You can’t always get what you want

Crossfit Open 2015.

15.3 was released.

I remember sitting at my computer watching the announcement and my heart fell.

Ring Muscle-ups.

I knew I didn’t have them and I immediately felt a whole array of emotions, the most prominent being that I felt sorry for myself since I knew this was a skill I didn’t know how to do and ALAS, WOE is ME, I was not going to do well in this WOD.

I spent the full 14 minutes fighting the rings and never even coming CLOSE to a muscle up. I wound up completing the scaled version and told myself I was going to get ring muscle-ups as soon as possible. Little did I know that soon as possible was going to be over 2 years later when I finally smartened up.

Back then I didn’t realize the important lesson that was going to be taught to me, the fact that you don’t always get what you want and everything is not always going to be bright and shiny and EASY. I also had to accept that although I could do many workouts “RX”, I was not a games athlete and there are always going to movements beyond my skillset.

We, as your coaches, do not program challenging WODs in order to defeat you. We program them in order to challenge you, but also to teach you the important lesson that working within YOUR training zone is important.

The world does not revolve around doing a workout “RX”

Please let that concept sink in for a minute.

If you see a movement in a WOD that you can’t do, it’s OK. We will help you find an excellent scale that will challenge you, give you a good workout, and help you move towards your eventual end goal, whatever that may be. Spending 14 minutes trying to get a ring muscle-up is ok when it’s the open and you want a challenge, but it’s totally useless in the long run. You will never learn a skill in a WOD.

Do not let your ego be the death of your workout.