The kiss of death
I’m not saying it’s a hard and fast rule or anything. No, I’m saying before you decide to give praise, think it through. Ask yourself; is this really going to help them? If your not absolutely sure, keep your mouth shut.
My parents didn’t lavish words of inspiration on me. Maybe that’s why offering up kudos has been foreign to me for so long.
After all, why should we get a pat on the back for doing something we should have been doing all along? You lost 100 pounds! Cute, why did you gain it in the first place? And why are you looking for anyone else’s approval anyway? Nothing you or I do, should ever depend on the will of another.
That was me several years ago. Before CrossFit. But today I’m not sure if that attitude made me a really bad trainer, or a really good one.
A Hot Shot is someone you know, maybe it’s you. It’s that person who most resembles a running shower when someone just flushed the toilet – tundra cold, or Sahara hot, you just never know. A Hot Shot is someone who is all-in one second, and nowhere to be found the next. Someone who doesn’t get what praise is meant to do – promote.
Praise is pricey. It can motivate great things when we pay attention. It can cost people their happiness when we don’t
How bout this one. She spent weeks and weeks getting ready to strut her stuff on stage. She ate immaculately, bought a new two-piece, bloodied her hands on the bar countless times. She looked so confident and so proud as we applauded her efforts beneath the show lights.
I haven’t seen her since. This story is true, and repetitive. It’s happened to me more times than I feel like sharing.
The humans who do not require applause are the ones we should be clapping for. Inevitably, when hands grow silent, they will still keep going.
I say this because I saw a good trainer say, “good job” to a loser movement the other day. He meant to give props on the effort, not the mechanics. But the athlete didn’t know that.
For some of us, praise is the kiss of death. It’s the get out of jail free card when what we really need to see is what picking up that bar of soap fells like. It’s lazy and counterproductive and even selfish to offer up a good game before the athlete has even taken the field. Before we know exactly what that athlete needs to hear to keep finding success.
Sometimes, our time is better spent demanding baselines, not applauding them. Sometimes we DO need to hear, “good job.” And sometimes we just need to hear, “it’s about time.”
Warm-up:
Coaches choice
Skill:
1-Rope Climb
3- Handstand push-up
8 Rounds
*Begin a minute clock. On the first minute, perform (1) rope climb for fast quality. The following minute, perform (3) HSPU. Scale the HSPU according(parallettes, rings, and so on).
For time:
Double under
Swing 35/55
50/40/30/20/10
Auxiliary:
TGU+Windmill+Bar-arm
AMRAP 5 Minutes
Post impression to comments.
13:17 RX
12:14RX…thought I was gonna throw up on that one!
13;24
9:19
Either the clutch in my GTO doesn’t like the cold or it’s going out… Either way I’m glad I made it home from work tonight and decided to wod at home. In the kitchen. =D
I did Mountain Climbers instead of DU’s. 100/80/60/40/20
And Russian Swings (I didn’t want to take out the hanging light fixture in the kitchen.) 50/40/30/20/10
My time was 11:16
For a warm up I did 5 rounds of:
3 inch worm push ups ( legit – no knees touching the ground! )
10 squats
15 weighted sit ups w/ a 10# plate
Nice work Heather!!
nice. home wod posters are usually legit!
15:30 Rx
apologies for missin’ your awesome 2-pull climb(s). it’d be awesome to be michelle/sam-i-am tall for rope climbs and wb.
Awesome Heather!!!!
Great classes tonight. I had fun with you guys!
Rope climbs are looking good!!!
11:44 rx, til the last 10 swings :/ better safe than sorry…
P.S. thinking about doing rowing next year Nov.-Jan. and do the competitive season from Feb-May. Good idea? I think it will make me better in crossfit and also gives me the opportunity to do something new.
rowing like the true sport? hmm…why not, right? there’s a club in dayton, right? then you can come teach US about good technique (though slightly diff I know).
10:28rx
5:30 class were some bell ringin’ fools tonight! Awesome when that happens;)
12;20 Rx That one was fun!!
Congrats to Lisa, Jasmine, Jerry, Zach and I’m sure others who got their first rope climbs yesterday!!!