1: It’s all about the music

The one thing Christmas and CrossFit most definitely have in common is music. Everywhere you go during the pre-Christmas weeks, you will probably hear some form of Christmas songs, most likely Jingle-Bells or Last Christmas. During your WODs you will listen to music also, but quite different in style.

While ripping your heart out during a WOD you need music with a rhythm that gets you into the right mood. Again, that’s a thing Christmas and CrossFit music have in common. If you are planning a Christmas WOD, the right music will be crucial for success. Think of it as a big Christmas party – with a lot of sports!

Therefore, you should get music for the party that is Christmassy and CrossFit-friendly also. The easiest way to do this is to look for Dubstep or similar versions of Christmas-Songs on Youtube – things people will recognise, and that will put a big grin on their face. Get together a nice, heavy playlist and you’re on your way to a great Christmas-WOD.

Source: Crossfit Templar

2. Costumes, baby!

Every good party requires a twist – so why not let people attend your Christmas WOD dressed in season-themed costumes? The costumes don’t necessarily need to be fancy – a little makeup and a Santa hat or elf ears will do the trick. Ask people to be creative and maybe even put up a little costume contest (the prize could be a personal training session with your coach or something similar).

People doing your Christmas WOD in costumes will be loads of fun and most definitely be the source of many happy box memories. Something like „Do you remember when Tom came with that Grinch-Costume to our Christmas WOD?“ will be a perfect opportunity to bring people in your box closer together.

Source: someecards

3. Christmas WOD Party? Piece of cake!

Every good party also needs food, right? So why not ask people to bring some Christmas (and also CrossFit) themed food to the Christmas WOD Party? Things like kettlebell-shaped cookies (you can even buy cookie-cutters for that) or other yummy baked goods in CrossFit forms will work, but also savoury foods like meatballs formed like dumbells can do the trick.

Just consider if there are people at your box doing Paleo or similar diets – and maybe even ask them to bring paleo-friendly food themselves. There are so many cookie- and baking recipes on the Internet which are incorporating the idea of paleo-eating, therefore that shouldn’t be a problem.

The same goes with drinks: Punch or hot spiced wine or even the german Feuerzangenbowle (mulled wine with a rum-soaked sugarloaf lit above it) are awesome for bringing loads of Christmas scent and atmosphere into your CrossFit Box – just ask about fire regulations before trying out Feuerzangenbowle…

4. Christmas WOD Party Design: Part 1

Your WOD is the main star of your Christmas WOD Party. Overall, you have got two options on how to design your Christmas WOD: make an existing WOD all christmassy, or write your own.

The trick for making your Christmas WOD a success is writing a little story around it. If you want to take an existing WOD, there are three which qualify best for this quest: Hollywood, Daniel and Fight gone Bad. You can pretty easily implement these into a little story about how you have to help Santa to deliver his presents on time

Hollywood:

• Run 2km,
• 22 Wall-Balls,
• 22 Muscle-Ups (or scale down),
• 22 Wall-Balls,
• 22 Power Cleans,
• 22 Wall-Balls
• 2km Run again.

This is a nice christmas WOD because you can tell your fellow CrossFitters, they gotta run to catch Santa’s sledge. But Santa lost a couple of presents because he was riding off to fiercely and now you have to throw the presents back onto the sledge. But now, Santa doesn’t care waiting for you – you’re only able to manage grabbing one of the sledges skids and pull yourself back up.

The next rounds of Wall-Balls and Power Cleans can be thought of as helping Santa delivering the presents by throwing them up to him on top of the roof. After that, you need to run again, because the children at one house woke up and you have to get out of there before they see you.

Daniel consists of:

• 50 pull-ups,
• 400m Run,
• 21 Thrusters,
• 800m Run,
• 21 Thrusters,
• 400m Run and
• 50 Pull-Ups.

Just use the segments of the story above for tinkering your X-mas-WOD.

The same goes for Fight gone bad:

• 3 rounds of wall balls
• sumo deadlift high pulls
• box jumps
• push presses
• row

You move from each station to another after one minute and take another minute as a break after each round. Wall-Balls are delivering presents, Deadlift-High-Pulls can be helping pull the sledge out of a ditch, Box jumps are you getting from one roof to another or avoiding obstacles on the way and rowing suits as „fuelling“ the sledge because the reindeer are too exhausted.

Read More: 5 Fun and Festive Christmas CrossFit Workouts

Source: Courtesy of CrossFit Inc.

5. Christmas WOD Party Design: Part 2

If you want to design your own Christmas WOD party, you should also think of a little Christmas story surrounding it. If you don’t want to do that Santa thing, but you’re not that creative, you can always look up Christmas stories on the internet. The best exercises to implement into a Christmas WOD are sledge-pull, rope-climb, thrusters, wall-balls, running or other cardio, clean+jerk, snatch, pull-ups and planks.

If you are really having a hard time thinking of some Christmas versions of these exercises, here’s a little help: everything that involves pushes can be used for things like „throwing presents“, while climbing and hanging is best for getting up on the roof and stuff.

Also, you can do challenges like sledge-races (different Santas in competition with each other) or putting a chocolate Santa at the top of a rope and having people who want the chocolate treat to climb up the rope. Possibilities are almost endless – but with a little creativity, you are bound to make that Christmas WOD Party a huge success.

Merry WODmas everyone!

FYI: I wrote an article on how to prepare a paleo barbecue, so maybe some of the tips mentioned here will ring a bell.

Source: Dragon CrossFit

Read More: 5 Fun and Festive Christmas Workouts

1. Settle on your dietary perspective – and compromise

First, think about why you want to do a paleo Christmas dinner in the first place?

Christmas dinner has to be special, right? And “special“ in reference to food usually means tasty. Really tasty. The good thing about paleo is that you have lots of options to prepare delicious food. But if you are going to do so, you have to decide if you want a “real paleo dinner” or a meal where you are substituting certain standard Christmas foods with their paleo equivalent.

If you decide on the latter, you will include a lot of “treats” with your meals that aren’t exactly helping your dietary goals. But who wants to lose weight at Christmas anyway? Right. So you can either prepare a paleo dinner without paleo treats if you are really strict with your diet – or you can go for the treats and enjoy a classy meal with your family. I would especially advise you to take the latter version if you have problems watching your non-paleo friends and family gulping down non-paleo Christmas sweets and the like – or if you are going paleo because of a certain food intolerance.

2. It’s waffle time, it’s waffle time…

Starting with dessert may seem a little odd right now, but since this is the part where most people have problems regarding paleo, I want to shed some light on this difficult subject. You basically have two choices about how to prepare your Christmas dessert. If you want to create a strictly dietary paleo dessert, you can go with fruits. The trick with this version is to prepare it in a Christmassy way. You can do that for example by putting together a double or triple layer fruit-purée with fruits that have Christmas-themed colours. Just follow this easy recipe:

• Ingredients for two layers: green and red fruits (for example kiwi and berries), lemon juice, Christmas spice (for example cinnamon, cloves)
• You also need: a blender, a nice serving dish (for example a martini-glas)
• Purée the kiwi and the berries separately in a blender
• Add a bit of lemon juice to each purée
• Pour the kiwi-purée into your desired dish until the dish is about one third full
• Carefully pour the berry-purée on top of the kiwi-purée, so that the two don’t mix
• Sprinkle your desired Christmas spice on top and you’re done

Source: RX'd Photography

Of course, you can also prepare a much more treat-like paleo desert. The easiest way to do this is to make some paleo waffles. For this of course you need a waffle iron and some batter. If you have been doing paleo for quite a while now, you have probably already tried to make paleo-pancakes. You can easily use this recipe for making waffles.

Prepare the batter in the same way and pour it into your waffle iron. When the waffles are cooked, pour some maple syrup and again add Christmas spices on top. You now have a great Christmas dessert.

Or you can make chocolate pudding, using cocoa, honey and tapioca starch. Just remember: Even if you are doing paleo, calories still count. If you gulp down a whole bottle of maple syrup, you will probably still have trouble losing weight…

3. Paleo Christmas Dinner: The grand finale!

What’s the star of every proper Paleo Christmas dinner? Of course, the famous roast. Whatever kind of roast you’re having, you will most certainly have some kind of meat on the table for your fancy Christmas gathering. Fortunately, there isn’t so much you have to worry about with this one. Just bear in mind the following things and you are bound to have a great paleo Christmas dinner.

