Anyone else trying to figure out what fun summer activities you haven’t done yet this summer? Thankfully my mother-in-law handles the zoo so I don’t have to. But somehow it’s the end of summer and we still haven’t made it to Gathering Place, the new splatter paint studio, or Adventure Avenue. We spent a lot of time swimming, Dylan can make it across the pool now and even Blayne can swim a couple feet on her own. Maybe we should have done other activities, but right now teaching the kids to swim on their own took priority. Looking back at the summer, we’ve had a pretty good one.

It’s so easy to focus on what you haven’t done yet, or in CrossFit what skills you can’t do yet. Doubleunders, toes to bar, 100# snatch, handstand push ups, the list goes on and on. The beauty of CrossFit is the workouts are always different and constantly varied, but that means there are A LOT of different movements to master. You start feeling good on one skill and immediately think of the 10 other movements you can’t quite figure out. Here’s the catch – if you ask someone who’s been here a decade they will tell you the same thing. There is no perfect CrossFitter, everyone has something they want to work on and improve. 

Back when I started, well over a decade ago, Aaron gave you a notepad to record your workouts in. There were no apps or easy way to search and see your last Fran time, you had to manually flip through the notebook and hopefully be able to read your own post workout handwriting. Now Chalk It Pro quickly tells you the last time we did a workout, what your score was, and what version of movements you did. Kids these days have it so easy. If you do Fran every year on August 2nd for 5 years I will bet you money it will never feel better. To be honest it’s probably going to feel worse, but what will be better is your workout. You’re able to do actual pull ups, get to the prescribed weight, connect more reps, go unbroken, butterfly pullups, and with all that your time is getting faster and faster. If you don’t record where you started though – you won’t see how far you’ve come. You can’t focus on how it feels laying on the ground after Fran – that’s expected. But moving ring rows to pull ups AND moving faster than last year? Now that’s a huge success.

So take advantage of Chalk it Pro and record your workouts! Figure out your next goal and focus on that for a while, meet with a coach and figure out a plan to make it happen. There’s always going to be a next goal to work towards, but remember the progress you’ve already accomplished too!