Dedication
Monday, May 26, 2008 at 10:57AM 
You think you know pain, but you have no idea. The heart thumping, chest expanding, lactic acid burn of your last workout was a walk through the meadow.
Somewhere, there’s a guy who did it in half the time it took you. He suffered. Plasma forced its way into his lungs, causing him to hack on repeat. He choked down bile halfway through, and ended on his back, pupils dilated to the size of dimes.
While you were walking around, telling your friends how hardcore your workout was, Guy Number Two was still collapsed, the prospect of driving home as daunting as climbing K2 during a snowstorm.
When he finally stood up, he didn’t say a word.
CrossFit is a decidedly masochistic pursuit. To be any good at it, you have to enjoy the pain. You have to push back the threshold day after day, until last year’s traumas feel like an hour-long rubdown at the Canyon Ranch. One day, you find a threshold that takes the whole thing just a little too far, and you get scared to go back.
The men and women that decimate your times are not superhuman. They’re not particularly genetically gifted. Hell, most of the top CrossFitters in the world would get absolutely pummeled in your standard game of rugby, buried by larger athletes begat by larger parents.
What differentiates these individuals is not a gift, but an unreasonable desire to push self-imposed suck beyond its logical limits. What comes out the other side becomes legendary.
Like any human pursuit, we seek ways around the hard part. Limited range of motion and new techniques. Dropping the deadlift from the top, bouncing it off the floor. Squatting above parallel and not standing up all the way. Chicken-necking above the chin-up bar, and reviewing the tape to see if we made it.
We want the reward (speed) without the sacrifice (pain).
This is not conscious cowardice. It’s pure out-and-out rationalism. Atsomepoint, the next threshold is the one that takes it too far, leaving us in an exercise-induced hallucination that lasts a few moments too long. Our hearts bounce around our insides for one beat too many, and our lungs beg to explode for an unwanted extra second. Every exhalation coincides with a constriction of vision, and the cold taste of copper.
No sane human being would enjoy such a feeling.
Still, the glory beckons. Surely, with enough training and the right supplements, there’s a way around the Hard Part. Enough sleep and enough vitamin B will get you the sub-whatever time without the attendant pain. There’s no need to redline your heart rate or pop capillaries. No need to ache so badly at night that you can’t sleep. Surely, there are ways around this.
Fortunately, the steroids are a no-go, and the exercises are done correctly or not at all. The only way to legend is through ever-mounting piles of pain. The meadow has to tilt at 45-degrees, and he rubdown at the Ranch must be done with Brillo Pads. If you can talk, you’re not trying hard enough. If your nerves aren’t frayed and ready to rebel, you’ll never get there.
Do yourself a favor, and realize that there’s no technique in the world that will save you. There are no pills, no secrets, no passwords on the path to greatness. You’ve got to embrace the pain, push the threshold, and feel the suck, and then you’ve got to muster the courage to go back six times a week.
After all, the world is a lot brighter when your pupils are the size of dimes, and massaging your sternum with your heart starts to feel good after a while. The plasma finds its way out of your lungs, and eventually you’ll be able to drive.
Sometimes, lying on the floor is its own reward.
Dave Castro takes his kettlebell for a walk. Picture courtesy of CrossFit.com.
Reader Comments (20)
As usual.... you speak the truth in an inspiring yet brutally true manner.
Thanks again Bro!
Miss you and Sammy....
I was quite inspired by your article. I am about to hit my one year Crossfit anniversary and that was just the inspirational piece of literature to keep me going through year two!
John has this posted on his website (Cf Greyskull) for us to read this past weekend - Loved it. Almost as much as the beautiful girls piece.
Great article! Thank you.
This is why I check these articles regularly - truth laid bare.
This one hit particularly close to home. I've been immersed in CrossFit for almost two years now ( I do it, coach my kids in it, study it and instruct it for work, coach any and all comers with a desire - more and more thanks to the new USMC fitness test). And then, one day about a month ago, I just stopped. Splat.
To quote the article, which finally gave a voice to a lot of confusion in my head, I finally hit a threshold that took it just a little to far ( in my case - my first Murph with a 20# vest - 47:50, at the tail end of a very hard week including a record CFT).
