#InTheirHonor: For the Heroes

Today, I’m sore. That Hero workout yesterday ~ it was TOUGH.

Tough like the Hero that we did it in honor of. If you’re not familiar with a Hero WOD (or Workout Of the Day), they are workouts that we do to honor the fallen – military, police officers, and firefighters. They are usually a little (or a lot) bit tougher on the scale of challenging, and well they should be. They’re for the best of the best. The ones who sacrificed. The ones who gave their all. The ones who laid their lives down protecting US, serving US, providing for US.

Of course (OF COURSE), we still scale and modify, as necessary when we do these Hero WODs so it is the right amount of intensity, the right amount of challenge for each individual completing the workout…because they are good for ANY level of fitness.

However, scaled or not, I try to push harder in the Hero WODs. Because they’re harder workouts? Maybe. But moreso for the honor and remembrance of those who aren’t here to do them, because they made the ultimate sacrifice.

We do these IN THEIR HONOR. There is a reason we begin every post on social media with that sentiment BEFORE posting the workout. A reminder…that it’s in their honor. We GET to do the workout. We GET to choose to be healthy. We GET to treat ourselves to fitness. We GET to live on in their honor. And while a workout, is yes, just a workout, if we remember and honor them and it gives us more cause to complete the workout – all the better. Sure, I want to gripe a little, just like the next person, when a really, really challenging Hero workout comes up in the programming, because I know how I’ll feel midway through.

But we GET to do them. They can’t anymore. We get to. I love posting the pictures of those guys and gals, because I keep those images in my head during the workout. So I can remember them, and maybe, just maybe, by giving that extra push and by challenging myself more, they’ll know from up above how grateful I am….we are….for their protection, their honor, their service.

Murph is one of my favorite Hero WODs. As hard as The Lone Survivor was to watch (the movie depicting his service and that of his comrades), I was grateful to have seen it, because during the challenge of that workout (and the others like it), it helps me to remember and be grateful. It helps me to have gratitude for the gift of life, the gift of the opportunity to get fitter, the gift of making every moment count.

It’s for the Heroes, y’all.

In Their Honor.

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Want to learn more about Hero WODs and talk about your fitness? Email tanya@crossfitvirilis.com.