Source: Deposit photos - bhofack2

When buying the meat you want for Christmas dinner, try to get an organic, free range animal

This is ethical, healthy and will taste a lot better. Sure, it will be more expensive, too, but it’s Christmas, right? Just bear in mind that you probably have to be quick to get your desired meat at the farmers market or your trusted butcher – before they sell out.

If you want to prepare traditional gravy with your roast, you can easily substitute flour as a thickening agent with tapioca starch or something similar to make the gravy paleo friendly.

Side dishes

With side dishes you have a lot of options. If you are allowing white potatoes into your diet, you can prepare these easily by cutting them in chunks and roasting them coated in duck lard and some spices in the oven. Combine these with roasted vegetables or other traditional Christmas sides

Make substitutions for non-paleo-ingredients

• Most common non-paleo-ingredients include sugar, flour and non-paleo-fats – use honey or maple sirup, paleo friendly starches and coconut oil, ghee or lard instead
• If you want to drink alcohol on christmas eve then you should
• Red wine is considered paleo friendly, if consumed in moderation. Just beware of store bought punch and egg nogg which are mostly full of refined sugar

Well, that is it! Hopefully, you will be able to enjoy a nice paleo Christmas dinner with your friends and family and also of course very comfy and happy holidays. Share it with your friends who also do the paleo diet, or even those who don’t. It is delicious either way.

Merry Christmas!

1: It’s all about the music

The one thing Christmas and CrossFit most definitely have in common is music. Everywhere you go during the pre-Christmas weeks, you will probably hear some form of Christmas songs, most likely Jingle-Bells or Last Christmas. During your WODs you will listen to music also, but quite different in style.

While ripping your heart out during a WOD you need music with a rhythm that gets you into the right mood. Again, that’s a thing Christmas and CrossFit music have in common. If you are planning a Christmas WOD, the right music will be crucial for success. Think of it as a big Christmas party – with a lot of sports!

Therefore, you should get music for the party that is Christmassy and CrossFit-friendly also. The easiest way to do this is to look for Dubstep or similar versions of Christmas-Songs on Youtube – things people will recognise, and that will put a big grin on their face. Get together a nice, heavy playlist and you’re on your way to a great Christmas-WOD.

Source: Crossfit Templar

2. Costumes, baby!

Every good party requires a twist – so why not let people attend your Christmas WOD dressed in season-themed costumes? The costumes don’t necessarily need to be fancy – a little makeup and a Santa hat or elf ears will do the trick. Ask people to be creative and maybe even put up a little costume contest (the prize could be a personal training session with your coach or something similar).

People doing your Christmas WOD in costumes will be loads of fun and most definitely be the source of many happy box memories. Something like “Do you remember when Tom came with that Grinch-Costume to our Christmas WOD?“ will be a perfect opportunity to bring people in your box closer together.

Source: someecards

3. Christmas WOD Party? Piece of cake!

Every good party also needs food, right? So why not ask people to bring some Christmas (and also CrossFit) themed food to the Christmas WOD Party? Things like kettlebell-shaped cookies (you can even buy cookie-cutters for that) or other yummy baked goods in CrossFit forms will work, but also savoury foods like meatballs formed like dumbells can do the trick.

Just consider if there are people at your box doing different diets – and maybe even ask them to bring diet-friendly food themselves.

The same goes with drinks: Punch or hot spiced wine or even the german Feuerzangenbowle (mulled wine with a rum-soaked sugarloaf lit above it) are awesome for bringing loads of Christmas scent and atmosphere into your CrossFit Box – just ask about fire regulations before trying out Feuerzangenbowle…

4. Christmas WOD Party Design: Part 1

Your WOD is the main star of your Christmas WOD Party. Overall, you have got two options on how to design your Christmas WOD: make an existing WOD all Christmassy, or write your own.

The trick for making your Christmas WOD a success is writing a little story around it. If you want to take an existing WOD, there are three which qualify best for this quest: Hollywood, Daniel and Fight gone Bad. You can pretty easily implement these into a little story about how you have to help Santa to deliver his presents on time

Hollywood:

• Run 2km,
• 22 Wall-Balls,
• 22 Muscle-Ups (or scale down),
• 22 Wall-Balls,
• 22 Power Cleans,
• 22 Wall-Balls
• 2km Run again.

This is a nice Christmas WOD because you can tell your fellow CrossFitters, they got to run to catch Santa’s sledge. But Santa lost a couple of presents because he was riding off to fiercely and now you have to throw the presents back onto the sledge. But now, Santa doesn’t care waiting for you – you’re only able to manage grabbing one of the sledges skids and pull yourself back up.

The next rounds of Wall-Balls and Power Cleans can be thought of as helping Santa delivering the presents by throwing them up to him on top of the roof. After that, you need to run again, because the children at one house woke up and you have to get out of there before they see you.

Daniel consists of:

• 50 pull-ups,
• 400m Run,
• 21 Thrusters,
• 800m Run,
• 21 Thrusters,
• 400m Run and
• 50 Pull-Ups.

Just use the segments of the story above for tinkering your X-mas-WOD.

The same goes for Fight gone bad:

• 3 rounds of wall balls
• sumo deadlift high pulls
• box jumps
• push presses
• row

You move from each station to another after one minute and take another minute as a break after each round. Wall-Balls are delivering presents, Deadlift-High-Pulls can be helping pull the sledge out of a ditch, Box jumps are you getting from one roof to another or avoiding obstacles on the way and rowing suits as „fuelling“ the sledge because the reindeer are too exhausted.

Read More: 5 Fun and Festive Christmas CrossFit Workouts

Source: Courtesy of CrossFit Inc.

5. Christmas WOD Party Design: Part 2

If you want to design your own Christmas WOD party, you should also think of a little Christmas story surrounding it. If you don’t want to do that Santa thing, but you’re not that creative, you can always look up Christmas stories on the internet. The best exercises to implement into a Christmas WOD are sledge-pull, rope-climb, thrusters, wall-balls, running or other cardio, clean+jerk, snatch, pull-ups and planks.

If you are really having a hard time thinking of some Christmas versions of these exercises, here’s a little help: everything that involves pushes can be used for things like “throwing presents“, while climbing and hanging is best for getting up on the roof and stuff.

Also, you can do challenges like sledge-races (different Santas in competition with each other) or putting a chocolate Santa at the top of a rope and having people who want the chocolate treat to climb up the rope. Possibilities are almost endless – but with a little creativity, you are bound to make that Christmas WOD Party a huge success.

Merry WODmas everyone!

FYI: I wrote an article on how to prepare a paleo barbecue, so maybe some of the tips mentioned here will ring a bell.

Source: Dragon CrossFit

Read More: 5 Fun and Festive Christmas Workouts

1. Settle on your dietary perspective – and compromise

First, think about why you want to do a paleo Christmas dinner in the first place?

Christmas dinner has to be special, right? And “special“ in reference to food usually means tasty. Really tasty. The good thing about paleo is that you have lots of options to prepare delicious food. But if you are going to do so, you have to decide if you want a “real paleo dinner” or a meal where you are substituting certain standard Christmas foods with their paleo equivalent.

If you decide on the latter, you will include a lot of “treats” with your meals that aren’t exactly helping your dietary goals. But who wants to lose weight at Christmas anyway? Right. So you can either prepare a paleo dinner without paleo treats if you are really strict with your diet – or you can go for the treats and enjoy a classy meal with your family. I would especially advise you to take the latter version if you have problems watching your non-paleo friends and family gulping down non-paleo Christmas sweets and the like – or if you are going paleo because of a certain food intolerance.

2. It’s waffle time, it’s waffle time…

Starting with dessert may seem a little odd right now, but since this is the part where most people have problems regarding paleo, I want to shed some light on this difficult subject. You basically have two choices about how to prepare your Christmas dessert. If you want to create a strictly dietary paleo dessert, you can go with fruits. The trick with this version is to prepare it in a Christmassy way. You can do that for example by putting together a double or triple layer fruit-purée with fruits that have Christmas-themed colours. Just follow this easy recipe:

• Ingredients for two layers: green and red fruits (for example kiwi and berries), lemon juice, Christmas spice (for example cinnamon, cloves)
• You also need: a blender, a nice serving dish (for example a martini-glas)
• Purée the kiwi and the berries separately in a blender
• Add a bit of lemon juice to each purée
• Pour the kiwi-purée into your desired dish until the dish is about one third full
• Carefully pour the berry-purée on top of the kiwi-purée, so that the two don’t mix
• Sprinkle your desired Christmas spice on top and you’re done

Source: RX'd Photography

Of course, you can also prepare a much more treat-like paleo desert. The easiest way to do this is to make some paleo waffles. For this of course you need a waffle iron and some batter. If you have been doing paleo for quite a while now, you have probably already tried to make paleo-pancakes. You can easily use this recipe for making waffles.

