I hear Aris say, “That kid is probably wondering what the hell is going on.”
I was on my knees gasping for air, crawling around the gym floor. I was breathing so hard my breath was blowing the dust on the ground, which I could see very clearly so close. I never noticed it before, and did not care that I was dragging me knees through it.
Aris was talking about the kid that was standing by watching,… Toddler age, playing with a ball, but for a second: staring, wondering why there was a grown up crawling around on the ground like he was looking for a place to die.
I was already in a position that I am rarely in, i didn’t like it. I was forced to be on my hands and knees because I could not stand. My legs were so exhausted they gave out after set 5. And I for damn sure wasn’t going to lay down, …. or get on my back. But for now I had to deal with being on my knees, all my focus was on trying to breathe, and get the hell up.
I had one more set to go. I was already sore when I went to the gym on Monday, and then did a long WOD with heavy weights,…. now six sets of Prowler Sprints with 1 min rest in between each. This was my first experience with The Prowler. It is an unrelenting machine, that will stop moving if you do not push it hard enough.
I was warned about this. I was told that I would come to a point of failure. But I wasn’t going to let that happen.
So there I was, not able to stand, and still had to perform one more set down and back with the thing that smoked me so bad I couldn’t stand.
But I had 30 more seconds to rest.
Was 30 seconds enough to recover enough to push this thing to the end of the Parking Lot and back? I don’t know.
What I did know is that 30 seconds was enough time to allow me to stand up. It was enough time to stand up, and get myself out of this surrendering position I was in. I would then put myself in a posture of power. And from that position I would conquer the task.
That was my plan. I was going to let my body tell me what is possible.
With ten seconds left I got up, put my chest up, shoulders back and approached the prowler. My posture gave me energy. Before I even started with the last set I knew I was going to finish. And I did,… and what is crazy is that I felt better after set 6 then I did after set 5.
There is a whole lot to be said about the mind body connection. It is very apparent that what we think manifests itself…. But sometimes we can put our bodies in positions of power to manipulate how we feel about the environment we are in.
Take the time and make sure your stance is of power. All the time.
WOD: 1-12-11
21-15-9
-225 Deadlift
-Ring Pullups (Full extension at bottom, chin above hands at top)
-Double Unders
CrossFit Mean Streets
Downtown LA
