Intensity and Focus
I think one of the hardest things to do in CrossFit is manage your intensity. I have seen so many times where an athlete gets much to excited prior to starting a WOD and ends up blowing up minutes after starting. I have also seen it numerous times where someone takes 5 minutes into a workout before they are in the right gear and up to speed. Both can be equally demoralizing to your performance; but in different ways. I have made it a point to try and visualize what I am about to do and that is much harder than it sounds. It has taken a ton of effort to get focused on the right type of intensity before doing a workout. There is absolutely a strong correlation between intensity and success but this is one of the biggest challenges of CrossFit. Reigning in and controlling your intensity until the right time. I would bet that most of us go into a workout without a plan of how your going to attack it…..this isn't the end of the world, but it leaves plenty of room for improvement. You have to think of it that way, “attacking” the WOD, that is what you have to do. You find where the weak points are in the workout (what your best at) and also define the speedbumps (what your not good at) and figure out a way to manage both. When you tackle a workout with the right intensity and focus, the results will speak for themselves and you will feel very similar to the Olympian in the video. If he gets too fired up before executing, he may have not done so well, instead, he harnessed the intensity and set a world record shotput. If you go into a workout with no intensity, you have already lost. There is no room for negativity in CrossFit, I am firm believer that this sport is 60% mental.