Landstuhl CrossFit

“CrossFit empowers women, not only in fitness, but in everyday life. When you achieve something that was deemed too intense for women or something you thought you weren’t capable of – you can conquer the world. You can overcome your battles, fears, and mental barriers outside of the gym.” CrossFit Central

You know that feeling of getting through a WOD you thought was impossible at its onset and at emotionally low points during its execution? Maybe it was Murph or Cindy when you were on the 5th rep of a 100-rep set, and you were certain you’d be a DNF casualty.

But then you started tackling the WOD one rep at a time and you started living in the moment without letting the enormity of how far you still had to go crush your spirit and you started focusing on breathing and if you were lucky even had the strength of spirit not to take yourself seriously and to find some degree of humor in your compromised position.

Most likely you had nowhere near that strength of spirit and you snapped at your mate or companion. Maybe you could instantly feel the air sour and tension crackle. A negative mental attitude and tense body will make your experience of pain (not just your perception of pain) intensify. Screw it – I’m not dealing with this B.S. Quitting will bring quick relief. It takes herculean effort to lift yourself out of a negative state of self-pity (your pain is justified, after all), and get back in a focused, relaxed frame of mind needed to methodically surmount each rep as you had originally, one at a time.

Think carefully about this: your expectations going into any given WOD influences in no small part your experience. How did others with whom you relate handle this WOD? Do you have role models within your community or who you observed in a video online who were cool under pressure, or did you see them crack and lash out? The internet is saturated with videos of strong women methodically and bravely conquering any given WOD. The famous “Nasty Girls” shows female athletes humbled and cowed with exertion but nonetheless overcoming and conquering a beast. They get universal respect and empathy – we’ve all been there and we’ve all been broken – these girls show how we can triumph. There’s so many websites devoted to strong female athletes, but here’s two great ones: Orange Coast CrossFit Women and Rx Girls Miami.

What are you more likely to have viewed – movies with women performing valiantly through childbirth or movies with women screaming and panicking? What about stories from friends – do you know any who elected to give birth naturally or only a few who had no other choice?

It’s also a lot easier when you can compare and contrast the pain and difficulty of a mega-WOD with a former experience. Experience yields confidence which empowers. Each rep brings you one rep closer to the end, yes, but you are not goal-oriented as much as you have in-the-moment determination. Face a marathon you’ve broken mentally into segments, and your way will be much easier than regarding it in its enormity at the startline.

Believe it or not, some athletes experience natural rushes of endorphins which carry them at least partially through WODs. You can get them too if you can psyche yourself into the proper mindset. Another one surmounted – Bring On More Because I Am Unflappable. Then surely no matter how many minutes it takes, you’ll see any given WOD from proper perspective as the blink in time it actually is. Plus you aren’t handicapped by fear – think of how stress and fear will affect that penalty shot on the soccer goal in the final seconds of the game. Natural childbirth is another area where the mind and body connection is well documented and established, – this should come as absolutely no surprise.

No matter whether you decide to complete a mega-WOD or not, just insure you don’t set yourself up ever to wonder if you could have endured through to the end. Some people get so traumatized by their first experience, they wouldn’t even consider ever facing a mega-WOD again. Speaking just for me personally, that might negatively impact my persistence, even my likelihood of success when faced with future challenges.

Did you ever hear of the study contrasting the experience of childbirth of women from America with women from the Netherlands? During pregnancy, each woman was provided the same information concerning the risks of pain medication during labor. Eighty-three percent of the American women asked for pain medication compared with only 33% of the Dutch women. In a follow-up questionnaire, the Americans noted they anticipated a painful birth and the need for drugs, whereas the Dutch anticipated less pain and less likelihood for needing drugs.

What?! Dutch women aren’t any tougher than us. I know some of them personally. A phobia concerning natural childbirth is so firmly ingrained in our social psyche that women giving birth accept pain relieving drugs as expected.

I am completely biased on this subject, but I firmly believe we should do everything possible to minimize any possibility of side effect from drugs or unnecessary medical procedures. My family doesn’t have the greatest experience with drug and hospital procedure complications, with errors in judgement, with impersonal treatment.

Plus I absolutely hate any idea that we American women are allowing ourselves to be underestimated. Achieving natural childbirth was one of the biggest highs and certainly the biggest source of confidence in my life. From the moment I gave birth to our son, I’ve stopped underestimating myself. Over 9 hours following the start of my labor, I was exhausted, I was humbled, I was awed, but most importantly I remember I was completely cognizant of the moment our son breathed his first breath. Our eyes locked and our family was caught up in the most incredible light.

I left the birthing center 2 hours later, and was fully recovered within two weeks. Relief, however was instantaneous – just like following the completion of a good hard WOD. Is there a WOD experience to which you can compare everything else? I wouldn’t trade that knowledge or that experience for anything.