Mind Over Matter?

On the main CrossFit Lombardy blog, it was mentioned that the person who goes last, always gets the best score. While this isnt always true, about 4 times out of 5 around here, the last person to go usually gets marginally better scores. Why is this? It can't always be that the person to go last just happens to be the better man that day, physically speaking. There's currently three of us doing WOD's on a regular basis here, and we each have our strengths and weaknesses. But the recent trend that "the person who goes last wins" show that the bottleneck in our performance often is not physical, but mental. When you go last, you see the suffering on your teammate's faces. But you tell yourself the whole time, that you can go faster. It doesn't necessarily matter who is a little stronger or who can run a little faster. When it's your turn to go, you know the time to beat. You tell yourself you wont rest as long, or at all. You know the pace you have to keep and you are determined to keep it. Driven by the will to compete and win, you make sure that you do.

But what is this really saying about any of us? It shows that in some cases, we lack mental strength moreso than physical strength. We all have the ability to make a superhuman effort every time. I'm sure everyone has finished a workout, and realized that they truly gave it their all, that they went without stopping, without thinking even. Yet each time, and it has been only a few times, that I have finished a workout and realized I gave it my all, I also knew that I had not done anything "special". The stars had not aligned giving me the power to push ahead. I gave myself the power, and it was not something I couldn't have done every other workout of my life.

Give it your all next time. I'll try to do the same.