Prepare the batter in the same way and pour it into your waffle iron. When the waffles are cooked, pour some maple syrup and again add Christmas spices on top. You now have a great Christmas dessert.

Or you can make chocolate pudding, using cocoa, honey and tapioca starch. Just remember: Even if you are doing paleo, calories still count. If you gulp down a whole bottle of maple syrup, you will probably still have trouble losing weight…

3. Paleo Christmas Dinner: The grand finale!

What’s the star of every proper Paleo Christmas dinner? Of course, the famous roast. Whatever kind of roast you’re having, you will most certainly have some kind of meat on the table for your fancy Christmas gathering. Fortunately, there isn’t so much you have to worry about with this one. Just bear in mind the following things and you are bound to have a great paleo Christmas dinner.

Source: Deposit photos - bhofack2

When buying the meat you want for Christmas dinner, try to get an organic, free range animal

This is ethical, healthy and will taste a lot better. Sure, it will be more expensive, too, but it’s Christmas, right? Just bear in mind that you probably have to be quick to get your desired meat at the farmers market or your trusted butcher – before they sell out.

If you want to prepare traditional gravy with your roast, you can easily substitute flour as a thickening agent with tapioca starch or something similar to make the gravy paleo friendly.

Side dishes

With side dishes you have a lot of options. If you are allowing white potatoes into your diet, you can prepare these easily by cutting them in chunks and roasting them coated in duck lard and some spices in the oven. Combine these with roasted vegetables or other traditional Christmas sides

Make substitutions for non-paleo-ingredients

• Most common non-paleo-ingredients include sugar, flour and non-paleo-fats – use honey or maple sirup, paleo friendly starches and coconut oil, ghee or lard instead
• If you want to drink alcohol on christmas eve then you should
• Red wine is considered paleo friendly, if consumed in moderation. Just beware of store bought punch and egg nogg which are mostly full of refined sugar

Well, that is it! Hopefully, you will be able to enjoy a nice paleo Christmas dinner with your friends and family and also of course very comfy and happy holidays. Share it with your friends who also do the paleo diet, or even those who don’t. It is delicious either way.

Merry Christmas!

• “You can’t do this”
• “You will never finish”
• “If you skip one or two reps, no one will notice”
• “Take the easier version, you won’t feel so much pain”
• “Just give up and it’s over. Right here and now and the pain will end”

Every athlete feels like this once in a while, but it seems like CrossFitters are especially prone because their workouts demand so much from them regarding physical and mental strength.

HOW TO COUNTER NEGATIVE THOUGHTS

Luckily there are some pretty easy psychological tricks you can apply to destroy these negative thoughts and stop them harming your confidence and performance.

Source: RX'd Photography

1. BE INSPIRED BY YOUR FELLOW CROSSFITTERS

You know what one of the best parts of CrossFit is? The community. During a real hard workout it’s time to use this to your advantage.

In CrossFit we earn each others respect by going all out during a WOD and trying as hard as we possibly can. There may be people in your box who are not able to finish a certain WOD during the designated time cap. But more than once you may have seen them finishing a WOD anyway, even after the time has finished.

Or you have that really strong guy or girl at your box who does things you thought were impossible. Both of those are inspirational in their own way because they are pushing it to their very own limits. If you find yourself feeling terrible during a WOD, thinking you can’t go on anymore, take a look around you. See anybody else quitting? No? Then you shouldn’t either.

Be inspired by the other athletes at your box – you can’t read their thoughts, but you will see a mixture of suffering and willpower in their eyes. Use this for yourself and crush that WOD.

2. ADOPT A HERO-VERSION OF YOURSELF

The second option is fun: adopting a secret identity. As Jane McGonigal writes in her book “Super Better”, a secret identity helps you to practice your own strength and willpower whilst also reinventing and exploring yourself.[1]

Source: CrossFit Inc

Therefore, think of a hero you want to be, like Hulk or Xena or Iron Man or any other character from your favourite book, movie, video game or the like and use him or her to create your own secret identity by displaying your own strengths. When you feel like you can’t go on anymore during a WOD, think of your secret identity as a mantra, something like “I am the mighty XY and I will do everything to get stronger and slay the WOD-monster.”

This may sound silly at first, and of course you don’t have to scream this out into the world. But by saying this to yourself, you are programming your brain by positive affirmation. By adopting a secret identity on top of this you will feel like a different person, a hero who can conquer any obstacle. So, have fun, go crazy and invent that super hero version of yourself before your next WOD – and as a bonus you can write something like a symbol or the name of your identity with chalk on the floor to make yourself remember it.

3. ACCEPT FAILURE AS PART OF THE PROCESS

Don’t be scared to fail. First, remind yourself of the reason why you are doing CrossFit. Maybe it’s because you like the people there, want to get fitter or maybe you need it to counter depression and the stress you have in your life.

Whatever your individual reason, all Crossfitters are united by the fact that we want to become better versions of ourselves.

To accomplish this you have to push yourself to your limits and then exceed those limits during a WOD. That also means that you have to FIND your limits as well. These are the points, places and times at which you fail. Failure to hit a certain weight, perform a specific number of reps or finish a WOD within a time cap does not mean that you will never be able to do these things, it just means that you can’t do them right now. You want to get better, hit those targets and improve, then you need to put in the work.

Source: RX'd Photography

If you succeed at every WOD, you always PR with every lift and you’re always first, then you simply aren’t pushing yourself hard enough (or you are Rich Froning). Failure is part of the process, and it makes it all the more rewarding when you finally hit that lift or WOD time you’ve been chasing for months!

4. PRACTICE MINDFULNESS

Mindfulness just means being mindful of your surroundings, observing certain things that you otherwise may not focus on. During a WOD you can use mindfulness in different ways.

– Control your breathing

Breathing techniques can help to calm yourself down if you feel anxious during (or especially before) a WOD. Concentrate on making your breathing regular, and adapt it to each exercise. It is amazing the effect this can have on diminishing negative thoughts during workouts.

Another method  is to breathe in and count to four. Then breathe out and count to eight. Try to exhale for twice as long as it takes you to inhale. Doing this for at least a minute increases you heart rate variability and puts you into a much more calm and relaxed mood. Because you have to do this for at least a minute for it to really work, it is a great way to calm yourself before a workout or competition.

Source: Stevie D Photography

– Think about WHY negative thoughts occur and WHERE they come from

Another option is to pay attention to the emotions and negative thoughts you feel, and think about what is causing them. Observing them rationally may help you to use logic to diminish them. Being hangry (angry and grumpy because you feel hungry) is a great and example of this.

In this state your mood and thoughts are being influenced because your body needs feeding. The way you think is affected by your body. In a WOD when your legs are on fire because of the Wall Balls for example, try to rationalise this pain. I.e. “Well I only have 10 left to complete…there’s only 30 seconds left on the clock…At least I can rest them when I move onto the Pull Ups” etc.

Understanding why you are feeling something will help you to create a distance between yourself and those negative thoughts that make you want to quit. you are smart so use your head as well when you work out.

5. TRICK YOUR BRAIN BY REFOCUSING YOUR THINKING

You can use this trick to gently distract your brain away from thinking about the pain and the suffering you could end right now by quitting the workout. This trick is especially useful during longer workouts that include tabata or cardio sessions, but it can also be applied during any other exercise.

Source: RX'd Photography

When you feel exhausted and pain ridden, your brain concentrates on certain aspects in your body which are send to it by your nerves. What you have to do now is to distract your brain from these impulses by totally occupying it with something else. During a CrossFit WOD, the easiest way to do that is by giving yourself a mental task to complete.

Do your times tables, list every capital city in Europe, or play the following game with yourself: (Think of as many words as you can that contain two certain letters, like K and P for example). This way you deliberately distract your thinking away from the source of pain. It sounds trivial, but this technique can help the time pass when things get tough and that clock seems to be moving at half its normal speed!

So, that’s it. Do you like these tricks? Or maybe you have some of your own? Share your thoughts about this article in the comment section below.

[1]    See McGonigal, Jane, Super Better. A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver and More Resilient, London 2015, p. 291.

