Thrusters on Life

Just this past Saturday I did the Hero WOD "Wood" with my friends which involved a 400m run, burpee box jumps, sumo deadlift high-pulls and thrusters. As I'm currently nursing a funk shoulder, I pretty much had to modify the entire WOD to the point that it was no longer "Wood" at all. I was able to finish my round and head back out on the run long before anyone else, so I had plenty of quiet time to think.

I thought about how the WOD would feel different if I'd been able to go as prescribed on it. I started thinking about how each movement makes me feel, how each rep would make the next rep feel and so on.

The movement I can best recreate in all their horrible glory in my head; thrusters. I like front squats fine, push press no problem, but put them together and I want to run away. Even if the WOD said it was empty bar thrusters I'd likely still experience some back lash. WHY for God's sake?! What's with thrusters that are so awful?

Thrusters are life lessons, rat-a-tat fast in your face! Thrusters are life boiled down into two movements; down and up.
Down: the weight of life looks to drive into the ground, the crushing weight of the world forces you to your knees and makes you ache.
Up: Your will alone drives you upward out of the hole, out of the dark. You alone have the strength to get out the bottom (of the proverbial barrel).

Twenty one reps of thrusters and you're forced to confront the successes and defeats of life twenty one times. Twenty one times you must find yourself in the hole as the thruster sucks you in and twenty one times you must find your way out, thrusting into the light.

That was just one round. Do it again after a run, when you're tired, when you're not prepared, when you just aren't ready! Pains in our daily lives exist on a slightly longer and more indirect scale that you needn't pay attention to each day. But thrusters are fast, maybe 3 seconds long, right there in your face. Can you get out of this one? Are you WILLING to get out of this one?

So can thrusters teach us about life? I believe so. Whatever problems you have I bet it often feels like you're stuck, that you cant get out and that the pressure on you is too great. But fight to get up and out! Fight to move forward, take all the weight that is on you and launch it!

Practice this movement at your box so that the next time life comes at you, you'll know exactly what you need to do.

Thrust! Thrust into the light! :)

Time Sure Flies...

Holy crap, did you see that?! It's summer FLYING by! It seems funny that i spend time each day trying to be more "present" and to live in the now, then I go and lose whole months. Like June...what happened to June?

Lord knows I haven't been slacking or wasting my days. I've finished writing my book. I've got the whole next month of my workouts programmed (gonna get crazy strong..LOOK out), I'm organizing my Personal Training business so it can take off, and I've researched numerous continuing education opportunities. So where does the time go?

Have you ever felt a time warp? Like when you're holding a side plank for time and you just know the coach is about to call "30 seconds left" but you hear "10 seconds in" instead. AAaargh! Or like when you're having a great time hiking with friends and six hours fly by but feel like ages all at the same time. How does it morph like that?

There's the concept that time is an illusion and it expands and contracts based on your perception. Yogis use meditation to find a place where time stands still. Not so good for your workouts (ack, the never ending WOD!) but very useful if you're trying to appreciate the present moment. I'm not sure entirely but I'd imagine that achieving that would feel a lot like being a stone in the middle of the river. You're still and silent, not frozen in time, but moving and changing ever so slowly in relation to the river that's rushing all around you. Life, light, water, storms, days, nights, seasons all pass over. But there you stand, marked by the passage of time, but not swept away by it.

Do you ever meditate? What about during your workout or during yoga or dance? If I meditate and slow time, I notice that I come out of it feeling like I'd been meditating for so long that someone is sure to have noticed my absence! Then I find out its only been 30-45 minutes. I get a similar sensation during certain workouts, where I'm focused and SO sure I've been working for 20minutes and I check the clock (remember workouts are timed for us CrossFitters) and it says Ive only been at it for 6:37...yoysh!!

I for one would like a study done to compare meditating brains and WODing brains. I'm curious :) Someone out there. Make it happen!

Thanks :)
~Michelle