S05E143 - Should You Repeat that CrossFit Open Workout?
Have you ever been tempted to redo a workout, convinced you could smash your previous score? Coaches David Syvertsen @davesy85 and Sam Rhee @bergencosmetic break down some factors in helping you make that decision. We're not just talking about the physical impacts—though those are serious too—but also the mental and emotional toll that comes with trying to hit that restart button. Whether you're dealing with a snapped jump rope or the sting of being outperformed, we've got the lowdown on when a do-over is actually worth it, and when it's best to chalk it up to experience.
We break down the aftermath of workouts, the imperative of staying mentally engaged, and why sometimes your biggest competitor is the one staring back at you in the mirror.
But what about when the dust settles, and the leaderboard is staring you in the face? We wrap up the conversation examining how our response to workouts can mirror our approach to life's obstacles.
From setting personal benchmarks to managing the emotional whirlwind of competition, we share stories from the trenches and the profound lessons learned. Join us as we reveal how embracing your performance and focusing on long-term growth can be the ultimate win, both in the gym and beyond. So, if you're looking for courage to face those high-stakes moments head-on, this is the episode that might just change your game.
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S05E143 - Should You Repeat that CrossFit Open Workout?
TRANSCRIPT
David Syvertsen
Host
00:05
Hey everybody, welcome to the Herdfit Podcast with Dr Sam Rhee and myself, Coach David Syvertsen. His podcast is aimed at helping anyone and everyone looking to enhance their healthy lifestyle through fitness, nutrition and, most importantly, mindset. Alright, welcome back to the Herdfit Podcast. I'm Coach David Syvertsen. I'm here with my co-host, Dr and Coach Sam Rhee, and we just got done with 24.2 at CrossFit Bison on Sunday morning. Sam just got it done, in case you hear some heavy breathing into the microphone. His heart rate is still high across the workout and maybe we can get into the workout a little bit because we are.
00:43
The theme of today's episode is centering around open workouts and one of the most popular common messaging that comes my way during the open is should I repeat? What do you think about me repeating this? I've had this thought about in my head several times. What should I do if I'm going to repeat it? You know strategy wise. How do I beat my old score? Yeah, Dave, aren't you going to repeat this one? Nope, Nope. We're coming off the first ever where my younger brother beat me in an open workout, and by literally one rep, which, in this workout, was seven meters on the row. I should have cheated and just pulled it one more time, Anyway.
01:25
But yeah, the concept of repeating workouts we're going to go into what that means why do people do it, Some of the pros and cons and just give them some outside perspective that I think everyone needs to hear at some point, because I do get asked a lot and I do struggle with having a really good answer for everyone. But I am not for or against repeats and I think it's foolish for anyone to be overly for or overly against it. This is one of those like stay in your lane type situations. But we definitely, as coaches I think we have opinions on it and we've seen and done repeats ourselves. Right, You've repeated it before.
02:04
I have, and we've seen people and I've actually repeated workouts and not gotten better. I've repeated workouts and gotten better. There's a lot of reasons why you would want to do them. But I want to kind of dive into some of the dangers and some of the benefits of doing this, because it's going to be something. If you're in this for the long haul, you're going to have this temptation or thought at some point. Opening thoughts, Sam, on just the concept of repeating workouts, whether it's yourself, your wife, you're one of your kids as a coach, whatever.
Sam Rhee
Co-host
02:34
As you said, I try to stay in my lane in terms of giving advice about this, but my personal thought is there are very few reasons why I would think someone should repeat a workout, and there are about 50 reasons why people shouldn't repeat a workout.
David Syvertsen
Host
02:53
I agree with that. I think the reasoning behind taking your score, as is no matter what the volume of reasons why that should be the case, far outweigh the volume of reasons why you should redo. And the first thing I have in my outline is why do we repeat workouts? And I came up with five things and, whether you agree with them or not, I think these are the five reasons why. Number one is you think you have more to give in a workout. You got a score on a Friday. You're watching other people do it and it's like you know what I have more in me. I know I have more in me, and that might be the truth, and I would even say in most cases that is the truth. You probably could have done better. So that's an overly objective, clear thought in someone's head.
03:40
Number two something went wrong in your first attempt. Here are a couple of examples. This week Someone did a really bad job counting double unders. Someone miscounted your rounds, which sucks. Your jump rope broke. Your calf cramped up, the clock turned off mid-workout. Someone's dog came to the gym and hit your jump rope mid-set. I saw that on Instagram this past weekend. Those are things that just really actually had an impact in your score and today's, in this week's workout, as if.
04:13
What would you do if your rower turned off Mid-workout? Yeah, you know, you get your hips in and we get you a new rower. You get set up. You get your damper set up. You get your feet set up. You lost a minute. That would be a really good example of like you should just do it again, because you'll probably. That's not really a true representation of your fitness. That score you did not meet the expectations. That's another reason why you had a goal for yourself. You did not get it. You could have been wrong about what your intended goal is and what you thought your fitness level was, but that's another reason why people repeat Someone else beat you. That's a reason why people repeat, whether they admit it or not. And then the last one I have written down is you're trying to qualify for something. So do any of those reasons jump out at you that are totally like yo go, yeah, go, do it again and do any? More importantly, do any stand out that you should not be repeating? For that reason?
