The two most important letters in CrossFit

The tattoo on her lower back said more than she meant it to. Her particular ink didn’t say, “wanna see more”, or “I’m a rebel”. It said, “I quit.”

Retreat is a strategic move in combat. Sometimes it’s all you have. Same in CrossFit. There are days, few, but days where a barbell overhead is a poor idea. We call those rest days. But her tattooed defeat was in the form of the fetal position-head down and cupped within her forearms sobbing into the black mat. She had given up one small round away from RX-the letters she needed most that day, everyday. As she hid her eyes surrendering, her tattoo was her white flag, the only color in the sea of black.

Her intentions are always just, her intentions are worthless.

I knelt down beside her in a puddle of what I hoped was sweat and tears and said soothingly, “that was what giving up feels like, I suggest you never do it again.”

She taught me something when she hit the dirt a few reps shy of her first RX workout. From her pain, I learned her fear of two very important letters. Symbols she has been avoiding because once you have them, there is no going back. If RX is possible, then RX is expected.

Comfort and CrossFit mix like Christians on Mosques. Days passed where she would make one small workout adjustment to remain comfortable. It’s always easier to “almost” get there, than it is to “stay” there.

The next day she went RX on a workout that I would not have thought she was capable of just yet. A workout that included a movement she had never done, and a load she had never lifted. RX meant she PRd more than two dozen times. She hugged me, and said thanks, I said my usual, “you did the work” speech because I truly believe it. But then I said something that snapped her back to reality. “Today you have proven to yourself that you are capable, and I will hold you to that tomorrow.”

If your smart, intuitive, a CrossFitter, then you know RX may have nothing to do doing muscle-ups, or pull-ups or lifting seven thousand pounds. RX means you face what you fear. It means you show me all you’ve got so I can always hold you accountable to your best, not what your comfortable giving. It means that in the midst of all that self doubt you try, even if you show a side of yourself that will be hard to live up to. It means you never settle for anything short of everything.

Strength/Skill:

3-Strict pull-ups
3-Hips to ring
3-Banded ring shoot thrus
3-Kipping HSPU
AMRAP 14 Minutes
*For quality reps, not for time.

Goat work
15 Minutes of working something you are bad at.

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