The Whiteboard: Friend or enemy?
As a gym, we love our whiteboard (or otherwise known as Wodify for our members who did not experience our box without the fancy TVs). Back in the day we would write our own name on the board and walk around known as “Jess D” or “Mike C” because we had 30 Mike’s and 30 Jess’s at the box. We took pride in our names next to our scores to show off to the world (and by world I mean the 100 people who would see it that day before it was erased). But having your score up for everyone to see can admittedly be intimidating -but as we all know, Crossfit loves to force us out of our comfort zone and eventually it becomes a little easier to be comfortable being uncomfortable.
The whiteboard was designed to be a tool for Crossfitters to improve their results. By displaying our results on the whiteboard we are giving ourselves a chance to reflect on how we did that day, and it definitely has its benefits. You might compare your result with another member and give the ole fist pump when your time is just a couple of seconds faster. Or you might become more motivated when your time was just not on par with how you felt like you should have performed and then maybe from that day forward you will work on that weakness until it becomes a strength. Did the whiteboard just help you do that without you knowing it? Probably! I wholeheartedly admit that the whiteboard is a great tool that can push us both mentally and physically and help us become better Crossfitters. That being said, it can also be intimidating, defeating, and at times, kind of cutthroat.
Depending on how you use it, the whiteboard can be our worst enemy in the box. Unfortunately, getting too caught up in whiteboard rankings and scores can change our attitudes, and not in a good way. Yes, we as CFH members love a little competition when we throw down, and there’s nothing wrong with that! But if we’re compulsively checking for our rank next to our name, or checking for the time to beat before the WOD starts, is that really helping us? Are we so worried about the time and glory of that number one Wodify spot that we might make short cuts to get there? Do you ever try to convince yourself that a no-rep was a rep, or that that squat was totally below parallel, or mess up on counts and give yourself one or two…or five reps extra?
Before you know it, hey, you got that fast time and RX too! But did you really get the work in? Did you bring the best out of yourself that day on that workout? We do Crossfit to increase our strength, fitness, and most of the time our daily attitudes and moods are impacted by coming into the box. Hanging our heads over a bad time and feeling lousy changes our whole day. Feeling the pressure of seeing our results right there in front of our face and having to be accountable for what gets yelled out for the coach/class to hear – it’s no doubt humbling. But as hard as it may seem at the time, try to embrace that bad workout instead; walk out with your head high because no matter your time or score, you have improved your fitness that day. Remember – it’s not about being the best; it’s about being better than you were yesterday. Our “whiteboard” is now on our fancy TV’s, and it’s awesome – we get to make our profile unique, track our results, check old scores and weights, and “Like” other members’ scores to pump them up. However, I challenge everyone to log onto Wodify and see how much YOU have improved as a Crossfitter over your time here at CFH. Fitness is not about always about being better than someone else, it’s about being better than you used to be- so use your scores to empower yourself, not to defeat yourself. And, last words of advice, try not to always hit the whiteboard tab first.
Coach Buck
Strength WOD
20 min to find a new 1 RM Squat Clean and Jerk
(put all that hard work into to action today, go heavy!)
WOD
10 Thrusters (75/55)
12 Pull ups
9 min AMRAP
Matt K getting ready to clean some big weight!