Days 6 & 7: Mini-Goals

I used to be a member at a Cross Fit gym. If you're unfamiliar with Cross Fit, it is an epically hard core work out program favored by MMA fighters and celebrities for their quick results. Cross Fit's claim to fame came with the movie 300, because the actors and actresses toned/bulked up to prepare for the movie by doing CF with a trainer every day. Workouts are rarely longer than 18 minutes long, and people are known to be pushed so hard that they throw up every. single. day.

Anyway, at Cross Fit I learned a lot of valuable lessons. I learned the correct way to run, do push ups, and squats - something I had been doing incorrectly for YEARS. I learned how far I could push myself before it will give out, how to decipher different types of pain and which ones should be addressed immediately and which ones could -and should- be pushed through in order to build up endurance.

Most importantly, I learned the art of the mini-goal. When you're doing a workout of AMRAP 18 (as many reps as possible in 18 minutes) of 30 pushups / 30 pull ups / 30 wall balls and you're only 7 minutes in and the lactic acid is burning in every muscle you didn't know you had, how do you get to the end without hurting your time? You create a minigoal. Instead of saying "Okay, I have 20 wall balls left... My arms hurt, I can barely lift myself from a squatting position with my legs, and I'm thirsty", you say "I need 3 more wall balls. Just three, then a 10 second break." once you push through three, you pick a number that is just out of reach- even if it's just one. Then you say "Okay, one more..." after a while, you make it to thirty.

Could it potentially hurt your time? Possibly. But does it give you the hope to actually see your workout to the end instead of giving up early? Yes!

So here is my mini-goal for this week. On Monday and Tuesday I'm teaching art camp until 6:30 and I won't get home until 7:30. My mini goal is to do my workout both of those days dispite getting home late.