How much can you put into your cup? How many ounces do you have to fill? I guess the reason I’m asking is because I have this theory that, when I’m talking about programming or progressing in fitness, every day each individual is going to have so many “tokens” they can give to their fitness routine.
On the surface, this is kind of like duh right?
But how much do you put into your cup of all the components that make up this whole working out, being healthy thing? As with anyone who is a “type-A” individual, who make most CrossFitters I would venture to surmise, the general thought is “more is better!”
When is that actually ever true though? When is one more drink too much? When is one more bite too much? When is a guest staying one more day too much? We all have thresholds for this in our schema, but perhaps we don’t hold fitness and health to the same regard because it’s good, right?
Well, yes it is, but only in the right quantities, and only until your cup is full, until you’ve spent all of your tokens.
Working out 100% all the time and only doing “long grinders” and not respecting the skill work or the strength work will leave you spinning your wheels.
Under appreciating what role sleep, rest, meditation, and nutrition play in this whole thing will do the same.
Let me say that again, if you aren’t spending some of your tokens of your fitness on your sleep, meditation, and nutrition, I promise you life and workouts are harder than they are meant to be, and you are not going to be able to sustain functional movements with intensity across a lifetime.
Don’t always assume more is better. If you are strapped for time on the weekend and its food prep or workout, sometimes the best thing to do is food prep. You may be shocked at how your body responds to food prepping and getting extra rest so you are fueled and ready to fire for the week as opposed to dragging and playing catch up on your meals or worse yet eating things that are taking energy away from you.
I harken back, again, to my golf days as the oldest championship in golf starts tomorrow, The Open Championship. Jack Nicklaus said he’d rather spend an hour hitting 30 balls with purpose and intention than 30 minutes hitting 100 balls without the same focus.
I can’t tell you how many times just hitting more golf balls didn’t help, and just doing another workout won’t help either if you aren’t ready and in the mindset and your BODY isn’t ready.
When you come in to workout, ask yourself where your cup is. If it’s too full already, what are steps you can take to make that not happen the next time you are in ready to crush the WOD?
This whole thing is the longest MetCon we have ever seen, stay the course, and take care of yourself.