Sam Rhee
Co-host
05:06
The things that are not in my control. If they happen, right, yes, I would consider it. Rower, breaks Someone totally miscount for you Any of those things where it wasn't a true representation of what you had. Not that you didn't do it, it's that something happened to you, right, that's totally fine. I think if you want to feel like this is not my true representation because something else, an external factor, happened to you, by all means, if you have the physical capability, go for it. I think that's reasonable. The other reasons someone beat me. I hate that as a reason.
05:48
I find that to be more of a selfish reason, especially if you gave it your all. Yeah, okay. And you should be even if it's your little brother, I feel like that is why you were the bigger person this week and you did not repeat it, and you're going to give Aaron the glory this week.
06:10
And I think that is very admirable and I think that that was the right thing to do If you weren't feeling like you had an injury or something. It's tough because are you really going to rehab that within two days and redo it, or in 24 hours? I don't think so. Did you give all that you had physically at that time? No, I mean, listen, it is what it is. We all have nicks, we're nicked up, we're banged up, we have soreness, but you did what you could, trying to qualify as one of those plus minuses.
06:45
If you are a highly competitive athlete, let's face it. If this was the semis, can you repeat it on the semis? No, for an age group. Were you able to repeat? You did. I did repeat one. Yeah, so when the state, it depends on how high the stakes are for the athlete. If you're a Monday through Friday gym goer, well, maybe you want to, maybe you want to push it a little bit, that's fine. I think that that's why they lowered quarterfinals to 25%, because they want people to try to qualify If you're right on the bubble plus minus on that one.
David Syvertsen
Host
07:24
Yeah, I mean, we've seen people not qualify in this gym for the next stage and missed it by a few reps in a workout. This is where the most common question that comes my way on a Friday, saturday about repeating a workout is hey, I'm kind of on the bubble of qualifying. I really want to do it again to give myself some more breathing room in case I get buried in next week's workout. My advice is like sure, if that is really truly the intention, then go for it. Then some people they have a hard time understanding the numbers and the math of where you currently stand and how well you need to do in next week's workout to confirm that you're going to qualify. I remember when I was with Coliseum and we were trying to qualify for regionals and that was like it was really cutthroat for two reasons. It's a very competitive region. If we had a bad workout as a team, we might not qualify B. You're actually trying to beat guys on your team to try and be the guy that gets to go.
08:27
I remember there was the workout that had like 500 double unders and I did it three times in four days. I remember the workout that had 90 deadlifts, half of which at 225, half of which at 315, with the handstand walks, handstand push-ups. I did that one three times in three days. I remember repeating a workout with the holes in my hands because they were ripped so bad. And you're just trying to do it. Looking back on it, I would say that I would do it again if I was on the brink of qualifying for something like that, but I'm accepting a ton of risk by doing that. I want to get into some of the dangers of repeating workouts because right now, sam and I are going to try really hard not to be on this moral high ground. You should not repeat this. If you're trying to beat someone, I will get into it and some of the dangers of that.
09:18
I actually want to give you some actual, tangible dangers of repeating the workout. The first one is injury. Repetitive movement patterns is a big part of programming from a macro perspective, whether it's a week, a month, a year, a quarter, which is kind of like the way we run it here, especially a movement like this Like I had zero intention of doing this again. But even if I was like not taking the high road and like no, I can not letting my brother beat me, I don't know if I could do a thousand double unders in a matter of 36 hours and not have something bad happen to, like my killies or my needs. All the pounding and think about there's a lot of people in this gym that really get beat up from hinging and deadlifting. This is tired deadlifting after rowing. So for you to do those patterns twice in three days, that is going to start to open the door to what we call overtraining. Overtraining injuries are the most common injuries in CrossFit, agreed.
Sam Rhee
Co-host
10:18
I think look at and this is intentional on CrossFit's part this was multiple hinge and then a lot of jumping, and that you're absolutely right. If I had to repeat this right now, I would blow something out. Yeah, I blow out a calf, I blow out my ankles, something, and I don't think that these workouts are really designed to do that. I know a lot of people did not love 24.1, 24.2 in a row because there was a lot of low back, like the burpees, the snatches on. I have a thought on that, but yeah, and so I don't think they're really encouraging you to say you know what? Do each workout multiple times, right, like, if you've CrossFit, if you've CrossFit it long enough, you know what kind of injuries you're prone to, and there are very few people in the gym that I know that could do this workout back to back in two days and feel unscathed by it.
David Syvertsen
Host
11:15
The intensity switch. Right, we talk about our CNS, we don't have to get too scientific. But if you go on max effort, like a real, true open effort, on Friday, and then you're doing it again 36 hours later, right. Then you're coming back to the gym the next day and doing the Monday bison wad, which this week is going to be really tough, right. That is when you start to get like the too much fatigue, not enough recovery, right. Where you know, if you're doing the workout on a Friday, friday night, and then you have your typical weekend with drinks and maybe some you know a little bit extra fun, maybe some bad eating, right. And then you're coming in and doing another high intensity effort. That's what we call burning the candle from both ends. And again, eventually it might not happen this week, but eventually that's going to put you in a really bad position. And what I mean by intensity switch is also that I learned this a long time ago, right, that if you go into an open workout on a Friday with the idea that, like I might do it again on Sunday, I guarantee you did not give it your all on Friday. So I want you to imagine this If we said, the first shot you get is the only shot you get.
