Saturday (August 29) – Before and After. In the long run,
that might be a goal that everyone sets without even realizing that they are
doing it. That ability to look at where you were and compare it to where you
are now. Sometimes the differences might not appear to be much at first glance,
but there will always be something. Positive or less so (let’s not talk
negative here), but something will always be different. I think I’ve used the
wine analogy before, but I think it is relevant here…
When grapes are made into wine, each and every one of those
grapes is unique. The amount of sun, rain, nutrients in the soil, each of these
conditions will occur in these proportions one time in the course of existence.
The wine that is made from these grapes is unique as well. It will have that
exact combination of flavors one time. As the years pass, the winery label will
stay the same and any other vintages will be similar, but never exactly same.
the wine. The amount of work we have done, our age, what we’ve eaten, will only
occur in that moment. We might experience things that help us produce a great
vintage, or others that make the wine taste a little sour, but we should always
enjoy ourselves for the uniqueness that
we have in that moment. Don’t be too hard or disappointed because the rippling
6-pack isn’t there or the biceps aren’t the size of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s.
Enjoy the vintage for what it is in that moment and work to make the next one a
little better.
After in a grand sense, I’m going to shrink that window down into a smaller one
hour segment. What changes do you notice between when you start a WOD and when
you finish? Is there something you can take away from that one hour (or less)
session and enjoy it like a fine wine? Is it something that will last or just a
one time thing?
the weekend WODs will hopefully be a little more regular. Baz is the only one
crazy enough to try the Sandwich with me (it was grossly awesome by the way)
and with Canuck Lite coming to an end next week, Saturdays are going to be an
important factor in keeping on track. As a result, I made a little purchase to
help us keep Saturday’s from becoming boring and today was the first time we
tried it out. The WOD Bible. 550 CrossFit WODs all in one place. Baz selected
today’s fun and Claire and Adam joined in for the Hero WOD, ‘Danny’.
500m Row
20 minute AMRAP
30 Box Jumps (24”)
20 Push Press (@115lbs)
30 Pull-ups
getting into, but this was a GREAT selection. We’ve done this one before and I had
to scale to get through it (the before). Today, I was working the entire thing
at RX (the After). I managed to get through 2 Rounds + 9 Box Jumps in the 20
minutes and my hands weren’t a bloody shredded mess either. I can look at the
after and be happy with the weight I worked at, the amount of work I did and
the gains I made in the Pull-ups. The next time, I will have to find ways to
improve further, but in this vintage the ‘After’ tastes pretty good.
evaluating their ‘Before’ and ‘After’. Does this mean that there needs to be
introspection before everything? Hmm. I’ve never really thought about it before
now (or while drinking wine), but it could be an interesting exercise. Maybe
the week after Labor Day I will do a quick period of evaluation before I WOD
and jot down the results. It could be an interesting bit of insight that can be
used to improve.
