
Pat Sherwood will start the WOD while you’re in the bathroom, but deep down he really loves working out with you.
I hate competing in CrossFit.
When my daily workout becomes a competition with someone other than myself, all the fun is gone for me. I do CrossFit for selfish reasons. It is my daily escape from the stresses of life. It’s my hour to decompress, play my music, push myself, strengthen both body and mind, and enjoy the company of some close friends. It is a bit of a sanctuary for me. I like to keep it simple. The more moving parts involved, the less fun I have.
No, I’m not breaking out a calculator to work out. I will simply choose a weight that is light, medium or heavy. I’m not doing three WODs in one day. If we have to rush warming up to work out at a specific time, it pisses me off. If I get warmed up and I’m ready to hit it only to find that a couple more people just showed up and now we need to fart around for another 15 minutes while they get ready, it pisses me off.
I like to show up, turn on some beats, warm up, hit the WOD, stretch my damn hip flexors, high-five whoever happened to be working out at the same time and leave the gym. And no, I don’t want to do any “accessory work.” I want to use CrossFit for what it was truly designed for: to go live my life and have fitness that allows me to do whatever I want outside the gym.
I now find myself in a unique situation. It is Day 70 of a motorcycle trip through Mexico and Central and South America, and one thing has been a huge struggle for me personally: I have had to put all of what I wrote above aside.