Good For You.

Box Jump Muscle Ups.  Check.  Chin-ups.  Check.  And it's only taken nearly 3 years.  Unfortunately, it happened on kind of a big day, my son's graduation day, so I couldn't drive everyone nuts around me by reminding them over and over, and allowing them to shower me with accolades.  I had to put the focus where it truly belonged, on a much more important success attained by my first-born son. 

Look, as a kid, I was not a major athlete.  I played some volleyball, ran a little track and played what we called intramural football (college sorority teams on friday nights - more like cheap, B-movie entertainment), but I was not all-county, all state anything.  One of the things I LOVE about Crossfit is that it gives adults of any age a chance to understand what it feels like to be an athlete.  I'm much more of a sprinter, a climber, a lifter and a jumper than I have ever been in my life.

There are a handful of challenges on my fitness and strength list.  Pull-ups, double-unders, and handstand pushups - in that order.  I can do 1-2 pullups.  I can do 1-2 double unders, and I can do handstand pushups, just not all the way to the floor.  This past week, I crossed Box Jump Muscle Ups and Chin-Ups off the same list!  WOO HOO!!  I actually "woo-hooed," very loud, several times, at the gym.  Before I did both, my brain was running through back-up plan scenarios.  In fact, even after I had done 1, 2 and even 5 of each, I kept thinking the next one wouldn't happen, that it was just a fluke.  However, I got through 30 of each.  30!!!! On previous attempts, I had gotten a big ol' Goose Egg. 

Good for her, you're thinking.  By the way, did you know that "Good For You" typically, 99% of the time, means "F-Off," or "I don't really give a crap, it's just a way to get you to shut up."  Think about that the next time someone says, "Good for You."  Before you go all "Good For You," I'm trying to say PERSIST.  PERSEVERE. KEEP TRYING.  DON'T GIVE UP.  One attempt, one single possible failure out of many, will be your success.  What the heck will make you get it one time when you've had 973 other attempts that didn't work? Who knows, but it happens.  I look like I'm doing a seizure dance when I try to kip.  Straight, jumping chin-ups worked for me.  Now, I have to learn to string them together somehow, but I have a little more confidence in myself than I did previously. 

You have something.  Everyone has something.  It's the thing you see someone else attempt and conquer, and you know you're capable, you just don't understand why the stupid thing hasn't clicked in your brain.  I've seen people terrified of the box jump.  I've seen people, okay, my husband, get 2 feet off the floor on the rope and go no further.  I've seen people like me, spend minutes whipping themselves as they attempt to do double-under jump roping.  I've seen others go into the handstand and fall over sideways.  They all, however, put themselves to the test, and continue to do so. 

Do not ever, ever, ever Cherry Pick.  Don't avoid the gym a particular day because it's hitting on your weakness.  Don't try to sell a medical reason simply to avoid the difficulty.  Lately, when the WODs have involved my weakness, I've decided to start out trying to do it.  I can always move over to the rings or do tuck jumps instead - but I'm giving myself the opportunity to fail.  Or succeed.  Leave your insecurities with your car keys, and remind yourself that you have become an athlete. Athletes get stronger, better, and faster.  And they learn new things.