I’ve been teaching people how to squat, deadlift, and do pull-ups for 6 years now. I’ve seen CrossFit do wonders and transform people’s lives in ways few things can. Cure illnesses. Rehabilitate someone back to independent living. Give someone confidence and an outlook on life to which they didn’t know they were capable of. Early on as I educated myself via seminars and articles written by experts it became clear what the catalyst behind all this growth was: change.
I don’t think people generally associate growth with change but that’s exactly what it is. Change is often viewed as unwanted or pushed on someone to do something differently than the way they like doing. This can be true in some regards but when you’re looking for growth in some area of your life, change is often what’s needed to create it.
In the world of strength and conditioning, and make no mistake about it that’s exactly what CrossFit is, change in what the athlete has previously been doing is going to yield the greatest growth. Coach Glassman said it best during a seminar in 2011. “If you tell me, ‘boy this is what works for me and I’ve been doing it for years, this is what I do on Monday, this is what I do on Tuesdays, this is what I do on Wednesdays,’ then I’m going to tell you what you suck at on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and every day of the week. What’s not there is where you suck.” At the heart of our program is variance. It is what prohibits stagnation. The moment an athlete gets good at something a coach should find a way to make it harder.
The same is true or at least should be in life. IF you want to grow, change something. When we first opened our gym I thought that if I provide people with world class coaching, we’ll be successful. It won’t matter that we’re difficult to find or that our facility doesn’t have all the bells and whistles people want. If I show how much I care and put supreme effort into coaching the squat, deadlift, and pull-ups with supreme precision, we’ll be successful. Well, that wasn’t the case. It turns out some people like bells and whistles. It turns out being difficult to find is the perfect excuse for some people to say no thanks. So, in our constant pursuit of growth and virtuosity, we’re changing. CrossFit in Cibolo. Brand spanking new building (literally just got built). Easier to find by a longshot and the possibility to provide people all the bells and whistles they desire.
Change is never easy. A lot of times, especially in fitness, it means doing things that we really don’t enjoy doing. “I don’t like running.” Well, today we’re running a 5k and it’s going to do wonders for your endurance. “I don’t like lifting weights.” Well, today we’re deadlifting heavy and it’s going to do wonders for your ability to move stuff around the house. This is just the nature of the beast. Moving presents a lot of challenges but we know that in order to grow as a gym, it’s something we must do. Our goal has always been to give as many people as possible the life they want physically and mentally through CrossFit. So Cibolo…here we come!