12:21
Period. Hey guys, we're no longer allowing repeats. We have too many people, the gym is too busy. You get one shot at this. Would you try harder in that first attempt? And if the answer is yes, you're screwing up.
Sam Rhee
Co-host
12:33
I think the thing that you talk about in terms of fatigue, it's adrenaline. Like you know, athletes become adrenaline depleted after a while and you can't go max adrenaline week after week after week, multiple days, after multiple days, after multiple days. We have seen athletes like Sarah Sigmund's daughter talk about their CNS system was just shot Like you just can't do that on a regular basis. The other thing is is you're right, even if you're like consciously saying to yourself you know what, I'm gonna pretend that Friday is going to be my max effort day. Don't you think? Subconsciously you have a little bit of that like you know what, but if I really don't do well here, I still have Sunday as a backup. That's why, intentionally this year I've gone Sundays, because smart I don't want, even I know unconsciously I will be like you know what. I have a little bit of safety net if I crap the bed. On this one I was like no flyer die, whatever I get is whatever I get. And that feels you know what, to me. It reminds me more of a comp setting to me and I enjoy that like. Not so much now, but I do enjoy.
13:43
I think I perform better in these workouts if it feels almost like a comp. Like you gotta do it, you gotta perform. There are a bunch of people there, cause we always have tons of people around 70 people here. Like you know. Like you know, it's a test for me, like can I perform under pressure once and some listen, I have done it where I haven't and there's some days that I have. And after 10 years I don't do it that often, but I'm gonna use this as my comp setting performance test, and I've done it long enough that I'm like you know what, if I really didn't do well on the double unders, so be it. That's what my lesson is for next year. I've been there. So I think, even if you say consciously I'm not going to treat this as a set, like you know, a backup, I have a backup. Unconsciously you still have that in the back of your mind. Yeah, absolutely.
David Syvertsen
Host
14:36
I'm gonna tie these last two together impact to future training and not improving a score. So I'm still talking about the dangers of repeating a workout. So I've done this before. It was one of the worst feelings ever and it was one of my least favorite open workouts ever. It was the 10 rounds of nine thrusters at 95 pounds and 35 double unders and, like you know, your ninjas are doing this like six, seven minutes.
15:00
I really struggle with a workout like that and, if I remember correctly, I think Adam Ramsey judged me the first time and I got like 10, oh four and I was like I really want it to break 10, you know, four seconds, as if it mattered. It didn't. And so I came back two days later and did it and I get done with the workout and in my head I don't know why I was like yes, I beat it. I'm laying on the ground, I'm feeling fulfilled, I'm like I beat it right. Ramsey looks at me and goes, no, you were 10, oh eight. Like I was like four seconds slower and I remember just being. I felt like such a jackass, like that. I put so much. I was like stressing me out over the weekend and coming up with a split. I thought I was moving well and I was like I did all of that and like me doing that many thrusters in 36 hours, like I couldn't train for the week, and coming up Like I was in shambles.
15:55
And I see this a lot where you come in you don't get better or you have to stop halfway through.
16:00
But he's like all right, I'm just and that happens every week, you know, and it's smart, in my opinion, to just like all right, bow out, especially if there's like an injury or you're trying to prevent injury. But the negative is it's going to impact the next few days of training and you have to like accept that prior to and say like all right, am I okay with pretty much not working out the way. I would have Monday, Tuesday, wednesday and then the open's coming up again. So I'm just, I can't go hard Thursday. So you're really going to have all that gap. And this is why, especially when the open used to be five weeks and people would repeat a lot I would see it all the time People would like lose fitness during the open because they just everything's centered around, like this one workout for four or five days and then they skip that day, skip that day, and you do that for over a month. Yeah, you start to lose some of your fitness.
Sam Rhee
Co-host
16:46
I've gotten less. I always get less fit during the open. It's the intensity is too high for the workout itself. I'm running real close to red line. For all these movements.
16:57
My back isn't going to feel good for days after today. Like I know that and that's okay, but to repeat it it would take a tremendous amount of incentive for me to do that. Like there's very little that would allow me to do that. Even tomorrow. I'm like all right, I got a move, I'm going to come in, but I'm going to scale the crap that I spent out of everything, just so that I can sort of recover and get ready for the following week. So you know, listen, it really depends on what you're going after.
17:28
Like I knew I saw people today repeating it. I saw some people who stopped halfway in. I saw some people actually do better and I saw some people who did not improve and I think the people it depends on what the stakes are. There's some people who just enjoyed the workout, yeah, and they just said you know what? I want to just do it again and I'm not going to try to kill it, I'm just going to move and that's totally fine. But it really depends on what the stakes are here. I take it very seriously. I use this as my test of fitness for the year of smart and I'm going to push and optimize and do what I can. But I also realized that in many ways it's counterproductive because it, like we always talk about it, it leans on the competitive side of fitness, not the, you know, the sports side, not the overall health fitness yeah, and we talk about that throughout the year a lot here.
