Quick follow-up from this past weekend’s competition(s). So happy to report I did my best, had a really fun time and met some great people. I will spare you the details of each and every event, but suffice it to say the workouts were super challenging, yet still fun.  And as it turned out, my ‘best for the day’ exceeded my expectations – and even my stretch goals – for the workouts. In this competition, my best yielded me 7th place in a division with 13 competitors. Right smack dab in the middle, with one 3rd place finish, one 6th, and one 11th. I could not be more proud.

Oddly enough, the event I am most proud of is also the one I was most anxious about. This workout in particular had, among other things, bar muscle ups in it, a movement I have been working on (and struggling with) for over a year, one that I’ve never had to do in a competition setting, and only in the last 6 months done in a workout with a time component. It happened that all the pull up bars were in use for the 90 minutes leading up to my heat time, so I didn’t even have a chance to warm them up! Just a couple tick tocks and pull ups in the 2-3 minutes leading up to ‘go’ time… I really had no idea what was going to happen. But when it came time to jump up to the bar – from out of nowhere I pulled out 5 muscle ups…. UNBROKEN! Say whhhhaaaatttt? And then a few more sets. Sure, I struggled with the last one, had a couple fatigue-induced missed reps, but I finished the workout, inside the time cap, and took 6th place! Just finishing that workout was enough to call the whole day a success. It was a real confidence booster to take on something I knew would challenge me and come out of it feeling not just good, but great.

In a roundabout way, this leads me to what is really the heart of this post. In addition to gauging your fitness level among your peers, competitions are a great way to challenge yourself to step out of your comfort zone. In my experience, I’ve found Crossfit competitions and the community of people who participate and spectate, to be uniquely inclusive and supportive. There is a common understanding of the depth of physical and psychological exertion involved, and that connection brings people together in a way that I have not seen in other sports. The other point I’d like to emphasize is that there will always be a movement or lift that makes you nervous. Don’t let that deter you from participating. You will always want to be better/faster/stronger, so don’t use that as an excuse to not go for it. Get out there and throw your hat in the ring! You won’t regret it.