CROSS-fit #78 Don't let your dreams die.

So comes the end of the Crossfit Open Games 2012.
Maybe to some, so concludes their ever elusive dream of competing in the main arena.
Where the big boys roll.
To some, it's just the start of something big, something amazing.
But at the end of it all, do we become better or bitter?
Do we stand taller than how we were like before?
What have we learnt...

They say that every single day is just a sum of whatever that has happened in days before.
Well, it is true. Everything that happens today, will eventually affect tomorrow.
Disregard your entire past, it's all about today.
The past has come and gone, results have come and gone, past relationships, past sins.
All of them have met their expiry date.
Yeah, you may have messed up in all the open WODs, man you may have even messed your entire life up...

But what are you going to do about it?
Let all those dreams slip away? Beat yourself up over it? Or get up and learn from them...
No matter what happens in the future, you can better yourself NOW.
I kind of messed up in all the Open workouts. In one way or another...
Shouldn't have been drinking in the months before that... weeks before that even.
Should have gotten more rest.
Should have worked on my weaknesses more each time....
We all have our 'should' and things we could all place blame upon.

Don't!

Pluck that courage up and admit that you've made them mistakes.
That you aren't strong enough and you've got things to work on.
After competing, over the past few days, I've come up with a list...

Am I ashamed of my weaknesses?
Nope.
I'd rather be aware of them, expose them, so they have no power over me...
Cause one day, my weaknesses will becomes strengths.
Items on the left will go to the right.

Make it YOUR decision today.
It's only march and the great thing is that the year is barely through. Make some decisions for yourself today...

To be a better you, tomorrow.

CROSS-fit #77 Again?

The last and final Crossfit Open WOD, the much anticipated workout which would tip the scales for many...
The FRAN LADDER!? What! A repeat!?
So much for creativity aye HQ guys.
Many have threw in comments like it's poor programming, lousy methodology.
The net thrown won't be big enough to encompass everyone...

What is everyone talking about!?
I say I'm glad it's a repeat! Most are going on whining about it cause they're afraid.
Are you?
Take it as a platform for those guys whom can't go anywhere near the regionals or to the games itself to gauge themselves. It allows for them to look at themselves and see if they've gotten stronger.
I know I definitely did. In such a setting, with my mind and body in tune.
What better scenario to throw in a benchmark workout then in the Open.

So, Have you gotten stronger? Or have you slacked off?
Whatever it is...
There's next round, next year.

CROSS-fit #76 2 years and going strong

So much can change in a span of a few months.

Take that and think of it in terms of 2 years.

Look back and see how far you've come. Just once in a while, I'd like to do that.

It's been 2 years since I started the Sport of Crossfit.

I have no idea where to begin...

It's been a long and tough journey, week after week. Getting beaten and battered every single time.

Learning from the mistakes and the victories.

Getting reprimanded from leaving the bottles around, getting encouraged when the workout doesn't go too well and getting praised for making that PR.

Time and time again.

So many have asked me, why do I still go back?

Crossfit, in general and not just at CFSG, is an expensive place to be training at!

You pay top dollar for great coaching but hey you can get a similar (but of course a lousier) experience at a much cheaper Fitness First gym.

Recently, many have called crossfit a cult, a 'religion' even. 

So why, why do people pay and still come back again and again, to get bruised on the legs, the neck, the collarbone.

To experience immense pain and love it, to go back at it almost everyday. To smell the weights and love it.

There's no local competition in which we have, it is growing I must say, but there isn't a very large scale one.

Yeah there're the Crossfit games Open, the international competition, but face it, no way am I going all the way in the future. So what is it?

Maybe it's the people? The way they shout, cry, encourage, bleed, scold, laugh and smile with you

Or it's the results that it has produced? The numbers that come along with it and the many PRs... 

Or maybe the relief from stress? 

Probably it's really just fun! Weird ass scenarios like Ops GA.

The love for competition maybe? Like how there're the local and international Games along with almost every workout being some sort of a competition.

Or I guess it's the food that comes with the workouts? The many crazy BBQs we've had.

