Not quite what is described, but the best rock jump I could find. Incredible landscape though.
“It was an odd thing, the picture. The scene was some mountainous region… A tall spire of rock stood against the sky, with a tablelike boulder balanced upon it like a hand calculator on the tip of a pen. It was a wonder that it could do so.
Perhaps five meters away from the edge of the balanced boulder was a sharp precipice, a cliff slightly higher in elevation. The ground under these rocky abutments was not within the frame, but it was at least twenty or thirty meters below, judging from the height of the leaping man.
And here was the crux of the picture. In midair, halfway between the cliff and table rock, flew a man. It was apparent from his posture that the man had jumped from the cliff toward the table rock. The camera had been of sufficient quality to stop the man’s motion, so that he hung in the sky, slightly blurred, frozen forever in midleap.
The first time Pen had seen the picture, he had stared at it, struck by half a dozen questions: who was the man? Why had he dared the deadly jump? Had he made it? If so, how would he get down? Would the rock be unbalanced by the man’s landing, toppling from the spire?
He focused on the picture almost like a mandala, drawn into it. If he knew why that man had taken it upon himself to jump from one rock to another, he was sure he could learn something of great importance. He was sure of it.”
Steve Perry
Starting CrossFit should be like the photo of the man jumping from the cliff to the table-top rock described above–full of commitment. CrossFit takes conviction. It is hard, of this there is no argument. Start with conviction. Commit yourself to it. Commit to 6 months. Promise yourself that you will do at least 6 months of CrossFit. Do not quit; no matter what the scale says, no matter if your hands hurt, no matter if you are scared or intimidated, no matter if you think you might get too big, or too small, no matter if it is hard, no matter if it is easy–don’t worry, it won’t be easy.
Train with conviction. CrossFit is your time. Be selfish. Don’t let any outside thoughts intrude on your time, CrossFit time. How often do you approach anything with the kind of courageous abandon that is described in the photo. CrossFit demands that kind of commitment.
Embrace the Paleo diet. Hey, it’s only for 6 months. Remember that line from Fight Club about how much can you know about yourself if you’ve never been in a fight? Well, how much can you know about yourself if you can’t commit to something for 6 months. All the time I hear from overweight people about how good their diet is. It isn’t. Sorry to be so frank, but that’s just they way it is. Commit to CrossFit. Have conviction.
Even if you never set foot in a CrossFit box again( you won’t ever want to leave), train for 6 months. Train hard. Train with conviction. Train with commitment. Six months. If you do, you will learn something of great importance. I am sure of it.
Thoughts? Please post them to Comments.
Workout:
Diane
21, 15, 9
Deadlifts 225/155#
Handstand Pushups
Post WOD and completed to Comments.
This post is my CF story! I have been lifting weights for the past ten years but always in a bodybuilding program. When Sam finally got me to try crossfit I said to myself I would try it for six months and see what happens. I held onto the idea that i could always go back to bicep curls if I needed to. That was November of last year and I am still fully committed to my Crossfitness. I eat paleo…ish, have lost 15-20 pounds, three notches on my belt, I am stronger , faster, lighter, more agile…. better. I can always go back, but forward seems so much more fun!
Well put. Really, commitment is the only way to have success at anything. People who don’t give CrossFit a real shot are the same people who diet for 3 days and quit because they have “done everything they possibly can and still can’t lose weight.” When you commit for an extended period of time you will most definitely experience an entire life change. Look at Bizz for example. You can finaly see his top ab:) JK- Bizz you really look amazing. And more importanly you have the most killer donkey kick I’ve ever seen. That took true commitment.
Thanks guys. It always amazes me that people see the results in other people, but just don’t give CrossFit a real chance. You said it Bizz.
Recently I have found myself starting to roll out the reasons why I should walk away from Crossfit. Yet, there is a curiosity about the next workout, and some how ,some way, I end up in my car or on my bike, back at the box. I am not the strongest, not the fastest, nor the most tactical in my approach to my lifts or skill development, but I get a certain thrill out of small steps made towards increasing my lifts, and my mental resolve to go heavier than I think I could. So, when I get to the point of thinking I should just walk away, I end up walking the way back to try again. Maybe that is commitment….or just plain curiosity.I feel like every day that I am at Crossfit, I see and hear about all the amazing stories, and witness long term transformations that have occured over the last six or seven months for the athletes that have chosen to commit to Crossfit. Looking at it from a long range perspective is maybe a little more sane than trying for too much too fast (for me at least). Things that take diligence and renewed commitment each time you walk through the door, are worth it.