1. YOU WILL BECOME MORE SELF-CONFIDENT

I remember when one of my coaches said to me, ‘You know, when you first came here you were all shy and guarded – and now, when you walk into the Box it’s like you want to say “Look at me, I am here, bring it on.'”

I took a minute and thought about it before realising that she had been right. In school I hated sports. I loathed P.E. so very much that I had nightmares before class. Therefore, I felt severe restraint working out with or in front of other people and I had problems with my body image. Crossfit changed that.

Source: RX'd Photography

In half a year I had learned things I had never been able to do before and never even thought of doing. While trying and failing and trying and finally succeeding I became much more confident that I could master anything if I did try hard enough. Some time ago I also transferred this new won self-confidence onto other aspects of my life – I decided that I would not let myself be bossed around by what I thought other people would expect of me. And more often than not I catch myself thinking: “Oh, that seems hard – let’s try it.”

 2. YOU WILL BECOME MORE PATIENT

Progress takes time. When training Crossfit you will learn that – as your body composition changes slowly over months – your progress with every exercise also need to be well nourished by your patience. But trying things like Double Unders over and over again until you have finally mastered the movement can be one of the most satisfying and life-changing experiences you may have – everybody, who remembers their very first Muscle-Up or Handstand-Walk or what have you, knows what great feeling of conquer it is to have finally done “it”. In the long term this causes you to become more patient in other parts of life as well. You will realize that constant work pays off and more often than not will finally get you what you want.

3. YOU WILL IMPROVE YOUR MENTAL STAMINA

One of the first things you learn at your local Crossfit-Box is that the expression “I can’t do that anymore” doesn’t exist.

Source: RX'd Photography

When you observe a common WOD, you will see people spurring each other on to push themselves through the next few minutes of a gruesome Workout. The community encourages you to try harder and not give up. Within the first minute of my very first Crossfit WOD I knew I would finish any workout no matter how long it would take or how much it would hurt – just because I had seen how hard the others had slogged away.

You will establish routines of thinking “Oh, I can do one more rep of those [insert most hated excerise here]”. After a while, you will be able to transfer this resilience onto other aspects in life, always remembering that you can take on everything after you completed a total Murph-Workout!

4. YOU WILL CONQUER YOUR FEARS AND BECOME MORE OPEN

As I said before, I myself felt weak and thought my body hated me, because I couldn’t do a handstand or even normal single unders. But as I got accommodated with the world of Crossfit, I also discovered that I was a pretty adventurous person.

Once we did Sledge-Pulls at the Box by pulling tires with a rope hung around our shoulders like a sash. Just before we had done Farmers Walks. I loved the Sledge-Pulls and my coach noticing that and asked me if I would like to combine the Sledge-Pull with the Farmers Walk. I thought to myself: “Cool, that sounds totally crazy, let’s do it.” And seconds after I was pulling the tire with my shoulders while carrying two 24kg kettlebells in my hands.

Source: RX'd Photography

I had so much fun with that workout – and I will always remember that when the next opportunity to try something crazy comes around the corner. What you can take away from this story is that Crossfit will encourage you to try new things. Since you have already learned that constant work pays off, you will also conquer your fear of trying certain things for the first time. Nobody other than yourself is going to stop you. That is what you will learn best through Crossfit, because at a certain point you have to do a workout you are afraid of – and that’s the time you will finally lose your anxiety.

5. YOU WILL BECOME MORE RESISTANT TO STRESS AND BUILD A STRONGER MENTALITY

A Crossfit WOD is a brutal, stressful entity of pain – every decent Crossfitter knows that. But what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, doesn’t it?

Crossfit will build up your stress-resistance not only for physical exertion but also for other aspects of life, work for example. Your boss is pissing you off? You got a deadline to meet? Well, all of that breaks down to the same principles as a Crossfit-WOD does: You are under a lot of pressure and you need to perform.

But Crossfit teaches you how to deal with that pressure. When you can say to yourself “I did 350 kettlebell swings in 10 minutes today” that isn’t going to finish your next presentation. But it allows you to realise that if you can manage such a bucket load of stress, you can also calm down and handle stress at work more effectively by noticing that nothing is as bad as it seems at first.

These are my five ways in which Crossfit is going to have an impact on you mentally. Do you have any others to add? Let us know in the comments!

It is just way too easy to let yourself drown in self-pity rather than analysing what may have gone wrong, or even to just move on from there. However, you don’t have to surrender yourself to those feelings of frustration. These five tips will help you bear this annoying, but necessary part of CrossFit and progress in general.

1. REMEMBER WHERE YOU CAME FROM

When I started CrossFit, I had been working out moderately for a year or so. I couldn’t do a proper squat, push-up or skip, even before I had to start on all the other things I had to learn.

What I want to tell you here is this: We all come from humble beginnings. Everyone of us had to start somewhere.

So if you’re having a bad day at the box and all your training buddies are way ahead of you, just remember what shape you were when you started CrossFit. Even if you did a crappy time during a workout or didn’t complete as many rounds during an AMRAP as you planned on doing, remember how far you have already come – and that everybody has a bad day now and then.

2. CELEBRATE THE SMALL VICTORIES AND CHALLENGE YOURSELF

Celebrate your small victories. Adding a pound or two more onto your lifts, or being a second faster at a certain WOD is still a victory if it is better than last time.

Being happy about each small step forwards will help you feel good about yourself.

Although this is more of a preparation thing that won’t help you after a bad workout, you can try to prevent these days from happening if you challenge yourself during each workout. Commit to giving it your all every time you start a WOD at your box and you won’t have a true reason to be frustrated even if you didn’t beat your time.

In this context, the following quote comes to mind, and is applicable to a WOD or lift that might not go as planned:

If you try, you can lose. If you don’t try, you have already lost.

What you should remember here is that if for example you don’t feel well, or you’ve had a bad day at work, this doesn’t mean your workout has to go badly. Start with a clean plate when you walk in the Box, regardless of what happened during the day.

Source: Courtesy of CrossFit Inc.

Challenge yourself. Put a little more weight on. Try harder. Because if you go easy on yourself, you will become prone to frustration – just like when you use bad food for compensation. But if you challenge yourself and you win, you are bound to feel a lot better. And if you fail, you can at least admit that you tried and didn’t give in.

• “You can’t do this”
• “You will never finish”
• “If you skip one or two reps, no one will notice”
• “Take the easier version, you won’t feel so much pain”
• “Just give up and it’s over. Right here and now and the pain will end”

Every athlete feels like this once in a while, but it seems like Crossfitters are especially prone because their workouts demand so much from them regarding physical and mental strength.

HOW TO COUNTER NEGATIVE THOUGHTS

Luckily there are some pretty easy psychological tricks you can apply to destroy these negative thoughts and stop them harming your confidence and performance.

Source: RX'd Photography

1. BE INSPIRED BY YOUR FELLOW CROSSFITTERS

You know what one of the best parts of Crossfit is? The community. During a real hard workout it’s time to use this to your advantage.

In Crossfit we earn each others respect by going all out during a WOD and trying as hard as we possibly can. There may be people in your box who are not able to finish a certain WOD during the designated time cap. But more than once you may have seen them finishing a WOD anyway, even after the time has finished.

Or you have that really strong guy or girl at your box who does things you thought were impossible. Both of those are inspirational in their own way because they are pushing it to their very own limits. If you find yourself feeling terrible during a WOD, thinking you can’t go on anymore, take a look around you. See anybody else quitting? No? Then you shouldn’t either.

Be inspired by the other athletes at your box – you can’t read their thoughts, but you will see a mixture of suffering and willpower in their eyes. Use this for yourself and crush that WOD.

2. ADOPT A HERO-VERSION OF YOURSELF

The second option is fun: adopting a secret identity. As Jane McGonigal writes in her book “Super Better”, a secret identity helps you to practice your own strength and willpower whilst also reinventing and exploring yourself.[1]

Source: CrossFit Inc

Therefore, think of a hero you want to be, like Hulk or Xena or Iron Man or any other character from your favourite book, movie, video game or the like and use him or her to create your own secret identity by displaying your own strengths. When you feel like you can’t go on anymore during a WOD, think of your secret identity as a mantra, something like “I am the mighty XY and I will do everything to get stronger and slay the WoD-monster.”

This may sound silly at first, and of course you don’t have to scream this out into the world. But by saying this to yourself, you are programming your brain by positive affirmation. By adopting a secret identity on top of this you will feel like a different person, a hero who can conquer any obstacle. So, have fun, go crazy and invent that super hero version of yourself before your next WOD – and as a bonus you can write something like a symbol or the name of your identity with chalk on the floor to make yourself remember it.

