Yoda once intoned, “judge me by my size do you?” Well, yes, sort of.
When I first got involved with crossfit, I remarked to a friend of mine that I had to set my expectations correctly, because I am a not a very big guy. She agreed, and told me it was something I needed to realize. Well I wasn’t sure we meant it the same way. Ah well.
Interestingly enough, I don’t actually think of myself as small. I can, after all, hold a tea cup with one hand. My feet reach the ground when I’m on the toilet. More importantly, I simply don’t think of myself as small. Of course the way I scale the WODs tells a somewhat different tale, as I’m usually on the lighter side of the women’s Rx. And from time-to-time I’m reminded that I will need to “put on more lean muscle” if I want to improve my crossfit game.
I had read that Chris Spealler, an incredible crossfit athelete, has chosen to gain weight so he can compete better. I can understand that, given his desire to compete professionally. But I am still not convinced crossfit is a game of big vs. small. I’ve seen huge guys to 110 burpees in 7 minutes, and I’ve seen those same athletes being outperformed at lifting by much smaller athletes. It happens all the time.
In any case my job is to maximize what I have to work with, and improve it.
For me, crossfit is all about maximizing fitness. As for my capacity to enjoy life, that’s not correlated with size. Some things, after all, are about belief.
Cheers.
