too easy/hard for you?

“It is too easy/hard” . Somewhere inside this person, he/she has given up trying to do their best. “It’s too hard…” He/she has given in to the discomfort of training and forgot why they walked through the door. Similar thoughts of “I can’t do this start blowing under the door like a sandstorm. “It’s too hard < ” I will learn to crush this movement” “It’s too easy…” It seems the person has forgotten why we are training. Training is not just about beating the hell out of yourself day after day.  I know this will sound elitist, but any person I have ever heard say this let their ego take control of them.  There is NO WAY a workout could make YOU struggle. PROPER programming includes undulating intensity. A coach that just writes workouts that beat you to a pulp day after day either doesn’t understand physiology or caved into the “myth” of CrossFit. Yes, CrossFit is known to be insanely hard. It is also still a strength and conditioning program that requires A. Technique B. Balance C. Progressions/Regressions of both movements and intensity. If you have crap form there is NO NEED for intensity.  If you are just looking to get out of breath….do 20 x 100m sprints. If you are an athlete at my facility I am investing my time and energy showing you the path to lifelong fitness and movement quality.  You are a long-term investment of my focus, time, and energy.  If I beat the hell out of you every day without ample recovery days and back off weeks, I am pouring nitrous into your system every week. You move fast and hard for a couple of weeks but then your engine breaks down. If a gym is judged by how tired it makes it’s members and not how well they move/perform… . In either case, the missing factor is “intensity”; that killer instinct inside that drives you to perfect yourself. If you think it’s too hard then you’ll never be able to achieve your goals! If you think it’s too easy then you’re not trying hard enough! Guaranteed if you went all out on that “easy” circuit, it will make you crumble to the ground!  I can change any workout so that even the most advanced athlete will be stapled by it. That is not the hard part. If it’s too hard, then ask what makes it “hard” and attack it! If it’s too easy, show me how fast you can burn through that WOD with the full range of motion. Show me “intensity”. ]]>