3. ACCEPT FAILURE AS PART OF THE PROCESS

Don’t be scared to fail. First, remind yourself of the reason why you are doing Crossfit. Maybe it’s because you like the people there, want to get fitter or maybe you need it to counter depression and the stress you have in your life.

Whatever your individual reason, all Crossfitters are united by the fact that we want to become better versions of ourselves.

To accomplish this you have to push yourself to your limits and then exceed those limits during a WOD. That also means that you have to FIND your limits as well. These are the points, places and times at which you fail. Failure to hit a certain weight, perform a specific number of reps or finish a WOD within a time cap does not mean that you will never be able to do these things, it just means that you can’t do them right now. You want to get better, hit those targets and improve, then you need to put in the work.

Source: RX'd Photography

If you succeed at every WOD, you always PR with every lift and you’re always first, then you simply aren’t pushing yourself hard enough (or you are Rich Froning). Failure is part of the process, and it makes it all the more rewarding when you finally hit that lift or WOD time you’ve been chasing for months!

4. PRACTICE MINDFULNESS

Mindfulness just means being mindful of your surroundings, observing certain things that you otherwise may not focus on. During a WOD you can use mindfulness in different ways.

– Control your breathing

Breathing techniques can help to calm yourself down if you feel anxious during (or especially before) a WOD. Concentrate on making your breathing regular, and adapt it to each exercise. It is amazing the effect this can have on diminishing negative thoughts during workouts.

Another method  is to breathe in and count to four. Then breathe out and count to eight. Try to exhale for twice as long as it takes you to inhale. Doing this for at least a minute increases you heart rate variability and puts you into a much more calm and relaxed mood. Because you have to do this for at least a minute for it to really work, it is a great way to calm yourself before a workout or competition.

Source: Stevie D Photography

– Think about WHY negative thoughts occur and WHERE they come from

Another option is to pay attention to the emotions and negative thoughts you feel, and think about what is causing them. Observing them rationally may help you to use logic to diminish them. Being hangry (angry and grumpy because you feel hungry) is a great and example of this. In this state your mood and thoughts are being influenced because your body needs feeding. The way you think is affected by your body. In a WOD when your legs are on fire because of the Wall Balls for example, try to rationalise this pain. I.e. “Well I only have 10 left to complete…there’s only 30 seconds left on the clock…At least I can rest them when I move onto the Pull Ups” etc.

Understanding why you are feeling something will help you to create a distance between yourself and those negative thoughts that make you want to quit. you are smart so use your head as well when you work out.

5. TRICK YOUR BRAIN BY REFOCUSING YOUR THINKING

You can use this trick to gently distract your brain away from thinking about the pain and the suffering you could end right now by quitting the workout. This trick is especially useful during longer workouts that include tabata or cardio sessions, but it can also be applied during any other exercise.

Source: RX'd Photography

When you feel exhausted and pain ridden, your brain concentrates on certain aspects in your body which are send to it by your nerves. What you have to do now is to distract your brain from these impulses by totally occupying it with something else. During a Crossfit WOD, the easiest way to do that is by giving yourself a mental task to complete.

Do your times tables, list every capital city in Europe, or play the following game with yourself: (Think of as many words as you can that contain two certain letters, like K and P for example). This way you deliberately distract your thinking away from the source of pain. It sounds trivial, but this technique can help the time pass when things get tough and that clock seems to be moving at half its normal speed!

So, that’s it. Do you like these tricks? Or maybe you have some of your own? Share your thoughts about this article in the comment section below.

[1]    See McGonigal, Jane, Super Better. A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver and More Resilient, London 2015, p. 291.

1. YOU WILL BECOME MORE SELF-CONFIDENT

I remember when one of my coaches said to me, ‘You know, when you first came here you were all shy and guarded – and now, when you walk into the Box it’s like you want to say “Look at me, I am here, bring it on.'”

I took a minute and thought about it before realising that she had been right. In school I hated sports. I loathed P.E. so very much that I had nightmares before class. Therefore, I felt severe restraint working out with or in front of other people and I had problems with my body image. Crossfit changed that.

Source: RX'd Photography

In half a year I had learned things I had never been able to do before and never even thought of doing. While trying and failing and trying and finally succeeding I became much more confident that I could master anything if I did try hard enough.

Some time ago I also transferred this new won self-confidence onto other aspects of my life – I decided that I would not let myself be bossed around by what I thought other people would expect of me. And more often than not I catch myself thinking: “Oh, that seems hard – let’s try it.”

If you have never used a rowing machine before, you should at first get comfortable sitting on one. We’ll cover the right posture in a minute, but it is also important that you adjust everything to your own height and especially the size of your feet. Sit down on the rower and put your feet into the appropriate mount. You can adjust the mount to your feet and fasten the strip, so your feet are safely attached to the mount. Don’t shy away from playing around with the mount for a bit, so you get the right feeling for it. It is necessary that your feet stay straight in place, because during the rowing you will use your legs a lot. It can be quite unnerving if your feet are moving around in the mount while rowing.

 It’s all about the right technique

Rowing is all about technique: You can be strong and fast as hell, but if you’re not using the rowing machine the right way, you won’t ever get a decent finishing time. Therefore, always keep an eye on posture, sequence of movements and pace. Try these tips from top coach Ben Bergeron.

Establish a Decent posture: Neutral back

Your back plays a very important part on the rower: You should be sitting upright, but not arched in any way inwards or backwards. Just think of your back in its natural straight position without being excessively hollow. If you have problems getting into the right position, try to make yourself tall and push your shoulders backwards. Try to imagine that you are bending the handle you’re holding and your shoulders will go back by themselves. Also, look straight forward. Remind yourself of this while rowing.

Use your legs

When I first started using a rowing machine and knew nothing about the right technique, I mostly rowed with my arms. After a 5k row, they would feel totally destroyed. But this should not be the case. Rowing is about using your legs, not your arms and this is only logical. Think about it this way: The muscles in your leg are naturally much stronger than your arm muscles. Therefore, you will be able to row with much more power if you keep using your legs. For the right technique, follow these steps:

• Start in a position in which your knees are bent, but your arms are straight, holding the handle in front of you
• Push away from the front of the rower with your legs
• When your legs are fully straightened, pull the handle towards right below your sternum by bending your arms
• Straighten your arms again and let the handle pass your knees, then (!) bend your legs and start over again. This may feel a bit counterintuitive at the beginning, but don’t feel disheartened. You’ll get used to it pretty fast and then it will seem natural

Timing is key

In opposition to what you may believe, rowing is not about going as fast as you can. You may have seen lots of people at the Box who are pulling the handle like crazy. Don’t be one of them. The key to good rowing is timing. The reason for that lies in the mechanics of the rower: If you pull fast, you loose a lot of the power you get by every pull. It’s a bit like riding a 21-gear bike downhill and only pedaling using first or second gear.

Instead, pull slowly, but with as much power on every row as you can give. You may need some time to find the right pace; this also depends on what kind of workout you’re doing: Going really hard can be the way to go during a Tabata-workout, but if you’re doing a 5k, you should probably go a bit easier.

If you’re having problems with finding your pace, try to align your strokes with your breath. This will help you getting to a consistent stroke pattern.

A few parting words

At this point, you know the basics of how to properly use a rowing machine. But before you get started, we have a few last tips for you that should make your first workouts on the rower more enjoyable:

• If you are used to doing cardio-workouts only and don’t have very well developed back and leg muscles, you should consider doing some strength training. Bodyweight excercises like air-squats and planks pose very little risk of injury, but can work wonders for your posture and leg strength
• Think about getting the right music for your workout: Rythmic sounds may also help you finding your rowing pattern and can also motivate you to „pull through“
• Don’t go all out until you’ve learned the right technique. If you aren’t sure about your posture, record yourself rowing and review your technique. Make yourself comfortable, so everything feels natural, before you try out longer workouts on the rower

Do you have any questions or other tips for beginners? Let us know in the comments below.

For a great rowing workout, try Jackie.

FYI: I wrote an article on how to prepare a paleo barbecue, so maybe some of the tips mentioned here will ring a bell.

Source: Dragon CrossFit

Read More: 5 Fun and Festive Christmas Workouts

1. Settle on your dietary perspective – and compromise

First, think about why you want to do a paleo Christmas dinner in the first place?

