If you’re not a worker-outer-er… (yes I know how wrong that is, but that’s how my brain functions. WORKER-OUTER-ER) then you may not know how freakin good it feels to get better at your fitness! I’m a competitive person by nature and I really don’t mind working out. But when I joined CrossFit, oh so many years ago… what drew me to keep coming back was this empowerment that barbells gave me and competing against others.

As I started slacking over time, the competing with others slowly but surely changed to competing with myself. Which is what it should be unless you’re in a competition, then of course, CRUSH the competition 🙂 I’m not anywhere near a competition status and I may never be again. Who knows. I’m not to that step yet. But right here, right now, I really enjoy seeing myself getting better at things.

I’ve realized when I feel good about the progress I’m making, all the other little things I nitpick about myself start fading away. They aren’t taking front row and center in my mind. I would see my reflection and go “ick” or “ugh” and start tearing myself apart. It’s a terrible way to be but that’s what I was doing. Now the nitpicking is disappearing because I’m doing work and I have a new focus… get healthy! I’m making headway and I’m more proud of the action I’m taking instead of just wishing I was taking action.

On the game board of LIFE, I’ve had a lot of steps forward only to be set back by so many more steps backwards. It’s a silly dance of forward and backwards. Wins and fails. Struggles and success. But what feels really good is making gains. It’s almost addicting.

In the 7 weeks that I’ve been truly working at my health, I’ve experienced so many gains.

Front Squat PR, Clean and Jerk PR, Running a 400m without stopping. Getting better with the barbell in general. Losing inches. Losing weight. It’s a win all around. 

And the biggest payoff is that I feel better mentally and physically… minus all the soreness. But it’s a “hurts so good” soreness. It’s a soreness that I know is taking me to the next level. I’m not good at all the workouts, sometimes the worst, and sometimes I can hang with everyone else. I just keep showing up and keep doing the work. In the end something is better than nothing.

Now I’ll be honest with ya, the gains are great until we have to get back to the grind. To get better you must continue to press on. So now when we do percentages off our 1RM that percentage is now higher. Great, you say. But I say boooo. It’s all heavier now and it feels like you’re starting over. It’s a bad mindset to have and it’s only temporary because I know it’s for the better, but holy moly, how did it get so much heavier?!? I make jokes and roll my eyes. My coaches probably want to choke me out BUT I’m still there doing the work, cause guess what?

I’M HERE FOR THE GAINS!

And I wouldn’t be getting this far so quickly if I didn’t have a circle of folks, a community to support me. My family is super supportive. Sometimes, they can be more on the tough love side, but at the end of the day, I appreciate that they know I gotta get better at all the things. And all they want to do is help.

The people that I workout with and see day in and day out are also there, sometimes whether they realize it or not. Whether it be someone super fit and super strong that I aspire to be or a partner in a partner WOD that encourages me to finish. Or if I can be the encourager then that’s just as helpful. I also have coaches that care and want to see success in all of us.

I also started a women’s group “Stronger than Yesterday – Boom!” on Facebook so that my Facebook friends have a safe place to talk about their wins and their fails. To seek encouragement from each other no matter what they are tackling in life. It’s geared towards health and fitness but it’s for anything you want to talk about. It’s encouraging to see where people are succeeding and to see how they deal with a setback. We all have them. We all will make poor choices at some point but it’s how we bounce back from them that sets us apart. It also helps me to want to be a good role model and to share that I’m not perfect but I’m working hard towards a goal.

All the puzzle pieces are coming together and I know I’m not alone in my journey. And for that, I am thankful.