Another CrossFit Games season has come and gone and while you don’t have to aim for the title of ‘Fittest on Earth’ you can make it your goal to become the fittest you’ve ever been before. Here are three simple tips to help you move in the right direction.
Work on Your Weaknesses
You don’t get stronger by playing to your strengths!
Stop avoiding work that intimidates, or just plain scares you and start to make progress on the things that you find difficult. When you see a workout that includes some of your least favourite movements, don’t conveniently skip it, instead, show up and embrace the challenge! Sure, it feels great to crush a workout in your wheelhouse or PR your strongest lift, but by sticking to the things you excel at, to the exclusion of those things you need to work on, you put a cap on your development and limit overall performance. Apply yourself to tackling your weaknesses and your strength and confidence will snowball.
Have fun
The secret to elite fitness is to continually making small improvements over a long period of time. Whether it’s work or play, if you aren’t having fun it’s going to lead to stress and you will become more likely to lose interest. Keep your workouts more engaging by doing them with a friend or group and incorporating new challenges. Of course, there will be good moments and bad moments to deal with, but if you keep an eye on your overall long-term development and enjoy what you are doing you won’t be thrown off course by a few obstacles.
Take care of your body
Life exacts a toll on your body and fitness can add to that. Every time you workout you need to make sure you’re recovering properly. This means ensuring you’re eating enough quality food to properly feed your muscles. Eating is only part of the battle, however; your body also needs downtime. Sleep, meditation, breathwork, mobility etc. are an important factor in recovery. All of them (sleep especially) can positively affect your hormones which in turn will have us returning stronger to the gym each time!
Seem too simple? We promise that if you can focus on these three philosophies into your day-to-day and you’ll start to see and feel greater progress.
Not sure how to address your weaknesses? Are your workouts feeling mundane? Not sure how to recover properly?
Reach out to us and let us guide you!
Broder McNeill is a coach and co-owner at Alchemy CrossFit.