Jason gets his box jump on.
Is there such a thing as knowing when to quit? Is there a point that you reach in your pursuit of the muscle-up, or the L-Sit, or the bodyweight snatch or whatever in life, where you know that it just isn’t going to happen? That it’s not going to work? That you might as well give up and move on to the next thing? A point where your bull-headed pursuit of something is now actually detrimental to your well-being?
Maybe you don’t innately have the strength or the athleticism or the coordination or the flexibility. Maybe you’d have to lose 50lbs to be able to do a double-bodyweight deadlift. Maybe you’d have to gain 15 lbs of muscle to have enough upper-body strength to complete that muscle-up. Are these legitimate reasons to quit your pursuit of that particular goal? Or are they excuses?
See there’s the rational mind and the indomitable spirit. A lot of us can simply will ourselves to keep going long after the rational mind has told us, begged us, pleaded with us, to stop. But we keep going. And that’s a noble pursuit, not giving into the weakness. We take pride in our ability to conquer ourselves.
But when does our nobility turn into stupidity? Or does it ever? Is there a point where we should give up? Is there a spot where the smarter person analyzes, regroups, and redirects their effort toward an attainable goal? And how do you know you’re at that spot and not just being weak?
Ever see the movie “Aliens”? There’s a part in the beginning where Ripley is driving them out of the danger zone and she’s so dogged in her pursuit of her goal, so determined, that she fails to realize they are now out of danger and she’s pretty much wrecked the vehicle. They have to apply the brake and pry her hands off the wheel because she’s not thinking rationally anymore.
Where is the Ripley Point in CrossFit? In life? When does it make more sense to stop than to continue?
August 2nd, 2010 at 10:39 am
My 2 cents? Never quit or give up on your goals…keep working towards them, no matter how far off they may be. Now its an entirely different story when it comes to the middle of a WOD and knowing when to give up or modify. Last week we did the Run, muscle up, DU work out….I had my heart set on doing those muscle ups RX’d. Somewhere in the third round muscle failure set in and for the life of me I couldnt get thru thatt damn transition. I was stubborn and tried and failed 3 then 4 times. It was at that point that I knew I had to just change over to modified jumping ones or get myself hurt, blow out an elbow or worses a shoulder. Know your limits during a workout, but reach for the stars when it comes to setting your goals. You just may surprise yourself.
August 2nd, 2010 at 10:42 am
I think if the goal is reasonable there should be no excuse for quitting. In the pursuit of a muscle-up I’d argue that anyone with two working arms has the potential to perform the movement. Some just have a longer journey than others.
That being said, Setting a goal of a 200 inch box jump is unreasonable and would ultimately result in failure no matter who you are. That is until the Military Industrial Complex develops some sort of man/cat hybrid. A “Matt” if you will. So my theory of Matt being developed in a lab somewhere might not be so crazy after all. What covert branch of the military do you hail from, Matt?
August 2nd, 2010 at 11:44 am
I think that any goal is obtainable. If you can imagine it being within your physical and mental ability, that is human biology, than you can achieve it. Indeed the 200 inch box jump is probably not obtainable because the human body is not designed to performed vertical leaps of that proportion and probably can’t be trained to do so.
As for me, I have set some performance goals as most of you have too I’m sure. Short term: Get stronger physically and mentally and compete
Long term: Quality of life.
I’m convinced Crossfit, CFW & Mary will be instrumental in helping me achieve any goal I can set.
So, set your goals and aim high.
PS Ripley sure did have focus (Sigourney Weaver is the second hottest middle aged chick on the planet)
August 2nd, 2010 at 11:45 am
First off, aces on the Aliens reference! Outstanding.
I just wrote way too much on this – so I erased it.
Strength related question though – we did that 20 rep back squat thingy last week. Is that going to continue on a non-weekend type schedule? I would like to continue that and was wondering if I should try to make “my own” time to do it, or if it is going to happen every Thursday or whatever? Was flipping through my log book and noticed I lost 35 pounds on my 3RM BS
Overall, I find inspiration in the words of the great philosopher Bluto:
“Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!”
I think Beery is onto something with Matt there. Maybe his claim that he can’t fully squat right now is the result of top secret cyborg knee implants recently installed? All the puzzle pieces seem to fit.
August 2nd, 2010 at 2:23 pm
To start, sorry for the blog comments derail! Here goes:
We are trying to tally the final count so we can figure out how much it is going to cost per person – we need to come up with a $500 deposit asap!
Feel free to chime in and correct me if I am missing someone, if you are only staying 1 night, yadda yadda yadda:
I am not sure on the CrossFit Nor’Easter head count, probably around 5-6 people: Joan, Jenn, Deavon, Michelle, Craig and Heidi?
From CFW, we have:
- Nate
- Lis
- Jen C.
- Sue
- Melissa
- Kirk
- Spamela
- Jason
- Jillian
- Viv (friday night only)
- Bill (friday night only)
- Jordan (friday night only)
- Brittany (friday night only)
@Beery: Were you and Becky in for the Warrior Dash house o’ chaos?
@Rockstar: You in on this?
Chances are I am forgetting some people. I apologize. Chime in! The more the merrier!
So we are somewhere around 19 people. Which brings me back to a point that I would like to reiterate: The place has beds for 12 people, so couch/floor/whatever space is going to have to be utilized. We have no problem with that, stuff as many people in there as needed, I just don’t want anyone to be surprised! Think of it like a big ole fun sleepover! Spooning and footie pajamas optional. Beer a must.
Holla.
August 2nd, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Kirk and I are in for sat. night only
August 2nd, 2010 at 2:51 pm
I’m only there on Sat night as well.