Christmas dinner has to be special, right? And “special“ in reference to food usually means tasty. Really tasty. The good thing about paleo is that you have lots of options to prepare delicious food. But if you are going to do so, you have to decide if you want a “real paleo dinner” or a meal where you are substituting certain standard Christmas foods with their paleo equivalent.

If you decide on the latter, you will include a lot of “treats” with your meals that aren’t exactly helping your dietary goals. But who wants to lose weight at Christmas anyway? Right. So you can either prepare a paleo dinner without paleo treats if you are really strict with your diet – or you can go for the treats and enjoy a classy meal with your family. I would especially advise you to take the latter version if you have problems watching your non-paleo friends and family gulping down non-paleo Christmas sweets and the like – or if you are going paleo because of a certain food intolerance.

2. It’s waffle time, it’s waffle time…

Starting with dessert may seem a little odd right now, but since this is the part where most people have problems regarding paleo, I want to shed some light on this difficult subject. You basically have two choices about how to prepare your Christmas dessert. If you want to create a strictly dietary paleo dessert, you can go with fruits. The trick with this version is to prepare it in a Christmassy way. You can do that for example by putting together a double or triple layer fruit-purée with fruits that have Christmas-themed colours. Just follow this easy recipe:

• Ingredients for two layers: green and red fruits (for example kiwi and berries), lemon juice, Christmas spice (for example cinnamon, cloves)
• You also need: a blender, a nice serving dish (for example a martini-glas)
• Purée the kiwi and the berries separately in a blender
• Add a bit of lemon juice to each purée
• Pour the kiwi-purée into your desired dish until the dish is about one third full
• Carefully pour the berry-purée on top of the kiwi-purée, so that the two don’t mix
• Sprinkle your desired Christmas spice on top and you’re done

Source: RX'd Photography

Of course, you can also prepare a much more treat-like paleo desert. The easiest way to do this is to make some paleo waffles. For this of course you need a waffle iron and some batter. If you have been doing paleo for quite a while now, you have probably already tried to make paleo-pancakes. You can easily use this recipe for making waffles.

Prepare the batter in the same way and pour it into your waffle iron. When the waffles are cooked, pour some maple syrup and again add Christmas spices on top. You now have a great Christmas dessert.

Or you can make chocolate pudding, using cocoa, honey and tapioca starch. Just remember: Even if you are doing paleo, calories still count. If you gulp down a whole bottle of maple syrup, you will probably still have trouble losing weight…

3. Paleo Christmas Dinner: The grand finale!

What’s the star of every proper Paleo Christmas dinner? Of course, the famous roast. Whatever kind of roast you’re having, you will most certainly have some kind of meat on the table for your fancy Christmas gathering. Fortunately, there isn’t so much you have to worry about with this one. Just bear in mind the following things and you are bound to have a great paleo Christmas dinner.

Source: Deposit photos - bhofack2

When buying the meat you want for Christmas dinner, try to get an organic, free range animal

This is ethical, healthy and will taste a lot better. Sure, it will be more expensive, too, but it’s Christmas, right? Just bear in mind that you probably have to be quick to get your desired meat at the farmers market or your trusted butcher – before they sell out.

If you want to prepare traditional gravy with your roast, you can easily substitute flour as a thickening agent with tapioca starch or something similar to make the gravy paleo friendly.

Side dishes

With side dishes you have a lot of options. If you are allowing white potatoes into your diet, you can prepare these easily by cutting them in chunks and roasting them coated in duck lard and some spices in the oven. Combine these with roasted vegetables or other traditional Christmas sides

Make substitutions for non-paleo-ingredients

• Most common non-paleo-ingredients include sugar, flour and non-paleo-fats – use honey or maple sirup, paleo friendly starches and coconut oil, ghee or lard instead
• If you want to drink alcohol on christmas eve then you should
• Red wine is considered paleo friendly, if consumed in moderation. Just beware of store bought punch and egg nogg which are mostly full of refined sugar

Well, that is it! Hopefully, you will be able to enjoy a nice paleo Christmas dinner with your friends and family and also of course very comfy and happy holidays. Share it with your friends who also do the paleo diet, or even those who don’t. It is delicious either way.

Merry Christmas!

1: It’s all about the music

The one thing Christmas and CrossFit most definitely have in common is music. Everywhere you go during the pre-Christmas weeks, you will probably hear some form of Christmas songs, most likely Jingle-Bells or Last Christmas. During your WODs you will listen to music also, but quite different in style.

While ripping your heart out during a WOD you need music with a rhythm that gets you into the right mood. Again, that’s a thing Christmas and CrossFit music have in common. If you are planning a Christmas WOD, the right music will be crucial for success. Think of it as a big Christmas party – with a lot of sports!

Therefore, you should get music for the party that is Christmassy and CrossFit-friendly also. The easiest way to do this is to look for Dubstep or similar versions of Christmas-Songs on Youtube – things people will recognise, and that will put a big grin on their face. Get together a nice, heavy playlist and you’re on your way to a great Christmas-WOD.

Source: Crossfit Templar

2. Costumes, baby!

Every good party requires a twist – so why not let people attend your Christmas WOD dressed in season-themed costumes? The costumes don’t necessarily need to be fancy – a little makeup and a Santa hat or elf ears will do the trick. Ask people to be creative and maybe even put up a little costume contest (the prize could be a personal training session with your coach or something similar).

People doing your Christmas WOD in costumes will be loads of fun and most definitely be the source of many happy box memories. Something like „Do you remember when Tom came with that Grinch-Costume to our Christmas WOD?“ will be a perfect opportunity to bring people in your box closer together.

Source: someecards

3. Christmas WOD Party? Piece of cake!

Every good party also needs food, right? So why not ask people to bring some Christmas (and also CrossFit) themed food to the Christmas WOD Party? Things like kettlebell-shaped cookies (you can even buy cookie-cutters for that) or other yummy baked goods in CrossFit forms will work, but also savoury foods like meatballs formed like dumbells can do the trick.

Just consider if there are people at your box doing Paleo or similar diets – and maybe even ask them to bring paleo-friendly food themselves. There are so many cookie- and baking recipes on the Internet which are incorporating the idea of paleo-eating, therefore that shouldn’t be a problem.

The same goes with drinks: Punch or hot spiced wine or even the german Feuerzangenbowle (mulled wine with a rum-soaked sugarloaf lit above it) are awesome for bringing loads of Christmas scent and atmosphere into your CrossFit Box – just ask about fire regulations before trying out Feuerzangenbowle…

4. Christmas WOD Party Design: Part 1

Your WOD is the main star of your Christmas WOD Party. Overall, you have got two options on how to design your Christmas WOD: make an existing WOD all christmassy, or write your own.

The trick for making your Christmas WOD a success is writing a little story around it. If you want to take an existing WOD, there are three which qualify best for this quest: Hollywood, Daniel and Fight gone Bad. You can pretty easily implement these into a little story about how you have to help Santa to deliver his presents on time

Hollywood:

• Run 2km,
• 22 Wall-Balls,
• 22 Muscle-Ups (or scale down),
• 22 Wall-Balls,
• 22 Power Cleans,
• 22 Wall-Balls
• 2km Run again.

This is a nice christmas WOD because you can tell your fellow CrossFitters, they gotta run to catch Santa’s sledge. But Santa lost a couple of presents because he was riding off to fiercely and now you have to throw the presents back onto the sledge. But now, Santa doesn’t care waiting for you – you’re only able to manage grabbing one of the sledges skids and pull yourself back up.

The next rounds of Wall-Balls and Power Cleans can be thought of as helping Santa delivering the presents by throwing them up to him on top of the roof. After that, you need to run again, because the children at one house woke up and you have to get out of there before they see you.

Daniel consists of:

• 50 pull-ups,
• 400m Run,
• 21 Thrusters,
• 800m Run,
• 21 Thrusters,
• 400m Run and
• 50 Pull-Ups.

Just use the segments of the story above for tinkering your X-mas-WOD.

The same goes for Fight gone bad:

• 3 rounds of wall balls
• sumo deadlift high pulls
• box jumps
• push presses
• row

You move from each station to another after one minute and take another minute as a break after each round. Wall-Balls are delivering presents, Deadlift-High-Pulls can be helping pull the sledge out of a ditch, Box jumps are you getting from one roof to another or avoiding obstacles on the way and rowing suits as „fuelling“ the sledge because the reindeer are too exhausted.

