Progression (Not Perfection)

Different people track their progress in different ways. Some people can get really obsessed with making short-term progress without thinking about the longer and more sustainable methods of development. Some people witness short-term change and become disinterested with progressing further. 

Ultimately, you have to find a way of tracking your progression that suits you and your lifestyle. Comparing your development to others never works. Some people will always be in front of you and some people will always be behind you. The best example I can think of to explain this is when I am training, I watch how some girls can clean 45kg so easily. Yet when I go to lift 45kg, it is the heaviest thing I've ever held. Yet those girls are twice the size of me and have been weightlifting for much longer, so of course they are going to lift heavier than me. It is hard sometimes to not get caught up in the amount of progress everyone else is making without realising how far you've come along. 

I started CrossFit training in February when the gym was becoming too repetitive and boring. I walked into the box that cold Saturday morning with what I thought was an average level of fitness and struggled to even lift an empty bar. I look back now and think about how far I've come. RX'ing WODs on a weekly basis and lifting near to 100% of my body weight seemed an impossibility back in February. Yet here I am practising my Olympic lifts every Monday. 

It is difficult sometimes to not get caught up on how much you can't do without realising all that you can do. Progress isn't achieved overnight. By making sure your goals are clear, relevant, and most of all achievable, it will become easier to stick with your training. Stick with it through the worst of days, as well as the best of days. 

Rome wasn't built in a day and neither were you! 

Below is my 45kg clean the other day. Not perfect (and far from it) but just happy to get that bar up off the floor and to complete the lift. My starting position was great, shoulders over the bar and a straight back. When lifting, I need to be generating more power by adding more of a jump and getting my elbows through nice and quick. What I have come to realise here, is that PBs are never the most beautiful of lifts, so just be happy with the PB and the technique will soon follow. 

http://www.barbraignatiev.com/2018/01/progress-not-perfection-quote/