My Goal for You

When you started CrossFit, your goal was simple: you wanted to improve your fitness. You wanted to run faster, get stronger, look better in a bathing suit, and overall just feel better. You wanted to be happier, and you knew that improving your fitness would improve your quality of life.

Somewhere along the way too many of us become obsessed with the numbers. We start losing sleep over our Open scores (I could have done a few more reps…), our 1RM back squat (why won’t it budge?), and our Fran time (I just want sub 5 minutes!).  We lose sight of the bigger picture, and instead of being a place to unwind, the box becomes another contributor to our daily stress. If this happens to you, it’s time to take a step back, breathe deep, and remember why you started CrossFit in the first place. (If you’ve already forgotten, go back and read paragraph 1…)

Over the last 5 years I’ve grown increasingly convinced that the most important aspect of fitness is its sustainability. My goal for you is to be fit and happy not only now, but decades from now. Some day when you’re retired, and maybe even have grandkids of your own, I want you to be able to hike, bike, run, swim, and walk up stairs without pain. Do you really think it will matter, when that time comes, that you never broke a 7-minute mile? Or that Jane or John Doe in the 6pm class beat your OHS/C2B score that one day in March 2014? (Hint: Absolutely not!) But it will matter that you trained smart and avoided injury; that you focused on your weaknesses and turned them into strengths; that you found a way of working out that you enjoyed, and made it a consistent part of your life.

Fitness improves quality of life, it’s that simple. We owe it to ourselves to get stronger, faster, more flexible, more coordinated, and more accurate. To develop better endurance, stamina, agility, balance, and power. To pursue all aspects of fitness, and in doing so, to improve ourselves. But we shouldn’t agonize over every number on the board, every missed lift or bad mile time.  Because at the end of the day, our goals are simple: Be fit. Be healthy. Live longer. Have fun.

Congrats to all our 2014 Open finishers! Time to kick back, enjoy the warm weather (coming soon!), and get outside to put our fitness to good use!

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This Post Has 19 Comments

  1. jimbo

    Be Fit. Be Healthy. Live Longer. HAVE FUN while doing it! Simple goals but in our busy lives we forget the simple things in life matter the most. That sums up why everyone should be doing Crossfit. Love the ICA community! I have met so many great people at the gym. Great post John and Nikki!

    1. Ron

      Get up!! Your not a dog! Your a man!! Get up!!

    2. Phil

      LOL!

  2. Lindsey

    Great article!

  3. Sarge

    thanks for this post.

    i’ve been thinking a lot about this recently and have admittedly gotten stressed and then deterred by the numbers, the possibility of finishing last, and the fact that all of my lifts have gone down due to injury. but i probably wouldn’t have been injured if i hadn’t been so concerned about beating my last deadlift or getting a faster time in a WOD.

    when i started crossfit, i asked my coach: “can you just help me feel better?” and after careful consideration, he said yes. i believed him and i do feel better than i did. but i could feel my best if i just do my best every time and i can be my best if i am always setting an example to try as hard as i can every day.

    crossfit should be fun. and when it stops being fun, then you need to come back and read this post (so bookmark it now, because if you’re like me, you will need this reminder more than once).

    this was a great reminder for me- that i should hold myself to the same values i hold you all to, which are the same and John and Nikki have held us to since they opened: “Be fit. Be healthy. Live longer. Have fun.”

  4. Schipul

    Great post! This really resonates with me right now!

  5. Tina

    Thanks for posting. This rings so true right now as my injury heals. Although I am the most fit and strongest, I have been in my life; all I focused on my numbers dropping. After talking to both of you, my focus is back on track, acknowledging that fitness is a life style, not just a weight on the board.
    Since my first class, last July I have achieved more than I ever thought I could physically but more importantly I have found the determination to…
    Be fit. Be healthy. Live Longer. Have fun. As always, I am grateful to my ICA coaches & family for all the support and motivation.

  6. Garrett

    Very nicely crafted! I’m happy to have found ICA. A community of much more than Crossfit. A community of belief, of support and of unquestionable determination. I’m constantly amazed of what we are all capable of when apply a positive belief in ourselves and each other. It’s infectious, encouraging and just simply Awesome!

  7. Kathy

    Simple, everyday benefits of of being part of the ICA community (as an older beginner)…..
    Me at the Home Depot this morning buying two garage door openers –
    Home Depot guy: “Ma’am, I’ll carry those for you.”
    Me: “No thanks, I can handle it.”
    The look on the guy’s face when I picked them up: Priceless

    I couldn’t have done that 4 months ago, and I wouldn’t have made so much progress in such a short time without the support of the ICA community. As Garret said, “ICA is simply awesome!”

    1. Tina

      Good for you!! Priceless.

  8. Katie N.

    Nice post! I feel like you are speaking directly to me. As a matter of fact my husband just read it and asked, “Is this about you? This is YOU!” One of my greatest and worst characteristics is my intense nature. I’m a competitor, I always have been. I have extremely high expectations for myself. I put 110% into everything I do, sometimes losing site of the “fun piece of the puzzle.” I have found out a lot about myself while I’ve been a member at ICA. I’ve stepped out of my shy box (posting this is giving me anxiety), challenged myself to face my weaknesses (personally & physically), learned several lessons from other members & developed a lot of great relationships along the way. John & Nikki this a was nice, and gentle reminder not to take it all so seriously. Step away, take a deep breathe and keep chipping away at being fit, healthy, and most importantly, a happy person. Thank you! Thank you ICA!

  9. jimbo

    Awesome Ron, just awesome. LOL.

  10. Phil

    thats awesome kathy! and love this post

    congrats to everyone for finishing the open!

  11. Peter

    This is exactly why I love ICA and why I talk about it with my friends and colleagues (probably more than I should). In the past year, I’ve learned more than I expected. I’ve left the gym on many occasions having accomplished something that I’ve never done before in my life and I’ve made new friends. The encouragement from other ICA members has helped me to do more than I could’ve done on my own.

    I’m proud to point out to Cross Fit critics the amount of time we spend practicing each movement and the personal attention that we receive from the ICA coaching staff. We have a first-class coaching team because John and Nikki have obviously made this a priority and the coaches themselves are clearly people who care about what they do.

    I’ve yet to Rx a WOD and I’ve never posted a weight or time that was in the top-half of any class but I’ve never felt anything but encouraged for what I’ve done.

    Thanks ICA!

    1. Dave

      Pete, every class is made better when we see you there.

  12. Ian

    Great post thanks 🙂

  13. Erin Burke

    John, Nikki,
    Thank you for posting this. Reading these words was an important reminder to me, especially since this was my first CF Open. There were times when I’d watch the Open announcements and feel both excitement and worry (especially when I knew I didn’t have some of the movements). However, that worry would fade away as 6pm approached because every Friday, I would walk in believing that achieving a new movement would be possible (woot to stringing more DUs!).

    I think that’s a testament to the positive and encouraging ICA environment fostered by John and Nikki, by our coaches and among our membership. I definitely did not ace any of these open workouts (they aren’t supposed to be easy), but I found that I could push myself harder and at the very least, I could say that I worked my ass off.

    Thank you to every ICA member, coach and John and Nikki. I’m so grateful that my first CF experience was at ICA and I believe I am quite lucky to be among such a supportive crew.

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