Overcoming Obstacles...

There are many times in my life when it seems like I just can't get any better.  I had one of those days a few weeks ago during a WOD at Elite.  I am so competitive...with myself and with others...and I just couldn't seem to get past a workout hump.  We started the WOD off with a dead lift max, after we had done our warm-up of course!  The last time I did my dead lift max, I got 185.  My goal was to increase by at least 10 pounds...but I really wanted to get a 200 lb. dead lift max.  It sounds like a lot to go up 15 lbs...but I have gotten SO much stronger in these past few months...I thought it would be really achievable.  Boy, was I wrong.  In fact, I didn't even improve at all.  I got 185, no problem.  So, I went up to 195 thinking it would be difficult, but doable.  I couldn't even pick the bar off the ground.  Needless to say, I was so mad.  I should have gone down to 190, just to see if I could get it.  But, I was so mad at myself for not getting my initial goal of 195, I just stopped and started mentally preparing for the WOD.  Recently, I've gotten to where I can do my handstand push-ups...which is super exciting!  However, our WOD for this particular day had a lot, 45 to be exact, of handstand push-ups in the workout.  When we did this workout, I had literally just gotten to where I could do these two days before.  The WOD was:

21-15-9 Reps For Time:

Pull-Ups
Box Jumps
Handstand Push-Ups (HSPU)
Toes 2 Bar (T2B)

If you couldn't do a HSPU, then you did pike push-ups.  Well, I could do HSPU at the time, but I doubted myself on being able to 45 of them.  I was also focusing on how fast I could finish instead of pushing myself to do the exercise the right way and take a little longer.  This is a mental thing for me.  Every WOD is for time (unless it's an AMRAP), and I want to be able to finish fast...but I also want to do the prescribed weight and prescribed exercise.  Prescribed just means that you do the workout exactly how it is written with the highest weight recommendation that is given for any exercise that requires you lifting any amount of weight.  Anyways, this particular WOD made me step back and think that I couldn't do that many HSPU after just being so new to developing the skill to be able to do them.  So, I did the modified pike push-up.  Except for the last 9.  I decided since there was only 9, I would attempt to do the HSPU.  And you know what???  I did all 9 of them just fine!  They weren't easy, but I had no problem doing all 9 of them unbroken.  Then, I was double mad at myself!  Mad that I didn't improve on my dead lift max and mad that I cheated myself in a WOD because of self-doubt.  I promised myself, never again would I do a WOD un-prescribed without attempting to do it all out first.  If I, at first tried, and the weight was too much or the given exercise too hard for my skill level at the time, then I would lighten the weight and do the WOD modified.  I am overcoming this obstacle with ease.  The struggle is pushing myself beyond my comfort zone and my mental limits.  Yes, it hurts; yes, it's hard; yes, it takes me longer sometimes.  I just finally told myself that if I was ever going to get better and be at a level where I could compete, I had to just dig in and push past the "I can't" and yell at myself to say that, "I can."  It's working.  It's taking some time during some WODs, my muscles are sore, but when I go in and do something that I really struggled with at one time a week or two later and it's easier, I realized that my body can do way more than I ever thought possible with just a little hard work, dedication, and motivation. 

We all face obstacles and struggle to overcome them.  It doesn't matter where you are in your skills and abilities.  There are several of us that are more advanced in our WODs than others.  But, no matter how good you are, how strong you are, how fast you are, or how new you are.  There will always be something that challenges you and causes you to struggle.  This is when you have to push past the hurt, the burn, and the mental blocks and tell yourself that you are much stronger than your mind allows you to believe.  Find your weakness, work to overcome it, beat it, and do tomorrow what you couldn't do today.