I know you’re probably looking at the title of this post and thinking “WTF is Emily smoking this morning” but I promise you I have a good point to make.
A couple of years ago, my boyfriend convinced me to go golfing with him. I’ve never had any interest in playing golf because I’m the most impatient person on the planet and think it’s probably the most boring sport in the world but I figured I’d give it a shot (ha!). Looked easy enough, just swing the club, hit the ball, right?
WRONG. It took me about 10 tries just to even make contact with the ball. There were so many mechanics that went into that one stupid swing: keep your head down, slight bend in the knees, straight front arm, bend the back arm, shoulders low, feet hip width apart, KEEP THAT HEAD DOWN! Any time I remembered to do one thing, I’d forget to do the other thing, and then I’d remember the opposite, and forget to do the 10 other things. A lot goes into that seemingly effortless swing. And once you get that perfect swing, and make contact with the ball, and it feels so good, you think “Why can’t I do this EVERY time??” And that’s when you pull a Shooter McGavin
When I started CrossFit, I had the same mentality. How hard can it be? I’ve done squats before, I’ve done deadlifts, I’m athletic, this will come naturally. Wrong again. There is SO much to think about when doing a lift. I did cleans for the first time the other day and literally looked like a toddler taking their first steps. I can’t tell you how many times I banged the barbell on my knees. Same thing as golf- once I remembered to do one thing (hips back, chest forward, drive back with the hips, pull up from the hips) I would forget something else (keep the barbell on your legs, pull knees back, jump, squat down). And then you look around the room and see everyone else just busting out cleans and deadlifts like it’s nobody’s business and it’s frustrating as all hell. I can’t wait for the day when I naturally “get” it and the movements become more effortless. Effortless minus the whole adding the heavy weight thing. That’s another battle for another day.
Golf? I’m all set with just riding around in the cart and eating snacks. Cleans, deadlifts, pull-ups, clean and jerks, snatches, power cleans? I am coming for you… just quit making it look so easy! I can see through your facade!
First time doing back squats. I liked these. One motion, up and down,
drive that booty out. I can do that. via Reebok CrossFit One FB
Can anyone else relate to this? How long before you had your “a-ha” moment with heavy lifting? How do you get out of your head and nail that form down?
-Emily
Sleep, Eat, Gym, Repeat. 