“I will never cheat reps, cut corners or finish early…no matter how bad I may want to, I deserve better than that”.

“Integrity is doing the right thing, even if nobody is watching.”

Integrity is a vital characteristic that everyone possesses.  Do you know anyone that commits to something, yet never follows through?  Maybe yourself?  If you felt the guilt run through your veins, then you are human, relax!  The truth is we all have varying levels of INTEGRITY.  By definition, INTEGRITY is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. 

INTEGRITY is everywhere, in our personal and professional lives.  It’s really about following through with agreements we have made with ourselves and outside ourselves with others.  That being true, INTEGRITY starts everyday with the alarm clock.  How many people set the alarm with good intention to get up at a specified time, only to hit the snooze the minute it goes off.?  This is breech of your own integrity. (I will address excuses in a later post).  It’s about doing what you say you are going to do then following through, adhering to a set of values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes.  Integrity is a key element that makes CrossFit what it is.

At CrossFit, how many times have you heard  a coach call someone out and say “all the way down”, “all the way up”, “lock out at the top”, “chest to the floor”, “one more rep”, “pick it up”?  The better question, how many times do you call yourself out?  CrossFit by definition is consistent movement, with a combination of weight, distance and time.  

If you cheat a rep by not going all the way down, do you count it?  Is it acting with integrity to finish a WOD first if you scaled the weight or didn’t achieve full range of motion?

The last 4 months, I have been performing most of my WOD’s on my own, without team.  As of late, it has become challenging, this is concerning considering Sectionals are two weeks away!  I am beginning to think Coach Jason is pissed at me, his programming has become progressively harder.  Some WOD’s are difficult and I think, WTF?!  I get a “just get it done attitude”, not the intensity it should be.  But it’s during these moments when we find our character as it relates to integrity.  I will say without question, “with nobody watching” I act with integrity at every workout, I don’t cheat movements, I don’t cheat reps, and I don’t modify to save time or get a better score.  It’s just me against myself, giving it all I have in that moment, and sometimes it not my best.  But I refuse to cheat…

“I would much rather live with the pain for not finishing first than to live with the damage caused by self deception that comes from short cutting my integrity”

For the record, I will give it everything I have to get to the Games in July.  I am still hitting PR’s and making progress everyday regardless of the challenge.  Performing every rep with pure integrity is a major contributor to my training.  How does integrity fit into your world…

There are no short cuts…  

3..2..1..GO!

Coach Crosby