Today's WOD

CrossFit East River – WOD

DAILY MINDSET
“Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.”

Although “knowledge” and “wisdom” are words often lumped into the same category, they are miles apart. The difference between the two: application.

Gaining knowledge, in and of itself, is relatively simple. But purely gaining knowledge doesn’t change who we are. We can place a turbocharged engine under the hood, but it’s not connected to the drivetrain, we won’t drive faster. We might even drive slower, clouding our efforts with “unusable weight”.

Wisdom on the other hand, takes effort. It takes trial, error, pain, blood, sweat, and tears. And it’s a lifelong practice.

Knowing is not half the battle. It’s not even a quarter. It’s the first 10%, if that. What we are after, is knowledge in action.

Weightlifting

1: Clean and Jerk (5 x 1, perfect technique, full squat + split/jerk )

Metcon

1: Metcon (Time)

“Blitzen”

5 Rounds:

20/15 Calorie Row

10 Thrusters (115/85)

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CrossFit East River – WOD

DAILY MINDSET
“Real fears can be overcome. It’s the imaginary ones that are unconquerable.” – Theodore Vale

Fear can be absolutely paralyzing. It can feel so real, that we would bet our lives on whatever it is, happening.

If there ever was a superpower that we have, it’s the tremendous ability to bring whatever we’re thinking into reality. And if you’re human, you can draw back to a time where we talked ourselves into failure… before we even began. We convinced ourselves it was impossible, but we didn’t even try.

The unconquerable fear, as Theodore Vale puts it, is the imaginary one. It’s human to question, doubt, and fear. But this thousand-year-old survival mechanism, which means well, is leading us down the path of hesitancy. Of inaction.

FEAR – False Evidence Appearing Real. The same mind that builds a paralyzing fear can break one down by shifting what we place our thoughts towards. Instead of dwelling on what could go wrong, dwell on why it will go right.

Metcon

1: Metcon (Time)

“Happy Hour”

3 Rounds:

12 Power Cleans (135/95)

12 Chest to Bar Pull-ups

12 Push Jerks (135/95)

12 Toes to Bar

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CrossFit East River – WOD

DAILY MINDSET
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I’ll remember. Involve me, and I’ll learn.” – Benjamin Franklin

The musician doesn’t learn by listening. The musician learns by playing. It’s how the mind, in its ever plastic state, adapts. It responds to application.

In Edgar Dale’s “Cone of Learning”, we learn:
10% of what we read.
20% of what we hear.
30% of what we see.
50% of what we hear and see.
70% of what we say and write.
90% of what we actually participate in.

Information without application, is knowledge.
Information with application, is wisdom.

Weightlifting

1: Hang Snatch (3 x 3, full squat, moderate weight )

Metcon

2: Metcon (Time)

“Castaway”

For Time:

100 Air Squats

50/35 Calorie Row

25 Hang Power Snatches (115/85)

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CrossFit East River – WOD

# DAILY MINDSET
**“Our patience will achieve more than our force.” – Edmund Burke**

We are emotional beings. And we can only be rational, after we’ve been emotional.

When we see someone who is composed under adversity, it’s not that they aren’t an emotional person. Those feelings are there. What’s different (compared to the explosive nature of a “hot head”) is the closing of a certain gap. That of between an emotional reaction, and the subsequent replacement of rational thought.

Abraham Lincoln exercised this understanding through his “hot letters”. When he became fuming mad at someone, he forced himself to complete a task before taking his wrath directly to the individual. He wrote a letter to the offender, outlining all the wrongs and misdoings that have been committed. He held nothing back. Then, he would fold it up, place the letter in an envelope, place it in his desk drawer, and… never send it.

Think through the last time we lost our temper on someone. Was it worth it? Emotions will cool. And we can proceed in a more reasonable fashion that we won’t regret. We just need to acknowledge that gap, and work ourselves there through patience.

Metcon

Wonderwall (Time)

For Time:

60 Double Unders,

30 Burpees

60 Double Unders

30 Wallballs (20/14)

60 Double Unders

30 Deadlifts (225/155)

60 Double Unders

30 Wallballs (20/14)

60 Double Unders

30 Burpees

Wonderwall (Time)

For Time:

60 Double Unders,

30 Burpees

60 Double Unders

30 Wallballs (20/14)

60 Double Unders

30 Deadlifts (225/155)

60 Double Unders

30 Wallballs (20/14)

60 Double Unders

30 Burpees

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CrossFit East River – WOD

DAILY MINDSET
“If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” – Martin Luther King Jr

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld had a daily practice, which was a promise to himself. To “never break the chain”.

Jerry promised himself that he would write a joke, every single day. The length, the topic, and even how funny it was came second to the fact – that it was completed. Some days the jokes were incredibly funny. Other days, hardly. Some jokes were long, some were barely a sentence. But he “never broke the chain”.

What Jerry was doing, was committing himself to make forward movement, every, single, day. Some days it was inch, and some days it was a mile. And this seemingly simple practice, to place tangible action into every day, resulted in one of the greatest comedians of his time.

As Martin Luther expresses, it’s not about the magnitude of the progress. All that matters, is that we’re moving forward.

