From There to Here (Part 3)

I've always subscribed to the philosophy that in life you are either improving or in decline. Virtually nothing in this world is static and ultimately you must commit or quit. Anything in the middle is likely a good opportunity to lie to yourself and say you "tried".  In April it was clear that I had "tried" but made no sacrifices worthy of real improvement.

I would suppose Sisyphus is likely the first Crossfitter.  The long and the short of the Greek myth: Sisyphus ticks off Zeus and is punished by rolling a rock up a hill over and over for all eternity.  The effort was deemed a punishment because the act of pushing the rock up a hill again and again and again was supposed to be demotivating (guess Zeus never had a day of wall balls).  And I too, like Sisyphus, was demotivated because my efforts (weak though they were) showed little to no progress.

So came the time to decide if I was going to give an honest effort or give up.  Already I had conceded the bet with my friend.  He was making good progress and had been attending 3 days a week for months.  But now was the time to decide if excuses and rationalization would win out over dedication.  To this point I had attended only 21 times from Thanksgiving to the beginning of May. Numbers don't lie.  This type of effort was not going to cut it.

Commit I did.  Diet changed.  More protein, less carbs, more vitamins, and less fried food.  3-4 classes per week.  More and better sleep.  Upgraded clothes/shoes (which are kind of underrated and a good topic to expand later).  All of these areas needed to change and from May to the present they have.  I've done everything you need to do to progress.  Since May 1st I've attended 45 classes.  And the results are encouraging. I've started to adjust physically to the rigorous exercises and gained strength while reducing body fat.  I no longer spend 2-3 hours after a workout recovering and staring into space.  I can do a workout and then do something productive with the rest of my evening.

So here we are at the present day and these are my choices moving forward.  The fall will be like the summer.  I'll keep pushing that rock up the hill.  Unlike Sisyphus I will be motivated from the struggle and I will improve.