I can make excuses all day - I was fatigued, I needed to recover, I should have used a lighter vest or none at all (BW 143), I'm busy in the summer, but what really bothered me was that deep inside I knew it was all bull. I was simply scared and didn't want to hurt myself anymore.
I'm not all the way back yet, but I'm clawing my way back. This post began the journey for me.
Thanks, Jon
Josh,
Good to see your name and read your words, Brother. Get back on the horse.
I struggle with the intensity myself from time to time, and nothing cures it like a little rest, a side trip to the platform, and a visit with the guys from HQ. Barring that, watch "Nasty Girls" and re-read "What is Fitness" (CFJ 2). It always gets me in the right frame of mind.
Best,
Jon
Jon,
An absolutely fantastic article. I definitely need to visit this site more often.
This should be put up in every CrossFit gym.
Great article! I've attached the feed to our website at www.hardassfitness.com. I will be sure to read it again before each workout. Thanks
This article is definitely going up in my gym. Excellent article.
Jon,
First off, just visited your site for the first time thanks to the "Box Jump" link. Thanks for taking the time to create the videos and post articles. What a great tool for furthering the CrossFit fire within.
As for this post in particular...well said! This article epitomizes every aspect of what it is to be a CrossFitter. When people see me @ the gym doing a WOD and ask me to explain it, I tell them it is the most excruciating and yet addicting means of testing your intestinal fortitude, will, drive, character and heart (both literally and figuratively) you will ever experience. They never understand at first and watch mesmerized as I push through every exercise and rep, grimacing and grinding my teeth, sweat pouring, curse words flying, blisters bleeding and all the other "fun stuff" that occurs when you are knocking out a WOD. Once I have completed it, they usually walk over to where I have collapsed on the floor and ask, "Why do you do that to yourself? It looks horrible." A huge grin comes across my face and all I can say (after I catch my breath of course) is, "Because we are a sick and twisted bunch that thrives on pushing ourselves above and beyond "normal"limits every workout." Then I usually pry myself off the floor and tell them, "And I can't wait to do it all over again tomorrow". Everything you said here is brutal & in your face (luv it BTW) and initiated a gut check in me. So you bet your ass during today's WOD this will be in my mind as I "embrace the pain, push the threshold, and feel the suck" just so that I can run just a little faster, thrust harder, and kip like crazy. Look forward to the your future posts/videos. Keep it coming and Happy Cross Fitting!
I love this, but what's with "plasma forced its way into his lungs"? It sounds terrible.
Jon,
this is a one great article of many. Unless it absolutely sucks it isnt giving you results that you deserve you speak the truth about everything that is on this site and this reminds me of a quote that I thought up during Barbell hell with Johnny (CF Greyskull) "you need combination of 3 things in order to achieve greatness. hard work, suffering and most important the drive to give everything you've got until the end" thank you for this article. it was great to read.
I don't know if I will ever get tired of reading this article. Thank you.
I posted this article on my website as well Jon. Top notch writing that hits home, as usual when it comes to stuff you write. An amazing inspirational that should be in every gym across the globe. Every time I am in a little bit of a slump, I think of this article, and the picture of the guy doing sprints at the bottom of a pool with a KB. Great work Jon, and great motivation. The truth always is.
As the set finishes, you are really feeling the pain, the only way to get through it is to think of "one more rep, one more rep, one more rep", your mind has willed your muscle to continue with "one more rep". Your muscle scream, the burn is there, they are hungry for oxygen and more importantly, ATP, and that ischemic induced burn is their way of tell you stop!!! You continue, "one more rep, one more rep." Your brain continue to drive your muscles, all available ATP is now binding with myosin, allowing it to release from actin, and muscle contraction to continue. As all ATP is cobled up, no ATP is available to run the ATPase pumps. Intra-cellular sodium levels rise, intra-cellular calcium levels rise, the cells begin to swell then cells to burst.
As you collapse to the floor, you mind shifts it focus from the effort it justed willed you through to the excruciating pain in your muscles. A pain you have never felt before. A few hours later, the dark, reddish-brown urine starts.
