The most common reason people don’t step through our doors is because they’re scared. They believe they will be terrible at everything, horribly unfit and everyone will notice. Not just notice, but even judge them for it.
One of the most common reasons people slip away from their goals, start missing sessions or have start having more “attitude” days than usual is because they feel like they’re not keeping up or feeling “judged” for their performance in the gym.
I usually tell these people that everyone has dealt with these thoughts before, everyone especially thought it in the beginning. But this gym isn’t like that and we worry about ourselves. We’re all on our own journey. Most of them think I’m just telling them that to make them feel better. I PROMISE you these are facts. If you’re new, you can come to any one of our classes and the guy who has been doing CrossFit for 5 years is breathing just as hard, if not harder than our beginners. We take our time with our beginners, make sure they’re comfortable, encourage them to work at their own pace. As for our more experienced members, you guys should KNOW everyone is too busy trying to survive their own workout to worry about what you’re up to.
Most of our members are beginners. Some are brand new, some are 8 months into this thing. CrossFit is such a varied style of training that we are always still learning. And when you’re a learning, you’re going to be bad at stuff. That’s OK! In fact, it’s kind of the point. You HAVE to be bad at stuff in order to get good at it.
Sometimes once you’re comfortable here you give yourself that time to grow through “beginners”. But then a few months in, when you think you’ve learnt it all, you start questioning why you’re not as fast as this person or as strong as that person, or thinking it matters even in the slightest that you have the lightest weights in class. NOBODY else cares. I promise. Everyone is having just as hard of a time as each other, pushing THEIR OWN limits. They don’t mind what your limits are. Everyones bodies are different, we’re built different, we have different training histories, injuries, strengths and weaknesses. We don’t all progress in the same fashion. Enjoy your own journey.
At CrossFit Long Haul we have an incredible community, filled with beginners and people who were beginners really not so long ago. They don’t judge, ever. And if they did, you better believe I’ll kick their ass out of the gym so fast they won’t know which way is up. Luckily we have also never had a problem because it is clear from day one that everyone is welcome to work at their own pace.
Almost everyone is scaling the workout in our gym. Sometimes you don’t even know because they’re not shouting it from the rooftops, they’re just doing what’s right for them. Don’t worry about what anyone else is doing, worry about making the workout challenging and appropriate for you.
Scaling is the fastest way to progress. If we’re doing “sprint rounds” and they’re taking you a grinding 5 minutes when theyre supposed to take a quick 2 because you insist on doing what someone else is doing – you won’t reap the benefits of a sprint workout. If you get 2 rounds done in the time cap for a 5 round workout because you picked weights that were too heavy – you’re missing out on the point of the program. Scaling is KEY. I scale often. Just because Renee does a weight doesn’t mean I have to. Sure we can banter and egg each other on, but I will always choose what is best for me, that will give ME the best workout.
The clients that say to me “I’m not keeping up” or “I just can’t get this” are the same clients all my new guys say “Man, I wish I could do that!” when they see them. And even my brand new beginners are spoken about by prospective clients as “brave and strong” and they wish they had the guts to do what they have done and jump in head first.
No one judges you. Have you ever judged anyone here? No, of course not. So why on earth would anyone be judging you? We’re all friends here, working towards our own goals, with an epic group of good people around us. We have nothing to worry about 🙂
If you ever need to chat about how you’re feeling in classes, or wondering if they’ll be right for you, let me know. I can help!
Coach Feebz
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