Perhaps it's the way that it actually gives back to the community in an amazing way. Like OBW and coaching the youths of our generation...

Coach says that Crossfit Singapore is going to be known as one of the best Strength and Conditioning places in the World. I have got to agree with that.

However, I'm going to take it further, it's probably one of the best places to be at, period.

I couldn't describe CFSG with just a simple phrase or just one line.

Like how I can't describe Crossfit with one line. Like how I can't summarize my entire 2 years into a sentence. It's well, everything that I could ask for..

I Crossfit because of everything above. 

I Crossfit because it's me.

Is there more to life other than this? Yeah, of course.

Is there more to come after the past 2 years? Definitely.

But one thing is for sure, this Crossfit journey isn't going to stop in the near future.

There has been rough times, really rough ones when juggling it all hasn't been easy but....

Crossfit has changed almost everything. 

Here's where I found much of what I'm passionate about.

Where God is and always will be the center of it all.

That is CROSS-fit.

CROSS-fit #75 Let's go

It takes time, but come on, let's go.
Get off the couch, stop chewing that bread stick and munching on those chips.
Your life is in your hands.
Not in the hands of a machine, a car, a system an order per se.
Living in an Ergonomic environment, we all want to live life based on what we have.
No matter how we argue it, we reside in an environment whereby technology, exploitation, rules.
In turn, we have come up with so many problems and difficulties for no one but ourselves.
We take a little time to look at our surroundings and you have people complaining about lower back pains.
We have issues such as pained shoulder joints.
Therefore sparking the rise of contentions and the need for addressing 'problems'.
We begin to look at the way our lives which has been greatly revolutionized and begin to insist that the change is good.
However like an old philosopher once said, (or maybe 9gag)
"Not all change is good".
No doubt, change is the only constant in life but we have to recognize that not all of it is good.
We have become reliant on technology, compatibilities, we become slack, we lack the desire to effect more innate change in ourselves.
Instead of correcting an issue of sitting less, we make a more comfortable chair to ease the back pains.
But really, is making a new chair going to solve the problem or is simply sitting lesser the better option??
We have made a mountain out of a molehill. And this is coming from an engineers perspective.
Not one whom is a fanatic on fitness, but one whom looks at human kind and wonders if all these advancements are worth while.

When I bring across the term, 'old school', what do people think of?
What do you think of?
Something good? Or bad?
Think of the likes of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson.
Look at how 'amazing' we've become. Yeah, there's been the rise of stars such as 'Usain Bolt'.
But sorry, Old school is just old school.
It comes across as Strong, fierce, determined, undeveloped for sure but resilient.

I'm not trying to bring the past back to the future. I'm trying to bring across the need of the fundamentals.
No, it's not just in fitness and crossfit (though I could give a whole lecture on it)
It's about our lifestyles in all ways.
Let's go, get up and let's go.

CROSS-fit #74 Sunset

It is now close to the halfway mark of the games.
Workout 12.2 wasn't the easiest as we had all imagined it to be.
Amrap Snatches!? Something has got to be up with Castro's mind. But nonetheless, a good workout for the masses, not just the crossfit guys.
However, that aside, how's everyone holding up in the games??
2 workouts in and the rankings are really starting to shape up.
Those who are in the running to make it to the regionals, keep going, but for those who're pretty far away, what's running through that mind of yours?
It's 2 workouts in, if you had initially thought that getting in to the regionals would be a breeze, think again.
Not such a walk in the park is it?? But hey, nothing in life is.
The 1RM backsquat doesn't come with you sitting down on a chair in front of your computer everyday.
It comes with real, concentrated effort.
On the form, on the sets, on the reps. Every single one of them.

I guess I know how it feels, to be that close but still that far, but the games ain't over yet.
The day isn't over till the sun sets on you.
So don't you give up on it now. It'll be a waste to all that you've worked for.
Nobody looks back thinking that they were lousy even though they gave their best, they only regret with the thought that they're lousy cause they didn't give their best.
So come on.
Let's go.
12.3 awaits.