I am an believer in high intensity workouts. But, we are see more and more exercise induced Rhabdomyalysis in Crossfit as more and more people are exposed to Crossfit. Most cases of exercise induced rhabdomyalysis are not seen in the overweight soccer mom at 7am bootcamp. All that I am aware of were seen in people with an athletic background, but in their initial exposures to Crossfit. These are people who know how to push through the pain, know how to get their mind to continue.
I mean no disrespect to Again Faster by posting this comment. Personally, I really enjoy reading your articles. Also, the feeling of a true maximal effort is awesome. I train to for that feeling, but I also know that it exercise induced Rhabdo is real.
Pat,
I appreciate the threat of rhabdo, but believe that it can be wholly avoided by a proper ramp up period to intensity. I have never seen a case occur in an individual who is not a first-timer, and you can be sure we exercise a ton of caution when newbie "uber-athletes" come knocking. My worst fear is a tough guy who wants to "kill" a workout but has no actual experience with intensity. This caution is not universal among CrossFit gyms, but it's damn close.
I'd be interested in some sort of proof for the assertion that we're seeing "more and more" cases of rhabdo. I believe the incidence is extremely rare, well below that attributed to mainstream activities such as marathoning.
Nonetheless, if you're interested in a substantive discussion and can back up your argument, I'd be happy to continue.
Best,
Jon
Jon,
I appreciate your first paragraph. I also appreciate all the caution CFHQ and seasoned CF Coaches give about the introduction of a ramp-up period.
I apologize for the statement "more and more" in my second paragraph. It was based on the discussion of the Navy wreslter developing rhabdo and the report of another instance of woman getting rhabdo while doing a GHD/back extension WOD in April 08. These both stuck in my mind, however, I admit 2 cases in a 3 year period is not "more and more".
My motivation for my comment is that the difference between an elite CFer and an average Joe is not always more heart and more guts, but physiological adaptations that allows for increased performance. I think this point was lost in the article. I also see this observing trainers who think it is their job to motivate their client to push through the pain. Pain serves a purpose to alert us to injury and while the vast majority of people in the world quit too soon, a very small minority do not know when to quit, and will indeed "die for points". I do think many more of the later vs the former read your articles.
I do not think CF, specifically, causes more cases of rhabdo then any other high intensity training program. Also, I believe there is a place for high intensity, oxygen debt training especially for guys whose lives really depend on their training (soldiers, marines, etc who are actually kicking down doors).
Finally, it is not in my nature to argue points or disrespect someone else. My comments are not meant to be disrespectful. Once again, thank you for FREE site.
V/R
Pat
Pat,
Solid. You've begun to identify a central tenet of training: we need intensity in order to drive physiological adaption, but must balance this need with the possibility of injury. We need efficacy AND safety.
If we have too much of one and not the other, regardless of which is which, we retard progress. To much heed to safety keeps us weak, and too much tilt to intensity leaves us broken on the sidelines.
Regardless, I believe you hit the nail on the head: "the vast majority of people in the world quit too soon". The ones who don't tend to call themselves CrossFitters.
No worries on appearing disrespectful. You've done fine. Just remember, that superlatives like "more and more" and assumptions like "I think many more of the latter vs. the former read your articles" are unfounded unless supported.
Keep training hard, brother. Thanks for your comments.
Best,
Jon
After following Crossfit now for around 8 months, I'm only just starting to attempt following the WOD's as RX'd. When i started trying the WOD's I knew that I would'nt be capable of following the workouts, so using common sense, I subbed the wod's as needed. Still, when I get to a workout that I think I may have a problem with I'll test the weigths as part of my warm up to see what I can handle.
Now i'll push through the workout as hard as I can and turn myself into a puddle of mess on the floor, but I'll do this the safest way possible, ever mindful of the side effects ( both good and bad ) of our chosen addiction.
My main question's regarding the cases of rhabdo, were the people involved aware of the possibility of inducing rhabdo and in the case of the newer members, we're they supervised and made aware of scaling the workouts.
I'm not trying to be critical and lay blame, I think cases like this are beneficial in a way, as they do make the side effects very real and possible. Now when ever I recommend crossfit to people I make sure they fully understand what it is to follow what we do.