David Syvertsen
Host
18:16
It's like what are you here for? Yeah, no like if you're gonna tell me all year that you're just here for fun and health and fitness, like stop repeating the workout, Because this is not true. It's just not right.
18:26
You know like and you have to be, and we talk. This is one of my favorite episodes we did. It was back in like at the start of the Herdfit podcast. I don't have the episode, but it's gotta be one of our first 10. It's you need to know what you're here for and it can change. It's allowed to change. It might change this year. It might change on what your lifestyle is and what's going on and what you wanna do in the future. But if you can't answer that question or it just changes every single day based on what kind of mood you're in, it's gonna set you up in a really stressful, awkward spot where, if you're just really confident and know why you're here, these decisions are pretty easy.
19:02
I wanna talk about some of the benefits of repeating Okay, because I don't want us to sound like we're looking down on it and because I do. And when I made that post last week about should you repeat an open workout, yeah, I had a couple of people like I feel like you're talking to me, you're telling me not to do it. I'm like, I'm not, I'm not. The first thing I wrote in that post is I am not for or against. It's your decision. As long as the gym allows it. It's your decision, your body. But I just want you to think about things other than your score, and one of the benefits I'm gonna use Nick Squire as an example here is learning how to strategize and having a thoughtful approach to workouts. Numbers are hard for some pacing this and that, how long does it double on this? How long does your pace at 155 take the row as opposed to 215 and all that? You don't need to get better at math. It'll have to. You can look online or ask a coach, but I do like the idea of redoing a workout and trying a different plan than your previous. So Nick Squire was rowing, I think he said between 150 and 155. And Nick is the second best rower in the gym and Nick is a really powerful rower. Like, if he wanted to row the whole workout at 140, he could. He's one of the best rowers we got and he would. But that would ruin. And I think what he said is I'm gonna come in, I'm gonna row a 205, which for him is walking and I'm gonna see if I get a better score. And he did. He crushed his score. He probably had another 45 seconds to work with which in this workout helped him out a lot, and that, to me, is like those lessons.
20:34
This is where I learned about pacing was repeating workouts. Hey, I have a score. This is the time domain. These are how many reps I average per minute. This is where I was at. This is where this round lasted. This is where I was at this point in the workout. I'm going to learn how to beat that number, and the answer is almost always slow down at the start of your workout. Go slower, you'll end faster. And because the stakes are high and you care about your score or you're trying to qualify for something, you will think for an hour about how to strategize your way there where you don't do that much of that during the year. I know some people do and I actually see their fitness getting better, but what are your thoughts on someone repeating for that reason alone? Like I think there's value in getting a score Friday, coming back and finding a way to beat it Sunday For future fitness.
Sam Rhee
Co-host
21:24
I've seen that. I was thinking about CJ in one of the first wall walk workouts we had, where he went out so hot, and then I was judging him on Sunday because he really was so disappointed with his score he knew he could do better. He went out so hot and we worked out a plan and he looked at me afterwards and it was like Sam, I went slower and I got like so much better. On that it's usually the answer and so ideally, if you can figure out your plan before you do it on Friday, that'd be better. But that's a really short turnaround from the Thursday to Friday and we have people come in 5 am 6 am On Friday. I don't have a lot of time to strategize.
22:05
Yes, and we still have people after six or seven years of CrossFit just go out hot for every workout. And if that's the case, absolutely If you felt like you left a lot on the table because you went hot and you didn't have a plan, especially on I mean, come on 20 minutes it almost defies reason to go 205 for Nick right, like that's like the nuttiest thing. You almost can't, like you almost are. Like it's impossible to run, like maybe if I row with one arm, nick could get 205. So I understand that, like it almost defies logic. But that's what CrossFit is about. It's about figuring out how to pace.
David Syvertsen
Host
22:46
And I think it's fun to do, Like I genuinely think it's fun to do, and if you come out on the other side like Nick just did, yeah, a better score. That should impact the rest of his life whenever he sees an AMRAP 20, today's workout should impact that.
Sam Rhee
Co-host
23:01
That jazzes me up as a coach. I would say that's a great reason.
David Syvertsen
Host
23:05
So, yeah, just like the thoughtful approach, trying different routes to the same score or a better score, learning about yourself, what can you do, what you cannot do, and, honestly, improvement. Crossfit 101 is trying to push your threshold and instead of saying I went out hot or this was my pace on my first five rounds, it is did you do more work in the same amount of time? You know is the CrossFit equation 101? The power equation is how much is four times distance over time right? How many times am I getting? How much work am I getting done in X amount of time? And if I can come back and do more work in that same amount of time, I am now fitter, I am getting myself into a higher level of fitness, and that's what CrossFit is, that's what makes it a special and unique program.
