DO YOU HAVE STANDARDS?

My “infamous” trucker hat from the 2011 CrossFit Games: I have standards.

I love the saying that goes something like, “Character is what we do when we think no one is looking.” What a true statement! We all know that CrossFit tests us physically, but did you know that it also tests our character?

When Chris and I go over technique on movements, we always make sure to lay out the movement standards. For squats, get below parallel. For push-ups, get the chest to the floor. For box jumps, stand and fully open the hips at the top. We don’t give these movement standards out as a suggestion. They are required to correctly perform the movement. They are required to safely perform the movement. They are required to make you better at the movement.

Crazy things happen on the count of 3-2-1-Go! Sometimes athletes throw out the movement standards in order to beat their prior time… or beat the person next to them. Sometimes athletes “miscount their reps” in their haste to quickly move through the workout.

Whether you realize this or not, your coaches- and fellow athletes- notice these things.

We understand the athlete who may not physically be able to hold himself to a movement standard, such as someone with an injury or someone who doesn’t have the range of motion yet to comply with the standard. And we understand the athlete who is pushing herself so hard that when you ask what rep she is on, she looks at you with crazy eyes and has no idea.

He didn’t get here without holding himself to the standards!

It is the athletes who have been CrossFitting for a while and who are familiar with how this gig works that need to realize how important it is to hold themselves to the standards. It is disheartening as a coach to constantly have to correct someone who knows how to properly do a movement. But it is even more disheartening when another athlete complains to a coach about someone (who most likely beat them in the workout) who wasn’t getting below parallel on their squats or who couldn’t have possibly completed all 50 reps. This happens more than you might think.

Now some of you may be rolling your eyes and thinking, “Character? In a fitness program? Come on, Shelby. Lighten up!” But if you are a CrossFitter, then you probably understand exactly what I am talking about. It is important to live your life with integrity and character- in all aspects of your life. If you don’t hold yourself to high standards in a little ‘ole fitness class, then where else may you be lacking?

So CrossFitters of the world! Take heed! You never know who is watching. You never know who might be counting your reps. Hold yourself to the standards!