Read More: 5 Fun and Festive Christmas CrossFit Workouts

Source: Courtesy of CrossFit Inc.

5. Christmas WOD Party Design: Part 2

If you want to design your own Christmas WOD party, you should also think of a little Christmas story surrounding it. If you don’t want to do that Santa thing, but you’re not that creative, you can always look up Christmas stories on the internet. The best exercises to implement into a Christmas WOD are sledge-pull, rope-climb, thrusters, wall-balls, running or other cardio, clean+jerk, snatch, pull-ups and planks.

If you are really having a hard time thinking of some Christmas versions of these exercises, here’s a little help: everything that involves pushes can be used for things like „throwing presents“, while climbing and hanging is best for getting up on the roof and stuff.

Also, you can do challenges like sledge-races (different Santas in competition with each other) or putting a chocolate Santa at the top of a rope and having people who want the chocolate treat to climb up the rope. Possibilities are almost endless – but with a little creativity, you are bound to make that Christmas WOD Party a huge success.

Merry WODmas everyone!

This article contains the five excuses that I have heard the most from people – and the arguments against those excuses.

Source: Stevie D Photography

You got some of your own I didn’t mention below? Let me and the Boxrox community know in the comment section.

1. It’s too expensive

I’ve heard this one quite a lot from people and under certain circumstances I can relate to that. If you are a single mother of three and live on a waiter’s salary, it sure is much more difficult to come up with money for Crossfit than if you are a bank manager. But the problem here is that most people actually could afford Crossfit if they’d just put their priorities straight.

Once a guy, who was slightly overweight and smoked a pack of cigarettes per day, told me he couldn’t afford Crossfit. Well, you can’t afford caring for your own health but you spend money on cigs? Sorry dude, I totally can’t relate to that. So, next time when somebody is telling you they can’t afford Crossfit, ask them why – and also ask them what price they are willing to put on their health. Maybe you’ve got friends who smoke or spend money on things they don’t really need. Tell them to prioritize their health. Also, if you got a friend who’s skeptical about Crossfit overall and doesn’t want to spent money on it until they see results, consider gifting them with a trial month (for his or her birthday for example).

2. Trying Crossfit: I don’t have time for that!

This excuse kind of falls into the same category as the first one, people not wanting to spend their ressources on their health. But they got time binge-watching their favourite TV-show and hanging around on the couch with a beer in their hand, don’t they?

Yeah, I get it – I like watching TV for hours, too, especially after a stressful workday. We all need some kind of alone-relaxing-time and also time with friends and family. Managing your work and social life is often pretty exhausting.

But this is where Crossfit can step in as it will be right what you need to de-stress yourself. In your own experience, doesn’t it feel so much better to hit a WoD after a really bad day at work when you just want to scream at everybody? To blow some steam off before you get home to your family and before you throw yourself on the couch? Tell people they may have to get up a bit earlier if they want to squeeze in Crossfit into their busy schedule. But also tell them, that it will be totally worth it – and also might keep them from getting a psychotic break.

3. I am not fit enough

Maybe this is one of the most worst excuses one can make – and I for my part can probably relate to it the most out of all excuses. When people see other athletes doing Crossfit, one of the first reactions one will get is: „Oh my gosh are those guys strong. I will never be able to do that, therefore I won’t even try.“

The main problem you have to address when it comes to this excuse is the fact that these people already feel uncomfortable with their own body. Maybe they are a little or much overweight, maybe they are skinny-fat or maybe they look normal but their body image has been ruined by fitness magazines and top model shows. Also, maybe they remember how everybody picked on them at school because they were the nerdy one who was bad at sports.

Getting people who feel like this to try Crossfit can be tough. But if you can get them to at least come to a box with you and do one WoD, they will probably realize, that Crossfit isn’t about comparing yourself to the other people working out with you. Be very eager to show them what kind of community Crossfit is and that they will earn the respect of everybody around them not by lifting the most weight but by trying the hardest and not giving up. Show them videos on Youtube of people older, bigger or otherwise in worth shape than they are to emphasize that Crossfit really is for everybody – and that everybody can learn and do everything.

4. It’s too dangerous / I am afraid about hurting myself

Many people, even individuals within the fitness industry, tend to argue that Crossfit is dangerous. Well, why is that so?

People are afraid of things they don’t know and because Crossfit is a pretty young sport, the normal population doesn’t know it very well. If you got a friend who really doesn’t want to try Crossfit because he is afraid of hurting him-/herself, ask them to specify their fears. Going on from there, tell them about the fact that there is always a coach with them watching like a hawk if they do the excercises correct. Also, do tell them how long you by yourself have been injury free and compare it to a favourite sports of theirs (football for example) to show them that they won’t get hurt more in any way than in other sports activity they might prefer.

5. I don’t know if I should be trying Crossfit, It doesn’t seem like fun

Why does everything have to be fun? Ok, I get it – people will be more motivated to do a certain activity if it feels like fun to them. But this excuse combines certain aspects of the other ones, like prioritizing health and having a wrong conception of what Crossfit is.

Either way there are a few questions you have ask here, if you got a friend who doesn’t think Crossfit is fun. Why don’t they think it’s fun? What would make it fun for them? Does becoming healthy and more active really need to be fun in the first place? Attempt to get them to at least try Crossfit for more than one time. Motivate them. And be careful not to push them.

Show them, that Crossfit can be fun in a lot of ways regarding their specific needs for it to be a fun activity. It can be fun because of the interaction with other people you get there. It can be fun because the WoD changes and you’ll never workout the same way – therefore it’s diversified. It can be fun because due to the many different exercises you will make progress with every WoD, since there is always at least one activity you get better at. And, last but not least, it can be fun because of how great you feel about what you have accomplished.

All these excuses above cater to one very deep-rooted problem, and that is people prioritizing the wrong things in their life. They want to go down the easiest road possible without realizing that real fulfillment in life comes from dedication and hard work – that is why we feel so good after each WoD.

People just don’t realize that they are in charge of their life and their health – and it’s (mostly) nobody else’s fault but their own when they fail living a healthy lifestyle. Of course certain people having a much harder time than others – but by prioritizing the right things, like quitting smoking so you can afford that box membership, anyone can see these excuses as what they are: excuses and nothing more.

I am not saying that Crossfit solves everything that is wrong in our lives. But it certainly will make things a lot better and will be a step in the right direction – tell that to everyone who gives you one of the above mentioned or other excuses about why they can’t do Crossfit. And then carefully drag them to your favourite Box!

• “You can’t do this”
• “You will never finish”
• “If you skip one or two reps, no one will notice”
• “Take the easier version, you won’t feel so much pain”
• “Just give up and it’s over. Right here and now and the pain will end”

Every athlete feels like this once in a while, but it seems like Crossfitters are especially prone because their workouts demand so much from them regarding physical and mental strength.

HOW TO COUNTER NEGATIVE THOUGHTS

Luckily there are some pretty easy psychological tricks you can apply to destroy these negative thoughts and stop them harming your confidence and performance.

Source: RX'd Photography

1. BE INSPIRED BY YOUR FELLOW CROSSFITTERS

You know what one of the best parts of Crossfit is? The community. During a real hard workout it’s time to use this to your advantage.

In Crossfit we earn each others respect by going all out during a WOD and trying as hard as we possibly can. There may be people in your box who are not able to finish a certain WOD during the designated time cap. But more than once you may have seen them finishing a WOD anyway, even after the time has finished.

Or you have that really strong guy or girl at your box who does things you thought were impossible. Both of those are inspirational in their own way because they are pushing it to their very own limits. If you find yourself feeling terrible during a WOD, thinking you can’t go on anymore, take a look around you. See anybody else quitting? No? Then you shouldn’t either.

Be inspired by the other athletes at your box – you can’t read their thoughts, but you will see a mixture of suffering and willpower in their eyes. Use this for yourself and crush that WOD.

2. ADOPT A HERO-VERSION OF YOURSELF

The second option is fun: adopting a secret identity. As Jane McGonigal writes in her book “Super Better”, a secret identity helps you to practice your own strength and willpower whilst also reinventing and exploring yourself.[1]

Source: CrossFit Inc

Therefore, think of a hero you want to be, like Hulk or Xena or Iron Man or any other character from your favourite book, movie, video game or the like and use him or her to create your own secret identity by displaying your own strengths. When you feel like you can’t go on anymore during a WOD, think of your secret identity as a mantra, something like “I am the mighty XY and I will do everything to get stronger and slay the WoD-monster.”

