There is one real rule in my CrossFit box…and its not what you think.
In 1999, Tyler Durden spoke a rule so important that it bore repeating.
Don’t talk about Fight Club.
We make jokes that the first rule of CrossFit is to tell everyone that you are doing it. Honestly, who wouldn’t be proud of themselves for choosing to take on a habit that not only improves your health, but also tests your will power and requires real commitment and work to excel in. But alas, the #1 rule in CrossFit doesn’t involve silence about your cult, or the need to confess it to everyone within talking distance.
It’s simpler.
Don’t stop. Keep going
Don’t stop giving putting forth 100% of whatever is left in you. Don’t stop training because life or kids or work make training regularly hard at times. Don’t stop trying to improve week in and week out.
Don’t stop to put up weights while another is suffering through what you have already finished. Don’t stop encouraging others to follow the rule. Don’t stop.
Keep Going.
Life is short, and as soon as you stop and look back, you’ll wish you had kept going and that moment will be gone. The chance to prove yourself on a sled drag team event may not pop up for a long time if ever again. The potential to help a friend who is new to exercise push through the urge to give up on a wod will always remain potential in the past that was never acted on.
Getting off the nutrition track for a long time leads to your performance suffering. I did this in the past. By the time I got back on track, so many other areas of my life such as energy, work, concentration and temperament had already suffered so much that I wish I had never stopped in the first place.
So the summation of my one rule and possibly my best advice relating to Crossfit comes to four words.
Don’t stop. Keep going.
-J
