I love you all because you are free with your thoughts and opinions. Sometimes it takes awhile for me to gather all the perspectives you offer since I don’t see you all everyday. Your intensity of opinion regarding the Record Board is quite interesting. In this post I will do my best to address all the thoughts.
First and foremost, a good response to the Record Board would be, “Next time I see Summer I have to remember to congratulate her on her FGB score.” or maybe “I’ve never met Jason B. but from the looks of the Record Board I’d love to see him work out.” Or even “Mike Heinz is getting old. How the hell can he get a 5:41 on Annie? I gotta find out what he does.” And absolutely, “Jen sucks at rowing. I will figure out a way to beat her Jackie time because I am a superfreak rower.” Check yourself if the sight of that board got you started on the negative thought, rationalization, making excuses train.
Many of you are of the opinion that your Trainers should not be on the Board. I am going to address this in detail with some personal stats you might not know about me.
I have spent 6 months looking at what other Affiliates do and how they set up their Record Boards. I have spent much more time than that contemplating the culture I want to create in this Affiliate. I also know, in a very personal way, what CrossFit means to me and can mean to any of you. Your Trainers are absolutely professionals. We have spent countless hours studying and learning about what we teach you. However, as with all other sports it does not mean that we perform better than you. Could Phil Jackson beat Kobe Bryant? Could Kobe coach as well as Phil? They are not related. I will be 85yrs old, crazy as a loon, still coaching CrossFit and having my athletes win the Games, and obviously not having a personal spot on the Record Board! Our technical knowledge does not mean I can run a 6min mile or that Kate can deadlift 350lbs. Just like you, we have to sleep right, eat right and train HARD in order to get on that Board. For example, Andres is becoming a shockingly awesome CrossFitter. He trains hard and he has dialed in his nutrition like nobody I know. Many of you could wipe him off the board if you did what he does. Notice I used the word “becoming”. He is progressing and improving every day right now. Just like all of you. Your Trainers are on that Board because I want you to know there is no magic, no secret knowledge passed on in secret CrossFit backrooms. They do the same things you do. You can be them.
I ultimately decided to include us on the Board because we are so regular. Many of you don’t know that 3 yrs ago it took me 45min to run a 5k. 2 yrs ago I could only do 4 pushups in a row. 1 yr ago it was a huge struggle to do 1 pull up. I had never deadlifted until I began CrossFitting. I did not play sports in college. After giving up gymnastics in high school I didn’t do any sports. I don’t have an athletic background. This is not “natural” for me based on the previous 30 yrs of my life. 10 yrs ago I was a vegetarian for Heaven’s sake! I am almost 39 yrs old, a working, single mother. Anything I achieve is totally reasonable for you to achieve. You’ll have to be a tiny bit patient and you will have to be determined. I watched my friend Lisaanne go through a similar progression as myself. She can kick my a** in nearly all CrossFit workouts (thank goodness for the heavy lift days) and she does it through hard work and dedication. And knowing her times and scores makes me work harder!
The people on the Board aren’t there because they have some unfair advantage, but because they have spent a year or two persevering, hurting, training hard, eating nearly perfectly, sleeping enough and making it a priority. Just decide that is for you and you’ll be up there. Carl and I opened our own CrossFit Affiliate precisely because CrossFit is the Big Equalizer. It is the most profound, effective method for taking a regular person and developing their fitness so that it means they are approaching levels of elite athleticism. CrossFit gave me a brand new identity and vision of myself that I developed after age 35. I am a good athlete now only because I have done this right for the last couple years. No other magic reason that is out of reach of all of you. Set your sights very high because you can get there.
Love the post Jen. I understand your history as well, because mine is similar too. 4 years ago I was 35 lbs heavier, and was so unenergized and insecure in my body. Now I’ve cut my marathon time by over 2 hours and can actually believe that I am capable of qualifying for the Boston Marathon. Every day I suprise myself, every day I feel stronger and more capable and I do have crossfit to thank for that!
To see trainers names on the board is very motivating to me, keep them there!
I think the board is great motivation. And anyone who qualifies should be on there, including the trainers. If anything they can set a mark to beat!
Congrats to everyone up there, and good luck to everyone looking to take their place!
i couldn’t agree more, i think the board is awesome. the trainers have to work just as hard as everyone else to get up there. additionally, i have seen a number of clients around the gym that will be mopping the floor with the trainers before too long, and the board will prove it!
Thanks for the great post as usual Jen. When I hear where you have come from I feel so incredibly inspired. I can not wait for the day that I am able to do more prescribed workouts. It definitely motivates me to work harder when I see the trainers workout and see yall’s numbers on the RB. Being on the board myself has been an incredible high and highlight of my week. It means a lot to me to share space with so many incredible athletes. It means a lot to me to see that over the past 2 years I have become an athlete as well. I am excited to work hard to keep my place up there and see my name up there in places I never would have imagined possible. Thanks for helping me dream big. Pull-ups here I come!
hey jen. hope all is well at the shop. what about posting some of the records on the website? perhaps once a month or so. might be a pain but could be useful too.
cheers.
Why isn’t Jenny L.all over that RB??? Did I miss her name???
I think of us as a community…. So why not highlight the exceptional??? Maybe we could make a PR board for all of the members?? It doesn’t have to be as fancy??!! right… Because the reality is some of us might never develop enough to make the RB, but that doesn’t really matter….!? as long as we are showing up and swearing, and sweating, & bitchin’ & moanin’
I also want to share my gratitude for the acceptance of what ever it is I bring to the gym that day…. (I know I am a bit of a loud music maniac) I have been struggling w/ my nutrition & I am thankful that goals are redefinable & that showing up is enough. Kate & Carl……..thx for your encouragement today.
Jenny isn’t up there because I’m trying to enjoy a few days of the top spot before she takes me out completely. Just kidding. Because she has that whole other life as a firefighter we don’t often get to see Jenny workout. Any workout she actually does in the presence of one of us will be on that board, undoubtedly!
I know Ron will be embarrased that I posted this but we are talking about PR and how much everyone has improved so I wanted to brag for him. When we started six months ago Ron could not do one pull up and sometimes had to quit in the middle of workouts that included box jumps. This week he jumped 21 times onto 2 stacked tires and did his 5 5 5 pull ups today weighted with over 20lbs!
I am so proud of him and Nikki and Ellie, Rachel, Sarah, Summer, well I guess pretty much everyone because not only do I see myself improving but I see transformations with the people I workout with that are inspiring and so amazing to watch. The daily board and the record board are a way for me to keep up to date on how everyone else is progressing and also to see what may be acheivable in the future.
I am all for bragging about Ron. The thing about Ron is, in those early morning hours you don’t necessarily notice what an incredible workout he is doing. He isn’t much of chest-thumper. Comes and goes kind of quietly and with humility. Mostly what I think is brag worthy is the improvement in the squat and flexibility, range of motion. Pretty cool.