This may sound silly at first, and of course you don’t have to scream this out into the world. But by saying this to yourself, you are programming your brain by positive affirmation. By adopting a secret identity on top of this you will feel like a different person, a hero who can conquer any obstacle. So, have fun, go crazy and invent that super hero version of yourself before your next WOD – and as a bonus you can write something like a symbol or the name of your identity with chalk on the floor to make yourself remember it.

3. ACCEPT FAILURE AS PART OF THE PROCESS

Don’t be scared to fail. First, remind yourself of the reason why you are doing Crossfit. Maybe it’s because you like the people there, want to get fitter or maybe you need it to counter depression and the stress you have in your life.

Whatever your individual reason, all Crossfitters are united by the fact that we want to become better versions of ourselves.

To accomplish this you have to push yourself to your limits and then exceed those limits during a WOD. That also means that you have to FIND your limits as well. These are the points, places and times at which you fail. Failure to hit a certain weight, perform a specific number of reps or finish a WOD within a time cap does not mean that you will never be able to do these things, it just means that you can’t do them right now. You want to get better, hit those targets and improve, then you need to put in the work.

Source: RX'd Photography

If you succeed at every WOD, you always PR with every lift and you’re always first, then you simply aren’t pushing yourself hard enough (or you are Rich Froning). Failure is part of the process, and it makes it all the more rewarding when you finally hit that lift or WOD time you’ve been chasing for months!

4. PRACTICE MINDFULNESS

Mindfulness just means being mindful of your surroundings, observing certain things that you otherwise may not focus on. During a WOD you can use mindfulness in different ways.

– Control your breathing

Breathing techniques can help to calm yourself down if you feel anxious during (or especially before) a WOD. Concentrate on making your breathing regular, and adapt it to each exercise. It is amazing the effect this can have on diminishing negative thoughts during workouts.

Another method  is to breathe in and count to four. Then breathe out and count to eight. Try to exhale for twice as long as it takes you to inhale. Doing this for at least a minute increases you heart rate variability and puts you into a much more calm and relaxed mood. Because you have to do this for at least a minute for it to really work, it is a great way to calm yourself before a workout or competition.

Source: Stevie D Photography

– Think about WHY negative thoughts occur and WHERE they come from

Another option is to pay attention to the emotions and negative thoughts you feel, and think about what is causing them. Observing them rationally may help you to use logic to diminish them. Being hangry (angry and grumpy because you feel hungry) is a great and example of this. In this state your mood and thoughts are being influenced because your body needs feeding. The way you think is affected by your body. In a WOD when your legs are on fire because of the Wall Balls for example, try to rationalise this pain. I.e. “Well I only have 10 left to complete…there’s only 30 seconds left on the clock…At least I can rest them when I move onto the Pull Ups” etc.

Understanding why you are feeling something will help you to create a distance between yourself and those negative thoughts that make you want to quit. you are smart so use your head as well when you work out.

5. TRICK YOUR BRAIN BY REFOCUSING YOUR THINKING

You can use this trick to gently distract your brain away from thinking about the pain and the suffering you could end right now by quitting the workout. This trick is especially useful during longer workouts that include tabata or cardio sessions, but it can also be applied during any other exercise.

Source: RX'd Photography

When you feel exhausted and pain ridden, your brain concentrates on certain aspects in your body which are send to it by your nerves. What you have to do now is to distract your brain from these impulses by totally occupying it with something else. During a Crossfit WOD, the easiest way to do that is by giving yourself a mental task to complete.

Do your times tables, list every capital city in Europe, or play the following game with yourself: (Think of as many words as you can that contain two certain letters, like K and P for example). This way you deliberately distract your thinking away from the source of pain. It sounds trivial, but this technique can help the time pass when things get tough and that clock seems to be moving at half its normal speed!

So, that’s it. Do you like these tricks? Or maybe you have some of your own? Share your thoughts about this article in the comment section below.

[1]    See McGonigal, Jane, Super Better. A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver and More Resilient, London 2015, p. 291.

You’ve had enough of that wibbly, wobbly stuff around your stomach and you are going to do something about it once and for all.

But as our most beloved Sport is going to change your body for sure, it is also going to have a big impact on your mentality as well. Here are five ways in which Crossfit will change not only your body, but also your mentality.

1. YOU WILL BECOME MORE SELF-CONFIDENT

I remember when one of my coaches said to me, ‘You know, when you first came here you were all shy and guarded – and now, when you walk into the Box it’s like you want to say “Look at me, I am here, bring it on.'”

I took a minute and thought about it before realising that she had been right. In school I hated sports. I loathed P.E. so very much that I had nightmares before class. Therefore, I felt severe restraint working out with or in front of other people and I had problems with my body image. Crossfit changed that.

Source: RX'd Photography

In half a year I had learned things I had never been able to do before and never even thought of doing. While trying and failing and trying and finally succeeding I became much more confident that I could master anything if I did try hard enough. Some time ago I also transferred this new won self-confidence onto other aspects of my life – I decided that I would not let myself be bossed around by what I thought other people would expect of me. And more often than not I catch myself thinking: “Oh, that seems hard – let’s try it.”

 2. YOU WILL BECOME MORE PATIENT

Progress takes time. When training Crossfit you will learn that – as your body composition changes slowly over months – your progress with every exercise also need to be well nourished by your patience. But trying things like Double Unders over and over again until you have finally mastered the movement can be one of the most satisfying and life-changing experiences you may have – everybody, who remembers their very first Muscle-Up or Handstand-Walk or what have you, knows what great feeling of conquer it is to have finally done “it”. In the long term this causes you to become more patient in other parts of life as well. You will realize that constant work pays off and more often than not will finally get you what you want.

3. YOU WILL IMPROVE YOUR MENTAL STAMINA

One of the first things you learn at your local Crossfit-Box is that the expression “I can’t do that anymore” doesn’t exist.

Source: RX'd Photography

When you observe a common WOD, you will see people spurring each other on to push themselves through the next few minutes of a gruesome Workout. The community encourages you to try harder and not give up. Within the first minute of my very first Crossfit WOD I knew I would finish any workout no matter how long it would take or how much it would hurt – just because I had seen how hard the others had slogged away.

You will establish routines of thinking “Oh, I can do one more rep of those [insert most hated excerise here]”. After a while, you will be able to transfer this resilience onto other aspects in life, always remembering that you can take on everything after you completed a total Murph-Workout!

4. YOU WILL CONQUER YOUR FEARS AND BECOME MORE OPEN

As I said before, I myself felt weak and thought my body hated me, because I couldn’t do a handstand or even normal single unders. But as I got accommodated with the world of Crossfit, I also discovered that I was a pretty adventurous person.

Once we did Sledge-Pulls at the Box by pulling tires with a rope hung around our shoulders like a sash. Just before we had done Farmers Walks. I loved the Sledge-Pulls and my coach noticing that and asked me if I would like to combine the Sledge-Pull with the Farmers Walk. I thought to myself: “Cool, that sounds totally crazy, let’s do it.” And seconds after I was pulling the tire with my shoulders while carrying two 24kg kettlebells in my hands.

Source: RX'd Photography

I had so much fun with that workout – and I will always remember that when the next opportunity to try something crazy comes around the corner. What you can take away from this story is that Crossfit will encourage you to try new things. Since you have already learned that constant work pays off, you will also conquer your fear of trying certain things for the first time. Nobody other than yourself is going to stop you. That is what you will learn best through Crossfit, because at a certain point you have to do a workout you are afraid of – and that’s the time you will finally lose your anxiety.

5. YOU WILL BECOME MORE RESISTANT TO STRESS AND BUILD A STRONGER MENTALITY

A Crossfit WOD is a brutal, stressful entity of pain – every decent Crossfitter knows that. But what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, doesn’t it?

Crossfit will build up your stress-resistance not only for physical exertion but also for other aspects of life, work for example. Your boss is pissing you off? You got a deadline to meet? Well, all of that breaks down to the same principles as a Crossfit-WOD does: You are under a lot of pressure and you need to perform.

But Crossfit teaches you how to deal with that pressure. When you can say to yourself “I did 350 kettlebell swings in 10 minutes today” that isn’t going to finish your next presentation. But it allows you to realise that if you can manage such a bucket load of stress, you can also calm down and handle stress at work more effectively by noticing that nothing is as bad as it seems at first.

These are my five ways in which Crossfit is going to have an impact on you mentally. Do you have any others to add? Let us know in the comments!