The skill/strength segment today was muscle-ups.
So, yeah. Ha ha.
Anyway, like most things CrossFit, I had to take a modification or do what they call a “progression”. My progression was having the rings about chest high—feet on the floor, ass by my feet, rings touching—and getting my chest up and through the rings using my legs. And my arms, but mostly my legs. Then jumping up until my arms were straight by my sides.
Ashley watched my first few and said I had the movement down but, for the next reps, I should make it violent, throwing my head and chest between the rings. It’s true that, with a kipping* muscle-up, that’s what you have to do.
The thought that went through my head was, “But why should I bother?”
And I realized, in that moment, that Ashley was coaching me as if I would someday do a muscle-up, while I was training as if I’d never, ever, in a million years do a muscle-up.
Listen, there are things I do well, physically. If you’ve never seen me salsa, well, that’s a shame. And I’m getting better at double-unders and Olympic lifts and whatnot. But there are certain things that I just believe are impossible for me. (And let’s be honest, chances are good I won’t ever do a muscle-up.)
I think that’s normal. I don’t think I’m a freak. In that regard, anyway. People generally believe they have limitations. That’s why the motivational poster industry exists.
But what struck me about that realization was that I wasn’t even thinking that I was thinking that. It was my reality, the water to my fish.
A wise dude who made a bunch of cars once said, “Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.”
I wonder how many things I think I can’t do, and I don’t even know that I think I can’t do them.
*using the momentum of your body, as opposed to a “dead-hang”, which is much, much harder
Car dude was right. Or should I write, “car dude is right”, since we are currently talking about something he said that still applies today? GAH! This is part of the reason I got rid if my blog. My grammar is totally less then desirable.
ANYWAY, I typically don’t believe in myself enough either. I honesty think that’s why it took me about 24 months to get a MU. I had the movement. I had the strength. I had the ability. I just truly never thought I would get one. I have them now, but they’re super inconsistent which I know has to do with what I’m thinking when I walk up to the rings. Some days I believe in myself, other days I don’t. Bet it’s not too hard to figure out which days I get a MU and which days I fail.
I thought about you early this morning when I got up to go pee. (True story.) I thought about how even though you don’t, and won’t believe this, you are very athletic. I explained to you ONE TIME what I wanted you to do and you were able to make the adjustment and get the movement right. Do you realize that only athletic people who do that sort of thing? You rock, lady. I want you to work on changing your thoughts to “I’ll never” to “I’m going to try” and “I can”. I like to think about Gabe when I’m feeling unmotivated. He could have used every excuse in the book to hold him back, but the boy BELIEVED in himself.
Annnnnnnnnnd this is going on my favorite quotes section: “People generally believe they have limitations. That’s why the motivational poster industry exists.”
PS – I read about you using most legs in the MU progression. That’s fine at the beginner stage, but I want you to next time use *less* legs. Still use what you have to, but mostly try to rely on your arms. In a real life MU, you’re legs aren’t there to push you off the ground.
Here are a couple of ways to modify and increase your strength capacity:
1) Use the progression we worked on in class, but make a conscious effort to use more arms and less legs. STILL violently force your head through at the end. That is something I want you to do always, in all progressions, and in the real deal meal. Even in a dead-hang MU, you will need to violently through your head through the rings.
2) Instead of starting w/your feet flat on the ground w/your butt by your ankles, I want you to start on your knees w/the tops of your feet flat on the ground. When you pull up, concentrate on your rings staying close together and next to your body just as before. You may have to lower the rings if you find this difficult, or you may have to raise the rings if you find this too easy. As you improve, keep raising the rings. Eventually you’ll almost be at a jumping MU progression.
3) Go back to the progression I had you use in class, but this time only use one leg/foot. :)
Ok, so this excites me. I hope you choose to work on your MUs just as you have your push-ups. :)
fairly unrelated but your comment about water to your fish made me think of my very favorite piece by david foster wallace:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122178211966454607.html
“There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys, how’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, “What the hell is water?”
…
The capital-T Truth is about life before death. It is about making it to 30, or maybe 50, without wanting to shoot yourself in the head. It is about simple awareness — awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, that we have to keep reminding ourselves, over and over: “This is water, this is water.”
It is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive, day in and day out.”
ATD speaks the truth! I share my philosophies with trainees, and my 1st is the Ford quote. My 2nd is from Yogi Berra: “If you don’t know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.” My 3rd is from Paul Potorti: “There’s usually more than one way to get there.”
Amy, if I assessed my potential based on the reality that is me, i.e., short, middle-aged, gay, etc., I would have never attempted to race — let alone win! — marathons, lift heavy stuff over my head, do a muscle-up, coach CrossFit… The list goes on and on. Having studied interpersonal communication, I know the importance of INTRApersonal communication. There is no substitute for positive self-talk. Yes, this is the focus of sports psychology. Yes, this is why Nike’s tag line is “Just do it.” One last quote from Yoda, “Do or do not, there is no try.”
Finally, one last comment: Amy, I absolutely adore you! (You, too, ATD!)
Shayne, you were commenting as I was composing my response! I adore you, too! (Doug, not so much…)
Ashley, yes, I will definitely work on using my arms, but I have the upper-body strength of a two-year-old so it’s going to take a while. Yikes! There I go again!
*Ahem*.
Ashley, I’ma yank myself up on those rings using only my awe-inspiring guns!! Thanks for the coaching!
Shayne, that’s probably where I got the fish thing. Not that I’ve ever read any David Foster Wallace, but you know, in the round-about way that people gain wisdom. I love the idea of awareness. I’ve wired myself to escape the present moment in so many ways—eating, internet, even reading.
Paul, you are the shortest, middle-agest, gayest badass I know. I adore you back! (And Shayne and ATD. Even Doug.)