I'm in the CrossFit Journal

I'm super-excited... my article "CrossFit Lessons Outside the Box" was published in the CrossFit Journal yesterday. It's all about how CrossFit has helped me muddle through my life implosion this summer. Parts of it are kinda sad, but there are some funny parts, too. Hope you like it!

You need to be a CrossFit Journal subscriber to read the whole article, but you can get a sneak peak here. I 100% recommend subscribing to the CFJ. It's packed with videos, audio, and written articles that demystify CrossFit, provide inspiration, and introduce tons of interesting, motivating, wonderful people.

Here's an excerpt from my article:

I recently endured a personal crisis that brought me down like a 20-lb. medicine ball slammed into my solar plexus. For a while, my days felt like this:

All-day AMRAP of:
Feel despair
Cry intermittently
Embrace anger
Smash something

While med-ball slams performed with a stereo as stand-in for the ball were wildly satisfying in the moment, they didn't provide lasting relief. I needed a more productive solution.

One of the many valuable lessons I’ve learned through CrossFit is that the stories I tell myself during a workout affect not only the success of that particular workout but also how I feel about myself after the last barbell has dropped to the floor. Throughout grueling workouts, I’ve picked up valuable tips for how to endure, even when I think I can’t possibly muscle through another rep.

After this recent, nasty one-two punch from the universe knocked me on my keister, I realized that if I used the same tricks in life that I learned in the gym, I just might sucker-punch the universe right back.

Here are a few of my favorite personal mind games that help me power through my workouts, along with the explanation of how I extend them outside the gym to call “time” on personal challenges, too.