Sam Rhee
Co-host
23:51
This is where your analysis over the years of talking to you and podcasting with you about the reps per minute scheme Like I'm almost automatically now starting to kind of break it down just from osmosizing it from you, just like, yeah, this is about a 15 reps per minute for me. This is hard, it's gonna be more like 12, sticking to a plan, knowing that if I can get through the first four minutes, like here, then I can go through the next four this way. Like this is where, like you said, learning about yourself, learning what your capabilities are, if you feel like that is of benefit for you on the repeat, that's great.
David Syvertsen
Host
24:28
And just do this throughout the year, guys. You don't have to do it every time you come into the gym, but every now and then, and the math can be easier on some workouts than others, right, but like for you to get better at a workout like this next year, two years, three years from now, I do think, if every now and then throughout the year, by the spring, summer, fall, just kind of playing around with this idea of rest per minute. One thing I personally still struggle with is I can figure out my rest per minute, what I should do all day, but my resting time between transitions, right. Like that is where I feel like I didn't hit my goal in this workout and like that is where I really, I think, fell back a little bit. So I do want to do this workout again down the road, not part of the open and with like a different approach, and just see if this plan helps me erase those 15 second breaks at the road.
Sam Rhee
Co-host
25:13
I am shocked really. You took a long time on transitions. You felt like on this one For the jump rope.
David Syvertsen
Host
25:18
Really, I got there a few times, I videoed it and I just like I would stand there for a sec, pick it up, wait 10 seconds, like again, this happens all the time. You think you're resting for five seconds. It was 15. Multiply that by seven, eight rounds and it's a minute of work Interesting. So it's just something to think about. So some opinions on when you should and should not. So we just gave you some dangers, we just gave you some benefits, and that's why this is a really interesting topic and conversation, because there is a good amount of pull in both directions. And this is opinion. And, sam, you tell me I'll just go one by one. You tell me if you agree or disagree. Yeah, I think it's totally good, positive, acceptable to repeat a workout when you're trying to qualify for something.
Sam Rhee
Co-host
26:04
Yes, with a caveat. Like you said, you might be accepting risk, but that's what you do when you flip to the competitive side of CrossFit, exactly the closer you get to sport, the further away you get from health.
David Syvertsen
Host
26:19
Trying to one up someone else in the gym. I think that's a negative, because this happens every year, and I promise that we get this question every single time. We talk like this who are you talking about? I'm not thinking about anyone in the gym right now. I want to say this, though if you do a workout and then someone comes in and beats your score and then you come back to beat their score, to me that's not a win. It's a very cheap win. You might have the higher score on the leaderboard, but to me, your score is your first score. That is your score. So again, if you're not caring about competing against other people in the gym and saving face and ranking this, then go beat someone else's score. But if you say, hey, is that person better than that person? What was their first score? What was their first score?
Sam Rhee
Co-host
27:14
That's the answer right there. I think it has to come down to the reason why. If it's ego, if it's self-esteem, if it's self-worth my self-esteem is wrapped up in my score. If I get a good score, I must be a good person. I must be well respected by people. People are going to think I'm an awesome person. That's a really bad reason to do it. I don't think it's unhealthy to have people that you compete with. I look at the whiteboard all the time and I'm like what did Scott get? What did this guy get? I'm like oh wow, they crushed me. That might, or I beat them, but that doesn't define who I am. It doesn't make me a better person, it simply just means you did a good job on that workout.
28:05
That's it. That's all it means. That's where it ends. I'm really happy. If someone really kills it on a particular workout, I'm like there's no way I could touch that. That's really impressive. They got stronger over the past three months like a lot stronger.
David Syvertsen
Host
28:19
I would say this it's easy to have that mindset when it's someone you like and respect and your friends with. There are people in this gym. There are people outside of this gym that don't like each other. They want to beat that person for the sole fact that they don't like the person. That's where the immaturity can creep into the situation.
28:38
Agreed, something went wrong, mental or physical. The physical is easy. I'll return to off jump rope broke. My grips broke mid-workout. Been there, that sucks. Or mental I wasn't in it today. I hear that sometimes I had a really stressful week, sometimes, especially the morning. People they come in, my kids slept like shit last night. I'm just not there right now. I feel like I just couldn't focus or I gave up when I shouldn't have. I'm really disappointed in myself for not pushing where I should have. I succumb to the negativity in my head. My opinion I think that would be a good reason to try and repeat the workout. The physical one is pretty obvious row or breaking all that kind of stuff but the mental one, what do you think about that?
Sam Rhee
Co-host
29:27
It depends I just someone today repeated it because they were like I don't know why I went singles on my deadlifts at the end. I don't know why I did that. I think I'll repeat it. I was like I think you did six singles because you were kind of beat up at the end.
David Syvertsen
Host
29:47
It wasn't that you just like it's so easy to watch someone be like I shouldn't have rested there.
Sam Rhee
Co-host
29:52
I think you were really tired. I think most of us after a workout always have that post-workout remorse like, oh, I could have gone bad, like harder. You know what. You were really taxed. You probably might not have been able to go harder, but in retrospect, sure you might have. But you know what you do. It again you might get to that same situation. I'm not really sure about that. It really depends on the specific situation. If your kid really wrecked you, if you're not feeling awesome for some really big reason and you feel like you can recover and do better, Okay. But I would say if it's because you didn't think you tried hard enough for a workout.
