October 25, 2009 – Trophies

This weekend I was going through a few boxes of stuff that I have been packing around with me for most of my life. The boxes are full of memories from my life to date. My college Track & Field letter, pictures from trips I took in high school, letters from my (then) fiancée, big projects I did and various awards I have won. In the box are three trophies that I have always hated. I would like to talk about them.

I was given a trophy for each of the three years I played little league baseball. I loved playing little league even the teams I were on were terrible, if my teams won more than 7 or 8 games in the three years I played I’d be surprised. But they gave us a trophy anyways. After my first season we had an awards ceremony in a rundown VFW type hall where all the teams congregated, sat at a table and waited to receive their trophy. I remember walking into the hall and seeing several tables packed with the blue trophy you can see in the picture above. I knew at the age of 10 that what was happening was just plain wrong. And stupid. So my team who won all of 2 (TWO!) games that season received the same trophy that everyone else did. The same thing happened the next two season. This had an impact on me and is a life experience I think of quite often.

CrossFit isn’t the West Seattle Little League. When you train at CrossFit Redmond, or any of the other great CrossFit gyms in our area, you will only be given what you earn, what you deserve. The slogan we use is “Hard. Earned. Fitness.” What does that mean? It means that what we do is hard, and that we earn the level of fitness we have obtained. Our fitness is hard earned. You will only be rewarded when you put in hard, dedicated, committed work. We don’t strive to be average and we don’t accept average results. We see and interact with people everyday who have accepted that fat, weak and tired is normal and that as you get older you just slow down, stiffen up and eventually lose your physical abilities. I got news for you. As I approach 40 it blows me away at how much more fit I am than when I was “in my prime” and working with nationally recognized coaches. My workouts now are harder, shorter, more intense and infinitely more effective. I have earned my max lifts, my max pull-ups, my work capacity and my ability to perform in daily life. Think for a minute (and comment about it please) about what you have gained since beginning your CrossFit Training. I have been mentioning to several of you how proud I am of your gains. You didn’t earn your increased fitness level with Pilates, yoga or power walks. You got under the bar, ran another step, did another push-ups and came to the gym when you were tired and sore. You started eating new stuff and stopped eating stuff you really liked. It was hard and you earned it.

I’m going to keep those trophies in their box and remember what it felt like to be rewarded for a job poorly done.

CrossFit Redmond is a place where you can earn a higher capacity to do whatever you do day to day and to perform well when life decides to test you. Don’t blame me, your parents, the government, your boss, your spouse or anyone else for where you are. Whatever your current condition. You earned it.