Happy New Year from CrossFit Woodshed. This will be our 5th year in our current location on Taylor St in Littleton, Massachusetts! That’s a long time and a lot of folks through our doors.
To mark the new year, we want to share three pieces of advice divined from thousands of athlete interactions and relationships. If you are thinking of ways to succeed throughout 2015, what we have learned over these last several years tells us you’d do well to do these three things:
1) Start too easy. Whatever you’re doing–lifting, running, yoga, diet…start at a level that provides zero compliance issues. This could be something as simple as cleaning your pantry out instead of eating an absolutely perfect diet on Day 1, or stopping at five reps when you feel like you could do ten. The less you struggle, especially at the onset, the easier it is to build momentum.
2) Find ways to succeed every day. Track multiple variables. Weight lifted, reps completed, rest taken between sets, habits changed, meals prepared, money saved on eating in and reinvested in new clothes, etc. You won’t make progress across the board forever, but you will absolutely be able to nudge forward in one or two areas every time you train, or shop, or food prep, or weigh and measure. Imagine a year in which you improved something every single day. Imagine what your life would look like if you took stock of that improvement and consistently drew inspiration from your own momentum. Imagine how different your life would look in January 2016 if you succeeded at something tangible every single day.
3) Measure and Have Tunnel Vision. Let’s say you weighed 185 in grad school but had put on forty lbs in the intervening years. Since recommitting to your diet and training, you’ve dropped 10 lbs of bodyfat and 2 inches off your waist. You’re psyched…and then you run into an old friend from grad school who, subtly or otherwise, can’t get over those extra lbs. What should you focus on–that you don’t weigh 185 anymore, or that you’ve dropped 10 lbs of bodyfat in three weeks of relatively seamless training and eating? Focus solely on the process and maintain fealty to the routine: the results will come if you have concrete measurements to reflect upon and use as kindling to stoke your mental fire.
Whatever your goals and desires for 2015, we wish you success and happiness and hope this little blog will give you some food for thought. If you’re interested in an empathetic, habit-oriented and cognitive approach to CrossFit, click here to schedule your free movement screen and introductory session–we would love to meet you and talk about how we can help you reach your goals in this New Year!
