Why would you stop? Have you ever asked yourself this question, really thought about it? This expression was born out of an explanation I’d posted on my training log. I’d been asked about my sporting background and I was trying to give an insight into how I see the metcons and how an “old man” of 38 can game a few seconds here and there in an attempt to remain somewhat competitive.

What I wrote was “As far as the metcons go, a little secret of the old mans club – don’t stop. Keep moving and only stop when muscle failure makes you, that then becomes your break. Face facts we’ll all have to stop at some stage, just don’t waste time with breaks because things feel bad. All those seconds add up.”

A lot of what we do and how we progress depends on our approach and our accountability. Ultimately you are responsible and accountable for your own progression. The coaches can only coach the movements but they can’t make you perform with the intensity that pushes you way beyond where your brain tells you to be, to the place were your lungs are gasping and your heart feels like its going to tear through your chest. It’s not enough to just turn up and go through the motions, you should feel unwell at times, you should feel wrecked, wiped out, you should have to curl up in a ball and be unable to move at times. To progress we must extend our boundaries and that can’t be done by staying in our comfort zones.

As a CrossFitter do you sit and dissect your performance in the aftermath of a WOD? Do you ever think I lost x seconds there, could of gotten an few more reps there, why did I slow down/stop there? I’m sure even the most impressive of CrossFit performers and elite athletes regularly express a sense of disappointment despite achieving a PB based on their assessments of their performances. This is a good disappointment; this is the conscious urge to strive for more.

Why would you stop? Because you feel bad is not a good enough excuse – you are going to feel bad. Mentally you should be aware that this bad feeling is really the place you want to be, the progress you seek is born out of this place.

As you get older you realise there are things far harder and more painful in life liable to blindside you than a CrossFit WOD, the pain you feel is only temporary. People suffer far more through all walks of life than we do during a WOD, in truth we’re all lucky to be healthy enough to be able to do CrossFit. When you’re feeling bad reflect on that fact, embrace the suffering, you owe it to yourself.

There are times when you’ll want to stop or maybe have to stop, maybe you’ve bitten off more than you can chew, maybe you should have scaled the weight or reps. In this case my advice is to take some weight off and finish the workout. Don’t quit. You won’t always be the fastest or have the most reps. Sometimes you’ll be middle or back of the pack, sometimes you’ll feel like hell and finish dead last. But finish. Finishing is its own reward sometimes. Sometimes finishing is enough.

“We do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard” – JFK