I am sitting here on Friday night, updating my playlist on my iPhone preparing for the affiliate competition at Crossfit TNT tomorrow. As I add Linkin Park and Disturbed, I think about all the different things that motivate people. Motivation is the driving force which causes people to achieve goals.
The nastalgia of Friday nights from almost ten years comes to the forefront of my memory. Fifty young men, most still battling the identity between boyhood and becoming a man, crowded shoulder pad to shoulder pad in the locker room. Silent except for the occasional shuffle of a cleat on the concrete. After an uncomfortable few minutes, the door to the locker room would open and our coach would walk in like General Patton about to address his troops before taking the battlefield. His face never answered the question as to whether he was happy with our play or disappointed in our performance. We waited uncomfortably on one knee. The silence was broken by his voice, hoarse from barking orders the whole first half. He spoke the familiar message, reminding us of the hours spent in the triple digit temperatures of two-a-days. The hard work we put in during the off season in the weight room. The repetition upon repetition from each practice that got us to this point. He could have been reading logorithms from my math book but it was how he spoke the words that brought them to life. By this time my heart was racing. I eyed the cinder block wall, wondering if I could just run through it onto the field. He would always conclude with one question: "What are you going to do?" Then fifty players would stand in unison yelling warcries and smacking shoulder pads, exiting the locker room like gladiators entering the arena.
People are motivated differently. I like to watch how a fighter enters the cage. Some fighters walk out expressionless. They get their orders from the ref and stand in their corner. Relaxed. Almost an eerie calmness. Others enter like rabied pitbulls. Punching and slapping their body, running all over the cage.
What motivates ME? Most of the time it's music. Lyrics screamed from Five Finger Death Punch and Dropkick Murphys. I am motivated by competition. I need a target to chase and a target on my own back. I need to know that people are watching. I hate letting anyone down. And I'm motivated by my self. There is a calm ten seconds before the competition begins. I silently say a few words to the man upstairs, asking him for the strength to complete each workout. 3...I no longer hear the crowd, my wife, my team mates. 2...I have to stick to my game plan. Did I prepare enough. 1...Leave it all out on the floor. No regrets. Go! When the final weights drop and the horn sounds, I become my worst critic. The harshest motivation is the most difficult question...Did I leave it all?
The nastalgia of Friday nights from almost ten years comes to the forefront of my memory. Fifty young men, most still battling the identity between boyhood and becoming a man, crowded shoulder pad to shoulder pad in the locker room. Silent except for the occasional shuffle of a cleat on the concrete. After an uncomfortable few minutes, the door to the locker room would open and our coach would walk in like General Patton about to address his troops before taking the battlefield. His face never answered the question as to whether he was happy with our play or disappointed in our performance. We waited uncomfortably on one knee. The silence was broken by his voice, hoarse from barking orders the whole first half. He spoke the familiar message, reminding us of the hours spent in the triple digit temperatures of two-a-days. The hard work we put in during the off season in the weight room. The repetition upon repetition from each practice that got us to this point. He could have been reading logorithms from my math book but it was how he spoke the words that brought them to life. By this time my heart was racing. I eyed the cinder block wall, wondering if I could just run through it onto the field. He would always conclude with one question: "What are you going to do?" Then fifty players would stand in unison yelling warcries and smacking shoulder pads, exiting the locker room like gladiators entering the arena.
People are motivated differently. I like to watch how a fighter enters the cage. Some fighters walk out expressionless. They get their orders from the ref and stand in their corner. Relaxed. Almost an eerie calmness. Others enter like rabied pitbulls. Punching and slapping their body, running all over the cage.
What motivates ME? Most of the time it's music. Lyrics screamed from Five Finger Death Punch and Dropkick Murphys. I am motivated by competition. I need a target to chase and a target on my own back. I need to know that people are watching. I hate letting anyone down. And I'm motivated by my self. There is a calm ten seconds before the competition begins. I silently say a few words to the man upstairs, asking him for the strength to complete each workout. 3...I no longer hear the crowd, my wife, my team mates. 2...I have to stick to my game plan. Did I prepare enough. 1...Leave it all out on the floor. No regrets. Go! When the final weights drop and the horn sounds, I become my worst critic. The harshest motivation is the most difficult question...Did I leave it all?
Crossfit TNT workouts:
Workout I:
Each team has 15 minutes to find their one rep max shoulder press and calories rowed.
Workout II:
As a team complete 80 burpees, 160 wall balls, 160 KB snatch, 160 box jumps, 160 thrusters, 80 burpees.
Workout III
Two guys and two girls rotate through four stations for one minute each. One guy and one girl are going at a time. The other guy and girl are holding a plate above their heads. Rotate and repeat. Stations: Power Cleans 135#, Double Unders, Pullups, Toes-to-bar.
Workout IV
Each team member must bearcrawl 15 lengths of the floor and then find their consecutive rep max on OH squat 115/75.
