CrossFit is Never Boring

CrossFit has been called a lot of things: hard, challenging, scary, intimidating, frustrating, humbling, and painful (in a hurt-so-good kind of way). One word that is rarely used to describe CrossFit is boring. Newcomers to CrossFit are struck by how much fun it is even as its kicking (and shrinking) their butt day after day.

I was recently telling someone about how by mid-afternoon I start looking forward to finishing up my work and getting to the gym to tackle the WOD. He said, “I can’t imagine looking forward to a workout. I have a hard time making myself go to the gym two or three times a week.”

When I told him I had to force myself to take a day off to avoid over-training he lost his friendly tone and eyed me with suspicion.

I don’t blame him. I remember the old routine quite well. I’d come in on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and imitate a hamster for 30 minutes on a treadmill or elliptical machine and then do a 20 minute circuit on the weight machines. Every day it was the same routine, the same movements, the same machines, and the same TV shows on the little screen in front of me to keep me from going out of my mind.

While there is something to be said about having a routine, boredom is the enemy of improvement.

I followed this basic routine for years and never got any stronger and still managed to gain a few pounds every year even though I rarely missed a workout. Boredom was the price I paid to do something that wasn’t working. The only perk was I got my picture in the self-help dictionary next to the definition of insanity (Doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result).

One reason CrossFit works is that in a CrossFit gym boredom is about as scarce as a box of Cocoa-Puffs. We rarely do the same workout twice in the same month, much less two days in a row. Each new day brings a different workout with different movements and new challenges. One day we’re running and squatting. The next we’re doing deadlifts and pull-ups. A few days later we’re rowing, doing push-ups, and swinging a kettlebell. The duration of each workout also varies. Some last less that five minutes. Others are exactly 20 minutes long. A few can take up to 45 minutes to finish.

You won’t find any TV’s in a CrossFit gym either. We don’t need to be distracted so we can get through the workout. The workouts are distraction enough. The different movements in a CrossFit workout are physically challenging and mentally engaging. Many are technical enough that you have to pay attention to each part of the exercise to do it correctly.

CrossFit forces us to live in the present moment. Many times during a workout I forget about whatever problems or difficulty I was dwelling on when I walked into the gym. It takes all of my mental energy to focus on getting through the next rep and then moving on to the next exercise.

You never know what you’re going to get when you walk into a CrossFit gym. Many athletes walk into their CrossFit gym not knowing what workout they’re going to do that day. While they could easily get online and find out, they enjoy being surprised when they walk into the gym. Just like life, you’ve got to be ready for anything.

Another reason some CrossFitters don’t peak at the workout online is because they know if the workout includes a movement that is particularly hard for them, they’ll be tempted to skip it. It’s human nature to gravitate toward things we’re good at and that we’re comfortable doing.

I’m terrible at handstand push-ups. When they come up in a workout I have to force myself to do them because I hate doing things that expose my weaknesses. CrossFit forces us to address our weaknesses so we can improve them. If we pick and choose our workouts based on what we’re good at or what we like to do, then we’ll have huge fitness gaps which decreases our ability to be ready for anything.

I agree with Marcus Buckingham that we should play to our strengths whenever possible, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore our weaknesses altogether. I’d rather be great at a few things, good in a few others, and mediocre at the rest, than be great in a few things and terrible at everything else.

CrossFit programming gives us plenty of opportunities to enjoy using our strengths, but it also insists we train our weaknesses as well. There is even a method of choosing a workout for the day that is guaranteed to keep the training fresh and varied. It’s called the Hopper Deck. It’s a deck of cards with a different workout listed on each card. Shuffle the cards, pull one out of the deck, and that’s the workout for the day.

No excuses.

3-2-1 Go!