The fireside chat was first used by FDR in 1933 and has been used by most presidents since then in the form of the weekly radio address and now in the form of webcast on You Tube. We all have different meaning of why we give one or why somebody sends it our way. My first chat was in July 1988, I was in month 2 of basic training and everybody was thinking “man did I make a mistake”. Most of us were 18 years old and only a few months earlier were on top of the world as seniors in High school. It was the two month point and we were all feeling sorry for ourselves and dragging ass. Senior Drill Sgt Tomlinson gathered us all around and for the first time since we met him the message came out with a civil voice and he wasn’t yelling at us. The message was clear, get your head out of your third point of contact, stay focused, listen and learn, because mark my words “some of you will go to war” and you will fall back on your training.
Some people use the fireside chat as a motivator; some use it to push an agenda and other to put things in perspective. I’m going to use it as the latter, putting things in perspective.
We are in mid season for the CrossFit circuit, for most of us it will be a short season and we will be done in two weeks. A very few will move on to regionals and then they too will be done. And then there is the true natural athletes, the CrossFitters that most likely have succeeded at collegiate level and the ones we love to watch on ESPN in the CF Games.
I was talking to Pat and Donna today after the grueling 12.3 and the topic was top tier athletes. We watched a great CF Journal article with Pat Sherwood, James Hobart and Austin Malleolo as they drove around together, worked out and talked CF. Pat said that people watch the CrossFit games and say “I can never do that”. He is right and wrong, true in the fact that 99.9% of CrossFitters will never make it to the Cf Games because that is for the truly gifted Athletes. And essentially, their job is CrossFit. Pat pointed to Austin and said “he is trying to be the fittest person on the planet”. He then turned the table on himself and said that he (Pat) wanted to have a good quality of life, be able to pick up and play with his kids and keep the active lifestyle that he currently enjoys. These are two totally different reasons for CrossFitting. Just because you cannot do exactly what Rich Froning is doing on TV doesn’t mean that you can’t do CrossFit. It truly is for everybody.
I ask you to keep things in perspective and remember to have fun. The open should be a fun team building environment not a time to be stressed out about what the next work out is going to be. Try not to worry about things that you can’t control. I know that we wanted folks to sign up for the open because it’s a great environment but what we didn’t want was people being so stressed out that it quit being fun. I would agree that on some level we are all competitive and that we don’t want to let our teammates down. But we still need to enjoy ourselves.
Relax, have fun, enjoy the experience while improving your overall fitness.
Nicely put Vinny. Given that over the past 18 months or so my training has not been what it used to be I entered the open anyway; cause well that’s just what needed to be done. Now however I keep watching my numbers consistently falling at the bottom of the scores for our box. I understand and get it, my training has been lacking and now of course a chest infection is taking hold as well, it all adds up. I look at it this way though. It is a test to see if I have the will to keep coming back knowing I feel like shit, knowing I’m not gonna end up on top. I look at this as a test against myself to make myself better. It’s humbling as hell, but in the end I think it’s making me a better Crossfitter.
Well said Vinny! I admit, second time around and I am having so much more fun this time around. I think mostly because I am more comfortable with the movements and more confident it what I can do. It all comes with time and with time comes improvement.
One thing I love about Crossfit is that I can watch videos of these amazing athletes and say “I can do that” or “I have done that”. Maybe not as fast or with the same weight but I did it. One of Crossfit’s mantras is that it is for EVERYONE. And then people watch ESPN and immediately think “I can’t do that”. Vinny had another great point when we were talking. Why would someone see a bar bell or a crazy pull up cage on tv and be so intimidated they would not try the sport. Not making it to the US Open has never kept a tennis player off the court. Not making it to the NHL doesn’t keep the guys (and gals) from lacing up their skates. The NFL is completely out of reach for most but we’ve all tried to perfect our spiral. We do all that do be the best ‘me’ we can be. Because we enjoy what that sport has to offer. Not to become a professional athlete. But how cool is it that when the Games are on tv in July this year, we can all sit back and say “I did that”. I LOVE this sport! It is THE BEST thing I’ve ever done.
This needs to go on the quote wall, “We do all that do be the best ‘me’ we can be.” D. Thorisgramma
And Gunny, you will always be that guy that destroyed me in my first ever wall ball/box jump work out. You’re a stud dude!
Tom, no worries, we all go through those times. No matter how bad someone thinks they may be doing, it could be worse… you could have a wife on bed rest for 3 months, then a baby in the NIC unit for a few weeks, and still be looking at the next month or two being consumed by work, rush home help with the kids, sleep, work, etc…
So, it happens, it’s a big roller coaster, which means it’ll all come back sometime, just hang in there, and when the time comes to increase the frequency again, hit it.