Metcon

1: Metcon (AMRAP – Rounds and Reps)

“Powder Keg”

AMRAP 5:

600 Meter Run

1 Round of “Cindy”

Max Clean and Jerks (135/95)

Rest 5 Minutes

AMRAP 5:

400 Meter Run

2 Rounds of “Cindy”

Max Clean and Jerks (155/105)

Rest 5 Minutes

AMRAP 5:

200 Meter Run

3 Rounds of “Cindy”

Max Clean and Jerks (185/135)

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CrossFit East River – WOD

DAILY MINDSET
“You’re not your job. You’re not how much money you have in the bank. You’re not the car you drive. You’re not the contents of your wallet. You’re not your (expletive) khakis.” – “Fight Club” (Movie)

The football player wears shoulder pads and a helmet. The chef puts on an apron. The accountant brings a suitcase everywhere she goes. These are materialistic identifiables, but it tells us nothing about who they really are.

If we were to strip ourselves of all materials, who are we? If we were to take away our job, our possessions… how would one describe us?

Let character be what defines us. Let it be our loudest statement.

Skill

1: Handstand Walk (Skill Work )

Metcon

2: Diane (Time)

21-15-9
Deadlifts, 225# / 155#
Handstand Push-ups

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CrossFit East River – WOD

DAILY MINDSET
“When I write, I feel like an armless, legless man with a crayon in his mouth.” – Kurt Vonnegut

It can be easy to forget that even the greats are full of awkwardness and clumsiness. Yet the man quoted above is known to have changed the face of American literature.

But despite Vonnegut’s success, he didn’t start that way. It was full of fumbles, false starts, and embarrassing mistakes. Yet where others in his shoes stopped, he chose to keep going. Forcing himself to move forward. He kept taking one more step, even when the process did not seem rewarding.

Awkward and clumsy are not just OK… they’re part of the way.

Weightlifting

Front Squat

Metcon

2: Metcon (AMRAP – Rounds and Reps)

“Geico”

AMRAP 15:

60 Double Unders

30/21 Calorie Assault Bike

15 Front Squats (155/105)

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CrossFit East River – WOD

DAILY MINDSET
“For most of us, the problem is not a lack of goals. But rather too many of them.” – Roy F. Baumeister

Goal setting can be exciting. We all love doing it… thinking about the future. To plan, visualize, and dream. It’s arguably a major strength of ours, as there rarely ever is a shortage we can list off.

The quote brings to light that this strength is however a double-edged sword. For we can create so many goals that we actually dilute our focus. And dilute our time and effort. It’s not that some aren’t important to us, but… if everything is important, then nothing is important.

Less can be more. In the words of Confucius, “Person who chases two rabbits, catches neither”.

Metcon

1: Metcon (AMRAP – Rounds and Reps)

“Lead Foot”

AMRAP 4:

27/21 Calorie Row

27 Burpees

27 Chest to Bar Pull-ups

Rest 4 Minutes

AMRAP 4:

21/15 Calorie Row

21 Burpees

21 Toes to Bar

Rest 4 Minutes

AMRAP 4:

15/9 Calorie Row

15 Burpees

15 Pull-ups

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CrossFit East River – WOD

DAILY MINDSET
“I’ve always wondered why birds stay in the same place, when they could fly anywhere in the world. And then I ask myself the same question.” – Harun Yahya

We are like the bird. We can fly anywhere in the world. But… we hold ourselves back.

I don’t have the time. I’m not educated enough. I’m too old. I’m too young. I’m not a natural with this. I can’t afford it. I’m afraid of what might go wrong.

Every single one of the above can be legitimately true. But even with that being the case, we still want to see what they are at their core. A list of self-induced doubts and fears.

What Harun Yahya expresses is a powerful perspective we can take into our day: we sometimes can forget that we have wings.

Weightlifting

1: Snatch (From floor, light perfect singles)

Metcon

2: Metcon (AMRAP – Rounds and Reps)

“Power Move”

AMRAP 10:

6 Power Snatches (95/65)

9 Overhead Squats (95/65)

12 Box Jumps (24/20)

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CrossFit East River – WOD

DAILY MINDSET
“I define anxiety as experiencing failure in advance.” – Seth Godin

It’s not abnormal to feel the nerves before something big. We have a several thousand year-old survival mechanism that wants to protect us. A bit outdated maybe, but it’s still alive and well.

This made sense when being chased by predators, or at risk of running out of food. Yet, our day to day actions are different now. Not only do we not need to prepare for catastrophic failure… we should resist it.

What we think, we will become. And if we dwell on the thought on failing, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. We start to focus in, on a subconscious level, on the reasons we will fail. Of course, we’re not in an imaginary world here… we will fail… but it’s the paradigm shift we’re after. Think less about all the reasons we’ll fail, and more, about all the reasons we will succeed.

Metcon

1: Metcon (AMRAP – Rounds and Reps)

“Hot & Heavy”

Teams of 3, AMRAP 30:

60 Calorie Row

50 Pull-ups

40 Power Cleans

30 Thrusters

Round 1: 95/65

Round 2: 115/85

Round 3: 135/95

Round 4: 155/105

Round 5: 175/115

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