David Syvertsen
Host
30:34
I'm not really loving that. So to me, if you didn't try hard enough or weren't there mentally, I think it's a fail. I think it's no different than you failing a rep, because the mental part of this and the emotional and the ability to balance your emotions we call it emotional intelligence. You don't have to be happy and have everything in your life lined up every single time you come to do an open workout. That's not realistic. It never will be that way every time you come in. So there's this thing called emotional intelligence. Can you take negative emotions that are going on in your life and be able to block them out while you come in and do your work at the gym? Because if you can't, that is the same thing same church, different pew as you, just not having double unders.
31:19
You just are not capable of doing this yet and that's something you need to work on as we get older. We can't just keep training more and more and more volume and two workouts a day. It's like you know. Bring up Rafi. I think some of the mindful training that you guys need to do is going to bring you a further way in these workouts than you doing more volume of snatches and pull-ups, right. So if you actually were not mentally there and you just don't know why, that's a fail, that's a failed rep by you and that doesn't mean that you should be doing it again, right. It means that you need to fix your mindset for future workouts, for the future open. Maybe that's your goal for the next year. Instead of snatching two days a week, can you get better at your mind space?
Sam Rhee
Co-host
32:01
That is what a lot of people call flow state. So if you can enter flow state in a workout, you know it almost feels like time stopping. You're not even consciously moving, like your body's automatically doing these things. I know I'm going to perform to the best of my ability when I don't even feel like I'm consciously doing it, it's just happening and you're in the zone. Whatever you want to call it, what athletes call it, and that is a skill you have to learn how to enter flow state and there's tons of information out there about what helps you get into that flow state. And I feel like after years and years and years of CrossFit, there is a certain sort of you know mental cues and what I do to make myself comfortable, so that when I hear that three, two, one, it's like just get into that zone and do that yeah.
David Syvertsen
Host
32:54
I mean, you don't want to be the person that gets yourself so pent up before and even right after the start of the workout, like I so badly want this result. I put all this work in right. It actually makes you physically worse. It does, when you're like that, just your heart rate alone yeah, it makes you physically worse. So there's a talent and a skill there to be developed that really can help you guys go a long way.
33:17
And if you have a mental hurdle in the middle of an open workout right now, it's no different than you getting to a barbell and you just can't lift it because the answer will be I got to get stronger. Well, now, maybe the answer is I got to get my mind's face with better, find that flow state Obsession with comparison, and I'm going to group these next two together because we're just going to repeat ourselves here. You're obsessed with comparing yourself to others, right, and you want others to be impressed by you. That, to me, is a really bad reason to repeat an open workout, and I sound insensitive when I say this, but I'm saying this out of like love and I want you to be happy. That's like one of the goals my personal goals of being Bison is just like I want other to be happier than leaving here than when they came in.
34:09
When I say this, they don't care about your scores that much the people you're competing against, but maybe they don't like you, you don't like them. Blah, blah, blah. Maybe they're going to go ruin their afternoon. Hopefully not right, don't ever want that, but we talked about this a few times. The let down. Once you realize that your scores, if someone gives you a high five, that's usually the last time they're going to think about your score. Like if you think you crushed a workout and someone's going to be talking about it and praising you for it for the next like two years. They're not even they're not thinking about that at home. So I always ask you do you think it matters next week? Because right now I bet if I give you five seconds to give me the top 10 scores from last week's workout, you wouldn't be able to do it.
Sam Rhee
Co-host
34:51
I could give you a couple of names, yeah. Because, they impressed me Right Like Keith freaking impressed me Keith Andrews Yep, alex is coming in hot. Yep, like these were people who have made tremendous strides over the past year.
David Syvertsen
Host
35:04
So right now, if those guys are listening, they better be All right. Keep as a friggin' hard fit, sherrod, you better be listening to it. Um, should that be a reason why he wants to repeat workouts? Because he wants Sam to be impressed by his workouts? I don't think so.
Sam Rhee
Co-host
35:17
I think, uh, that's not what motivates him. I think he just really wants to see what his capabilities are. And I think same with Alex. I think they both really feel like they have a lot Yep and they're a big part of the end of potential and they're achieving it, which to me, is exactly what they should be doing and to me, that's awesome Yep, Like they're getting.
David Syvertsen
Host
35:40
This is a test and they have they're killing these tests the common ground between them they did it once, they both did, they both did it one time. So their score that we're talking about right now, a week and a half later right, or a week later right, is their one shot. And Alex will say Alex is very into the mind space and he has says, he says this about repeating workouts. He goes you don't get a second shot on game day. So if you actually go and compete somewhere, you can't go do an event at Waterpalooza and be like, hey, can I, can I try that again? Right, that's your score.
Sam Rhee
Co-host
36:12
You know there are some people that are almost given. When I look like Amy Eddle, right, I mean I hate taking people for granted in terms of their excellence, right Cause that bothers me because it's like you're just assuming they're going to be good. You don't even know how much time they're really putting in. Like, when you see superstars in the NBA or in every year and in pro sports, you're just like, ah, they're going to be good. You're almost minimizing how much effort and time it takes to get that good.
