Soumaya Trad
31 Aug 2022
It's not too uncommon to enter into a CrossFit gym and see people doing things that seem almost impossible to you. Soon enough after you've been bitten by the CrossFit bug, you begin to set yourself some goals and share them with your coach. "I want to get a muscle up", "I want to back squat 100kg", "I want to do a rope climb all the way to the top", "I want to do a handstand", "I want to snatch my bodyweight".
It's great to have goals and, arguably, very necessary too. It helps you strive towards something and is a light shining through when you're deep in that suck cave mid workout, trying to figure out why you ever thought CrossFit was a good idea. However, it's also necessary to actively work towards those goals.
My favourite answer to people setting their goals and sharing them with me is "I will give you my time and my energy if you give me your full and true effort". As a coach, I want nothing more than to help you achieve your goal, but it is a two way street. If you don't want it enough to do the necessary work, then you don't want it. Simple as that.
I've seen my members go from having virtually no upper body strength to achieving an unassisted strict pull up. I've seen members who couldn't do a push up achieve a muscle up. I've seen members hit a 30kg snatch when mere weeks/ months prior they were being taught the mechanics with a stick.
Don't expect to achieve great things without putting in great amounts of work and effort. Turn up on the days that you know you will suck at. These are the days that help you. If you ask your coach for some extra work to help with your goals, show your coach appreciation and respect and follow through on doing that work. Otherwise you will just stay the same, talking about your goals as if they are some far away fantasy.✌