The other day I overheard my son say “I can’t do it.” That made me think about all the times I say, mostly in my head, I can’t do that, there is no way or that’s too hard, but why do I say these things? Have I even tried to attempt whatever it is that has been presented to me? Why do I tell myself I can’t when I haven’t even tried? After 34 years of telling myself that I can’t do something it’s time to make some changes and I am super excited about it because I don’t want to be a bad example for my kids. I want them to be willing to try new things, they might not succeed at all of them, but you’re always a failure if you don’t try.
Being a parent you learn just how much your kids soak up the things you do. I realize my son has a lot of my mannerisms that I never want to be the reason he thinks he can’t do something or says that it’s too hard. Trying new things and pushing yourself is the only way you will grow and I want to be able to be an example of that to my children.
I have started going to a new gym because I want to mix things up and see some results. A friend introduced me to it because he has loved how it has helped him as a father when he is holding his baby girl, then has to squat down and get his other daughter. It has increased his strength and helped the pain in his back go away because he has been taught how to strengthen it.
His story intrigued me because there are so many times I am holding my daughter and my son wants me to pick him up. I try to squat down or bend over and the pains and difficulty that comes with it made me think maybe I should give this a whirl. It is time to try new things and especially try things that I have always said I will never do because it looks way too hard.
Walking into my first class I knew I was in for a rude awakening: 15 feet of weighted lunges, six burpees (where you jump over the weights between each one), 25 feet of weighted lunges again and wrap it up with six pull-ups. Not only that, but you are going to do these things as many times as you can in 20 minutes. Instantly I was ready to walk out and not even try to do the hard things, but I stuck it out and completed it.
This made me realize I was making a great choice in trying hard things. I wanted to avoid being one of “those guys” that says they hate a certain thing they have never tried, but when they try it they end up loving it. I couldn’t help it though, this was exactly what was happening. I was becoming a guy that said he would never do something, only to find myself doing that exactly thing I had made fun of others for doing. 
What am I talking about? CrossFit. I have fallen into the trap some call craziness of CrossFit. I have found a gym that isn’t about pushing me to do things that are impossible for my body, but at the same time getting me to do things I never thought I would be doing. I am gaining confidence in myself and learning that my strength is limitless.
CrossFit SpearHead has blown me away with their positive energy, encouraging support and drive to make you overcome the fear of failure. I have a support system within the gym that encourages me to excel and push myself when my inner voice says I can’t.
Remember in elementary when you had to do a health olympics with the entire sixth grade? Well, I still remember it like it was yesterday. We all walked over to the pull up bar and I was behind the littlest girl in the class. We had to see how many pull-ups we could do in a minute. Up she went, 1-2-15-20…she wasn’t stopping. She got the school record of 63 pull-ups and I had the pleasure of following her. I could barely jump up to grab the bar and there was no way in hell I was going to pull my body up. I was so embarrassed and knew that I would never be able to do a pull-up. To this day I have never tried again.
Come to today and this same type of situation gets put in front of me. We walk over to the bars where everyone is doing pull-ups and I instantly tell myself that I can’t do that. Standing across from a woman that again was way smaller than me. I knew that this was going to be embarrassing again and that was the last thing I wanted. Thankfully, these Crossfitters aren’t there to embarrass you, but to build up your strength and finally do one pull-up on your own. I was given bands to pull down to where my knee would hold it down and this would help support my body weight and make the pull-up easier. With that accommodation I was then able to do three to four and got excited. I really could do something I had always told myself I couldn’t do.
The woman noticed my excitement and she said how great I was doing. She has been going there for two years and still has a hard time doing them. They aren’t as easy as people think and she was working on getting five in a row. I am not the only one that can’t do a pull-up and it’s great to be at a place where everyone is at different levels of strength but everyone is there to support one another and cheer you on as you accomplish little things.
What are you waiting for? Give it a try. You can try it for free, and let me just tell you, you’re going to love it just as much as I have. Be sure to tell them that The Modern Dad sent you.
