One definition of integrity is when your thoughts, words and actions are in alignment.  That is you say what you think and do what you say.  I am repeatedly confused by athletes who claim to want a particular outcome but then behave in a way contrary to achieving said outcome.  Perhaps they are confused.

CrossFit founder Greg Glassman once spoke about invincible ignorance.  Some people are so attached to their story that they refuse to recognize the truth even when it smacks them repeatedly in the face for years.  Even if it is killing them.  Especially if it means changing.  It is astonishing to discover that most people would rather suffer and die than change their mind and their behaviour!  How do they live life like that?  By clinging relentlessly to denial.

Examples:

I’ll call him Shane.  Shane wasn’t a little bit overweight, Shane was struggling to navigate the world on account of the girth of his belly.  For him, it went beyond health risk, his day-to-day life was made profoundly more difficult due to his size.  At work Shane coached others on how to take control and transform their lives to optimize outcomes and become personally empowered.  And yet he continually complained that it was impossible for him to lose weight no matter what he tried.  If you listened to his tales of woe you might be baffled by his inability to produce results despite his best efforts.  If you sat at the desk across from him at work as I did, however, and watched him snack continuously from the small mountain of vending machine candy bars that he placed atop his work station at the start of every day, you’d get a different take on his story of trials and tribulations.  The one thing Shane did not think to do in order to battle his self-recognised weight problem was to stop eating candy bars continuously all day.  And remember, Shane desperately wanted to lose weight.  Talked daily about his frustrated efforts and lack of success.  A glance across the aisle might have provided a hint regarding the success behaviours of others such as, we didn’t keep a mountain of candy bars on our desk at the ready.  I mean, Shane didn’t even try to resist the urge to snack, he set up his candy bar mountain at the start of each day before he felt hungry.  It’s not like he waited for a snack craving to overwhelm his will power and then succumbed to the call of the vending machine in the hall.  No, Shane started each day by stocking up to save himself the inevitable trip.  And there it sat daily begging to be eaten the moment the urge came upon him.  No need to even get up out of his seat to go find his fix.  And these weren’t cheap, Costco bulk candy bars, Shane paid vending machine prices for his daily mountain of sugar death.  For anyone watching, it was plain as day that Shane chose behaviours that set himself up for failure.

Tina was another case in point.  Tina is a sports scientist.  I mean she knows more than you and I about everything pertaining to human performance from cell biology to gait pattern analysis to the detailed steps of the Krebs cycle.  But despite being armed with all this knowledge, Tina complained that she could not quite rid herself of that tire around her middle no matter what she did.  She tried keto, she tried paleo, she tried fasting, she tried carnivore.  Nothing worked.  Or so she’d tell anyone who would listen.  Until overhearing her one day, her roommate said, “Well, have you tried cutting back on the two bottles of wine you drink every night?”  Turns out she hadn’t.  Still hasn’t. 

It boggles the mind.  Surely Shane knew candy bars were not helping him lose the weight he wanted to lose.  And yet he made no effort to curtail his candy bar habits.  Tina definitely knew about the metabolic effects of alcohol on visceral fat storage and yet she consumed not one but two bottles per night.

This is not just about nutrition either.  Frequently I hear athletes talk about their desired fitness outcomes and then do the opposite.  For example, if Tortoise is trying to get faster, more slow, heavy training is not going to get him there.  If Bunny is trying to get stronger, doing more low weight, high volume endurance work is not the answer.

And they are none too happy to hear that it is their flawed training plan that is leading them astray.  Sometimes they appear offended, other times dismissive.  Sometimes they argue that they like their way of training better.  At which point I conclude that their expressed desire is not their actual desire.  That they prefer status quo to actual change.  Which is fine.  As a coach, my role is not to tell you what you should want but to listen to what your goals are then help you achieve them.  But simple minded as I am, I am easily confused when an athlete tells me they want x but then spend their time practicing y.  Perhaps I too frequently fall into the trap of believing people’s words instead of their actions.            

Personally I prioritize results over preference.  After 15 years as a vegetarian, I did not want to admit it wasn't working for me.  Not only because the consumption of dead animals is conceptually more than a little off-putting but because I had a lot of ego invested in my ways after a decade and a half of arguing with condescending carnivorous friends who continually challenged me to defend my dietary choices.  You can bet I got an earful the first time they watched me put dead animal in my face and admit that I had been wrong.  They still make me pay for it from time to time because, after all, what are friends for but to remind us how ridiculous we tend to be?  But I cared more about results (being healthy) than ego or food preference.  My belief is founded on observable results, not opinion or wishful thinking.  Find what works, do that. 

In contrast, I’ve discovered that quite a lot of people - the majority even - do it the opposite way.  Decide what they want to work, then continue to do that even in the face of evidence to the contrary.  Like Shane or Tina they’ll tell themselves that they are the outlier for whom nothing works or, they’ll listen selectively to their coach, taking some coaching tips, ignoring others and wonder why they aren’t getting the same results as others.         

My advice. Instead of complaining about the results you want to achieve but haven't, find a real person who has achieved your desired results. Learn what they are doing differently than you. Then try that.

How about you?  Are you results driven or belief driven?  Are you willing to change your behaviour in order to get the results you want or do you prefer to complain about lack of results while clinging to self-defeating habits?  Are you the kind of person who will do things you don’t enjoy to attain the results that you value?  Or do you just select the pieces you like and ignore the parts you don’t then wonder why your results don’t match your expectations?

Are your thoughts, words and actions in alignment or are you more like Shane and Tina?

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool. - Richard P. Feynman

Monday

Warm Up
3 Rounds:
200m Run
10 Medball V-Ups
2 Rope Climbs from back to standing

Tech
Run
Rope Climb
GHD Sit Up

WOD
3 Rounds
800m Run
1 Legless Climb
3 Rope Climbs
30 GHD Sit Ups

Finisher:
400m Medball carry