“They’ll tell you “failure is not an option.”  That is ridiculous, failure is always an option.  Failure is the most readily available option at all times; but it’s a choice.  You can choose to fail or you can choose to succeed.”

We all have days, weeks, and hell, even months that plague us with injury, sore muscles, fatigue.  Not just from CrossFit, but from life.  I often find myself coaching, talking to athletes and reciting the following sentence ‘Life happens.’  This is usually my response to athletes as they are down on themselves from a nagging shoulder injury, the feeling of fatigue, or the lack of attendance.  We all need to realize ‘life happens.’   How do you react to those situations? What solutions do you have?

I look at some of our own athletes and see how they have positively responded to injury or setbacks.  What sets those athletes apart?  What are they doing that is helping them in a positive way?  What can we all learn from them?  Here I go name dropping…get ready for it.

Mary A – breaks her foot. Solution – Bitch about it? Nope.  Works upper body, coach boot camp to see and learn the movements better, helps out at community events, take a gymnastic certification.  Her drive to be better is amazing.  Can she do all the movements; nope.  But she can see correct form, she knows how to scale to her ability, and she is bettering herself by working her sucks while her foot was healing. Amazing!

Chris A – I thought he was going to die the day he did whatever to his rib/lung/side.  Die!  Good news world. He’s alive! I have never seen someone mobilize and warm up so much.  It seems this injury has taught him to listen to his body.  Rest when needed.  Mobilize, stretch, warm up properly, foam roll….whatever it takes.  And world, don’t worry; Chris Anderson is back killing it! Thank the good lord baby Jesus Buddha and all the saints!

Murph – dude breaks his foot.  Not only is he still killing it coaching with one leg, he has laughed and accepted his injury.  The first thing he said to me was ‘I’m going to kill the bench press!’ Murph is a true example of digging deep and finding ways around injury.  He will heal. Albany CrossFit won’t have a peg leg coach much longer.  Success.

Mo – Mo wanted to be like Mary and broke her foot too.  She continued to come into class with her boot on and scale all her WOD’s to her ability.  She was always in good spirits and adapted to the class.  She recently killed the hero WOD Murph hitting a mile on the rower instead of running and will only see more success with her dedication to bettering herself.

These are just a few examples of athletes I see around the box who have dealt with set back and struggle.  Some athletes struggle with major set backs and injury, while others just need to give themselves a few days rest and get back to the box.  Whatever the case may be, we all need to evaluate ourselves and our bodies.  What can we do to be better? Foam roll more? Eat better? Hit more or less WOD’s a week?  Challenge or step back for a hot minute?  Whatever the case take some time to evaluate what’s going on and better you.  After all, that’s why we come to Albany CrossFit…to be better than yesterday.  Now figure out how to do that!