“Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success”
Napoleon Hill
I have fallen in love with CrossFit. There I said it.
That is also probably the reason why I’m trying my best to be patient with learning the most basic movement for Olympic weightlifting: hip drive. I know I’m only Day 5 in to my journey in CrossFit. But have you ever felt so much love for a sport, that you just want to be perfect the movements as soon as possible? Seeing all the seasoned CrossFitters around me, it inspires me, but at the same time, I feel a little down because I’m not up to their standard yet.
I have to keep reminding myself that I have to be patient. I’m very thankful for Coach Sam who knows what I’m going through just by looking at me. And for CrossFitters who blog about their journey also, like Melanie. It shows me that I’m not alone in this journey.
Today WOD was 12 mins AMRAP of 4 sets of push press, 8 sets of sumo deadlifts and 12 sets of front squats. I was looking at the weights, and I thought I could easily do 45kg sumo deadlifts. I totally forgot about my push press and front squats till Coach Sam was about to start the timer. Only then did I look at the 45kg barbell in front of me and go: “This shit just got real”.
It was a real struggle to get through the push press and front squats, which I had to bring the bar to a power clean first, then perform the front squats, no surprises there. Just to bring the bar up for both of the movements, I had to use my hip drive, which at that point in time, I realised why Coach Sam drilled us so much on it. Because without hip drive, it’s nearly impossible to bring the bar up when you are already so drained and exhausted.
I dropped the bar so many time, that I broke one of the weight plates. And when I completed 4 rounds and time was up, I just collapsed to the ground. Coach Sam just smiled at me and said: “This is an experience for you, Shawn”. Then he wrote this on the wall:
I looked at this, and it suddenly became very clear to me. As humans, we sometimes forget that when we learn something new, it takes time, practice and at the core of it all, patience. Coach Sam then went on to say that he knew I wouldn’t be to handle the weight. But he rather have my body suffer now by doing the exercises the hard way, then to teach me the “shortcuts”, which will not bring me far.
I guess what I need to work on is to not allow my love for CrossFit to influence me to be impatient.
Want some tau huay? 