David Syvertsen
Host
36:39
It's like Tim Duncan right, Like Tim Duncan is an all time great and he was just so good for so long and it's like every year he sustained greatness. It's even more impressive than it was last year because he's doing it again.
Sam Rhee
Co-host
36:49
So when you see Amy Eddleman and she like beats everyone by like 40 reps, you're like, yeah, of course it's Amy Eddleman. And you're like, no, that's not, that's not being good, it's because she's someone who works hard and she's very talented, but she also put a crap load of time. And so so do I look at the top. I do.
David Syvertsen
Host
37:04
So that. But this is a good conversation, though, because this is why I think a lot of people need to hear this. That does fuel some people. They want to be, they want others to be impressed by them. Is there a danger there? There is, you know, but is that enough reason for someone to be like? You know, dude, I want to be top five when Dave makes that post on Tuesday. I want my name to be on the top five, top 10. Because I want other people to see it.
37:26
What do you think about that? I think goals that are all about what others think about you are really dangerous, because I think at some point you're going to realize that doesn't. That won't fill your cup forever, especially when you come down hard and find out most people like you're really into it, like you're very aware and present at bison, who's doing well, who's not, who did this in the open, who's not? Most people are not, and there's a negative to constantly being at the top like that. Like and if people know that you're trying to beat everyone else, that you'd be at the top, there will be negatives that come from that, whether they're deserved or not.
Sam Rhee
Co-host
38:03
People will dislike that and you have to be okay with it Did you have a round like, let's suppose for this workout, for 24.2, there was a number you had in mind, right, 10 rounds. Oh, I wanted to get 10 rounds. I got into the 10th round. Okay, let's what would have been an unacceptable score for you.
David Syvertsen
Host
38:22
Oh man, if I didn't like eight rounds would have been unacceptable, I would say yeah, yeah for sure. So that means something really went wrong.
Sam Rhee
Co-host
38:30
Okay, like with. Let's suppose you executed the way you thought you were. There was no technical issues. You got eight plus something. Would you have read on it?
David Syvertsen
Host
38:37
No, I just would have been like, wow, I did, like I really did not. I probably would have made me look at man, I really need to go back to working on XYZ, I see. But I think I've been in it for so long like there would be zero extrinsic pressure to be like Sam's going to think I did bad, like I was actually getting mad the other night when I got asked like six times are you going to repeat it? Right, and then and I snipped at Ashley and I shouldn't have and I apologized after at home, she goes what happened, you know, like Aaron beat you. And then she goes are you going to repeat it? And I snapped and I was like stop asking me, I'm not repeating. Why is everyone asking me like it's okay if I don't beat Aaron in the workout like that? And his dad has?
Sam Rhee
Co-host
39:23
you leaned into it with your posts on social media. That's why I don't know.
David Syvertsen
Host
39:27
Like I don't even know if that's true. I'm laughing about it. Like do I want to lose to my little brother in a workout? I don't want to lose to him in anything, but also because you're a competitive MF oh, absolutely competitive. And so now it just circles us back to should I be stressed out right now that everyone in the gym knows that my little brother beat me in an open workout for the first time in 10 years? Should I be upset by that? Because I'm not at all. But now it's like you start getting this like pressure from the outside and like should I feel a certain way? Well, what if it?
Sam Rhee
Co-host
39:58
wasn't your brother. What if it was like somebody else?
David Syvertsen
Host
40:00
that's the interesting question Like what if it's someone I don't love, that you don't love? Yeah, like what if we had some new guy that came in and started the open and he beats me? Yeah, that's a good question. Would I be out there with the Sunday morning crew right now? I wouldn't be, I really wouldn't be. Okay, I would have, here you go Five years ago. You would have Absolutely Okay Big picture.
40:20
I have goals that are beyond the open. So it's like that helps me manage any sort of emotional attachment. I have to open scores, like I compare the Ashley again to bring her up, brought up a great comparison. I was like, wow, I'm actually jealous. I didn't think about it. The open for me personally is preseason football or spring training Baseball season starting yeah, quarterfinals is regular season. If you make semis, that's postseason, that's playoff-fied. Yeah. You make games, you're at the World Series, yeah, and I was like that's actually so. Like you know, the Yankees aren't stressing about losing a game in spring training, right, you know, because they're working on things Right, right, so that it actually does help, kind of like make me process. But like, let's say, I had zero goal after the open, yeah, then maybe I would come in. Maybe this was my World Series, yeah, and I do want to kind of have the best score, or beat him, or beat her.
Sam Rhee
Co-host
41:08
Yeah, Go do it. I was a little afraid of that. Like sometimes my double unders don't work and if I really did poorly, I was like I might not make quarterfinals this year. What would happen? Would I redo a try again? That'd be tough. Yeah, I don't know Absolutely. I would like to think that I would just see, be like all right, this is the year I don't make it. That's why it's just. I think it's always interesting, but I don't know. This conversation is always interesting. It's hard for me to be honest with myself on that one. Yep.
