As fun as doing things without weights and finding creative solutions to doing my WOD’s, what I want to tell you, has nothing to do with the exercise I did itself.

Actually, on wednesday I went to the “Greifensee” a beautiful lake near Zürich. I found myself amazed by the amazing environment. It was sunny, green, breezy and incredibly nice. I happened to find not only a huge amount of people exercising outdoors, but also small groups of people doing what I would definitely recognize as Crossfit moves. I was wearing business attire and had no possibility to engage with them, but the feeling inside me was of strong and striking ENVY. I saw them exercise and I could not hold myself from wanting to be one of them. The I saw the bikers, you cannot imagine how many, and the skaters, and the runners… All types of people from all ages, all of them just moving and enjoying the sun.

Thats when I came with what is really the reason for this post. There’s a feeling, there’s this incredible motivational attraction force that pulls you whenever you are looking other human beings do sport. This force is actually stronger the better the weather, but  it also is stronger the stronger the motivation of the group. Yes, that’s what moves us, and this is what makes Crossfit incredibly succesful. Whenever you go to your box or outdoors to do some crossfit or any other sport, you will get better motivation if there are other motivated people doing the same.

This is what I call the contagion effect. It happens whenever you watch people doing sports, it happens watching the olympics, it happens watching a good match of any sport and it happens watching a crossfit group Kick-ass.

So, being as I always am, looking for more efficient ways to do things I understood clearly what has already become to be one of my greatest motivators: Video. Yes, video. I get my crossfit contagion effect even before I hit the road, before I arrive at my box and before I actually engage the activity or other people. Many would say that it suffices to merely visualize what you’re about to do, but being as easy as it is, having a youtube video scheduled so that you need to watch it will actually make you engage. It will pull you and bring you “into the force”. There are many other things that work such as listening to music or going out to see the sun and people, but the video preamble is a perfect friend to just start your way and get the Crossfit Contagion Effect.

Take a look at the videos at Boxrox, take a look at any other videos you may find out there and I guarantee you, you’ll be getting into the crossfit habit and you’ll get struck by the Crossfit Contagion Effect.

So how do you get back on track from a bad rep?

No more bad reps!

Positive self-talk.

Self-talk is a conversation you have with yourself, in your own head which is not spoken aloud. We do it all the time, although you might not be aware of it. For instance we remind ourselves of things we have to do; “Oh, I must get petrol on the way home”, “I’ll telephone mum when I get to work” etc. This self-talk can often be very negative and we can actually talk ourselves down. You would be surprised at the amount of negative phrases we say!  For example, after a bad rep we might say “oh no … I am so tired … I can’t keep going”, “I’ve still got 15 reps to go, I‘ll never make it” or “Everyone is doing so much better than me”.

A technique to bring attention to how much we do this is by using “The Paper Clip Technique”. Take a handful of paper clips and put them in your left pocket and every time you have a negative thought, put one paper clip into your right pocket.  Note how many you have moved!

Self-talk can be useful to us if we make sure it is positive.  It can help focus your mind and put you in a better mind-set, which will stop you from getting frustrated and will boost your confidence.

To use positive self-talk you need to come up with phrases that capture the spirit of the mood you want to get into.

These phrases can be motivational – “I’m a machine!” “I’m going to get the end of these burpee’s before everyone!”, “I’m as strong as an ox!”, “Let’s crush these reps!”, “I’m on your tail Froning!”

Phrases can be mood-specific:

To reduce tension – “Stay cool as a cucumber”, “Nice big breaths, it’s just me and the bar”, “Stay calm and focussed”.

To focus aggression – “Let’s show this bar who is boss”, “Bring it on, let’s do it”, “I’m going to beast this”

Increase energy levels – “I am going to power through this!” “Come on now, let’s go!”, “Move it, move it!”

Feel free to use any of these suggestions but positive self-talk works best when you use a phrase that is meaningful to you!  Next time you hear yourself saying negative phrases mid-workout, replace them with positive self-talk and get your workout back on track!

05. Will all that hardwork pay off? Two workouts from the 2013 Open test Hayley and she has to take it to the end to see if she makes it to the 2013 regionals.

see part 01 here ,  part 02 here , part 3 here and part 4 here

04. Preparation for regionals with a trip to Divided We Fall for Reebok CrossFit Spectrums’ first comp after being open for only 4 months. [And Paddle Boarding was NOT in the competition]

see part 01 here ,  part 02 here and part 3 here

03. Preparation for regionals following Tino Marini’s programming and also a strange workout ready for Divided We Fall.

see part 01 here and part 02 here

02. Against the express insturctions of her sports therapist and physio, Hayley takes on a strongman competition in Manchester.

see part 01 here

BOXROX Interview with up and coming CrossFit athlete [and Coach] Phil Hesketh from BOXROX media on Vimeo.

01. After opening her new box Reebok CrossFit Spectrum a few friends and co-athletes came for a couple of days of training…CrossFit style.