Burpee Burnout - Coping With Failure

Friday the 22nd April 2011 will be a memorable day for me. It was the start of my realisation that I may not finish this burpee challenge.  The third time of this challenge had proved even more challenging than the previous two.  Time constraints and a little inconsistent training had helped contribute to the feeling of struggling.  I had experienced RSI type injuries in the past. In particular right wrist pain and left shoulder pain. Both throw backs to an old motorbike injury when I high sided my bike.  I always remember the next morning in the GP's surgery being told off by the doctor for not going straight to A&E "This will come back to haunt you in your old age" Boy was she right.  The shoulder pain this time around has been at times excruciating even affecting normal daily life.  The chromium clavicular is now seriously inflamed.

But none of this was going to stop me until the morning of the 22nd. A bank holiday Easter weekend away planned for Kippford in Scotland.  I awoke feeling excited and mistook the strange feeling in my stomach as butterflies, alas no.  I was struck down with a stomach bug with severity I had never experienced before.  Within in hour I returned to my bed with cramps, shivers and sweats.  I bravely pushed out 40 burpees with the hope I would improve later. But instead I endured 36 hours of fighting to stay hydrated, sleepless nights and secondary back pain. I guess caused by the peculiar contortions inflicted upon me.

We still made it to Scotland and I made the best of it with some beautiful sunshine.  But when I started to contemplate the numbers required to catch up along with the shoulder injury I decided enough was enough.  My girlfriend is still going and with rest and recovery I hope to join her on day 100 while in Gothenburg.

So how do I feel about this?  Well mixed really, both disappointed and a little relieved. I had it in the back of my mind that I was doing some permanent damage to my shoulder but blunt stubbornness kept me going. Not very intelligent I know.  But its taken me nearly a week to get over the stomach complaint and the reality is a conspiracy of misfortune has overcome me.  If you are still in the challenge, fantastic effort and good luck. The last ten days are very very tough.  But worth it.   

A Place Of Work Not Pleasure

A few weeks back I was chatting to Andrew Stemler, or rather listening attentively as you do, when he summed up Crossfit as just being plain horrible.  I am always loving the way he can describe things so concisely.  I was discussing this further later in the week and I was trying to understand why you could not just use this to describe why Crossfit is so effective.  Yeah it its a strength and conditioning program, yeah it improves work capacity, yeah it's functional movements, constantly varied etc...Or it's just plain horrible really.  Can you imagine if we actually did this?  How many would just go pale and walk away. But a few would smile, nod and say "Goooood" 


 It comes back to something I used to say a lot when people asked what my "secret" to getting and staying fit is.  I always replied "I use FHW" Some peoples faces would light up. They were thinking a short cut, some magic supplement taken like a milk shake or pills in the morning.  "FHW?" "Fucking Hard Work" I would reply.  Again some would look disappointed others would see the truth there and then.  Crossfit is loaded with FHW.  Great big dollops of it.  But FHW is rewarding. It builds strong versatile athletes with mental fortitude. Mental fortitude should be number eleven on the Crossfit list of competencies. 


 I started to look around at other Crossfit sites and compare these to some high street gyms, often referred to as globogyms.  Our sites had pictures of people doing dead lifts, ring work, hand stands and over head squats. The others had lounges, cafes, small leisure pools and machines lots of machines.  One machine described as a Treadclimber the banner stated Looks like your running days are over then…  How sad.  A machine that means you never have to run.  This must be a terrible symptom of the customers laziness and the service providers cynical desire to pander to it. 


 At Crossfit London UK we have no problem in intervening and pointing out you are not pushing yourself hard enough knowing that being cruel is actually being kind.  At the risk of doing a John Lennon, Crossfit is like an old testament God. Both terrifying and benevolent.  So I have learnt that a Crossfit Box is a place of work not pleasure, well not until the end of class anyway.     

deadlift hip hop