David Syvertsen
Host
41:33
All right. Well, it's good because it comes out of humility, and next week episode is humility and crossfit, so that's going to be a nice little leeway into it. So we're going to wrap this up with reality, right, because we're throwing a lot of hypotheticals and we'll talk in circles, and that's what this conversation is. You'll go in circles and I don't even know if this podcast is going to help you have an answer, but I hope it can make you think about it in a certain way. If you go out and repeat the workout and you get better, what does it mean? You should ask yourself that, right, if it's attached to self-worth, self-esteem, you're playing with fire. Okay. But if you are simply like I want to see where my fitness actually is, like I want an objective, am I top 10% here? Or my top 14%? Like, where am I top 18% and my bottom 20%? That is, that's the reality of this question. That's where you stack up, right? Agreed?
Sam Rhee
Co-host
42:26
That's why Nick Squire redid it.
David Syvertsen
Host
42:30
He got a better a better gauge on where he's at. Yep, let's work out. Yeah, Relating this to real life If you are someone that likes to tie things together to help you understand them at a higher level, you don't get a lot of reduce in life like this. Right, you don't get to go back to that meeting that you have or that presentation that you have. There are a lot of cases where that presentation at work or the meeting you have or the interview you're going for, you're trying to get this job. You need to, how you do anything and how you do everything.
43:00
I strongly believe that the older I get and the more things I see and observe. If you're constantly like I'll try hard, but I'm not going to try that hard, I'm going to really try to aces this test or exam coming up and I'm not going to try that hard, you don't get a redo, right. Sasha's at Duke right now. If she does poorly on a test, which would never happen. She doesn't get to go to the professor and be like can I get another shot? Can I get a repeat on Sunday for that exam? And I think some of the lessons that you can learn from putting yourself in this thought process of repeating versus not can help you in the outside world.
Sam Rhee
Co-host
43:33
I agree a thousand percent this. This is how you relate CrossFit to real life.
David Syvertsen
Host
43:38
Do you care a month later about this score? I don't want to say a week, because I do think sometimes like a wound hasn't healed but I want you to ask yourself and maybe in April you'll do this go back to the open scores and ask yourself did you really care? Because if you don't care in April about something like this, like that, what your 24.2 score was that you're not sitting at home on April 14th thinking about it, then don't repeat. Really, remember one workout. A few reps in a workout are not going to sway you that much in the overall standings. It's just not so. If that's the only thing you're going for, where do I rank Top 10%, top 5%, ranking the gym right? A couple reps aren't going to help that much. So I want you to ask yourself if you're stressed out about this kind of stuff in April. Ask yourself if you still care about what's going on right now.
Sam Rhee
Co-host
44:27
I think I'm really interested as a coach. I think I keep track of how people are doing more because I'm as a coach. I want to see how I track how people do over time. There are some really great athletes that we have and they have a hole and their hole is jump rope and I know who. I've seen a couple of those scores up there. I know who they are and in June you program a double under workout. I wanna see what they do. I wanna see are they working on their double unders? Are they really sort of trying to string this together or are they just going to get by and not really sort of work on these skills? Because I know a lot of these people pride themselves on being good athletes. They pride themselves on being very fit and capable and if you have a hole, whatever it is, whatever that hole is, it could be the double unders this year, it could have been the snatches, it could have been whatever. Like I like looking at people and seeing do they care? Three or four months?
David Syvertsen
Host
45:22
later.
Sam Rhee
Co-host
45:23
Because if they don't and next year comes around, ensures every year. There's been double unders in the open right Every year. So how did these people do from year to year? Did they crap the bed again? I wanna know. Yeah, this is where, as coaches, we gauge how much you really care about getting better, and it's not about getting better from a competitive standpoint. There's benefits, and we've talked about it about learning new skills, like not being satisfied with just staying with your single unders or what have you Like neurologically developing yourself, challenging yourself, and if you haven't done that, then you're leaving a lot on the table in terms of becoming a better person.
David Syvertsen
Host
46:06
The best way to become fitter is improving your weaknesses. It's not getting jazzed up for the workouts you're already good at. That is a fact. If you get burned by the jump rope, you're gonna get fitter by next year, if that is your focus. If you keep skipping double under day, you keep going back to singles or you don't wanna be embarrassed or you don't want it to affect the Wednesday wad in the middle of June you're not getting fitter. You're just kinda staying where you're at. If you're staying where you're at, you're going backwards. That's right Big picture. You know.
46:37
Put a gun to my head, say should I repeat the workout? And you said Dave, you have to say yes or no. My answer is no, but I'm not against it and you need to stay in your lane. This is your workout, this is your open, this is your score. And you know I hope that makes you guys understand that when you get that first shot at it, it's gotta be as if we wouldn't let you do a repeat. That'll never happen, don't worry, unless it's Monday. But I think I would be really interested in hearing any feedback from you guys, as would it change your approach if you said you were not allowed to do. Redo, barring, something bad happening, judgement's counting rower, turning off broken equipment all that good stuff.
Sam Rhee
Co-host
47:20
That being said, watch. Both of us are gonna redo 24.3 and we're gonna eat our words.
David Syvertsen
Host
47:25
I was actually thinking about doing 24.2 right after this. All right, thank you guys. See you next week. Thank you everybody for taking the time out of your day to listen to the Herdfit podcast. Be on the lookout for next week's episode.
